Chapter 8 - Breaking Minds...

A new day, a new adventure.

Or so I'd like to say, but everyone headed out to do some errands, so I

chose to go with the person least likely to annoy me. Actually, to put it more

nicely, the person I'd enjoy most to be alone with for half a day.

That would obviously be Gram. When I think about it, he's the most

interesting person of their little adventurer party. Rolan seems just like the

average Gary Stu protagonist of a fantasy story. Luna is the typical mage in

love with the hero. And the bard is... well, himself.

Gram kind of does look like the typical tank character, but his personality

is quite refreshing. He has an outgoing attitude that makes him endearing

even to me, and he has the mentality of a gentlemanly protector. The fact that

he wields only a colossal shield, with the express purpose of protecting his

friends, serves to strengthen that image.

Through small-talk with him, I learn that the party is constantly staying at

inns and taverns in this city, and they don't have a permanent home

anywhere. They sold most of their possessions to begin the life of

adventurers, committing fully to that path in life.

I could never do something like that. Well, I was forced into this new life

because I unexpectedly and inexplicably died and was reincarnated. Even

though I read some blog entries from people doing it, I can't imagine myself

in their position.

But now I'm in a similar situation.

We walk around the marketplace to buy supplies necessary for an

adventurer's life. The contents of my conversation with Gram grows

increasingly casual, although it's usually just him talking, telling me about the

kingdom's history and other knowledge a foreigner might enjoy.

My setting is that I can't tell much about where I'm from since I've only

seen it from inside my home or through a carriage window when traveling.

That's actually quite close to the truth; I didn't get to see much of the country

I'm from in this world, except for the city I was born in.

Not like I could tell him that it's Arkaim, the capital of the Demon Continent, though.

"This concludes our shopping trip. Is there anything you want, Miss

Marcott?" Gram turns to ask me after he stashes a loaf of cheese wrapped in

linen in his backpack. He's so nice to me; I feel like I could have fallen for

him if I swung that way.

But this is just like a date right now, isn't it? I'm a high school girl, and I'm

on a date with a middle-aged man. Compensated dating? Nothing of that sort

is happening!

Hm, this might be an opportunity to get a map of this nation, or of the

whole world.

"I would like to taste the specialty of this town." In the end, my stomach is

going to win. I have that leather sheet in my backpack, which should be a

map. I learned the incantation from Rolan after all, so I'll be able to take a

look when I'm alone sometime.

"As you wish." He complies with an exaggerated bow, but I don't mind at

all. It feels like we could actually become friends.

The specialty of Hovsgaerden is a sweet pastry called Rjoma. It's filled

with a red jam, but it doesn't taste like anything I've ever eaten before. This is

the first time I'm eating something sweet since coming to this world, since

Maou-mama practically only eats meat, be it from humans or some

mysterious creatures.

It's pretty good, and I want more. But I can't just play on his goodwill and

make him buy me several more servings. I should have gone with the bard; I

wouldn't have had any reservations to ask him. I can picture him buying me a

lot of them in exchange for looking at him with upturned eyes.

Well, if I ever make money in this city, I'll come and buy some on my own.

I make sure to enjoy the Rjoma slowly rather than wolf it down like I

usually would, while we make our way back to the Dancing Dragon where

everyone will meet for lunch. Rolan and Luna went to the church to purify

his sword and the crossbow bolt the bard hit the corrupted wulfar with, and

the bard went to have said crossbow undergo some maintenance at the

bowyer. Basically, everyone else had less work to do than Gram, whose

backpack is filled with all the goods we went to buy.

"Hey, there they are." It's Rolan who notices us first and waves us over.

The bard is already there, too. There are plenty of seats, but I sit down right

next to the leader, just to mess with Luna. Ah, she's so cute when she looks frustrated.

Food is soon served, and the party begins to discuss things while eating.

Apparently, Rolan and Luna had the time to take a look at the request board

in the guild hall and found something urgent with high pay.

"It's an escort request, to accompany a merchant to Lejren." The leader puts

down a piece of paper with notes, but as expected, I can't read a word of it. "It

seems the merchant fears that he'll be attacked along the way. He must be

carrying some really... 'special' goods."

"Do you know what kind of goods these are? I do not want to become

involved in something that may result in a clash with the law." The bard

brings his hand to his smooth chin and comments with a thoughtful

expression. I didn't expect that he would be the voice of reason, but I should

start looking over his flirty attitude and see his competence; to survive in this

line of work, you can't be useless.

