Chapter 10: Magic Stone(4)

“…Hmm.”

Avalli had been chased by several demonic beasts when she escaped the Great Forest.
Having faced death multiple times, she felt an unbearable sense of dissonance from the recent battle.

‘Aren’t I…too strong?’

Demonic beasts were definitely not that weak.
In the depths of the Great Forest where she first landed, there were countless individuals unaffected by Avalli’s ‘magic’.

Of course, they gradually became weaker as she got closer to human settlements, but… they weren’t opponents that would collapse from a single punch.

“Ah.”

Pondering in front of the demonic beast’s shattered corpse, Avalli suddenly hit upon a plausible possibility.

Sword and Magic.
The world Avalli had fallen into was a game world.

It was natural to gain experience and grow stronger by defeating monsters.
Nodding to herself, impressed by her deduction, Avalli turned to look at the demonic beast’s corpse.

“…I have to carry this all the way back to the village.”

It was the size of a pickup truck.
Seriously?

…
…

Avalli sighed deeply and slung the demonic beast’s arms over her shoulders.
Like a child playing with a blanket, Avalli began dragging the demonic beast’s corpse through the forest.
Several wild animals, drawn by the noise echoing through the forest, began eyeing the demonic beast’s corpse.

‘…I seem to be fine because of my high magic resistance.’

She had no idea what would happen to the animals that ate the demonic beast’s corpse.
It might even trigger the birth of new demonic beasts, or they might consume the magic stone during the feeding process.

“Heavy.”

When crossing the river, she lifted the demonic beast’s corpse with both hands, just in case.
It wasn’t easy with her small body, but she managed to ‘fold’ it into a cube shape, making it manageable to lift.

Since this was the water source for drinking, the villagers could get sick if it was contaminated with miasma.
Avalli didn’t want to cause such a mishap under any circumstances.
In truth, her worries were needless.

The wicked energy that should have remained in the demonic beast’s corpse had almost completely vanished.
To be more precise, it had been mostly absorbed into Avalli’s body the moment she defeated the demonic beast.
Was this one of the forms of experience points, as she had thought earlier?
If not—

“Heave-ho.”

Avalli dropped the grotesquely contorted demonic beast corpse in front of the village wall, right next to the door Bern had made.
Although she wasn’t sweating, she was mentally exhausted.
Being covered in the demonic beast’s sticky blood was extremely unpleasant.

Originally, she had planned to leave the corpse here and return to the village around dawn—

‘…Do I have no choice but to wake Bern?’

The wild animals that had been following her at a distance were bothersome.
But if she defeated them right next to the village, the commotion would wake people up.

‘It can’t be helped.’

It was a hassle, but since she had started this, she had to see it through.
Avalli sighed and entered the village.

Bern was dead asleep, drunk.
In his dream, that ill-tempered little witch brat was whipping him.

‘Heehee. This day has finally come. What kind of experiment should we use you for, Bern?’

It was the mage who had made the magic stone supply contract with Bern, including an exorbitant penalty clause.

‘Golem? Homunculus? Or soul transplantation?’

Bern desperately shook his head in refusal, but the witch just grinned and shoved the contract in his face.

‘It’s written right here, Bern. If you fail to supply the magic stones within the specified period, ‘any means necessary’ are permitted. Don’t worry. If you just listen to me, I’ll play with you for a long, long time— Kyaaaaaaaak!’

The grinning little witch suddenly melted away in a brilliant light.
The source of the light was a beautiful girl Bern had never seen before.
The girl with shimmering silver hair looked at Bern with deep green eyes and opened her mouth.

‘— — —.’

But he couldn’t quite make out what she was saying.
Bern tilted his head and gestured for her to speak louder—

“Wake up!”
“Waaaaah!”

He was abruptly dragged back to reality from his dream.
Still completely drunk, he couldn’t properly grasp his surroundings.
As he stumbled, trying to identify the intruder, a soft, spotless hand touched his temple.

“…Oh.”

In that instant, the drunkenness clouding his mind vanished.
His cognitive functions suddenly restored, Bern tried to determine whether what had just happened was a continuation of the dream or reality.
More specifically, he pinched his cheek.

It hurt.
So, it wasn’t a dream.
The girl looking down at him, sprawled on the floor, undoubtedly existed in this world.

‘Really?’

