Chapter 245: King of the Dead Subjugation — Interlude (2)The carriage that had been running all night stopped at a nearby vige. It was scheduled to be briefly serviced in the vige before departing again.


    Upon waking up, I saw Alice Carroll looking down at me, just as she had before I fell asleep. I realized she had not been able to sleep because of me.


    I got out of the carriage. The coachman left first to take a break, and Alice and I got off the carriage.


    For some reason, Alice took out a thin coat and wrapped it around her waist.


    She leaned on the carriage, bent over slightly, and took a deep breath.


    “What''s wrong?”


    "Nothing... I just feel a bit weak. I''ll stay here and rest."


    Alice lifted her head and forced a smile.


    She seemed to have difficulty walking.


    Maybe her legs were numb. It seemed the blood cirction in her thighs wasn''t good because I had been using her as ap pillow continuously.<em>Did I treat her too harshly as a minion?</em>


    I felt apologetic.


    <strong>[Meow! Isaac, bring me my gift!]</strong>


    On the carriage, Phantom Cat Cheshire waved its front paws.


    "What do you want?"


    <strong>[A big fish bone!]</strong>


    <em>I''ll have to pick it up from the food waste bin.</em>


    Though it couldn''tpare to a lord''s castle, it was a bustling vige. There were many buildings made of bricks, and the streets were well-paved.


    After buying food and returning to the carriage, I had a meal with Alice. Feeling obligated to give a gift of good manners, I handed over a fish bone I got from a fish shop. Cheshire was quite pleased.


    After stopping at a bathhouse to wash up with Alice, we boarded the carriage again and departed. Being holed up in the academy made the outdoor experience feel quite refreshing.


    On the way, I offered to lend myp as a pillow to Alice. She said she was fine, but when I pressed her, she admitted she wasn''t, so Iid her on my thighs.


    As Alice had done for me all night, I stroked her light gold hair.


    Alice, feeling sleepy, soon fell asleep.


    I spent the time training with one hand holding a magic tool that greatly resisted mana cirction.


    The carriage headed towards M?rchen Academy without any issues.


    * * * In the forest, an old cabin.


    A girl with grayish-brown hair woke up from her sleep.


    The girl rubbed her eyes, got off her old bed, poured herself a cup of cold water in the kitchen, and drank it.


    Her drowsiness quickly disappeared.


    The girl crossed her arms on the windowsill and looked out the window.


    The sunlit forest was as lush and green as ever.


    "Prince..."


    The girl, Michelle, muttered as she looked at the red hood hanging on the drying rack.


    The man with silver-blue hair she saw a few days ago filled her mind.


    He had dealt with a noble who was engaged in human trafficking and even defeated a dangerous demon army with terrifying strength.


    She had also seen him sharing affection with a woman with pale gold hair and bathing naked in the bathhouse.


    Someone showed her the whereabouts of the man with silver-blue hair in her dreams every night.


    To Michelle, the scenes where a prince appeared in fairy tales were incredibly captivating.


    The man with silver-blue hair, Isaac, was just like that.


    A man with outstanding appearance, strength, and charisma who came to rescue her from a crisis (or so she believed).


    Their meeting could rightfully be called destiny.


    Michelle could feel the same heart-pounding sensation she felt while reading fairy tales every time she thought of Isaac.


    She had never experienced the love that often appeared in fairy tales, but Michelle was certain that the emotion she was feeling at the time was surely love.


    "Is it towards M?rchen Academy?"


    Isaac was heading towards M?rchen Academy.


    Michelle usually had no interest in the academy, but thinking it was where the prince was, she couldn''t help but be interested now.


    <em>How wonderful a ce could it be?</em>


    Thinking it was the ce that housed such a strong prince made M?rchen Academy seem very prestigious to her.


    "I want to see you again, Prince..."


    Michelle decided to pursue what she believed to be love.


    Because the enchanting emotion might have be Michelle’s reason to live.


    However, Michelle did not yet realize that the emotion she was feeling wasn’t love.


    *** South Korea. An enigmatic building stood in Ilsan.


    A clean 30-story building with tall screen walls that was swiftly constructed.


    The building proudly bore thebel "HIGGS" at the top¹


    It was the building of “Higgs,” the gamepany that developed the RPG game ?Magic Knight of M?rchen?, which was said to be ahead of its time.


    The entrance always had a “No Entry” warning, and residents who passed by the building imed they had never seen anyone associated with it.


    The owner of the building and the head of Higgs, a game developmentpany, had registered the property under the name “Dante”. It was a clean title, with no mortgages, suggesting it was built with pure capital.


