26. the culprit
I suddenly thought of how many times I had ever felt the sound of a person’s breathing so close.
While working as a Sherpa in the Pandemonium Forest, there were occasional unintentional contact with customers, but this was the first time he had approached her openly.
As I watched the small lips of the girl who slowly approached me, trembling as if I had become a mouse in front of the cat, I had a dreamy feeling that I wondered if it was a dream.
Wow!
Unfortunately or fortunately, a sudden warning sound.
It was the distinctive sound that would be heard when someone stepped on a magic trap.
At the same time as he felt his mind returning to his hazy mind as he exhaled roughly, Rin’s unfocused eyes returned to their original state.
“stop!”
Immediately after twisting his body to knock Rin over, he hurriedly stood up and grabbed his sword.
Rin sat looking at me with a devastated expression and drew her sword with the conviction that she should cut her right here.
“Catch that bitch!”
“A thief! thief!”
“Block the entrance!”
Seeing not only the security guards but also the faculty and even the dean rushing out, I felt the situation take a strange turn.
Turning their heads, Ares and Hayun, who were under the tree, had already been caught by the guards and were being interrogated.
“……”
Rin, who got up slowly, glanced at me and began to look around. The academy, where only starlight and moonlight shone, was now full of adults running around holding electric lights.
“Have you heard of a thief?”
Apparently one of the guards said that.
However, I was a little puzzled to see him moving around and around.
It wasn’t chasing the backseat or siege, it was just a messy atmosphere.
“we are here! It’s by the library!”
“What are you talking about! I’m chasing it, it’s passing the pond!”
“Front Door! They are running to the front door!”
Watching the guards chasing after him, he wondered if there were several thieves. Some of the professors started shooting magic, and reports came that the thieves had been knocked out.
‘By the way, is there anything to steal around here?’
Even at the academy, this area was rarely visited by people. If I had to pick one, would it be the famous confessional tree where Hayoon and Ares were?
At that time, a female student ran towards us.
“Lin! It’s crazy now! We must run away quickly!”
“Yes!”
I definitely remember her as a female student who always went with Rin. I don’t know the exact name, but she hurriedly beckoned, and Rin naturally tried to follow.
I’m sorry
With the scabbard that Ha-yun had left behind, he hit the female student in the abdomen, tripped over her leg, and aimed the sword at her neck.
“All right, Daniel? what’s the matter!”
I don’t know if he’s come to his senses or if he’s pretending not to know, but Rin, who is now in the usual mood, is surprised and stopped me, but I shake my head.
“How are you here?”
A girl who suddenly appeared while making a fuss about catching a thief outside?
Even if it was awarded, it was too award-winning.
However, the female student frowned and replied.
“Because I saw you go out! Playing with Hayoon and you at the cafe! Even going out tonight, I saw it through the window and told Rin!”
Looking at Rin, she nodded.
“No, that’s right. Hare told me about it, so I followed you…”
Unlike usual, Rin was hesitant, but apart from the changed atmosphere, her memories seemed clear.
“I’ll explain everything about what happened a little while ago! So, for now…”
“no.”
Rin clung to me almost pleadingly, as if she thought it was her fault for my stiff expression, but that wasn’t the reason.
“You just used your friend for stealing, right?”
Looking down at Ha-re, I say this, and Ha-re exclaims in regret.
“What bullsh*t! I know that Rin likes you, so I told Rin to help her, and I followed her just in case!”
Even the veins protruding red and shouting was really unfair and I was going crazy, but my atmosphere became chilly.
“In the forest of the demon realm, there is a witch named Kokadrick.”
Suddenly, Rin looked at me as if she was saying something, but Hare’s expression hardened and her eyes widened.
“He doesn’t kill people, he likes to deceive people, so hunting them is not easy. He just runs away if he is in any danger.”
“……”
“Even though he doesn’t deal with mana, he has a mysterious ability. Personally, I call it witchcraft, not magic.”
He was a very unique guy, but it can be said that most of the ghost stories and legends about the forest of the demon world are made by this guy.
It is a cute prank to bewitch people who are new to the forest and make them go round and round in the same place and keep them locked up for the rest of their lives.