Even with a clear mind, it wasn’t easy to believe.
Because the girl in front of him was breathtakingly beautiful.

So much so that Bern felt it was sacrilegious to define her with the simple word ‘beautiful’.

“Bern.”

The girl opened her small lips.
At her clear voice, which seemed otherworldly, Bern pinched his thigh with all his might.

‘…That hurts like hell!’

This pain was real.

Having confirmed this much, he had no choice but to accept it.
So, Bern cautiously spoke to the girl who seemed like an illusion.

“…Um, who might you be?”

Although she looked much younger, Bern instinctively spoke to her respectfully.
The aura emanating from the girl was extraordinary.

“There is a demonic beast corpse outside.”

But instead of answering Bern’s question, the girl simply uttered a baffling statement.

“E…Excuse me?”
“Please dispose of it as you see fit.”
“But… What do you mean by demonic beast…?”

Crack.
Bern didn’t notice, but a vein popped on the girl’s forehead as she watched him ramble.

“Sigh… Follow me.”

Bern followed the girl, who sighed and walked out of the house, as if in a trance.
The girl led him to the back of his house, where the secret entrance was located—

“G…Gasp.”

And he collapsed, his legs giving way, at the sight of the purple ‘mass’ in front of him.

“I…Is that a demonic beast?”
“Yes, Bern. I heard you’re a demonic beast hunter, so please take care of it.”

At the girl’s calm words, Bern felt a chill run down his spine.
Could it be that this girl was the one who had created this horrific object before him?

“Th…Th…That…That’s the biggest demonic beast I’ve ever s…seen. I’m not sure I can handle it.”
“Is extracting a magic stone really that difficult?”
“Y…Yes! Th…The corpses I’ve handled so far… w…weren’t…this…this big…!”

Bern’s trembling voice was filled with desperation.

Except for those who were exceptionally skilled, there weren’t many humans who could hunt a demonic beast alone.
Especially one of this enormous size.

But this girl, who had captured such a demonic beast without a single scratch and left it in this horrific state…

‘What kind of monster is she?’

And why was this monster interested in him?

“Could you tell me how?”
“W…Well, first you have to prevent the miasma…, the miasma from touching you— Gasp!”

Bern suddenly realized he wasn’t wearing any protective gear.
He hurriedly covered his nose and mouth, trying to back away—

‘…There’s no miasma?’

He stopped moving, realizing that he couldn’t feel any energy from the grotesquely mangled corpse.
Judging by the faint heat rising from the corpse, it must have died recently.
But why?

“Bern.”

As Bern stared blankly at the incomprehensible sight, the girl spoke again, urging him on.

“Tell me how.”
“Uh…w…well, the magic stone is usually near the heart—”

Before Bern could finish his sentence, the girl moved.
She plunged her small arm into the demonic beast’s corpse and began rummaging around.
She frowned slightly, as if the sensation was unpleasant, but soon pulled out the object she was looking for.

“…Huh?”

Bern let out a dumbfounded sound.
The magic stone was integrated with the demonic beast, so it should have required several processes after death to be extracted.

“Is this it?”
“…Yes.”

The black gem in the girl’s hand was undoubtedly a magic stone.
And it was of an enormous size, unlike anything Bern had ever seen.

“It’s easier than I thought.”

The girl said so and placed the magic stone on the ground.

“Take it, Bern.”
“…Huh?”
“I’ve been telling you. Dispose of it as you see fit.”

The girl said so and walked into the forest.
Bern, dumbfounded, couldn’t bring himself to speak and simply watched as the girl disappeared—

“Oh, right.”

The girl, with a bright smile, turned her head and looked back at him.
Behind her, countless pairs of animal eyes gleamed in the darkness of the forest.

“Let’s keep what you saw today our little secret, okay?”
“Y…Yes! Understood! I’ll keep it a secret!”

Bern hurriedly nodded, grabbed the magic stone the girl had left behind, and rushed back inside the village walls.
He braced himself for the excruciating pain that would follow due to his lack of protective gear—

‘…Huh?’

No pain came, even after he securely locked the outer wall and entered his house.
Calming his racing heart, Bern lit the lantern in his room and was once again stunned.

“This isn’t a dream…?”

The magic stone was already perfectly processed.

A pure crystal of power with no trace of miasma, almost unworthy of being called a ‘magic stone’.
Bern couldn’t even begin to fathom the value of this massive magic stone.