OKHS 06

Chapter 6

“It’s truly a shame that Lord Richard has already left the venue.”

“How disappointing. This banquet is practically his celebration in all but name.”

Amid the grumbling of high-ranking nobles tinged with regret, Richard’s aide Maurice broke into a cold sweat.

“His Excellency Lord Richard wishes to take time to mourn the war’s dead and wounded, so…”

“Mourning… If it is his will, we must respect it.”

Mourning, my foot.

Maurice felt prick after prick of conscience as he rattled off one barefaced lie after another.

How much longer would these smooth excuses work on the nobles?

And yet, he couldn’t very well honestly admit that their fastidious commander-in-chief found gatherings like this extremely tiresome.

Right now, the man’s popularity was soaring so high it practically ascended to the heavens.

‘Nothing will go wrong, surely?’

Thinking of his inscrutable superior who had vanished leaving only the words that his cigars had run out, Maurice felt an inexplicable sense of unease.

Richard had always been cold by nature, a man who rarely revealed his inner thoughts.

But after returning from the subjugation expedition, he had become an even more cold-blooded man whose feelings were impossible to gauge.

If there was any trace of warmth about him, it was only when he was with the members of the Black Knight Order.

‘…It’s probably just needless worry.’

Still, the current situation gave him no choice but to be concerned.

Lately, Grand Duke Kronel seemed to want to push forward his incompetent second son—born to his second wife—instead of his eldest, Richard.

But Maurice’s family had staked its fate on the capable and strong Grand Duke Richard.

So please, let today pass without incident—Maurice wiped his sweat with a handkerchief.

The moment Mona spotted Professor Thomas in a corner of the banquet hall, she clutched the thesis hidden inside her skirt.

At the same time, she recalled the script she had prepared in advance.

The script went something like this:

[Professor, have you seen my thesis?

Of course! I knew you wouldn’t have, so I brought it.

I know you’re busy, but it will only take five minutes.

The format is organized according to regulations, and you only need to check the last chapter where the core hypothesis and conclusion are marked.]

Of course, she had also prepared for the case where the bastard professor refused to review her thesis.

[Professor, did you know?

If there’s no thesis guidance record for a year, the Academy’s academic affairs office may launch an investigation into your teaching history.

So investing just five minutes would be to your benefit, Professor.

And if you find it difficult to spare even that short time, please invest one second to sign this evaluation rights transfer form.]

Satisfied that her script was perfect in every way, Mona’s pupils suddenly quaked.

“Wha—!?”

Where did he go?

While she had been hiding in a corner of the terrace pulling out the thesis from her skirt, the bastard professor had once again vanished without a trace.

‘He couldn’t have gone far.’

As expected, Professor Thomas was crossing the corridor, chattering noisily with the group he belonged to.

‘By the way, where is he going?’

Watching the professor head out through a back door leading outside, Mona recalled what the mage had said earlier.

“Tsk. The victory celebration is just an excuse—he’s clearly slipped off to a social club.”

And now, of all things, he seemed to be heading toward that very social club…?

What to do?

After a moment’s hesitation, Mona soon began tailing the professor with a face full of determination.

Under imperial law, a head of household could forcibly push forward his daughter’s marriage.

If she couldn’t obtain her degree as soon as possible, there was a real chance her father would try to force her into marriage with some random man.

This was no time to be picky.

‘Once you’ve drawn the sword, you have to cut something…’

But even after leaving the banquet hall, Mona’s pursuit was not smooth.

“Ugh!”

“Goodness, do watch where you’re going!”

The streets near the imperial palace were packed with people who had flocked hoping to catch even a glimpse of the war hero’s coattails.

Still, weaving through the bustling crowd, she managed to keep from losing sight of Professor Thomas’s group.

Before she knew it, Mona had left the central shopping district and stepped into an unfamiliar area.

‘The smell of cigars…’

Suddenly, a pungent odor stung her nose.

Frowning, Mona moved toward the alley the professor had entered.

“Hey, you there!”

But a large man suddenly blocked her path.

“You there, the ugly one with glasses. You think you can enter our salon looking like that? There’s a limit to muddying the waters.”

“I just need to go in for a moment…”

As she replied anxiously, watching the professor’s group disappear into the dark interior of the salon, the doorman shoved her shoulder.

“Ho there! Where do you think you’re sneaking in like a rat! If you want to play that badly, take off those glasses and wear this.”

“Ah—!”

The doorman snatched her thick glasses and tossed them into the trash, then handed her a white mask.