If you look closely at the group you meet in the forest, you will see that they are people who look just like them, that at some point their hands attach to their legs and their legs become hands, or that all nearby plants grow teeth and start eating humans.
They don’t want death, but most of the pranks result in death.
“Do you know what’s the easiest way to know when he’s playing tricks?”
The corners of the mouth are twisted.
I couldn’t help but let out a sigh.
“I’m checking the color of the moon. If you fall for their tricks, your vision will be shared, so you will see the color they see.”
Immediately, Rin raised her head and her mouth trembled in embarrassment.
“green?”
The moon, which had been brightly lit, gave off a moldy green light.
“From the moment you arrived, the moon was green. I don’t know how you performed Kocadrick’s magic, but it was suspicious even if it was suspicious.”
I felt sorry for the guards and professors, who were so preoccupied with trying to catch the thief that they couldn’t even look at the moon.
Well, even if I saw the moon in the first place, I wouldn’t know if it was due to Kocadrick’s magic.
Even the thieves now running around were, in the end, the basic ones he used to escape among Kocadrick’s magic tricks.
“Quit, cu cu.”
Then, Hare muttered in approval and nodded her head.
“👀! I really didn’t know that you knew Kocadrick. how do you know that People on the Continent who know Coca-Card can count on their fingers.”
Since he was a very unique guy, he never wanted to show his appearance, so no one knew of his existence, and therefore no one had asked for a hunting request.
‘Rather, I’m curious.’
I wondered how the hell did this girl know about Cockadrick, but suddenly her body disappears like a mirage.
“Then do you know this? If you’re caught in Coca-Cardric’s pranks, you’ll never be able to get out of it!”
Hare’s voice echoes.
Outside, the guards and professors also stop in a panic and look around.
“At least, I tried to do it moderately after seeing Rin, but it couldn’t be done. You need to create some trauma.”
Suddenly, the trees in the academy start to change. It split in half, and a tongue and teeth began to protrude from within.
The important thing is that it’s not just me watching this, other guards, professors, and Rin are watching too.
Seeing that he couldn’t focus only on me, it seemed that he couldn’t properly handle the power of Kocadric.
Leaves fall from the trees that start approaching as monsters, and they become sharp fangs and fly towards me.
“no!”
Push!
I had no intention of avoiding it, so when I stood still, Rin, who was behind me, flew away and protected me.
This was unexpected, so I was taken aback for a moment, but I cried out in the air, grabbing my shoulder, which was pierced through and bleeding through.
“Hare! Why are you doing that? Why all of a sudden!”
But she continued to blow her fangs away without answering her friend, but Lynn stepped forward and used her protective magic.
“Okay, okay! Daniel has nothing to worry about. I will protect you!”
The protection magic was so sophisticated and dense that I was surprised, and it was so hard. I knew she had magical talent, but achieving this level of achievement at the age of 18 was not something to be taken lightly.
But unfortunately.
“uh?”
The fangs flew towards me, ignoring the existence of protection magic.
shred! shred!
Fangs inserted again.
Rin threw herself and hit dozens of fangs on her back, and even one hand was completely broken and rattled.
“……”
I silently watched her.
While bleeding profusely and limping, Rin met my flying fangs instead and stroked my cheek with his only hand.
“Sorry sorry……”
What are you sorry about?
“I’m sorry for not being considerate of you. I’m really sorry for not being there for you when you’re having a hard time. And… I’m sorry I tried to kiss you.”
“……”
“As a childhood friend, would it be all right if I asked for one thing?”
As his breath quickened, the fangs stopped flying. The tree beasts were running towards the professors, not us.
“Tell me.”
When I replied bluntly, Rin smiled faintly.
“I hope you don’t hate me…”
“……”
He picked up the slowly collapsing Rin and laid him down on the ground.
“There were so many things I wanted to say….”
Seeing her across the border between death and life, I slowly got up and drew my sword.
What is Hare thinking as he watches his friend die? No, did you think we were friends?
“Isn’t it?”
So I said to her.
“Why do we see the green moon he sees when we are enchanted by Cockadric?”
Only the sound of the disturbing wind and the professors fighting resounds like an answer.
“It’s because his senses are shared with us. So we see what he sees, and we feel what he feels.”
Isn’t he a very strange guy?
“Actually, that’s not a big deal. What’s important is the guy.”
