Chapter 90

“…Is it a lie?”

I recalled the conversation I had just had with a man named Harris.

‘There didn’t seem to be anything particularly strange about it.’

I tilted my head and glanced at Professor Elisha, who was smoking a cigarette.

“Did you figure it out with Insight’s Blessing?”

“No. Insight’s Blessing doesn’t have the convenient ability to detect lies.”

Professor Elisha smiled bitterly and shook her head.

“Then why do you think Harris is lying?”

“Time.”

“…Time?”

What’s the problem with time?

I looked at Professor Elisha with a puzzled expression, and she took a sip of her cigarette and continued in a calm voice.

“That Harris guy said he woke up around 1 a.m. and went outside because of the noise he heard.”

“Yes.”

“How could he know it was 1 a.m.?”

How could he know it was 1 a.m.?

“Well… he must have looked at a clock, right?”

“There was no clock in Harris’s house. He wasn’t wearing a wristwatch or anything either.”

“Ah.”

Heroes can always check the time because they carry the Hero Watch, but Harris isn’t a hero.

“Of course, he could have asked someone else for the time. But…”

“There’s no way a crazy person would go to another house to ask for the time while a villager is being dragged away alive by monsters outside.”

“That’s right.”

Professor Elisha nodded with a faint smile.

“…That’s amazing.”

I couldn’t help but let out a genuine exclamation at Professor Elisha’s sharp insight.

I know I’m not the smartest person, but I was proud of having developed some level of perceptiveness thanks to my past life experiences.

‘No matter what, I can’t surpass natural perceptiveness.’

Professor Elisha’s ability to see through lies with just a few simple words of conversation was truly admirable.

“What’s so amazing? I have no idea why that Harris guy lied in his statement.”

Professor Elisha crushed the finished cigarette on the ground and sighed.

“First, we should hear statements from other villagers.”

“Let’s do that.”

Professor Elisha and I went around to the nearby villagers’ houses to gather additional statements.

After visiting a few households and asking around.

“It seems the monsters did appear and kidnap the villagers.”

“The appearance and number of eyes of the monsters match Harris’s statement.”

When we compiled the villagers’ statements, there wasn’t much difference from what Harris had reported.

“Hmm… I must have been mistaken.”

Professor Elisha swallowed her words with a slightly embarrassed expression.

Contrary to her initial hypothesis that Harris had manipulated his statement with lies, the villagers’ statements were all consistent.

“In that case, we have no choice but to go find that monster ourselves.”

The alligator monster that kidnaps one villager every night.

We had to meet that monster, which had a similar appearance to the Eight-Eyed monster that interrupted the midterm evaluation, to find the connection between this incident and the Grand Archbishop of Beasts.

“Alright. Then we don’t have time to waste here.”

“Let’s go right away.”

Professor Elisha and I headed toward the mountain behind the village where the alligator monster was said to have gone.

Then.

“Um, excuse me… Are you the heroes?”

A middle-aged woman with dark circles under her eyes approached us.

“Yes.”

“Ah! You really are the heroes!”

The woman knelt down with eyes shining like a priest of the Holy Kingdom who had seen the seven gods.

“Last night, my child was kidnapped by the monster! Please… please save Rumi from that evil monster’s clutches!”

The woman, shedding tears, bowed her head repeatedly.

“I may be just a humble country woman, but Rumi has always been much smarter and more talented than other children since she was young! She might even awaken a Holy Mark and become a ‘hero’ someday! So please…!”

“Calm down.”

Professor Elisha helped the middle-aged woman, who was repeatedly hitting her forehead on the hard ground, to her feet.

“If the child is alive, we’ll definitely bring her back. Don’t worry.”

“Th-thank you, heroes!”

The middle-aged woman shed tears with a grateful expression.

“……”

Professor Elisha walked away with a bitter expression, leaving the woman behind.

When the middle-aged woman was out of sight.

“Phew.”

Professor Elisha took out a cigarette from her pocket, lit it, and gritted her teeth.

“…I made another promise I can’t keep.”

At her regretful muttering, I clicked my tongue softly.

“The chances of her being alive are… almost zero, right?”

“Probably.”

Professor Elisha nodded with a gloomy expression.

“The only hope is that this monster is kidnapping villagers for fun rather than slaughter… but even then, it’s hard to expect much.”

Professor Elisha took a deep drag of her cigarette and bit her lip.

She was trying to act calm, but her deep purple eyes were filled with an undeniable sadness.

“…Are you okay?”

“Haha. How many times do you think I’ve been through something like this?”

Professor Elisha shrugged and walked on.

“Losing a child to a monster attack is a ‘common occurrence’ in a small village like this.”

