Ch.80Cannibalism (1)

“Information, you said?”

Ortemilia didn’t need much time to get ready.

Perhaps due to her small body, washing and cleaning herself didn’t require much effort, so she finished her preparations quickly.

But that didn’t mean the wait was pleasant. I sat with a sour expression, looking at Ortemilia who was wearing only a loosely draped gown, half-naked.

“…Yes.”

She was relaxed. She seemed unbothered by displaying her bare skin, like someone who had experienced this before.

“Hmm? Why are you…?”

“Do you really need to ask?”

“Wouldn’t I ask because I don’t know?”

Lorian responded sharply to my gaze. It was a bit absurd that she didn’t actually know why I was glaring at her.

I was starting to think that the Three Clans were all like this.

Beings different from humans, without any sense of shame.

Thinking of it that way made me feel better… or not really.

“Put some proper clothes on.”

“How strict. Opportunities to feast your eyes on such beauty are rare.”

Ortemilia closed her gown and draped a short robe that had been carelessly hung on the chair.

She dressed properly and tidied her hair.

“Anyway, you mentioned information?”

“That’s right.”

“Why so sharp-tongued? Words have power. Learn to speak gently and kindly.”

When I ignored her, Ortemilia let out a “hmph” sound as if she was annoyed and crossed her arms.

“In any case, what information do you need that you sought me out?”

At that point, I looked at Isla. The woman who had been quiet until now.

She’s usually quiet, but there was a big difference between the usual Isla and the current one.

She was excessively quiet now. Even in situations where she should have spoken up, she remained silent.

She showed no reaction to the conversation between me and Rte, which was deliberately meant to lighten the mood.

In the past, she would have said something like, “You like such a small child? Pervert.” But even that was absent.

That’s how serious it was. Thinking about it, it was only natural.

I would have reacted the same way if it involved my sister. I seemed to remember being like that if I dug through my memories a bit.

But Isla had just heard that her twin sister was after her life. It was natural for her to be lost in thought.

I gently reached out and placed my hand on Isla’s shoulder.

She turned her eyes toward me, looking up meekly as if frightened.

“The shapeshifters. Is there… perhaps a northern tribe that recently joined the clan?”

My question was directed at Rte, even though I was looking at Isla.

“Northern tribe recruits? Not local collaborators?”

“Either way, tell me what you know.”

When I finally turned my head, Rte had already crossed her arms and was moving her head from side to side.

What is she doing?

“Lady Ortemilia usually does that when she’s deep in thought.”

Lorian explained, and Rte, as if confirming this was true, rolled her eyes and gathered her thoughts without any further explanation.

Finally, her eyes turned toward Isla. Vertical pupils, slit like those of a snake or dragon.

“Is it related to that child? She looks like a snow leopard.”

“…Yes. Snow leopard.”

“As for snow leopard shapeshifters, there is one group that recently officially joined the clan.”

Her subsequent explanation was very familiar.

Excellent hunting abilities with physiques and aptitudes suited to their abilities and race.

Beings that seemed as if they were created that way from the beginning.

I found this strange, as I thought the order was usually reversed.

Normally, I would think that they became hunters as a group because they possessed such racial characteristics and physique, not the other way around.

When I voiced this doubt, the answer I received was unexpected.

“Why, you ask? Because that order is actually correct.”

That order is correct?

It sounded like nonsense.

“How do you know that?”

“I was involved in investigating them, so I know well.”

Ortemilia snorted at my question. The necromancer confidently puffed out her chest.

The member of the Three Clans, also known as an alchemist, testified as such.

“What? Wait, then…”

“Do you think all shapeshifters can join the clan? We are not so soft.”

After snorting, she uncrossed her arms and leaned back in her chair.

Her expression and behavior conveyed a sense of pride.

“They, the Frost Trackers, were touched by Father’s hand.”

At this point, everyone was surprised.

“That was the reason they could be registered in the shapeshifter lineage.”

*

The documents she handed over afterward were hard to believe even after seeing them with my own eyes.

It wasn’t that I questioned their authenticity or couldn’t trust Ortemilia.

Rather, their authenticity was certain.

Similarly, Ortemilia could be trusted.

This wasn’t some nonsense about being able to trust someone by looking into their eyes.

Nor was it just a simple intuition. It was closer to a logical deduction.

If I had to put it into words…

It would be the logic of power.

