The Teddy Bear Sends the Insomniac Villain to Dreamland - Chapter 30

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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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Chapter 30
When Nix asked what the ghost game was, I explained the rules simply.
“I’ll be the ghost. I’m going to make you get lost in that vast forest. You carry me on your back and follow those guys without being detected.”
“So with Vivian’s fantastic magic, they’ll become lost and think they’ve encountered a ghost, frightening them away?”
“Exactly. So they’ll never dare show their faces at the Leblanc Mansion again.”
“You’re a genius.”
“Thanks.”
I gave Nix a sly smile as she continued to marvel at the plan.
Her eyes sparkled again at how wonderful my smile was, and I found her so adorable that I patted her head several times.
I closed my eyes and felt my magical power.
Good. With this much mana, even if it’s only for a brief moment, I should be able to cast an illusion spell.
Feeling my mana surge abundantly, I marveled anew at its quantity.
Over the past few days, I hadn’t used my power except to lull Blake to sleep, so a considerable amount had accumulated.
Moreover, since I’d often secretly held his hand while sleeping, my mana was gathering at an accelerated rate.
“One, two, three, four, five.”
Okay, got it.
Five of them.
I climbed onto Nix’s back as the men began unleashing the hunting dogs one by one, their barks filling the air.
Even at my sudden piggyback request, Nix naturally accepted me without hesitation.
And I pointed at the brown-haired man with the sharp tongue who’d been irritating me since earlier.
“That one.”
“Should we start with him?”
“Yes.”
Before I could finish speaking, Nix used a large branch as a lever and soared upward.
Without any magic.
I smiled happily, nestled against her small, warm back.
She really is my adorable little kitten.
***
Brown, the brown-haired man with a silver tongue, had a special plan for today.
‘Today, I will absolutely catch Blake Leblanc’s eye.’
He trembled as he imagined his father’s roaring voice from this morning.
‘You still haven’t obtained the Eastern Region business rights? What exactly are you doing? You can’t even secure a single business permit and you’re causing all this trouble?!’
‘F-Father, please calm down and listen to me! The original owner who put the business rights up for auction was the Mekain Cartel. But just recently, the Leblanc Family swept away the Mekain Cartel, so now the Leblanc Family essentially manages it….’
‘Tsk, you talk too much. Then just get permission from the Duke Leblanc.’
‘It’s not as simple as it sounds! As you know, Duke Leblanc is away, and that Blake Leblanc is currently handling all the work…!’
‘Shut up! Just get those business rights somehow. Go lick Blake Leblanc’s boots if you have to!’
“Damn it. Lick his boots? To a monster that isn’t even human?”
Brown, mounted on his horse, bit his lip as he followed the hunting dog galloping ahead.
Blake Leblanc.
A monster of a man who slays demonic beasts.
‘Or perhaps he truly isn’t human at all.’
Humans cannot kill demonic beasts.
That was what ordinary people believed.
It remained so until a demonic beast first appeared in one territory of the Empire and an entire village vanished.
But Blake was different.
He executed every demonic beast that appeared in Leblanc Territory, and gradually expanded his reach to slay even those that emerged throughout the entire Empire.
Not a single one escaped.
‘Blake Leblanc has twisted prophecy again.’
‘How is that even possible?’
‘He was too busy mercilessly slaying the demonic beast even while his subordinates were being devoured.’
‘He killed them all, saying that merely being bitten by a demonic beast causes corruption. What a cruel man.’
‘What? He killed people who were still alive? Heavens, they say he butchered hundreds during the war with the Cartel.’
‘Really? But at least he does kill the demonic beasts.’
Whether he had truly slaughtered hundreds of innocent people or killed his own subordinates was irrelevant.
People believed he was a demon, a monster.
Even if none of it were true, nobles like myself could simply bow our heads appropriately while letting the common folk cower in fear at the sight of the Leblanc Family and diminish their accomplishments.
This was an unspoken rule of noble society—to prevent and check the Leblanc Family’s monopoly of power.
That was why I, as a representative of social gatherings, had bribed a Female Servant from the Leblanc Mansion to spread sinister rumors within the estate.
‘She said she failed all of a sudden?’
Recently, that Female Servant came to me and reported that this time she had failed her mission.
I couldn’t understand why she would fail at work she’d been doing well for so long.
But what was even more absurd was what the Female Servant said when she turned to leave and then approached me again.
‘By the way, since I failed this time, I won’t accept payment for my conscience’s sake! However, I’m confident I’ll do better next time, so I’d be grateful if you’d continue to entrust me with work just as you have been!’
The Female Servant threw out those shameless words, asking me to continue giving her work, and then left.
‘Whether servant or master….’
Damn the Leblanc Family.
“Anyway, my life is truly pitiful—having to fawn before this unlucky demon.”
