Ch.199199. Invisible Mask (5)

If this was about avoiding matters related to the Lakan tribe, I had a sharp solution.

The person in the photo clearly pointed to this bearded man.

Normally, it would have been difficult to recognize his face, but by coincidence or not, I remembered that this was the same man who had told me about lenses with functions similar to cameras.

That’s why I could come directly to him and ask:

Why did he help the Sirens?

“I apologize for the intrusion, but I did a little investigating around here. And I became certain of something.”

“What… do you mean?”

“There are two doctors just a few steps away from here. I was told they always take turns so that someone is always available. Given that situation, do you remember what you said to me?”

“…”

The man with the bushy beard didn’t answer. He knew too. That his behavior had been extremely awkward.

Unless it was an intentional approach, no one would act that way.

“Thanks to you telling me about lenses with such functions, it was a great help. The Sirens were able to clear their names because of it.”

Bringing me to his shop to treat my wounds? That much I could understand. A kind person might do that.

But when there’s a doctor very nearby, why would he need to use a lens to examine wounds?

It would be a hundred times better to move and wait for the doctor. Borrowing medical supplies from there would also be quite reasonable. In any case, there was no need to advertise the lens like that.

In other words, this man clearly intended to inform me about the existence of such an item under the pretext of an explanation.

I don’t know when or how he learned about the Sirens’ situation.

But ultimately, that lens contributed most significantly to clearing the Sirens’ names. That fact is undeniable.

“…Are you going to arrest me?”

“Arrest you?”

“If you’ve seen the newspaper and the photo, you already know. That I’m a Lakan.”

Despite changing his name, with his photo clearly printed, he couldn’t deny who he was.

That’s why he had given up. For him as a Lakan, there wouldn’t be much difference between the photo and his current face.

‘I was prepared for him to try to flee since he might think he was going to die anyway. But that’s not the case.’

His unexpectedly compliant attitude was surprising, but conversation came first.

“I knew you were a Lakan, but I have no intention of reporting you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Elder, you can come in now!”

The door that had been locked was opened by Junon, and through it entered an old man with webbed ears.

“Old man…?”

“It’s been a while. So it was you who helped us.”

The Siren elder looked at the familiar face of the Lakan with a bitter expression.

***

When people think of Lakan characteristics, they usually mention the thick fur on their bodies.

In combat mode, they draw out magical power to fully transform into werewolf form, while in normal times, they’re just humans with a bit more hair.

Thanks to this, middle-aged men among them are difficult to distinguish from humans, so they’ve been living within the Empire, known and unknown.

Because of these circumstances, they naturally had to band together, and by sharing information, they were able to help the Sirens, they said.

“That’s all. We had to live that way. There was an opinion to secretly send letters to the Sirens, which we did… but I never dreamed we’d meet like this.”

“You all have such a harsh fate.”

“What can we do, old man? It’s better than dying from all sorts of magic attacks while being called Lycan.”

They were people who had lived desperately. When the elder received such a letter, he was skeptical, but they had sent help out of desperation.

To the Sirens, who didn’t even have particularly good feelings toward humans, that letter was essentially a request for rescue.

‘So this is the truth about the Lakan tribe.’

My head throbbed from learning the truth.

There had been many strange points before my regression, but I never knew something like this was hidden.

Lakan and Lycan.

The two were clearly different entities.

Lakans were Ain close to human form with intelligence. Lycans were typical animal-type magical beasts with only instincts.

That’s how the Empire had defined them.

However, because they allegedly attacked humans, Lakans became no different from Lycans—magical beasts.

‘Yes, something felt off.’

I clearly remember defeating them as Anti-Casters in the past. And I remember tilting my head afterward, feeling something was strange.

The human magic circuit never changes in position, size, or shape, no matter how much growth occurs. This is an immutable law.

However, magical beasts grow through consumption and plunder, so their circuits gradually degrade.

This is what bothered Junon.

The magic circuits of the Lycans that Junon had subjugated in the Tembris Party all existed in consistent positions.

Was he the only one who thought so? No.

-‘…These Lycans. Their magical power feels qualitatively similar to Lakans.’

