The name of the half-elf girl was Satsuki Rechmir.
Although there were members of other societies besides humans in the church, the ways and attitudes of revering the gods varied among the races constituting human society, leading to very few instances of mingling.
Elves, beastfolk, and gnomes affiliated with the church often engaged in missionary work within their own societies rather than the central activities. It didn’t seem particularly successful, though.
So Matthew didn’t know much about elven society. He only knew vague things like their sharp hearing and night vision, and he could only speculate that the name Satsuki was given by her human parent.
“No, I don’t think I’ve seen any signs of skipping school…,” he thought.
After hearing the name, Matthew recalled that the class president Aurora mentioned was this girl. He had thought the surname Rechmir was unique; could it be elven?
“Do you happen to know where Miss Hicks lives? Ah, the church takes care of the welfare of human society. If a student misses school, we can’t overlook it.”
It was true they were responsible for welfare, and it was indeed something they couldn’t overlook. However, he didn’t have the right to ask for her address.
“Well, I’m not really sure. Rina isn’t the type to share her story with others. Didn’t you meet with the homeroom teacher in the teacher’s office?”
At Rechmir’s question, Matthew muttered ick to himself.
Should I lie? He wondered but soon decided it wouldn’t work. This girl wasn’t that foolish. If he got caught lying, it would only raise her suspicion even more.
He was just considering giving it a try.
Matthew feigned a droopy posture and said, “Well, it seems they can’t freely share student information with outsiders.”
“That’s right.”
Rechmir’s sharp response was quite impressive, and honestly, it was slightly annoying.
“Actually…”
Matthew trailed off on purpose.
“No, never mind. It’s not something I should tell a student. Still, the information you provided will be helpful. Thanks.”
As he deliberately allowed the conversation to end awkwardly, Rechmir reacted with an “Ah.”
“Do you happen to know if anything is wrong with Rina?”
“No, I’m just guessing, but there’s no need to worry too much. It’s something we’ll handle. It’s also related to the Anderson sisters.”
With that, he casually tossed out a bait.
“Clara? Why, is there some reason behind it—oh.”
It seemed Rechmir recalled Matthew asking about Clara and Rina’s relationship and paused for a moment.
“But Clara just arrived today…”
Matthew shrugged. He didn’t respond.
“But regarding the teacher,”
Rechmir paused again.
“I must emphasize that this is under the church’s jurisdiction.”
Saying this, just as Matthew turned his head slightly downwards,
“Excuse me,”
When Matthew stopped and turned back, he saw various emotions struggling beneath Rechmir’s bland expression.
“If we could accompany you…”
And just like that, she took the bait.
*
Elven hearing is superior to that of humans. The reason Satsuki was ostracized in elven society was that, from their perspective, she was essentially hearing-impaired. It was ridiculous to exclude someone for being disabled, but the reasoning that it was because she couldn’t contribute to society was akin to stepping back in modern society.
Thus, Satsuki didn’t like her ‘elven abilities.’ Sure, they helped her enroll in the Academy, but her somewhat enhanced hearing was more of a nuisance in daily life, especially with people gossiping behind her back.
[Is there any reason for the church to take an interest in Rina?]
[I’m sorry, but I can’t divulge investigation details. ]
Still, she thought it was lucky to hear such a conversation.
Worried about Rina not coming to school, she had come to ask her homeroom teacher for her address. If she hadn’t overheard that before opening the door with her unique hearing, she would have barged into the teacher’s office and the conversation would have been cut off.
As she walked alongside Matthew emerging from the teacher’s office, Satsuki constantly thought.
Finding out the address shouldn’t be difficult. The homeroom teacher would probably willingly give it. Since the teacher knew how close Satsuki, Selena, Jian, and Rina had recently become.
If Rina had shut herself away due to issues related to Clara, sometimes friends’ appeals were better than those of police officers.
Honestly, she thought if it were Rina, it was even more likely she might just run away.
