Chapter 221: Rune Clan (3)

First, we left the orphanage.

Because we couldn't proceed with our business at the orphanage.

"We need a quiet place. Do you happen to know any?"

"Follow me. There's my Korean Branch Hideout."

Surrounded by Rebecca's Rune Barrier, I headed out to the suburbs.

I kept observing her Rune Barrier on the way, but my barrier was still exactly the same.

'Why can't I analyze it even when I'm looking right at it?'

Unlike other magic, Rebecca's Rune Barrier couldn't be analyzed.

To be precise, even if I analyzed and executed it exactly the same way, the results were completely different.

I didn't know the principle behind it, but there seemed to be something incredible at play.

"Come to think of it, what are you going to do about Su-hyeon?"

A survivor of the Rune Clan.

If left alone, Cheon Su-hyeon at the Sunlight Orphanage would live the life of a civilian.

"I have to bring him with me. Even if he didn't receive an education, he's still from the Rune Clan. I'll slowly build up an acquaintance with him and then adopt him. And... I want to make him a true member of the Rune Clan."

I could feel a genuine affection for the Rune Clan in Rebecca's words.

The word 'education' stuck in my mind.

"What is this education exactly? Is it a special education unique to the Rune Clan?"

That special Rune Barrier was probably part of that education as well.

"Well, simply put, it means living inside a Rune Barrier from a young age. The Rune Clan has a special teaching method that forces one's magic power property to become identical to the Rune Barrier."

"Oh..."

"If you continuously focus on the Rune Barrier for several years, your magic power circuit changes completely. That's when you become a true member of the Rune Clan."

Then the Rune Barrier I'd been using was only a half-measure.

No wonder it was pierced so easily.

"Come inside."

Rebecca entered a gloomy building in a corner of the city.

After passing through a dark passage where bats looked like they might pop out, a fairly bright living space appeared.

"This room has a bed and a bathroom. Follow me."

Rebecca tried to enter the room while taking off her outerwear.

She intended to get right to it immediately.

"Wait a minute. Ms. Rebecca. Just a moment."

"... Weren't you going to help with the babymaking?"

Rebecca sent a disappointed look at me as I grabbed her outerwear.

"There's something I need to check first. Let's go into the room for now."

Frowning, Rebecca looked a bit scary, but I somehow managed to bring her inside the room.

I sat Rebecca down at a table in the room that looked like a witch's research lab, and I took a seat across from her.

"Um... first of all, Ms. Rebecca, your affiliation was with Pandemic, right? There's something I need to check because of that."

"... Even so, I haven't killed anyone."

Rebecca seemed slightly nervous.

I had no intention of asking if she'd killed people.

"It's not that. Maestro, the boss of Pandemic, has brainwashing magic. I need to make sure Ms. Rebecca isn't under his brainwashing, just in case."

This was the reason I didn't accept Rebecca right away.

Maestro's mind control.

I couldn't trust someone unless I was certain they could truly be on my side.

Hearing my words, Rebecca let out a relieved laugh.

"Aha, is that all? Don't worry. I know about Maestro's mind control, too."

"What? Really?"

She knew about the mind control?

"Yeah. Every time I meet Maestro, I activate my Rune Barrier. So there's no problem with that."

"... Maestro's magic is quite strong. You never know for sure, Ms. Rebecca."

"My Rune Barrier is strong, too. I can block it perfectly. It's to the point where even Maestro hasn't noticed that I'm not under his brainwashing."

"..."

Looking at Rebecca's confident demeanor, I slightly tilted my head.

It was because it differed from the facts I knew.

'Rebecca was definitely under strong brainwashing.'

In the original work, Rebecca undoubtedly falls under Maestro's mind control.

Because there's a scene where the brainwashing is broken right before she dies.

Naturally, the current Rebecca wouldn't know that fact, so I beat around the bush.

But seeing her so confident made it a bit confusing.

'Has she not been brainwashed yet?'

Maestro typically cast the brainwashing on the first meeting, so the chances of that were slim.

Just then, I recalled what Rebecca had just said.

'I haven't killed anyone.'

"Ms. Rebecca. Are you saying you've never been on a mission that involved killing people?"

"Yeah. Of course. I only provide minimal help. As the price for Pandemic helping to track down the Rune Clan."

"..."

Rebecca said that, but...

'No.'

That couldn't be true.

Because Rebecca's Rune Barrier was definitely present during the terror at the Association's networking party.

Although Rebecca didn't directly kill people, there were definitely casualties that occurred at that time.

"..."

I checked Rebecca's face.

It was a face without an ounce of shame.

"... Ms. Rebecca. Try repeating after me."

"Huh? Repeating what?"

"You just need to repeat exactly what I say. And... brace yourself."

"Brace myself? I told you, I haven't been subjected to any brainwashing."

Right before she died in the original work.

I remembered the scene where she shed tears and regretted her past.

Eventually subdued by the protagonist and the heroines, Rebecca's brainwashing was only broken right before her death.

- So... that's how it was from the beginning. Haa... How did I end up like this?

Because she was a villain who was very popular due to her appearance, the production team had specially created a finishing scene for her.

- I didn't want to kill anyone. I just... just wanted the clan... Maestro...

