You sneaked into my simulation world and started spamming the panel?

"I will absolutely not expose you."

Isolde took off a ring from her hand and handed it to Lott. "This is a magic ring for suicide. When infused with magic, it will explode. Never use it unless absolutely necessary."

Lott grinned and accepted it, saying, "Thank you so much."

With this, Isolde will no longer doubt where Lot's [Explosion] spell came from.

Isolde looked at Lothar's smile, turned her face away, and gripped the hilt of her sword tightly.

The two walked in the forest for three days.

Throughout the journey, Isolde remained as quiet as ever, only occasionally asking Lott if he wanted to rest.

Three days later, the two returned to the magnificent city of Orlandis, which stood on the grassland.

In her previous life, Isolde broke Orantis's surveillance magic. In this life, she and Lotte disguised themselves as merchants and easily infiltrated the city.

On the wide cobblestone path, beautiful elf ladies and burly, bearded dwarves would occasionally pass by, and sometimes orcs that Lot had never seen before would appear.

Although the city is built on a plain, it has been artificially created with varying elevations, with the city rising in a series of rings, the highest point of which sits the lord's castle and the white tower of the Mage's Guild.

Isolde took Lott to an inn and booked a room for them to stay.

“We’re going to stay here for a month.” Isolde pulled off her veil, tossed her hair, and let the sunlight rush to caress her face. “After a month, you’ll come with me there.”

Isolde looked out the window, where the lord's castle stood.

A month passed quickly.

During this period, Isolde worked from dawn till dusk, constantly gathering intelligence.

Lotte did not leave the hotel at all.

He would sit by the window in a daze every day, opening the control panel over and over again.

The proficiency level remained unchanged.

His talent progress has also stagnated.

This was completely different from what he had imagined before entering the world of deduction!

He's trapped in Orlandis and can't refresh the interface at all!

He's going crazy from holding it in.

Lott was eager for the banquet to arrive quickly so he could catch up on all the progress he had missed over the past month.

The number of defenders in Orantis City increased, eventually reaching ten [Catastrophe-level] defenders.

With the arrival of the emperor, the city of Orantis was placed under lockdown, and no one was allowed to enter or leave.

As night fell, the castle became the setting for a wild celebration for the nobles.

The maids bustled about on the red carpet, while fully armed guards coldly scanned every unusual detail.

Inside the banquet hall, the nobles excitedly discussed the future, and no one noticed Lotte and Isolde, who were disguised as a noble couple.

A nobleman nearby chuckled, his voice reaching Lot's ears: "It's a pity we haven't been able to find Isolde these past few days, otherwise, if we offered her as a sacrifice tonight, our strength would have increased considerably."

"Isolde has never been a talkative girl since she was a child. I always thought she wouldn't amount to anything, but I never expected that she would become a [Catastrophe Level] later on. It turns out that she colluded with the Siren Clan and betrayed the interests of the human race to gain power. I knew I couldn't have misjudged her."

"That dullard actually became a princess, she's really something."

"If the king hadn't regarded her as the pillar of humanity, how could he have allowed someone without royal blood to become a princess?"

Lott pretended not to hear.

But Isolde put down her wine glass and whispered to Lotte, "I did not collude with the sirens."

"Huh?" Lott was surprised that Isolde would explain to him. After realizing what was happening, he said, "Those are all rumors. I never believe them."

"Hmm." Isolde then picked up her wine glass and took small sips. "Tonight I might kill the emperor, or I might kill everyone here."

"I fully support you."

"Would I look like a murderer?"

“You’re not killing for fun, so you’re not a serial killer. If it were me, I would have killed their whole family and left no trace.”

"That's exactly what I intend to do."

"..."

Lotte was just saying it casually, but Isolde actually thought so!

He stole a glance at Isolde; dressed in an evening gown, she was no different from a noble lady, except for her slightly aloof expression.

Why were you spying on me?

Caught red-handed, Lotte was a little embarrassed. He explained, "I just thought Lady Isolde looked very handsome in her formal attire."

Isolde glanced down at her dress, gave a soft "hmm," and then looked at the faint red light rising outside the window. "The ceremony is about to begin. Lotte, I need you to distract the guards so I can sneak into the castle and investigate the magic circle."

"I understand."

Lott shook his arm; he hadn't done anything for the past month and was seriously behind his own plans.

He was determined to seize this opportunity and improve his magical proficiency no matter what.

Lotte got up to leave, but Isol grabbed her hem.

She looked at Lott's face and asked, "You never questioned my plan from the beginning. If I fail, you will have died in vain."

"I don't know why, but I always feel that Lord Isolde will succeed. You won't fail."

Isolde slowly lowered her hand, watching Lotte recede into the distance.

Lotte turned around and found Isolde sitting alone in the corner, loneliness drawing a line in front of her, shut out from any hustle and bustle.

He turned to look at the nobles filling the room and took out the dagger strapped to his calf.

"There are enemies!"

