Volume 1 Chapter 8.2
Planned Betrayal, Despair for the
Fraudster Part 2
Translator : PolterGlast
◇ Two days ago ◇
Nina picked up
the layout map on top of the luggage, while the landscapers continued their
work.
Then a gut
feeling came over her like an electric current.
There would be
no way that Jin Kirihara, a fraudster who had turned the world into his enemy,
would do such a careless thing.
He would
surely set up double or triple traps to outsmart them.
This layout is
definitely a fake. At the very least, she should check it first.
The next day,
Nina took a day off from class and went into town. The purpose was to procure
work clothes. During last night's reconnaissance, she had confirmed that the
clothes worn by the contractors were inconsistent. She also knew that due to
the short deadline, they had asked for reinforcements from contractors whose
names and faces did not seem to match. And that the work would be done again
tonight.
So Nina
decided to brazenly infiltrate and see for herself the placement of the
pitfalls.
Without a
doubt, this was the most difficult performance to date. She disguised herself
as a man and tried to blend in with the landscapers, even if it only lasted a
few minutes.
But Nina
pulled it off.
She changed
her voice and acted as if she had been there from the beginning, and
disappeared as soon as she had the location of the pits drilled into her head.
She was careful to position herself out of sight of the cautious Gasta.
Nina was
probably unaware of it, but there would be no other person in the entire empire
who could perform such a divine feat with such ease.
◇
His maneuver
paid off, and Bennett succeeded in advancing through the safe zone and
approaching Jin's side.
Of course,
there was no sense of accomplishment. The real work began from here.
"Jin,
behave yourself and surrender."
─I have to stop Jin.
I must stop Jin before Bennett's <Executioner of
Immolation> incinerates him.
"People
who delude themselves into thinking they're the ones doing the deceiving are
fragile ....... I'm sure Rusty has told you that much."
The expression
on Jin's face as he fell into a slumped position was unclear. Nina felt a pang
of guilt pierced her heart like a hot needle.
She should
have known how prepared Jin was to come to the academy.
There was no
way she could not imagine the pain of being betrayed by someone she had
trusted.
Even so, Nina
had no choice but to persist in believing in the justice of her decision.
She had no
choice but to do what she had to do in order to save Jin from the path that
would lead to his doom.
"Hurry
up, Jin. I don't want you to get hurt."
"If you
surrender, you'll just get kicked out of the academy."
"That's
right. What's wrong with that? Don't you see what's happening? If you don't
surrender, you'll be burned alive."
Still, Jin did
not listen to the persuasion and rolled on the ground to get away from the
<Executioner of Immolation>.
But it's no
use.
It was obvious
that if Bennett was willing, he could catch up to him in an instant.
"Gosh,
don't be so stubborn! You really should do something about that character of
yours!"
"I hate
it most when people tell me what to do."
"Don't
act like a fool! What do you think how I feel right now ......?"
"......
It's all right, Nina." Bennett smiled at her calmly. "Just a little
bit of threat and he'll change his mind."
At Bennett's
signal, the flaming puppet swung its arms out horizontally.
The sparks of
fire carried by the hot air showered down on Jin's entire body, causing him to
let out a cry of anguish from the back of his throat.
Seeing Jin
still trying to escape, Bennett kept on shooting fire sparks at him two or
three times.
"......
Hurry up, just give up. Why did you have to go this far?"
The fire
sparks were still dancing through the air, and the cries of anguish turned into
screams.
Actually, Nina
wanted an ending that would allow Jin to escape from the school without harming
him.
But somewhere
in the depths of her heart, she also knew that such a pipe dream was
impossible.
Jin was not a
fair-minded person who would succumb to someone's threats and admit defeat. He
was not built to be weak like that.
Suddenly, she
noticed that a smile was plastered on the side of Bennett's face as he was
manipulating the puppet.
It was not the
usual kind of smile that conveyed the confidence of a powerful individual.
It was a
delightful smile.
He currently
finds pleasure in the act of tormenting an unresisting opponent.
"......
Such a handy ability you have there, Bennett."
While gasping
in pain, Jin squeezed his voice out.
"You can
keep inflicting pain worse than death without ever killing your opponent.......
What's more, your victim's memory would be sealed and he or she would be
expelled from the academy. I can think of a million ways to abuse this ability
of yours."
"Oh, I
guess it's about time to shut your mouth."
The
<Executioner of Immolation> moved in response to Bennett's ruthless
declaration.
A mass of fire
with a will slowly approached Jin, who was crawling on the ground.
Step by step,
it reaffirmed its intent to kill.
Nina was no
longer sure if it would be enough to merely inflict pain.
She wondered
if Bennett would really kill Jin.
"......
Wait, Bennett-san? Is it really gonna be all right?"
