How many times have I felt someone’s breath this close? That thought suddenly crossed my mind.
While working as a Sherpa in the Forest of the Demon Realm, I had unintended contact with customers, but this was the first time someone came up so openly.
As I watched the girl slowly approaching with trembling lips, like a mouse in front of a cat, it felt somewhat dreamy, as if I were in a dream.
Waaah!
Whether it was good luck or bad, a sudden alarm blared.
It was the distinct sound that rang when someone stepped on a magical trap.
As I expelled my rough breath, my hazy mind began to clear, and Rin’s blurry gaze returned to focus.
“Stop!”
I quickly twisted my body, knocking Rin over to the side before I hurriedly rose and grasped my sword.
Rin stared at me in shock, utterly bewildered, and while I was certain I had to strike her down right then, I drew my sword.
“Catch that girl!”
“Thief! Thief!”
“Block the entrance!”
Seeing not just guards but also professors and even the Dean rushing out, I sensed something was off.
I quickly turned my head and saw Ares and Hayun already being interrogated by the guards under the tree.
“……”
Slowly rising, Rin glanced at me and started looking around. The academy, bathed only in starlight and moonlight, was now filled with adults running around holding lanterns.
“A thief has broken in?”
One of the guards had definitely said that earlier.
However, watching everyone move about in confusion felt a bit odd.
They weren’t pursuing or surrounding anyone, just a chaotic atmosphere.
“She’s over there! By the library!”
“What are you talking about? I’m chasing her, she’s going past the pond!”
“Heading for the main gate! Running towards the main gate!”
As I saw the guards chasing someone, it made me wonder if there were multiple thieves. Some professors started casting spells, and I heard reports of thieves collapsing.
‘But is there really anything to steal around here?’
This area was hardly visited by people at the academy. If I had to point out something, it’d be the tree near the confession spot where Hayun and Ares had just been?
Then, a female student came running towards us.
“Rin! It’s chaos right now! We need to run!”
“Uh, okay!”
I definitely recognized her as the female student who always hung out with Rin. I didn’t know her name exactly, but she gestured urgently, and Rin tried to follow.
Bam!
Hayun swung a sheath around, smashing it into the student’s abdomen, sweeping her legs and aiming a sword at her neck.
“D-Daniel? What’s going on!”
Whether she’d regained her senses or was just pretending, Rin, who was usually calm, was startled and tried to stop me, but I shook my head.
“How are you here?”
While outside they were creating a ruckus trying to catch thieves, suddenly this female student appeared?
It felt too suspicious.
Yet the female student frowned and replied.
“I saw you leave! I saw you hanging out with Hayun at the café! I saw you going out tonight through the window and told Rin about it!”
Glancing at Rin, she nodded.
“Y-Yeah. Hare told me and I followed her…”
Rin, usually so sure, seemed hesitant, but she was clear on this memory.
“I’ll explain what happened a moment ago! So first…”
“No.”
Rin seemed to think the expression on my face was because of her, desperately pleading with me, but that wasn’t the reason.
“Using a theft as a way to leverage your friend?”
Looking down at Hare, I spoke, and she exclaimed in protest.
“What nonsense! I know Rin likes you, so I said that to help her and just followed along for safety!”
Her veins bulged, showing exactly how unfairly she felt, but my mood turned frigid.
“There’s a magical beast called Cockatrice in the Forest of the Demon Realm.”
Suddenly, Rin looked at me like I was crazy, but Hare’s expression stiffened and her eyes widened.
“That thing doesn’t kill; it prefers to deceive, making it difficult to hunt. If even slightly in danger, it will just run away.”
“……”
“It possesses mysterious abilities without handling mana. I personally call it witchcraft.”
It was a truly unique creature, and most tales and legends about the Forest of the Demon Realm were rooted in it.
If it lured new travelers in the forest to keep them wandering in circles, it would be just a cute prank.
A party that ran into it might see people who look identical to themselves, or suddenly find their hands stuck to their legs, or nearby plants sprouting teeth and starting to munch on humans.
They don’t want death, but the outcome of their pranks mostly ends in death—how frustrating.
