TL/Editor: raei
Schedule: 5/week
Illustrations: None
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Ian organized the information he gathered from the children.
The shepherd nad Pael witnessed Maria's necromancy.
Maria had also exhibited strange behavior in the past. Once, when she was with Pael, she tried to eat a rotten wolf carcass.
'Pael. Maria. And Eric.'
The little girl suspected a love triangle between the three.
It wasn't just a conclusion drawn from being a romantic.
"This gets stranger by the minute."
Ian shared his thoughts with his companions.
"I'm even more confused about why Maria killed Eric. They liked each other, didn't they?"
"She even gave him a gift."
Belenka muttered.
In her hand was the dagger, Eric's keepsake.
The one who gave this gift was none other than Maria.
"She killed him with necromancy in a way that was easy to discover, and even got caught."
"Ian. You still..."
Kira asked carefully.
Ian nodded.
"The one who killed Eric... might not have been Maria."
Belenka slightly furrowed her brow.
"But didn't she admit it herself? That she killed Eric?"
"No. Maria said this: 'It wasn't intentional.'"
"...? That's the sa thing."
"It ans Eric died without her willing it."
That's right.
Maria never once spoke about 'why' she killed Eric.
She only said, 'I don't rember' and 'It wasn't intentional.'
"If Maria were really the culprit, why would she let herself be caught by country farrs?"
"She might have been unable to use magic for so reason."
"That... I'll concede."
As a wizard, Ian knows well how unstable magic can be.
What was possible yesterday might not be today.
If the mysteries refuse to cooperate, it's all for naught.
Maria might have simply been caught due to so complication.
"But she's quietly locked up in the shed now, right? If we go ask her calmly once more..."
Just as Ian was saying this.
Soone ca running frantically from afar.
"Wi-Wizard!"
The village chief said, panting heavily.
"Bi-Big trouble!"
"What's with the fuss?"
"Ma-Maria! Maria!"
The chief shouted roughly.
"That b*tch has disappeared!"
"..."
Goddamn it.
Belenka's expression changed in an instant. Kira too waited for Ian's instructions with a grim face.
"Looks like sothing's gone down."
"Haa. Let's go after her for now."
Ian hurriedly pursued Maria.
---
---
Surprisingly, one of Ian's specialties was tracking.
Since he was friendly with Oberon.
"Oberon! Go find the black-haired girl!"
"Caw! Caw!"
[I'll find her right away!]
Proving that crows are the gangsters of the bird world, Oberon grabbed any bird in the forest and shouted while yanking their heads:
[Where's the black-haired girl! Bird-ski!!!]
[Eeeek!]
Terrified by Oberon's crow fists, the birds spilled information readily.
[Sh-She went towards the clearing over there!]
[You sure? If I look and she's not there, it won't end with just punches!]
[Eeeeek!]
Oberon was surprisingly large.
He was about the size of a well-fed country chicken, which explained why Ian complained about his weight.
In the animal world, size equals combat power.
Oberon could beat up all other birds except birds of prey.
Because of this, tracking Maria ended quickly.
"Caw!"
[Found her! Master!]
"Where?"
[She escaped down the ravine!]
She went quite far.
Ian imdiately led his companions down the ravine.
It was a place difficult for people to descend, with creepy weeds growing like green zombies and a steep slope.
In other words, if you escaped here, it would be hard for pursuers to follow.
Without Oberon's help, even Ian wouldn't have searched this place.
"Be careful, Ian! Maria's accomplice might appear!"
Belenka warned sharply.
If Maria had attempted a belated escape, it wouldn't be strange for an accomplice to pop up.
'There she is!'
Shortly after, Ian spotted the black-haired girl.
She was looking around as if searching for sothing.
Ian imdiately uttered words of magic.
"[Earth!]"
The solid ground shook and turned soft like mud.
Ian had changed the nature of the earth with earth magic.
The girl staggered about in confusion.
"Ian sir! Shall I kill her?"
"Hold on, Jubal."
"Yes sir!"
Jubal growled, ready to kill at a mont's notice.
Ian alerted his companions before approaching Maria alone.
She was rummaging through the soft ground again as if she'd never been startled.
Ian quietly watched to see what Maria was looking for.
After a while, Maria pulled sothing out of the ground.
"..."
It was an earthworm as big as a palm.
Maria brought the wriggling worm to her mouth, whether Ian was watching or not...
Maria opened her mouth wide.
At that mont.
Ian struck Maria's hand away.
Thwack.
The large earthworm writhes on the ground.
Maria stared blankly at the worm.
"Are people not feeding you well?"
When Ian asked, Maria answered with an alluring eye-smile:
"No. Why would they give food to a murderous witch like ? They obviously want to kill as soon as possible."
Maria groped for the worm again, fumbling.
Ian gently grasped Maria's hand so as not to startle her.