So Satsuki pondered.
Should she go with this person?
There was no concrete evidence, but the fact that a person from the church came out to investigate a female student bothered her immensely. She might genuinely be here about welfare, but…
Was mentioning Clara on purpose? Probably on purpose. It likely aimed to emotionally provoke her.
Through that, she was trying to pry Rina’s home address from her.
The fact that Clara, who belonged to the church, suddenly went off to the battlefield, and that Rina wasn’t coming to school, was undoubtedly connected. And it was no mere emotional issue; it had gone so far that a church member stepped in.
…Honestly, her reasoning was based purely on emotional speculation. But,
“Excuse me, could we accompany you?”
Satsuki felt that if she left this person behind, she would miss something significant.
*
Rina Hicks’s house was located in a very remote area of the 21st District.
It wasn’t too dangerous, given that the 21st District had significantly urbanized, but Rina Hicks’ apartment was aged to a level that anyone could see was undesirable to live in.
A crammed four-person elevator that seemed to barely withstand anyone’s weight, a shaky elevator that swayed heavily with just a slight movement, in an 8-story corridor-style apartment building.
It seemed likely there were many vacancies, and considering it was built decades ago, it was odd it hadn’t become known as a spot of haunting.
Rina Hicks’s home was situated on the topmost floor, in the farthest corner of that 8-story old apartment.
For now, three students, who claimed to be friends, walked ahead through the corridor.
That is to say—Satsuki Rechmir, Selena Lowell, and Lee Ji-An.
Selena Lowell felt strangely familiar because she had heard of her as Elena Lowell’s sister, the deceased in that miraculous video during the funeral.
In other words, she was one of the witnesses of that miracle.
Matthew hadn’t particularly investigated the witnesses, so Miss Lowell wouldn’t recognize him. It had been a considerate decision toward the deceased’s family but ended up being a wise choice.
He had heard she drop-kicked a cardinal who was spouting nonsense during the funeral.
It wasn’t surprising that she was close with Clara.
And there was Ji-An, a male student, being the only boy mentioned during Aurora’s report call. He finally understood why Aurora had sounded slightly trembling while making her report. He was handsome.
Currently, he was accompanied by two female students, having originally led three nuns, including Clara, and Rina Hicks through school.
It was somewhat envy-inducing.
“Oh.”
The first one to arrive and ring the doorbell was Rechmir.
The dilapidated doorbell seemed broken. After some hesitation, Rechmir knocked on the door several times and called out.
“Rina? Are you home?”
Silence.
Rechmir knocked a bit harder and called out in a louder voice.
Again, silence.
Then both Miss Lowell and Ji-An tried but still received no reply.
There were no signs of movement behind the cloudy window beside the door.
The house was so silent it felt like no one was there.
“…Looks like no one’s home.”
At Lowell’s words, everyone fell into silence.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Matthew shouldered his way through their silence and gently turned the doorknob. Naturally, it was locked.
Without hesitation, he dropped to one knee and pulled out a lockpick from his pocket, inserting it into the keyhole.
“Ah! What are you doing right now!”
Lowell scolded him, but Matthew ignored her.
Honestly, he didn’t want to do this. It would have been better for the image to do it later when no one was around. It’d be better not to come in priestly robes.
The problem was time was not on his side.
It was already after school. Neither the police nor the association had moved yet. Something much more serious must have happened. Or maybe they had already visited.
In any case, now while both of them were absent was the opportunity. A chance to look inside without any scrutiny.
“Hey!”
The voice belonged to Ji-An, but just before he could lay a hand on Matthew’s shoulder, the door clicked open with a chink sound.
It felt like a home with pitifully poor security for a girl living alone.
Well, if she were a demon, any thief would be more at risk than the thief itself.
“Oh…”
A sigh came from behind. He had been faster opening a padlock at the neighborhood supermarket in his youth. Well, it wasn’t exactly something to brag about.