As soon as a nobleman shouted, the guards around rushed over to help.

Lotte was pinned down by the guards with almost no struggle; the riot ended so quickly that even Isolde hadn't expected it.

This level of disturbance was not enough to make the guards at the gate leave their posts to help.

Lott was pinned to the ground by several guards who searched his body and removed the self-destruct ring from his hand.

Once Lotte was completely under control, the nobles who had just been terrified and fled in all directions surrounded him again.

"Mommy, why didn't the guards just kill him?"

"Mommy, I want to see!"

"How did he sneak in? What are the guards even doing?!"

The nobles, who had never been on the battlefield before, flocked to watch the intruder's antics.

In the distance, Isolde's gaze remained fixed on the crowd.

She knew what Lott was about to face: torture, interrogation, and after the parade, Lott would be hanged in the square.

Isolde cannot save Lot, nor will she attempt a prison break because of Lot.

She sighed softly, stood up, and prepared to expose herself, then force her way into the castle after killing the guards at the gate.

Clot was not as desperate as Isolde had imagined; on the contrary, he felt it wasn't enough.

There aren't enough people!

Everyone, gather around me!

Loth struggled on the ground, yelling, "You bunch of lazy good-for-nothings, you actually betrayed Lord Isolde! I'll kill you all!"

The crowd paused for a moment, then burst into cheerful laughter.

"So it's the loyal T-class warrior of Isolde, hahaha."

"Where is your Lady Isolde? Why didn't she come to rescue you?"

Lott shouted, "She will avenge me! She will kill every single one of you here!"

The crowd erupted in joyful laughter once again. No one cared about Lotte's dying words; instead, they were delighted that Lotte could say such a thing.

They stood on high ground, looking down at the knights lying on the ground, mocking their incompetence.

"Mommy, I'm going to stomp him to death."

"Go away, don't touch him."

Lotte looked up and saw that the area above him was already crowded with people. Listening to the noise around him, the corners of his mouth slowly began to turn up.

His heart started racing, and his palms began to sweat slightly.

Lott was somewhat excited.

It's inevitable to be nervous the first time.

He pursed his lips, feeling that something was still missing.

Right, it's still lacking momentum; we should shout something.

But after thinking for a long time, Lott still didn't know what to shout, so he just came up with a slogan at random, just to make it sound impressive.

He chanted the [Explosion] spell rapidly, and his body began to glow with a pure white light.

The nobles around him also noticed Lott's unusual behavior and stepped back. "Hey, he seems different?"

"This is...magic? Isn't he a knight? How can he know magic?"

"Get out of here! Get out of here! It's a self-destruct spell!!"

But it was all too late.

Lotte took a deep breath and, amidst the intense light, shouted with unparalleled joy:

"For Isolde!!"

Isolde stopped in her tracks and turned to look at the crowd behind her and the dazzling white light.

Chapter 24 Explosion Technique and Valgard Swordsmanship

Lotte's body began to radiate heat, the paladin's limited spiritual energy providing him with precious magic.

The magic flowed faster and faster through Lot's body, constantly colliding with it, each collision accelerating the flow of magic. After several cycles, it finally reached a critical point, and the two beams of magic collided violently within Lot, unleashing an incredibly dazzling light.

"Boom—!"

The five or six people closest to Lotte were blown away by the violent explosion, their flesh and blood splattering through the air, making the red carpet on the ground even more vibrant.

A powerful blast of air hit everyone's faces, and the shockwave shattered the tableware on the table.

The nobles who were further away, though not dead, had lost parts of their bodies to varying degrees. They knelt on the ground, howling in pain, causing the banquet hall to completely spiral out of control.

"Ah ah ah ah ah!!!"

The remaining nobles screamed and shoved, trying to escape. They rushed towards the tightly closed gate, ignoring the guards' attempts to stop them, and smashed the door open.

"Gentlemen, please don't panic! It's just a small-scale self-destruction, wait..."

"You mere guard, how dare you stop me? Don't you have eyes?!"

"Get out of here! Get out of here! If anything happens to my son, I'll kill your whole family!"

The guards were pushed to the ground and couldn't stop the fleeing crowd.

Isolde turned to look in Lothar's direction, but the crowd was too chaotic to see her.

She pulled her hat brim down to cover her face, disappeared into the crowd, and quietly left the banquet hall.

Lotte's soul floated in the air, and he finally experienced the allure of the explosion.

What could be more satisfying than unleashing a self-destruct spell on a crowd?

Moreover, he only realized after he self-destructed that, thanks to his "I'm not dead" talent, he hadn't actually died; his body had just been blown into pieces.

Lotte was finally killed when the arriving guards struck him with their swords again.

After calming himself down, he checked the victory settlement panel.

[Explosion Technique Lv.1→Lv.2, explosion power increased.]

【爆裂術Lv.2→Lv.3（50/100），爆炸威力提升，爆炸位置的控制範圍提高至1米。】