Chapter 1 - Becoming the Mastermind of the Count’s House (1)

The Kingdom of Asteria lay east of the continent’s center.

In the kingdom’s south, a small room occupied the right side of the second floor of House Palladio’s manor.

“... Did you carry out my orders successfully?”

“Yes, sir.”

The knight standing before the man seated on the bed bowed his head as he answered.

“As you instructed, I rescued the orphans from the orphanage... no, the human experimentation facility in a small village in the kingdom’s east.”

“And you left the orphanage in good hands?”

“Yes, Lord Alon. I entrusted it to the girl named Yutia, exactly as you instructed.”

“... Did you settle matters with the baron’s house that administers the village?”

“Yes. As instructed, I showed them the documents concerning the human experimentation facility, and they meekly agreed to all our demands. They even provided a token of goodwill.”

With that, the knight, Evan, took a leather pouch from inside his clothes and set it down in front of Alon’s bedside table.

“Good.”

Alon opened the pouch and smiled in satisfaction at the gold coins inside.

“Young master, however... may I ask you one question?”

After a brief silence, Evan spoke up.

“What is it?”

“... Didn’t you say you ordered the raid on Baron Alphon’s human experimentation facility to rescue that girl, Yutia?”

Alon nodded for him to continue.

“... She was certainly extraordinary. I spent a very long time as a mercenary myself, but...”

Evan paused as though considering his words, then continued.

“She was so powerful that I cannot understand why such a young girl was confined in that facility at all.”

“And?”

“... Why did you simply leave her at the orphanage?”

Alon fell silent at the somewhat bewildered question.

In truth, Evan’s question was perfectly reasonable.

Rescuing the girl named Yutia brought no benefit if Alon had no intention of putting her to use in some way.

But that was only how the situation looked from Evan’s perspective.

From Alon’s, things were rather different.

‘I’ve eliminated one of the flags for the end of the world. That’s enough.’

Yutia.

Her full name was Yutia Bloodia.

In ten years, she would become the Sin of Wrath, one of the Five Great Sins—a monster who would erase two of the five allied kingdoms from the continent and inflict hundreds of thousands of casualties.

How did Alon know what would happen ten years from now? Because he had transmigrated into this world.

And he knew this world was Psychedelia, a dark fantasy RPG whose world would be utterly and brutally destroyed in ten years.

“Whew.”

Remembering when he had first woken up two months earlier, Alon held his dizzy head and let out a heavy sigh.

‘First, I spent three days agonizing over the discovery that this was a fantasy world. Then I learned I was ten years before the start of Psychedelia’s main story, and spent another ten days agonizing over that.’

At first, when Alon thought he had simply transmigrated into a fantasy world, he had despaired for about three days. But once he began adjusting, his situation actually wasn’t so bad.

Being a noble turned out to be surprisingly agreeable.

A noble’s daily life was far too comfortable.

He woke when he wanted.

Slept when he wanted.

Did what he wanted, when he wanted.

Ate when he wanted.

As the count’s third son, he might have lacked power, but he was in the perfect position to enjoy pleasure without responsibility.

That was why, at first, he had actually been rather happy.

For someone who had worked seventy-eight hours a week at a shitty little company for barely more than minimum wage, a noble’s life was luxurious beyond belief.

Of course, being unable to use the internet—arguably modern civilization’s greatest convenience—was a devastating drawback.

Still, life as a noble was satisfying enough to make up for it.

But that didn’t last.

Once Alon learned that this continent was named Ampelan...

...and reminded himself that the noble family he had transmigrated into was House Palladio, his mood could only plunge.

Ampelan was also the name of the continent in Psychedelia, the game he had enjoyed by squeezing out what little free time he had as a corporate slave.

And House Palladio was a noble family that appeared briefly in one of the game’s quests.

On top of that, the despair he felt upon learning that it was ten years before Psychedelia’s main story began...

...was as crushing as having his wages withheld for three straight months by that shitty company, each time with the excuse that things were tough that month.

Because being in Psychedelia’s setting meant that, noble or human or otherwise, every living thing would be ground to dust in ten years.

... And of all places, Asteria, the kingdom to which his count’s house belonged, vanished from the continent the moment the Five Great Sins appeared, no matter which route the player chose.

In other words, it was destroyed.

The kingdom disappeared.

The nobles disappeared.

The cities were annihilated.

In short, Alon Palladio’s life as a noble would inevitably end in ten years.

Which meant that, to preserve his peaceful life in the count’s household, Alon had to eliminate all Five Great Sins before they became human killing machines.

What he was doing now was part of that plan.

“Well... it’s like this.”

Naturally, however, he couldn’t tell Evan any of that.

“The time hasn’t come yet.”