“Do you know the easiest way to tell when it’s using its trickery?”
A grin involuntarily crossed my lips. I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of disbelief.
“Check the color of the moon. If you fall for its trickery, your vision will be shared, and you will see the colors it sees.”
Immediately, Rin jerked her head up, terrified, and her lips began to tremble.
“G-Green?”
The moon that had been shining brightly now glowed with a moldy green hue.
“Since the moment you arrived, the moon has been green. I don’t know how you used Cockatrice’s witchcraft, but it was too suspicious.”
It was pitiful to see guards and professors who were completely oblivious, distracted chasing thieves, not even thinking about the moon.
Well, even if they did look at the moon, they wouldn’t recognize if they had fallen into Cockatrice’s witchcraft.
The thieves running away now were just basic tricks it used to escape.
Hic! Hic!
Hare admitted it, muttering, and nodded.
“Hic! I didn’t expect you to know about Cockatrice. How do you know that? There can’t be many people on the continent who know of it.”
It was such a unique creature that it never wanted to reveal itself, and thus very few knew of its existence, so no one sought hunting requests for it.
‘If anything, I’m more curious.’
How on earth did this female student know about Cockatrice, but suddenly her body vanished like a mirage.
“Then I guess you know this too? If you fall for Cockatrice’s antics, you can never escape!”
Hare’s voice rang out.
Outside, the guards and professors were stumped, stopping in their tracks and looking around.
“I thought I would act somewhat leniently because of Rin, but this won’t do. I’ll have to induce a little trauma for you.”
Suddenly, the trees in the academy began to change shape. They split in half, and tongues and teeth started poking out.
The crucial part was that this wasn’t something I alone could see; the other guards, professors, and Rin were all witnessing it too.
If they couldn’t focus just on me, they probably weren’t adept at handling Cockatrice’s abilities.
From the woods evolving into a magical beast, leaves dropped and morphed into sharp fangs, flying directly at me.
“Stop!”
Shoof!
I didn’t plan to evade, so I stood still as Rin darted in and shielded me.
Caught off guard by this unexpected move, I was momentarily stunned as she gripped her bleeding shoulder with a piercing wound and shouted into the air.
“Hare! What are you doing! Why suddenly!?”
But she didn’t respond to her friend and continued firing fangs, while Rin stepped in front of me and cast a protective spell.
“It’s okay! Daniel doesn’t have to worry. I’ll protect you!”
The protective spell was surprisingly intricate and dense, and it was quite solid. I knew she had magical talent, but achieving this level at the age of 18 was no small achievement.
But sadly,
“Huh?”
The fangs disregarded the existence of the protective spell and flew at me.
Crack! Crack!
Fangs were piercing through once more.
Rin had thrown herself into the path of dozens of fangs, her hand mangled and dangling.
“……”
I silently watched her.
Bleeding profusely, limping, Rin continued to take in the fangs meant for me, and with her last remaining hand, she stroked my cheek.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
What could she be apologizing for?
“I’m sorry for not considering your feelings. I’m really sorry I couldn’t support you when you were struggling. And… I’m sorry for wanting to kiss you.”
“……”
“Can I make just one request as a childhood friend?”
As her breath became labored, the fangs halted mid-flight. The tree beasts charged at the professors instead of us.
“Go ahead.”
I answered flatly, and Rin smiled faintly.
“I hope you don’t dislike me…”
“……”
Catching Rin as she slowly collapsed, I laid her gently on the ground.
“I’ve got so much I wanted to say…”
Watching her teeter on the edge of death, I slowly rose, drawing my sword.
What would Hare be thinking witnessing her friend die? No wait, did she even think of her as a friend?
“Did you know?”
I asked her.
“Why do we see the green moon when we fall for Cockatrice’s witchcraft?”
The only replies were the rustling of the wind and the sounds of professors battling.
“It’s because its senses are shared with us. So what it sees, we see, and what it feels, we feel.”
Isn’t it fascinating?
“Actually, it’s not that special at all. What’s important is that it has…”
Pausing for a moment, I channeled my rising frustration into words.
“…an incredibly extreme mental illness.”
