163 Part 2

We went out of the gate and found familiar faces among a desolate background. I was relieved to see that everyone was all right. Soyoung Kang was still unconscious in Riette’s arms, and Velare was on her owner’s shoulder.

“Seokwon Choi is dead.”

Everyone looked at me in surprise, and it was only natural when I had disappeared with a monster that nearly killed everyone and returned to report its death.

“Of course, I didn’t kill it, and while I cannot be specific, I had borrowed someone’s skills.”

Noah and Taewon Song looked relieved, and while the latter seemed suspicious, he seemed to believe me after seeing Yoohyun and me coming out of the dungeon. On the other hand, Riette seemed sorry and then suddenly spoke to me.

“Darling, be kind to your brother.”

Why in the world is she saying that?

“You should act better to Noah.”

“You don’t know because you weren’t-”

“Hunter Riette.”

Yoohyun stepped forward and stopped her in mid-sentence.

“Don’t say such nonsense.”

“I’m taking your side, you know.”

Why is she taking my brother’s side? I did not know, but it was better than her being on another side. Did she find him interesting? I wanted to say something, as she really would be a bad influence.

“I also think that Mr. Yoojin…”

Noah mumbled but quieted down when Yoohyun glared at him, and even Taewon Song was staring at him. What did he do…?

“Don’t pay attention to them.

They’re overreacting because they don’t know us.”

I had been surprised to see Yoohyun cry in a long time, but Riette and Taewon Song were acting too strangely for my taste.

“I’m tired.”

“Oh?”

“I want to go home.”

“Then let’s. Chief Song, please have these.”

I gave him the other memory marbles.

“They are memories of those who had been involved in the fog and will be automatically absorbed by its owner. I think yours is included there, and Mr. Noah, you should check also.”

They took their memories back, and they had been quite trivial. I left Taewon Song to take care of the mess, and since this had been quite an incident, I thought he would try to make us stay at once. However, he only nodded and told Yoohyun, who was an important witness, to come by tomorrow.

I took Velare back and came back to the breeding facilities with Noah’s help, and I welcomed it. I almost fell asleep in the shower, and we both immediately passed out when we got to bed.

***

“He was useless to the end.”

Luga Peya’s disappointed voice rang the foggy bath, and he rubbed his chin with a long and soft tentacle. It had not been difficult to persuade that S class human to give himself over, but Luga Peya had not thought that there would be some being that could defeat one of his race.

“I thought he would ask for help, but he slipped away.”

He had tied down that man with the traces of the Crescent Moon since he was certain that the man had been chosen by the depraved in this life. So, he thought that they would not be able to intervene if the man could not move.

“Is the caretaker their choice? Why?”

Peya tilted his fifth tentacle. While caretakers were rare, there had been a number of them over time and worlds. The depraved had never paid much attention to the caretakers all these times.

Actually, they had thought caretakers an obstacle, as useful S classes tend to act strangely due to them. It had been common to murder caretakers before managing the world before.

While the S classes had been unnaturally sad, they had returned to their original state after a while. Even if caretakers had raised them, they were radically different, and affection was limited between them.

Therefore, Luga Peya thought this time would be the same. While the caretaker having Diarma’s skill was unexpected, it was presumed that Hyunjae Sung had given it to him.

Hyunjae Sung was taking care of the caretaker with the magic stone, but he had taken an SSS class of the sea race to the dungeon and finished him off. While Luga Peya could not know what had happened inside, the depraved must have intervened.

So, the depraved had chosen the caretaker in this world.

“It’s not quite right.”

It was interesting, and Peya called his teatime friend by pretending to call someone on an object that looked like a smartphone.

“Hey, Chatterbox.”

[What’s up? King.]

“I’m called jellyfish here.”

[Haven’t you been called that wherever there was one?]

“That’s not the important thing. Help.”

[Why? You said you would do just as much as you could.]

“There’s something special here. I feel that this time is real.”

[You say that too much. Also, the newbie in that world is bothersome because she’s talented, and I’m at a disadvantage.]

“Then, find me one thing.”

[One thing?]

“The human corpse that the white bird took.”

That was what the caretaker cared the most about.

[The white bird? It won’t be easy.]

“Since the bird went into hiding, it’s stored somewhere. Probably where the snowing tree is.”

[It’s too wide and will take time.]

“I’ll reward you well, so please do it as quickly as possible. Humans die too easily.”

Luga Peya was curious why the white bird had taken the corpse, and he cut the connection.