Chapter 71: Two Masks
My day at the Academy went rather normally.
I returned to my dormitory straight from class and stood still in the corner of my room, sword drawn.
Sierra stood beside me, counting the seconds.
‘Soon…’
…about the time I thought it would be…blood trickled out of my mouth.
I immediately stopped using Reverse Heaven and wiped the blood from the corners of my mouth, then I laid down on the bed behind me.
“A few seconds… Gained?”
I asked, turning my head to face Sierra.
[You can last eighteen seconds now, and your proficiency in Chapter 2 is noticeably better… I haven’t done much for you as a teacher…but I’m proud of you.]
Sierra walked up to me, smiled, and patted my head.
I was relieved and checked the status window.
<Zetto> Lv.33
Skills:
-Ghost Slayer Technique Lv.22
-Sierra Reverse Heaven (Incomplete) Lv.5 – [Ghost Slayer Technique] in effect
-Superior Senses Lv.7
-Weakness Detection lv.MAX – [Blindfold That is Beyond Reason] in effect
-Acupuncture Lv.3
Skill Points remaining: 3
Equipped Items:
– Blindfold That is Beyond Reason [Legendary]
– Bracelet of Origin [Epic]
-Spectral Sword Sierra [Inheritance]
-The Hero’s Favor Necklace [Epic]
-Shroud of Night [Unique]
-Tear of the Dead [Inscription]
The skill points I gained this time were almost spent.
I spent four Skill Points on Ghost Slayer Technique, as I had been doing all along, but…I couldn’t increase its level.
Just to be on the safe side, I used two more points and the Ghost Slayer Technique level finally increased and so I was down to three skill points from nine.
It seems that the required level of the skill has been increased from 1 level for every 4 skill points of Ghost Slayer Technique to 1 level for every 6 skill points.
‘I thought I was close to learning Chapter 3…’
I’m still not sure if it’s a good investment, but since the ‘Blindfold’ grants extra experience all I had to do was to level up.
If the amount of skill points required increased, it meant it was a good skill, so I decided to take that as a good thing.
‘If it’s this good…’
I finished the math in my head and turned to Sierra.
“I was thinking of taking out a demon today…”
Sierra’s eyes narrow at my unexpected words.
[Demons…? You’re going to fight a demon? It’s been a little while since you’ve fought a lich, and you’re going to go again? I wonder if you’re pushing yourself too hard with the power of the bracelet…]
Sierra immediately interrupted me.
‘Didn’t I get enough rest?’
Still, it was something I’d been planning for a while and I’d better take care of it before it was too late.
It was the process to keep Aizel alive and I wanted to kill the weakest of the demons who wanted her life.
They were sharing information with each other, and I was not going to mess with them too much, because it would be a mistake.
It was probably too early, but I figured I’d have a better chance of catching them now.
[Disciple, have you ever dealt with a demon before?]
“Not really.”
At my incredulous answer, Sierra presses her forehead against mine and closes her eyes.
“It’s okay, it was my first time with a lich, too.”
I smile at her, hoping to ease her worries.
It wasn’t an entirely unreasonable thing to say, since I fought a lot of demons in the game, but never in real life.
Demons are a race that looks very much like humans, but with demonic horns on their heads.
The horns contain and store the life force of living creatures, allowing them to increase their magicka (mana equivalent for demons), or power.
They drew their life force primarily from humans, their reasoning being that the lifeblood of beasts and monsters was inferior to that of humans and the more humans they killed, the stronger they became.
Because of the god they served and their way of life they would inevitably clash with humans.
Sierra listened to my story and paced around the room, tapping her finger against her lips. She seemed to be thinking about something. Then she stepped in front of me and opened her mouth.
[…You don’t mean the ones in the demon lands, you mean the ones who hide among the humans.]
Sierra gave the correct answer, and I nodded.
There were some demons that could cover their horns and sneak into human lands, living and breathing among the humans while gathering strength as they killed them.
Their horns concealed the magicka that flowed from their bodies, making them indistinguishable from humans.
Of course, the humans were aware of this and were doing something about it.
For example, the holy order serving Lord Henerys had even created a knight order to hunt down demons and a saint was in charge of the knights.
During the time of war, it was the role of saints to cast large-scale healing magic on the battlefield, but with the ceasefire, it was assumed that espionage was taking place, so saints were given that role.
Note that the previous Saint was killed in the war so Bernice was the next saint to appear with a bit of time to spare.
Considering her ‘abilities’ as a saint, she was quite capable of identifying demons. But it’s too late to hope that they’ll be able to eliminate the demons targeting Aizel.
Reporting them won’t work since the system was not so flawed that it would listen to information from those whose identities were uncertain.
The ones targeting Aizel were particularly sophisticated and the only way to eliminate them and reduce the number of cases was to take direct action.
In the case of the saint, it would be determined later, when I made contact with them, whether I could borrow her power or not.
