Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 276
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Genius Archer’s Streaming Season 1 Spinoff Episode 12
4. The Witch (1)
In the end, Potion was the root cause of everything.
“Po, Potion?”
I grasped the decisive clue because of Lete’s condition.
And after hearing how Lete came to be in this state, I was completely certain.
“When Lete got hurt, you must have given him Potion. Your school even has a factory that makes it.”
“…Ah. Yes, that’s right.”
“Since Lete was seriously injured, he must have drunk a lot of Potion. How much did he drink?”
“Well, continuously every day… huh?”
That was it.
Continuous consumption.
「…With prolonged continuous consumption, one easily experiences hallucinations even in daily life. It becomes quite simple for a hypnotist to induce the hallucinations they desire. We call this state a ‘trance state’…」
“With continuous consumption, you enter a trance state. A trance state is what we commonly call a state where possession becomes easy.”
Lete had become something like a Contractor due to continuously consuming Potion.
If there had been other students like this besides Lete, the same would have happened to them.
“Blue Hole is one of the components in Potion. I don’t know why exactly. But anyway, Sally’s Father figured that out.”
Next, I realize why that drink in the bottle I mistook for alcohol was actually Potion.
‘The Soldier wasn’t drunk on alcohol—he was intoxicated by drugs.’
Whether the Soldier drank it by mistake or knew something on his own, I couldn’t say.
But he was intoxicated by Potion, and naturally, I and the junior Soldier thought it was alcohol.
And we fed that drink to Ran in a pinch, saving his life.
“So. Potion definitely has efficacy. But the side effects are enormous. Especially if you drink it multiple times.”
“That, that can’t be… Then Sally’s Father discovered that and was killed for it?”
“Exactly. But the Religious Sect couldn’t be certain how much Sally’s Father had discovered. Because….”
Whoosh.
I flip through the pages of the thesis collection quickly.
“The thesis wasn’t written yet. But they couldn’t wait for the thesis to be written. If they did, the whole world would find out. So they just killed him beforehand. Instead, they ordered you to monitor his daughter. They might have even told her about it.”
“If Sallie… didn’t know about her Father’s research topic… would she have lived?”
“No. Either way, they would have killed her. But perhaps the task was to investigate whether the daughter had told anyone else about it, and whether there were other people who needed to die.”
Ran thinks for a moment, then shares an anecdote that comes to mind.
“Sallie… was sick once. Potion is quite expensive for ordinary people, quite rare. I obtained it from the Religious Sect and gave it to her once….”
Sallie apparently never drank that Potion. She refused it, claiming it was just a light cold.
“When I reported that fact, the Prophet’s reaction was slightly strange. From that point on, the operation changed urgently from ‘execution’ to ‘enforcement’.”
“Enforcement?”
“Yes. Execution is when a sentence is carried out publicly through legal procedures. Enforcement is when the Sacred Executioners carry out the sentence alone.”
“Ah….”
In other words, they were just told to assassinate her.
From the moment Sallie refused the Potion, the Religious Sect classified her as a witch.
“However, they ordered observation to continue for two more weeks. If she was already certainly a witch, then an order to watch for two more weeks… was strange.”
And after that, I continued to have Ran keep Sallie under surveillance. The observation was specifically to see whether she had revealed this fact to anyone else.
I had Ran observe trivial things like her unnecessary physiological changes, the length of her hair, the length of her nails.
But what they were really curious about was whether Sallie had made contact with anyone.
Ran reported every single movement of Sallie’s, informing me whether she had revealed the secret of the Potion to someone.
“Wow. Either way, I figured out something big.”
Almond’s expression became satisfied.
The way he glanced at the chat seemed like he wanted to appreciate the viewers’ evaluation of his deduction.