“... The time hasn’t come?”

“Yes. In any case, make sure no word of this gets out. Continue supporting the orphanage, and provide whatever they ask for. Oh, and...”

Alon took a letter from inside his clothes and handed it over.

“Give her this letter.”

“... This letter?”

Alon answered the mercenary knight’s curious question.

“Yes.”

Strictly speaking, it was something significant.

What he had written in the letter was a phrase from a mandatory event he always saw when he encountered the Sin of Wrath while playing Psychedelia.

‘The anguish of the dark, the thoughtlessness of the light. One talent of promise, and belonging.’

At the first encounter with the Sin of Wrath, a somewhat suspicious archbishop NPC from the Holy Kingdom accompanied the player. He spoke those words, claiming he would calm the Sin of Wrath, but they never worked properly at that point in the event.

The instant he uttered them, the archbishop of the Holy Kingdom simply, simply dissolved into a handful of blood.

With an irritated expression, the Sin of Wrath left only a brief remark—[“You’re too late.”]—and the battle began.

Alon was using those words now anyway because the present was the earlier time the Sin of Wrath had referred to during gameplay.

And over dozens of repeated playthroughs, as he listened to the archbishop NPC, he had repeatedly seen the description: “An incantation that can make you a friend of the Eldritch Blood race.”

*‘Of course, it’s ridiculous to think that memorizing one incantation could make me friends with that insane race that contracts with Cthulhu and throws its power around...

Then again, since they worship beings like that, it almost seems reasonable.’ *

The thoughts of people who ventured into the realm of fanaticism were impossible to predict.

At some point, the mercenary knight bowed respectfully and left the room. Watching him go, Alon shrugged and thought,

‘All right. I’ve cleared the first land mine I can deal with. Time for the second?’

####

A few days later.

“A letter for you.”

Returning to the orphanage on Alon’s orders, Evan handed her the letter as instructed, but couldn’t hide his unease.

And with good reason. The girl named Yutia standing before him was strange.

Her red eyes, contrasting with her white hair, held no emotion whatsoever.

No—not even the slightest trace.

Perfect insensibility.

With an expression that suggested she saw every being in the world as nothing more than an object, the girl reached out and accepted the letter.

Her expression was exactly the same as when Evan had first rescued her from this orphanage.

RUSTLE, RUSTLE

Yutia began taking out the letter without a word.

Evan wore an expression of incomprehension, unable to understand why she had been confined in a human experimentation facility like this.

Although he had not reached Master rank, he could wield mana, and anyone who could wield mana naturally gained the ability to sense other people’s presence.

Moreover, Evan’s talent for mana was considerably better than that of most other knights, allowing him to perceive it far more accurately.

That was how he knew.

‘No matter how I look at it, this makes no sense.’

The girl before him was not someone who could be confined in a mere human experimentation facility like this.

As he considered that, another question rose in Evan’s mind.

It concerned the third son of House Palladio, who had hired him at a tavern a few months earlier.

From what he had heard during his days as a mercenary, House Palladio’s third son was a typical talentless bastard of a noble family, treated as virtually disowned by his household.

There were also stories that his timid nature made him a frequent target of bullying by the eldest and second sons, both notorious scumbags.

How, then, had that third son of a count’s house known about the human experiments a baron’s family was conducting in such a secret place?

‘... I just don’t know.’

Thinking this, Evan looked ahead—

“!?”

His expression suddenly turned to astonishment.

A broad smile had appeared on Yutia’s face, which had been utterly expressionless only moments before.

No, it went beyond a broad smile.

‘Her mana is visible to the naked eye...?!’

She was casually displaying a feat that could only be performed by someone who had reached Master rank, whatever their discipline.

And then—

“The person who sent this letter. You said his name was Lord... Alon, didn’t you?”

As Yutia spoke, the vertically slit, reptilian pupils characteristic of the Eldritch Blood race stared straight at Evan from within the red of her eyes.

“!”

That alone set off the danger sense of Evan, who had reached Expert rank. He was once again silently appalled, but quickly composed his expression and answered.

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t he summon me?”

At Yutia’s question, Evan thought, How should I know? But he did not carelessly say it aloud.

His instincts were telling him not to.

Instead, Evan recalled the words Alon had spoken so casually and replied,

“... He said the time... hadn’t come yet.”

“I see.”

A brief answer.

But the long curve of her smile seemed to tell him that his reply had been the right one.

She.

Yutia Bloodia—no.

“... I think I understand.”

The first daughter of Eldritch Blood, Yutia Bloody Queen, moved her endlessly alluring red lips.

“His wishes.”

Treasuring the letter bearing words like a secret promise, known only to her master, she clutched it tightly and twisted her lips into a strange smile.