IPDT 38

“He’s still not here?”

I furrowed my brow deeply. How dare a human, no, a future monster that has given up on being human, make the great me wait. Just as I was thinking I would make him regret it the moment he arrived, I suddenly heard a ‘whoosh’ from behind. A sound like a blunt weapon being swung down from above.

Huh? I swiftly caught the thing being swung at my head. The feel of metal was heavy. It was blunt, but it was clearly a weapon. When I whirled around, there was Igor, dripping saliva.

“What are you doing?”

“Let go, let go!”

Igor shook his body up and down, trying to wrench the hammer caught in my hand free. Not that I had any intention of letting it go. I squeezed the hand holding the hammer tighter and glared up at him.

“I’m asking what you were doing.”

“Ugh, uh…!”

Igor was no longer even answering, just making strange groans. His clouded brown pupils were dilated like a waterlogged sponge, and saliva kept dripping from his lips. I cautiously took half a step back and wrinkled my brow.

“If you were going to swing a hammer at my head, you should pay the price.”

Smash! I snatched the hammer from Igor’s hand and threw it. Far enough that he couldn’t go pick it up. Igor, deprived of his weapon, darted his eyes around nervously, then, without warning, rushed at me.

“Kuaack!”

However, before Igor could even grab me, he tumbled forward. It was because I had bound Igor’s ankle with mana. Igor, who had fallen on his face, writhed on the ground with a painful groan. I watched Igor squirming like an insect, then rubbed my chin.

“Hmm… I haven’t gotten the information yet, so I can’t make him go mad. If he goes mad and his memories get all scattered, there’s nothing I can gain. But just keeping him tied up like this is too light a punishment…”

“Hah, heh, heuk.”

“Don’t make strange noises. I can’t concentrate.”

“Uaah, ack! Huaaack!”

When I chided the noisy Igor, he started to scream even louder. It was a terrible scream that made me want to cover my ears. I pressed my hands to my ears and looked down at the squirming Igor.

“Huh?”

But where Igor should have been, there was no Igor, only some terribly shaped insect legs squirming. Oh no, don’t tell me. I looked at the giant shadow cast over my head.

“Delicious, smells delicious. Let me eat, I want to eat. Ca, can’t stand it.”

“This is big trouble.”

Igor had become a monster. Having taken the form of a giant scorpion, he was thrusting out his face, which had begun to melt, like a turtle, with the shell-only remnant of his body hanging below it like a lump.

“Gu, guide, I’ll savor you from your fingers. De, deliciously. Heh, heh heh. So, come here!”

The ground rumbled every time Igor stomped his feet and approached. As Igor charged like a mad bull, the husk of what had been a human body dangled and swung beneath his face.

“I, I can eat. I can eat!”

Igor opened his jaws wide in front of me. I was pushed back by the immense wave of energy that burst forth in that moment and fell on my butt. Igor’s lips, agape like a wooden doll’s, stretched wide as if he were smiling. Filthy saliva dripped down over my head.

“Oh dear.”

Of course, that filthy saliva didn’t reach me. It was because a defensive barrier made of mana had formed around me. Igor’s teeth tried to break the barrier, making a ‘geegik, geck’ sound, but it was a futile effort. This barrier would not disappear until I got rid of it.

“Ugh, your breath stinks.”

But even the sturdy defensive barrier couldn’t block Igor’s terrible bad breath. I pulled up my sleeve to cover my nose and let out a deep sigh.

“He turned into a monster much faster than I thought.”

If this was the case, it would be difficult to extract information. Because when one becomes a monster, their intelligence drops in an instant, and only impulses like hunger and emptiness remain.

If a little more time passed, Igor would forget where he got the drugs, how he started taking them, and furthermore, who he was and even the fact that he was once human.

“I have to find out before then.”

…I guess Bibiana can handle this kind of cleanup too, right? I tried to raise my body, which had fallen powerlessly because of my smaller size. If only a human’s voice hadn’t been heard from a distance.

“A mo, a monster! A monster is in the domain…!”

A guard, having spotted Igor late, shouted. Oh, no. If more people gather, it will be harder to get information from Igor.

However, regardless of my panic, torches were gathering. The knights of this castle were rushing over one by one. I, hidden inside the cave of Igor’s mouth, began to be surrounded by people.

I’m screwed. Just as I was thinking that, Igor made a displeased sound. A growling sound flowed from his tooth-filled throat. I could vaguely see the humans tensing up and raising their weapons.

“How could a monster get inside the castle!”

“My apologies. We on our side have not been able to figure out what happened either…!”

I could even hear the Margrave’s voice. I hung my head low. All of this had happened because Igor had turned into a monster too quickly.

“Enough! I will handle the monster, so everyone stand back!”

Listening to the Margrave’s urgent words, I thought, ‘How about just getting out of his mouth?’ I could get out now, extract Igor’s memories, and then erase the memories of all the humans in the castle.

It was a perfect plan, but there was one catch. It was Yul. If I used such wide-range magic, my identity would inevitably be revealed. Didn’t Fleabag say it was premature to reveal my identity?

“There is a person inside the monster’s mouth!”

“What?”

While I was lost in thought, it seemed someone had discovered me in the meantime.

“Who is it, can you tell who it is?”

“It, it seems to be the Hero’s guide!”

“The guide?”

The horrified Margrave grabbed someone and asked.

“Where is the Sir Hero!”

“…An, annoying. Noi, sy.”

The moment Igor muttered in a growling voice, a ‘KABOOM!’ sound exploded.

“Gasp!”

“My lord!”

