Chapter 92

Chapter 92. A Common Occurrence (4)

The festive atmosphere, filled with cheers and laughter, was suddenly doused with cold silence.

“Uh, Hero?”

“What’s wrong?”

The villagers, startled by Professor Elisha’s sudden actions, stepped back with panicked expressions.

Professor Elisha, ignoring the villagers, roughly grabbed Chief Oliver by the collar.

“Eek!”

Chief Oliver trembled under the oppressive aura emanating from the “Spider of the Crimson Eye.”

“I-I just did as I was told!”

“…Did as you were told?”

Professor Elisha’s expression twisted fiercely.

As she scanned the surroundings with her glowing purple eyes.

Clap, clap, clap.

The sound of applause echoed through the silent village square.

“As expected of the ‘Spider of the Crimson Eye.’ You went through quite the effort to hide your magical traces… but it was all in vain.”

“You…”

Professor Elisha’s eyes gleamed coldly.

She gritted her teeth as she glared at the man before her.

“Harris.”

The first witness to report the recent village kidnapping incident.

The man, who had a surprisingly clean appearance for a villager, smiled and nodded.

“But it seems even the renowned ‘Insight’s Blessing’ isn’t omnipotent.”

He continued with a bitter smirk.

“To not notice a Mine right in front of you… impressive.”

Harris bowed theatrically to Professor Elisha, like an actor on stage.

“Let me reintroduce myself.”

Crack, squelch!

One side of Harris’s face swelled grotesquely, and tentacles burst forth from his flesh, centered around his right eye.

“I am Bishop Harris, the loyal servant of Jackal-sama.”

“…You’re Harris?”

“Ah, of course, my original name isn’t Harris. But since I’m using this human’s body as a host, you can call me Harris. After all, he and I are now ‘one body.'”

Harris chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.

Professor Elisha bit her lip anxiously.

This wasn’t an ordinary Mine, but a variant that parasitized and controlled another’s body.

Such a Mine had no Holy Mark and emitted almost no magical power, making it difficult to detect even with the ‘Insight’s Blessing.’

“What did you put in the cider?”

“Jackal-sama’s blessing.”

“Stop spouting nonsense and answer properly.”

“It’s not nonsense.”

Harris spread his arms wide with a crazed expression.

“To shed this weak human body and gain the body of a ‘beast’! If that’s not a blessing, then what is?”

Gaining the body of a beast, huh.

I frowned as I looked at the cider spilled on the ground.

‘A poison that turns humans into monsters.’

In my past life, during the war with the Grand Archbishop of Beasts, I heard rumors that Jackal had transformed an entire city’s population into monsters to serve as his underlings.

‘So they tried to feed it to us…’

This kidnapping incident in the village was a trap set by Jackal to capture us.

‘More specifically, to target Professor Elisha.’

I clicked my tongue as I watched Bishop Harris, who didn’t even glance my way.

“Don’t you agree, Professor Elisha?”

Bishop Harris smiled brightly at Professor Elisha.

“I have no intention of playing along with your ridiculous ideology.”

“Is that so? What a shame.”

Professor Elisha drew thin silver threads and spread them on the ground, ready to attack at any moment.

“Where is Jackal now?”

“Hoho. He’s not here.”

“Is that so? What a shame.”

The dozens of silver threads spread on the ground floated into the air.

“Die.”

Just as Professor Elisha’s ‘spider threads’ were about to shoot toward Bishop Harris.

“Ah, don’t be so hasty. I still have things to discuss with you, Professor Elisha.”

“I doubt there’s anything left to discuss with you.”

“Hoho. Is that so? I wonder if the villagers feel the same way.”

Bishop Harris, with a sinister smile, wriggled the tentacles protruding from his face.

Professor Elisha frowned at his overly relaxed demeanor.

“…What do you mean?”

“The other villagers gladly accepted Jackal-sama’s blessing, which you so carelessly spat out.”

“…!”

Professor Elisha’s eyes widened.

She quickly glanced around and saw empty cider bottles scattered on the tables.

“You…!”

Could it be that he had laced all the cider the villagers drank with the poison?

“Hahaha. Not just the cider, but all the food used in the festival was blessed by him. It would be too pitiful if the children couldn’t receive the blessing just because they’re too young to drink, right?”

“W-wait! What are you saying?!”

Chief Oliver shouted with a pale face.

“You promised you wouldn’t harm the villagers if we did as you said!”

“Yes, I remember that promise clearly.”

“Then why did you put such a terrible poison in the villagers’ food?!”

“Hmm?”

Bishop Harris tilted his head.

He wriggled the tentacles covering his face and turned to Chief Oliver.

“Are you saying that the food blessed by him is a ‘terrible poison’?”

Squelch!

The tentacles wrapped around Chief Oliver’s body.

