Chapter 87
Gathered in Haelyon’s room, we sat in a circle around him, absorbing the compiled information. As we listened to the story, Fin raised his hand to ask.
“…So, it’s highly likely that Phrikkonrisk is currently hiding in Dürtemund disguised as a human?”
“Fin, your assumption is correct. According to the information provided by the Dürtemund Church branch, Phrikkonrisk is said to have descended from a village near the suspected area of her residence, destroying six villages along the way. There have been no confirmed survivors so far.”
“Has it come down to Dürtemund now?”
“Yes. Although it’s still quiet, considering the speed of descent, it’s highly likely that she’s already within the city. Speculation is that with the presence of the church branch in Dürtemund, she is observing cautiously and waiting for an opportunity. If not dealt with swiftly, this city too could crumble.”
“…Why would the divine beings do such a thing? Those who lived so quietly, for what purpose…!”
Fin, with a mix of sorrow and anger on his face, tightened his fist resting on his thigh.
The unquestionable nature of the divine beings concerning all worldly matters, like an age-old tradition or rule.
No matter how much he thought about it, Fin couldn’t seem to understand.
The Twelve Divine Beings prioritize peace and wisdom. They must have known that if it came to this, they would have to step out of the church, yet why…
Haelyon seemed to have sensed his thoughts and responded.
“It could be their nature, or there might be some other specific reason. If we can’t understand all of this, maybe that’s for the best.”
His somewhat dry expression, described as calm, pierced through Fin. Fin swallowed his saliva and listened quietly.
“However, before they were divine beings (神獸), they were monsters attacking people. That alone is reason enough for us to act. We seek to uncover the truth not to judge Phrikkonrisk’s guilt but merely as a means to find her.”
Fin remained lost in thought, calmly contemplating.
Although his mind was trying to align understanding and reality, it still felt awkward.
Perhaps it was because he was still somewhat naive. Nevertheless, he wanted to touch on it once.
“Although it’s a hypothetical scenario… could the information provided by the church be incorrect?”
“….”
There was a moment of silence at Fin’s doubtful remark about the church, and he hastily corrected himself.
It wasn’t necessarily about doubting the church, but more of a discussion about the possibility of a slight error among the long-standing records. Nickel, the focal point of Haelyon’s team, gently spoke to Fin, who was thrown into the field for the first time.
“…After all, the church is run by humans. Errors can occur in the process of information transmission. …Hmm. That’s true, but it’s a minor discrepancy overall. Besides, we have a lot to do with limited time and manpower. It would be ideal to grasp every detail and act accordingly, but that’s not always possible.”
The church had ordered the extermination of Phrikkonrisk, not negotiation or appeasement with the divine being. Without solid evidence, it was hard to overturn, and even if it existed, it wouldn’t be easy.
As her words concluded, Haelyon added.
“The information gathering is not yet complete. We can’t find Phrikkonrisk hidden among the crowds based solely on the information provided by the church. We need to investigate by ourselves. Through this process, we may understand why she started destroying people and villages and eventually get a lead on her.”
Fin nodded slightly.
“I see…. I apologize for the strange remarks. …Regardless of the reason, it’s an unforgivable act. It seems most important to prioritize that before suspecting anything else.”
In truth, Fin didn’t harbor any special emotions towards the divine beings. He was simply curious, that’s all.
Was it because a being that had lived quietly for so long, passing through generations, suddenly started acting strangely?
“Oh, this kid! I thought with his frail looks he’d just whine and cry, but he’s accepting it quite manfully, isn’t he? Quite likeable, even though he’s fragile!”
Kanturman, a muscular middle-aged man with a thick beard, squeezed Fin’s neck with his strong arm where a large muscle protruded, seemingly a sign of intimacy, but judging by Fin’s pale face, he seemed to be a man who didn’t understand boundaries well.
Indeed, it’s quite strange that something as thick as an arm hitting only Finn’s head would end up unscathed.
“Thwack, hey, wait… just a moment. Hold on!”
“Hey, hey. Don’t play around like that. Someone might get hurt!”
“Kanturman. It seems like you’ve exerted too much force…”
In a rush, Finn surrendered by repeatedly tapping Kanturman’s thigh with his hand, while Kanilla and the youngest member of the team, Gaon, tried to intervene.