"Yeah, the request doesn't tell what exactly he's shipping, so there might be

some shady business going on." Rolan is pretty good at being a team leader.

While speaking, he looks everyone in the eyes and gestures to reinforce

important points. "We still have time to think it over. Departure time is at

sunrise in five days, since he still has preparations to run until then."

"The merchant wants five groups to guard his caravan, since it will be a

total of ten carriages, huh?" Gram reads the notes with his arms crossed.

"Yes, it's quite a big group." Rolan explains and points at a certain line.

"We'll be getting horses for the duration of the journey so that we can move

more quickly."

"It feels like he has something to hide, do you not think so, too? Why the

hurry?" Tilting his head, the bard remarks with narrowed eyes.

"What do you think, big man?" Looking at Gram, the leader asks for his

opinion.

"I think it'd be best to find out a little about this merchant first." The big

man suggests. "It smells fishy."

"Alright, then let's scatter and gather information about this guy. His name

is Sveinn Itkonen. He's known for dealing in luxury products, rare fruits, and

expensive spices." Rolan gulps down the last of his ale before grinning. "So

why would he have any need to hide what exactly he's transporting this time?

There's definitely something going on with that."

"I shall make my rounds among the minstrels." The bard wipes the corners of his mouth with a handkerchief in an overly sophisticated manner and

suggests his course of actions.

"I'll ask some friends from the city watch." Gram swallows the last bite of

his meal and puts down his knife and fork.

"Alright, then we'll meet back here before nightfall at the latest." Rolan

stands up and sets down a few silver and copper coins on the table. He's

about to leave when he remembers that I'm still here. "Oh right, what do you

want to do, Miss Chloe? You could stay here or in your room."

"What's Miss Luna going to do?" Turning around to the blonde girl, I ask

her indirectly. She's been pretty quiet throughout our journey and during

dinner last night, so I already understood that she was the silent type - when

it's not about Rolan. So when I point the limelight at her like this, she flinches

and drops her knife in surprise.

"I... I am going to the magic supply store." She forces down the food still in

her mouth before responding slightly out of breath. That sounds like a pretty

interesting thing to see.

"Then I'd like to come with you." She stares at me like I'm an alien. Close

your mouth; it's unbecoming of a lady to make such an expression, you

know?

"You alright with that, Runa?" Her boyfriend actually has the gall to ask

her that. Of course, it's not alright with her, but somehow she still nods.

Okay, I didn't expect that. Must be because she's still in shock and just

answered without thinking.

"Then let's go. Remember to meet back here before nightfall." With these

words, the leader and the two other men stand up and leave to do their parts.

Luna remains seated, seemingly still in shock over me unexpectedly wanting

to pair up with her, even though our relationship has been anything but good.

I don't actually dislike her; in fact, I enjoy her company, mostly because I

enjoy teasing her. Teasing is a sign of affection, after all.

Finally, Luna gathers her composure again and quickly gets up to leave the

tavern without telling me to come along. I follow her, as she walks at a brisk

pace without even looking back to see whether I'm keeping up or not. In fact,

it feels like she would prefer that I'm not.

She wants to lose me in this crowd, doesn't she?

But I've thought of something interesting: Transforming only a part of my

body. I change the interior of my nose into the nostrils of a vularen, utilizing my 'bigger on the inside' body to reconstruct it in its entirety.

It was a stroke of good fortune that I was accidentally sent to Yagrath that

time. I gained a really useful body template in the vularen, which allows me

to become a large quadruped with a powerful body and an incredibly good

nose.

This way I won't lose Luna in the crowd, even when I can't see her, and can

follow her smell. It's quite sweet, and I could just eat her up - no, wait, there's

something wrong with that...

Ah, I also smell a man's scent on her. Somehow I seem to be able to

distinguish genders instinctively, even though I've never done this before. It

must be part of a vularen's inborn ability. In either case, that must be Rolan's

smell. Well, it was kind of obvious that she would have that on her.

I keep following her as she weaves her way through the crowded street,

losing sight of her several times but always on her trail. You're not going to

get away from me!

At one point, she practically runs into an alleyway before spinning around

to see if she shook me off. Then she almost lets out a scream upon seeing me

standing right in front of her. I obviously did that on purpose.

"H-how?!" She actually asks, without trying to hide that she wanted to get

rid of me.

