SN Chapter 6

Kallix was momentarily flustered before surveying his surroundings. And he was able to discover the intruder who had been his original objective. At the feet of the woman standing calmly, a black mass lay collapsed. The neck was perfectly twisted. No matter how skilled with a sword, a woman's body with weak physical strength couldn't twist an adult man's neck bones this severely. Especially without a single scratch while facing someone holding a weapon.

Bang!

Kallix seized her and shoved her hard against the wall, pressing his sword close beneath her chin. She merely looked up at him with wide, bright eyes.

The moment their clear gazes met, he felt flames surge within. He had to clench his jaw firmly to stop his teeth from chattering. Rage kept trying to dig into her throat, but that face of hers that resembled his own, those verdant eyes catching the moonlight—

"Kallix."

The voice calling him was so vivid.

Kallix was already shedding tears. Drip, drip. They flowed without his awareness. He felt angry and sad and frustrated and anguished. Kallix gripped her shoulders even harder. Despite the pressure of his terrifying strength, she showed not the slightest sign of discomfort. From the first day until this moment, her unchanging expression endlessly provoked him. I'm not the person you know.

It was as if her whole body was speaking. Tears flowed down Kallix's jaw. He spat out words one syllable at a time, as if chewing them.

"Do you think I can't cut you just because you wear my blood's form? Speak! Or I'll take your head. What purpose brought you here! How dare you—wearing that face!"

Kallix breathed roughly, pressing her. Unknown emotions hammered at his entire body.

"What are you!"

Under rough handling, pushed and shaken, her hair became more disheveled. Kallix couldn't tear his eyes from the face half-covered by those locks.

"What are you!"

The final question was almost a scream. From behind, it might have looked as if he held her in his arms, but between him and her lay complete severance by a single blade. Kallix didn't move from that position.

Time passed. It was a brief time—not even hearing the clock's second hand tick several times. Rosaline, who had maintained silence since the moment of their encounter, moved. Her hand lightly brushed Kallix's sword. Kallix flinched but didn't pull back. Her gaze, which had been touching his throughout like some staring contest, drifted across the blade. On the well-maintained metal surface, Rosaline's appearance reflected.

After gazing at her reflection for a moment, she opened her mouth.

"I am the shadow."

And then she smiled. Kallix stared blankly at that expression. Her smiling face resembled someone far too much. Her eyebrows drooped slightly, her sharp eyes softened, and only the corners of her mouth lifted faintly—a very gentle smile.

"I am Rosaline's shadow."

'It' was sometimes in the form of a bird, or perhaps an insect, and at times took the shape of a large beast. 'It' had existed for a long time in very deep mountains, in primeval forests untouched by human feet. Judging by its composition of magical properties, 'it' might have been called a magical beast.

Red glowing eyes, strength greater than predators, even aggression. Another reason this thing balanced precariously outside the framework defining magical beasts wasn't classified as one was because there was no one to call 'it' a magical beast.

Deer, tigers, monkeys, wild boars, sometimes even insects. 'It' possessed the ability to mimic things it had eaten in the past, and while many humans might have glimpsed it in passing, they couldn't know 'its' true form.

It looked like black smoke and also appeared like a colony of living sand. The black 'it' couldn't hold a precise boundary and seemed to scatter as if breaking apart, but it maintained a barely clumped shape without actually breaking or scattering. Once, someone had called this thing a ghost, and another someone in the past had mistaken it for the shadow of a tree.

'They'd revealed their true forms when absorbing food—the moment they released their mimicry. That's why they had been discovered even less. Sometimes they went without eating for over a year. What 'it' consumed was only dead creatures, but it didn't engage in the act of hunting. That was why it had to starve for so long. No animal, no magical beast left their hunted prey abandoned on the ground.

'It' ate things that had fallen from cliffs and died, and sometimes waited near the losers of territorial disputes for their deaths. When starvation became extreme, it might eat grass or fruit, but these weren't foods 'it' preferred. Some individuals simply vanished while waiting only for luck. They weren't low in intelligence, but could be evaluated as rather lazy.