From the sounds, it seemed Igor had attacked the Margrave. He probably hit him with something like his tail. I started to feel a little rushed. Igor was already in a state where he couldn’t recognize his own father. As time went on, he would forget more and more.

Starting with Igor’s attack on the lord, the fight between the humans and the monster began. The humans, having had experience fighting on the border, seemed to be holding on somehow, but it was literally just holding on.

Is Yul not nearby? I heightened my senses and checked, but I didn’t detect anything. A sigh of relief escaped me. I had hoped Yul wouldn’t see something so terrible, so it was truly a relief. But if the humans were to be annihilated like this… Yul would become a hero who failed to protect the humans, wouldn’t he?

“That can’t happen.”

Now that all the humans had come out and I had confirmed Yul wasn’t here, there was nothing to hesitate about.

As I gathered mana at my fingertips, a golden light began to sparkle. At the same time, Igor’s body began to be crushed by an enormous force. Thump! Soon, Igor’s body was plastered to the ground.

With Igor pinned down, unable to move a muscle, I opened his mouth and came out. As I emerged, Igor let out a scream-like roar. The humans flinched back at the monster’s ghastly cry. It was then.

“Father!”

“Bibiana, stand back! Don’t come close!”

The Margrave, who was getting up with the help of his subordinate, shouted at Bibiana. Bibiana stopped running and looked around. In the process, her eyes met mine as I came out of Igor’s mouth. In that moment, resolve formed in Bibiana’s expression.

“Father, that is not just a monster. It may be hard to believe, but please trust my words.”

“I will hear about the monster’s identity later. You, quickly take shelter with the knight…”

“No! That monster is Igor!”

Bibiana, who had approached despite the Margrave’s attempts to stop her, raised her voice.

“What?”

“Have you been briefed on Igor’s current whereabouts? Wasn’t he not in the mansion?”

“Bibiana!”

“Igor was buying drugs from the barbarians. Moreover, it’s not just any drug. It’s a terrible drug that turns humans into monsters! You mentioned that the barbarians of the plains, with whom we share a border, have been unusually quiet since the season changed. That’s because this kind of thing is already happening frequently beyond the border. The barbarians have become quiet because an enemy has risen within their own ranks!”

Everyone’s gaze turned to Bibiana. In that gap, I slowly approached the grieving Igor. Now was the perfect time to quietly extract information.

“…If what you say is true, how could such a huge event have occurred without us knowing until now? No, it’s not just us. Do you think it makes sense that the other allied nations also failed to notice such a development?”

“Father, I will explain that later. For now, please, the guide…!”

Igor, who had been rampaging violently until just a moment ago, was now silent as if nothing had happened. Good. After confirming that the suggestion was working well, I spoke to Igor.

“Igor, what is the name of the person who first gave you the drugs?”

“Lili…”

It was when Igor was muttering in a voice mixed with static. A thin red line appeared on his face. Huh? The moment I noticed the change, Igor’s body split in half.

“Yul…?”

I saw Yul standing on top of the bisected monster’s corpse. His black hair was disheveled, mixed with the smell of blood.

“My father is currently absent from the castle, so he expressed his regret at not being able to bid farewell to the Sir Hero and the Guide in person. As the lord’s representative, I offer my gratitude to you both on his behalf.”

Bibiana gave a small nod to us, who had finished our preparations to leave. Bibiana, wearing a black dress just like when we first met, did not have a good expression. It was probably because of the Margrave’s domain, which had been devastated in a single day. Instead of offering pointless comfort, I asked about something else.

“You said the drugs Igor obtained originated from the plains beyond the border, right?”

“The investigation concluded that to be the case.”

Bibiana answered in a calm voice, contrary to her dark expression. I let out a small sigh. It was a relief that even though Igor was dead, I was able to get information thanks to Bibiana.

“But what did you mean yesterday? You said you would tell me later how the people of the allied nations could not have known about what was happening on the plains.”

“That… well, it seems it would be difficult to explain logically.”

“Why?”

After hesitating for a moment, Bibiana cautiously opened her mouth.

“The eastern part of the continent, which stretches from the plains to the desert, has been an enemy of the Empire and the allied nations since ancient times. That is why we planted numerous spies to monitor the situation on the eastern continent. But strangely, the spies did not report the enormous calamity that occurred on the eastern continent. The one about humans turning into monsters. They reported everything else as usual… I surmise that they were under some kind of suggestion or hypnosis.”

“Hypnosis?”

“Yes. That is the only way I can explain it.”

Suggestion or hypnosis. The only races on the eastern continent capable of casting such widespread hypnosis were the dwarves and the elves. Because dwarves can make tools, and elves can use their abilities. In that case, humans were excluded from the race that started spreading the flower of chaos.

The dwarves and elves, those who had volunteered themselves to protect the world’s end, were daring to disturb the world.

I was not in a good mood. Upsetting the balance of the world was, in effect, no different from challenging me. No one would die an easy death. As I was thinking that, tap, a finger touched my brow.

Huh?

“Yul?”

“…”

The one who had pressed my brow was Yul. It didn’t seem like Yul had intended to do it either. He looked at the finger he had extended towards me with a serious face, then frowned as if something displeased him. Then, he abruptly walked past me and started to go ahead.

“Gasp, Yul!”

As I hurriedly chased after Yul, I suddenly realized that Bibiana was still standing behind us. I turned my head and waved at Bibiana.

“Bibiana, we’re going now. Bye!”

Bibiana, who had a gloomy face, showed a faint smile. Seeing that face, I was certain that Bibiana would be okay soon. Because humans have grown in that way for countless eons.

I turned my back without any lingering attachment and stood next to Yul. Yul, who glanced at me, slowed his pace just a little.