She asked, filled with anger.

“But isn’t it natural for me to dislike someone you dislike? Because I love you!”

“You love me?”

“…Yes.”

Benjamin violently stomped on one of the knights at his feet, as if venting his anger.

The half-unconscious knight’s scream echoed.

Rosie clenched her fists at that terrible sound.

“Then you should do things I would like. Why act on your own?”

Rosie looked down at the knight writhing in pain. The fear she had been barely suppressing began to intensify.

Benjamin forcefully turned her face towards him, making her gaze meet his again.

“I have something I want to ask you.”

“……”

“That day, did you clearly confirm with your own eyes that Yerena died?”

Rosie replied with a pale face.

“N-No. I didn’t confirm it.”

The interrogation ended there.

Benjamin roughly released Rosie’s face, which he had been holding. As if he had heard all he needed to hear.

As he turned his back, Rosie grabbed him one last time.

“Benjamin!”

“……”

Benjamin stopped and turned around.

“You haven’t… fallen for Yerena, have you?”

“Who knows.”

“……”

“But I don’t let anyone who touches what’s mine go unpunished.”

“What?”

“I’ve already gotten confessions from your knights about what you did. Even if you’re a noble lady, this won’t be overlooked easily.”

“W-Why are you going this far!”

Benjamin’s eyes, directed at Rosie, gleamed coldly.

“When I heard that you tried to kill Yerena, I wanted to kill you.”

“……”

“I’m being very lenient.”

That was the end of the conversation. Benjamin left the drawing room in just a few steps.

Rosie collapsed on the spot, staring into space like a person who had lost her soul.

The person she faced today didn’t seem like the one she had loved.

And she had no doubt that Yerena was the one who had changed him.

***

As Benjamin left the McCloy ducal residence, he twisted his neck left and right.

‘I almost wiped them out.’

It had been a while since he dealt with people instead of monsters, so it was difficult to control his strength.

If he had been a bit more violent, the necks of the knights he faced might have snapped.

If that had happened, even he wouldn’t have escaped punishment.

Benjamin was supposed to stay at the Vicente Ducal residence for a while due to disciplinary confinement.

But he had sneaked out to find out whether Yerena was really dead or not.

If the commotion he caused at the McCloy ducal residence today reached the Imperial Palace, his confinement might be extended.

‘But that’s all.’

Anyway, if an S-class monster appeared, the Center, no, the Imperial Palace would have no choice but to release him. Because he was the best at dealing with S-class monsters.

The result of today’s outing, disobeying the Center Director’s orders, was quite satisfactory.

The fact that neither Rosie nor any of her knights had seen Yerena’s corpse. He pondered this fact.

‘It seems Duncan is hiding Yerena after all…’

Benjamin was an S-class esper.

Not only were his abilities outstanding, but his intuition was also very good.

He could instinctively sense when a monster appeared, even without the wristwatch that alerted monster appearances.

His keen intuition was telling him that Yerena was certainly alive.

Benjamin trusted his intuition.

The problem was where she was hiding.

‘And why did Duncan hide Yerena?’

He hadn’t met Duncan, the newly appointed Center Director, much.

But even from their brief encounters, he could roughly tell what kind of man Duncan was.

That man, while pretending to be a good person, was clearly as cold-hearted as himself.

Benjamin was certain that Duncan was a man who clearly weighed gains and losses.

If so, hadn’t something about Yerena piqued Duncan’s interest?

A strange light flickered in Benjamin’s pupils, which had been dull and lifeless.

Benjamin became curious about what kind of relationship Duncan and Yerena might have.

“Loser. Where could you be hiding?”

Just as he muttered to himself, he felt a sticky liquid flowing down his head.

Benjamin put his hand to his head.

What was on his fingertips was a grayish-white liquid with an unpleasant smell.

“Bird droppings…?”

Benjamin, who detested dirty things, frowned deeply.

He looked up at the sky belatedly, but the culprit who had defecated on his head was nowhere to be seen.

