Chapter 174: Incompetent Kitty (Patreon)

"So, Ronova, you can't kill me, right? Under the ruling of the rules, I'm still among the living, even though a wisp of my soul returned to the ley lines long ago. Since you can't kill me, give that wisp back. A creature that's neither dead nor alive would give you a headache too, wouldn't it?"

"Heh. Even if I can't kill you, that doesn't mean I have to return that wisp of soul. Say I refuse. What then?"

Who said the Ruler of Death was impartial? Why does this reek of tsundere? Piers grumbled to himself, but not a flicker of it reached his face.

"If you refuse, that's easy. I'll stick to Mitya and come into the world of the dead every time to pester you. If it gets annoying, then kill me."

This was pure shamelessness on Piers's part. The Ruler of Death was bound by the rules and couldn't kill him, so he provoked her like mad.

Honestly, though, he didn't like it either. He had no other choice. If he could beat the Ruler of Death, he wouldn't have to stoop to such a rogue's method.

The Ruler of Death fell silent for a good while. Then she reached out and grasped at the air, and a black-red filament appeared in her hand. It writhed between her fingers like a living thing. With a flick of her wrist, she sent it straight into Piers's body.

The instant the filament entered him, Piers felt his soul become far more whole. That strand had been apart from him for so long that it would take a while to fully fuse with his body, but now that he had it back, a little time was no big deal.

"You have what you wanted. I hope you'll keep your promise and stay out of it from now on."

"Don't worry, don't worry, my credit's excellent. Uh… so how do I get out of this place again?"

The Ruler of Death turned her head away and closed her eyes, refusing to look at Piers any longer. She seemed rather exasperated.

Piers was about to ask again when the scene around him suddenly went pitch black. The next moment, he was lying face down on the floor with his eyes open.

He knew this feeling well. He had most likely returned to the real world. He propped himself up on the ground and sat, his palm touching cold floor tiles.

Tsk. Normally I'd have my memory wiped after waking up. Why wasn't it wiped this time? Did the Ruler of Death do it on purpose, or is it because my soul is whole again?

As Piers pondered, he suddenly felt something damp on his hand. He lifted it to his face and sniffed.

Where did the water on my hand come from? It's salty? Seawater?

At the same moment, Mitya, who had been lying on the floor, also stood up. He brushed the dust off his hem, then looked at Piers with a puzzled expression.

"Mr. Mitya, we meet again."

Piers figured Mitya would most likely have his memory wiped. The Ruler of Death's target had been him in the first place, so there was no reason to let him keep it. Piers had already started working out how to explain things to Mitya. Maybe he'd just bluff his way through and say he was here to investigate infiltrators from the Rokot.

"Lord Piers, I haven't lost my memory this time. There's no need to come up with lines to handle me."

"Huh? You didn't lose your memory? That shouldn't be possible."

Piers was visibly thrown. He stood up, and his gaze lingered on Mitya's face for a good while.

"That's what puzzles me too. By your earlier account, the Ruler of Death's target should be me. Why wouldn't she wipe my memory? She did it the previous times. Could it be because of you…"

Mitya looked up at Piers.

"The power that wipes memories must have been cancelled out by some other power. I shouldn't have an ability like that, or I wouldn't have been wiped every time. That leaves only you, Lord Piers."

Piers thought Mitya had a point. In theory the Ruler of Death didn't play favorites, so what had just happened was an accident. At the very least, she wouldn't have gone easy on Mitya and spared his memory.

The only explanation was that the power Piers gained from completing his soul happened to be just enough to preserve memories after leaving the world of the dead, and since Mitya had been influenced by Piers, he had kept his memories too.

"Probably. But this is a good thing. I still most likely can't beat the Ruler of Death, but you're the smartest man in Snezhnaya, Mr. Mitya. Now that you know this important intel, I'm sure you'll find a way to deal with her."

Piers clapped Mitya on the shoulder like a senior looking after a junior, though the two of them were probably about the same age. Once he'd done it, he felt a bit awkward himself and quickly pulled his hand back.

"Uh… all right. I'll report to my superiors and see if there's a good solution."

"That's settled, then. I thought it would be a lot more trouble, but it went so smoothly. If there's nothing else, I'll be on my way. This is the Armory Palace's restricted ground, after all, and it wouldn't be good to stay too long."

"Please, go ahead, Lord Piers."

Following his memory of the guard leading him in, Piers soon felt his way out. The corridor was much quieter than when he'd arrived, with only his own footsteps echoing.

Just as he was about to slip away, a Q-version doll flew out of his cavern realm. It stopped in front of him and wobbled.

"See? I told you Piers wouldn't die that easily."

Sandrone's voice came out of the doll, slightly trembling. Her words sounded calm and composed, but her voice sounded as if she'd had an enormous fright before this, and she couldn't suppress the quaver.

"Lord [Marionette], all I asked was for you to help me with the paperwork. What are you up to?"

Sandrone's words had neither rhyme nor reason, and Piers was left a little baffled. He blinked at the doll.

"It's nothing serious. If you're done there, come back first."

"All right. I'll be right back."

Piers was curious what had gotten into Kitty. He'd been planning to head back anyway. He pocketed the doll, turned on his heel, and vanished on the spot.

Two minutes later, Piers appeared outside the room. The door wasn't shut. It had been left open a crack. Piers didn't knock and pushed straight in.

The hinges gave a soft creak, and the sound startled the people inside.

To Piers's surprise, there wasn't just one person in the room. Besides Sandrone, there was Odette.

She stood in the middle of the room, still in her ballet costume, her eyes slightly red.

What's going on? Why did Kitty go and summon Odette too?

"We meet again, Miss Odette."

Out of politeness, Piers raised a hand in greeting.

