The God Hands Down an Oracle #2

<<<It's Kakushii-‘sama’! I'm a god! The god of cubes! The greatest cube in the world! Revere me more!>>>

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, sorryyy.”

The Cube God Kakushii, god of cubes in this other world of Ardyst, got angry, her corners sharpening.

But Kakushii's apostle, Viola, showed no remorse, grinning flippantly.

The relationship between this one god and one human had remained unchanged since the moment they met.

<<<......Well, fine. Any more is a waste of time...... Viola, the reason I called you here is none other than this...... I hereby hand down an oracle to you.>>>

The Cube God sighed, gave up on correcting her apostle's insolence, and got down to business.

Hearing those words...... Viola's eyes glinted eerily.

“Fine by me, an oracle...... I'll do anything. What do I do?”

Viola leaned forward and asked the Cube God.

But the Cube God did not answer right away; instead, floating lazily in the full-length mirror, she said this:

<<<Hey, Viola...... have you ever heard the phrase ‘serves you right’?>>>

“Huh? Serves you right? ......I, being a person of meager learning and little talent, would not know...... ah, right, as in ‘you get what's coming to you’?”

<<<More or less. You shall carry out something to add color to my story...... a ‘serves you right’.>>>

“I don't follow. Say it plainer. What, do I, do?”

<<<You will kill that great sinner, Giovanno, for me.>>>

On receiving that oracle.

Viola.

......blinked, and tilted her head.

<<<Wh, hey, it's Giovanno, you know? The unprecedented great villain, Giovanno Ack Toh!? You captured him with Mereucce-chan, didn't you!? That old man with the villain's face!>>>

“Ahh...... was there someone like that. Sorry, I'm bad at remembering people. Except for the faces of the ones I've killed, I forget right away.”

<<<Listen...... since that incident, you took on a disciple, didn't you? That boy called Narakan. The one who set things up so that boy got sold as an illegal slave was that Giovanno.>>>

“I see, I see.”

Narakan was the first illegal slave Mereucce had rescued, and the boy through whom she had first caught on to Giovanno's crimes.

With no family to his name and an aptitude for the shadow unit, he now worked, on the surface, as an apprentice gardener for the Runtart house, while in truth he was being trained by Viola as an apprentice in the shadow unit.

He was a pure, innocent boy who felt strong loyalty toward Mereucce, who had saved him.

How good would it feel to suddenly plunge a knife into the chest of this boy who looked up to Viola as his teacher and trusted her?

Viola spent her days hiding those dark fantasies, her vile true nature, behind a mask: the “cool, capable shadow-unit maid,” a character in Mereucce's story.

Even now...... she had caught herself having one of those fantasies.

Exasperated with Viola, who was blushing and laughing with her shoulders shaking, the Cube God went on.

<<<That man, in my plot, was supposed to be banished to some demon realm called Zamago Forest and die there miserably, eaten by monsters. I designed that man's life, ending and all.>>>

“Aha, that's cruel.”

<<<Is it? Being given a god's attention, isn't that an honor? ......Anyway, and yet, you see? That man, I don't know why, is apparently still stubbornly surviving in that forest, and he's made friends!>>>

“Oho? Now why's that? The fate you, a god, saw, getting overturned...... does that even happen?”

<<<Of course it does. Nothing in this world is absolute.>>>

“Hmm.”

Viola had asked the question herself, yet she yawned as if bored.

“So? What's wrong with that?”

<<<Then the story doesn't have enough ‘serves you right’!>>>

Perhaps from excitement, the Cube God flickered from color to color, jittering in tiny jolts up, down, left and right.

<<<Listen, okay!? That Giovanno committed the unforgivable evil of trading in illegal slaves! Because of it there are tooons of people who were made miserable, you know!? And a guy like that is living without a care! The viewers would never stand for that, would they!?>>>

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I see. So for you, that bad guy surviving is unforgivable.”

<<<Eh, me? Personally I don't care whether people live or die! I'm a cube, after all! If I couldn't forgive bad guys in the first place, I'd never pick trash like you as my apostle, however good and handy you are at the job!>>>

“Aha, harsh! I got called trash! Boo-hoo!”