***

It was just as I had almost finished explaining to the Guildmaster about the moment I fell from the cliff.

―Kyuuuuu!

Bless’s voice was heard. He entered the office through the slightly open window.

‘I’ back!’… he says.

I greeted Bless, who had returned from finishing the species meeting.

“Did you have a good trip?”

―Kyuu kyuu.

‘Yes. Yes.’

Bless opened his beak again as if he had more to say.

―Kyuu kyuu kyuu kyuu. Kyuu kyuu kyuu.

I tilted my head, wondering if what I heard was real. Then the Guildmaster, who had been silently listening to our conversation, expressed his curiosity.

“What did he say this time?”

I answered as I heard it.

“…He says he saw the man who was bothering me on his way here and punished him?”

Bless chimed in on our conversation.

―Kyuu kyuu, kyuu!

‘Bird poop punishment!’

…I thought it must have been a truly unpleasant punishment.

Not wanting to receive his punishment myself, I scratched under Bless’s chin as if praising him.

Bless half-closed his round eyes and shivered all over.

He seemed to be in a very good mood.

But you know. Could it be that Bless had encountered one of the Allen Knights?

If so, which of the three men did he give the bird poop punishment to?

I was curious, but it was a question I didn’t really want to solve.

“Honey, Honey!”

“Calling me sweetly twice like that, my heart can’t take it.”

Well. My voice is a bit sweet, I guess.

“Honey, stop talking nonsense. Do you happen to know how to change one’s appearance?”

“Appearance, huh.”

“I think I’ll have to stay in the capital for a while due to business, but as you know, I’m in a situation where I need to hide! I want to disguise myself.”

The Guildmaster made a “Hmm…” sound, giving off an air of contemplation.

“As you may know, magic that changes appearance is considered illegal. It’s because it could be used for crimes.”

As a possessed person, I didn’t know this fact well, but I nodded.

“Instead, I have……”

The Guildmaster trailed off as if about to reveal a big secret.

I felt somehow tense. Bless seemed to feel the same, focusing on the Guildmaster’s lips with his beak slightly open.

Finally, the Guildmaster’s lips moved.

“A hairdresser’s license.”

“A, a hairdresser’s license? All of a sudden?”

The Guildmaster shrugged as if to say, what’s wrong with that?

Then he opened up his ability after a long time.

“Potato subspace.”

It was the appearance of the potato subspace following the potato wiki.

Of course, nothing visibly appeared before my eyes.

But as if something was visible only to the Guildmaster’s eyes, he reached out his hand into the air.

Soon, an amazing thing happened.

The Guildmaster’s hand disappeared into thin air. As if he had put his hand into an invisible pocket.

What the Guildmaster held in his hand was…

“…Scissors?”

It was scissors with gleaming sharp blades.

“The fact that just changing your hairstyle can make you a different person.”

“……”

“I can do both cutting and dyeing.”

The Guildmaster clicked the scissors happily.

…Why does this feel somehow creepy?

“C-Can’t you actually show me the license?”

“I didn’t put the license in the subspace, so.”

“Then what am I supposed to trust to let you handle my hair!”

At that, Honey, no, the Guildmaster put his hand that wasn’t holding the scissors on his chest.

Taking a posture as if swearing, the Guildmaster said plaintively.

“Darling. Trust me.”

It must be because I’ve been through a lot of hard times lately that my heart has become weak.

To think my heart would turn to mush at just those words from someone whose face I can barely see.

The Guildmaster seemed to notice that my heart had softened.

“I’ll make you the most beautiful woman in the world.”

Ah, such sweet words.

“Hm?”

At the sound that seemed to be seeking an answer, I raised both my hands and feet in surrender.

I lost. Who wouldn’t fall for someone calling them ‘darling’ in a voice dripping with honey, promising to make them the most beautiful woman in the world?

“If you cut it weirdly, I’ll kill you.”

Instead of answering, the Guildmaster clicked the scissors.

That sound sent another chill down my spine.

Is it really okay to go through with this?