episode_0049

I am. No, we were greatly shaken by the sudden deaths of Dorothea and Marco.

Not only Iris, who sympathized with them from the beginning, and I, who could not bear to bear harsh feelings for them and saved their lives, but also Laura, who never let go of her doubts about them until the end, harbored feelings of anger.

And our anger was directed at Elkudan, a tall man wearing a white mask with a golden geometric pattern who shot and killed Dorothea and Marco and then calmly approached us.

We aimed our magic rifles at Elkudan almost at the same time, but Elkudan was not scared at all.

This may be because, as in Elkahim’s case, our guns do not work on him.

“You just killed a demon like everyone else, so why are you so excited?”

“Shut up! Dorothea was originally a human being.”

“Yes, we rid the world of monsters that were once human. As an adventurer, you would know very well that it is polite to kill someone who has been contaminated by demons, but I cannot understand why you are so angry. Sigh, it would have been better if the black masks hadn’t crossed the line in the first place.”

El Kudan treated me like a strange person.

Yes, it is true that Dorothea arbitrarily released a hybrid that could be a threat to humanity just because she felt sorry for her, so she is a strange person.

But obviously Dorothea and Marco were not evil beings.

They were just people who wanted to live happily together.

Even though Kalthran and Minaterin’s daughter turned into a monster, thanks to other monsters, she did not despair and did not give up hope.

I hate Elkudan, who arbitrarily shot and killed Dorothea and treated me like a strange person.

“You say that to a subject who helped a demon kill a person? 버러지만도 못한 개새끼야!”

I fired the magic rifle at El Kudan.

Even though I knew it wouldn’t work, I poured all the six magic rifle bullets in the chamber, reloaded, and fired again.

However, all of the magic rifle bullets I fired were blocked by the intangible shield and fell helplessly to the floor.

“It looks like you didn’t really learn a lesson when you met Elkahim. I’m really curious about the person’s true intentions in trying to attract such an immature person to our organization.”

Elkudan took his time, kicking away the magical rifle bullets that fell at his feet.

How can you kill that dog, that dog?

Maybe, like El Kahim, cutting off his head might buy him some time.

“I have no intention of joining an organization full of crazy people like you guys. I never want to be with trash that treats human lives like expendables.”

“Oh my, I never thought I would show my sense of justice here. There are a few people in our organization who thought like you, and now they are all satisfied. So, you too, cool your head for a moment.”

Elkudan pulled out his magic pistol so quickly that I couldn’t fight back and fired 6 suppressing bullets at me in an instant.

In the end, I fell backwards with my whole body trapped in the stone, and Laura tried to break the stone to somehow get me out, but it wasn’t easy.

The performance of the suppression bullets used by El Kudan was so excellent that it could not be easily escaped with the power of lightweight magic armor.

“It’s no use. It’s a special bullet that performs so well that it’s on a completely different level from what you adventurers use.”

Elkudan laughed at Laura’s efforts, then ignored us and walked past, approaching Iris.

“Daughter, your new owner is still an innocent person who thinks and lives like a teenager.”

Elkudan mocked me by referring to Iris as his daughter.

Although I was angry, I was more worried about how Iris would react.

She won’t betray us and take his side just because her father is alive, but if she gets confused, an otherwise unfavorable situation will become even more unfavorable.

“Dad, are you really Dad? How on earth are you alive?”

“Thanks to the blessings of the Great One, members of our organization do not die by having their heads cut off. You have to destroy the artificial magic nucleus in your body to die.”

Elkudan pointed his finger at his solar plexus and taught us his weaknesses in detail.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m confident that I’ll never lose, or if it’s something they’re teaching me on purpose.

Whatever the intention, it seems that in order to subdue El Kudan, you will have to aim for the magic core.

I exchanged glances with Laura and she nodded, accepting my intention.

Laura watched the situation, ready to draw her sword and attack at any time.

“So then you just pretended to be dead?”

“Yes, no matter how many countries we have, we can’t use our power if we subdue it with force, so we pretended to get caught and die.”

El Kudan once again exposed his weaknesses.

At this point, we are at the level of giving you a strategy.

However, since Laura has extremely fast and accurate shooting skills, she will have to aim for the perfect opportunity.

“Then why didn’t you save my mom and me? Mom died because of me! If Dad had come to save us, Mom wouldn’t have died!”

Iris screamed, unable to overcome her anger at Elkudan.

She blamed not only herself but also Elkudan for her mother’s death.

Elkudan then immediately refuted Iris’ claim.

“Your mother ruined everything! My plan went completely wrong because I placed a curse on you!”

“Dad! What did mom do wrong? Mom did it to save me!”

“That woman deliberately placed a curse on you to prevent you from being taken to our organization. Even though I guaranteed your safety and a path to success, you did something like that in a clumsy attempt to give you freedom. Because you were unable to use the Mystic Eyes, you lost the right to join the organization and became a slave to such a worthless person. The person called your mother is the one who took away all choices, not to mention freedom.”