Senia had said something like this after subjugating them, with a troubled expression.

All those numerous Lycans. The magical beasts that attacked the Tembris Party and humans. The werewolves that were determined to be enemies of humans and were exterminated without exception.

In fact, they were all human.

Despairingly, this was the hidden truth.

Junon let out a deep sigh and murmured quietly.

“Can you arrange for me to meet the Lakan tribe?”

“I understand what you’re thinking, but I’m sorry. You’re human, so they won’t trust you.”

So that’s how it is.

Like the Sirens, the Lakans’ distrust toward humans would be even greater.

“Wait a moment.”

“Elder?”

The old man took off the pendant from his neck and handed it to Junon.

“This is a pendant I once received as a gift from the Lakan leader. If you show this, their wariness might ease a bit.”

“The leader remains unchanged, so that might work…”

“Then it’s settled. They’ll recognize my handwriting too, so I’ll write a letter to avoid any misunderstandings.”

The elder was making thorough preparations to ensure Junon wouldn’t receive any suspicious glances from the Lakans.

He looked like a professor trying to give a recommendation letter for a job his student desperately wanted.

Gathering evidence of having won the Sirens’ hearts, the elder said:

“To us Ain, the Calyx have never betrayed us.”

His tone was filled with certainty. The one who once had been extremely wary of humans now showed unbreakable trust.

-I wish you good luck.

With those words, the elder departed.

***

“Mail delivery!”

Letters dropped with a thud. Even at a glance, it was clear there were quite a few, making it seem like someone’s special occasion.

“Whose birthday is it? Who sent so many letters to the workplace again?”

“Maybe it’s some kind of event?”

“Please don’t say such terrible things. Don’t you remember how this place was turned upside down two years ago because of that? When we found out it was just kids playing pranks, I was clutching the back of my neck.”

While chatting like this, they asked who the owner of these letter bundles was, but no one stepped forward.

Everyone was just doing their own work, showing no interest, which raised questions.

“Did they come to the wrong place?”

“That’s impossible. Mail carriers are so precise these days.”

“Geez. Then someone must be lying. We can just check the recipient directly.”

With that, the worker picked up a couple of letters to check the names.

“…? The names are all different.”

“What? So they’re not all for one person?”

Another worker picked up a letter and compared the recipient’s name, and it was true. The letters had been delivered one by one to most of the workers in this place.

“What’s this? A letter from Junon?”

“As I always say, who can understand what that guy is thinking?”

Jon and Noel each received letters with their names written on them.

The contents of the letters, opened simultaneously, were quite shocking.

“”What does this mean?””

『Jon, Noel. You two wouldn’t fight each other with weapons, ready to kill, right? Because you’re friends.

So I’m telling you in advance. No matter what you see from now on, never try to harm people. I mean it. -Junon』

Not fighting with weapons ready to kill because they’re friends? That’s obvious. Not harming people is also obviously an ethical principle that humans should uphold.

Both of them couldn’t make any sense of the letter’s contents.

“Noel, does yours also say something about not fighting friends with weapons and not harming people?”

“Looks like you got the same content?”

“Yeah. As I always feel, I can’t make any sense of what he’s saying.”

They let out frustrated sighs, saying it was typical of Junon to be incomprehensible.

Though their magic circuits were damaged now, both Jon and Noel had once had their lives saved by Junon’s help.

Such accumulated experiences couldn’t be ignored. They had their own impressions after reading this letter.

“It feels like… something’s about to happen?”

“Yeah. Doesn’t seem like we’ll be able to rest easy…”

They could now vaguely sense that some kind of incident was about to occur from even the smallest clues.

It wasn’t just Noel and Jon. Many of them were Academy students who had had contact with Junon, and who had acted when Junon was being stoned.

And there was also a significant girl who received Junon’s cryptic letter.

“Senior? Why such a letter…”

She had opened it with great expectations when told a letter had arrived. But the content was so peculiar that a single strand of her hair stood up like a question mark.

“Don’t use magic recklessly unless magical beasts are attacking… What on earth does this mean?”