A Death Row Convict Teaches at a School of Magic

orld? Literally, it is a method of execution in which the body is torn apart with a saw, but this time I have arranged it.
Sawing is conventionally carried out by decapitating the head, but as you can see, I split the body in half from top to bottom.
Of course, the neck would have been in a tremendous deal of agony, but to be hung upside down and have the legs ripped open, I suppose that would be more jarring in this regard.”

Kanaki lifted the saw and slowly placed it over Sasha’s crotch.

“Hu, hugoo!”

“S-Stop―”

Without pausing, Kanaki jerked the saw to the hilt.

The sound reached Felt, as the fibers of the meat were being ripped apart.

“Bugoooooo!!”

An unprecedented screech emanated from Sasha’s mouth.

Her eyes widened until they were about to burst open, and that alone caused a profusion of perspiration to break out all over her body.

“Yeah, looks like we can still keep going.”

Kanaki then continued sawing.

A series of obnoxious tearing noises followed the cadence of the sawing.

“Bugogoo! Gaaaaaaaah!!”

That was not a scream a human being should emit.

“!”

Not even Felt could face the scene directly.
Involuntarily tearing her eyes away from Sasha, she noticed a large mirror on the wall behind Felt’s back.
And there, reflected in the mirror, was Sasha’s face, with the saw up to her navel, watching it with bloodshot eyes.
That sent Felt a chill down her spine.

―Kanaki was showing Sasha herself, in that mirror, her own body being dismembered as if to heighten more despair.

The shrieks that had chilled her to the core faded.

“Phew, I have to admit, it’s hard to use a saw to chop when dealing with a human being.”

Those were the words of someone who was evidently accustomed to cutting people.

“Well, I bet that causes further pain… Oh, you are foaming.
I have to remove it before it suffocates you.”

Felt was incapable to intervene even as Kanaki turned his back on her to remove the gag.

Her arms and legs lacked all power.
The tremors in her body had been persistent since earlier.

For the first time, Felt was confronted with the fact that, up until that point in her life, she had never encountered veritable “evil.”

“…Yeah, she is fully conscious.
The drug I administered to her beforehand seems to be kicking in.
There appears to be no risk of blood loss or shock-related mortality since ‘Circle Healing’ is proceeding without a hitch.”

Straining her eyes, the wounds on Sasha showed minimal but incremental movement as if they were being closed up.

On the floor where Sasha was hung was a geometric pattern, and in the center of it was a magic crystal stone.
That was likely to ensure that Sasha would not die, but it would be a sign that Sasha would be in constant suffering as well.

“―Well, I was just playing with her until you came along, Ms.
Felt, but my true purpose is something else.
I called you here today because I want you to work for me.”

“…What do you mean?”

Felt herself realized that the end of her sentence was wavering.

“I meant exactly what I said.
I thought about it after talking to you the other day.
Even if I kill you guys now, there will still be nobody in the city who is influential wanted criminals.
Once you guys are out of the picture, there will be new tricky characters coming to wreak havoc on the city, and if that trend plays a continuous course, it is inevitable that the Garrisoned Corps and Security Force of other cities will take notice of here.”

Kanaki raised his index finger at Felt.

“That’s where you guys come in.
I want you guys to replace Matthias as the city’s wanted criminal and the city’s control freak.
Naturally, your work can continue as before.
―Oh, and please don’t kill any more merchants, okay? But when the wanted criminals who pose a threat to this city arrive, I want you to take them out.”

It took a great effort on Felt’s part to reply.

“…Why don’t you do that?”

“I have, of course, thought about that.
However, that would draw a lot of attention to me, wouldn’t it? Peace and tranquility are the aspects I prefer to live in.
Even I have a teaching job.”

“Peaceful life?”

Felt genuinely did not grasp the meaning of that word.

“Right.
That is the universal dream of all human beings, no matter where they live in the world.”

If so, what was the man standing in front of her?

Even Felt was aware that she was not a decent human being, but she would certainly not be in the same category as this man.
He was a monster.
A monster masquerading as a human being, possessing rationality.

Felt was unable of responding and fell silent, and what did Kanaki think about that?

“…That’s right.
Speaking of which, I just came up with a one-liner I want to present to you when you come over, Ms.
Felt.
Surely, you would laugh at it―”

At the sight of the trick, Felt puked for the first time in more than a decade and then decided to comply with Kanaki’s request.