"I just followed your blonde hair." It's not entirely wrong. Her blonde is of

a much lighter shade than any others I've seen. It makes me wonder whether

she's even a native of this nation or not.

"Uhhh..." Leaning against the wall, she closes her eyes to breathe a few

times audibly. Then she sighs and looks at me again.

I smile at her like nothing out of the ordinary happened.

"Oh well..." It sounds like she gave up, as she looks at me with a frown,

then walks back out onto the street at a normal pace.

We proceed in silence, but I find that she steals glances at me from time to

time. Is there something on my face? Don't tell me the vularen nose is

showing on the outside? That can't be, I can't be messing up something that

important.

"Uhm..." She's going to initiate a conversation with me? That's unexpected.

"Do you like Sir Rolan?"

Woah! Where did that come from? I've only known you all for four days,

how could anyone fall in love with someone in such little time?

Ah, must be because of my fake advances on him, with the sole purpose of

teasing her. So, that's the impression I gave her, huh? If she just told me that

they're a done deal, I'd back off like any sensible person. But I know she can't

just do that since she's too shy to say it outright.

Let's mess with her.

"Yes." Ah, that's a nice reaction; she's staring at me with her mouth

hanging open again. "He talked to me when I had lost everything in life. He

gave me a meal and a warm place when I was starving and alone in the cold.

Could any woman not feel that way for her savior?" Alright, I think I just

outdid myself there.

Oh, there seems to be understanding in her expression. Is that how you

react to your rival in love? Not that I really love him or anything.

"I... I see. But I won't lose!" She declares with a determined expression.

In what? It's not like you haven't rolled in the sack with him already. Why

would you feel threatened by a complete stranger who was only expressing

her gratitude for being saved by him? Maybe it's the nuance of the word 'like'

that she was asking about, which is similar to its Japanese meaning?

Well, I did try to make it sound ambiguous on purpose.

I wonder how old Luna is. She's like an underclasswoman,

misunderstanding my relationship with her beloved upperclassman after

seeing me talking to him in a friendly manner, only because he's a classmate.

"How old are you, Miss Luna?" From her age, I'll be able to deduce how

old Rolan is, too.

"I have seen sixteen summers." The blonde replies. That's young! She's a

year younger than I was before I died - and still is when adding the time I've

been alive in this new world. But aside from how she acts around her

sweetheart, she has her act together.

Now I'm feeling down. She's much more mature than I am, even though

I'm older than her. She even has sexual experience, while I haven't even

kissed yet!

There's something wrong with this world... it's not me; the world is at fault!

"And you, Miss Marcott?" She suddenly starts to sound a little more

respectful and addresses me appropriately, as if guessing that I'm older than

her.

Ahhh, don't ask a lady her age!

"We are the same age, then." I couldn't live with telling her that I'm older and later let her find out that she's gotten much further in life than I have.

Wait a second...

While we were talking, we somehow ended up in a shady area. We entered

some dark and dirty alleyway where ragged clothes are hung up on lines

crossing between houses. There are many boarded up windows behind which

I can see people watching us from the darkness.

Why did you bring me here, Luna? Do you want to get rid of me after all?

Make some thugs kidnap me and turn me into a sex slave, to be sold to some

ugly rich bastard who will do unspeakable things to me?

My fantasy is running wild.

"Here we are." Luna gestures at an inconspicuous door from which the

paint has flaked off completely. It looks like any other in this alleyway.

There's a wooden board with faded letters hung up above it, but I couldn't

read what it says even if I understood this language. Still, I can tell that this

must be some kind of store, even if it's not in the greatest of shapes.

So, she wasn't trying to do something she would come to regret after all,

huh?

Without knocking, Luna pushes open the door. Just when I'm about to

follow her inside, the smell of mold and decay waft into my face like a

physical wave of curses.

Emergency shutdown of vularen olfactory systems!

I thought I was going to die! I still had the vularen organ inside my human

nose, with its enhanced smelling capabilities. Even for a human nose, this is

unbearable. Where did you bring me, Luna? Is this the back of an abandoned

slaughterhouse, where the refuse hasn't been cleaned up?

"Hm, why is it so dark in here. Is Lady Nightwane out?" Muttering to

herself, Luna takes out a handkerchief and holds it to her nose, clearly

showing that it's not just me who finds this stench unacceptable.