Elkudan quickly explained the circumstances under which Iris’s mother had no choice but to pass the curse on to her daughter.

Iris’s mother was not a greedy noble, but sacrificed her life to prevent her daughter from being handed over to a gang of crazy maskers.

However, El Kudan disparaged the sacrifice of his wife and daughter’s mother and even insulted me, who was quietly listening.

I couldn’t understand how a father could treat his daughter like trash.

Could this be a tactic to get Iris to attack him mercilessly?

El Kudan’s words and actions from earlier are definitely not the attitude of a thorough-minded person.

A person who mercilessly hunted down retreating adventurers couldn’t be this lax.

“Rebecca is not a worthless person! This is the person I love! I lifted the curse with help from Rebecca and others. And don’t curse your mom! Why are you talking like that when you know how much your mom loved your dad?”

Iris said, almost crying.

It was heartbreaking to see her take my side and her mother’s side even when her own heart was breaking.

I felt sorry for not being able to kill El Kudan right now.

“The reason I married that woman was to attract excellent magic eye users to the organization. It wasn’t because of an illusion like love. But you, who have my blood flowing, are different. I felt love for the first time while serving the organization my entire life. I guess this is what it means to be a father.”

“Don’t lie! How could someone who said he never loved his wife love his daughter? My dad only wants to get me into that bad organization.”

“If that were the case, I would have already killed your master and friend and captured you. Because I love you, I wanted to persuade you with words, not violence. Iris, my beloved daughter, let’s go with dad now. Let’s live happily together, exploring the forest and enjoying hunting like before.”

Elkudan held out his hand while persuading Iris in a very gentle voice.

Iris looked at me intently and took the hand Elkudan held out.

I was very surprised for a moment, but I sent a signal or something with my finger from a blind spot that Elkudan couldn’t see.

It wasn’t towards me, it was towards Laura.

“Dad, if I go with you, Rebecca and Laura will be saved, right?”

“Okay. When I get back to the organization, I’ll make sure I don’t touch those two people.”

“Thank you. Rebecca, Laura. Thank you so much.”

Iris took off her helmet and made eye contact with us.

Her eyes were full of love and trust for us.

And Iris followed behind him, holding her father’s hand tightly.

“Rebecca, you are free now. Make sure you make the ‘right’ choice.”

When Elkudan made a gesture, the stones holding me turned to sand and collapsed.

Is this the right choice? Stay still? Or kill you?

This guy has no idea what his intentions are.

But considering the look in Iris’s eyes, I can’t just watch it like this.

“Rebecca, are you okay?”

“Yes. I just couldn’t move.”

“What do you want to do now? Iris betrayed us and the enemy openly taught us our weaknesses.”

“This is an opponent we can’t beat. Let’s send it.”

“Okay.”

Laura obeyed my command and helped me stand up.

But all of this is just an act.

Iris did not betray us, but sent a signal to Laura.

Even though it’s a signal I don’t know, it’s definitely not a bad thing.

We watched Iris’ restless back, waiting for her next signal.

“Dad, didn’t you really love Mom?”

“Okay. I didn’t feel that way at all, either back then or now.”

“How can you be so cold-hearted?”

At Iris’ sharp question, Elkudan stopped in his tracks and stroked his daughter’s head.

And in a slightly sad voice, he told his daughter about himself.

“This is because they were modified by Him so that they could not feel such human emotions. Through you, I came to know the love that I have never felt in over 300 years of my life. Even though I still don’t feel love for the opposite sex, I definitely recognize paternal love for my own flesh and blood.”

“Thank you for loving me until now.”

“I am also thankful that you have lived safely until now. What kind of person is Rebecca?”

In response to Elkudan’s question, Iris made a shy expression and her face turned bright red.

Even in this situation, I felt love for me.

He is truly a cute and lovely person.

“You are such a good person that I can trust and entrust you with my life.”

“You truly love someone you’ve only met for a short time?”

“Because time is not important in love.”

“Hahaha! You’re saying the same thing your mother said to me.”

Elkudan laughed heartily and tapped his shoulder.

Then he hugged Iris tightly, whispered something in her ear, and looked up at the sky in the distance.

“I love you, Dad.”

Iris, who started crying as soon as she heard the whisper, suddenly hugged Elkudan so tightly that he could not move at all.

The sound of his ribs cracking could be heard here.

Then Laura pulled out a dagger, ran quickly, and stabbed Elkudan from behind precisely toward his solar plexus.

“Iris…”

Even as Elkudan was coughing up a lot of blood behind his mask, he called Iris’ name and held her in his arms.

Iris shed tears in silence, and Laura stabbed her with the dagger once again, destroying the magic core.

In the end, Elkudan fell limp and Iris laid her father down in the blood-stained snow.

