Ch.99Twins (6)

The first sensation that greeted me in the morning was pleasure.

It wasn’t the lingering pleasure from last night, but rather someone who was in the middle of doing something.

I opened my eyes and saw the sun already high in the center of the sky.

Though hanging high, cold and pale, the sun felt warm. Even warmer was the pleasant sensation climbing up my lower body.

I blinked a few times and pulled back the blanket covering my lower half.

What I saw was a pair of blue-gray eyes that shone vividly even in the darkness.

“…What are you doing?”

“Revenge.”

“It seems a bit unfair to call it revenge when I asked you to do it.”

“You deserve it anyway.”

Her tail slipped out from under the blanket and swished gently as Isla swallowed what was in her mouth and crawled up my body.

She wasn’t wearing a thing. Her completely naked body reminded me of the wild frenzy that had lasted from last night until morning.

“Again?”

She felt something poking between her legs and gave me a reproachful look, making me smile awkwardly.

“No, it’s just that, thinking about it makes me feel…”

“You’ll hurt your body.”

“Well, I’m actually quite sturdy…”

“I meant mine.”

Though she didn’t say “not yours,” I could hear it anyway. I chuckled and nodded in agreement.

Well, there are such things as death by pleasure in this world.

Usually it’s men who die that way, but reflecting on yesterday, it seemed more likely that Isla would be the one at risk rather than me.

“So, are you getting it out of the way early?”

“Yes.”

“What if I still want to do it anyway?”

Isla’s eyes widened at my words, and she pondered.

She rested her head on my chest, gently stroking it with her right hand as she thought.

Her tail swished, pushing away the blanket to reveal her lower body.

Her wide hips created prominent curves. No wonder she felt so cushiony.

Though her tail made it less noticeable, Isla actually had quite a nice body.

The kind that made me unconsciously reach out to caress it.

At my touch, Isla flinched slightly and looked up at me.

“I don’t want to do any more today.”

“Really?”

“…If you really want to, I can do a little bit.”

Despite everything, Isla couldn’t refuse my requests. After a moment’s hesitation, she climbed on top of me.

“But I’ll be on top. You don’t move, Lu.”

“Will you be okay?”

“Yes. And later… if you want to, just tell me. I’ll use other ways.”

Perhaps she thought it would be difficult to handle someone like me with unlimited stamina.

Isla made that suggestion and shifted her hips slightly to position herself.

Since Isla was the one who stimulated me, it should be Isla who resolves it. Just as I was thinking this—

I felt something.

Something difficult to describe. I jerked and grabbed Isla’s wrist, startling her so much that her eyes widened and her tail puffed up.

“I’ll do it for you—”

“Wait.”

I was sensing something. Something faint coming from the corner of the room.

But I couldn’t tell what it was.

There was no sound.

Nothing visible.

Yet I could feel something like a presence.

Clearly there was nobody there.

Was it Mother’s gaze? No, the line of sight seemed too low for that.

I stared intently at the corner of the room, and Isla followed my gaze before turning back to me.

“Is something there?”

“…It feels like there is. But there isn’t.”

Isla tilted her head in confusion. Feeling the pressure between her legs disappear, she wrapped the blanket around herself.

“That’s a relief. Let’s get up.”

Though slightly disappointed, I nodded and got up.

There was nothing in the corner where I had sensed the presence.

And now even that sensation was gone.

I must have imagined it.

I gathered my clothes and got dressed.

*

“Ah, did you sleep well? You slept quite long today, didn’t you?”

The first to welcome us as we left the room was Melody.

She smiled and waved, looking at me and Isla in turn.

Lorian stood beside her. She blinked as she watched Melody speaking somewhat strangely.

“It feels awkward to call it morning… but good morning.”

But she didn’t seem to notice or care what was odd. She simply greeted me. I nodded to both of them.

“I had some business to attend to, so I slept longer. Good morning.”

“Business, is it. Well… considering what happened, that makes sense.”

Though she deliberately left her words vague, I could feel Isla’s expression darkening beside me.

Although my efforts last night had helped cover her wounds somewhat, Isla was still injured.

It was psychological trauma. Naturally so, since her younger sister had been reassembled into the form of a tree.

Come to think of it, what happened with that? As if sensing my question, Melody quickly erased the forced smile she had been wearing.