-Wow Almond walnut spin is insane
-His ability to think when he needs to
-Lol
-Oh he didn’t get lost as much as expected lololol
I was hoping to see a mukbang of 3,000 sweet potatoes here, but that’s disappointing ㅠㅠ
-Why does Almond look so excited when he’s thinking lololol
-I guess he likes being praised for things he can’t do lol
The viewers didn’t spare their praise. After all, Almond had used his head quite well this time.
Pfft.
Almond chuckled slightly, in a good mood.
‘So I can clear it if I stop here now.’
Now I had cleared Ran’s story mode. If I stopped here, it would be a 2-star clear.
But I wasn’t the type to be satisfied with 2 stars.
‘Only revenge is left.’
The objective of revenge remained. The target of revenge was probably the Religious Sect.
“The reason the Religious Sect tried to kill me was probably because they thought I had figured something out.”
“Right. You suddenly refused to kill Sallie.”
“…Sigh.”
Ran buried his head on the table as if collapsing.
“I’m confused.”
This final murmur seemed to express his current state best.
“….”
I had nothing to say to him. I couldn’t begin to understand what he was feeling.
I just wanted to tell him it wasn’t his fault, but….
‘Huh.’
My vision darkened.
Lete was returning again.
* * *
I have no idea how much time has passed since I opened my eyes.
One thing I can say with certainty is that among all the places I’ve seen when I’ve opened my eyes before, this one is the most peaceful.
The ceiling is finished with warm-toned wood, and a ceiling fan quietly rotates, gently blowing air.
Clink. Clink.
From the kitchen comes the sound of dishes being organized, and the sunlight is warm and gentle….
‘Home.’
It was home.
As I lifted my body, I realized I had been sleeping on the sofa.
“Lete. You’re already awake?”
Ran walks over, shaking the water from his hands with a towel.
“…?”
Ran stares at me for quite a while, looking quite shocked.
“Almond…?”
“Yeah. That’s right. How much time has passed?”
“….”
Thud.
Ran’s legs give out, and he collapses to the ground.
“Why, why are you like that?”
Ah. This is… An ominous premonition crosses my mind.
“You’ve finally come….”
A lot of time has passed.
How could this be.
“Two months have passed since then.”
Two months.
The intervals between my arrivals in Lete have been growing longer. Now it’s not just a day or two, but a full two months….
“I’m sorry. It’s not something I can control either.”
“There’s nothing to apologize for….”
Sigh.
Ran goes to the kitchen and brings back a few thick slices of bread and a bottle of wine.
There’s also marmalade to spread on them.
“Since we share the same body… you probably aren’t hungry. But please eat anyway.”
As I pick up a fork, I glance around once more.
Life doesn’t seem luxurious, but there are no problems with making a living.
Looking at this, this is an epilogue.
If I only intended to clear with 2 stars, it seems to end here.
“In the meantime… many things have happened. But we’ve managed to settle in our own way. This is ‘Fersta,’ a desert city on the border. Unlike where we were, it’s a free place. There are many religions here. We didn’t know at first. That there were multiple perspectives and multiple stories about God….”
After hearing the full story.
They had settled down and were living well in the free city of Fersta.
They eat two meals a day without fail, and can even bring out bread and wine for dessert like this.
There’s a bed to rest my weary body, and a roof that doesn’t leak.
‘I could just live like this forever.’
It was already so peaceful and mundane that I wondered if there was anything more I needed to accomplish here.
Yet Almond had intruded into this place like an unwelcome guest.
What was I supposed to do here?
Did I really need to achieve a three-star clear?
Did I have to walk the path of vengeance?
If this were reality rather than a game, I don’t think I could say such things.
Almond simply wanted to confirm Ran’s true feelings.
“…So, are you really okay with this now?”
“Okay with what, exactly?”
“The Religious Sect….”
Two months isn’t a long time.
It’s absurdly short to forget the death of someone you love.
Almond knew that better than anyone.
“The Religious Sect, Sallie, and everything you’ve suffered through…are you really okay with it all now?”
Ran rose quietly at those words, pushed the table aside, and opened a secret compartment hidden beneath it.
