“...Who should I trust?”
The words I had spoken left a stale, unpleasant feeling in my mouth.
“Me. Trust me. Do I look like I am deceiving you?”
Hwa Yejin’s ragged breathing gradually slowed. Her gaze, which had been directed somewhere into empty space, slowly turned toward me.
“Can I... trust you?”
“There are Hunters in the All Magic Tower who can determine whether someone is telling the truth. They can only use their Skills on people of C-Rank or below, but that is not a problem for me. Check whether I am someone who intends to harm you or kill you. Would that not settle it?”
The strength drained from Hwa Yejin’s body.
The partially cast 「Flame of Creation」 naturally faded as well.
When I let Hwa Yejin go, she pulled me into an embrace without a word.
I held her trembling body with one arm and brought my other hand to my nose.
‘...I am going to die. Well, dying is the goal, but not now...’
[The citation of the temporary Skill 「White Judgment」(A+) has ended.]
I roughly wiped away the blood flowing from my nose.
[The Skill 「Memoir」(???) has been deactivated.]
[Enhanced Physical Rank has been restored.]
[Physical Rank C → D]
My head felt as though it were splitting apart.
Even if it had been urgent, how many A-Rank or higher Skills had I used in such a short time?
“Hwa Yejin. Listen carefully.”
“...Yeah.”
“Because of something I acquired in the ninth Gate, I can completely control Jeong U-myeong. So you can learn the entire truth.”
“...All right.”
Her voice was clearer than before. At this rate, she would not wake up after sleeping and suddenly go mad, slaughtering people left and right.
“Then, cool your head for a while... I will rest too, then get up...”
“Kang Seon? ...Kang Seon!”
Ah, I could not keep going.
My Rank was far too low to hold onto my fading consciousness.
In the end, I could not keep myself awake and simply fell asleep.
***
I opened my eyes two days later.
The instant I woke up, Hwa Yejin rushed at me in tears and began hitting me, but honestly, the pain was stronger than the emotion.
I wished she would develop more awareness of being an S-Rank Hunter and hit me less.
“Do you know how worried I was?! Two days. A whole two days! You could not even wake up for all that time!”
Honestly, she was the cause of it, but saying that would only make her spiral again.
“I used too many high-Rank Skills. S-Rank Hunters might be different, but I reach my limit after using an A-Rank Skill only once or twice.”
“I see. ...Thank you. You overexerted yourself because of me, did you not?”
That was right, but I could not exactly shout, “Correct, S-Rank Hunter!”
“Do not worry about it. Where is Jeong U-myeong?”
“Ah, he is over there.”
Where Hwa Yejin pointed, Jeong U-myeong trembled with a gag in his mouth.
His arms and legs had likely been burned to the point of being unusable. He let out groans so pitiful that he could barely maintain consciousness.
“...Why is he like that?”
“Ah, he was the cause of all this, and the traitor, was he not?”
“...Right.”
Hwa Yejin smiled innocently.
“Even if he has no arms or legs, he can still talk, right?”
“...Right?”
“That is why I burned him first, as punishment!”
Right. Sa Ujin was so often my standard for comparison that I had overlooked something again.
S-Rank Hunter Hwa Yejin had a proper psychopathic streak, too.
These lunatics, honestly.
“Uh...right. Then let us remove that gag first. We need him to talk.”
“Ah, right! Stay seated. I will do it. Flame, limbs, punishment. Let the grip of hellfire seize the sinner.”
Hwa Yejin struck the floor with her staff.
[Hwa Yejin has used the Skill 「Flame of Creation」(S).]
The flames flowing from the tip of her staff transformed into a hand and seized Jeong U-myeong’s mouth.
“Mmmmh!!”
“Do not exaggerate. I deliberately made it so that you only feel pain and suffer no physical harm, just in case you become unable to talk.”
While the flaming hand burned away the gag, Jeong U-myeong writhed and screamed.
Watching him, I organized my thoughts once more.
Hwa Yejin was not in her right mind.
“That is enough. At this rate, we will not get any information from him.”
“Should I stop?”
The fiery hand vanished, and Jeong U-myeong broke into a dry cough.
It would be a lie to say I did not feel even a little sorry for him, but I had no intention of treating him as an innocent victim just because I pitied him.
“Still, he has been punished enough that he cannot resist us with willpower anymore.”
“Right?”
That was not praise.
“Jeong U-myeong. Stop lying there and answer properly. What was your purpose in attacking Hwa Yejin?”
[「Mark of the Legion」 issues a command to its subordinate!]
“Gaaaaah...! To cause... conflict between Sa Ujin and the All Magic Tower... and bring about the mutual destruction of both groups...!”
Hwa Yejin’s eyes widened.
Her expression of shock soon changed into something close to anger.
“Right. That must have been it. If you cut off my arm and then pretended to be concerned for me as always... If you pretended to investigate for my sake, then simply told me that Sa Ujin was the culprit... I, who had already been betrayed by Sa Ujin once, would have been fooled like an idiot. Right?”
“Th-That...is...right...”
Hwa Yejin moved the arm holding her staff as though she were about to strike him, but I grabbed her and stopped her.
“...Sorry.”
“It is all right. I understand. Now, Jeong U-myeong. This is the highlight.”
[「Mark of the Legion」 issues a command to its subordinate!]
“Who ordered you?”
“...M-Master...”
“Master?”
Hwa Yejin could not hide her displeasure.
