"Here it is."

"Great, let me take a look..."

Rustle, rustle.

I was lounging comfortably on the sofa in the dimly lit room when the requested items arrived. Without delay, I began flipping through the papers.

...It’s too dark to see clearly.

"Could you turn on the light?"

"Of course, Lady Ophelia."

At a nod from the nameless executive sitting beside me, one of the low-ranking members near the door moved to turn on the light.

The sudden brightness made me squint slightly, and I must have been noticed because the executive next to me, caught up in his emotions, suddenly shouted.

"You insolent fool! How dare you hurt Lady Ophelia’s eyes!"

"S-Sorry!"

"Don’t just turn it on full blast! Make it dimmer first, you fool!"

The executive, unable to control his emotions, approached the subordinate and started hitting him on the back of the head. The intensity of the blows increased, and soon enough, he was striking him with mana-infused hands, yet no one intervened.

In fact, no one even tried to stop it. Everyone watched with cold eyes as if this was entirely normal.

Even the subordinate getting beaten seemed to think it was only right that he should be punished.

...Ugh.

"Enough."

"Lady Ophelia."

"You're being unpleasant. Stop."

"As you wish."

I guess this hypnosis didn’t turn out quite right.

It was good that I redirected their loyalty to me, but it seems like their loyalty is so intense that it could cause problems.

Well, it’s not something I need to worry about too much. They’re going to die soon anyway.

I glanced at the staggering subordinate once before returning my attention to the papers.

"Is this everything?"

"Yes, it is."

The papers contained detailed information about the organization, its activities up to this point, and the current locations of its members.

You could say it was everything about the organization.

"I, Salome, have prepared all of this for you, Lady Ophelia."

"Good job."

"Thank you!"

This guy is more competent than I thought.

He managed to gather everything I asked for in such a short time?

I didn’t care whether they were competent or not, but it seems I’ve picked a competent one this time.

Like having a loot sensor in a game—praying for a useful NPC always seemed to bring out the useless ones.

"So, what should I do next?"

What should I have them do next?

Honestly, these guys have outlived their usefulness.

I didn’t hypnotize them to turn them into soldiers or deploy them in a war like in a strategy game.

If I just ordered them to disappear into some remote place and quietly end their lives, their existence would be neatly erased from the world.

They’re all terrorists.

There’s no good reason to keep them alive, but somehow, the idea of just eliminating them all felt a bit distasteful.

It wouldn’t be any different from the times when I’d get drunk on power and run wild.

"Hmm..."

Then a good idea came to me.

A way to use these guys without killing them.

"Do you have money? If so, how much?"

"We’ve secretly siphoned off funds from the Church and the royal family. With a little stretch, it’s enough to buy about ten houses in the capital."

That’s a lot of money to have stolen.

And he says it so casually.

Is this guy just that skilled, or is there that much money leaking from the Church and the royal family?

I wondered for a moment, but decided not to worry about it. I didn’t care how they got the money, just that they had it.

I was going to make them take out a loan if they didn’t have any.

It’s nice that I don’t have to go through that hassle.

"Alright. Then use that money to build an orphanage."

"...An orphanage?"

"Yes."

I recalled a conversation I had with Anastasia when we visited the Church. She mentioned how there were too many orphans due to the war.

These guys are useless now, so I might as well have them run an orphanage and then forget about them.

It might seem a bit late after ten years, but the children who were newborns back then would be about ten years old now.

If those kids are out begging on the streets, it would make Anastasia sad.

"...I understand!"

"Hmm?"

"Winning the people's support before overthrowing the Church and the royal family... Lady Ophelia, you are truly remarkable!"

"Uh, right..."

What is he talking about? I only suggested it because I didn’t know what else to do with you.

This guy’s high level of loyalty is making him interpret things in his own way...

"I’ll get started right away! Everyone, let’s go!"

"Yes!"

They’re gone.

I waved them off nonchalantly as they hurried out to carry out my order.

I doubt I’ll ever see them again.

It’s a bit odd to set up an orphanage with stolen money, but whatever.

It’s the royal family and the Church’s money anyway. Feels like I’m cleaning up after their mess, so it’s fine.

yawn "I’m sleepy."

I had planned to take a break today.

But somehow, I ended up finishing all my business at this hotel.

It was already 1 a.m.

Too tired to bother going back to my original room, I just jumped into the bed they had been using.

I’ve got to replace the boss of the organization tomorrow, so I should get some sleep early.

