PMZ 104 – ★Let’s all go home safely.

The content of the request was too familiar to me.

And around the capital city.

“Duke, Do you know anything about this?”

“Only a little. I’ve heard rumors about it, and I don’t know anything about it yet.  The report says it’s looking pretty much like normal monsters, but it’s darker and stronger.

And When you defeat one of these black monsters, it will show up as “unregistered” in the guild’s records. In other words, they’re a new species.”

Just like the ones in the desert.

“There are one or two new species every now and then, but they are not sporadic like this. I’m talking about the ones that appear around here that are mutating all over the place. …Yes, rather than new species, I think it’s a mutation of the existing monster. The adventurer guild also agrees with me.”

Pete, too? Though I know, it’s been one of his concerns.

“…has there been any news about a meteor falling in this area recently?”

“No, there were no reports of meteor falling recently, at least to the extent of guild leader’s knowledge.”

 “Which also means it could be anywhere. I understand. I’m on my way.”

When I was about to leave, Alice rushed to my side.

“Can I go with you?”

“No…, not this time. It’s already night, and considering the reason why the guild leader went to the trouble of asking specifically for Hayato, it means that this matter is too much for Alice to handle. That’s why I called Alice here, to make sure she understood. Wouldn’t you hate it if you ended up dragging Hayato down?”

“…I understand. Then, Hayato, please wait for a moment.”

Alice rushed over to me, removed the chain from her neck, and put the mithril silver tag that she was wearing back on my neck.

“You don’t have to give this back.”

“But it’s an investigation, right? It’s better to have as much information as possible. The tag may not tell you anything, it’s more useful than just sitting here with me.”

Oh, that’s the one thing you absolutely should never take off.

…But she is right, and I don’t blame her.

“…Okay. I’ll be back as soon as I’m done. Put it on again when I’m done.”

“Of course. And please use this too.”

Alice then took off the ear cuffs with communication function from her ears and put them in her hands.

“Are you sure? This is borrowed, right?”

“It’s fine. Luke said I don’t have to return it because he doesn’t have any special feelings for it and doesn’t use it at all.” {tln}

I see. Honestly, I’m grateful for this, I feel bad for Luke, but I’m going to borrow this for a while longer.

We kissed each other on the cheek and said our goodbyes.

Behind Alice, the duke seemed to have aged another five years. Why, though? this is normal, right?

I tucked the tag with Alice’s body heat inside my clothes as I walked out of the study into the hallway.

“Take care, goodluck.” {itterasshai}

“I’m off.” {ittekimas}

Alice’s figure disappeared behind the closing door as she saw me off.

First, I must talk to Pete. I hurriedly headed for the Royal Capital Guild. It’s been a long time since I’ve bathed in this rugged, rowdy atmosphere.

As usual, there were many people gathered here even though it was almost closed. But It’s feels strange I don’t see any drunk people tonight. Everyone’s expression is stiff.

“Hey, Hayato. You finally come, sit here.  n? Are you alone today?”

“Yes. Alice is waiting for me at home.”

“Uh, yeah, I think it’s better that way, though it seems that the B-rank can handle the new species, but it’s still dangerous.”

“the thing is that strong?

I’ve heard that a mere E-rank goblin that turned black can give D rankers a hard time. It’s not just goblins. All of the monsters that had been blackened had their ranks raised by about one or two ranks.

“No way… It’s a big problem, isn’t it? When did it start appearing?”

“Last night, I guess. At first, I thought it was just a new species, but not anymore since then; all the ones that appear seem to be blackened…say, isn’t this sound  familiar?”

From last night. I knew there was something wrong with me then.

“Yeah. The meteorite case, right? I remembered that too.”

“Exactly, the pattern was the same. It’s not good…also, none of the high-ranking people who have gone missing at that time have been found yet. If that same thing was appeared around here, it’s going to be big trouble. Fortunately, no one seems to have been eaten yet.”

“I’m not sure what you mean by [eaten]… Monsters don’t eat people. They’ll try to kill you, though.”

“Normally, That’s true. But… that thing wasn’t a normal monster. I only conclude this from your report, but from what I read, it is trying to talk and left a stone behind after you killed it, even though it wasn’t a drop. That means it had substance. I’ve never seen anything like it before. It’s not surprising if they eat people.

…Oh yeah, about the stone from that time, the one you gave to the research institute. It was a lump of black crystal. But the magic power it contains is different from ordinary black crystal, and it seems to be able to repel all of the researcher’s magic.”

“Repel…”

I remember this talk; it’s about magic tool.

Chris’s joke about a magic tool that can contain a person’s entire being came to my mind.

What? Could the black crystal be what is left of a human being?

It seems to have too much dark attribute to be human.

Or rather, if that was the case, there was no way Alice and the others from Stuart’s family would do such a thing.

 –Who, then?

In the first place, how can a thing that falls from the sky be called a human being?

