Rose of Hell [1-44] Circuit Breaker

“Squad 11, mission almost complete.”

“Squad 11, proceed west. Rendezvous with Squad 2 at the main street and fall under their command.”

“Squad 4, captured three young women. Bringing them in now.”

“Understood.”

The office of the Duke’s castle, serving as the command center.

A map of the city was spread out on the desk, surrounded by numerous “Caller” magic items. Enchanted, talisman-like devices for remote communication, covered densely in inscribed spells.

Each squad leader, a ghoul, carried a Caller (including spares), allowing them to report their progress to Alistair, the commander, in real-time.

Ghouls are undead, also known as “Corpse Eaters.”

Because they consume only carrion, they are relatively docile undead and don’t often attack people. However, if starved, they are capable of hunting humans and waiting for their bodies to decompose, and as Renée’s subordinates, they follow orders to carry out military actions. They retain only faint memories and wills from their previous lives, and their personalities are twisted into something wicked, yet their intellect remains comparable to that of humans.

Renée focused on this trait of “possessing intellect.” She assigned ghouls as squad leaders to command zombies, who lacked sufficient mental capacity, and skeletons, which possessed only the rudimentary decision-making abilities of simple golems. Ideally, she would have used liches, but they are difficult to amass in large numbers because they require the use of a magician as material, including their soul. While spirit-type undead also possess intelligence, their inability to carry physical objects makes them somewhat inconvenient. Thus, ghouls were chosen as squad leaders.

The Duke moved pieces on the map, marking completed areas of annihilation with red X’s. He issued instructions based on incoming communications, updating the map with any changes in the situation.

“Alistair. I’ve eliminated the threat we were informed about. Do you have information on any other enemies that are beyond our current capabilities?”

Renée’s voice came from one of the Callers, and Alistair, aware that she couldn’t see him, respectfully bowed his head in response.

“None, my lady. I believe that was the last one. There are some squads engaged with adventurers, but the undead knights are handling them adequately.”

“Understood. …There! ≪Call Lightning≫!”

Thunder roared, and several screams echoed through the Caller.

“Is everything alright?”

“Oh, don’t worry. I just found some citizens who were late in escaping, so I killed them. I’m turning the materials I acquired into undead on the spot and sending them towards the castle. Have them collected when they encounter one of our squads.”

“Understood.”

“I’ll continue to wander around and kill anyone I find hiding, those who failed to escape.”

In several squares within the city, the materials giseisha (victims) killed by the undead were piled up. Renée was making rounds there, increasing her forces by using ≪Create Undead≫. And when she discovered hidden citizens through her emotion-sensing ability, she casually killed them as she passed by, turning those suitable into undead on the spot.

“Speaking of escaping… some citizens we missed have started fleeing outside the city. What should we do about them? Should we send available squads to pursue them?”

“Well, our priority is cleaning up the city… hmm?”

Renée seemed to have noticed something.

“Wait a moment!”

“Understood.”

The sound of an explosion came from the other side of the Caller.

“Found you~”

“Ah, aaaaah…”

Inside a house half-destroyed by Renée’s magic. Three women, who had failed to escape and were hiding with bated breath, looked at Renée with terrified eyes.

They were high-teen women with no particular distinguishing features, dressed like ordinary town girls. By Earth standards, they might be called ‘girls,’ but in this world, they were already considered adults, and some might even be married. They didn’t seem to be family, but rather a group who happened to be hiding together in the same place by chance. They had barricaded the room with chairs and tables, but Renée, keeping her head on her neck, effortlessly lifted a table with her free left hand and tossed it behind her.

“Hiii!”

A scream, stifled deep in their throats, escaped.

Renée observed the trembling women. They were of average to slender build. Not particularly valuable enough to warrant turning them into undead and adding them to her forces. Their ages were also unsuitable for Renée’s vessel. In other words, they were of no particular use to Renée. They could be killed without consequence.

“P-Please, help us…”

“Oh… God, God, God…”

“Please, spare our lives… spare our lives!”

Desperate pleas for mercy.