Kanturman made a surprising expression, as if he couldn’t hear a thing, with his mouth forming a perfect ‘O’.
“Well, for someone who looks fragile, you seem to have trained hard, huh? Your physical condition isn’t bad when I feel it up close.”
Seeing Finn’s complexion turn from blue to pale, a satisfied Kanturman let him go.
From Noble mtl dot com
Finn gasped for air, coughing.
As Kanilla approached Finn to check on him, her gaze sharpened, and she confronted Kanturman with a fierceness that could change the course of a river at least twice.
Kanturman, seemingly oblivious to what he did wrong, busily dug his ear with his finger with a clueless expression.
Seeing him like that, Kanilla, even more incensed, was restrained by the youngest member, Gaon.
“Is there anything else you’re curious about, Bargan student?”
Amidst the chaos, Haellion naturally struck up a conversation with me. Despite his dull expression, his tone resembled that of a kind schoolteacher.
“Not at the moment.”
With the information obtained here, it’s insufficient to make a judgment. For now, I’ll just go with the flow.
“Too bad. I thought I’d hear something.”
“Even if you had high hopes, I’m not a fortune-teller, so I can’t help much.”
I replied casually.
At a glance, it seemed like we had always been a team, including me, with an accommodating attitude.
However, despite such broad-mindedness, not everyone was absorbed in this spectacle.
Kreshanol, the second strongest in the Haellion team, was quietly simmering with anger.
As far as I know, he despises those lacking talent and dislikes noisy atmospheres.
Oh? Is this about me? Well, even if it is, I’m not going as far as despising, just looking out for Finn. It can be seen as different.
Anyway, Kreshanol is someone who trusts and follows Haellion to an extreme extent. His seriousness in everything sets him apart from me.
Unable to bear it any longer, Kreshanol speaks up, revealing his true colors.
“Are you here to have fun?”
This was a sharp remark aimed at Finn like an arrow hitting a target.
Rubbing his still sore throat, Finn looked startled and tense.
“Here to have fun. Answer.”
“Oh, no. That’s… I’m so⎯”
“⎯Forget it. What exactly are you up to?”
“Yes…?”
The atmosphere quickly turned icy.
Haellion stood silently, observing. With a composed demeanor, he seemed deliberately indifferent, allowing things to unfold on their own.
“You don’t have any talent related to being a hero, do you?”
Kreshanol’s words pierced Finn relentlessly, as if to draw blood.
“Your church work, too. Making judgments isn’t your job, it’s done from above. If you lack talent, at least stand up straight. Your posture doesn’t look at all heroic, does it?”
Even if, in my judgment, Kreshanol found Finn’s posture to be as he wanted, he wouldn’t have offered any kind words.
He truly does not treat those below him as human beings.
While Pin’s expression gradually hardened visibly, he showed a sincere apology with a faint and awkward smile covering the sense of regret.
Though taken aback by hearing it suddenly, he had lived his whole life hearing that he was clumsy.
In such a situation, he had his own way of dealing with it.
However.
“Madman.”
Kreshanul did not speak any further after those words. Pin, unable to show a suitable response, stiffened up.
Time, which had momentarily paused, began to flow again.
Having witnessed and heard everything, Canilla, with widened eyes full of intense emotions, was about to pour out strong feelings towards Kreshanul, but Halion interrupted.
“A team from the Duertermund Church will be joining us tomorrow. They are the heroes associated with this place. It will be easier to gather information with the locals around.”
He casually continued the discussion.
No one dared to criticize or speak ill of Halion, the team leader.
“I’ll call it a day for the meeting here. Everyone, go back to your rooms and rest well. Things will get busy starting tomorrow.”
Canilla, seeming to have a lot to say, was the first to leave the stuffy room after receiving Halion’s nonchalant response. The sound of footsteps leaving was loud.
Gaon patted Pin’s shoulder, while Kanturman roughly hit his back before they each returned to their rooms.
Soon after, Kreshanul, the instigator of this incident, gave a cold gaze for a moment and followed behind.
I called out to that Pin.
“How long are you going to keep this up?”
“Ah, I’m sorry. So… we’re going to our rooms, right? hahahaha.”
Pin scratched the back of his head stylishly, as if he had just woken up. It was the most awkward forced smile of Pin I had seen so far.
Pin and I were assigned to the same room.