"Haha,
stop pretending to be worried. Nina,...... you are someone who, like me, should
be standing above the others. What does it matter what happens to him?"
"You only
want to hurt him, right? There's no way you would, you know, really kill him or
anything like that, right ......?"
In the end,
Bennett did not respond, instead, he kept his amused smile on his face as he
watched everything play out.
Nina felt as
if her whole body was being scraped from the inside out.
She had
decided to team up with Bennett to save Jin from his own destructive desires.
But what if
Bennett really intended to commit a crime?
No, that
possibility is by no means low.
There was no
rule in the pledge that forbade murder.
"You
still seem to be still in a relaxed atmosphere, Jin. Is it because of that
[insurance] you mentioned earlier?"
"Haha, I
have no idea what you're talking about."
"I heard
a report from one of my men. You secretly have a <duel> with Emma
Licorice to earn a few extra points, no? So, even if you lose here and lose
fifty-three points, you will not be expelled from school. That's your
insurance."
"......
What would you do then?"
"It's
simple. Now that you know my true nature, you need to die here."
Nina was so
terrified and frustrated that she couldn't even move her fingertips.
She couldn't
raise her voice to stop Bennett, nor could she lighten her guilt by crying and
screaming.
The only thing
she could do was to let the memories of the month she had spent with Jin
flicker in and out of her mind.
The dried-up
fountain. The conflict out of anger. Her disguise being discovered. The first
time she confided her secret to someone. Becoming accomplices. Days spent in
trickery, concealed from the world.
And the hint
of tremendous sadness he tried to hide in the lies he told her.
An electric
current sharply surges through Nina's mind.
─Why did I forget something
so important until now?
"......
Haha."
When Nina
finally came to her senses, her accomplice, who was still lying on the ground,
was smiling slightly.
"Nina, I
was not mistaken after all."
Looking up at
the hell that was just around the corner, Jin continued.
"If you
and I work together, we can even fool the world."
In contrast to
Jin, who began to laugh deep in his throat, Bennett's face was completely
frozen.
He finally
realized.
The fire was
already extinguished by Nina, who approached him through his blind spot.
He realized
that he was the one who had actually been betrayed.
"Wha......"
As if
everything had been only a faint illusion, the <Executioner of
Immolation> vanished in an instant.
Bennett, whose
gaze wandered as he searched for an answer to this impossible reality, was told
by Jin in a tone of voice that seemed to hold back laughter.
"Misdirection
─ It is a basic technique of deception. That's what
happens when you're focused only on me."
Before he knew
it, Jin had removed his handcuffs and was standing up, brushing dirt off his
clothes. Little did Bennett know, of course, that Jin could break the handcuffs
with the wire he had hidden in his sleeve.
"......
Since when?" Bennett asked, desperately gasping for oxygen. "Since
when on earth have you been deceiving me ...... Nina!"
Bennett, who
was completely enraged, was amusingly vulnerable.
Nina used the
pickpocketing technique that Jin had previously taught her and snatched the
matchbox that was kept in his pocket.
Nina felt a
little sorry for Bennett, who was oblivious to such things, so she decided to
give him an answer.
"I'm not
trying to deceive you, Bennet-san. I really thought it was the right thing to
do to get rid of Jin from the school, and I thought the best way to do that was
to cooperate with you. I can assure you that all of my feelings were true and
genuine."
"If
that's the case, then what the hell are you doing now ......?"
"When I
saw you tormenting Jin, I realized that I made the wrong decision."
Nina wore a
sad expression on her face.
"If
things continue as they are, Jin will never be saved. It could be far worse
than having his memories sealed and being expelled from the academy - that's
what I thought, and my body was moving on its own. What do you think? It all
makes sense, doesn't it?"
"......
Make sense? I really don't understand. What does it have to do with
anything?"
"It's
called <Method Acting>, apparently."
Nina smiled
with perfect social grace.
"To play
a fictional character, I have to abandon my own personality and become someone
else. While acting, my actions, each word choice, and even my thoughts all
follow the initial setting. If someone were to look into my mind, I am
confident that they would not realize that I am acting. ...... Because, I was
genuinely tracing the exact narrative I just told you, of my own
volition."
"............
That's impossible."
"You can
interpret it however you want, but it doesn't change the fact that it happened
right in front of you. You are surrounded by us, robbed of all your matchboxes,
and rendered completely powerless."
Nina said so
as she pulled a stun gun from a hidden pocket in her skirt.
"A truly
elaborate lie is a kind of art. How did you like it, Bennett-san? I hope you
enjoyed it."
Nina and Jin
crafted elaborate lies for the sole purpose of convincing Bennett of his
victory and stripping him of his focus and attention so that they could steal
the matchbox.
It all started
that day when they went to town together.
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