This name, Lady Nightwane. I can't help but conjure up the image of an old

hag who looks like a clichéd representation of a witch, complete with a huge

wart on a hooked nose, greenish skin and missing all teeth but one in the

front.

My night vision allows me to see in this darkness, so I look around

curiously. The place is filled with strange items such as small wooden

statuettes, dried pieces of roots and other unidentifiable things. There are jars

filled with liquids in various shades, some glowing on their own while others seem to suck away the light surrounding them.

Ah, there's the obligatory one filled with eyeballs. Over there is another

one with a wrinkly hand. The one on this side has the fetus of some hairy

mammal in it.

Hm, what's this one? The things look like huge, flesh-colored worms.

Somehow I'm reminded of that one time I transformed into the human king...

I turn away, banishing the thought from my mind.

This place is screaming of the occult. Well, I guess in this world, where

magic and monsters are real, it's just considered a store like any other. I have

a mage standing right next to me who's able to conjure fire and lightning out

of thin air, so I shouldn't be surprised to see all kinds of strange things used

for rituals or as catalysts.

"It's as creepy as ever in here. Ignis." A reddish crystal on Luna's staff

begins to glow before a small flame is ignited from thin air right above it.

Shaking her head, she looks around and sighs. "Why do dark elves like these

strange things...?"

Oi, don't deny my acceptance of this place as normal just like that! I

thought these things are what all mages require for their magic studies or

something like that.

Wait, did she say 'dark elf'? So these exist in this world, too. It would

explain why this place is so dark, I guess? I can spot some oil lamps hanging

from roof beams, and while they are not lit right now, they don't look dusty or

anything. Maybe she's out.

Woah!

I almost jump back in shock when my eyes meet with those of someone

sitting in a large sofa chair.

But upon closer inspection, I breathe a sigh of relief. I guess I just found

the creepiest item in this place. It's a life-sized doll of a young girl with pale

skin and medium-length, black hair in a gradient, which turns into ghostly

white towards the tips.

Her cheeks look like they were slashed and then stitched together

haphazardly, giving her a messy broad smile even as her overall expression

remains neutral. The gothic lolita dress and bonnet would typically look cute

on a doll of that size; however, in this case, it only serves to increase the

creepiness factor. Her exposed forearms are full of stitches as well, and her

fingers look like they've been cut in pieces before being sewn back together.

Her big blue eyes are staring into space rather than at me, but somehow I

can't shake the feeling that there's life in them.

Hah! The pattern would be that this doll is Lady Nightwane, who

transformed herself when she noticed our approach. She's going to jump up

and scare the hell out of us any moment now.

"I never liked that thing..." Luna notices that I've been staring at the doll

that looks obviously cursed. I don't really mind; it's a design I didn't expect to

exist in this world.

"Lady Nightwane, are you there?" The blonde calls out to the store owner.

"Hm, customers?" A male voice from the back of the store remarks. That

voice certainly doesn't belong to Lady Nightwane, that much is for sure.

"... huh? What are you doing here?! You were supposed to keep watch

outside, you dumbass!" Another male voice, albeit quite the high-pitched one,

exclaims, directed at the owner of the previous voice.

Alright, that sounds like trouble.

"Who is there?" Luna asks in a slightly trembling voice. Even as a

powerful mage, being alone without a front line can be quite scary. Nobody is

here to keep her safe until she finishes chanting, after all.

In response to her reluctant inquiry, two men come through the door that

most likely leads into storage rooms. They are carrying oil lamps, which

illuminates their rough features and clothes.

They have the stereotypical appearances of thugs.

No, really! Those are textbook features of thugs of the 'brawns' variant:

Bandanna pulled all the way down to the eyebrows, a scar somewhere on the

face, evil expressions, and vests that were made by ripping off the sleeves to

show off their burly, tattooed arms. One of them even holds a crude wooden

club.

Yay, we stumbled into a side quest!

"Who are you? Where is Lady Nightwane?" Luna sounds a little scared as

she brandishes her staff. You already lost, when you didn't start chanting a

spell right away.

From the back of the store, one more man emerges. He's much smaller and

thinner than the previous two thugs but has pale, almost gray skin, and an

even more obviously evil face than the others. This one looks like he took all

the brain matter of the other two, and traded his muscles in equivalent

exchange. His eyes look like those of a dead fish when they stare at Luna and me.

If that's not a rape-face, I don't know what is.