But Odette suddenly rushed toward him. Piers didn't dodge, since he sensed no malice from her.

She stopped a meter away. She stared at Piers with a serious gaze, her chest rising and falling slightly.

"Miss Odette, may I ask…"

Unnerved by the piercing stare, Piers started to ask what was going on, but Odette cut him off.

"Give me your hand."

He didn't understand, but Piers did as she asked and held out his hand. Before it was halfway there, Odette reached out and caught it, gripping with surprising strength.

Her fingers were cold, her knuckles clamped tight. The sight made Sandrone, seated at her desk, nearly speak up to stop it.

But she thought it over. She had no fitting reason, and stopping them outright would look deliberate. She had told Odette herself that she and Piers were nothing more than ordinary colleagues. Her fingers pressed against the desktop, then drew back.

Then again, Odette had clearly said she liked Piers. Sandrone was good friends with Rosalyne, which made her Odette's elder by default, and in theory she ought to help. At that thought, her brow knit even tighter.

Torn, Sandrone held herself back all the same. Pretending not to notice, she started marking the papers on her desk, but the page she was on hadn't turned in ages, and her pen sat motionless in the same spot.

"Miss Odette, may I ask if something's the matter?"

He'd been in the dark ever since leaving the Armory Palace, so Piers decided to ask.

"She says she found your corpse in the Armory Palace. Cold all the way through, no breathing."

Sandrone said it in an offhand tone, without so much as lifting her head, her eyes nailed to the documents.

Piers suddenly recalled a small detail from the main storyline the System had given him: at one point, Odette sees Mitya dead in the Armory Palace. It couldn't be such a coincidence, could it? The corner of his mouth twitched.

Piers was speechless. He felt unspeakably unlucky. How long had he been back in Snezhnaya? And he'd already died twice.

"See, Odette? Piers is alive and well now."

Sandrone slyly glanced over from the corner of her eye. Seeing Odette still holding Piers's hand, she ground her teeth, her cheeks puffing slightly before she pressed them flat again. Outwardly, she still pretended not to care.

She turned a page, suddenly remembered she hadn't read the previous one, and flipped back.

"Did I really see wrong? But… I examined you with my own hands. I confirmed that Piers had stopped breathing. How could…"

Odette kept her eyes fixed on Piers. She still hadn't let go of his hand and was gripping it even harder, her fingertips pressing into the back of it.

"You do have body heat, and your hand is warm. Then what I saw in the Armory Palace was…"

"Miss Odette, you've got the wrong idea, I think, though it's a bit complicated to explain."

"It doesn't matter. As long as you're all right. I don't care about the rest."

The sudden line left Piers dazed. Odette was a deadly serious person, and her tone didn't sound like a joke.

Sandrone couldn't stand to watch any longer. She put down her pen, propped her head on one hand, and spoke with biting sarcasm.

"Oh, yes, yes. To come and check with me, she voluntarily exposed herself as Lelek of the Rokot, and said she infiltrated the Armory Palace to steal the secrets of Project Stuzha. Such a touching story."

Her tone made it sound as though she despised such behavior and didn't care at all about the pair's relationship.

Piers, however, was shocked by Odette's conduct. He already knew from the System's main storyline that Odette was Lelek, but he hadn't expected her to just expose herself like this.

"Miss Odette, this isn't like you. As far as I know, if you ran into something like this, you'd most likely investigate and deal with it privately."

"Because… I know that whoever could do that to you is someone I have no hope of beating if I meet them. After seeing you again, I'm no longer so reckless. I don't mind dying myself, but I need to carry this information out. I need someone to help me."

The unexpected, almost love-confession-like words left Piers at a loss.

Odette's face remained utterly expressionless, but when she gazed at Piers, her eyes were full of devotion.

"All right, all right, you two. There's still someone else in this room. Don't interfere with my work."

Sandrone broke up Odette's tender gaze. In truth, she'd lost all interest in working from the moment she heard Odette say Piers had died in the Armory Palace. The document on her desk had been sitting there forever.

"Rare of you, Lord [Marionette]. Since you put it that way, I'll leave the rest of today's work to you."

Piers seized the opening and pushed the work onto her.

"Hmph. It's only a few documents."

"Piers, are you free for now, then?"

Odette still hadn't let go of Piers's hand.

"With Lord [Marionette] here, I'm naturally free for a while this afternoon."

Piers said it as if it were a matter of course.

"Then… will you come with me to the dance studio? Come with me…"

"No!"

Before Odette could finish, Sandrone slapped the desk and shot to her feet. The next second, it dawned on her that she'd lost her composure, and she lowered her voice, explaining awkwardly.

"What I mean is… you have to do your own work. There are still plenty of documents here."

The more Sandrone spoke, the less conviction she had. She regretted having so casually agreed to Piers's offer to handle the rest of the work, but there was no helping it now.

Leave her working in this room while he went off alone with another girl? She would never allow it!!

"But, Lord [Marionette], didn't you just say you'd take care of the rest of the documents?"

Odette asked, faintly puzzled.

"I did… but… I haven't done this kind of work in ages. There are bound to be parts I'm not familiar with. If he leaves, where am I supposed to go to ask him?"

"Lord [Marionette], it seems you can contact Piers remotely. Isn't that how you called him back just now?"

Sandrone was flustered. She couldn't come up with a good excuse on the spot, but she couldn't bear to watch Piers and Odette leave alone together either.

"Lord [Marionette] has a point. These matters concern Snezhnaya's livelihood, and we're still in the middle of Project Stuzha. A few remote words really aren't reliable. I'd better stay. Miss Odette, how about… next time?"

Since Piers put it that way, Odette had no choice but to agree, though a trace of disappointment crept into her eyes.