My Desertion Would Be Faster Than Heros' Obsession-Chapter 19Vol 2.
I stared at Karon in pure betrayal.
How dare he.
But I couldn’t back down now. There was no way Karon would actually defy me.
My boy wouldn’t be that ungrateful.
“Karon, actually, Aquila and I already re-enlisted. Over there, we’ve got Cool Mint Ice Frozen Unit 78, the Sociopathic Disaster Unit 85—ah, no, wait. Lady April—no, that’s not right either. There’s Lady Ishina, Plato, and Taro as well....”
Phew. That was close. I almost mentioned people who would make him want to stay away.
“Anyway, if you’re not coming, I guess we’ll just have fun without you~.”
“...Wait, really? Then I’ll do it too! I’ll re-enlist!”
“Oh? Hohoho!”
See? Recruiting Karon is always ridiculously easy.
As I let out a villainous laugh, Aquila jabbed me lightly with his elbow and whispered,
“Salvia, stop messing with the kid....”
“But it’s fun! Hohoho!”
***
“See? You look so much better in bright colors.”
I commented as I looked at Karon, now fully dressed in the white uniform of the Dark Magician Search Special Forces.
Next to me, Yuri muttered with a puzzled expression,
“...Salvia, did you give birth to him or something?”
“I did. In my heart.”
Watching Karon all grown up like this, I couldn’t help but feel so proud.
As I was admiring my masterpiece, Aquila spoke up with a serious look.
“That means Karon needs a team to join.”
“Oh, that’s right. Then how about your team, Aquila?”
But Aquila firmly shook his head.
“No. Our probationary period is over.”
“...Yeah?”
“So we should be in the same team as Karon.”
“Oh, good idea.”
“An excellent idea!”
Karon and I nodded simultaneously in approval.
And then—
“No. That’s a problem.”
A familiar voice cut in.
We turned to see Winter, standing with his arms crossed, wearing a deeply troubled expression.
“...Why?”
I braced myself, wondering if this was about to turn into another male lead rivalry moment.
But Winter simply looked at us all and said,
“...I just have a bad feeling you’ll cause a major incident.”
...
I couldn’t even argue with that.
Ishina, standing nearby, nodded fervently in agreement.
“...I’ll handle them.”
Aquila tried to reassure him, but Winter still looked deeply unconvinced.
“...Handling two people at once will be difficult.”
...Wait.
Two?
He only needs to manage Karon, right?
What the hell did I do?!
Aquila fell silent for a moment, seemingly stuck on Winter’s words. Then, all of a sudden, he turned to Karon and blurted out—
“Karon, who do you like better, me or Salvia?”
...Excuse me?!
That’s literally the ‘Do you love Mom or Dad more?’ question!
But without even a second of hesitation, Karon proudly declared—
“Of course, Lady Salvia!”
...Wow.
He really doesn’t even try to pretend sometimes.
Aquila, looking utterly dejected, turned back to Winter.
“See? Karon will do anything to stay with Salvia.”
“...That’s true. You have a point.”
Hey, you bastards.
Stop treating me like some reckless disaster-in-waiting, okay?!
I’m not Dalin, damn it!
Either way, Aquila’s argument was accepted, and in the end—
I officially became teammates with Aquila and Karon.
***
We were still investigating Victim’s whereabouts, but just in case we couldn’t find him, we decided to search for other dark magicians as well.
To do this, we needed to check out reports that were suspected to be linked to dark magic.
If we found traces of harmless dark magic, we could visit the site and see if they were willing to help us.
And so, we were currently reading through the submitted reports...
『I’ve gained weight.
Could this be dark magic?』
“...Are they kidding me?”
『My eldest son is an idiot.
Now that I think about it, my second son is an idiot too. And my third son? Also an idiot.
It’s strange for all three of my sons to be stupid.
I suspect they’ve been influenced by a nearby dark magician.』
“THAT’S JUST GENETICS, YOU DAMN IDIOT!!”
For the first time, I realized how difficult it was to sort through dark magician-related reports.
Who in their right mind would blame dark magic for their kids being dumb?!
Still, after some patience, I finally found a report worth investigating.
『Recently, I got lost in the mountains and stumbled upon a lone house in ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) the middle of nowhere.
Suspicious black smoke was rising from the chimney.
But the strangest thing was... all the plants nearby were dead.
It was as if their life force had been drained.』
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
Based on everything I’ve learned in the Dark Magician Search Special Forces, this was a very promising lead.
