Bailonz Street 13

But how? How did he descend here?

It was completely different from Clara or Herschel’s time. Then, he had borrowed the body of a perfectly living person, but this… isn’t it a dead body?

The king addressed me in a rather kind and regretful tone.

【Did I not tell you?】

“No.”

【That I never came to bring peace to the world.】

“No!”

The voices of singing skeletons were chorusing. The shadows lengthen.

【I’ll praise you for momentarily overwhelming my limbs. But you shouldn’t think otherwise. Even if you try to run away, I can see through your moves.】

The king was there. But to me, he seemed to be getting closer and closer. Very enormous, and feeling like I could never overcome him again.

I can’t win. This can’t be won. He wasn’t an opponent I could defeat. Should I ask for El’s help? But it seemed that even with El’s help, there would be limitations.

Limbs, the limbs he mentioned must be Clara. The king was quite pleased with erasing even the memories so that Clara wouldn’t notice.

I barely moved my trembling hand to point the sword blade.

“What do you want?”

【Didn’t I answer? Jane Osmond, I said.】

Then he added with an “Ah” sigh,

【This story will soon spread throughout London.】

It was an incomprehensible declaration. What story?

But after hearing the following words, I could guess his purpose. It feels like the Black King’s madness is spreading to me.

【Children of man, listen. The end is approaching.】

Like the words of a god, it was a merciful and devout voice. Calling such a thing a god would be blasphemous, but he loved blasphemy more than anyone else, so he would surely welcome it more.

Yellow eyes flood towards me. He smiled at me.

【Only one hour of grace will be granted,】

He showed his teeth and smiled at me.

【If Jane Osmond is offered to me, the end will not come.】

Bang!

As soon as he finished speaking, a gunshot rang out. It was fired from beside me.

The flying bullet pierced straight through the Black King’s head, but he seemed to have deliberately left it alone even though he could have blocked it. A giggling laughter burst from the dead man’s mouth.

【Haha, hahahaha!】

Bang! Jonathan reloaded and fired another shot. And one more, one more, one more… until the dead body stopped laughing and became a form that couldn’t even make a sound anymore, he poured out all the bullets.

“Jonathan. Jonathan. It’s okay. Stop it.”

I grabbed Jonathan’s shoulder. Tick, tick, Jonathan, who had been pulling the trigger of the empty gun several times, staggered and propped himself up with the gun barrel. His back heaved deeply, as if unable to control his anger.

“That… thing.”

Jonathan turned to me with bloodshot eyes. His mouth opened, and words spilled out with rough breaths.

“Why does that thing demand you be handed over, sis.”

This is unexpected. There was some possibility of Liam going wild. That’s why I was holding Liam tightly. But I didn’t expect the relatively quiet Jonathan, who had never caused trouble, to react like this. How should I put it? Should I say I’m perplexed? It’s like seeing my past self. Me, who was anxious about what Liam was hiding.

Jonathan, disregarding my reflections, desperately spit out words.

“Sis, what on earth is going on? You know how strange you’ve been lately. Suddenly carrying around a sword you never used before. Knowing the names of those monsters. Not seeming surprised by these events, what, what is it?”

“Jonathan. Calm down first. You’re too excited right now.”

“How can I calm down when you’re in danger!”

The zombies that had gathered start to turn away one by one. True to the words of one hour’s grace, it’s clear they intend to give us an hour of freedom. Is the Black King controlling them? Why does Chaos want me?

Plurititas grabbed Jonathan’s shoulder. Jonathan just glared at what he had shot for a while with reddened eyes, then slowly turned his head.

Liam lets out a sigh. Plurititas, watching Jonathan walk ahead towards Whitmore Gardens, whispered to me in a low voice.

“Did we hide it for too long?”

“You’re asking the obvious.”

“I guess it’s about time to reveal it.”

