“...Fuck.”

    [...Dude, it’s so early in the morning and you’re already cursing.]

    It’s an automatic reaction, okay? I can’t help it!

    My back hurts from sleeping on the sofa!

    [Why did you sleep there in the first place anyway?]

    “...”

    I silently got up and approached my bed.

    It would be faster to show him than to explain it in words.

    I flung open the blinds on the window and took away the blanket, revealing Eleanor and the Chancellor beneath, sleeping while hugging each other’s arms, looking satisfied.

    Yes. Both of them chose to sleep in my cramped single bed while huddling each others’ bodies like that instead of sleeping on their own beds.

    They were probably trying to hug me—as I was supposed to be squeezed between them, as if I was their favorite doll.

    [...]

    “...”

    As Caliban went silent, as if asking me what the fuck was going on, I just shrugged my shoulders.

    “Those two sneaked into my bed when I was asleep.”

    [...]

    “That’s why I slept on the couch. I had no choice.”

    I had a feeling that they would try to do something like this ever since the moment it was announced that we were going to share a room, so I made a plan to avoid them in advance.

    Alpha’s warning worked pretty well.

    [...What a lovely behavior from the Lady of a Duchal House and THE chancellor herself.]

    As Caliban said so, I woke the two of them—who were still humming in their sleep while rubbing their faces against each other—by shaking their shoulders. ?a?Νo??E?S?

    “You two, wake up.”

    “Hm...”

    “Hmm...”

    They opened their eyes drowsily.

    And quickly realized the identity of the person they had been hugging tightly.

    “...”

    “...”

    Their eyes gradually widened as their faces turned pale.

    Then, in the next moment, Eleanor kicked Chancellor Sullivan in the abdomen.

    Without being able to even scream, the chancellor’s body rolled to one corner of the room. Meanwhile, Eleanor got up from the bed while covering her mouth.

    “...Blaaargh...!”

    “...”

    Seriously...?

    Was that really enough to get you to throw up...?

    “Blargh...!”

    “...”

    As for the chancellor—who was kicked by Eleanor—she held her stomach and mouth, as if she actually felt nauseous as she rolled on the floor.

    “You damn barbarian-like woman...! What did you think you were doing—?!”

    “That’s your fault for sticking your pan out this early in the morning, you old monster.”

    “Say that again you—!”

    “...”

    Seeing them starting to get rowdy, I quietly closed the door and left the room.

    [...Is it okay to just leave them be like that?]

    I don’t know, I don’t wanna think about it.

    Let’s just do the thing that I have to do.

    ●

    “...D-Do I press this...?”

    Seeing Eleanor was struggling to press the button of the lift—they had notified us which floor we needed to go to in advance—I pressed it in her stead.

    “Why do you look so familiar with something like this...?”

    “...I just do.”

    It would be a pain if I were to explain that, so I just gave her a half-hearted answer and silently looked around.

    As announced before, it almost felt like there was no human here. All I could see were just androids that looked similar to human, artificial illuminants made of unknown substances, and countless complex mechanical equipment.

    “...”

    Honestly...

    It felt kind of cold somehow.

    Not only did the whole place feel empty, it also felt like this place was a space where human nature had been worn away. Although, you could say that it was probably because I was having difficulty keeping up with the level of technology here.

    ...Anyway, this is the kind of place the Magic Tower is, huh?

    Of course, I knew that the Magic Tower was the heart of technology in this world, but I never expected that this place was such a...dreary place....

    In my brain, I thought that it was a place filled with mad scientists who had gone half-mad.

    [Research building.]

    At that moment, a mechanical audio rang–which only further emphasized my feeling of the place—and the door to the lift opened.

    “You’re here.”

    We then made our way to our destination, where Alpha was waiting for us.

    “Follow me. Marquis Bogut is already inside.”

    “...By the way, what are we going to do here exactly?”

    I heard that it was some hearing.

    But I hadn’t heard anything in regard to the reason the Magic Tower was interested in Marquis Bogut in the first place, or why I was summoned here.

    Hearing my question, Alpha started walking, keeping his mouth shut for a short while.

    As if...

