“Kind of disappointing. Truly disappointing. What’s disappointing? The whole thing around that Liebe being seen as a good guy.”
Backdoor watched the upper area from afar.
He held up both hands as if holding a tube, and peeked with his right eye like he was using a telescope. And by adjusting the concentration of light through magic, he could see everything that happened in Lobelia’s mansion.
Woodhorse, who stood behind him, clicked his tongue as he heard this. Nothing was going well.
“Not only did he not bring down Kernel and Lobelia, or Wirgin and Root in the royal palace, but he even lost his motivation to destroy the capital. He won’t do as a scapegoat.”
“And there is no time.”
“Time?”
Woodhorse did not ignore Backdoor’s ominous words.
“It looks like Princess Lobelia is on to you. It happened when she was after proof of Ddos’ wrongdoings.”
“That damn annoying girl. She’s a princess, but there’s no charm to her… But I didn’t leave any evidence. There’s no way anything can be tracked down to me.”
“Didn’t general Kernel say something suggestive to you earlier? Are you sure they don’t know you’re the one who diverted the ancient magic stones?”
“…And that means there is no time?”
Woodhorse had full confidence in his ability to suppress evidence. But as Backdoor said, it could not be ignored that Kernel suspected him. And he knew that those suspicions came from Lobelia.
“…Well. It’s fine. They still haven’t found the main Black Hole. If it comes to that, we can activate it… But…”
Woodhorse and Backdoor wanted all the blame to fall on Azure Skies. That meant that it was very useful for them for their leader to hate humans.
“I have an idea to bring Liebe’s hate back.”
“Hey hey. Even Clearance doesn’t know where he is. And you can get in touch?”
“There’s no need for me to get in touch. I just have to get him to come to me.”
“Ah?”
“Yes. Like this.”
A magic circle appeared below Backdoor’s feet.
Red, blue, green, yellow, purple… The magic circle in the shape of a star continued to change color, as it went up and passed through Backdoor’s body.
And once it did, there was a transformation.
“Phishing Lure.”
He was not actually changing his body, or even working through people’s perception like Stealth. Backdoor adjusted the reflection of light to make himself look like someone else.
It was a type of mimicry magic available to Backdoor, because he could use the light element, which was an element considered ‘exceptional’ because it did not fit with the basic elements, earth, water, fire, and wind.
Not only that, but Backdoor’s handling of Phishing Lure was second to none.
From Woodhorse’s point of view, where Backdoor was standing, stood someone that was without a doubt Qualia.
“Request explanation. From your point of view, how do you see Backdoor… Like that?”
“…”
It was not just his appearance that changed, his actions and way of speaking were Qualia’s. Up until he broke character and smiled with a shade behind it that Qualia did not have, he had become him to a point that went way beyond mimicry.
Phishing Lure.
It made sense that Backdoor survived all that time, if he could use that magic.
With it, he could infiltrate organizations and control them from the shadows. Azure Skies was only one of them.
It was not Woodhorse’s first time seeing it, but he still could not help but twitch as he saw Backdoor’s acting.
“…Couldn’t you just use Phishing Lure to stop being a beast person, and easily acquire the peace you desire?”
“This magic only lasts for one minute. It isn’t suited for daily life.”
As Backdoor said that, his transformation into Qualia was undone, and he was once again a beast person wearing sunglasses.
“And there’s a lot I want to see before I ascend to the position of duke and get my peace.”
“What do you want to see?”
“The ugly faces when they encounter misfortune or despair.”
He created a telescope with his right hand again, and watched Lobelia’s mansion from afar, with Qualia accepting Ina’s tears right in the center.
“That Qualia kid says he wants to put ‘tasty’ faces on people… I don’t get that at all.”
“Classic kid knight that doesn’t know anything.”
“Still… That’s very good, in a way. To think Liebe’s little sister, little Ina really was out there. Now I can knock not just Liebe, but little Ina and that Qualia to the depths of despair too… What kind of noises will those kids make? What are their faces going to look like as they die?”
Backdoor moved the telescope a little, and got Ina in view as well.
Qualia. Ina. Backdoor locked on both.
He licked his lips, as if seeing his favorite food laid out in front of him with an empty stomach.
“I really can’t quit the nectar that is misery in a safe zone…”
Meanwhile, Woodhorse planned in the back of his mind.
(This guy is a weird one, but he’s not an idiot… I’m sure he’s thinking about when he’s not needed anymore… I should keep Backdoor a little longer. More importantly…)
Woodhorse could not see Lobelia’s mansion, but he looked in its direction. For him, Lobelia and Kernel were the biggest nuisances.
If it came to that, he could activate the main Black Hole, but that was a last resort. It could end up catching him as well, so he really did not want to use it.
“…I was thinking about the whole capital at once, but it looks like I have to ask two wise people to leave the stage first.”
As Woodhorse whispered, one of his subordinates kneeled before him.
“Mister Woodhorse, it is ready!”
“I will be going now.”
Woodhorse responded, and turned to Backdoor.
“Excuse me. It seems my trump card has arrived.”
“If it’s all the same to you, may I ask what it is?”
“In principle, only magic dolls can be implanted with magic stones. Lately, that detestable Anonymous has shown signs of being an exception, but humans cannot be embedded with magic stones.”
Woodhorse tapped his crimson armor.
“But we can embed weapons with magic stones. And the armor with a Black Hole embedded, Black Dock, is complete!”
“You processed an ancient magic stone even more?”
“Yes. A weapon for a new age, that will rewrite the history of war. You could call it super technology.”
Black Dock was super technology in this world.
Woodhorse showed no apprehension as he clenched his fists and boasted of his greatest trump card.
“Clearance led by Kernel… Truly Wonderful Fair Skies Church, the pawns of Queen Root… And Lobelia’s Hello World… Every single one of them will be beaten back.”
“Can it overcome the photon weapons that Qualia kid uses?”
“Yes. Everything is powerless before Black Dock, even those strange beams of light he uses.
Woodhorse already felt as though everything opposing him had been dealt with.
He walked down the stairs into a certain room, looked at the armor with a whirlpool of darkness around it, and his smile grew deeper.
“Look. I will be the one to taste victory.”
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Heh, Woodhorse, with a battalion called troy… he’s backdoor’s trojan horse isn’t he. Backdoor would likely be the main antagonist of this story