Who Cares About the Eyeball?

Chapter 17 — Who Cares About the

Eyeball?

As Yogiri and Tomochika boarded the train at noon, Jorge and Captain

Edelgart of the First Battalion of the City Guard were visiting the local lord's

castle.

The ten-story stone structure towered over the center of the town. With most

of the buildings being only one or two stories tall, it stood out rather

conspicuously. The roof of the castle was a flat, open space where Jorge,

Edelgart, and the lord now stood.

The two guards had shed their armor and were wearing only their uniforms.

The lord wore clothes that spoke loudly of his frivolous spending habits.

"Was the incident last night truly serious enough to require the attention of a

Sage?"

Edelgart's only concern with the incident was her failure to get a lead on the

organization that she had been pursuing. While notoriously good at covering

their tracks, they had gladly snapped at the bait of two powerless otherworlders.

But in the end, her investigation hadn't managed to produce a single clue.

"Is it so strange that they would take an interest? An entire group of people

were killed by causes unknown, after all," Jorge replied, surprised at Edelgart's

lack of concern. In the middle of their investigation, ten of the people they'd

been tracking had died mysteriously right in front of them. Such an abnormal

incident would be huge in and of itself, even under normal circumstances.

"You think they care at all about some random criminals dropping dead?"

"The issue is how they died, not who was killed. There are already numerous

possibilities, from disease to poisonous gas. I don't think it's strange at all for

the Sages to be interested in finding out what happened."

"Even so, I can't imagine them taking such a personal interest. But there's no

point in us arguing about it. There's no way we can guess what the Sages are

thinking anyway!" Edelgart spoke with her chest puffed out proudly, although

Jorge had no idea why.

"Make sure you guys shut up when we're in front of the Sage," the lord

standing beside them said.

There was no direct hierarchical relationship between the lord and the City

Guard. That was because the City Guard also held the role of keeping the local

otherworlders in check. In short, being Japanese himself made the lord a target

for the City Guard's activities.

"I'm quite sure that we were the only ones who were ordered to greet her,"

Edelgart replied.

"Well, she's arriving at my castle. I have to at least welcome her, don't I?"

"Is that all?"

An unpleasant silence settled between them. After a while, a silver disk

descended.

The majority of the Sages lived on the floating continent. They moved to and

from the surface primarily by way of aircraft.

The disk landed on the roof of the castle. As its hatch popped open, a woman

in a dark red dress stepped out. It was the Sage named Lain. Bearing the title of

the Great-Granddaughter of the Great Sage, she was the one responsible for

protecting this territory.

"Thank you for meeting with me," Lain said with a haughty air as she

stepped towards the lord. "It's been a while, hasn't it, Masahiko? Have things

been going well?"

"A pleasure to see you again, Miss Lain. There have been no issues."

Apparently, Lain and Lord Masahiko had known each other since their time

as Sage candidates.

"So you're Edelgart? I read your report. Take me to the survivor."

"Yes, ma'am! The survivor is currently being held within the castle,"

Edelgart replied with a salute before guiding Lain inside.

◇ ◇ ◇

The group soon reached one of the castle's smaller rooms. The beastkin in

question had been restrained and was lying on a simple bed, the lone survivor of

the previous night's incident. He had no particular external injuries, but with his

eyes, ears, and nose completely nonfunctional, there was no way to interrogate

him. Approaching the dog man, Lain stared at him intently.

"Hmm. At first glance, nothing appears out of the ordinary." Pulling back the

beastkin's eyelids, she saw no signs of damage. But even the light from the

nearby window shining directly into his eyes sparked no reaction.

"We attempted treatment in order to proceed with our interrogation, but our efforts have proven fruitless."

"Your report said that even healing magic failed?"

"That is correct."

Listening to Jorge's reply, Lain held the beastkin's eye open as she pushed a

finger into his eye socket.

"Miss Sage?!"

"I can't tell what's happening unless I see for myself."

Naturally, the prisoner began to struggle, letting out an agonized scream as

Lain plucked out one of his eyes with her bare hands.

"Quiet."

At that one word, the beastkin froze. He was supposed to be deaf, but even

so, he had immediately stopped moving. Perhaps the threat of her words had

somehow penetrated in spite of his inability to hear.

Tearing the optical nerve off, Lain held the eyeball up to her face. She

inspected it thoroughly but it looked like a perfectly normal eye.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. Masahiko, would you mind if I swapped one of

your eyes with this one?"