“Eek!”

Chief Oliver’s body was pulled in an instant.

Bishop Harris, with Chief Oliver now right in front of him, narrowed his eyes.

“Listen carefully. Accepting his blessing is not a ‘harm’ to the villagers. Quite the opposite.”

“A-ah.”

“Here, experience it yourself, and you’ll understand what I mean.”

Snap.

Bishop Harris smiled brightly and flicked his fingers.

“AAAAAH! S-save me…!”

Crack, squelch!

With a horrifying sound, Chief Oliver’s entire body grotesquely swelled.

Red muscles sprouted like buds from his torn skin.

Sharp fangs and claws grew like spikes.

“Grrr, grrrrr.”

In the blink of an eye, Chief Oliver had transformed into a monster, letting out a fierce roar.

“How is it? Much better than when you were human, right?”

Bishop Harris shrugged as he looked at the transformed Chief Oliver.

“Kyaaaaah!”

“T-the chief turned into a monster!”

“W-what? What’s going on?!”

The villagers panicked.

Bishop Harris, who had been watching the scene with a chuckle, turned his gaze back to Professor Elisha.

“Do you understand the situation now?”

“……”

Professor Elisha’s eyes turned cold.

“Pathetic trick.”

“Is that so? Your eyes seem to be trembling quite a bit for such a ‘pathetic trick.'”

Bishop Harris’s lips curled up.

“Doesn’t this remind you of the past?”

“……”

“A small village with less than 100 people… rampaging monsters, the smell of blood, and screams filling the air.”

The past.

A horrific hell that a young girl had to endure.

That hell was about to unfold before her eyes once more.

“So, what will you do now? If I just flick my finger here, all the villagers will receive Jackal-sama’s ‘blessing.'”

“……”

Professor Elisha bit her lip as she watched Bishop Harris raise his hand provocatively.

No matter how quickly she dealt with Bishop Harris, there was no way to kill him before he flicked his finger.

But she couldn’t just give in to his threats and follow the Mine’s orders.

“H-hero…”

“Sniff. Mom, am I going to become a monster too?”

“Don’t worry! The heroes will definitely save us!”

The villagers, trembling but with a glimmer of hope in their eyes, looked at Professor Elisha.

“……”

Professor Elisha turned her gaze away from the villagers and took a step toward Bishop Harris.

“I told you. Pathetic trick.”

“Hoh.”

“For a Mine to destroy a small village like this… it’s a ‘common occurrence.'”

As if it were nothing.

As if it meant nothing.

Professor Elisha declared in a firm voice.

“If you want to turn the villagers into monsters, go ahead. I’ll kill you and all of them.”

“Hmm.”

Perhaps it wasn’t the reaction he expected.

Bishop Harris let out a low hum and frowned.

“N-no!”

“Hero! Please don’t abandon us!”

“I-I don’t want to!!!”

Terrified screams filled the village.

“……”

Professor Elisha didn’t even glance at the screaming villagers and took another step toward Bishop Harris.

Crack.

She bit her lip and clenched her fist.

“A common… occurrence.”

Yes.

Just like what she had experienced decades ago.

Just one of many common tragedies.

So, there’s no need to be sad.

Because it’s a common occurrence.

Because it happens everywhere.

Because I’m not special.

So, there’s no need to suffer.

It’s not like some Messiah who will save the world is dying.

Even if those people turned into monsters and met a miserable end, no one in the world would care.

If you were to assign value to human lives, the villagers here would be at the very bottom.

So, there’s no need to hesitate.

Rather than struggling to save a bunch of ignorant lives, it’s more efficient and rational to kill Jackal’s underling here and now, which would ultimately save more lives.

So. So. So.

“I…”

Blood seeped from her bitten lip.

Her clenched fist trembled.

Decades ago.

The memory of a girl screaming as she watched her village burn came to mind.

– Someone, please save us! Our village… our village!!!

The hero that girl longed for never appeared.

Today is no different from that day.

Just as she was about to kick off toward Bishop Harris, leaving the screaming villagers behind.

“There’s something I’ve never understood.”

A quiet voice echoed in her ear.

“If it’s a common occurrence, does it hurt less?”

“Candidate Dale…”

“Do you hurt less just because many others are also suffering?”

“Don’t get cocky.”

When she sharply glared at Dale, he smirked and raised the corner of his mouth.

“You’re the one being cocky right now.”

“What?”

“Giving up on the villagers because you’re not strong enough and just focusing on killing one enemy—why are you trying to make that sound so dramatic?”

“You…!”

As Professor Elisha took a step forward with an angry expression.

[Listen carefully.]

Dale’s voice echoed in her head.

When she looked at him in surprise, he placed a finger on his lips and smirked.

[I’ll tell you how to solve this ‘common occurrence’ right now.]