When I got closer, Elkudan was still alive, but his complexion was so poor that it wouldn’t be surprising if he died soon, and he was aging in real time.

“I’m sorry. I asked you to do this.”

“Dad, did you really have to do this? Was there another way?”

Iris shed tears pitifully and grabbed the hem of her father’s clothes, whose face was not visible because of the mask.

“This was the only way to escape from his bondage. Since suicide is not allowed, it was necessary to kill him somehow. And I am a sinner who has committed an unforgivable sin. Please don’t cry for me.”

“Was the reason you told us about our weakness in the first place to kill you?”

I asked Elkudan the truth.

Then he let out a faint laugh and nodded.

“In the future, many organization members will visit you. Like me, the white mask is a combatant and the black mask is a researcher. The hybrids I shot with tranquilizer bullets were also created by them.”

“Nesthetic bomb? Then Dorothea…”

“It happened to fall in a place where there was a lot of snow, so it probably didn’t hurt too much. With the demon’s regenerative ability, it would all be cured if I rested for three days. Anyway, they didn’t die.”

“In the end, you provoked us only to die.”

“You are right. It was the last struggle of a coward until the end. Anyway, the weakness of the magic shield used by our organization members is that it cannot block attacks that cannot be seen with the eyes. You failed because you attacked where Elkahim and I could clearly see.”

“Then, if you surprise me or snipe me from behind, I can kill you.”

Elkudan nodded once again as I spoke while looking at Iris.

Thanks to this, I learned why Laura was able to overpower Elkahim and cut off his head.

Also, it appears that the reason the organization wanted Iris’s magical eye was not because they wanted to have abilities, but because it was dangerous to them.

I think I need to train my own assassination team to escape the threat of the maskers.

“Ah, I wish I could tell you everything I know, but you are trying to take back the blessings he gave me. Iris, will you take off your mask?”

Iris accepted Elkudan’s, or rather Dominic’s, request.

The mask that seemed like it would never fall from his face was separated from Dominic’s face with the sound of his skin being torn, and his face, which had faced three hundred years of stagnation all at once, was almost like a mummy.

It was helpful to be able to have a conversation like this.

“Iris, it’s a lie to say you didn’t love your mother. The happiest moments in my life were when my family was together. Even though we were a family created with intention according to the orders of the organization, I always loved your mother and you.”

“I thought so. Because dad and mom loved each other so much.”

“Because I’m not good at lying, I raised my voice and got angry. I’m sorry.”

Dominic stroked Iris’ cheek with a severely trembling hand and looked at her with complicated feelings.

But I had no sympathy for him at all.

As he said himself, he is a sinner who cannot be forgiven.

I just felt sorry for Iris, who had such a selfish father.

“Rebecca, it may be shameless to ask you to take good care of my daughter.”

“Don’t worry, father-in-law. So I hope you get punished well in hell.”

“Yes, it definitely has to be that way. Iris, be happy with that person.”

Dominic looked at Iris one last time and breathed out.

He died after personally showing that it takes a long time for maskers like him to die even if their magic core is broken.

Iris only shed tears over her father’s death, but did not sob.

Perhaps because she is well aware of Dominic’s sins, she refrains from expressing her sadness as much as possible.

I went to Iris’s side to run her, but she wiped her tears and stood up, holding Dominic’s magic rifle in her hand.

“The battle is still in progress. It’s not too late to feel sad after helping the main team. And I need to make sure no one takes my dad’s body. I would like to show this to the vice leader and help him clearly identify the weaknesses of the members.”

“Iris…”

“Rebecca, please don’t pity me now. Later, if you go back to the hotel and be cute, that will be enough.”

“Okay. I will collect the body, so you and Laura can go up to the observation deck and support the main unit.”

“Yes, Rebecca! Let’s go, Laura.”

“Uh, yes.”

Iris held the hand of Laura, who was looking at her with an apologetic expression, and led her into the observatory.

When Laura finally couldn’t hold it back and started crying, Iris showed her strength by telling her not to cry.

Iris’s strong pretense seemed so pitiful.

“Let’s take care of the body first. I’m glad I bought boxes of all sizes last time.”

I put Dominic’s body in a crouching position, placed it in an appropriately sized box, and placed it back in my bag.

And I didn’t forget to bring a mask.

Thanks to Dominic, an excellent hunter, who chose to commit suicide, the incident was completed without anyone dying, but I am worried about Iris, who must have been greatly hurt in a short period of time.

Will it be possible to heal her wounds just by going back to the hotel and petting her?

I think it’s unreasonable.

It doesn’t matter if you give love with sincerity for a long time.

I went up to the observatory feeling depressed.

I killed the killer who massacred the adventurers and found a way to kill Elkahim, but I didn’t feel much relief when I thought about Iris’ pain.

Still, I’m really glad that Dorothea and Marco didn’t die.

I’m glad that at least one good thing happened.