“……”

“Well, Candidate Dale, you haven’t been active as a hero yet, so this must be your first time experiencing something like this.”

No.

It’s not the first time.

In terms of experience, I’ve probably witnessed far more despair than she has.

People who lost loved ones to monsters, people whose lives were trampled by demons.

The tragedies that are rampant everywhere the heroes’ hands don’t reach.

A common occurrence that can be seen anywhere, nothing special.

But…

“Let’s go.”

Professor Elisha crushed the finished cigarette and walked ahead unsteadily.

“…Yes.”

I hurried to follow her.

* * *

“The monster’s habitat… seems to be this way.”

Professor Elisha walked briskly, her purple ‘Chest Eye’ glowing.

“It’s quite close to the village.”

“It must have thought there was nothing to threaten it.”

If we hadn’t come here today, it wouldn’t have been a wrong assumption.

“That cave over there.”

Professor Elisha pointed to a large cave between the rocks.

“An alligator-turned-monster living in a cave, huh… It’s certain that it’s a monster with many ‘eyes.'”

Basically, monsters often retain their pre-mutation habits.

But that’s only true for monsters with fewer ‘eyes.’

The more severe the mutation caused by magic, the more they forget their original habits.

“Let’s go in.”

“Yes.”

Professor Elisha and I cautiously entered the cave, keeping an eye on our surroundings.

Drip, drip.

The sound of water pooled on the cave floor echoed quietly.

“Grrrrrr.”

A fierce voice came from inside the cave.

The alligator monster, lying on the stone floor, slowly rose upon noticing the intruders.

“It’s coming.”

Professor Elisha spread thin silver threads around her, preparing for battle.

“Professor, wait.”

I stepped forward, blocking Professor Elisha.

“What is it?”

“Look over there.”

“……!”

Where I pointed, seven unconscious people were scattered around the cave floor.

Three of them were already dead, not breathing, but the remaining four were still faintly alive.

Among the survivors was the daughter of the middle-aged woman we met in the village.

“…She was alive.”

Professor Elisha looked at the faintly breathing little girl with orange hair and freckles with trembling eyes.

“I’ll handle the monster. Professor, please rescue the survivors first.”

“…But.”

“Your ‘spider webs’ are much more effective at protecting the survivors than my sword.”

Once the real battle starts, the cave will shake, and stone fragments or stalactite pieces will fly everywhere, which would be fatal to ordinary people without Holy Marks.

Especially for those already weakened.

“…Alright.”

Professor Elisha nodded and took a step back.

As she spread her hands wide, hundreds of silver threads formed into spider webs, wrapping around the survivors.

“Grrrrrr!”

The alligator monster roared fiercely.

Its body covered in steel-like scales, its protruding snout, sharp claws, and whip-like long tail.

‘It’s the same one from the midterm evaluation.’

I couldn’t be sure if it was connected to the Grand Archbishop of Beasts, but it was definitely the same alligator monster I fought before.

‘Back then, I barely won by using Ignition.’

So how about now?

“I’ve gotten a lot stronger since then, you know?”

I twisted the corner of my mouth and bit my hand roughly.

Blood flowed from the torn skin.

The blood on my fingertips formed into the shape of a sword.

Demon Sword Veskal.

As I gripped the demon sword, which grants immense power in exchange for blood, it felt like I had received Iris’s ‘Blessing,’ and vitality surged through my body.

“Grrrrrr!”

The alligator monster let out a fierce roar and charged.

Boom, boom, boom!

Each step shook the entire cave.

“Grrrrrr!”

Sharp claws swung toward my neck.

Clang!

Sword and claws clashed.

My body, which used to be flung back helplessly, now stood firm, rooted to the ground.

“Grrrrrr?!”

Instead, it was the alligator monster that was pushed back.

The monster frowned its four pairs of eyes, as if it couldn’t believe it was being pushed back by a human less than half its size.

“Grrrrrr!”

The monster roared fiercely and swung its whip-like tail this time.

The tail, covered in steel-like scales, emitted a terrifying sound as it swung.

‘I should dodge this.’

Just as I thought that and prepared to step back.

-You know, the swordsmanship Dale uses… it feels like it doesn’t really suit him.

Suddenly.

Yurina’s words flashed through my mind.

“……”

A body different from my past life.

Magic power different from my past life.

But my memories were still trapped in that vast snowy field, endlessly wandering.

Then.

“Honestly, I’m not used to this kind of thing.”

I poured all my magic power into the sword as if exploding it.

Gray aura and flames erupted along the blade.

Instead of stepping back, I stepped forward and swung my sword straight at the oncoming tail.

Crash!!!

A deafening roar shook the entire cave.

Under the surging ash and flames.

“Grrrrrr!”

The monster’s severed tail rolled on the ground.