Chapter 159: The Unhinged Chaos Seeker
The moon hung high in the night sky, and the forest was pitch black.
But Kobayashi had [Spectator], and RyuZU was not human, so it did not affect the two of them.
Mindful of the grass and roots under their feet, they continued to run forward at a steady pace, their eyes scanning in all directions for the girl's figure.
Suddenly, a white dove flew over their heads, exceptionally conspicuous in the dark night.
Then, an unsettling aura suddenly came from the forest ahead. It was strong, huge, and very oppressive.
"RyuZU."
"Yes."
He called out to her, and the elegant attendant stood in front of her master.
Then, a rustling wind came from above their heads.
A huge tail pushed aside the treetops, and a monster descended from the sky. With a loud boom, what landed was a giant dragon with steel-colored scales and two pairs of bat-like wings.
Its eyes were clearly different from those of an ordinary beast, revealing a high degree of intelligence and humanity. Its majestic figure, even for a monster, looked very gorgeous and grand.
On the dragon's back, that girl was riding on its head.
Charlotte.
The girl who couldn't express her own goodwill, who used tsundere to cover up her true heart, and whose relationship with him was good enough that they would have lunch and talk together.
At the same time, she was also a hot favorite for the next Wiseman.
At this moment, she was not wearing the academy uniform, but a black outfit. Although it was not as sturdy as armor, it had protective gear on important parts such as the chest and shoulders. It was a combat-style attire favored by assassins or warriors.
Sensing the malice, RyuZU was plain-faced but alert. The scythes under her skirt were already radiating a cold glint under the moonlight.
But he stopped her and walked in front of the giant dragon himself.
"To be honest, the white dove and the braids from before suited you better. Although they looked rather ordinary, at least they didn't make you look so aggressive."
It was precisely because her older sister Charlotte was so dazzling that her younger sister Henriette was so insecure.
He said to her in his usual relaxed tone, "You're even skipping class to hang out outside? A runaway girl?"
"How did you..."
She frowned slightly, as if she hadn't expected him to see through her disguise.
"Hahaha, illusions don't work on me. Are you curious? Coincidentally, I also have a bunch of things I want to ask you. How about you join me for a cup of tea and an all-night talk?"
"...Unfortunately, I have no such intention."
She responded coldly, as if her face had lost all expression.
But in his eyes, she was just wearing an iron mask, forcing herself to be expressionless.
The girl added, "I'll give you a piece of advice. Stay out of Henriette's business."
"I refuse. I love saying 'No' to people! But if you're willing to come back obediently, I can consider it," he said, extending a hand to her in an inviting gesture.
Of course, the other party would not accept.
"...Idiot. A dumbfounding idiot. You can't read the mood at all."
"Ehh—, it's precisely because I can read the mood that I'm here."
Whether it was Sigmund, who had transformed into a white dove to deliberately attract him, or the girl before him. It was because he knew that he was here.
A murderous aura revealed itself in Charlotte's eyes. Her body released a strong mana, and the surrounding air trembled faintly. A chilling force, coupled with the oppressive feeling from the giant dragon. Even his own spine couldn't help but feel a chill.
The girl threatened him with feigned ferocity, "I told you to stay out of our business! If you don't listen... I'll kill you!"
"Hey, hey, hey. You said before that you would protect me even if I came to hate you for it," he said with a helpless shrug and a sigh.
She turned her head away, and at the same time, kicked the dragon's abdomen, leaving with the words, "Shut up! If I say I'll kill you, I'll kill you! So stop being so nosy!"
Sigmund flapped its wings hard and leaped high, displaying an agility that didn't match its huge body. In the blink of an eye, it had created distance and flown away from his sight.
All that was left on the scene was a fierce gale and a sky full of flying leaves.
The moment the dragon took off, the glowing water droplets that Charlotte had scattered did not escape his eyes.
"How could I not be nosy..."
He held out his hand and caught the crystal clear teardrop that fell from mid-air, feeling the lingering warmth and moisture in his palm.
After a long while, he sighed. "After all, you had that 'please, save me' look on your face. How could I just turn a blind eye?"
To solve her problem, he had to stop the mastermind behind the scenes.
—Alice Rutherford.
Ranked 87th in the Night Party, she was the Headmaster's daughter. More than half of her body had been modified into an automaton, and her Magic Circuit was [Imaginary Form].
She had a vile personality, terrible interests, but was exceptionally intelligent.
She loved deceiving others more than her three meals a day and was skilled at disguise. Charlotte's braided-girl form and Sigmund's white dove form were both images changed by her transformation ability.