Creak.
What emerged was a rolled parchment.
Whoosh.
Unrolled across the parchment was an enormous map. It was no ordinary map.
“This is the distribution route for potions that Lete and I painstakingly mapped out stitch by stitch. I thought that by tracing this distribution network, we could discover the factory facilities….”
Just as I thought.
Ran wasn’t okay either.
Seeing that gentle soul had prepared something like this.
“I can’t be okay with it. Even if ten years or a hundred years pass, I never intended to end things like this. I will expose the crimes of the one who ordered Sallie’s death and the Religious Sect’s corruption with my own hands.”
“Can you really do that?”
“Now that I’ve looked into it, the Religious Sect’s will isn’t everyone’s will either, and there are actually factions that oppose them. If I can gather proper evidence….”
Ran clenched her fist tightly.
“Then I’ll have the face to see Sallie even in the afterlife.”
Ran fell silent for a moment, as if suppressing her rage.
“Lete has agreed to this as well. He’s currently addicted to potions because of the Religious Sect’s atrocities. We’re planning to track one of the carriages passing through this area tomorrow.”
Ding.
Here, a choice is presented to Almond.
[1. Let’s stop. The peace we have now is more important.]
[2. You did well. Let’s track them together.]
It’s clear that option 2 is the path leading toward a three-star clear.
-Go with 2222
-Definitely 2
-Three-star clear let’s goooo
“Alright. Let’s track them together.”
Ding.
[The episode continues.]
“But… what do we do after we finish tracking?”
“If we can just locate the factory… we can gather evidence and expose them. As I mentioned, there are forces working against the Religious Sect.”
“You’re saying you’ll tell another religion about this?”
“Yes.”
“You two… or rather, us two. Why don’t we gather more allies? Laurent, for instance…”
“Laurent…?”
“Yeah. Laurent. He was the one who sent me to prison to see you at first. He’s got all sorts of strange skills, so he could be useful.”
What’s this, did too much time pass that I forgot? Well… that’s possible.
With Laurent’s personality, he might have thought he was close with Ran on his own.
Or maybe he sent Lete out of pure curiosity without ever being close in the first place. That guy’s insane anyway.
“I… seem to remember. However, I don’t know Laurent well. And there’s an organization called the Red Mercenary Company that’s helping us. We’ve decided to cooperate with them.”
“Ah. I see.”
That works. A mercenary company, huh.
It seemed like it would be several times more useful than someone like Laurent.
“Not bad.”
Almond didn’t seem to have any particular issues with this plan.
Usually, most plans are like that anyway.
They sound plausible when you hear them.
But not when you get into them.
“Um… Almond.”
“?”
“Tomorrow’s battle could be difficult. Lete wanted to send a letter to his family… would you be able to send it for him? You just need to attach it to the carrier pigeon.”
“Ah. Yeah. Of course. Something like that…”
That’s when it happened.
Pop!
The screen darkens.
It seemed like it was about to transition directly to the scene of sending the letter.
Whoosh.
The screen brightened again, and sure enough, it was the carrier pigeon warehouse.
Now I just need to attach the letter.
Ding.
[You can seek help through a letter.]
[Depending on what letter you write and to whom, the ending may change.]
What is this.
It was quite an unexpected request.
‘This means I’m not just sending Lete’s letter… I have to write something myself.’
Almond stroked his chin, deep in thought.
‘What’s this? Why am I suddenly being asked to write a letter to someone?’
There had to be some hint somewhere.
This branching point could very well determine whether I cleared this as a 3-star or not.
So I decided to invest sufficient time into it.
I tried writing various things in the letter and worked through different possibilities. I even considered sending a letter to the mayor of this place, Persta, but….
After much deliberation, I began to write.
Scratch, scratch….
* * *
[Beginner’s Tip: Enchanted messenger birds sometimes deliver letters accurately to their owners even without a specific address.]
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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