Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 269 - 247

In my sister’s panicked, accusatory voice, I hugged her in my tattered clothes, placing that beautiful rose in her hair.

"I love you, sister."

"I love you too, brother. But what have you done to yourself? And you’re still smiling!"

I let out the most carefree laugh I had had in years, tightly embracing my kin.

The next day, I arrived at the Lord’s manor, with my flute and endless dreams for the future.

"My lord, I’ve come to claim my reward."

The Lord’s expression was grim, and his words filled me with unease.

"Reward? I have no reward for a devil!"

"Devil? I don’t understand what you are talking about?" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"What am I talking about? You, the Piper with the Magic Flute, took advantage of the time I was gathering your reward to steal the children of my citizens with your dreadful Magic Flute! Get out of my manor!"

The guards chased me out with kicks and blows, joined by the enraged citizens outside the manor.

I desperately dodged the crowd, like a rat that everyone wants to kill. I didn’t know what I had done wrong, but if I stopped, I would surely be beaten to death.

I awkwardly fled to the outskirts of the city, where I once heard my sister’s voice trying to stop them. Eventually, I escaped to the riverbank, the once clear place now filled with rat corpses.

My cheeks were smeared with blood and bruises, the pain from my torn nails burning like fire.

What on earth happened?

A sinister voice emerged, speaking over the floating rat carcasses. I could barely tell if it was real or not, as blood loss had begun to blur my vision.

"Aren’t you the Piper? What happened to you now? I quite liked your music."

His voice carried a chilling malice, like the reaper’s scythe pressed against the skin of one’s neck.

"Who are you?"

What answered me was a deceitful laugh, the rat carcasses before me parting to reveal a water surface as dark as ink and the writhing dark shadows beneath.

A monster I had never seen before.

"You are evil," eyes filled with exotic colors swiftly helped me recognize his true nature—a creature filled with hatred and venom.

He laughed sinisterly from beneath the water. "Such beautiful eyes, just as beautiful as the sound of your flute. Look, these lovely children, they all fell asleep to the sound of your music."

The shadow manipulated the rat corpses, presenting to me the terrifying visage of death.

"What do you want to do?" I intended to flee, but my weakened body had lost its strength, and I knelt by the water’s edge, watching as the shadows slowly entwined around me.

"What do I want to do? Haha, it’s what do you want to do?" Among the rising shadows, a large black rat stood up, its small red eyes looking at me.

"You’re curious, aren’t you? Why you got no reward, why the children went missing? I know it all. Greed and deceit are human’s most primitive skills. The Lord reneged, actually, he had been dealing in child trafficking behind the scenes, delaying or threatening, allowing the anger of those parents to build up to today, finally catching fire on the scapegoat. Rats know all filthy and vile deeds. He won’t have to pay a hefty reward, nor bear the guilt of abducting children, killing two birds with one stone. Once your corpse becomes a tool for the citizens to vent their anger, he can start anew. Haha, even if you don’t die, this hatred will shift to a fictitious devil, yes, you’ve even lost your surname, haven’t you?"

I no longer belonged to Lokarot, even if it was my hometown.

Everything I encountered today completely crushed me. I held my head in my hands, not knowing how to face it all.

What about my sister? How should I face her?

The demon’s voice rang out again, as if it could see through my heart.

"You don’t need to consider how to face your sister anymore, because..."

The black-filled water flowed slowly, the pitch-black liquid gradually stained a reddish-brown.

I stiffly turned my head, like moving a rusted bolt, and upstream, I saw my sister.

"She was killed by the furious and insane townspeople, her body thrown into the river... just as you treated these rats."

I screamed and swam towards the white shadow in the water, the black, murky current wrapping around my body, dragging me down bit by bit.

I held her body, now ice-cold, the rose flower stained with blood, blooming furiously above her head.

The shadow climbed up my back, the eerie voice perched on my shoulder.

"Look down, what do you see?"

In my sister’s blood, I saw my own reflection.

"Evil."

"Yes, we all are. We are friends, we share common interests, Avonreiter helps his own friends, assists them in everything they desire to do..."

I returned to the shore, my once colorful garment turned into a grey and white suit, and I laid my sister to rest. The rose that had withered under our transformed powers, I placed atop my chest.

For the last time, just like Inlet, I let out a blast on my flute toward Lokarot.

The demonic notes made my soldiers rise, marching towards Lokarot under my command, carrying my malice and the plague of death.

Inlet, I truly did change Lokarot. This city will never again be indifferent to the sound of a flute.

Lokarot, all the struggles and sacrifices I’ve made, let me give them all back to you.

I knew I was doing the wrong thing, so when the holy light destroyed me, I faced it calmly.

"But to my surprise, death was not a release."

Looking at my now skeletal self, Avonreiter’s voice was gone. Standing in front of me was this fellow claiming to be a receptionist of the academy.

"How about it, my companion? Andrei Academy welcomes the joining of all Liches. Here you can fulfill the regrets of your lifetime and showcase what you have learned. Have you decided what you want to do?"

I nodded my head.

"I’ve done too many wrong things in the past, now, I want to be a good person."

The receptionist looked at the Lich who wanted to be a good person as if he were looking at a madman.

"You mean, that sort of well-mannered, generous, considerate Gentleman?"

"...Yes, I want to become a Gentleman."