Plus, if this person lived in complete isolation, there was a good chance they weren’t causing harm to others.
I waved the paper at Aquila and Karon.
“So, what do you guys think?”
“I completely agree with Lady Salvia!”
“...You don’t even know what I’m thinking yet.”
“Ah, but whatever it is, I’m sure it matches my thoughts exactly!”
...Yeah. There was no point in asking Karon.
Aquila, who had been watching Karon with mild disappointment, nodded seriously.
“I agree. We should check it out.”
And so, our investigation began.
***
“Ugh. I hate mountains.”
I grumbled as we hiked uphill.
Sure, we were all from the Cledore Mountain Battalion, so mountain trekking was nothing new, but that didn’t mean it was any less tedious.
And, trusting my own abilities too much, I had climbed up without carrying a single bag—which turned out to be a terrible idea.
“...Ugh, I’m so thirsty.”
Right then, a canteen was suddenly thrust into my face.
Aquila, the only one who had actually brought a backpack, pulled out a bottle and handed it to me.
“Wow! You actually brought water?”
“I figured you wouldn’t, so I packed extra.”
“...Haha.”
As I happily gulped down the water, Karon spoke up.
“Now that I think about it, we’re going to miss lunch if we keep hiking like this.”
And once again, something was thrust in front of us.
Aquila pulled out two sandwiches, one in each hand.
“...You brought sandwiches too?”
“I figured you’d forget to bring food and then complain about being hungry.”
“...Hehe.”
We quietly accepted the sandwiches and continued our climb.
“Ugh, why am I so exhausted?”
“That’s because your shoelaces are untied. Stay still, I’ll fix them.”
“...Why do I feel so itchy?”
“That’s because there’s a bug on your neck, Karon. Don’t move, I’ll get it.”
“...Aquila, are we even going the right way?”
“Yes, we are.”
At that moment, I reassessed Aquila’s skills.
He was going to make an amazing dad someday.
Still feeling guilty that he was carrying everything, I hesitated before offering—
“Hey, should I take the backpack for a bit? You shouldn’t have to carry it alone.”
But Aquila shook his head and answered,
“No. I have to endure heavy burdens.”
“...What?”
“It’s the weight of being the head of the household.”
“....”
***
After all our suffering, we finally spotted the house from the report.
It definitely looked like a dark magician’s lair.
Hell, it looked exactly like the kind of witch’s house you’d find in a fairy tale.
“Wait, look!”
I pointed excitedly.
A black cat had been lounging near the entrance, but the moment it saw us, it darted inside through a small cat door.
A black cat.
Yeah. This was definitely a witch’s house.
“Well, let’s knock.”
Without waiting for Aquila or Karon to respond, I banged on the door.
“Hello! Is anyone home?!”
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We heard footsteps approaching from inside.
All three of us immediately tensed up.
Finally, the door swung open, revealing—
“...Huh?”
Was this... actually a witch?
The woman standing there was wearing a pointed black hat.
She was also draped in a black robe, and her ears were adorned with skull earrings.
The same black cat from earlier was rubbing against her ankles.
For a moment, I was genuinely confused.
Did witches exist in this world?
Regardless, we were the ones who knocked, so I forced myself to speak.
“...We were hoping you could help us with something.”
If I directly asked “Are you a dark magician?”, she might assume we were here to arrest her and run away.
So instead, I decided to approach this carefully.
The woman tilted her head curiously before saying—
“...Ah, customers.”
“...Yes?”
“This is the first time a customer has come all the way here.”
‘She’s a dark magician, right?’
Calling us "customers" seemed like a dead giveaway.
I mean, didn’t Victim used to scam people by calling them "customers" too?
“Well, first, I need to hear what you need help with.”
“Of course. But I’d also like to hear about you.”
I locked eyes with her.
I needed to confirm whether she had ever used dark magic for harmful purposes.
If she had no criminal record, I’d tell her about our situation and see if she’d help us.
The woman studied us for a moment before replying—
“My story, huh? Well, whatever you’re thinking, I don’t know...”
Then, as if making a decision, she turned and stepped back inside, leaving the door open for us.
“But a customer is a customer.”
“...What?”
I muttered in confusion.
Karon, suddenly fired up, confidently announced,
“I’ll go in first! Just in case!”
And without a shred of hesitation, he stepped into what was very likely a dark magician’s home.
Aquila instinctively positioned himself protectively in front of me, and in the end—
I had no choice but to follow them inside.