I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

"You... you... who are you?"

"I'm so tired of that question. Here, take this."

"..."

Why do they all react the same way?

Who are you? How did you find us? What did you do?

It’s tedious to keep hearing the same things.

Dealing with that kind of nonsense is a hassle, but at least this is the last time.

I waved at the man sitting across from me, who was staring at me in disbelief.

"Hello there, Mr. Terrorist."

"...You're the new teacher at the academy."

"I’m surprised. You know who I am?"

"Of course I do. The academy has been under close watch. We’ve been tracking who comes and goes. That’s how we managed to recruit Ian into our organization."

"Ah."

This is Bayern, the leader of the terrorist group "Illumination."

He’s the final boss that appears if the playable characters don’t fulfill the conditions for a happy ending.

Despite having resigned himself to his fate, Bayern wasn’t even trying to resist. He was just staring at me.

"...Aren't you going to resist?"

"Why would I? Look at what’s happened around you. It’s like the walking dead. I have no idea what you did, but it’s beyond comprehension."

"It’s hypnosis."

"That’s obvious. But I still don’t get it. What’s the condition? You can’t possibly use such a powerful ability without some cost or condition..."

Ugh, so annoying.

Bayern, the leader of Illumination, is the final boss in the normal ending.

He’s the first final boss that players encounter when they clear the game without any prior knowledge.

Maybe that’s why?

He’s got this whole hidden backstory, and people have given him the nickname "Exposition Guy" because of how much he loves to explain things.

Even though he doesn’t appear much as the final boss, the fact that he has to drop so much exposition has made everyone accept that meme.

...I didn’t expect him to be this talkative in reality, though.

Who thought it was a good idea to make such a chatty character the final boss?

Even if he’s a fake final boss, he’s still supposed to be one. Why make him so annoyingly verbose?

"If there’s a cost, you wouldn’t be able to use it so recklessly. So, either there’s no cost or the cost is something trivial. In this case, it’s safe to assume there’s no cost. Then what’s the condition? If there were no conditions, you wouldn’t have needed to come here in person. There has to be some condition, but from what I’ve observed, I can’t see anything like that. So the condition for hypnosis must be something trivial as well, which means—"

"Hey, hey. That’s enough of that."

I snapped my fingers, forcibly silencing Bayern.

He’s way too noisy. A little peace and quiet would be nice.

"Interesting... Is this hypnosis? I want to talk more, but... I can’t."

"...I meant to completely shut your mouth. But it seems you’re still resisting? I thought you’d given up."

"Haha, even so, I have my pride. It’s a matter of pride... Ugh, this is tough. Cutting off someone mid-sentence like this, is that really okay?"

"You’re too noisy. I just thought it would be better if you were a bit quieter."

"How harsh."

In the game, if there were too many long-winded dialogues, you could just skip them and look up the summary online.

But when it’s not text and someone’s actually speaking this much, what am I supposed to do?

"So? Have you come to pass judgment on us for causing chaos in society? Or are you here to avenge your colleagues?"

"I’m not interested in any of that."

"...What?"

"I’ll tell you my plan since you’re so curious. You’re going to die."

I whispered into his ear.

"But not right now. The royal family and the Church will reconcile."

"That’s impossible... No, don’t tell me."

"Yes. I’m going to make it happen."

The members of Illumination will forget they were ever terrorists and start doing charity work.

And on the day when the leaders of the royal family and the Church are replaced, and all the relics of the Sword Saint are recovered...

At that moment, when everyone has completely forgotten about the terrorists, I’ll throw them into the mix to wrap things up.

"On the day everyone reaches their happy ending, suddenly being attacked by terrorists will naturally cause them to band together to stop you."

"..."

"When family members fight among themselves, they’ll unite against an outside threat. That’s how they’ll start to feel more positively towards each other."

"Hah."

"If they only reconcile with words, there will still be lingering resentment. But if they experience working together, they’ll grow closer."

"The academy principal must be blind to have let someone like you in."

"Well then, I’ll leave it to you. Your death will pave the way for peace in the world."

I asked him if he was willing to die for the sake of the people.

"Will you accept?"

"I’ll... accept."

"Thank you!"

He glared at me as if to say, what’s the point of forcing me to say that, but I didn’t have time to care about that.

"Now, let’s see... What? Two days just for a one-way trip? Ugh, did I goof off too much?"

The massage was so good that I ended up lazing around there for an extra two days.

Now my schedule is way too tight.