And So the Brief Light Shines in the Shadows

"Hugh, I've got a security detail for tomorrow and onwards..."

"What!?"

Diana's loud voice, which smashed Benedict's ears as soon as he opened the door to the party room, was not directed at Benedict, however.

Inside the room, Diana was grabbing Hugh by the collar.

"What's the matter, Diana? Having a fight?"

“Benedict, did you not hear? Iris has disappeared!"

"…What did you say?"

Diana shouted, her face turning blood red. Benedict's blood boiled when he heard this.

"We didn't see her, so we went all over the castle. I even asked the maid to check to see if she had collapsed in the bathroom... The last time we saw her, she was walking on the walls of the castle... The gatekeeper hadn't even seen her, and then she was gone."

Hugh, still clutching his chest, said, and Benedict was caught up in his thoughts.

"On the castle walls ...? The guild sent a sealed letter to Iris, and I gave it to her as she walked along."

"What's that?"

"So the Guild called her ...  and even if they did, it's strange that she left without saying anything to us."

"Yeah, and it's odd that the gatekeeper didn't see her. I could understand if she had used a «Fly» or something to get out, but I don't know why she would have done that for."

Iris was not the kind of girl who would just wander off on her own. Even when going out for a short trip around the area, she would tell her party members where she was going if she was going out alone.

Her sudden disappearance seemed like something out of the ordinary.

Even so, normally they would not have been so worried.

If it had not been for the assassination attempt on the Earl and the attack on the family members by the Night Pythons strike team, they would not have been so worried.

Iris disappeared under these circumstances. It was natural that disturbing imagery would come to mind.

“Benedict, can't you find her with your nose?"

"Don't be absurd, without a smell attached to the soles of her shoes, it would be hard to find her outside. And even then, it depends on how you walk on your own feet."

"Oh, already! Where's Iris's stuff?"

"Here…"

"Give me that!"

Diana turned over a large backpack. An avalanche of items burst onto the bed.

Rummaging through the items for magical purposes and a few cute little miscellaneous items, Diana pulled out a set of Iris's clothes.

"Stay close by, be on time... ≪Seek Person≫!”

Diana used magic.

This was a magic spell to search for people by using objects and other clues. This is the holy magic version of it.

Closing her eyes, Diana focused her mind as she traced the seams of a shirt.

A stifling silence.

Eventually, Diana opened her eyes.

"There she is!"

"Where is she!?"

"This isn't good. Not in the city! That's weird!"

"Calm down, if she's out of Eltaref and headed somewhere else, where is she!?"

Diana thought for a moment, then nodded to confirm her own thoughts.

"... I think it's... Vonnay."

"No way..."

The commercial city of Vonnay.

It was the hub of the trade routes connecting the surrounding territories, and is the busiest town in Earl Keely's territory, which has no resources or industry worth mentioning. There was also a branch of the Adventurers' Guild, and the "Dragon's Throat" made frequent visits there.

But the information that Iris was on her way there was more than enough to support a disturbing assumption.

"The Night Pythons headquarters, which the Earl is trying to raid. It is in Vonnay."

＊ ＊ ＊

That was the scene René saw in a faint slumber.

In the darkness of the lightless night, René was there in the form of René.

She was smaller than Iris's body and had silver hair.

Her body, which was completely uncovered, shone dimly in the darkness.

When she looked up, she saw Iris.

Wavy blond hair and wisteria eyes. Like René, she was completely exposed. She was sitting with her body curled up into a ball.

Her piercing gaze was fixed on René.

In the cage of a body, the two of them were facing each other, soul to soul.

"Rose Princess. René "Rosey" Ruvia Ciel-Terra. ...... poor little girl. No matter how hard you fight, you will never be saved."

Iris opened her mouth. Her tone was cold, as if she were exhausted.

It was a dialogue in an irregular space. She could not read emotions.

Even so, what she understood was pity, sympathy, and hostility.

" I don't need salvation. I only want revenge..."

René said resolutely, as though shaking off something that was entangling her.

"Yeah. That's what revenge is all about, isn't it?"

Iris sighed, half-mockingly, half-satisfied.

"I... am going to die."

Iris's tone seemed resigned, like she had already given up on the whole thing.

René affirmed in silence.

“It's ... a bit of a sickening feeling that you killed me and you continue to suffer. But I still feel sorry for you. Surely you have nothing left but revenge, and yet that revenge makes you suffer."

"I'm not going to suffer...

Cut off their heads, pierce their chests, split their bellies. Burn them, tear them, hang them out to dry, and kill them. Kill them in fear. Kill them in humiliation. Kill them in despair. I will kill every last one of them. I don't know if there will be salvation or not, but ... it will be fun. I can't wait just to imagine it."

The black flames of resentment that continued to burn in her heart. The pain, the sorrow, the determination and urge to beat it all back.

It was a living hell to stay still with such a starving desire.

The only way to be free from this pain was to take revenge, and that must be fun. The time she spent killing in the capital right after her rebirth as an Undead was short, but it was great.

This time, it will be spread throughout the country. Eventually, it will spread to the world. René would kill back everything that killed her ...just like that.

But Iris scoffed pitifully.

"Is that so?"

She laughed like she had realized everything.

"I'm sure you'll find out soon enough..."

＊ ＊ ＊

"Ha..."

Iris (René) woke up in an unknown place.

Her body was cramped and constricted. She was bound with ropes all over her body, gagged, and even her fingers were tied so that she could not make marks. On top of that, she seemed to be stuffed into a sack and laid in between some luggage.

The floor was shaking violently. She was probably on a carriage.

Zero commas for understanding that much.

Iris (René) twisted around and looked at her lower body first.

―― Seeeeeeeeeyfuh!

Iris (René) exclaimed in her mind, sounding like a baseball referee.

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