episode_0203

Under the moonlight that faintly illuminates the dark world of night.

People begin to wrap up their day.

Some were relieving the fatigue of the day, drinking a cool glass of beer.

Some visit the pleasure quarters with the money they’ve saved, hiring a prostitute for a moment of pleasure.

Some are tidying up their stores, putting away the goods, and locking the doors of their shops.

Some are busy entertaining the pouring customers for eating out.

Like this, within a peaceful and unremarkable daily life, there was an existence that shouldn’t exist.

In the dark back alleys where the moonlight doesn’t reach, suspicious beings linger in the black shadows.

Those beings were baring their suspicious fangs at the people trying to peacefully end their day.

Swish…. Swish….

Wavering black shadows.

If those are left unattended, they will surely lightly tear the flesh of people and take the blood of fading life.

“Indeed, they’ve appeared again today.”

And Prince Leon, watching its appearance, sighed and drew a sword decorated with gold.

“Then…. Shall we deal with them once more!”

Flash! Ping!!

He thrust the sword as if piercing the shimmering silver-black shadow.

* * *

I learned about those things about a month ago.

Rumors started spreading that mysterious murder cases were continuously occurring within the royal capital. The murder cases were clearly happening, as there were stories of unidentified corpses with unknown causes being discovered.

“I couldn’t just stand by after hearing such stories.”

As Alfred always said, as the crown prince, I took the initiative and jumped into the investigation of the murder cases to protect the people.

Of course….

If I had told him as it was, Alfred would have definitely cut me off and confined me to my room, so I secretly slipped out in the middle of the night.

I might get caught up in a ‘murder case’…, but I didn’t care much.

The reason was simple.

Because I am strong.

From a young age, I had learned swordsmanship in the royal palace, and my skills were so great that even Knight Commander Neptin said they were impressive.

Therefore, I am confident in my combat abilities.

So, rather than thinking I would die, I was more focused on catching the serial killer who instilled fear in the people with my own hands.

But….

“…Tch, they’re so hard to find.”

But…. Even after wandering around here and there, I couldn’t find any clues.

Of course, Leon had never professionally studied criminology.

All he had learned were ‘Royal Swordsmanship’ and ‘Imperial Studies’….

There was no way he could easily discover clues that the investigation team, who had professionally learned investigation techniques and mobilized a large number of people, had failed to find after repeated investigations.

“…Hmm.”

Eventually, I stopped walking around and found a place to sit, and then sat there and thought seriously.

“Let’s think again slowly.”

There are no traces of the culprit.

The only traces that can be found are the corpses of the murder victims.

“I heard that most of them have wounds that look like they were attacked by wild animals.”

However, I haven’t heard any stories of dangerous beasts appearing in the royal capital and killing people.

So, is it not an animal attack?

If it’s not an animal attack, then is it a person? If it’s a person, is it a solo act? Or is it done by a group of two or more people?

I keep thinking and thinking, but only more questions arise.

Swish

“!”

At that moment, I feel a chilling murderous intent running down my spine.

A chilling sensation that stiffens the body.

An unfamiliar gaze I’ve never felt before.

My body’s instincts desperately warn me.

I quickly drew my sword and pointed it in the direction of the gaze.

“Who’s there!”

“….”

Woong…, woong….

What appeared there was an amorphous black shadow.

It exuded an ominous aura and began to glare at me with gleaming red eyes.

At the end of this red gaze is a clear murderous intent.

I don’t know the reason, and I don’t know the cause.

But I could instinctively realize it.

Swish, flash!!

That thing is targeting me right now.

“Hmph!”

Clang!

The black shadow momentarily rippled and then sharply stretched its body to attack me.

It was a sudden attack, but the murderous intent I felt from it was clear, so it wasn’t so much that I couldn’t react.

I lightly parried its attack with my sword and glared at it.

“Is it you?”

I don’t know if that thing understood my words or not.

But what is clear is that it attacked me.

That alone is enough justification to attack it.

“Haaah!”

Under the night sky, an unexpected battle unfolds in the dark back alleys where only the moonlight illuminates the world.

