episode_0011

Thump thump

I struck the ground with my staff even more forcefully than usual as I walked forward.

Each strike of the staff carried anger, and the smile I had tried to keep on my lips gradually vanished.

The more I tried to find her as I advanced, the more complicated my thoughts became.

Because if it was that person as I expected, and if she possessed the abilities I imagined, things would get too tangled.

‘If this is the case… she shouldn’t have appeared this quickly…?’

Wrapped in growing unease, I followed her into an alley.

My magic told me that an unpleasant aura had been here just moments ago, so I looked around.

‘Clearly, the magic aura stopped here…?’

I continued striking the ground as I searched the surroundings, but the person I was looking for wasn’t on the ground.

Only then did I expand my magic further to check the tops of the buildings, but it was already too late.

“Why did you follow me?”

That cold voice, filled with extreme caution towards me, reached my ears, and a dagger as cold as her voice rested against my throat.

She didn’t cover her face with a hood or anything, as if she knew I was blind.

However, for me, who saw her face so clearly, I could only conclude that what I saw was correct.

‘A high-ranking member of the Demonic Cult… Astoria…’

Her long black hair was tied back, and her purple eyes stared at me as if piercing through me.

Her beautiful face was no different from what I had seen in the game.

She continued glaring at me, pushing the dagger closer to my throat.

“You should speak properly.”

I grabbed the dagger with my hand, and hot blood began to flow over my hand.

Astoria seemed momentarily flustered, as if she hadn’t expected me to do that at all, and I didn’t miss the chance to push the blade downwards.

“Didn’t you follow me from the beginning?”

It wasn’t the first time I had felt something like demonic magic.

Before entering the academy, when I caught a pickpocket with a soul sword, she had stared at me for a long time.

At first, I thought she was just someone sensitive to the aura of a soul sword, but as I continued to feel her magic around me, I realized.

To top it all off,

When I was eating skewers with Aris, I had just cleared a quest, and at that perfect timing, I was able to see her face, which was why I followed her.

If she had come here to carry out a mission for the cult, I couldn’t control my expression because a boss couldn’t be defeated with only Soul Sword Lv.1 and Lv.1 swordsmanship.

However, after closely examining her magic from such close proximity, fortunately, I didn’t feel any demonic magic.

Only when I didn’t feel that peculiar chilling sensation did I finally relax and smile again.

“Uh… um… well, that’s true…”

When I retorted, she blushed as if embarrassed and withdrew the dagger.

“But are you really blind? From watching you this whole time, it doesn’t seem like it at all.”

Astoria put the dagger back into her clothes and asked me something incredibly obvious.

At her question, I let out a hollow laugh, lifting my staff as I spoke.

“Can’t you tell by looking? It’s the first time in my life I’ve been asked such a foolish question! And did you come here for a mission from the Demonic Cult?”

When I opened my mouth about the Demonic Cult, Astoria’s face was filled with a flustered expression.

‘Not yet a high-ranking member, then… seeing as she has enough freedom to roam around like this… Moreover… she didn’t kill me as soon as she saw me…’

I ran my hand over my still-attached neck and thought.

Astoria, she was one of the Demonic Cult’s Seven Heavenly Devils and a high-ranking member of the Central Branch.

Her most significant characteristic was how perfectly demonic power aligned with her inherent nature.

When the demon’s cruelty and the nature of a ‘Heavenly Killer’ combined, she ran wild and was known as the most difficult mid-boss to capture in [God Killer].

In the game, her emotions seemed almost gone.

The Heavenly Killer nature grants the user immense senses, strength, and magic, but it transforms all emotions into pleasure for killing.

That’s why, in the game, all you could hear was her insane laughter.

“Uh… um… wait… this isn’t right…? Uh…”

In my memory, she wasn’t a mid-boss who would tear at her hair, contemplating how to speak to me like that, but she was doing it now.

“It’s fine, I won’t hand you over to the Church for being part of the Demonic Cult.”