“…Hey, Hayato. Are you okay?”

“eh? What?”

“Nothing…, I must have imagined it. Anyway, we need to get this under control as soon as possible.

In the meantime, I’ve marked the points on this map where new species have appeared. any thoughts on where Black Crystal…, no – Morion might be?”

“Morion?”

“That’s what the researchers decided to call it. In other words, the main black crystal. I don’t know if this was the same thing or not, but I thought it would be easier to have a tentative name for it.”

“Oh, well, looking at this pattern on the map, Morion is definitely in the city.”

“Yeah, we are on the same opinion on this one.”

Yes, the new species appearance points on the map are spread out in an almost doughnut shape, encircling the four sides of the Capital city.

The monster that caused the spot to be created would normally be in the center of this circle, but it’s pivot is almost right in the center of the royal capital.

This is not the place for that anomaly to be; it’s a freak of nature that can change the magic environment over such a wide area.

“It’s not a meteorite then… It’s impossible for a meteorite to fall here, and no one would notice.”

“Well, yeah. But that would make things worse. Morion is much stronger than a dragon when it comes to its ability to influencing monsters.”

“Yes…”

The influence is so strong that it can mutate the entire monsters around the royal capital. If that’s the case, it’s certainly more than a dragon. In the first place, it’s not normal to transform another monster no matter how strong it is.

However, the Morion itself was not that aggressive… The monsters that were affected by him were much more violent.

“If this kind of thing starts appearing randomly, it’s going to be a real crisis for humanity. I’d feel more comfortable if it was a meteorite that fell from the sky.”

“…there are no monsters inside the donut hole on this map, right?”

“Yeah. Not yet, at least. But we never know when the balance will tip.”

” Have you contacted the knight Order?”

“I have. They’re starting to move over there, but if they see anything strange, I told them to stay away and call us.”

“I see. In other words, they will contact me?”

Knights and adventurers don’t get along very well. The other side is full of noblemen, and the other side is full of upstarts with bad manners. We had a hard time working with each other because our pride sometimes got in the way.

Besides, it’s their job to maintain security in the city, so it’s hard for them to cooperate in a case like this. –I wonder if they’ll be okay.

“Most possibly. The reaction was not bad when I said you would handle it. It’s a blessing to have you on the side of the nobility, after all. It’s much easier to talk to the upper class than it has been in the past.”

I glad then.

Even if I don’t get to hunt as much now that I’ve received my title, I’ll always be on this side of the fence. No matter how grateful I am to the duke, I can’t erase this feeling.

I hope that I can be a mediator between them, with Alice on the other side.

“I understand. I’ll try to look for them around the aristocratic district.”

As I stood up, the door of the guild opened loudly. I turn my head to see what happened, and I saw a woman with messy hair standing there, breathing heavily.

She looked around inside and then shouted in a voice that sounded like she was about to cry.

“Somebody! Have you seen our child anywhere!”

There was tension in the guild.

I went over to the trembling woman and asked about her child.

“How old is our child? How long have they been gone?”

“He’s a boy who just turned ten. Just the other day, on his birthday, he registered with the guild and …seemed to have gone to the outskirts of the city several times to get herbs, so I thought he would be doing that again today. But he didn’t come back tonight, so I decided to go look for him, and I heard a rumor that the monsters were getting stronger, so…”

“The boy’s name?”

“Ma-Mark. He has brown hair.”

Then the people around me started talking.

“Mark from N-ranked. That little guy?”

“I saw him during the day, walking down 33rd Street toward the suburbs.”

“Towards 33rd Street? That’s the west part.”

“Pete, I’m going to go look for Mark first. If you find Morion, call me using this.”

“What’s this? Ear cuffs?”

“It’s a communication magic tool. Alice made it for me.”

“Really? Do I wear it like this in my ear? It’s a lot easier to use than the old one.”

“Yes. It originally belonged to Alice’s brother, so don’t get it dirty.”

Then Pete hurriedly removed it from his ear and wiped his ear with a handkerchief. Somehow, I thought I would buy Luke a new pair of ear cuffs before returning them to him.

“I’m off then.”

I opened the door and walked out.

It would take too long to get there on foot. Let’s go across using the darkness of the night.

“Oh, hey, Hayato! Hey, wait a minute! Recruit some other guys who can go…”

I heard Pete’s voice from behind me, but I was already in the shadow world by that time. It’s a separated world where time has stopped, and I got cut off from the normal world.

For now, it would be better for me to go alone as soon as possible. So I decided not to go back to the surface but to look for Mark.

This world is the same as the one on the ‘front side’, but it’s a black and white world with no color, the light and shadow reversed. The light was black, and the shadows were white.

Everything is like a mirror image of the real world.

Trees, houses, and people exist, but they slip away when you try to touch them. Everything is an illusion.

And I think it’s because this is a world under my control, then that move is not me, but the landscape.

