36 – Get permission to work side-by-side!
“How… you know…?”
“This…”
Ael rummaged through her hair and showed a cross section of the severed horn.
“A demon?”
Asmodians can communicate with demons for unknown reasons.
So the moment she first met this woman, she immediately recognized that she was a polymorphed Lamia.
But Ael pretended not to know the identity of her woman.
Now is a peaceful era where even the Demon King’s army has fallen.
At a time like this, what’s wrong with a harmless, highly intelligent, polymorph monster roaming the market?
Since it’s a monster, are you going to tell me to get out of the forest right away?
By the way, the big snake Kira-san mentioned earlier must be Lamia.
Ael wondered if the reason why the master is suffering dangerously now is because of the murder case, and that Lamia was involved in it.
So, Ael decided to grab hold of this half-human half-reflection Lamia and ask about it.
What if Lamia refuses or reverts to her true form here?
At that time, Ael has no choice but to open up and fight.
Lamia’s strength is weak, so even if you cut off her horns, she will surely be able to handle it.
In the old days, I would have been too scared to talk to you, but this is all for my master.
The nervous Ael swallowed and waited for Lamia’s answer.
After looking down at Ael for a long time, Lamia opened her mouth.
“That’s right. I’m not human.”
“Then…Why are you here…?”
Lamias do not live in the human world.
A monster that lives alone in ruins that have been neglected for a long time or in rough places that are difficult for people to approach.
That kind of Lamia was making money transactions in the human market.
“Is there any reason not to do that?”
Ael shook his head at Lamia’s insensitive question.
“No, it’s not like that…”
“Thanks for the continued help, short woman. But if my presence is uncomfortable, I can’t help it. Anyway, I’m here to buy meat.”
“I’m not asking you to leave the city right away. I’m just curious.”
Lamia stood still without saying a word, and Ael took it as her tacit permission and asked a question.
“Are you… Related to a murder on the outskirts of the city?”
“No.”
The woman flatly denied it.
“I’ve never killed anyone. I can’t.”
Lamia has intelligence among monsters, so she can communicate with her and is relatively less aggressive.
And it’s not very strong, so it can’t even eat humans.
She was rather hunted by humans with perverted s*xual desires.
That’s why she knows how to polymorph.
In order to hide in the city by changing its appearance when being chased by humans.
Because you knew about her lamia, Ael immediately cleared her doubts when she informed her that she was a lamia.
Einer couldn’t find a connection between the monsters who live alone and don’t have the power to kill humans, and the serial killings this time.
“I made my nest in the mountains outside of this city. So some may have seen me. But I’ve never killed a human.”
“Okay, I’m sorry… But I still have a question…”
Judging by Lamia’s habits, Lamia is probably not her culprit.
But Ael still had doubts, and he decided to ask it.
“You only eat bought meat. But why pork…”
“Do I have to tell you all of that?”
Lamia asked coldly.
“Why do you keep asking me this and that? You weren’t trying to find out if I was the culprit of the murder? It’s been solved, but you’re still suspicious, right?”
“To be honest, it’s true that I’m suspicious. Your kind don’t trade money and don’t come down to human cities.”
“Don’t mind it. I won’t harm anyone, I won’t steal, and I’ll pay my own price to buy the meat.”
Then Lamia took out several silver coins and a couple of gold coins from her pocket and showed them.
Then where did all that money come from….
She tried to ask about it, but Lamia had already walked past Ael to her butcher shop.
“Hey! Hold on!”
“Don’t bother me!”
As she ran and grabbed Lamia’s wrist, Lamia shouted at her and shook Ael’s hand away.
Ael froze at the sudden explosion of Lamia.
“Stop bothering me! I’ve told you everything! What more do you want to know! What answer do you want!”
Lamia poured on Ael, who only blinked.
“You want me to say I killed you?! So tell your husband? There’s a suspicious monster here, so catch it and kill it!?”
“No, it’s not like that…”
“I think it’s still the Demon King’s days!? Where’s the command! Get out of here! Get out of here! I have to buy meat now!”
Lamia breathed heavily and shrugged her shoulders.
Ael couldn’t be angry or refute that.
It wasn’t because he was afraid of the angry Lamia.
Lamia wasn’t angry right now.
On the contrary, I was in a state of extreme fear and impatience.
Ael, a demon who can communicate with her demons, could feel Lamia’s uneasy feelings intact.
What is the reason that monster is so scared?
Lamia, her eyes burning, suddenly realized that everyone around her was staring at her, and bit her lip.
“Because of you…”
“I’m sorry…”
Lamia looked at Ael and the people around her with her anxiously trembling eyes, and she hesitated as if she would run away at any moment.
But she soon turned around and trudged back to her butcher’s shop.
“Pork. Give me two by the leg.”
The butcher came to his senses and suggested that since he has no legs today, how about buying a pair of ribs instead?
“Two copper coins for three silver coins.”
“Wait a minute.”
Lamia rummaged through her pockets and pulled out her money, and she began counting them one by one.
“Three silver and two brown….”
Before she knew it, Ael approached her and helped Lamia choose her coins properly.
“I know…!”