“That tree… the prisoner… the alchemist said he would conduct additional investigations. But it’s probably best not to get your hopes up. Even I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“Wh-what did Lady Lucilla say?”

“The same as me. Never seen it before, it’s terrible, we need to be careful. And she’s gone out on patrol for a while.”

Patrol, huh. I glanced toward the landing area.

There, Brock was pecking at his empty feed bowl after devouring his feed.

“She said it’s good to keep aerial forces in reserve. She didn’t go alone, so you don’t need to worry.”

Aerial forces. Well, in a world based on medieval times, there aren’t many things that can fly through the air.

At most, there would be the Black Knights’ fortress that “flies” by repelling magical power with Anti-Magic techniques, or the fortresses of the Three Clans.

The latter was now ambiguous to call an enemy, and the former was definitely an ally, so there was no need to worry about it.

But it was an unknown. I recalled the shocking scene I had witnessed yesterday.

If that was possible, then it wouldn’t be strange if there were flying things too.

It’s never good to let your guard down. I nodded and looked at Melody.

She wasn’t wearing her usual crop vest and high-exposure shirt.

Rather, she was dressed in something that covered her entire body. Her cloak was nowhere to be seen.

“It seems Sister didn’t take the Seal of Concealment with her.”

Melody’s shoulders jerked at that.

Her face froze in a smile.

“Ah, y-yes. I have it with me…”

The Seal of Concealment was a ring. It was currently on Melody’s finger, a magical item that could hide the wearer from most detection spells once per day.

It was quite useful for reconnaissance, surveillance, or patrols where the base shouldn’t be discovered, so I thought she would have taken it with her. Surprising.

Sister would certainly know about that item, and since the cooldown was once per day, was she saving it?

That was an understandable decision. Above all, I didn’t want to undermine Sister’s judgment just because I had meta-knowledge.

Sister is a wise person. She must have her reasons.

There might be some other intention. I nodded and looked at Melody’s ring, and Melody smiled while subtly hiding the ring.

“Well then, let’s go find Sister. There are some things we need to discuss.”

“…Ah, shall we?”

She seemed almost relieved. While both I and even Lorian looked at her with confusion, Melody quickly headed toward the elevator leading outside.

There was much to say and hear.

Until now, I had thought the enemy was just the Three Clans.

But that wasn’t the case.

Since Sister was exiled by the Emperor and came to the new continent, and especially after I defeated Selma and broke the shackles binding me.

Finally, the enemy had become clear. The massive presence that had been shrouded in fog, its form indistinct until now.

Something that was everywhere like the wind, seemingly gentle like a dream but actually grabbing and killing people like a sticky swamp.

I strengthened my resolve as I recalled Selma, frozen in the form of a tree.

‘Mother’ is the enemy.

This land is targeting me.

What will happen if I fall is no laughing matter.

I need to find Sister, seek her opinion, and establish a clear policy going forward.

We should probably call Ortemilia, Uncle Mourner, the Black Knights, and all other combat personnel.

Morale tends to solidify when the identity of the enemy becomes clear.

With these thoughts, I followed Melody who was walking ahead.

“Ah, you’re here. I was worried. Is everything alright?”

“Everything’s fine. But… there are things we need to discuss, so could you gather everyone?”

“Hmm? Things to discuss? Well, I can gather them, but…”

Uncle Mourner was playing with young children.

They were the children of the Inquisitors who had escaped. The children held unfamiliar toys in their hands.

The craftsmanship seemed familiar. Uncle probably made them himself. He’s good with his hands.

I passed by Uncle Mourner and continued walking. Melody, who was leading the way, was unusually quiet and not chattering as usual.

Why is she acting like this today?

Maybe it’s because Melody is seeing such a sight for the first time too.

Though she’s a veteran adventurer who’s been through thick and thin, she wouldn’t have had many opportunities to witness such scenes.

I recalled the fruit that had been pulsating like a heart and felt a bitter taste.

It was a future I could have reached, and perhaps an outcome I could have avoided by choosing a better path.

Selma was certainly a bitch, but did she have to die like that?

Being a Mourner meant having many occasions to mourn. Because mourning was ingrained in me, I was once again thinking about death.

“Why are you sighing like that?”

“…I have my reasons.”

I remembered the Cannibal Baron. A mage who, despite his unwillingness, had to butcher people because of his daughter.

