Bailonz Street 13

I felt sorry for the wood of the armrest barely holding on. The elegantly shaped armrest was on the verge of bending.

The sharp sound just now – wasn’t that actually the sound of Liam’s reason snapping? With his veins bulging, I worried Lucita’s precious furniture might break. Lucita must have sensed it too, as she warned Liam:

“Fight outside. Not in my house.”

But no one left. For one, Liam had me here, and that man… despite provoking with his words, he seemed to hate the idea of actually fighting. The man clung to Lucita’s arm, whimpering.

“Waaah, Master. I can’t fight. You said you’d raise me to be pretty.”

With her arm being tugged, Lucita let out a groan.

“How did I end up with this in my twilight years…”

Indeed. Even Lucita, known as the First Invader, seemed to be dealing with this type for the first time.

Lucita eventually stroked the aspiring butler’s head as if soothing a young animal. It was skilled training. As he closed his mouth, the room became very quiet, and the atmosphere instantly improved. Liam’s expression also soon softened.

Liam released his grip on the sofa armrest and placed his hands neatly on his knees.

“I’d like to drive out the ‘Crawling Chaos’.”

I was shocked.

How could a mere human stand against a divine being? No matter how much power one has, a human is still human. Why are gods called gods? We shouldn’t try to overcome beings we can’t handle. There’s no way we could win. All we can do is accept the coming death.

“It’s impossible.”

When I stated this firmly, Liam lowered his eyes. It was the expression he wore just before becoming stubborn.

“It’ll be a dog’s death, Liam Moore.”

“Even so, to not even try-“

“It’s not even worth trying. It’s not going to be as easy as dealing with mythical creatures or the monsters out there.”

No.

That’s not it.

I stopped speaking and covered my mouth with one hand.

There might not be absolutely no way. Though it would be no different from burning down the house to kill a bedbug…

“Couldn’t we drive out something from the outside with another outside force?”

And simultaneously, two people answered.

“Are you crazy?”

“That’s insane, Jane.”

It was Lucita and Liam. On the other hand, the aspiring butler looked at me with interest.

“Why did you think that?”

“Before, well…”

I explained one by one. His minion who kidnapped me before, the white-haired old man who defeated it, and the Black King’s anger when his connection to his minion was temporarily severed. It was the second time Liam heard this story, but not for Lucita.

When the story ended, the three just sat with their mouths shut. Lucita’s face, in particular, was the most serious. She rested her chin on her hand, lost in thought, then let out a deep sigh. Only the aspiring butler, suddenly caught up in this complex and long story, seemed excited.

“The Great Abyss, right? I’ve only heard stories. I never imagined someone who actually met it would exist. Miss Jane, you’re really an interesting person. Is it your constitution?”

“Constitution?”

“A constitution that attracts outside things.”

Constitution sounds a bit strange.

I quietly shrugged my shoulders. Once I revealed it, the rest became surprisingly easy. I wondered why I had struggled so much to keep it hidden.

‘If the world ends here anyway, it’s all over.’

Lucita intends to help me. Then I also had an obligation to reveal the truth to one of the few helpers Liam could trust.

I also told them about the existence of ‘El’ who helps me. That he is some kind of agent, and is very favorable towards me, so he wouldn’t stand by and watch me fall into danger.

Come to think of it, I had never told this story to anyone. It would be the first time Liam heard it too. Liam muttered, resting his chin on his hand.

“El?”

“Is there such a name?”

“It could be an abbreviation or an alias. They don’t easily reveal their identities.”

After a moment of silence, Liam met my eyes. His dark, storm-cloud-like eyes were still looking at me warmly.

“If you know anything more about this agent called El, tell me.”

“Uh, well. First, he stays in a black space, always wrapped in a white cloak. Honestly, that’s all I’ve seen, so I don’t know much…”

“Mm-hmm.”

“His voice is very neutral, and sometimes it sounds like multiple people speaking at once.”

Multiple people at once.

Liam quietly repeated my words. He looked like he was getting an idea. There was a very slight hint that he knew something but wanted to deny it.

‘What don’t you know?’

I wanted to ask. How much he knew, how he could deduce so much about someone from just a few casual words.

Looking at Liam Moore’s face full of confusion, I wondered how he maintained his sanity. It’s amazing that he hasn’t gone mad, knowing so much.

After a brief moment of suppressing a faint anxiety, Liam asked in a calm tone.

“Have you seen his true form?”

I pressed my lips tightly together.

It doesn’t seem like a good idea to talk about El’s true form. What did El say in the first place? Didn’t he say ‘You must forget to live’? Just having his true image in my mind had brought a pain that felt like my brain would burst. I still remember the sensation of blood gushing from my nose like a broken faucet. When a single existence was almost crushed! The weight of truth is always like that. If I were to recall that enormous pressure just to be honest… I could never speak of it.

“You have seen it.”

At Liam’s confident murmur, I carefully chose my words. And very cautiously, I found an expression that could be an answer but was very metaphorical.

The wave coming now would not be like the one just before.

“One and All.”

The air froze. The three people, except for me, knew the weight of those words.

The truth in my mind was biased and didn’t give me any more information than that. Perhaps it only passed on as much as a human could handle. So while I knew how to explain him, how to summarize him, there was just one thing I couldn’t know – his name.

“This is really giving me a headache.”

Lucita’s voice, sounding resigned, was full of fatigue.

“Who would have thought that the one we should be most careful of wouldn’t be the outsider, but Miss Jane.”

“Is it that serious?”

“Anyone would react like this if they knew the weight of that ‘El’ who’s helping Miss Jane.”

Liam briefly raised one hand to interrupt our conversation.

“Are you thinking of bringing him in?”

I’m not sure if he’d come even if we tried to bring him in. El is an agent, and the Black King probably has his own true form as well. It doesn’t seem like the two would clash, and even if they did, wouldn’t I just end up as a shrimp caught between two whales?

I slowly shook my head.

“We should keep El as a last resort. Here’s what I think, Liam. First, as the king said, I’ll go to him.”

Liam calmly waited for my next words. His gaze, looking at me with his hands neatly clasped together, was unwavering.

He’s someone who would follow without question if I came up with a solution. Even if it was reckless, even if it put himself in danger.

“And then?”

“We need to find out what his scheme is. It doesn’t make sense to exchange the world for me. He clearly has some other plan, but we can’t figure out his intentions, so I think I need to meet him directly.”

“Hmm.”

“Meanwhile, others will have to somehow solve what’s happening in London. Put Plurititas to work too. We can’t let the world end, right?”

Finally, he nodded. Liam must have known that just sitting here and racking our brains wouldn’t solve the problem. Time was limited and continued to flow even at this moment.

Lucita frowned at the idea of me voluntarily going into danger. But it seemed she couldn’t find a better plan either, so she agreed.

Now Lucita and her butler started discussing among themselves about protecting the city.

“We should deal with the hybrids first.”

“The altars are quite unpleasant too.”

“There’s someone perfect for that. I’ll leave it to Greenwich.”

Hmm. I suppose Greenwich is more expert in magical matters. They’d probably be more reliable than Lucita’s clumsy and messy aspiring butler.

The butler pondered for a moment and asked.

“What about the walking corpses?”

“Right, we’ll have to think about that too.”

It didn’t seem like we needed to get involved. I also thought there were people who would do their part even if we weren’t around.

Liam and I made eye contact. He seemed to have had the same thought as me. Liam stood up and led me out of the reception room.