The woman spat out sharply and paid the price for a large rib.
“Over there!”
Ael shouted at Lamia’s back as she left coldly.
“If you ever need my help, come see me! I live in a house on a hillside sea cliff!”
Ael, who casually said something, quickly regretted it.
Telling the house to a monster who behaves completely incomprehensible, it’s not even your own house.
However, when Lamia got angry earlier, Ael couldn’t easily let Lamia’s emotions pass over.
It is clear that Lamia has a desperate situation that has not yet been told.
At Ael’s words, Lamia paused for a moment and slightly turned her head as if to look behind her.
But she soon strode away and quickly disappeared from the crowd.
Ael, who had been standing for a long time, soon turned around feeling confused.
Now I have to buy the ingredients for the lunch box for my master….
* * * * *
“Chief and Chief are going to be crumbled to ashes because their sh*t lines won’t burn.”
At Einer’s words, the members laughed lightly.
“Isn’t tomorrow the day the visiting group decided to come?”
“That’s right. That’s why they’re running round and round with all the administrative support departments.”
“Ugh, really… No matter how good your skills are, if you’re not lucky, I guess that’s what happens.”
“That’s right. It’s as if you met a leader like me thanks to luck, not ability.”
“hahahaha… Anyway, I feel sorry for the commissioner and the captain.”
After an afternoon patrol, Einer and his crew went to the barracks again at midnight after sleeping in pieces in the evening.
It is to conduct an intensive search in one of several specific places in the Investigation Division.
One of those places is this rocky mountain.
Overgrown with bushes and many hiding places, including naturally occurring caves.
The Investigation Department tentatively judged this incident as the work of a gang of robbers who had flowed in from Kakot or nearby.
That’s why we sent security guards mainly to rocky mountains that are good for hiding.
They probably think that a group of robbers are hiding somewhere in the rocky mountain.
Einer agreed with that.
But the problem is that it is now dark in the middle of the night.
If you want to find someone hiding in the mountains, it’s standard practice to search during the day and ambush at night.
But what can I do?
If we don’t wipe out them right now before the map visits come tomorrow, the heads of the Commissioner and the Captain will be blown off.
From noble mtl dot com
That’s why I’m running through the mountains at night like this, even if it’s forced.
It is fortunate that the terrain in the Daham area is not rugged.
The highest mountain is only about 400 meters high.
If it was a crazy terrain like the northern Moray Mountains, it would be really difficult.
“Toby, give me some water.”
Kira tugged at Toby’s half-cloak, who was ahead.
“Senior has a canteen too, right?”
“I’m done.”
“How cool.”
Toby pulled a canteen from his belt, and Kira snatched it up and gulped it down.
“Anyway, if it’s like this, even if there’s a hiding place right in front of you, you won’t be able to see it.”
Marco said as he removed the branches blocking his way.
“What can I do? If I can, I will.”
“It would be nice if we could catch it first.”
“That’s the best.”
As we continued to climb the mountain chatting, Ryan, who had been silent until now, opened his mouth.
“There is a cliff ahead.”
Reaching a dead end, Einer thought he would have to take over his crew again.
Then Ryan called him.
“Captain. Here.”
Ryan got down on one knee and picked it up from the floor.
It was the bone of some animal.
Einer recognized it instantly.
“It’s a pig’s hind leg.”
I’ve seen it a few times in the past when working on pig bones.
“Why is this down here?”
“Huh? Chief! I’m here too?”
Kira picked up another bone not far away.
Einer, who was handed the bone, examined its surface carefully.
“Did the travelers eat it and throw it away?”
“No.”
Judging from the color of the bones, the shape of the remaining flesh, and the teeth marks, it was eaten raw without cooking.
“Or was it eaten by wild animals?”
But pigs don’t live in the wild.
There is no congratulatory message even in the end.
It smells bad and consumes a lot of water, so it’s cheaper to buy it from outside.
But there’s no way anyone would purposely throw away meat here for no reason.
“Here, too.”
Marco picked up some ribs this time.
As expected, traces of being eaten by animals.
Einer remembered what Ael had said earlier in the day.
The red-haired woman said she carried her pig’s back leg on her shoulder. Even two pairs.
Then the woman ran into us wandering alone on the outskirts of the city.
“Hmm…”
Einer looked up at the cliff blocking their path.
I could see a fairly wide crack in the middle of the cliff.
“Captain! Here it is!”
Toby found a torn piece of clothing lying on the floor.
What is that?
No way for real?
I can’t do that.
Lamia attacked people?
And multiple people at once?
Because of the Lamia I know, that’s absolutely impossible, isn’t it?
“Huh? This?”
On the other side, Marco found a bag this time filled with odds and ends.
As the unavoidable evidence was discovered one after another, Einor grabbed Toby’s shoulder and gave instructions.
“Go to the security right now. Go and get that redhead wanted!”
* * * * *
Late night.
Ael was preparing ingredients to pack a lunch to bring to his master tomorrow.
Then someone knocked on the door.
“Who are you?”
“I am.”
Eh? What’s that voice?
I ran and opened the door, and the red-haired Lamia was standing there looking down at Ael.