GalaxyTL
Before I knew it, I was in a dark room. My consciousness was still hazy. I felt a worse lethargy than the dazed feeling of waking up. …Ah! That’s right!
“Ah, Ouch!”
I suddenly remembered what happened before I lost consciousness, and hurriedly tried to sit up, but… It seemed I was already sitting up from the start. Rather, I was in a state where both my hands were chained and stuck to the wall. There seemed to be something on my neck too. Wh-What is this!?
“Meg, you’re awake!”
When I turned towards the voice with a start, my eyes met Licht’s worried face. Licht, who was a short distance away, was sitting on the ground in the center of the room, his hands and feet restrained. It seemed he couldn’t move from that spot either.
A-Alright, calm down, me. Let’s observe first. It’s hard to see because it’s dim, but I can tell this is a room. It seems fairly large, but… We were probably drugged by Gordon-san. So us being chained up like this is Gordon-san’s doing. I thought he was a good person, but…
So, I’m chained to the wall of the room, and next to me is Ronny, chained up in the same way. It seemed he had already woken up, and like Licht, he was looking at me with a worried expression, so I told him I was okay. Though this situation is not okay at all!
“Where… are we…?”
I unintentionally muttered. This is definitely that dream, right? And it bothers me a bit that only Licht is separated from us.
But it seems a bit different from the dream. Because Licht isn’t in despair. But I have a bad feeling… That precognitive dream is a future that will definitely happen.
“Everyone! You’re awake!”
At that moment, accompanied by the sound of running footsteps, a familiar voice called out.
“Ravi-san!”
Thank goodness. It seems she’s come to help us. Well, well. Maybe the precognitive dream was wrong. …No, no, we still don’t know what will happen. We have to stay on guard! But I’m really glad.
“Ravi!? I’m glad you weren’t caught!”
With a worried expression, Ravi-san first ran up to Licht. She called out to us, telling us to wait a bit. Don’t worry about it! I’m just happy you came to help us!
“I’m sorry… It seems Gordon put sleeping pills in our food. It was a pretty strong drug, since you collapsed immediately. Are you all feeling okay!?”
“I’m totally fine! More importantly, were you okay, Ravi? Why did that guy put drugs in it…? And why are we chained up so heavily?”
Ravi-san knelt in front of Licht and gently reached out to touch his cheek. Her touch was very gentle, and her eyes gazing at Licht were softly narrowed.
“…Ravi?”
“I’m glad you’re okay.”
To Licht, who tilted his head in confusion, Ravi-san said just that and then stood up.
“Huh? Hey, hurry up and remove these chains.”
Licht said, bewildered, and Ravi-san turned to him with a broad smile.
“I can’t do that. …After all the trouble I went through to escape and bring you here.”
At Ravi-san’s next words, my thoughts came to a halt. I’m sure it wasn’t just me. I could tell that Ronny and Licht had also frozen.
“What are you saying…? Is this a joke at a time like this?”
After a while, Licht said in a hoarse voice. At his words, I came back to my senses. I felt a wish for it to be a joke.
“It’s not a joke. From the beginning, I was acting to bring you here. Honestly… I told him that if you were in poor physical condition, it might fail, but that guy Gordon. Drugging you, does he not trust me?”
But Ravi-san’s words easily shattered Licht’s wish. From the beginning…? Since we came with Licht? Or could it be…
My heart started pounding with an unpleasant sound.
“Fufu, do you still trust me? I was indeed worried about you. But that’s worry for a product. It’s only natural, right?”
Product… She means us? Ravi-san crossed her arms and continued to look down at Licht.
“Well, I guess it can’t be helped. After all, I’m your life-saver, Licht.”
Life-saver. That’s probably true. For Licht, who’s likely a transfer from Japan, Ravi-san is probably the only family-like existence in this world. But that’s exactly why… this treatment is too much.
“I didn’t want to take care of a brat. Who would take care of a kid with no background if it wasn’t a mission? And I was ordered to make you trust me. I got a hefty reward, but it was quite tough. And for such a long time, too.”
So Licht had been a product since long ago…! Ravi-san’s cruel revelation of the truth didn’t stop. When she reported to the organization members that Licht had magic power, she was ordered to make him trust her before his power, which was too great, went out of control and became unmanageable. She chained him with trust so he couldn’t escape.
“But thanks to my efforts, the obedient Licht believed my story. That the inside of the castle is corrupt. That illegal human trafficking is being tacitly approved.”
That’s right. I remember Licht hurriedly helped us escape from the castle right after we were transferred. We didn’t actually need to run from the castle people…?
“When I heard you were transferred to the Eastern Castle, I panicked. I was genuinely worried for a moment.”
Ravi-san continued to talk while slowly walking around Licht.
“That all my hard work would be for nothing! But thanks to the obedient Licht, I was saved. You ran away from the bad castle people, right? Ahaha! Hilarious! To think you’d run from the people trying to help you! And you even brought two incredibly valuable extras with you.”
Saying that, she glanced at us and grinned wickedly, the corners of her mouth lifted.
“You didn’t doubt a single thing I said.”
Ravi-san placed her hand on Licht’s head with a pat and then ruffled his hair roughly.
“You’re really an idiot… You’re an idiot, Licht.”
Saying that in a small voice, she used the hand that was gripping his hair to roughly shove Licht down. Licht fell to the spot, not resisting. He didn’t seem to be moving.
“Well then, bye. From now on, you’ll be spending the rest of your lives here. We’ll keep the valuable products and make good use of them, instead of selling them. …Try to live a long life, okay?”
Giving Licht, who was like that, a single cold glance, Ravi-san turned on her heel and tried to leave the room. Wait a minute… Wait. I shouted, turning the welling up anger and sadness, or some indistinguishable emotion, directly into words.
“Wait! That’s… a lie, wight? You were so kind to us! Ravi-shaaaan!!”
Should I be angry? For deceiving us, how cruel. Should I be sad? For deceiving us… how cruel…
But Ravi-san didn’t answer and opened the door to leave. And just before closing the door, without looking back, Ravi-san said dismissively,
“It’s the fault of the one being deceived. …Though the deceiver is many times worse!”
Ravi-san closed the door while laughing loudly. Because of that, the laughter quickly faded.
But in our heads, we felt like Ravi-san’s laughter echoed endlessly.