    He was treated like a guinea pig, not a human,

    “Dowd Campbell, please move to the spot near Subject No.1.”

    Such words came out from the speaker attached to the upper part of the hall.

    The one who said such words was the guy called Professor Mobius.

    Seeing how he was sitting at the highest seat among the lined up panels, it seemed like he was the guy who’d call the shots here.

    “...Subject?”

    “I’m talking about Marquis Bogut.”

    “No, I didn’t ask that because I don’t know what you mean.”

    A slight frown appeared on my brows as I replied to him.

    “...What I heard is that this is some kind of hearing, so what did you mean by ‘subject’? Are you going to do some kind of experiment here, or what?”

    “Both essentially meant the same thing.”

    He continued in a mechanical, emotionless voice.

    “Hearing is but one of the processes of obtaining information you want. It’s something that can be done by studying the subject’s mind.”

    “...”

    ...What?

    Hearing that, my expression stiffened even more.

    “What we want here is to borrow your power for a short while. After you utilize your Demonic Aura according to our order and search through that man’s mind, we’ll be done with you. It won’t take longer than a few seconds.”

    “...Wow, that’s just a violation of my privacy.”

    Bogut grunted in a light voice before I replied in a slightly lower voice.

    “...There will be side effects if we do that. Assuming that you are trying to tell me to insert the Demonic Aura into someone’s brain.”

    That was such a ridiculous notion to follow, hence why I asked for a confirmation.

    “Yes.”

    And yet he replied as such.

    As if it was a trivial matter.

    “...Are you out of your mind?”

    Even I wasn’t confident I’d survive if someone were to inject Demonic Aura into my brain. This was the equivalent of him asking me to kill Bogut here.

    “So you are telling me that it doesn’t matter if he’d die or not. You just want to find out how my Demonic Aura would affect humans? That’s it? Just how could you think that it’s the right thing to do—?!”

    If they simply wanted to get information from him, they could’ve just given him the truth serum. Considering the level of their technology, surely they had developed some of those by now.

    Just like the previous time, he told me the reason for his action in a nonchalant manner.

    “Because it’s data that hasn’t been studied.”

    As if he wondered why I asked the obvious.

    “...”

    And that left me speechless.

    As I stayed silent for a while, he continued...

    “The opportunity to do an experiment about what kind of effects the Demonic Aura has on humans is rare. And legally speaking, there’s nothing wrong with doing this.”

    “...So, what you’re trying to say is...”

    At this point, I couldn’t hide the sign of anger in my voice anymore.

    “You don’t care about his life and death, you just want to see how my Demonic Aura would affect humans? What kind of nonsense—?!”

    Even though he was a felon...

    And he had done something punishable by death...

    The punk still had the right to die with the least dignity.

    This was way more cruel than slaughtering wild animals.

    “As far as I’m aware, Marquis Bogut is a felon who has been sentenced to death in the empire. And the empire has handed him over to us. How we deal with him in the Magic Tower is our right.”

    Oh, is that so?

    My rage was burning.

    It was my first time meeting the people of Magic Tower, but I was sure of one thing even through my burning rage.

    These punks were scums I shouldn’t even associate myself with.

    “...Just follow along instead of resisting them. It’ll be better for you too, no?”

    “...”

    Bogut, who was lying on his stomach beside me, muttered.

    “You saw it with your own eyes what kind of technology these punks have, no? You don’t have to turn into their enemy for the sake of someone like me.”

    “...”

    I know that.

    I know exactly how overwhelming their power is, I figured that out on my way here.

    But still...

    This isn’t right.

    The situation made me think as such.

    With that in mind, what I had to do was pretty much decided.

    -The Magic Tower is corrupt, Dowd Campbell. It’s tainted by evil.

    -So, resist.

    Suddenly, what Alpha said to me yesterday came to mind.

    “Please follow our order accordingly, Dowd Camp—”

    “Hey, Mister, look here.”

    Hearing my voice, Marquis Bogut’s eyes widened.

    Probably because my tone had suddenly turned sleazy.

    “I’ve heard enough of your bullshit.”

    With such words, I cut off Mobius’ /genesisforsaken