The black shadow suddenly grows in size and turns into dozens of sharp spikes, rushing to pierce me.

It was as if several beasts were aiming for my neck.

Pi pi pi ping!

A trail of sword flashes silver.

I cut down all the mouths of the beasts rushing from multiple directions and dart forward like an arrow.

“Reach!”

At the same time as dodging its attack, I pour all my strength into thrusting my sword at it.

A thrust that goes in so cleanly that even I am surprised.

Thwack!!!

This thrust pierced the black shadow in an instant, and the black shadow hit by my attack scattered helplessly in all directions.

I naturally tensed my body and sheathed my sword to prepare for any additional attacks that might come after.

“…?”

But even after waiting for a while, the expected attack did not come.

The red gaze that had been glaring at me and the boiling, inexplicable murderous intent had completely disappeared.

“What, what?…. Is that it?…. Is that really all there is?….”

Such an absurd ending. I couldn’t hide my bewilderment at the anticlimactic conclusion that left only emptiness.

Could that be the end? I don’t think so. With that thought, I thoroughly searched the surroundings, but I couldn’t find the black shadow again.

And that was my first encounter with what I named ‘Shadow Puppet’.

* * *

Slash!!

I lightly cut down the black shadow.

“Seriously…. You guys never get tired of showing up.”

Shadow Puppets.

These are monsters that take the form of black shadows.

As a result of encountering and dealing with these things several times,

These guys are more like ‘phenomena’ than living beings.

Like things commonly called ‘spirits’ or ‘ghosts’.

Even if you deal with these guys, it only makes them temporarily retreat.

Unless you clearly deal with the source of these things, they will never disappear.

“Haa… And I still haven’t found the essence of these things.”

As the situation is, the only way is to get rid of them whenever they appear.

If there is anything fortunate, it is that once you deal with these guys like this, they will not appear again that day.

What’s more troublesome is that these guys cannot be seen or felt by anyone other than me.

“Thanks to that, when I told my father as soon as I discovered them, he treated me like a strange guy.”

Thinking back to that time, it’s a difficult memory I don’t want to recall.

I didn’t do anything wrong, but from the beginning of going outside the kingdom without permission to causing confusion to the royal palace soldiers by lying…. If it weren’t for the help of the head maid, who was the only one who believed me, I would have probably continued to suffer.

Anyway, these guys appear about once every three days.

In other words, once you deal with them, you are safe for at least three days.

“But I can’t keep dealing with these guys forever…. I need to somehow eliminate the cause of their appearance….”

And as I said before, it’s also strange that ‘only I’ can sense this.

The most reasonable conclusion is….

Isn’t it possible that the being causing this phenomenon is intentionally making itself visible only to me? I have such a suspicion.

And if this is true….

“What are you aiming for by making yourself visible only to me?”

The more I think about it, the less I can come to a conclusion.

Rather, only more questions arise.

“Ugh, I don’t know. Anyway, I’ve finished up, so I should be okay for a while.”

Just as I was about to return to the royal palace,

Swish

I felt the presence of something that shouldn’t be felt.

An ominous…. Such a red gaze.

“!!!”

A red gaze that never appeared once dealt with.

I hurriedly drew the sword I had put back in its scabbard, but an attack filled with murderous intent was even faster, brushing past my side.

“Keuk!!”

Woong

Red blood splatters.

I feel an unfamiliar pain in my side.

Pain I’m feeling for the first time in my life.

I was flustered by the pain, and I couldn’t even react to the successive attacks.

Swish!!!

The fangs of black beasts stretching out from all directions.

In a moment, my body stiffened, and the unfamiliar pain made it difficult to move my body.

It’s over.

The moment I thought that,

Ting

Something that sounds like a clear ringing bell.

At the same time, I feel a chilling cold.

Crack crack crack!!

The black shadow disappeared as it was pierced by an ice spear in an instant.

“W, what….”

Such a sudden attack. As I couldn’t get out of the shock, I couldn’t say anything at the sight of a woman with black hair and bronze skin who carefully appeared.

“Are you okay?”

“Uh…. Uh….”

My heart started beating wildly all of a sudden.

At that time, I realized love.