"Ohhh, that one's a half-elf!" As expected, he's the owner of the highpitched voice. It's incredibly fitting for such an unbelievably textbook

ringleader character. The brainiac-type thug, huh?

Wait, half-elf? Luna, you're a half-elf? You never told me!

Now that I think about it, I never saw her ears because they're always

hidden under her hair. It does explain her much lighter hair color and

complexion, as well as her rather petite figure. She's actually quite beautiful,

though her breasts are on the small side, which must come from her elven

half.

How can this guy tell, though?

"Grab her, too." You just gave us some valuable information about yourself

there, brainiac. These guys came here to take Lady Nightwane, who is a dark

elf. And saying that they should grab Luna, who is a half-elf, he basically

made it clear that they are after elves.

"Stay behind me, Miss Marcott." Luna points her staff at the thugs and

places herself between them and me.

Oh, how dependable. But she's holding her staff like she wants to use it as a

melee weapon. Does she even have any physical strength to fight that way? I

feel like mages always maximize their time studying magic and never

exercise, so I can't imagine that she'll start swinging the staff like an expert.

Also, we're in a cramped space, and she'll just hit a pillar or a wall.

One of the muscular thugs, the one with the club, steps forward undeterred.

His weapon is much more effective for fighting in this place, and he clearly

knows it, as he looks at Luna's staff with a self-assured grin.

She performs an overhead swing with her staff, but as expected, it's

stopped by a low-hanging roof beam. Upon seeing this, the man quickly

bridges the space between him and Luna and draws back his club to bash her

face in.

"Don't damage the merchandise, you idiot!" The brainiac shouts and stops

the brawny thug in his tracks.

Yeah, he really is an idiot for aiming at a cute girl's face with a heavy

wooden club. It would be a miracle if that didn't leave a scar if it doesn't

outright kill her. And it's clear they don't want that to happen. He called Luna

merchandise, so they must be kidnappers.

But I have to say, the muscle guy's reflexes are good enough to stop midswing upon hearing an order. I had expected that he would go all the way and

then try to excuse himself afterward.

He instead punches Luna in the solar plexus with his free hand, and she

folds over. Falling to the ground, she's out cold from just that.

Wow, so weak!

"And what do we have here? You have such white skin; you must be a

noble." Finally, the attention falls on me, and the ringleader looks at me with

a calculating gaze.

I did brighten up my skin tone to sell the story of being a sheltered noble

lady who doesn't know anything about the world better. My actual skin tone

should be much darker due to my track and field activities, where I have to be

outdoors all the time. Not like that matters in this world, where I started as a

faceless tentacle monster.

"Even though you don't dress like one... a disguise?"

Oi, leave my clothes alone, at least I'm wearing normal ones.

"Take her as well. She doesn't look like she wants to fight, so you don't

have to knock her out. Just tie her hands and feet. And gag her." With these

words, the brainiac turns around to go back inside the storage rooms again.

So, time to decide: Do I want to fight here or let them bring me along so I

can see what kind of thing they are running? Maybe it'll be more timeefficient if I ask them directly first.

"W-where do you want to bring us?" My voice came out just right,

innocent, slightly shaking. I'm getting better at this acting thing. "My mother

is a very powerful woman! You won't get away with this!"

"Hoh, is that so?" Stopping dead in his tracks, he turns around to look at

me with renewed interest. "Then we'll deal with you separately and hold you

for ransom. Your half-elf companion will end up as some rich noble's toy."

Thank you for taking the time to tell me about your evil plan.

"But do tell, who's your mother?" His confident smile shows that he doesn't

suspect a thing from me.

I don't actually know Maou-mama's name, only her title. Well, it'll surely

have much more of an impact if I tell him the latter, though.

"She's the demon queen." I state with a grin, straightening my back to look

down on them with a haughty expression. They stare at me in surprise, and

for a moment they're completely stunned by this announcement.

Oh, I know what's coming next.

"Hahahaha! I see I see; the lady's the daughter of the demon queen!"

Joining in on the high-pitched voice of the brainiac are the two much deeper

voices of the brawny thugs. They start to laugh without a care in the world.

But I join them in their laughter. This goes on for a bit until they finally

realize that something is off about me laughing with them. The ringleader is

the first to stop, looking at me with his head tilted and a nervous expression

on his face.

"W-why are you laughing? What's so funny?" He points at me and stutters.