Back then, I was in the position of playing the game, so I had no choice but to kill Rebecca, but it's different now.

Rebecca seemed slightly dissatisfied, but she obediently went along with my words.

"Repeat exactly as I say."

"Repeat exactly as I sa..."

"No, not that. Starting from now."

"... I was just trying to lighten the mood. Don't be mad."

Haa.

Could this person know how I felt?

I slowly chanted Maestro's brainwashing word that I had seen in the original work.

If Maestro said it, the brainwashing would begin, but if someone else said it, a trigger was engaged that brought intense pain and the return of the memories from when they were brainwashed.

Capturing Pandemic became easier after discovering this.

"... Tu Arma Maestro."

"Tu Arma Maestro."

Rebecca's condition didn't look bad after saying the brainwashing word.

Surely not? Was she really not brainwashed?

"... Are you okay?"

"Yeah, what is this? Of course I'm o... Huh?"

Thud-

The strength drained from Rebecca's body, and she tumbled out of the chair she was sitting in.

"Ms. Rebecca?!"

"W-Wait... W-Why am I? How come... Ugh, hurgh. Blergh!"

"..."

Watching Rebecca vomit up everything in her stomach, I averted my eyes.

Due to the rushing memories, a severe headache was occurring, and she was remembering all the crimes she had committed.

It would be rude to watch that.

"Hurgh, ugh... Cough. Cough."

"Clean."

When Rebecca's condition had somewhat improved.

I crossed the floor that had become spotless with my signal and approached Rebecca.

"Ms. Rebecca. Are you okay?"

"... I thought I blocked it."

With her face drained of color, Rebecca muttered.

"That's the terrifying thing about Maestro. There can't be even the slightest opening. For now, let's find a way to break the brainwashing together."

This trigger could only indicate whether someone was under the brainwashing or not.

A different, complicated method was needed to break the brainwashing.

"No. I figured it out, so it's fine."

Phew.

Taking a deep breath, Rebecca closed her eyes and raised her magic power.

Soon, the magic power condensed near Rebecca's heart.

It was a point so small that it could barely be seen.

The magic power that had been endlessly gathering into a very tiny point began to expand at some moment.

The magic power that swept through her entire body without missing a single gap turned into a sphere outside Rebecca's body, and the sphere of magic power surrounding her body was covered thickly in black magic power.

That unpleasant magic power.

I could immediately tell what its true identity was.

"No way, is that..."

"It's Maestro's magic power. I don't know when it burrowed into my body, but... now that I've noticed it, I can extract it with the Rune Barrier."

Gathering the black magic power in the empty air, Rebecca compressed the magic power with a crunch-, crackle- sound.

Plop-

And when she dropped it into a beaker resting nearby, the magic power slowly faded away.

"... Haa. I talked big, but I only showed you an ugly side. I'm sorry the baby's mother is this kind of person."

"It's alright."

She had already become the baby's mother before I knew it.

"A-And... it wasn't the truth. About not killing anyone. I'm sorry for lying."

"... It's fine."

Honestly, it was morally, no, legally problematic too, but... it wasn't like I was living a righteous life either.

Just as I had to capture the heroines, Rebecca had to find the Rune Clan.

To her, that was a task as precious as her own life.

Still, the fortunate thing was that we had severed this brainwashing beforehand.

Because in the latter half of the original work, Rebecca is a terrifying villain who kills people without hesitation.

Undoing it before she was brainwashed that deeply was certainly an encouraging development.

"Don't be too heartbroken. Because it's not your fault, Ms. Rebecca."

"But... haa. What should I do."

Rebecca still seemed unable to believe what she had done.

'She really is a kind-hearted person, though.'

Seeing how she didn't try to force me as soon as she learned I wasn't from the Rune Clan... it seemed true that she was a good person.

'I'm glad we met early on instead.'

If we had met after she had done even worse things, it might have been impossible for her to recover from the guilt of her actions.

"Let's go do volunteer activities together later. Or I'll introduce you to a good counselor. The important thing is the revival of the Rune Clan. Isn't that right?"

"... Yeah."

The reason why Rebecca, who looked like a decadent witch but was pure on the inside, joined the evil organization Pandemic.

Was for the revival of the Rune Clan.

Rebecca opened her eyes wide, as if surprised that the words 'revival of the Rune Clan' had come out of my mouth.

"Then... are we going to do it right now? Since we've verified everything?"

"That's good too, but... I want a proper revival of the Rune Clan. You do too, don't you, Rebecca?"

"Of course. I can stake my life on it."

"Then please teach me the Rune Barrier."

"The Rune Barrier? What does that have to do with anything?"

"What do you mean why? As the level of my Rune Barrier gets higher, wouldn't our child also be born with that talent?"

Of course, I didn't know if it would work or not.

But it would be better than not doing it.

Besides, my proficiency with the Rune Barrier improving was also a good thing.

"... Is that so? Still, giving birth to even one more quickly is..."

"No. What if we end up with a child who can't use the Rune Barrier properly. I don't want that kind of situation to occur."

"That's... Haa. Alright, I'll do as you say."

Rebecca wasn't pleased with it, but after seeing my gaze, she eventually nodded.

Since I'm the one providing the sperm donation, well... what could she do.