TOM Chapter 14

How do I know it's a divine beast?

The excuse of memory loss... only Minuet knows about that, and the truth that I can sense divine power is something I can't reveal.

I frantically racked my brain.

"No, well, I think I saw it in a dictionary."

Our temple had almost no books about divine beasts—it was a time when research was lacking—but there would be such dictionaries outside.

"Ah, do dictionaries also include what divine beast cubs look like? That would be hard to find."

"Have you seen every divine beast dictionary in the world? Are you interrogating me right now?"

"That's not what I'm trying to do."

Kruelo drew out his words while tapping his chin with his index finger.

Then suddenly, as if he'd had a good idea, his eyes curved.

This feels ominous.

"I'll give you two choices."

"...What are they?"

"One, obediently hand over that kitten to me and go home."

"I'll take the next one."

"Really?"

Well, just looking at the keywords makes it obvious.

Divine beast. Something illegal. Kruelo's personal business.

If I just confirmed all this and then went home to sleep peacefully in the mansion, my god would surely be furious with me.

If I were facing real danger, I'd regrettably have to choose the cowardly path, but that wasn't the situation here.

I looked at Kruelo with newfound resolve, and he smiled back at me.

"Don't come to regret this."

And now.

"Get in there properly!"

Siora Bonetti, age 20, has been imprisoned.

"Damn, if there hadn't been an informant, I would have been screwed for sure."

The iron door closed with a loud noise.

The "damn" should be coming from me, not you.

I stared blankly at the iron bars before my eyes.

How did this happen?

When you break it down, it's actually quite simple.

I need to figure out where these illegal activities are taking place.

There's no time to just grab random people and interrogate them.

But that group has a specific target they're hunting for?

If that target gets captured and taken to their base, I can easily track down their location?

The conclusion is obvious. Kruelo sold me out.

Heh, heh heh heh.

"You filthy traitor!"

To think he'd report that he saw someone who stole a winter lynx.

If I'd known this would happen, would I have chosen option 2?

I banged my head against the bars. The coldness seeped into my forehead.

My hands bound in handcuffs also felt heavy, making the reality vivid.

What would happen if I just stayed here quietly?

"Would I die?"

Even so, it's the world that would be ruined, not me.

All I'd do is return to my original body.

Because of what happened at the puppet theater, I'm not very motivated.

My original body.

Perhaps because I've lived in someone else's body for too long, my previous memories are a bit hazy.

Twelve years have passed in the outside world, but it feels like only 4 or 5 years have gone by for me.

There's a time distortion that comes with possession.

When I died in my previous body and entered this new one, it felt like I'd opened my eyes instantly, but several years had already slipped away in the real world.

So by the time this body dies and I open my eyes again, everything will already be finished.

Though even the time I have left in this body isn't exactly abundant.

"Less than a year left."

When I actually count the days specifically, it's really tight.

Moreover, there was no guarantee that the date of the great undertaking wouldn't change.

I didn't know why the Council of Elders chose that day, or whether it absolutely had to be that day.

Sigh, I exhaled and stood up.

"Let's work, work."

Now I'll show you the magic trick of escaping from handcuffs.

Step 1. Gather divine power.
Step 2. Break the iron chains.
Step 3. Tear off the rings stuck to my wrists.

"Pretty easy, right?"

I threw the remains of what used to be handcuffs into a corner and stood up.

I hadn't been here long, but my whole body felt cold as if frost had settled on it.

Right in front of me were iron bars locked with a padlock, but well, how different could it be from handcuffs?

If I put strength into it and pull the bars apart to make space to get out...

Creeeeak, the outer iron door opened.

"..."

My eyes met with the person who opened the door.

They were red.

Hmm.

"I came expecting you to be locked up, of course..."

Those eyes looked at me blankly, then moved down to my hands that had pried open the bars.

Then they also went to the remains of the handcuffs thrown in a corner.

When our eyes met again, I reflexively made an excuse.

"All the stuff here is defective. The iron bars are soft and squishy."

"Ah, is that so?"

Kruelo strode over and tapped the iron bars with the back of his hand.

Once, twice.

On the third time, the bars went snap and broke.

"Right! They're defective, right? Is this a tree branch or iron bars?"

"You're right. If they can break with just the force of an elephant pushing against them, these bars are seriously flimsy."

What a bastard.

"Oh, that's right. I am pretty strong."

"It's not just a matter of being strong. Can someone who can't handle mana do this?"

"Since it happened, I guess it's possible."

"Come to think of it, you noticed the existence of the magic tool at the puppet theater without even speaking."

"That's not true. Something was sparkling, so I looked."

"You're saying something in your clothes was sparkling?"

"Did you come to pick a fight?"

"That's not it, so well, fine. Being self-reliant isn't a bad thing."

Kruelo finished twisting open the bars and reached out his hand as if to support me.

Happy that the topic had changed, I grabbed his hand.

But as soon as I did, mana rushed into my body.

This guy?

"You really don't have mana."

Of course. Divine power is locked in my soul.

Kruelo tilted his head as if finding it strange.

"Wow, so you grabbed me to probe? What a personality."

"Anyway, I found out something interesting."

"Don't obviously change the subject, no matter how interesting what you found out..."

I couldn't finish my sentence.

Because Kruelo went to a corner of the prison and tapped the ceiling.

I narrowed my eyes thinking he'd gone crazy, but surprisingly.