"What's funny?" My mouth cracks open into a grin wider than is possible

with a human's anatomy. "What is about to happen next."

Then I cancel my human transformation and pull the clothes I'm wearing

inside my body so that I don't damage them. I reveal my real appearance in

its full, otherworldly glory, my presence alone seemingly snuffing out the

light from the oil lamps - which they luckily placed on the shelves earlier.

Because for a moment, the three look at me with big eyes and mouths ajar,

each dropping what they were holding in their hands.

Then the first one lets his sanity slip, as he screams from the bottom of his

soul. It's the thug that has been staying next to the brainiac so far. A dark

stain spreads out on his beige pants from around his crotch, and his face fills

with deathly terror, as he takes a step back and presses himself against the

doorframe.

Then the other two join him in a choir of screams that are no different from

how I always imagined the voices of tormented souls would sound. It feels

like music to my ears. I can see madness growing in their eyes as they claw at

their faces.

Why am I reveling in their terror so much? It feels incredible, being feared

like that!

"Hahahaha!" I practically rip open my face from laughter, since I don't

have a mouth in this form. My voice is not something a human being can

make, and much less endure. It should give them a sensation akin to getting

their ear canals inspected with an electric drill.

If I hadn't become familiar with my own body, this unnatural voice would

have grated on my spine, too. That's why I know these three are feeling the

full effect of my transformation. Maou-mama did say that this appearance

drains the sanity of those who see it.

I can see it happening now, right before me.

The thug that tried to hit Luna in the face earlier rushes at me and tries to

do the same to me with his bare fist in an unexpectedly valiant attempt at

fighting back. But from his eyes, I can tell that it's driven by self-preservation

instinct.

The knuckles connect with the side of my head, but I turn my matter into

something akin to mud. Without the resistance that would come with hitting a

solid target, he stumbles forward.

"Come into my embrace!" I split my arms into their individual tentacles

and grab the muscle guy. He screams like a gutted pig and struggles with

every fiber of his being, as his arms begin to sink into my chest. To me, these

motions feel even weaker than the wriggling of a worm.

"Hahaha, that's impossible... this is a nightmare. Yes, I'm having a

nightmare..." The brainiac tears open the skin of his face with his nails, and

laughs madly, trying to escape the reality of this situation by explaining it

away into fantasy.

I guess the humans don't know anything about the nature of a Crawling

Chaos, yet they still dare to challenge my mother.

"Yes, this is a nightmare." I speak and fully swallow the thug that attacked

me. "One you will never wake up from. Welcome to your new reality."

Upon hearing my words, spoken in an otherworldly reverb, he screams.

Ahhh, this feels great.

The thug who pissed himself earlier has fainted and slumped to the ground

with his eyes rolled back in their sockets. Wait, his body is completely still,

and it looks like he isn't breathing.

Wow, it was this effective? His mind decided to shut the body down

instead of suffering insanity - and possibly a fate worse than death.

"Now, tell me who you work for, and I'll put an end to your torment."

Waves of shivers run through the brainiac's body upon hearing my proposal,

and he falls to his knees. His eyes are glued to me, unable to avert his gaze

from my otherworldly appearance despite its effect on his mind.

"We-were-hired-by-a-merchant-called-Sveinn-Itkonen-he-is-a-slavesmuggler-who-transports-elves-and-other-rare-species-to-be-sold-onauctions." He rattles down his response without a break or taking a breath.

Sveinn Itkonen, huh? How convenient that this leads straight to the guy I

heard about just earlier for the first time.

"Thank you very much. That's all I needed from you." I slither forward,

and he flinches at my unnatural movements. But it's clear that his mind is no

longer capable of giving commands to his body, so focused is he on staring at

me.

I grab him and stuff him inside me unceremoniously. He doesn't even try to

fight back and closes his eyes with a strangely peaceful smile as if welcoming

my embrace and the certain death it promises. Maybe he prefers to die rather

than live with the knowledge of my existence in this reality.

Looking at the soiled corpse of the last guy, I feel some reluctance to eat

him; yet, I can't leave behind any evidence. It's not like it makes a difference

whether his filth is outside or inside his body. It all dissolves inside me

anyway, and it's not like I have a human sense of taste. The same happened

with the vularen and the sheep I swallowed, so a human isn't any different.

With this, all the evidence is gone.

"Hey." Suddenly, a female voice calls out to me from behind.

AAAAAA-