When I think, “I want to go there,” the world moves in an instant and comes to me from the other side. Time and space are distorted in such a way that I can travel far without moving a single step.

The scenery flew by like the wind, and in the blink of an eye, I have moved past 33rd Street and out in the western outskirt part of the Capital city.

At first, I could only move within the range of my eyesight, but as time went on, the range of the area expanded, and now I could recreate not only the area outside of my field of vision but also the outside of the country where I had been.

Not only that, at night, I can enter this world without using shadows. As you would expect, when it comes to these things, you have to consider a little bit of what people would think when they see you. Just like Alice said, people will get creeped out if you suddenly appear and disappear. It’s scary; moreover, it’s a bad habit.

“… Huh?”

What is that?

I felt uncomfortable.

The shadow world that I was in control of was expanding all at once.

I can feel that beyond the places I’ve been to, even unfamiliar places with which I have no connection, have been recreated in this shadow world.

I could go anywhere in the world right now.

–There’s something creepy about this. It’s as if this magic has left my control and started to run wild.

Even though it feels creepy, I tried to look around the hill, trying to find Mark.

The mother had told me that Mark had been there several times to get herbs. So it was unlikely that he had lost his way and was going in the wrong direction.

There is a hill in the western outskirt where medicinal herbs are often found, so he might be around there.

I moved the view around to get a better view of where to look for him and decided to head there.

There is only black and white… It’s hard to tell without color.

The time is not progressing, so there is no need to rush, but I still want to find him as soon as possible.

I went around the hill, but I couldn’t find any people, so I expanded my search to the nearby meadow and woods.

Then I found it.

I found a party in the woods fighting a tree monster, Trent, and when I looked around, I found a child hiding in a tree cave. They seemed to be safe.

The people at that party must have found him. That’s good.

Treant is normally a C-rank monster, but if what Pete said is true, it could be an A-rank now.

I have to help them.

I clutched my sword in my hand, ready to return to the surface world and fight the battle at once.

At that moment, my legs moved on their own.

No, it wasn’t just my legs. My body was leaving me behind, trying to get out of this world first.

I couldn’t figure out what had happened, and I just watched in amazement as my back moved away from me, step by step.

 –he had black hair.

I instinctively felt that I was in trouble and reached out to regain my body. Then, the guy in front of me, with black hair like mine, slowly turned around and smiled at me — squinting his bright red eyes.

I was horrified.

The next thing I knew, I was back in the colored world, holding my sword and laughing.

I don’t understand.

The party that had been fighting Trent turned their faces toward me, surprised by my sudden appearance.

I understand how you feel.

But it’s dangerous. You have to watch your enemy.

“I’m here to help!”

Oh, thank goodness. I’m back to normal.

I was relieved to see my body moving as I wanted it to and prepared myself to face Trent.

“Oh, You are…!? You’re Hayato, the Chameleon, aren’t you! I thought you were some kind of new monster!”

WHY?

But at this moment, I felt that the strange events that had occurred in rapid succession and the various feelings of discomfort that had swelled to the point of being impossible to ignore had been brought together by the words “new monster” directed at me.

Suddenly, the holy attribute became harder to use, and conversely, the dark attribute became more powerful.

I had strange thoughts, monsters mutated around the royal capital, and my consciousness and body seemed to have separated.

Is this the work of the red-eyes man who tried to leave me on the shadow world earlier?

Isn’t it possible that the Morion phenomenon in Capital city is because that guy is inside me?

Remember, what the thing tried to do before he was defeated by me? He tried to take over, didn’t he?

I thought I destroyed him back then, but what if I didn’t, and he was inside me?

If that’s the case, then it wasn’t a dream that I tried to strangle Alice last night…?

Don’t joke around, I’m not going to let that happen! 

However, as if to confirm my fears, the black Trent didn’t pay any mind to me and attacked only the people in the party.

It’s as if they don’t even recognize me as human.

That’s not true. I can’t let that happen.

To provoke the dark Treant, I put a holy ward on my sword. It took me a while, but I managed to build the wards and cut off the branches that were growing and attacking them. It felt unusually hard.

That’s when the Dark Trent finally turned its attention to me and started to grow a sharp stake on its body.

“A-amazing, that monster didn’t get a scratch no matter how hard we strike it. Hayato is here! We’ll be saved!”

“Thank God! I thought I was going to die here!”

They seemed to be struggling a lot. They were all covered in wounds and quite exhausted. It reminded me of the adventurers I had met in the desert, and for some reason, I felt an irresistible pain in my heart.

“Let’s all go home safely.”

As I said this, countless stabs were released from the Dark Trent.

AN Note:

The more fantasy I add, the more I wonder if I’m conveying the situation properly…

It’s not hard to understand, isn’t it?

TL Note:

{not mistranslate, I don’t remember when this was Luke’s, probably some deleted lines from the revised chapter }