To the point of hallucinations, hearing voices, feeling phantom pains.
“In other words, everything we see is what Cockatrice experiences, sees, and feels.”
In reality, Cockatrice is just a typical magical beast.
Simply a psychopath capable of sharing its senses with others.
“So, in fact, when feeling phantom pain, the actual pain has some variance. It has never properly been cut, nor has it ever been stabbed.”
That was the crucial part where I realized its weakness.
“You claimed to be invincible, but there’s a very simple way to catch Cockatrice.”
Fwooosh!
Hayun’s sword stabbed into my thigh. An intense pain surged violently through my waist up to my head.
“Ughhhhhh!”
Hare’s scream rang out harshly.
“I mentioned that senses are shared.”
I pulled the sword out and stabbed again into her abdomen.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
“Cockatrice would cry and run away after just one stab.”
I chuckled as I asked the creature.
“How long do you think you can hold out?”
*
If I had to say, I wouldn’t go to the extent of self-harm again. Hare couldn’t take the pain and passed out.
The moon regained its original color, and the guards and professors hurling spells and swords into the air didn’t seem to have a clear understanding of the situation.
I mentioned I’d give a quick explanation to the Dean tomorrow and we were now heading back to the dorm.
Rin, who had just been bleeding and half-dead, was marveling at her body feeling fine, while Ares and Hayun, who got swept up in the chaos, looked terrified.
By the way, I received a recovery spell and was completely healed.
Thanks to that, I was able to stab myself so carelessly.
In front of the dorm, Rin asked the two of us, who wore grim expressions.
“Is there a spell that lets you sleep deeply without any thoughts? There are no side effects.”
“……Please do.”
“Me too.”
I heard she experienced being eaten by plants and torn to shreds, yet she was holding her mental state together remarkably.
“Should I cast it for you too, Daniel?”
“……Yeah.”
Worried that I might not be able to sleep properly due to the excitement of the battle, I asked Rin, who smiled gently and reached her hand out to cast the spell onto me, immediately casting it on herself as well.
“You should be able to sleep soundly once you hit the bed. This is magic I use often, so I guarantee its effect.”
Rin said while patting her chest. It must be shocking that her best friend used her and betrayed her, yet she kept smiling steadfastly, as if to say not to worry.
We entered our respective rooms, and as I took off my clothes, I fell into thought.
I hadn’t heard or cared about what Hare stole or why she stole it.
What was more important was,
‘No matter how close to death it got, nothing had changed.’
The reason I let Rin believe she was dying until the end was simple.
I wondered if she would transform into the master of the army when pushed to her limit, but that wasn’t the case.
‘That hypothesis isn’t quite right.’
Instead, she was smiling at me even as she faced death, having let go of everything in despair.
Sleep was beginning to creep in.
I had many thoughts, but Rin’s magic had worked better than expected—too well, in fact.
Before I knew it, I closed my eyes without even washing up.
*
Bang! Bang!
As I woke up to a sudden commotion, sunlight streamed in through the window. Feeling revitalized, I noted how effective Rin’s magic was, but there was no time for leisure.
Knights in armor busted down my door and surged in.
In a daze, before I could say anything, the knights roughly led me away.
I considered twisting my body to escape, but first, it was better to assess the situation.
‘What’s going on?’
This didn’t feel like they were merely taking a witness from last night’s incidents.
Not just me, but Ares from the same floor was being taken as well. When we reached the first floor, Rin and Hayun were also there.
A strong-looking woman with glasses made us kneel before her, crossing her arms and declaring.
“You are hereby arrested on charges of stealing King’s treasures from Aios Academy last night. The subsequent procedures will…”
“What?!”
Ares shouted at the woman with a look of disbelief.
“We’re the victims! The culprit is…!”
As Ares grew angrier, he gradually fell silent.
“The culprit is…”
Wondering why this was happening, I took the conversation.
“I believe there’s been a misunderstanding, but the culprit was caught yesterday.”
Yeah, it wasn’t us.
“The culprit is…”
I struggled to continue, slowly turning my head. There, Hayun and Rin had gone pale, feeling the same chilling fear I was.
The culprit is,
Who was it?