Renée only thought they were noisy. They looked at Renée with pleading eyes… perhaps hoping that, unlike the other undead, Renée’s relatively clean appearance meant she could be reasoned with. Unfortunately, that was a big mistake. She was the source of this entire situation. She couldn’t think of any particular reason not to kill them. Wesala was chosen as a beacon of retaliation, an example, and was to be crushed thoroughly. It wasn’t necessary to kill everyone, but more deaths were preferable.

She could simply carve them up with her cursed red blade. All three of them, sliced neatly in half. A simple act of killing, increasing her kill score by +3.

That should have been it, but…

—Huh…? Why? This isn’t fun…

Renée’s red blade did not move. Killing wasn’t enjoyable.

Why was that? Guilt? Conscience? Such things no longer existed. They had been stripped away, along with her human dignity, in that living hell.

Even before coming to this place, Renée had personally slaughtered dozens of innocent citizens. She had impaled a nursing infant and the mother cradling it, killing them together. She had stabbed to death a father trying to protect his family, and then made his zombie kill his wife and daughter. She had mercilessly murdered a young girl, weakened by illness and unable to flee, who could only await her final moments in bed with prayer. There was no reason to treat the women in front of her any differently.

—…No, that’s not it.

Renée realized.

—It’s… P-i-l-i-n-g–u-p.

As if holding her breath while diving deeper and deeper into the sea, Renée felt a growing sense of suffocation with each kill. Even though she no longer needed to breathe, she felt a tightening in her chest, in her very core.

It was ‘fear’. The fear of being abandoned.

Renée didn’t truly feel any aversion to killing. She was a cold and selfish avenger, capable of killing the sick, the elderly, and infants to achieve her goals. But what would her kind mother think of her atrocities? What would Diana, who thought of Renée until her last breath, think of Renée, stained with the blood of others? Surely, if they were alive, both of them would have tried to admonish and stop Renée. That was still acceptable. Revenge that turned the world into an enemy was, from the start, beyond the understanding of ordinary people. But what if she was abandoned as a hopeless enemy?

What if she lost ‘a mother’s love’?

“…May you be happy. I will always… be watching you.”

…Diana’s words clung to Renée, not as salvation, but as a curse for ‘Renée the Avenger’. In that battle, Renée was reminded that she was just a girl.

—Th-This is ridiculous. What am I thinking? My mother and Diana are both dead. I don’t even know if they’re watching me. They could have been reincarnated the moment they died, so I don’t even know if they still exist in this world.

Renée thought it was an utterly foolish and childish sentiment. For the sake of those who were no longer here, Renée was trying to be a ‘tragic heroine’ rather than a ‘monster that destroys everything.’ She was trying to protect a final, possibly non-existent line. She herself didn’t know where the line between safe and out was. That’s why it’s scary! The more she kills, the more she fears whether she has fallen too far.

It wasn’t that Renée hesitated to kill because she felt compassion. If she had a little time to calm down… yes, if she were to meet these women again tomorrow, for example, she would probably carve them up without any hesitation.

Her gaze met that of the three women, who were frozen in fear and prayer.

If she cuts them down. Would cutting them down allow her to break away from childish sentimentality and become a revenge device that cares nothing for good or evil?

Renée ground her back teeth with a giri sound and lowered her sword.

“…I have a question. Answer quickly and accurately. When Prince Regent Hilbert usurped the throne from King Elbert, did you rejoice and celebrate it?”

Woman A (for convenience, labeled A, B, and C from Renée’s left) seemed to understand something from Renée’s words and appearance. She immediately straightened her posture and knelt, trembling. This was the proper etiquette for commoners to show towards royalty. And she spoke.

“Princess! I believe such an act is unthinkable!!”

She seemed to have realized that Renée was the “Rose Princess of Hellrage,” the daughter of the former King Elbert. The commotion and circumstances in the royal capital had evidently reached this place as well.

B, who had been stunned by what A had done, quickly grasped the situation and followed suit. She lowered her head, her teeth chattering gachi gachi.

“I thought the same, Princess!”

C also knelt, albeit later. One might expect her to say the same thing as A and B, but C, while trembling, raised her face and placed her hand on her chest, pleading.

“Princess, no! These women were happily talking about Hilbert’s actions! They even said ‘good riddance’ about the royal family members who were beheaded!”

“What!?”

“Wh-What are you saying!”

A and B turned pale at C’s accusation.