After a while, I condense and spit out the irritation rising from within.
“It means you have a very f*cking extreme mental illness.”
Enough to see hallucinations, to the extent to hear hallucinations, to the extent of feeling phantom pain.
“In a word, everything we are seeing is what Kocadrick usually experiences, sees, and feels.”
In fact, Kocadrick is a really no big deal.
He is simply a psychopath who can share his senses with others.
“So, when you actually feel phantom pain, it is somewhat different from the actual pain. Because he has never been properly cut or stabbed.”
It was the crucial part where I figured out his weakness.
“You said you were invincible, but the way to catch Kocadrick is actually very simple.”
Pushuk
Hayoon’s sword pierces my thigh as it is. A feeling of excruciating pain running down the back and stabbing through the head.
“Quaaagh!”
Hare’s screams also resonated wildly.
“Because the senses are shared.”
After pulling out the sword, stab the stomach again.
“Quaaa!”
“Cocadrick runs away crying right away if you do it once.”
Laughing, I asked him.
“How long can you last?”
*
To put it bluntly, there was no more self-harm than that. Hare passed out, unable to withstand the pain.
The moon returned to its original color, and the guards and professors, who were throwing swords and magic in the air, didn’t even understand what was going on.
I said that I would give a brief explanation to the dean tomorrow, and we were now heading back to the dormitory.
Rin, who had been half-dead bleeding until just now, continued to look at her body saying it was strange, while Ares and Hayoon, who were swept along, were terrified.
By the way, I received a recovery magic and was completely cured.
Believing this, I was able to stab my body like that.
Rin asked the two dark-skinned people in front of the dormitory.
“There is a magic that allows you to fall asleep without thinking, should I use it? There are no side effects.”
“……Please.”
“me too.”
It is said that he experienced being eaten by plants and torn to pieces, but he was well able to maintain his senses.
“Can Daniel do it too?”
“……okay.”
I couldn’t sleep properly because of the excitement of the battle, so when I asked for it, Rin smiled and stretched out her hand to use magic, and immediately cast a spell on herself.
“If you lie down in bed now, you will have a good night’s sleep. It’s a magic I use often, so I’ll guarantee the effect.”
Lynn pounding her chest. Although it would have been shocking that her best friend took advantage of her and betrayed her, she did not lose her smile as if not to worry.
So we went into our respective rooms.
I took off my clothes and fell in thought.
I haven’t heard or wondered what Hare stole or why.
The important thing.
‘Even when the crisis came, it did not change.’
The reason Rin deliberately left her alone until she thought she was going to die was simple.
It was the reason why I was afraid that I would become the master of the army when I was pushed to the limit, but that wasn’t the case.
‘I thought it was the biggest hypothesis.’
Rather, she laid everything down so desperately that she smiled at me even as she died.
Slowly you start to fall asleep.
I had a lot of thoughts, but Rin’s magic worked better than I thought, but I heard it too well.
Somehow, I closed my eyes without washing.
*
Kudang!
When I opened my eyes to the sudden commotion, sunlight was coming in through the window. It felt like Rin’s magic was really effective, but there was no room for that.
The knights in armor broke my door and attacked.
In a dreamy state, before I could say anything, the knights took me wildly.
I was worried about twisting my body to escape, but first I had to figure out the situation.
‘What the hell is going on?’
It didn’t feel like I was simply taking the witness of last night’s case.
Not only me but Ares on the same floor were also being taken, and when I came down to the first floor, Rin and Hayun were also there.
A strong-looking woman wearing glasses made us kneel, then folded her arms and declared.
“You were arrested last night on the charge of stealing the treasure of the former king at the Aeos Academy. After that, the procedure…”
“what do you mean!”
Ares shouted at the woman with a bewildered expression.
“We are victims! The culprit is…!”
Ares, who was furious and angry, gradually stopped talking.
“The culprit is…”
Why the hell do I want to go there, so I keep talking.
“You seem to be misunderstanding, but the culprit was caught yesterday.”
yes we are not
“The culprit is…”
The culprit…
Slowly, I turned around, unable to speak. Then, Hayun and Rin also had their faces turned white, and they were feeling the same creepy fear as me.
the culprit,
Who was it?