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Chapter 75 Part 2 – The ending of Rona’s awakening of love. And the people remember the sorrowful night and weep.

Rather than the riot, the crowd are more excited for the continuation of this story.
It would be so much more thrilling to see a nasty Inquisition officer get the crap beaten out of him.
They had gone from rioters to spectators.
All of them waited with bated breath for Matthew’s response.

‘…… Tch, hypnosis is no longer effective. I got totally dragged into the young boy’s play. I guess I have no choice but to deal with him.’

Matthew had made the silver ornaments on his bowler hat and overcoat glint from the reflection of the flames and he smiled wryly at the lack of response from the crowd. By making the ornaments glint at a constant timing, it would become a prop to make people more susceptible to suggestions by narrowing their consciousness, just like narrowing their visual field.

But it is no longer effective on the crowd.
The light called Wendell is so strong that it overshadows it.

Even by just standing still, he is frighteningly eye-catching. He can only be described as a natural stage star. And now, he is deliberately making flamboyant gestures to attract attention to himself. He is clearly recognizable even in the midst of thousands of people. Even the blazing fire seems to be a stage prop to enhance him.

‘Also, I really don’t like his weird, eerie eyes.’

When Wendell’s red eyes stare at them, the furious mobs suddenly become frightened. Or they stare blankly at him. Even if his eye color is extremely unusual, it makes Matthew suspicious of the possibility that Wendell has the power to cancel out his hypnosis.

And the one that showed the most dramatic reaction was his close aide, John.

Unable to take his eyes off Wendell, John finally stopped straddling Rona and moved away from Rona. His body shook with anxiety. Even his physique seemed to have shriveled.

「…… A caterpillar doll ……? …… W-Why did I do something so terrible to those kids ……!?」

The maniacal smile faded to reveal a confused and frightened expression.

Matthew clicked his tongue.

「Jo-o-o-o-o-o-hn!!!」

John stiffened when he heard Matthew calling his name with that distinctive intonation.
Matthew held a poisonous pill he had taken out of his pocket in his hand.

「This is not good. Your faith in God is diminishing. You can take this specially made medicine. It will take you to paradise. Hey, don’t you wish to do whatever you want to that red-eyed boy? Wouldn’t you like to see that beautiful face cry and scream as you tear off his limbs? None of your collection can hold a candle to him.」

「N-no!! I remember it now!! You tricked me into taking these pills!! And then my head got all fuzzy and I – I didn’t feel like myself anymore ……!! Nooo!!」

John screamed and resisted, but despite his words, his hand moved of its own accord and threw the pill into his mouth.
A sinister smile once again appeared on John’s face.
His body swelled up.

「Gaahh!! You conceited little brat!! I’ll personally check how a noble brat like you can deal with this!! Get out of the way!!」

Ranting and raving, John brandished his ax and rushed into the crowd.
Everyone who was about to be cut down by his ax screamed and ran around trying to escape.
A man was swatted away by John’s hand and flew several meters through the air. It was not the strength of a human being.
As he looked over at John’s back, Matthew smiled at the stunned Rona.

「As expected of the secret medicine made by Wiskum, the people of the forest. It works well.」

「Wiskum ……?」

Rona had never heard of this word before.

「That’s right. It’s a long-perished tribe. They were proficient at handling medicinal and poisonous herbs. I am a descendant of that tribe. That medicine in particular is a masterpiece. When used in conjunction with hypnotic suggestion, it allows the one who ingests it to have another personality. Wiskum had a custom of sacrificing children. John’s other personality is modeled after one of the most cruel priests of all. A madman who tore children apart from their mouths with his bare hands. He believed that the more fear and pain he inflicted on the children, the better they would be as a sacrifice.」

Rona recalled how John had almost torn her in half from her crotch earlier.
She had no idea what Matthew was saying.
But she knew instinctively that he was talking about something terribly dangerous.

「Nevertheless, a person cannot live in the present world with the common sense of ancient times when sacrifices were commonplace. And so I’ve given him false memories to make things more consistent. But the personality’s outlandishness has not been compromised in any way. There’s also the fact that he was formerly on death row. How pitiful, that young noble will never be able to retain his form as a human.」

「Wendell-sama!! Run away!!」

Matthew kicked Rona away when she jumped up to warn Wendell.
Then he drew his sword, raised the tip of his sword to the sky, and swung it down.

「I had a hard time starting this riot. I’ll have you take responsibility for ruining it.」

Rona’s entire body froze from fear as she believed that she had been slashed diagonally from the shoulder.

But the blade only grazed Rona.
Instead, along with a crackling sound, the abandoned warehouses in the surroundings burst into flames.
Driven by the wind, the fire spread quickly.

「…… Fufu, don’t be so frightened. You’re an important bait to catch that boy. I won’t kill you now.」

That was a signal to Matthew’s subordinates that had been waiting in standby to light the fire.

「I don’t care how many of them die. It would be nice if they would just obediently play along with the witch hunt. But if they can’t even do that, then they are nothing more than a substitute for firewood.」

The fear of being trapped by a wall of flames caused the crowd to panic and run all over the place. Screams and angry yells erupted. The townspeople and the impoverished people from the slums were no longer fighting. They kicked and stumbled over fallen people and fell down one after another. It was such a chaos that they no longer knew where Wendell and John were.

「…… How can you do such a terrible thing!? Even though you’re a human ……!!」

Matthew sneered at Rona who was at a loss for words.

「You got it wrong. It’s because I’m a human that I can do this.」

He put the back of his sword against Rona’s throat and looked down at it as if trying to find something.

「…… Wendell. Come to think of it, a few years ago, there was a commotion about the succession to the throne of a child with the characteristics of the True Emperor. I had underestimated it as a scam with the purpose of putting a foolish child in a high position. But it seems that it was the parents that were incompetent, not the child. To think that the king would no longer support such a talent. Thanks to him, the witch hunt in this town has failed. I’m going to have to retreat. However – 」

On the contrary to his words, Matthew seemed to be amused.
Seeing his expression, Rona got goosebumps all over her body.
Rona’s intuition told her to prevent Wendell from getting close to this guy.

Matthew quickly withdrew his blade.

「Come on now, let your beloved prince take a good look at you.」

Beads of blood came out from the wound on Rona’s skin

「Should I tear your skin off your face and cut off your nose and ears? Would you still be able to pretend to be a tragic heroine once you look like a monster? I guess I’ll soon be able to see the answer to that.」

「Ronaaa!!」

「…… You damn kid!! Die!!」

While Wendell was distracted by Rona, John took advantage of the opportunity to slip into the crowd and quietly approached him and attacked him.
Wendell tried to dodge the attack by stepping backwards, but he collided against the crowd of people and was pushed back.

「…… Kuh ……!!」

He narrowly managed to stop John’s ax with his sword, but his sword is a thin sword meant to be used by a child. Judging from the sound of the impact, his sword would probably snap off in a few more strikes.

Matthew observed the situation and sneered at Rona.

「…… As I expected, you’re that kid’s weak point. As long as I hold you hostage, that boy will desperately try to come over here. No matter how strong he is, in the end he’s just a child with lacking physical endurance. All we have to do is wait until he’s completely exhausted and then finish him off.」