“Th-This one was the one who was happy about the coup!”

“That’s not true! I was just going along with what they were saying! I didn’t mean any of it, but…”

“That’s enough!”

“Kyaa!”

B lunged at C and punched her in the face. C desperately grabbed C’s face in return.

“Why are you trying to save only yourself!”

“You’re trying to sell us out!? You liar!”

“Who’s the liar here!!”

The three of them then ignored Renée and started a brawl, punching and grabbing each other. Renée suddenly felt a headache coming on, and she rubbed her temples, which were held in her left hand, with her right hand.

“Um… I forgot to mention something important at the beginning. I can tell when someone is lying.”

““Eh…””

Leaving behind whispers of despair, the heads of A and B flew through the air. C, freed from B’s weakened grip, collapsed to the ground.

“Ah, awawawawa…”

“Hmph. This is fine. I guess direct revenge doesn’t count.”

Renée lightly swung her red blade and checked her mental state. There were no deficiencies. No pain. Rather, it was enjoyable.

She glared at C. She didn’t feel like killing this woman… at least, not now, after she had just engaged in plenty of cruel acts.

“I’ll allow you to escape. However, remember this. If necessary, I will kill even someone like you. Understand that your survival here is merely due to irrational luck. …Hurry up and go. Before I change my mind!”

“Y-Yes…!”

When Renée jerked her chin (more precisely, moved the hand holding her head in that way), C stood up and ran off, stumbling. Watching her back, Renée felt disappointed in her own inadequacy. She had managed to kill only two, with an excuse. Even though she had intended to crush this Wesala thoroughly, she had created a precedent by letting a citizen escape herself.

—I… What am I? In this state… revenge…

She was far from the ideal image of what an avenger should be. Weak, contradictory. It was questionable whether she could even achieve revenge like this, she began to think, when…

An idea flashed through Renée’s mind.

The brawl between A, B, and C was an unnecessary farce, but… What if she could do that on a national scale?

—Yes… that’s right! Since the goal isn’t to kill everyone, this method can actually be used!

Negotiations and pleas for mercy are useless against a monster that indiscriminately destroys everything. If that were the case, people would unite and try to defeat Renée. But what if that wasn’t the case?

Renée picked up the Caller, which had been on hold, and activated it.

“Alistair. No pursuit. Actually, you don’t have to kill anyone who is useless anymore. Let the fleeing people escape. The ‘achievement’ and news of ‘destroying the city’ are enough. Okay?”

“Understood.”

“Also, we’ll have a strategy meeting when you return. I came up with a new plan for attacking the royal capital. We need to determine its feasibility and the specific steps. I need your head while it’s still intact, so get to it.”

“Understood.”

Renée put the Caller back on hold and forced a smile.

Unknowingly, a limit had been placed on her acts of cruelty. This would be a hindrance to her as an avenger. But it wasn’t that she couldn’t kill anymore. She just needed to do it intermittently. Besides… there are strategies that become possible precisely because there are times when she doesn’t kill!

—…Isn’t it because this is my fight that it becomes ‘revenge’?

It was partly a justification, but Renée forced herself to think positively. It was not the actions of a broken, heartless revenge device, but the actions of a ‘person’ who feared being hated by her mother and her surrogate mother, Diana, that made Renée’s fight not a ‘monster’s rampage’ but ‘revenge.’

Renée was a girl. Not a monster or a revenge device, but a girl who longed for, mourned, and grieved for her mother.

“…Mother.”

The word slipped out of her mouth, and startled, Renée grabbed her head with both hands and shook it vigorously.

“Waaaaah! Forget that! Forget it, forget it, forget it!!”

Fortunately, the Caller was on hold, and there were no ghouls or straggling citizens nearby, so no one heard those words.

Renée breathed a sigh of relief, and then looked up at the sky from inside the half-destroyed house.

Those who had taken her mother, her life, everything from the weak girl, were still living carefree under this sky. That’s why…

—…Fight!!

The main street, battered and broken by magic, strewn with corpses and the remains of undead, was desolate and silent.

Renée doesn’t know yet.

That this decision will go beyond the scope of a mere strategy, and develop into Renée kunrin (reigning/ruling) as a being who wreaks havoc on the human world.