Before anyone could stop him, Matthew wordlessly opened the door and stepped inside.
The interior had only the bare minimum of necessities for living. Still, it wasn’t completely empty, Matthew thought as he stepped inside.
He had expected a totally barren look, but there were signs someone had indeed lived there. At least, before entering the living room, the kitchen had undergone some minimal cleaning. For a moment, he even wondered if Rina Hicks was just an ordinary student, not a demon or anything.
Well, hardly anyone had seen the daily life of a demon. Even if demons formed some society, chatted with their neighboring demons, and led happy family lives, the church would likely keep such stories from spreading. If even slightly ‘human’, it would make killing them feel exceedingly uncomfortable.
Someone hesitatingly entered behind him—someone cautious and quiet.
Matthew decided to ignore it. If they were trying to grab her arms, it would be different, but they were friends, after all. There was no harm in worrying.
He opened the nearest door.
It appeared to be Rina Hicks’s room. Even this place bore the barest traces of someone living there.
A bed next to the window. A desk and a bookshelf. Schoolbooks neatly arranged. He had heard her study habits weren’t very good, but perhaps she was genuinely trying to study?
He had no intention of rummaging through the desk drawers. He felt that looking would yield nothing.
Somehow, this felt like a place strongly proclaiming, This is where I live!
Matthew shrugged his shoulders and turned back.
In the kitchen, his classmates had already entered. It was an incredibly cramped space for four people.
Those students, likely raised in relatively affluent households, seemed somewhat shocked.
With a wry smile, Matthew opened the frosted glass sliding door leading into the living room.
And then, his eyes met something else.
No, it wasn’t just eyes. Since it wasn’t even a human face.
It looked more like a pupil floating in thin air. A small sphere with an even tinier and darker sphere floating inside it.
Right, it was more like a dot suspended in mid-air.
As soon as that dot met Matthew’s eyes, it pulsed once, thump.
And in that instant, Matthew instinctively realized what it was.
“Damn it!”
He immediately turned his body, pushing the kids in front of him with all his might—
And everything before his eyes flipped upside down.
*
April 25. Around 300 meters outside Camp Eliza’s main gate.
1718 hours.
Finding magic points wasn’t easy.
People who had heard that beasts and demons would pop out thought the magic points would resemble huge portals, but in reality, they were only about the size of a human fist. Moreover, the more beasts that popped out, the smaller the points became.
As they vanished, they gradually shrank, making it easier to pinpoint their location over time, yet discovering the magic points themselves required massive effort. This was why they would destroy everything around just to find that tiny magical blob.
It was also possible to wait until they vanished, but the size of magic points differed; thus, it was unpredictable when they would disappear. You couldn’t know whether a thousand beasts or just a few would swarm out, so identifying and eliminating them first was advantageous—even if sacrifices had to be made.
Of course, minimizing casualties was always ideal, so they provided maximum protection and support.
“It should be around here.”
Andrea muttered as she shook off the demons’ dark blood that had stuck to her sword. The faint golden sheen began to glimmer once again.
The area was littered with the corpses of headless demons and beasts. It was the work of Andrea and her knights who had been running around slashing everything within reach.
There was definitely a magic point nearby. It wasn’t from a distant location or overflowing from another battlefield. The issue was the dense forest that surrounded them, severely limiting visibility, and,
“From here on, we can’t ride our horses.”
“Yes, we’ll have to go on foot.”
Right, that meant there was no place to mount.
The carefully chosen warhorses were well-trained and could expertly navigate through straying obstacles, but that didn’t mean they could charge into an unexpectedly dense forest.
Plus, in a densely wooded area, you couldn’t swing your sword freely. Sure, there was room for one or two people to walk in, but when fighting crazily, if a sword were to get caught unexpectedly in a tree from an angle you never anticipated, your attack would be hindered.
