episode_0029

A sinister vibration felt through sensitive hearing.

Its nature was different from the vibrations caused by passing through an unmaintained road.

The beast’s tremor, originating from sharp and massive fangs, emanated an overwhelming bloodlust capable of stunning a predator on the spot.

So intense was it that the bloodlust touched my skin even before I perceived it through hearing.

To the beast, the carriage in front was prey, one of many meals.

But what could that foolish, unreasoning animal know?

The identities of the two people lurking behind the one trembling weakling.

Thump, thump.

It was a vibration from the shallow ground, but its clear resonance began to surge as if it would rush at the carriage and tear off my arm at any moment.

The snake attached to its tail also seemed to be enjoying the situation, excitedly blowing a flute as it awaited the feast.

They had always been in the position of the beast.

Accustomed to chasing and catching prey, they had never known the feeling of fear throughout their lives.

They would simply bite and tear at whatever was in front of them as they pleased, and before they knew it, those things would be screaming and kneeling before them.

From the moment they saw the light in a certain laboratory, nothing had ever stood in their way.

Their sharp claws mercilessly ripped apart the prey’s flesh, and the mouth on their tail brutally shattered the prey’s mind.

A smile.

The animal, grinning at the carriage with its white molars fully exposed, charged at the coachman.

In a few seconds, not only the prey trembling in front of me, but also the prey hiding in terror behind them, would be mine.

They thought so.

Until they placed their massive paw on the carriage.

What was this feeling?

Was it the exhilaration that occurs just before catching prey?

Or was it pity, born from gazing at the prey for too long?

Their front paws, now stained red with hardened blood, were simply trembling.

Though they could have lifted their paws and harmed the prey in front of them at any moment, their paws merely stopped before the carriage.

Fear is the emotion furthest from predation and closest to prey.

They were already unable to even recognize the fact that they had become prey.

Isn’t it pathetic?

The fact that they had no choice but to die because of an emotion lacking in their instincts.

The lion-faced monster clamped its mouth shut.

Fear? Isn’t that the emotion of prey?

Denying that it could possibly feel such an emotion, the chimera kicked its hind legs and leaped towards the being hiding behind, the one who had bestowed upon it this unbelievable feeling.

In that instant, in that fleeting moment, tears of prey flowed from the lion’s hide, between its wide-open eyes.

[Mind Sword]

At the silent sword, the monster simply shattered into pieces, scattered across the ground.

The fangs that had made the prey cry were notably broken in half, rolling on the ground.

“Aaaargh……”

The coachman, who had been calculating when he would die, seemed to have frozen in place, simply covering his eyes with one arm while extending his other arm, albeit with feeble strength, towards where the chimera had been, as if intending to block it.

However, the only response to his action was silence and the fresh chirping of birds in nature.

His trembling eyes slowly began to open, and with a single scream, he slowly turned his head towards where we were, then, with eyes still unsettled, he turned them forward and began whipping the motionless horses.

Who in this situation wouldn’t catch on?

The coachman must have felt a mix of awe and fear towards the person who had eliminated that massive being without any incantation or visible manifestation.

“Wow….that’s interesting?”

“What’s interesting?”

A voice filled with excitement.

At that voice, I pulled off my blindfold and asked back.

“Do all academy students do things like this?”

“I’m on the weaker side.”

I replied with a faint smile.

What about her emotions?

I couldn’t tell.

Fear, joy, sadness, agitation,

People tend to unconsciously reveal their emotions.

I could grasp a person’s emotions by catching those vibrations, but I felt no vibrations from the girl in front of me.

Just a silence so profound it felt frightening.

I already knew she wasn’t an ordinary person, but if she’s so skilled at hiding her emotions, what kind of secrets is she hiding?

Moreover, I used the Mind Sword without saying anything.

How did she know I used the [Mind Sword]?

Tap, tap.

I tapped my staff, the one concealing my rapier, against the carriage.

That magical energy, unhelpfully, rather than revealing her intentions, only showed me her appearance more clearly.

Red hair reminiscent of a sunset viewed from a cliff, and two glowing red eyes that could only be described as those of a clear-eyed madman. Even her small, uncurved body.

Her physique alone brought to mind the formidable Grim Reaper of the Demonic Cult, truly a sight that pulled trauma from afar.

I must have seen this appearance in the game.

Clearly, this is an indispensable puzzle in the journey to Elgard and conquering [The Garden].

“So, where did you learn that? The East?”

“I’m not sure what you’re referring to.”

“Didn’t you just shatter the chimera in front? Without a word, just by moving your finger slightly, it seemed.”

“Isn’t a chimera, by nature, a creature made of several animals? Perhaps its time had come, and its body simply disintegrated. This helpless blind person did nothing.”

“Lies.”

Obvious bloodlust.

However, that bloodlust, though not prolonged, was enough for me to shift the flow of magical energy from my staff to my finger.

Because I didn’t want to provoke her before knowing her true identity.

Imagine, isn’t it possible that the being in front of me right now is one of the [Demonic Cult]’s executives?

“Your magic flew precisely 50 seconds ago towards the corner of the carriage and formed the shape of a sword. What kind of sword was it? What type of sword? I can’t know that exactly. It was just something shaped like a sword. But was its use the same? That sword cleanly cut the chimera’s neck, teeth, torso, and finally, its tail as it charged. Was that truly a cross-section formed by the body’s collapse? No. How many times do you think I’ve witnessed a body’s disintegration? A body’s disintegration goes through various processes. I don’t intend to explain all those processes, but crucially, the cross-section itself is different. Now, tell me, what is that skill, how does it work, where did you get it, and who are you?”

At her ceaseless barrage of words, I couldn’t help but slowly retreat, and my body stiffened at her escalating madness.

Before I knew it, her small frame had drawn closer and was pressed against my body, her face so near I could feel her breath.

“Self-proclaimed weak blind man?”

At her question, asked once more, I simply opened my mouth with a faint smile.

“Perhaps the coachman handled it….”

Sliding…

Her hand was slowly sliding down my face.

Her touch, as if stroking a doll, sent chills down my spine, but since I couldn’t use Mind Sword on someone this close, I simply chose to remain still.

Somehow, I felt as if Aris was running all the way from the academy far away.

“Do I need to dissect you myself…?”

At this strange conversation, whose tone was completely different from her voice just moments before her madness was revealed, I simply turned my head away.

Unaware that the carriage’s vibrations had stopped.

“We’ve…arrived…..”

He, still seemingly affected by the chimera’s aftermath, trembled as he opened the cargo compartment door and saw the two of us, speaking in such close proximity.

Creak….

And so, he simply closed the door without a word.

A moment of silence.

I could feel the madness of the girl in front of me subsiding in real-time.

“Uh…uh…uh…”

Was she someone who unconsciously became assertive when a switch was flipped?

She, who had been facing me separated by barely a paper-thin space, stammered as she got up and began walking towards the entrance of the carriage’s cargo compartment.

“Even so, you’ve committed such rudeness, would you at least tell me your name?”

As my goal was to ascertain her identity roughly just by knowing her name, I asked her.

“It’s… Faust…”

Her face flushed, she quickly grabbed a bag larger than her body and scurried away, leaving only the bewildered coachman and me, dumbfounded, at the spot.

Faust.

Faust, of all people.

Isn’t she one of the [Demonic Cult]’s executives?

And why does she look like such a young girl?

The Faust of the Demonic Cult that I knew was the embodiment of destruction, a demon itself.

I gently raised my right hand to my forehead and sighed.

[The Garden] is tough enough, but now I have to worry about an executive too? This is hardly a simple gathering mission.

At any rate, it was clearly not going to be a smooth trial.