Chapter 9 – What others see

--A certain angry and unwilling scout---

“Sh*t! F*ck! Go to hell! I’m on vacation! Why would I just listen to you and go check something that can get my a** killed, huh?”

“Oh, come on Lugh. It’s not like we have much of a choice. You are the closest.”

“Just transport someone there, then!”

“We could but we can’t!”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It’s the second time it has happened. We suspect an artifact. If this artifact really has the power to make mana fluctuate so unexpectedly, then transportation would be suicide for as long as we don’t know how and when it will activate, or if it’s actually in someone’s hands.”

“And, what if I die?”

“You won’t.”

“Pray so or I’ll haunt you.”

I felt the connection cut, and I stood up from the chair I was sitting.

I didn’t know who to be angry at. Well, of course, I was angry at the higher ups, but I was angrier to whoever had decided to create trouble close to where I was.

With no choice left but to follow orders, I headed towards the problem place.

I remember that only some days ago there was an investigation in this area. What the hell is happening, I don’t know. But even I have felt some chills relating to mana once or twice. I have even seen some people getting hysteric about who knows what these past days. It’s become annoying enough to get scary.

Being a few days away from my destination, I hurried my steps as I was heading toward a stable to rent a horse. The sooner I finished this job, the better, that’s what I felt.

I chose the first horse to enter my eyes and, not thinking much, I just headed towards my destination.

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--Passerby demon---

I freaked out.

One of the things demons are best at is the magic perception.

I just happened to pass by the neighborhood and this happened?

At first it was an unusual slow flow heading towards a certain direction a bit more east from where I am. It was suspicious, but slow and small enough to not make a big difference. And yet, just before morning came, everything just seemed to explode. If we demons like to compare the mana flow inside our bodies with the flow of blood in the veins, then those veins just burst open.

I’m pretty sure I lost my reason for a moment there and got scared shitless. Most of the humans around just fainted. The remaining ones, were mostly people who could pull off a magic spell of the lower grade or two if they learned it, meaning they had some resistance, but there were also one or two people like myself with good perception who had also been scared a lot.

…

Of course, I freaked out. It was reasonable that I would, especially when they told me to go investigate.

Oh, my poor life.

And here I was just passing by.

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--The previously mentioned angry scout---

Just two days later, I was already nearing the said-place. The horse was good and I traveled fast. I saw some other people along the road, some looked friendly, some others just had bad vibes.

I was cursing at a bunch of people for sending me here.

If they suspected an artifact, shouldn’t they have sent someone stronger to take care of possible enemies? I’ve been getting depressed thinking that there’s someone there who just wants me dead, thus the reason I’m here now.

As I approached the destination, the mana density had, at one time or another, turned back to how it was supposed to be. I was actually feeling just a bit relieved about this.

But World knows, that if I wasn’t scared until then, I most certainly became terrified the moment I reached the scene.

…

The village had become a place of massacre. I looked at the destruction before me, only half believing what the hell it was that I was seeing.

The bloody bits of the once human; the black and red blood flowers that had bloomed; the eerie silence around, even though there was a bunch of other investigators around.

Terrified, would it be a good word to describe what I was feeling?

It wasn’t that in my line of work I hadn’t seen bloody scenes, but what I saw this time combined with the uneasy feeling I had been having all along and the unbearable stench of death, it was all suffocating me a bit.

Anyway, I still continued with my investigation.

…

And once again I was left flabbergasted.

There was something about such a thing in the last time’s report. Something about a cut… but this was too ridiculous.

I looked at the ground. A very gigantic cut reached up to my feet, and I somehow become astonished at the length and deepness. As I followed that gigantic split to the other end, I felt another unbearable stench attack my nose. I raised my head while frowning to see where it came from.

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--A certain kingdom’s investigator---

…

A black lump, a black disgusting mass of… something…

I looked at the thing carefully.

It seemed to be like a big wolf or maybe dog, or at least that’s what it should have been.

The thing, which was cut cleanly in half, was now but an empty shell. Where its eyes should have been, now were only two empty sockets. The body exuded bits and pieces of skin and hardened mana.

Corrupted?

I was beginning to doubt many things as I looked at the thing: the whole scenario; the suspected artifact; and if whether or not had we had gained ourselves an enemy, because whoever it was that had killed the corrupted, had left it no chance to retaliate, and had one-sidedly ended everything.

Thinking up to here, I shuddered. Those things that brought destruction everywhere they went were actually killed so easily.

I became scared at the possibilities.

…

I saw other scouts and investigators approach. Some looked to be only temporary measures, as they clearly had no idea what was happening around. Others saw the corrupted and, like me, shuddered, but recovered fast enough and started thinking about possibilities and conclusions.

It was one tiring day.

My head hurt just thinking about it.

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The small village was getting more and more visitors.

The bloody but silent scene was enough to stop anyone from approaching. The scene, however, left many people scared or frowning.

Just a short time ago, this village had been a warm place and home, a living space, yet it had become so…

In the future, it would be known as the starting point of a legend.

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Hello readers. Sorry for being late, but during this month I’ve been drowning in exams.

It’s not like I couldn’t spare a few hours to write something, but whenever I tried to, I felt brain-dead.

Anyway, this chapter came out a bit short. The characters, whose POVs appeared here, may or may not become important later. God knows what I’ll write.

Oh well, thanks for reading.

I’ll post another chapter a little bit later today.