It was just that now, she had replaced Cedric Granville and was remotely controlling Charlotte's actions as the head of the Night Party's executive committee.
As for why she was doing this?
It was interesting.
That's right. She simply found it interesting.
There were underlying benefits, her father's arrangements, and various reasons, but the most crucial one was that she found this matter very interesting.
Because she was an unhinged chaos seeker.
To deal with this kind of person, you can't go against her head-on, because the more you show your own uniqueness, the more excited she gets. On top of that, she's also unhinged, deliberately causing trouble without any bottom line. A moment of carelessness and she could bring him a lot of trouble.
So...
"Can't be helped. I'll just go along with your pace and let myself step brainlessly into your trap."
The solution was simple.
Satisfy the other party's wicked hobby while also finding a way to solve the problem. He couldn't use too much force. It was best to present an appearance of succeeding purely by dumb luck. And he also had to deliberately leave an opening for the other party to bite back. This way, the unhinged chaos seeker would feel that she had won a round and had not lost.
The 'you thought' is what I let you think.
The game behind the scenes... let's just see who comes out on top.
But he still had to pay attention to Charlotte and Henriette. It wouldn't be good if those two idiots did something stupid first.
To maneuver between three women, and to keep them in a relative balance... it was a little difficult.
...Wait.
No matter how you look at it, this is the kind of thing a scumbag who's three-timing would do!
The next day.
Charlotte, as expected, did not appear. She didn't go to class, nor did she return to the dormitory. It was as if she had evaporated from the face of the earth.
He knew that she had used a disguise, which was why she couldn't be found.
And what was unexpected was that Henriette had also disappeared.
Unlike Charlotte, whose mission was to kill the Headmaster, the younger sister's method of freeing her older sister was simple: as long as she herself disappeared and could no longer be a handle or a weakness to be controlled, it would be fine.
That foolish, cowardly girl was very likely to do something stupid, so he had to find her location as soon as possible.
"I'll help too."
Frey, for once, was strong. She stood up, giving off a completely different feeling.
He didn't speak, just showed a look of incomprehension.
She explained, "I can understand... Charlotte and Henriette's... feelings. Because Loki and I are the same. So... I want to help..."
Is it sympathy caused by empathy?
There is strength in numbers. With her help, he would also have a much easier time. And the wolf-dog type automaton was very good at finding people. There was no reason to refuse.
"I'm counting on you, Frey."
"Mmm."
She nodded. Then they headed straight for the girls' dormitory, wanting to find some clues.
Just as the group arrived at the dormitory entrance, a woman rushed out of the main hall. She was in her twenties, a woman with a gentle and graceful appearance.
She glanced at him and scolded, "You can't bring boys over here. Men are forbidden from entering the dormitory."
From this sentence, it was not hard to hear that she was probably the dorm manager.
Frey explained in a small voice, "Ngh... that's not it. We're... looking for Henriette."
"Henriette," the manager's face changed, and even the air grew tense. "That's what I'm anxious about. She's disappeared again."
"Mmm..."
"I have to go find her. I hope she... doesn't do anything stupid again."
Without giving him a chance to understand, she left with a "that's it" and then hurried away, leaving the two of them looking at each other, not knowing what to say.
"Wait, Kobayashi... here... wait a minute."
After saying this, she didn't explain the reason and went into the dormitory by herself.
He silently looked at the girls' dormitory. If he could go in, he would surely be able to find a trace of Henriette.
RyuZU seemed to have sensed his thoughts and said, "Master Kobayashi, do you need me to take you in? With the [Imaginary Switch], even a girls' dormitory can be freely roamed by you. There would be no problem in releasing your desires."
"...Thank you for the kind offer, but no."
To be honest, he was tempted for a moment, but after thinking about it, he still refused the tempting offer. The situation was already chaotic enough. It was better not to add any other trouble.
A few minutes later, Frey came back.
At the same time, she was followed by fourteen wolf-dogs. Yomi was also among them. All of them were wolf-dog type automatons, a dab hand at finding people.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Did you specifically go and get them to help?"
"No. I also... went to get this."
She took out a small piece of white cloth with water-blue stripes from her pocket. It was triangular in shape, and its material was kapok, looking very soft.
When he realized what it was, the corner of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.
"Miss Frey, I was wondering what you're holding?"
"To find someone."
"You need... ahem... you need this?"
"Like this."
After gathering the dogs, she held out Henriette's personal underwear. The dogs came up and sniffed the lingering scent on it. He felt that if Henriette knew, she would surely be so disgusted she'd throw it away.