"The, the ceiling!"

Blocks opened up and a space about the height of a person was revealed.

A secret passage?

"Interesting, right?"

Kruelo's smug smile was annoying, but I couldn't deny it.

I quickly headed toward where the ceiling had opened.

Excited, I was about to climb right up but stopped.

The height to the ceiling was about 2 meters, and I'd been suspected just before, so obviously.

"I can't get up there, lift me up."

At times like this, I should act weak.

"Now you're doing this?"

"Or bring me a ladder or something."

"...It's obviously a lie, but."

Kruelo narrowed his eyes and smiled.

Then he suddenly lifted me up.

One hand wrapped around my back and the other supported behind my knees.

I thought he'd carry me like luggage, but it was different from what I expected and I almost screamed.

"I'll pretend to be fooled for my love."

Kruelo leaped up high.

I thought my heart would burst!

"...Three three-horned male reindeer, two pairs of male and female winter lynx plus cubs are ready."

Underground level 3 of the building where Siora and Kruelo had snuck in.

In the innermost office, a middle-aged woman was leaning back in her chair almost lying down.

Her name was Qudil, the 9th Elder of Whitedesert and the person in charge of extracting divine power from divine beasts.

A fountain pen swayed precariously in Qudil's hand, about to fall.

"Oh my, leave out the cubs. Why did you have to go and pick those up too."

Qudil clicked her tongue disapprovingly.

The one reporting was Ares, the 10th Elder.

"Hey, I let that one go. Otherwise how would something the size of a chestnut escape?"

"It's an order from above."

"Don't just do everything they tell you to do from above, think a little. If we take even the cubs, where will we get divine beasts later? They're creatures that can't even be forcibly bred."

"I'll suggest it next time."

"Are you really talking nicely? Huh?"

"Big trouble!"

Just then, their subordinate rushed in shouting.

"Hey, look at that guy."

Qudil gestured with her chin with an expression of disbelief, and Ares immediately moved.

"Winter—. Gak!"

"Seems you weren't taught that you can't come in without following procedure."

"Sor, ry, ur, gent, ugh, urgently need to report..."

"No matter what the situation, it's the same. You—"

"Hey, enough. Let him go for a moment."

Ares raised an eyebrow then released his grip.

The subordinate collapsed on the floor gasping for breath, and Qudil crouched down in front of him.

She playfully stroked the subordinate's head.

"What is it, friend? If I let you breathe, you should speak."

"Yes, yes! The thief, huff, locked up in prison, huff, disappeared!"

"What are you talking about. Do you know anything, Ares?"

"The thief who stole the winter lynx. I heard we got a tip and locked them up in prison. Should have been reported."

"Tsk, was that the document I was sleeping on earlier? So did you leave the informant alone?"

"I gave orders to just take the tip and handle it."

"Then why keep the thief alive. Should have killed them long ago."

Such rigid guys.

Qudil stretched long and stood up.

"Ugh, the divine beast delivery is done, so why am I dealing with this mess."

"We, we put tracking on them, so they won't go far..."

"Forget it, friend. Seeing how they escaped so quickly, looks like someone who came in with a plan. Fat chance we'll catch them."

She gestured to Ares as she spoke.

"Let's go. As soon as preparations are done, we need to finish the job and get out. It'll be troublesome if the Imperial Knights come."

"Yes, merchant leader."

They left the office.

Clang clang clang clang.

This is the sound of stepping on iron plates.

To think they'd make a secret passage like this—if we'd just walked in normally, we would have been caught immediately.

Thanks to Kruelo's magic tool—which he'd put on again—fortunately this loud noise didn't leak out.

Beyond just the sounds, the reality was nothing like the romantic stories.

The prison lay underground, and where we were headed was even deeper still.

We had to emerge from passages partway through and transfer to connecting tunnels, with the conditions growing worse the further down we went.

Cold, musty air, and increasingly cramped spaces.

The width was just enough for one person to pass through, and the height was just a bit taller than me?

Thanks to this, Kruelo ahead was walking with his head lowered and seemed to have trouble looking back.

Wait, is this an advantage?

I spoke to the one who couldn't turn around.

"About bringing me to the harvest festival."

"Yes."

"Was that all just to spread rumors?"

"What else would there be?"

"I was wondering if you might have released some killing intent toward that winter lynx earlier."

The timing of the lynx jumping into my arms was strange the more I thought about it.

At my probing question, Kruelo hesitated.

I poked his back and urged him on.

"What are you doing, don't stop, keep moving."

"...Me? Why would I."

"To get me involved in this matter?"

"What would I gain from that?"

"How would I know!"

I said boldly.

My speculation is that if Kruelo had personal business and didn't want me to find out about it, he would have moved more thoroughly.

I coincidentally met a winter lynx that had escaped, and that cat jumped into my arms.

Rather than this, it's more natural that there was a bigger picture, right?

"Why is darling so helpless?"

"Because everything else about me is perfect. I need to have at least this much humanity—"

"What if you die somewhere you shouldn't because of that?"

Kruelo's voice was calm, but perhaps because of the location, it sounded ominous.

Hmm.

I wasn't scared.

—As I've said repeatedly inwardly—even if I die.

"Then the world would be ruined."

"Still talking about that?"

"For real. I have nothing to lose."

"That—"

Kruelo momentarily stopped speaking.

Sound came from below the passage.