Iron-Bramble County, Vista. "Demon's Mountain." That high and treacherous deep place.

'It' had been hungry for quite a while. The Count of Iron-Bramble, who had inherited his title two years ago, showed great interest in magical beast subjugation. As a result of hunters and mercenaries frequenting the mountain, the populations of magical beasts and animals had drastically decreased. Because of this, 'it' had starved for a long time.

About three months ago, it had discovered rotting fruit and eaten a little. But it was insufficient to satisfy hunger. 'It' slept in exhaustion. It didn't move for a long time.

The reason 'it' woke was danger that sharply stabbed at its senses. The mountain's magical beasts screamed and disappeared one by one—it could feel it. 'It' mimicked a blue bird it had eaten years ago and went deeper. And that was a very correct choice. Shortly after, humans pushed roughly even into where 'it' had been staying. 'It' changed into a ladybug and went even deeper. It saw silver armor gleaming brilliantly in the distance. The humans began subjugating the enormous mountain range like lightning.

'It' held its breath, waiting for them to disappear. Hiding for hours or years was 'their' specialty. At the end of a not-long wait, what it encountered was...

"......"

A dying creature. A human with black hair. The broken and torn body was draped across the largest rock in a stone tomb below the cliff.

'It' had been playing with a single white flower when it discovered the woman and approached the stone tomb. The woman had eyes similar to young leaves budding in spring. She blinked while watching the thing slowly approaching. Confusion rose in her dimming gaze. 'It' waited not far away. Eating living things was the only taboo. From scraped, broken, twisted, and cut wounds, the rock gradually soaked with blood.

'This human will die soon.'

'It' had witnessed such scenes quite often. High cliffs lacked the mercy to kill humans instantly. Sometimes an old person, sometimes a sturdy young man, sometimes a lost child. With broken ribs piercing lungs, even while coughing up blood, they felt fear. They feared that pitch-black mass floating before their eyes. Humans crawled away trying to escape. They screamed and threw stones to drive it away. It might not have been the desire to live, but primal fear felt toward unknown creatures.

But no one had ever had these eyes. 'It' was seeing such eyes for the first time. Eyes like very transparent, pretty marbles. There weren't even the tears humans commonly shed in such situations. Just as 'it' watched her, she also didn't take her eyes off 'it,' observing.

"......You......"

The black-haired human called 'it.' She whispered softly in a voice through which wind hissed. 'It' hesitated a moment, then moved faster than usual. And stood a bit closer beside her. The human grabbed 'it' without fear, and 'it' was surprised for the first time in its life. She was also surprised. The black smoke she thought wouldn't be caught had a familiar yet strange texture like dry sand, like dry wood. She felt crumbling particles sliding out of her hand, but could hold onto some.

"He-help me......"

'It' was troubled. It knew human language. Therefore, it could understand what she wanted, but had no means to heal her.

The black form moved. Shhh. She thought something seemed to flow inside it. 'It' soon began changing into the form of a young girl, and the black parts gradually disappeared until it became a perfect human. It was a young child 'it' had eaten several years ago. She realized that the part she'd been holding had also changed into the child's arm. Warm heat circulated. Her eyes widened. She knew. She recognized this existence.

"You. Blood much. Die. I. Can't."

You will die and I cannot help. She read the child's meaning. She squeezed her eyes shut once and opened them. In those clear eyes, something like sparks crackled. The remaining fragment of fear, the shard of terror blazed up. Consciousness gradually fading from blood loss and quickening breath. She properly recognized her condition and situation. Death was approaching. She could feel time running short. She barely forced out a word in her fading consciousness.

"......You may eat me."

The child found this human extremely interesting. It had never eaten after receiving someone's permission, and this was the first time such permission had been granted. The woman coughed up blood—hack, hack—then smiled.

"But please, grant me one request."

The child couldn't understand why she was smiling. So perhaps it wanted to know a bit more. The child exchanged a few more halting words with her.

Iron-Bramble County, Vista.

Somewhere in that deep forest.

A forbidden contract was made.