“From this point, arm ourselves with maces and firearms. Everyone put their holy swords back in their sheaths. Divide into a forward team and support team; the support team will guard the horses. The forward team, which includes me, will scout ahead. Support soldiers, prepare glow sticks.”
It was easy to get lost in the thick woods.
Sure, modern soldiers always carried excellent equipment like GPS or electronic compasses, but when sprinting all out, it was easier to dash towards a visible path than to stop and check something.
Andrea sheathed her sword and hung it on her warhorse’s saddle, while also grabbing a short-range assault rifle and a mace.
“Are we all ready? Good, let’s go.”
There was no need to rush during an advance. She held the butt of her rifle firmly against her shoulder, pressing her body tightly against it. Though it was a bit uncomfortable due to the rigid armor, it was far better than trying to wield something in a tight forest.
The support soldiers placed glow sticks on trees at regular intervals to keep track, and with Andrea leading, three knights followed closely behind.
With one more soldier between the support team and the head of the knights, they maintained a shape resembling an arrowhead, continuing onward.
As they advanced, they began to hear rustling sounds.
It was not their own muffled footsteps but the sounds of beasts crawling about.
Four legs, or maybe even more.
It felt as if something was lurking far away, watching their every move.
As they ventured deeper, the pace of the forward team slowed.
It wasn’t because the wooden area was thicker; rather, they were consciously slowing down. They had witnessed their reconnaissance teams disappearing without a trace after rushing recklessly into the forest.
The sound of their own breathing echoed inside their helmets, and amidst it, something seemed to shift with each cautious step they took.
Even in such a forest, one might expect to hear even the chatter of birds, but no sounds of small animals could be heard.
Then—
“Multiple beasts confirmed, at 3 o’clock.”
“1 o’clock.”
“Numerous ones straight ahead.”
As they saw too many beasts to hide from, the forward team came to a halt.
“What should we do? Should we advance?”
They fixed their gaze at 3 o’clock and posed the question.
“Wait a moment.”
In the distance, something could be seen. It was unnaturally bright amidst the shadows, a light that couldn’t be present in the dense forest.
“Aha.”
That unnatural light seemed like a part of the forest had been clear-cut.
If there had been aerial reconnaissance, they would have identified it quickly.
Andrea sighed internally.
“We’re backing out.”
At Andrea’s words, the knights stepped back.
And just as the beasts lurking in the distance twitched their bodies—
“Run!”
Andrea shouted, abruptly turning back. The other knights immediately followed suit and began to sprint with all their might.
Eeeek! Kweeeeek! If someone heard this in a movie, they might only find it comical—an absurdly loud shriek reverberated, as if the entire forest was vibrating.
So they were hiding so many, after all.
Andrea frowned. Perhaps the beasts fleeing outside could have merely been pushed into this very place.
“Get the horses ready! We’re escaping at full speed!”
[Understood!]
As she shouted into the radio attached to her shoulder, a crisp answer immediately returned.
Andrea drew a strange black-and-long object from her belt, which looked like a blade without an edge, and pointed it towards the distant area. Pressing a button, a green laser crossed through that far-off place. She confirmed that it pointed towards the spot from which the light emanated, and shouted ahead,
“I’ve sent the coordinates! Request artillery support!”
“Yes!”
Now a support soldier running ahead of the line shouted something urgently into the radio attached to his shoulder.
Good.
Now Andrea pulled up her firearm, adopting a firing stance.
The beasts on four legs charged toward the support soldier requesting artillery support. She aimed and pulled the trigger. Bang! Bang! Bang! Firing quickly in bursts, her rifle bullets pierced through the beasts’ heads, frying their brains.
The knights leaped over the beasts that fell to the ground, running forward.
Every time she fired, the recoil sent the buttstock forcefully into her armored shoulder. It was a very jarring sound. Plus, her shoulder hurt from slamming against something hard.
There was a reason Andrea preferred swords over guns.
Holding in a sigh, she decided to focus on surviving.
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