<<<I'm a cube, so I don't really get it, but someone who kills their own kind, who've done nothing wrong, for their own pleasure, isn't that trash? Even yesterday, god or not, covering it up was a lot of work, you know? At least stop thinning out your coworkers.>>>

“............Ahaa.”

Scolded by the Cube God, Viola, far from reflecting, recalled yesterday's kill and began to lose herself in fantasy.

......Killing is good.

No matter how amazing someone is, how clever, once they are dead, to Viola they are something lesser than herself.

Only then can Viola love that being......

<<<Okay! Stop! STOOOP! I'm still talking! No going off on a trip by yourself!>>>

“......Yeah, got it, got it. Calm down; my ears hurt.”

Dragged back to reality by the Cube God's shrill and piercing voice, Viola stood up with a wry smile and stretched.

“Anyway, here's the thing. The oracle I'm to carry out this time is ‘Kill Giovanno’, no mistake? Any instructions on how?”

<<<Do it however you like! Anyway, what matters is the result: Giovanno dies!>>>

“Can I kill the ones around him too, while I'm at it? He's got friends, right? This Giovanno or whoever.”

<<<......You really do love it, don't you...... Sure, fine, do as you like!>>>

“......Aha!”

Hearing those words from the Cube God, Viola broke into a beaming smile, then turned her back on the mirror and pushed open the heavy, rusted iron door.

<<<Listen, okay!? I said do as you like, but the most important thing is the ‘serves you right’ for Giovanno, you hear! Don't forget that!>>>

The Cube God shouted after her as if to drive the point home; Viola answered by raising her right hand without looking back, then shut the door and started up the stairs.

◇ ◇ ◇

(Now, where to start......)

Given a thrilling oracle by her true master, Viola walked the corridors of the Runtart mansion, holding back an eagerness that made her want to skip.

With her wicked inner self hidden behind graceful manners, she was, any way you looked at her, the perfect maid.

(The target has friends, was it...... will I be enough on my own? I hope I am...... I want to kill them all myself......)

The more people she killed, the happier she was.

Viola was that kind of pleasure killer.

But, still.

(I don't want to fail, not on any account.)

Despite her insolent attitude, this person called Viola truly had faith in that incomprehensible being, the so-called god of cubes.

It was precisely because that god was there, because that god's power hid everything, that she had the life she had now.

She could have both a quiet, untroubled life and her hobby.

Before meeting the Cube God, Viola had worked a double life: a public job as a high-ranking adventurer and a private job as an assassin.

Killing monsters in the open, killing people in the shadows.

It had been exciting and fun in its own way, day after day, but even she wasn't going to stay young forever.

She had been feeling a little worn out.

She felt indebted to the Cube God Kakushii, who had given her the life she had now, and she believed she had to repay that debt.

(If I remember right, the target's in a demon realm now. Then...... aha, that could be fun too. Wait...... on top of that............)

In Viola's head, an evil plan gradually came together.

“............Aha!”

In spite of herself, she let a smile slip.

She wore large glasses, makeup, and plain clothes, but those efforts did not completely erase her beauty.

A bewitching smile, shown by a cool, stiff, and serious maid who rarely laughed......

A male servant who happened to catch it as he passed looked back at Viola in spite of himself once they had gone by, his cheeks flushing red.

(Whatever the case, first......)

Now, Viola had decided on the general outline of the plan to carry out the “serves you right” the god had handed down.

Beyond this, she would have to make some preparations, actually visit the site, and play it by ear.

Since that was the case, what she had to do right here, right now.

That was......

(I'll put in for paid leave.)

The House of Count Runtart had a paid-leave system.

It was part of the reforms pushed forward by the Fledgling Phoenix, Mereucce Runtart.

If you ask me whether there is any narrative necessity for this arc's god to be a god of cubes, I can say with confidence:

THERE ISN'T!!!!!

But this god's oracle to Viola is just too awful, isn't it?

Viola's own true nature is quite evil, too.

For example, if it were a god of fate, they would symbolize fate; if a god of justice, they would symbolize justice. But if Kakushii-sama carelessly stood for something, it might drag that something down, and I didn't want that.

That's why I made Kakushii-sama the god of cubes.

Nobody aims their hate at a cube, right?

In other words, it's a matter of this author's deep foresight and grown-up consideration! Hmph! (Shut up)