episode_0034

‘No. 21.’

Aion was hurriedly moving to the location written on the request form, recalling the image of a girl that appeared in his mind.

He was on his way there to subdue the unidentified monster written on the request form.

‘There are more than one or two overlapping parts. What could this be..!’

He was rushing there for a different reason than what was in the request.

***

Not much is known about No. 21.

She was first mentioned in the novel when she was dealing with a fanatic who worshipped the demon Amito and was trying to bring it down to Earth.

She disappeared with the brief news that the group had been completely destroyed by Number 21.

And then after a long time, he reappears in the second half of the story and reappears as a villain who blocks the protagonist’s path.

With the power she gained from past experiments, she controlled nearby monsters to her will, forcing the protagonist into a corner.

In the meantime, he showed off his easygoing strength by stabbing the protagonist’s abdomen with a monster’s horn, leaving a large wound on the protagonist’s body that was not easily healed.

She was the one who killed innocent civilians, laughed as if she was watching a fun show, and was the one who drove the protagonist to the brink of defeat with the appearance of the 21st pure evil.

However, her era did not last long, as she retired due to the sacrifice of a companion who traveled with the protagonist, and thus made a futile exit from the novel.

“If the monster there really is the 21 I know…”

Now, in the past before those events, Aion was running towards the place, wondering if there might be No. 21 there.

The various dead monsters that appeared in the conversation with the guild leader earlier.

This matched one of No. 21’s abilities, which was to use her ability to manipulate demons, and if No. 21 was really there, Aion was thinking of killing her in the worst case scenario.

Even though he still looks like a child, the strength of No. 21, who will grow up later, will far surpass that of Danawa and Fre, who are currently living in our house.

What if she, at such a young age, had opened her eyes to killing and torturing people?

“I have to kill him..”

To prevent another victim from appearing, he had no choice but to kill her.

So, Aion gathered his resolve and ran at full speed towards where the monster, presumed to be number 21, was.

A few dozen minutes later, Aion arrived at the scene of the problem.

“A terrible smell of blood is vibrating from the entrance..”

Aion frowned and covered his nose at the foul smell of blood wafting from the entrance to the mountain.

The smell of blood was so foul that it was hard to stay sane.

Just breathing made him feel the unpleasant smell of blood entering his lungs through his breath, and more than anything, from the moment he arrived there, a stinging gaze that he could not ignore was watching Aion.

‘You know I came here.’

Something that was presumed to be number 21 was looking at Aion with a wary gaze, as if it knew that Aion had come here.

Feeling those gazes, Aion slowly began to enter the mountain where the problem occurred.

And soon after, I was able to see in reality what I had heard from the guild leader.

“The corpses of the monsters are like this..”

Wherever Aion’s gaze landed, there were piles of corpses of monsters that were too numerous to ignore. And since the corpses had been there for a long time, they were already beginning to rot, and there was an indescribably strong stench and flies were flying around.

The corpses, which were made up of monsters, were giving off a foul smell because they were not buried or cremated, and I was looking at them closely.

“Hey.”

Someone unidentified spoke to Aion, and when Aion turned his head towards the place where the sound was heard, there was…

“…………”

There was a little boy sitting on a tree so high that even an adult man would not be able to easily climb it and looking down at himself.

If a normal person had not seen the mountain of corpses made up of monsters, they would have wondered why a child would be in such a dangerous place in such a remote area, but Aion was so captivated by the eerie murderous feeling he felt from the child that he silently stared at the tree where the child was.

I could soon tell that she was number 21.

‘It’s different from what I know… but if that kid is No. 21’s childhood, then all of these phenomena can be explained.’

The moment Aion made eye contact with the child, he could tell that she was number 21.

While they were looking at each other in silence, Aion pointed to the corpses of the monsters piled up like a mountain and asked.

“The bodies piled up over there. Did you do that?”

Aion spoke as he looked at the corpses of the monsters that had piled up and begun to rot.

The boy, presumed to be number 21, said with a puzzled expression at Aion’s reaction.

“I did it, but I didn’t put it all there.”

“Then who dumped the monsters’ corpses here?”

“Those who harassed me.”

“Is it bothering you?”

“Yeah. The bad guys who bullied me left me here. I just happened to be here. ”

Number 21 looked at Aion and said.

At her words, Aion stared at No. 21 to check the change in her expression.

It may not have worked on her now that she was an adult, but the current 21 was still an immature child, so she would have trouble controlling her emotions, and Aion thought that if she lied, it would all show on her face.

“……?”

No. 21’s face remained calm without any change.

She stared at Aion without any change in expression, as if she was telling the truth.

While looking at each other, No. 21 lightly climbed down from the tree and slowly approached Ag and asked.

“Are you in league with the bad guys who harassed me?”

Number 21 asked with an innocent-looking face.

At her words, Aion shook his head and said.

“No, I’m an outsider who came here after hearing that people were getting hurt or going missing. So what did you do with the people who harassed you and the people who came looking for you?”

Aion asked No. 21, a little nervously, as he thought about the missing people.

To Aion’s question, No. 21 answered with an innocent smile.

“I killed all the guys who hurt me! It’s only natural that they get punished for hurting me, right?”

Number 21 spoke innocently, as if he didn’t know that this was a sin.

“Then what about the people who came after that? Among those who came here, there are still people who haven’t returned. What happened to those people?”

Aion responded to No. 21’s answer with a question that seemed to be a retort.

“I didn’t hurt people who didn’t mean to hurt me. I just did the same to people who attacked me. I only killed people who tried to kill me or do bad things to me.”

Aion was left speechless at her subsequent words.

If what she said is true, then she did not kill anyone who did not show hostility to her, but only killed those who came near to do bad things to her.

As I said before, the adventurer profession had a relatively poor reputation compared to other professions, and there were many bad ones among them, such as those who threatened or kidnapped people, so I couldn’t simply assume that her words were false.

“Hmm..I don’t think you’re going to hurt me..but something seems off.”

While Aion was lost in thought, No. 21 stared intently at his face.

Around that time, an awkward atmosphere was flowing between the two.

[Gulp…]

A familiar sound rang out between the two.

And the owner of that sound was none other than the innocently smiling voice from ship number 21.

She said, stroking her stomach with her small hand, as if she was hungry.

“I’m hungry..”

She looked at Aion with a timid face, saying that she was hungry, and Aion thought about her actions.

‘It’s been at least three days since her sightings began to be known… But does being hungry mean she hasn’t eaten properly?’

Aion looked at No. 21 with such thoughts in his mind.

He spoke to number 21.

“Are you hungry?”

“Yeah..”

“What do you usually eat?”

Aion looked at number 21 and asked. She answered Aion’s question obediently.

“Fruit, water, and food stolen from people..”

Number 21 looked very hungry and had no energy.

“You must be really hungry.. Then how about trying this?”

To No. 21, Aion carefully handed over the snack he had received before leaving the guild.