Did his daughter really have to eat humans? The thought suddenly occurred to me.

Was his daughter really as he thought she was?

Why did the game describe cannibalism as the best way to satisfy the girl’s hunger?

It was all suspicious. I thought that perhaps Mother was involved in that incident too.

The most visibly apparent cases were Selma and Hertol, but perhaps her influence had reached even before that.

There was much to think about. Sister would probably be able to provide some answers.

Sister is wise. I stared at the still-quiet Melody.

“Is there a way to find her?”

There was no answer. As I approached her, she flinched and her shoulders trembled.

Why is she acting like this?

“Of course there is. We can use various… detection spells to find her.”

Though she tried to answer, something felt off.

Had something happened? Did something occur while I wasn’t paying attention last night?

Come to think of it, there had been friction over the issue of Sister teaching me, so she might have fought with Sister.

I approached the uncomfortable-looking Melody and was about to put my hand on her shoulder.

But as we left the mountain path to the Temple of Ten Thousand Gods and stepped onto the snowy mountain where the snow had stopped.

Suddenly, I froze at the overwhelming presence that washed over me.

It was a sensation I had never felt before. The chill running down my spine was similar to what I had felt when meeting powerful individuals before, but many things were different.

I thought of a zoo I had never visited in my life.

Would it feel like this to meet a predator there?

It might be somewhat similar if I accidentally fell into a predator’s cage and it approached me.

I sensed something absolute. While I was frozen, Melody looked up in surprise.

“Sister…?!”

Her gaze quickly turned to me. More precisely, it moved from me to Isla and then to Lorian.

“Sister is using her Unique Skill.”

Her words came faster, as if urgent. But she still enunciated clearly, hammering the words into our ears.

It was a type of magic. Usually used for giving directions on the battlefield.

But I wasn’t surprised by that. Even as the voice echoed in my head, I remained calm.

What surprised me was the content.

Unique Skill.

That was a technique one could acquire upon reaching level 20, the max level for jobs other than Mourner and Black Knight.

They were also called Ideals, Mind Images, or Origins.

A mage or magic user’s ability to manifest something that doesn’t exist in this world is called an Ideal, a martial artist’s lifetime of accumulated experience is called a Mind Image.

And a contractor’s strange and fundamental power from beyond this world is called an Origin.

They were truly ultimate techniques.

“It’s likely… a Manifestation. It could be dangerous. We need to hurry.”

The Manifestation that Melody mentioned was the highest level among them and an ultimate technique that consumed enormous magical power.

To be in a situation that required using such a thing… As Melody said, it could be dangerous.

Without disagreement, we immediately ran in the direction Melody had pointed out.

Trees whipped past us, and as we followed Melody’s lead, a savory smell like something burning tickled my nose.

A smell like something had been burned. Sure enough, as I headed in the direction where I presumed Sister was, I gradually thought it looked like a “nuclear blast epicenter” that I’d only seen in games.

Trees were overturned and blown away, rocks were shattered and scattered—the traces made me think that way.

Moreover, as we approached, dust-like particles filled the air all around.

The way they fluttered was like snow, but there was something eerie and different about them.

As my first impression suggested, it felt like a nuclear bomb had been dropped.

We were now standing in what looked like a crater.

Passing through trees reduced to ashes and traces that remained in human shapes, we headed toward the center where Sister was.

Sister in a black shirt with what looked like a corset around it, holding an ordinary axe in one hand.

In Sister’s other hand was a person’s neck.

A human who had lost their lower body and was foaming at the mouth. Yet from the severed lower half, something was regenerating like bubbling foam. Sister looked down at it and squeezed her hand.

Crack!

With the sound of breaking, the regeneration stopped.

Only after confirming the enemy was completely dead did Sister release her grip, and the assailant who fell to the ground moved no more.

In that epicenter, only one person was moving.

“Is this truly power permitted to humans?”

Lorian exclaimed in shock, while I stared in bewilderment.

Finally, Sister noticed us.

Expressionlessly calming her excited breathing, standing amidst countless corpses and death, she closed and opened her dreamy eyes.

Then that unfamiliar Sister returned to the Sister I knew, smiling brightly and waving her hand.

“Hello. Good morning, isn’t it?”

As if nothing had happened at all.