But there’s still something to gain.
Pitying himself, Brown followed the hunting dog chasing the scent of deer deeper into the Forest.
He had to catch the deer and present it to Blake Leblanc, then bow his head and beg for the opportunity to pre-purchase business rights.
If not now, he would never have another chance to meet Blake Leblanc.
As he approached the Lake, mist began to rise from the water. The path became so murky that visibility vanished, and Brown looked around in bewilderment.
The surroundings were silent and empty.
‘Mist at this hour?’
The weather and time made no sense for such mist to appear, so despite his confusion, an inexplicable dread seized him, and he urgently pulled the reins.
Since there were no forks in the road anyway, he just needed to go straight.
“…Huh?”
He thought he’d frantically driven the horse away and escaped, but somehow he was back where he started.
His pupils trembled faintly at the identical landscape that reappeared before him.
It couldn’t be.
The paths must all look similar.
Denying it to himself, he seized the reins again and drove away from that spot.
But after galloping for ten minutes and arriving at the same location again, his entire body erupted in goosebumps.
“It’s the same place again!”
Brown’s heart raced wildly as he confirmed he had circled back to where he started.
What is this? Magic?
But why would magic be cast on the Leblanc Family’s Hunting Grounds?
Could Blake Leblanc be trying to kill me? Did he hear about the things I said behind his back?
With trembling hands gripping the reins tightly, he took a deep breath and shook his head.
That couldn’t be. Something was strange, certainly, but there had to be a way out.
Just as he was calmly trying to survey his surroundings with careful eyes.
Drip. Drip.
Thinking it was raining, Brown wiped away the water droplets on his face, but then froze upon seeing the red liquid smeared on the back of his hand.
“…Blood.”
It was blood. Why was blood on his face?
He’d just thought it was rain, but it wasn’t…
He barely managed to move his stiff neck to look upward.
“Peekaboo.”
A girl with jet-black hair fell upside down from the air, blood dripping from the corners of her mouth.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
As Brown screamed and fell from his horse, the girl murmured in a sinister voice.
“Prey.”
“…Ugh, ugh. W-who…”
Blood droplets continued to fall onto his face as he sat collapsed on the ground.
Unable to wipe away the blood drops spreading in circles and trickling down, he immediately dropped to his knees.
“Greedy and two-faced humans like you are my favorite kind of soul.”
“I’m not like that…”
“Really?”
I tilted my head at an odd angle, my voice dripping with mockery, and he fell silent.
“You were just spouting off about Blake Leblanc, calling him a monster. And this is despite the fact that he saved the Empire from the Demonic Beasts. I know Blake is far too strong, so I’m keeping him in check. If he becomes a monster rather than a powerful hero, then trash like you will finally have a place to stand.”
“N-no, that’s not it! I wasn’t insulting him—I was just repeating what everyone else says…!”
“Is repeating something not a sin?”
The girl laughed, a metallic, bone-chilling sound that made her entire body quiver with an eerie, sinister quality.
“Humans are all the same. You all throw stones together, and when someone ends up beaten to death, you claim it wasn’t your stone that killed them.”
“No, not me!”
“That’s how I died. That’s why I despise humans like you.”
As the girl drew closer, Brown squeezed his eyes shut and begged with every fiber of his being.
“I-I’m sorry… No, I was wrong! I swear I’ll never do such a thing again. I won’t spread rumors about things I haven’t verified!”
“How can I trust you? I could simply kill you here where no one would ever know.”
“Please, I truly will live differently from now on…!”
“From now on, don’t speak of anything you haven’t witnessed yourself. Understood? If you keep spouting off about things you’ve merely glimpsed or heard in passing, I’ll pluck out those useless eyes and ears of yours.”
The girl, watching Brown tremble in terror, asked quietly.
“Y-yes. Of course. I’ll remember this!”
“Now get out of here.”
The moment those words left her lips, the mist that had blanketed the area around the lake vanished. Simultaneously, the girl herself disappeared from sight.
And Brown, consumed by terror, felt warmth spread through his trousers as he lost consciousness the instant it was all over.
Some time later.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself at the entrance to the Hunting Grounds.
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
Brown opened his eyes to the loud barking of his hunting dog and looked around in shock.
All of the servants who had come with him were unconscious.
“What the—! Did you all see a ghost?”
At his cry, the other servants around him began to stir and rise to their feet one by one.
“Brown…?”
“Did you perhaps also see that… that thing after getting lost, sir?”
“A ghost… you mean?”
“Was what we saw really a ghost…?”
As they exchanged bewildered glances, a chill ran down their spines.
It had been a real ghost.
A real ghost actually lived in this cursed Leblanc Mansion?
Nix, watching the terrified servants from her perch in the tree, could not suppress her laughter.

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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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