Sierra sidles up to me, her dark hair fluttering, and wraps her arms around me. There wasn’t much strength in her body.
Then she puts her face close to my ear and opens her mouth and Sierra’s lilting voice echoes in my head.
[Even I won’t be able to stop you…my apprentice has a bad habit of trying to carry things on his own…]
“…”
[You must promise me that you will get plenty of rest after this is over.]
“……I understand.”
It would certainly be good to get some rest when this was over.
She must have so many questions but no words came out of her mouth, instead Sierra was holding me in a warm embrace.
***
Recently, a theatrical adaptation of a fairy tale with a saint as the main character has become very popular in the theater.
Oswald was playing the lead role of the saint in the production, and he had recently been making a big splash as an actor.
When the male actor originally assigned to the role suddenly disappeared, Oswald stepped into the role but it was all Oswald’s doing, or rather, the demon Krektar.
That’s right, Oswald was a demon, not a human.
Despite being a demon, he didn’t just blend in and hide among humans, he was an actor who made a name for himself.
As an actor, he was often in the company of noblemen, which gave him access to information about the humans. On the other hand, he loved theater, which was the culture of the humans.
Oswald found a thrill and euphoria in the act of performing a double act, playing a human among humans and acting as another character in a play.
The demons around Oswald didn’t understand him, but he didn’t care.
He didn’t think it was worth talking to fools who didn’t understand art.
“Come on, Oswald, we’ll go first.”
“Yeah, you guys did a great job on this one. Don’t be late for morning practice. I’ll practice a little more and then I’ll go.”
“You always work so hard, you should take care of yourself sometimes.”
Oswald smiled warmly and waved to his fellow actors as they left the waiting room.
Among them was one who had made a mistake in today’s play and he didn’t like it since he ruined the play.
Oswald watched him leave the waiting room and contemplated killing him and sucking the life out of him, just as he had dared to steal his role but he finally shook his head and cleared it.
‘Just once. Just one more mistake.’
It’s never too late to take care of him.
At a time like this, when tickets were selling briskly, it would be a hassle to have to stop the play if an actor disappeared in the middle of a performance.
He turned his head and caught sight of a letter on the waiting room table.
The seal that held the envelope closed was enchanted, making it impossible to open without using demonic power, or magicka.
It was a letter from his demon colleagues.
When the actors were completely out of sight, he infused the seals with magicka and broke the envelope’s seal.
“Let me see…”
He took out the letter and read it slowly.
It spoke of a test subject they had once had.
“…You’re alive, Aizel…And you even have the last name Ludwig?”
Oswald muttered with a wicked grin as he read the letter.
It wasn’t good news, to say the least.
Aizel Ludwig, the sole survivor of the Ludwig clan, the last time he’d seen her was decades ago.
The fact that Aizel, their test subject, was still alive was troubling in more ways than one, hence the letter, requesting a meeting in the near future.
“You were attending the Innocence Academy…? Good choice, an academy would be hard to mess with.”
After he finished reading the letter, he folded it and reminisced for a moment.
He remembered the young Aizel being experimented on, her face expressionless, and him pointing out that it wasn’t natural.
Oswald had told her at length how to make it look natural to people and how to get better at acting.
“…I wish I hadn’t done that since she faked her death.”
Oswald was ecstatic that Eisel had fooled him but in the end, he had to kill her since her survival would mean their failure.
If they got it wrong, the Leader would have their heads. Still, the demon who sent him the letter seemed to have a plan already in mind.
‘He may be a dull fellow who knows nothing of the arts, but he’s the smartest and most competent of the lot, so I’m sure he’ll come up with a solution as soon as the meeting starts.’
Oswald clicked his tongue as he burned the letter.
Just when he thought his life as an actor was going so well, this happened.
As Oswald finished burning the letter, he heard someone approach the waiting room.
Soon, a stranger entered the waiting room.
‘…A blind man.’
The dark-haired man had a bandage over his eyes and his handsome black coat matched him quite well.
“How may I help you? This is the actors’ waiting room…did you take a wrong turn?”
“I’ve seen the play, Mr. Oswald.”
Said the blind man in response to Oswald’s question.
‘What, he is a fan…?’
Oswald didn’t quite understand how the blind man could say he had seen the play, but he could hear the words, so he assumed the tone of his voice was good.
“I’m glad you liked it, sir, but as I said, this is a waiting room for the actors of the theater company.”
Oswald spoke nice to the blind man since that was his image as an actor. His recent fame had brought him many strange admirers, so this was no big deal. However, the words that came out of the blind man’s mouth did not sit well with Oswald.
“…I thought your acting was a little stilted.”
The blind man dared to criticize his performance.
“…Where did you feel that way?”
Oswald’s brow furrowed, but he was curious to hear what the man had to say. Instead, he was going to pay for his tongue-lashing with his life.
The blind man smiled and opened his mouth.
“I’m afraid your performance as the human, Oswald, was a little off.”