This continued for a few seconds. Yomi let out a cry.
"Woof!"
"Woof!" x13
The other wolf-dogs also barked along.
Then Frey blew a whistle.
"Whew—"
The moment the whistle blew, all the wolf-dogs except for Yomi scattered. They had correctly understood their master's intention and ran off in different directions.
"Oh my, you're quite skilled at using them."
He offered a word of praise.
The biggest drawback of the wolf-dog type automaton was its inability to efficiently understand its master's thoughts. But with Yomi, a "mother" who could understand human language, all problems were solved.
Yomi grinned. "This old one can't fight like the other automatons, but at least it's good to be of some help."
"What are you talking about? You've been a great help," he said, patting its head.
Having been in a war, he knew how important a central command tower that could perfectly transmit commands was. He was quite impressed.
RyuZU said from the side, "How regrettable. I am a Y-series automaton. I cannot satisfy Master Kobayashi's strange hobbies by using a nimble nose like a dog."
"I don't have strange hobbies," he muttered quietly.
"Kobayashi... has... strange hobbies..."
"It's a misunderstanding. I don't."
He hadn't expected Frey to fall for such an obvious trick. He didn't know whether to be angry or to laugh.
After a short while.
A "woo woo woo~" howl came from the distance. Yomi slowly stood up, and Frey climbed onto its back.
He knew that the wolf-dogs had found Henriette.
Following Yomi's footsteps, they quickly approached the wolf-dogs. The howls were intermittent, and then the number began to increase, creating a resonance.
The three of them and a dog moved nimbly through the forest.
Finally, they came to a small lake next to the field exercise area. Under an oak tree by the lake, they saw the group of wolf-dogs that had surrounded the tree, continuously howling upwards.
Following their direction, he saw the girl, who was hugging the tree trunk and didn't dare to come down, looking as scared as a kitten.
There was a rope tied to a branch. Was she planning to hang herself?
But she probably had no such thoughts now, because she had been scared silly by the wolf-dogs. She was wailing loudly, "No! Dogs—! G-go over there... someone... someone save me—"
...
What a pitiful girl.
The trembling Henriette was helplessly calling for help. As he was sighing and holding his forehead, the frightened girl suddenly slipped her hand, and unable to hold on, she fell from the tree.
He quickly stepped forward and caught her in his arms.
She closed her eyes tightly, mistakenly thinking she had been caught by the wolf-dogs, and screamed, "N-no... dogs! Dogs—!"
"Calm down. It's alright. They're professionally trained. Under normal circumstances..."
"Eek! It's a man—!"
Before he could finish, he was suddenly pushed by the girl in his arms. Caught off guard, he was pushed back.
"No! A man... a savage!"
Although she looked very afraid of dogs, she seemed to be even more afraid of men.
He stood up with a complicated feeling and observed her. Surrounded by more than a dozen wolf-dogs, she was on the verge of fainting.
Don't be angry, don't be angry. She didn't do it on purpose. She's Charlotte's sister.
Be tolerant, be tolerant.
He admonished himself several times and said gently, "You scared little girl, would you like a handsome big brother to take you back, or do you want to play with this pack of wolf-dogs?"
Yomi also let out a low growl in coordination, which made the other wolf-dogs join in.
"Eek—!"
Henriette let out a miserable cry, then held her head and cried out, "To actually want to use a pack of wolf-dogs to ravage me for your own entertainment... you're the worst kind of pervert! Mother, I'm sorry... I'm going to be messed up by a pack of beasts, and a man who is like a beast!"
"???"
He had a black-man-question-mark-face.
He understood. Henriette had persecution delusions, and of the lewd kind!
"Master Kobayashi..."
"Wait, RyuZU. You know my hobbies, right?"
"But your personality is twisted, Master. It's not impossible that you have other hidden hobbies."
"Of course I don't!"
He hadn't expected that even RyuZU, whom he trusted the most, didn't believe him.
And Frey, too.
"Kobayashi... is bad... a pervert..."
The timid girl's gaze was colder than ever before as she glared at him.
"Of course not!!!"
He really had no tears left to cry.
He didn't know if they were deliberately clowning around and causing trouble. After a great deal of effort to persuade the two of them, Henriette had already disappeared.
It seemed she wouldn't be seeking death again for a short time.
But to maintain the balance and solve the problem as soon as possible, he would have to go and see that unhinged chaos seeker (beautiful girl) later.
At the very least, he had to shift her attention to himself.
(End of Chapter)