‘Well, from a player’s perspective, the Church isn’t much different from the Demonic Cult anyway… but it’s perfect for reassurance…’

“R-really…?”

Where was the charismatic figure from earlier, who had briefly reminded me of a mid-boss? Now, Astoria, with teary eyes, stammered.

‘Perhaps… the setting book explained that she had no choice but to work for the Demonic Cult…’

When she first joined the Demonic Cult, she entered it to support her family.

However, due to the Demonic Cult’s scheme, which recognized her Heavenly Killer talent, her entire family was brutally murdered before her eyes. Astoria, who firmly believed it was the Church’s doing, began to run wild from then on.

‘Hmm… even if she hadn’t been consumed by the Heavenly Killer nature, I wouldn’t have expected her to be this foolish…’

Astoria now held my hand, only uttering words of gratitude.

“Ah, but there’s one condition. If you tell me what mission you’ve been assigned, I won’t bother handing you over.”

Astoria seemed to ponder for a moment, then spoke to me.

“Among the students who can attend the academy, there’s someone who received a ‘Divine Oracle’… I was told to investigate if I saw anyone unusual… so I was investigating you… Someone getting hurt when you draw a line in the air… that could be someone who received a ‘Divine Oracle’, right…?”

Only then did Astoria confess the reason she had come here.

‘Here, ‘Divine Oracle’ must refer to the next high-ranking member, someone whose body can receive demonic power… Since ‘students who can attend the academy’ includes Astoria, does that mean Astoria is the only one who received the ‘Divine Oracle’…?

I had merely followed the person who was chasing me, but I had gained several unexpected insights, so I smiled and said to Astoria:

“Hmm, that’s sufficient.”

“So, you won’t hand me over to the Church?”

Astoria, with a bright expression, took my hand and said.

“Yes, now that I have this information, there’s no need for me to hand you over.”

Only after those words left my mouth did Astoria seem to sigh in relief, stroking her chest.

“One last question… How long do you have until you become an adult…? I mean, the time remaining until you become an official member.”

“Hmm… about three months left… But what exactly is your identity that you know so much? Unless you’re a high-ranking member of the Demonic Cult, there’s no way you’d know this much…?”

Astoria gave me a suspicious look for a moment, but I shrugged and replied.

Still holding that relaxed smile,

“Just a passing blind man.”

***

Tap tap

Aris had been waiting at the fountain for a long time after Rapier left.

The generously portioned skewers were already eaten, leaving only the wooden sticks, which she tapped against the fountain, making sounds similar to Rapier’s staff.

“Ray…”

She had tried to muster the courage to confess to him, but Aris waited endlessly for Rapier, who had left, perhaps not knowing her feelings, or perhaps not liking her.

As she stared at the ground, the sound of a staff tapping, along with another liquid sound clashing with it, approached her.

Drip drip drip drip

A red liquid was dripping down the staff, and only after seeing that did Aris raise her head.

Rapier was smiling down at her.

“Oh dear, Aris, that took a bit long. I apologize.”

Rapier gave an awkward laugh as he replied, but Aris didn’t hear his apology.

She simply ignored the apology, grabbing his right arm, which was dripping blood, and used a healing spell.

Rapier then looked at the wound with a slightly surprised expression, as if only just noticing it.

“Ray, where on earth did you go to get so hurt? This looks like a sword cut…?”

Aris looked at Rapier with genuinely worried eyes, and he evasively responded, a slight cold sweat on his brow.

“Ha… ha… I must have grazed a corner…”

Aris immediately realized it was a lie and glared at him for a moment, but it was brief. Seeing the fully healed wound, she relaxed her expression.

“Right, well, some days are like that, Ray. Ah! The dorms will be closing soon. Let’s hurry.”

Aris grabbed his left hand and ran towards the academy.

In the end, Rapier, whose strength and agility were only at an ordinary person’s level, had no choice but to be dragged along by her.