    On the other hand, the registered directors listed in themercial registry all hadmon Korean names.


    When their real names were checked, they could not be identified. Their listed addresses were either vacant lots or uninhabitable ces, indicating false registration.


    The gamepany''s customer service could not be reached by phone; only messages could be exchanged.


    The suspicious facts came to light due to spective reports that children had gone missing after entering the Higgs building, along with severalints of strange noisesing from the building.


    The police smelled something fishy and began investigating the game developmentpany, Higgs.


    Higgs did not answer the phone. Lacking clear evidence and legal grounds for a search warrant, only one detective sneaked into the restricted Higgs building.


    …He went missing.


    As soon as the detective entered the building, he sensed danger and called his colleague.


    Due to the poor signal, there was static noise, and he said, “I''m at the Higgs building... I came to rescue the kids... Hey, fuck...! You must nevere in here…” and then the call was abruptly cut off.


    The police were dispatched to find the missing detective. They all forced open the entrance to the Higgs building and entered.


    …They too went missing.


    The police who infiltrated the building left their final transmission, "Fuck, what is that...! There''s a monster, a monster...!" before disappearing.


    The breached entrance to the building was restored in an instant. It was an inexplicable phenomenon.


    A broadcastingpany, like hyenas smelling a fresh carcass, immediately reacted to the police''s noticeable activity and delved into the incident.


    The South Korean media reported on the mysterious disappearance at the Higgs building, a game developmentpany.


    The videos Higgs had posted on the video tform also saw a surge in views.


    As time passed, police units smashed the windows of Higgs'' building to gain ess to each floor in an operation to rescue the missing children and officers.


    Then, something unbelievable happened.


    The windows that had been smashed by the police force were restored in the blink of an eye. The crowd of police and onlookers were bewildered.


    As if time itself had reversed.


    Or as if the building, taking the form of a living organism, exhibited incredible regenerative abilities.


    "Hey, did we really break all that...? I''m not seeing things, right?"


    "Yes, definitely..."


    The police officers waiting at the entrance realized the situation was serious and radioed their colleagues inside the building, but theirmunications were already dead.


    The only one who was able to get through was a colleague, albeit with a patchy connection.


    <strong>[Monster... there is... don''t...e in... here...]</strong>


    With those words, themunication was cut off.


    Many citizens and broadcast reporters watching the police unit''s entry from a distance murmured. They too witnessed the same mysterious scene as the police.


    At that moment, a man shouted.


    "Higgs is broadcasting!"


    "What?!"


    The broadcast station staff and citizens live-streaming the scene all simultaneously took out their smartphones and essed the video site.


    "Higgs has just started a live broadcast."


    "At this timing? Are these bastards just going all out?!"


    A few of the police officers tuned into the Higgs channel on their tablets and yed the live broadcast to report on the situation.


    The screen with the Higgs logo continued for a while, and then suddenly, a tall woman in a suit appeared on the screen.


    She was in a dark room.


    As in some videos, she spoke in a consistent, indifferent tone, as if she had no emotion.


    "Is this damn thing even a human?"


    However, today, the woman in the video felt excessively uncanny and indescribably repulsive, even more so than usual.


    It felt too eerie to be simply considered acting.


    Unexpectedly, humans could instinctively distinguish something mimicking a human.


    The viewers felt a creepy sensation while watching this inte broadcast.


    "It looks like a ghost pretending to be a human… Hey, but what''s she saying?"


    "Savior...?"


    <strong>Title:</strong> We WIll Warn You


    <strong>Channel Name:</strong> Higgs


    <strong>Subcribers:</strong> 36.6 Million


    [Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt]


    [Hello, everyone.]


    [I am Alletz, the head developer of ?Magic Knight of M?rchen?.]


    [Lately, there has been an increase in people encroaching on our domain.]


    [However, the only ones who suffer are you.]


    [We are not beings you can contend with.]


    [You do not have the right to reach the truth.]


    [Those without the right who enter our domain will only make their soul miserable.]


    [Only the savior we have chosen has the right.]


    [Only the man who struggles alongside my servants to save both us and you has the right to face all the truths of this world.]


    [Please act ording to your ce.]


    With a high-pitched beep, the screen returned to the Higgs logo.


    The broadcast ended.


    A few dayster, the missing individuals were found unconscious in the same location.


    It was a closed railway tunnel.<ol>1. ED Min Note: Chicken Boy actually writes out "Higgs" in english here so Hix will now be tranted as Higgs going forward. I already change it in previous chapters.</ol>