It was a sense I had developed during my long time (10 years) as a Tower Soler.

Simply put, Ortemilia was relatively weak, and not particularly skilled in combat.

Exactly the opposite of me, you could say. But in other aspects, she was quite outstanding.

It was evident even now.

“Oh, that? I simply interpreted the engraved formula and altered the arrival path, that’s all.”

When I asked how she had twisted the teleporter to go directly to the laboratory, she answered like that.

“That’s possible?”

“It wouldn’t have been if it weren’t magic.”

But Ortemilia chuckled, saying that if it was magic, it was her domain.

Honestly, being unable to sense magical power, I couldn’t really appreciate what an impressive feat Rte had performed.

“As expected of an alchemist! I couldn’t even tell it was magic!”

“Hoho, the young blood of the clan needs to study harder.”

Seeing Lorian speak like that, I figured it must be impressive.

Come to think of it, didn’t Melody say it took her quite a while just to investigate and figure out how to use it?

If a level 20 bard took that long, it was indeed a remarkable achievement.

Of course, that wasn’t what I found impressive. The truly impressive part was something else.

“You can reassemble that, right?”

“Of course I can! What do you take me for, asking such a question? I can easily assemble shapeshifter machinery!”

Right now, Lorian’s arm was completely disassembled.

Even at a glance, it was a prosthetic made of components that were almost at the level of precision machinery.

I don’t have a particularly good memory, so I had already lost track after about 10 parts.

Moreover, since it was a machine I’d never seen before, I couldn’t even tell how it was being disassembled, but the alchemist proudly used all sorts of tools, her tail, hands, and magic to instantly dismantle and reassemble the prosthetic.

“There, it’s done now. Since it needs regular check-ups, I’ve connected it to your magical organs. If you regularly use blood magic, you won’t need maintenance.”

“Thank you. How can I ever repay this kindness…”

“What kindness? We’re supposed to cooperate. Only amateurs refuse to reveal their skills to each other.”

Then she glanced at me, and that gaze was quite childish.

It felt close to, ‘After I’ve done all this, surely you’ll spill something too?’

Seeing how she openly revealed her thoughts without trying to hide them, she was definitely childish. Even if her thoughts weren’t.

In such a situation, continuing to doubt wasn’t a good idea. It made me feel less of a man.

It’s not that I couldn’t trust her, but she wouldn’t betray me knowing her head could be cracked open like before.

The law is distant, but fists are close, so there’s no possibility of her betraying me. This is the logic of power.

The strong don’t fear betrayal from the weak. In my case, Ortemilia was like that.

In other words, everything she said could be considered true. I looked at Isla, who was sound asleep with her head on my lap, with a bitter expression.

Isla’s tail was drooping, her ears were down, and her eyes were closed.

Anyone could see she was depressed. Perhaps she cared for her tribe despite having fled.

Or maybe it was simply the fact that her sister was coming to capture her that made her depressed.

Perhaps it was neither, and it was the fact that she had caused me trouble.

Or all three, or two of them.

As I quietly brushed Isla’s bangs, her grip on my clothes tightened.

Her closed eyes trembled slightly, suggesting she wasn’t having a good sleep.

Geez, I told her to sleep on the bed.

But I could understand her feelings. She needed someone to rely on.

I knew that well after my sister disappeared.

I rolled my eyes to look at the parchment on the table.

Documents that I had pushed aside because they were hard to believe even after seeing them, but which I secretly suspected were true.

The contents of those documents could be summarized as follows:

The Frost Tracker tribe consists entirely of snow leopard shapeshifters.

They all maintain their rationality after transformation, and even in their normal state, they retain animal senses, forms, and abilities that ordinary shapeshifters can only use after transformation.

Given that they also possess partial transformation abilities currently found in shapeshifters, they are presumed to be beings created by “Father” before the creation of the Three Clans.

I stared at the parchment for a while, then turned to look at Isla.

She had fallen asleep after seeing the last part of that document.

The reason for her nightmares was clearly because of that.

I bitterly flicked the edge of the parchment with my fingertip.

At the end of the parchment, almost in passing, two sentences were written:

[Confirmation of overall physical ability enhancement through cannibalism of their own kind.]

It was a sentence that gave me many thoughts.

[Therefore, the Council of Elders permits the incorporation of the ‘Frost Tracker Tribe’ into the clan.]