"Wha —?! You can't be serious!" The lord's face instantly paled, but it

wasn't long before he realized she was, in fact, only joking. Her words hadn't

been an order. But that didn't mean he could relax, either. There was no telling

when Lain might change her mind.

"Well, who cares about the eyeball itself. This is the real test. Heal."

Discarding the useless organ in her hands, Lain turned her healing magic on the

beastkin. As she did, the now empty socket began to change, and within

moments, a new eye had appeared.

The powerful abilities of the Sage could recreate a missing body part in an

instant — but there was still no indication that the newly grown eye could see at

all.

"Hmm. Seems like he still can't see. The organ itself was perfectly

reconstructed, but the function hasn't been restored. So...how about this?" Lain

lifted the corners of her mouth, and her canine teeth began to extend. Once they

were long enough, she sank them into the beastkin's neck.

"Wh-What are you doing?!" Edelgart shouted in surprise.

"Didn't you know? Sage Lain is a vampire."

"But she was perfectly fine standing in the open sunlight on the roof!"

Being undead, vampires were weak to sunlight. That was just common sense.

"Miss Lain's class is Origin Blood. As the highest rank of the undead, she is also known as the Queen of Undeath. For someone of her level, sunlight is

nothing to be concerned about."

"You seem to know a lot...I thought the Sages were simply powerful mages."

As Edelgart worked through her shock, Lain finished feeding. As soon as she

took her mouth off the beastkin's neck, his body began to change. His claws

began to grow and his muscles started to ripple. His lips curled back and fangs

began to grow. With a single movement of his arms and legs, the ropes binding

him to the bed were ripped apart and he fell to the floor.

"Kneel," Lain ordered the creature now lying at her feet. At her words, he

began to thrash around, but that was all. He seemed to recognize that he had

been given a command, but in spite of his desperate efforts to comply, he had no

idea what he had actually been ordered to do.

"Apparently even being in the same bloodline doesn't help," Jorge muttered.

"Interesting that not even telepathy works."

Vampires increased their numbers by drinking the blood of others. Those

new vampires could then communicate with each other via telepathy, but in this

case it had failed to get through.

"Well, I've made him part of my bloodline now regardless. Do you mind if I

take him with me?"

"V-Very well. Understood," Edelgart agreed.

In truth, Jorge was relieved. He'd been wondering how they would even deal

with a suspect in this sort of condition on their own.

"Now then. It seems this individual has been put into a rather interesting

state. And the ones who did this were Yogiri Takatou and Tomochika Dannoura,

correct?"

"Um, actually, those two have no powers, so I can't imagine they were

involved."

"Don't be stupid, Edelgart. Ten people died and only those two were left

unharmed. Are you saying you have another suspect?"

"Th-That may be true, but if they did something, I have absolutely no idea

what it could have been. And without any evidence, we can't just arrest them."

Jorge steeled himself to meet his end. Edelgart must have been feeling the

same way, but she made no excuses for their actions. If she didn't know what

had happened, then she didn't know. That was all there was to it. She wasn't

clever enough to come up with a bunch of justifications for her choices.

"Sorry, I teased you a bit too much. Forgive me. The truth is, I already knew

about those two beforehand," Lain said with a smirk. Once again, Jorge felt relief wash over him as he realized his life wasn't yet in danger.

"Is that so?"

"Sage Sion has an attendant named Youichi. He told me about them.

Apparently, they used something along the lines of Instant Death Magic to kill a

dragon. He was pretty vague with the details, but it was enough to make me

curious. And then I received this report from you."

"I see. Then how did those two...?"

"About that —"

Lain started to say something, but the rest of them couldn't hear what it was.

A tremendous explosion rocked the building, shaking the walls of the castle

around them and throwing the room into a state of confusion.

Edelgart grabbed Jorge and flung him to the ground, rolling into a corner and

out of the way.

"Wh-What's happening...?!" Jorge lifted his upper body off the ground as he

asked.

"It's him!" Edelgart pointed towards the door. Standing on the threshold was

a man with a sword, showing no gaps in his defenses despite being in the middle

of the afterswing of his attack.

The ground beneath his feet was riddled with cracks. Although hard to

believe, it seemed the massive vibrations had been a result of his footsteps. Half

of the door, now split cleanly in two, had fallen to the floor. His sword had

shaken the entire room when it slashed its way in.

A red line now ran straight through Lain. The intruder's sword didn't seem

capable of reaching anywhere near her, but even so, she had been cleanly cut in

half.

"A Hero..." Jorge instantly activated his Discernment skill.

"What?!"

"That's what my skill is telling me! I don't know who he is, but his class is

Hero!"

The two of them could only stare in shock.