"... What is it?"
"I'd prefer if you didn't eat that. If you need food, I'll give you so. So, don't eat it."
"..."
Vaguely, Ian had guessed.
Combining Robert's testimony about her large appetite and the neighborhood kids' account of her trying to eat a rotten wolf carcass, one could deduce the truth.
Maria was currently under the influence of the mystery of death.
The endless hunger of the dead was controlling her body.
"But..."
"You don't want to eat it, right? Don't eat it."
"...!"
For a mont, Maria looked up at Ian with a shocked expression.
But soon, she hid her expression and said:
"My, how embarrassing. I've shown you an unsightly side of ."
Ian observed Maria for a while.
More precisely, he observed the sticky mystery clinging to her body.
So soul was attached to Maria's body.
Though Ian wasn't a necromancer, he felt he knew what type of soul.
A hungry ghost. Or the ghost of soone who starved to death...
"Earthworms don't seem very tasty."
"Taste? Huhu. Do you think I'd eat such a thing for its taste?"
Maria murmured.
On the surface, it was the murmur of an ordinary girl.
But Ian felt the power of mystery boiling beneath, hidden. The mystery reacted as if in sympathy with Maria's anger.
It's a phenonon sotis seen in Kira too.
The trace of a novice wizard unaware of their contact with mystery.
"Originally, what I wanted to eat was a corpse."
"A corpse?"
"Yes. I slled a sweet scent around here. The scent of an ownerless corpse, properly rotted, teeming with insects and maggots..."
Thud.
Maria quietly knelt down.
"I've explained this much, so you understand now. Yes. I am a monster."
"..."
"I've been like this for a long ti. Like a mad pig, wanting to stuff anything into my mouth. Salivating at the sll of rotten at... Ha, haha... Disgusting and horrible, isn't it?"
She showed Ian her pale nape.
"The power of death flows through . The will of the dead. It gnaws ceaselessly at my will. My body and mind. Yes. That's why I killed the man who loved ."
Plop plop.
The sound of water droplets falling could be heard.
With her head bowed, Maria's face wasn't visible.
But Ian could tell.
She was now.
Crying.
"My madness...! My wicked power...! The screams of the dead...! They ruined everything!"
"Maria."
"You might be able to get rid of my curse by taking my life."
Maria said, sobbing.
"Kill now."
"..."
"Kill ! And take away my terrible curse! Please!!!"
Ian looked down at Maria silently for a while.
Belenka closed her eyes tightly, and Kira bit her lip.
The girl's cry-mixed plea was eerily sorrowful and mournful.
This is usually how it goes for those who co into contact with mystery.
Mystery is called mystery because humans cannot understand it.
It was only natural that humans who contacted mystery would repeat incomprehensible actions.
Maria compulsively craved food, rotten at.
It was not her will, but the dead souls perating her body and mind that desired it.
It's beyond her will.
That fact drove Maria mad.
Kira pitied such a Maria.
'If I hadn't t Ian...'
Kira had received the attention of the mystery of fire without proper magical initiation.
If she hadn't t Ian, Kira would still be handling fireworks and flas.
Soday, unable to extinguish the flas she ignited, she would have burned to death.
Receiving the attention of mystery was both a blessing and a curse.
"Ian."
"..."
"Shall I do it?"
Belenka drew her longsword.
But Ian shook his head.
"No. There's no need for that."
Belenka, having stuck with Ian for quite so ti, could tell.
Ian wasn't sympathizing with Maria or hesitating to kill.
Ian was... angry.
Srrk.
Ian took out Anor-lsil and aid it at Maria.
Ian spoke in a cold voice.
"If you want to die comfortably as you wish, speak honestly."
"Ah... Of course!"
Maria lowered her head to make it easier for the blade to enter her neck.
Ian asked without hesitation.
"You've been in contact with the mystery of death for a long ti. Is that right?"
"Yes. Probably since I was twelve years old."
"But you never learned how to control the mystery."
"... If there was such a thod, I would have learned it even if I had to rip out my heart."
"And you've never t a necromancer."
"Never."
"You never prepared a ghoul to kill Eric either."
"..."
For a mont, Maria raised her head to look up at Ian.
At so point, Ian had put away Anor-lsil.
Instead, with a gentle smile, he patted Maria's head.
"You just spoke only the truth. You've never contacted a necromancer, nor learned necromancy."
"...What are you saying? I've been possessed by ghosts."
"Receiving the attention of mystery and handling mystery are separate issues. You fool."
Maria's eyes widened.
Only now does the appearance of the young man before her look different.
Ian Eredith Raven.
He was not a nobleman who ca to execute Maria...
He was a wizard, versed in the world and its mysteries.
Ian declared:
"Maria. I've just confird it."
"... Yes?"
Ian smiled gently.
"You did not kill Eric."
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