“Why would you—!”

Before she could protest about him throwing them away, the doorman dashed off toward a group of men wearing ornate masks.

“Oh my, welcome! Right this way, please. I’ll escort you, my lords.”

Mona stood there dumbfounded, watching the doorman hurry off with customers in tow.

In the end, unable to bring herself to fish her glasses out of the trash bin overflowing with vomit and liquor bottles, she hastily put on the mask.

‘Damn it.’

Pressing her bangs down firmly so her blurred irises wouldn’t show, Mona swallowed a curse.

She had been so focused on chasing the professor that she only belatedly realized the atmosphere of the place she had entered was strange.

As the sun set, gaudy magic lamps began lighting up here and there, and people in revealing clothing started to catch her eye.

‘I thought a social club would be an elegant place, but it’s a pleasure-district salon.’

Having naively assumed a social club was something like a gathering for playing cards and socializing, Mona felt at a loss.

She had come all this way—was she supposed to give up and go back?

It was a shame, but finding the professor in a place like this was beyond her abilities.

In the end, Mona trudged back the way she had come, feeling dejected.

‘…But is this really the way I came?’

As darkness fell on all sides, the flashing magic lamps transformed the atmosphere around her, throwing off her sense of direction.

All she could see were suspicious street stalls increasing one by one.

The further she walked, the stronger the bitter, pungent smoke and smell became, and Mona coughed and hacked before approaching a stall vendor.

“Excuse me…”

“Hehe, is the young lady looking to buy some cigarettes too?”

She had meant to ask where the carriage stand was, but the vendor boldly pulled out a box and thrust it before Mona’s eyes.

“Take a look. I’ve got all the recent bestsellers.”

The moment the vendor opened the box, a familiar herbal scent brushed the tip of her nose.

‘This is… Almaris fragrance.’

Almaris was one of the ingredients Mona had handled most often when conducting her “research on becoming friends with monsters,” so she couldn’t mistake it.

But why would they put that flower in cigarettes?

Almaris was a flower classified as a “plant-type monster” like mandrake—non-toxic, but it subtly distorted the flow of surrounding mana.

That’s why it was treated as a dangerous ingredient…

“Hey! If you’re not buying, get lost!”

When Mona stood there with her lips pressed tight and said nothing, the vendor flew into a rage and went back to soliciting other customers.

‘I guess they’re selling illegally manufactured cigarettes here…’

Which meant this was a place imperial crackdowns didn’t reach often. Perhaps even more dangerous than the pleasure-district salon.

‘What kind of evil luck do I have today?’

Swallowing her tension, Mona crossed the alley as quickly as she could, practically fleeing.

After escaping the alley lined with cigarette vendors while keeping herself guarded, the scenery changed in an instant.

The stinging smell of tar faded, and instead an indescribable chilling energy clung to her skin.

…What is this?

Mona opened her eyes wide.

‘This space—the flow of mana is strange.’

She had always been sensitive to mana, but thanks to the sensory perception caused by the side effects of her experiments, she noticed it keenly.

The mana around here was subtly flowing in reverse.

What some called “demonic energy”—the sinister force.

Her heart began pounding violently.

It wasn’t fear—rather, a part of her heart was seething with excitement.

Because the only beings capable of reversing mana were monsters that did not conform to the natural order.

Why would she sense a monster’s presence in a place like this?

…What kind of monster could it be?

A mere slime wouldn’t cause this kind of mana distortion.

Her curiosity was so intense she couldn’t bring herself to walk away.

Curiosity killed the cat—and she, who bore a large scar on her shoulder from a failed experiment, knew that better than anyone.

But even after experiencing failure, Mona was a mad cat who continued her “research on becoming friends with monsters.”

‘Well, I didn’t die, after all.’

Mona, who lost all reason when it came to monsters—her field of interest—moved as if possessed toward the direction where the mana distortion felt strongest.

In fact, she had one thing she was counting on.

Since she had a constitution that allowed her to get along amicably with monsters, somehow it would work out…

“Aaaargh!”

Just then, a tearing, rough scream pierced her eardrums sharply.

“Urk…! Hehe— ugh. Prince Richard, please… please, spare me…!”

Crunch, crack.

After the sound of flesh being crushed and bones twisting passed by, a deathly silence descended all around once more.

Richard… Prince?

She was frozen in shock at having heard a name she shouldn’t have, when—

In the pitch-black darkness, Mona came face to face with a pair of beast-like eyes blazing blood-red.

Those were the eyes of a predator—not a human.