I’m scared. If we reveal it, we’ll have to start with my identity, but what about Jonathan’s shock? I had the game system, Liam, and El. Thanks to them, I’ve been able to endure safely without mentally breaking down until now. But Jonathan…

“With London in this state, my brother-in-law must be sensing something too.”

Jonathan, who was walking ahead, turned his head and shouted angrily.

“Call me ‘brother-in-law’ one more time and the next bullet will put a draft hole in your head, William Moore!”

“Oops.”

Liam, exaggeratedly flinching, tightly closes his mouth. Even Liam seems afraid of someone with a gun.

Right, Jonathan must be sensing something too. He must be. That’s why he couldn’t help but ask.

Only then does my mind calm down. I quickly moved my feet. We need to come up with some plan during this one hour.

As I did so, I recalled the Black King’s words.

‘If I’m offered to him, the end can be avoided?’

In other words, it depends on his mood, doesn’t it? There’s no guarantee he won’t completely destroy London after taking me. The king was someone who could bring back the end that had passed, just as he could stop the coming end.

“…The master is waiting.”

Lucita’s butler was waiting for us with an uncomfortable face.

As Plurititas, Jonathan, Liam, and finally I stepped in, the door closed as if swallowing us.

Bang.

＊ ＊ ＊

Lucita’s mansion was in disarray. It seems we’re not the only visitors.

As we walked down the corridor, whispers could be heard from behind numerous doors. The only thing that has changed since I first came is me. Now that I’ve crossed the boundary, their voices were all too clear to me. It seemed Liam and Plurititas could hear them too, but poor Jonathan knew nothing.

Cheering at the sight of humans after a long time is cute. I also heard sounds of them licking their lips at the sight of Jonathan.

“The brown-haired one looks delicious.”

“I don’t like the black-haired one. Looks fierce. Probably tough. Might prick my mouth if I eat it.”

“There are two brown-haired ones.”

“The man. He looks firm.”

That’s when I thought it was fortunate that Jonathan couldn’t hear these things. Saying someone else’s brother looks delicious! There’s no greater rudeness than this.

I was about to call Jonathan to take care of him, but Plurititas was one step ahead. His arm lightly wrapped around Jonathan’s shoulder.

“Hey, bodyguard.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Isn’t the water here a bit off?”

His tone was just like a troublemaker causing a scene at a bar. Saying the water is off. Who uses such expressions these days?

As I tried to hold back my laughter with a subtle expression, Jonathan responded to Plurititas more seriously than I expected.

“Is that so?”

“Yes. The whispering everywhere is quite unpleasant. Can you hear it?”

“It sounds a bit distant to me.”

Is it because Jonathan responds to everything like this that Plurititas keeps giving him extra work and overtime?

I was puzzled. Jonathan is sociable, but he doesn’t approach work colleagues more than necessary. He didn’t allow them to approach either.

I remember when Jonathan was first assigned to Scotland Yard. It was not long after I came to London. At his request to pick him up, I was waiting in a hired carriage. I vividly remember him flatly refusing his seniors’ temptation to stop by a pub for a drink on his first day and walking out. And how he immediately went to his flat after getting in the carriage.

I don’t understand why such a Jonathan is particularly comfortable with Plurititas. Did he decide to change his attitude as he got older? Or is it because he’s paid well?

Jonathan calmly said,

“If you wish, I could silence them.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Through dialogue and persuasion.”

But why is he holding the hunting rifle during the ‘dialogue’ part, and… taking out bullets during the ‘persuasion’ part? Jonathan’s persuasion seemed to come only through the trigger. The Osmond family certainly didn’t raise Jonathan like this.

He must be crazy, now he’s not just threatening people but monsters too. He must be living with his liver outside his body. That must be why he can live and eat in that ominous Plurititas mansion.

Feeling somewhat devastated, I tightly closed my eyes.

“Jonathan. Don’t forget this is someone else’s house.”

And as I warned him sternly, Jonathan immediately became docile. As he slung the gun back over his shoulder, Jonathan shyly replied.

“Okay, sis. I got it.”