We didn’t exchange a word as we passed through the corridor and returned to our room. I didn’t say anything to him.
I might be harsh on Pin, but he has to know.
This is reality and this is what he will face in the future.
If one falls due to external factors like this, no matter how much they rebel inside, it is meaningless. Whether inside or outside of the novel’s world, those lacking talent are ignored.
That’s why one must squirm even more.
Until the other party can’t ignore it anymore.
***
A woman with long black hair was being supported by two men as they walked down a narrow alley.
The surroundings were dark.
Apart from them, there was no one nearby, only faint sounds of drunken singing from afar could be heard.
The two men were friends, but it was their first time meeting the woman.
The two men, who had been having a good time drinking at the tavern as usual, suddenly saw the woman, who had been sitting at a distant table and seemed already quite drunk.
Naturally, the three of them started drinking together, but when the woman suggested leaving the place first, saying she didn’t like going inside and preferred the quiet and humid outside, the excited two men evaporated their drunkenness and took the woman outside, walking down the alley.
In the darkness, the two men’s eyes gleamed like beasts.
The look in their eyes was not a preparation for a fight. It was a signal to release the desires that had accumulated about the opposite s*x.
Having reached a deep place where it seemed there was nowhere else to go, the two men exchanged glances. The other man who met his eyes lowered his head. It was a silent agreement that this place seemed suitable.
The man, swallowing hard, scanned the woman’s body with a sinister look. His rough hand reached out. The destination was clear.
And, the friend next to her, exhaling a fierce breath, watched this happen.
“Huh-?! What in the world?!”
Contrary to the expected scene, the upper body of the friend fell abruptly and powerlessly. His pupils enlarged to the maximum and turned towards the woman’s face.
“This is regrettable, what should I do.”
The woman with black hair was filled with intense anger.
Her eyes seemed tainted with madness like that of a demon. It was an attitude towards someone she had just met today that was beyond excessive.
“Hhuu…!”
The man’s throat was blocked.
No sound came out.
It wasn’t fear that caused this, but rather the trickery she had resorted to.
His body didn’t move as if held by a giant’s hand. All he could do was tremble in fear.
“Do you understand why your friend died?”
The man didn’t know.
Why his friend had to endure such treatment. If it was wrong to indulge in desire and seek pleasure, was it right for him to die so senselessly?
“I insulted my husband.”
She dragged the man against the wall, grabbing his neck and lifting him up. His body trembled like a freshly caught fish.
Even with the woman’s explanation, the man still couldn’t comprehend. How could he insult a woman’s husband whom he had just met today? He didn’t even know they were married…!
“Remember well. I mean to shake that foolish head of yours.”
As his breath was cut off, oxygen to his brain decreased. Gradually, the supply diminished until it was completely cut off.
He couldn’t continue his thoughts. The only thing he could perceive was the woman’s crazed anger in his eyes.
“So you still don’t get it. Didn’t I say it earlier. ‘Aintern’.”
The word that penetrated the man’s clouded mind. Aintern… Yes, she did say that.
She ridiculed that man for being pitiful, rolling on the floor instead of being an appetizer.
But… why did that foolish hero who stupidly died end up here… the one who fell into being a monster, not a human, and hastened his own death… ah.
“The monster that the man fell in love with is me, you bastard.”
Blackness flowed down from the woman’s hair like water draining. Her face transformed, and her fierce expression became even more pronounced.
She was as cold as winter.
Instead of warm breath from her mouth, coldness seeped out.
That temperature was close to death.
*Thud.*
The man collapsed to the ground, becoming a corpse. Side by side with his friend, they seemed to get along quite well.
Winter’s dragon, Frickanlisk, who was polymorphed, did not chew and swallow the body.
Instead, she turned it into ice, crushed it into tiny pieces, and scattered it across the world.
She didn’t want to pour it down her throat, but she also didn’t want to leave evidence.
After tidying up like that, she departed on her way.
Time was urgent, she had to hurry and find it.
Her emotions changed abruptly.
She, who had recently expressed intense anger by killing a person, now appeared restless with anxious eyes.
Her eyes seemed so pitiful, as if tears were about to fall any moment.
“Where… where are you.”
Friskanrisk wanders through the darkness.
Tonight, once again, he strolls through the dim streets of Duertermund.