The title ‘Master’ had come from the mouth of a man she believed belonged to the All Magic Tower, yet it was clearly not referring to her. Of course she would be displeased.
“What is your Master’s name?”
“I-I do not know...”
“What?”
Hwa Yejin turned to me. I shook my head at her gaze.
“He can endure without speaking, but he cannot lie.”
“Then...?”
“Right.”
Jeong U-myeong truly did not know the name of the person who had given him orders. He knew only the title ‘Master.’
“We can find the mastermind later. We have something else to do first, do we not?”
“Something else?”
I laughed and gave an order.
“How many spies like you are in the All Magic Tower?”
Jeong U-myeong’s eyes shook wildly.
The instant he opened his mouth, I issued another command.
“Do not bite your tongue. Answer.”
[「Mark of the Legion」 issues a command to its subordinate!]
“Aaagh...! T-Twelve...!”
“More than I expected. I must have...been too careless until now.”
That was not true.
No matter how well Hwa Yejin managed things, this would still have happened.
The force behind this incident was just that thorough and cautious.
But naturally, I still could not tell Hwa Yejin who the mastermind was.
If I revealed that, I would have no answer when she asked how I knew. Besides, even if the current Hwa Yejin and Sa Ujin attacked together, they could not defeat that person.
I deliberately placed an arm around Hwa Yejin’s shoulder with a casual attitude. Her heavy expression lightened, if only slightly.
“You are going to be quite busy now. Do you want help?”
“I would be very grateful, but I will decline. I need to inspect everything myself from the beginning. From the spy issue to every system and operational structure of the All Magic Tower. But...what should I do? There is nothing I can do for you.”
“I received this, did I not?”
I took the stun gun, otherwise known as Black Blood Hide, from my pocket.
“Not a toy like that. Haa... Once I finish putting things in order, I will formally reward you. I will send you an invitation to the Crystal Room of the All Magic Tower.”
“...Are you serious?”
“Yeah.”
She had offered more than I expected. The Crystal Room was not somewhere people could enter without becoming genuinely close to the All Magic Tower.
“And if there is something you want, I will grant it. Is there nothing?”
There was not really anything.
Still, it would be a little rude to ignore her completely.
“Then, can I just speak casually to you from now on?”
“...You already do, do you not?”
“I mean, can I call you Hwa Yejin instead of Hwa Yejin-ssi? Is that all right?”
Hwa Yejin’s face became slightly red.
...Was she angry? Had I crossed a line? I still did not properly understand the conditions of 「Memoir」, so this time I was not confident that I could stop her flames.
“...Do whatever you want.”
What a relief.
She seemed willing to spare me because I had uncovered the spies.
***
After leaving Hwa Yejin’s home, I entered an empty alley.
One uncomfortable task remained, something I could not do where others were present.
[Collecting the reward for the ninth Required Gate.]
A C-Rank Skill Selection Ticket.
Hwa Yejin, Leia, Sa Ujin, and many other Hunters had chosen Coins instead of a C-Rank Skill, since C-Rank Skills tended to be awkward or poor in performance without sufficient proficiency.
But I chose a Skill without a moment’s hesitation.
If it had been random, that would have been another matter. But if I could choose the Skill, there was one I absolutely needed.
“I choose the C-Rank Skill, 「Akashic Chimera」.”
[Reward granted: 「Akashic Chimera」(C).]
A faint light entered my body along with the Skill.
=====
「Akashic Chimera」(C)
Memory is finite, you know!
Forgetting can be a blessing, but it can also become a curse or a shackle. What if you could use forgetting only as a blessing?
Our adorable Chimera accepts all your memories—even the subconscious memories you do not remember!
Enjoy the blessing of forgetting without suffering its curse! The Chimera remembers even everything you must not forget!
But be careful. If the Chimera accepts too many memories, it may grow insolent with all that knowledge!
=====
At a glance, it did not seem like a particularly good Skill, useful only for people suffering from forgetfulness or dementia.
But for me, it had been far more useful than most S-Rank Skills.
“Flappy.”
[The Skill 「Akashic Chimera」(C) is activated.]
POP!
With a fairly cute sound effect, a Chimera leaped out.
It basically resembled a dog, but its body was blue. A large unicorn-like horn grew from its head, and sharp fangs protruded from its mouth.
The small dog-sized creature stood blankly for a moment as it absorbed my memories. Then it lunged at me.
CHOMP!
“Gaaaaah!”
“You damned owner! How many dozens of lives did you waste?!”
“Hey, let go! Let go!”
「Akashic Chimera」, also known as Flappy, gnawed at my head and shook it furiously.
“Let go of what, you mentally fragile fool?! You died twelve times just to get back at some punk who messed with you?! Are you not a Hunter?! Do you not have Gates to clear?!”
“I am going! I am going! That is why I brought you out! Let go, would you?!”
This loudmouthed fellow was someone I had relied on and received considerable help from ever since I first found him in the seventeenth iteration.
He had given me a long explanation about his real name, but it was far too long and far too elegant for him. So I decided to call him Flappy.
“Ptooey. So what is the route this time?”
“Have you seen all my memories?”
“Almost.”
“Look through everything before talking. A lot has happened since we last met.”
Flappy sat on my shoulder and shut his eyes.
“This will take time. Do you think it is easy to absorb all 7,200 iterations of memories?”
“I know. Rest. I have something to do too.”
“Something to do?”
“Yeah.”
I walked out of the alley and looked up at the building before me.
[Righteous Sword Sect]
“I thought I would impose on them for a while.”