.｡.:✧ Chapter 26 ✧:.｡.

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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I had never felt a person’s breath so close to me before. During my time as a Sherpa in the Demon forest, I occasionally had unintentional contact with customers, but this was the first time someone had approached me so openly.

Watching the girl, who slowly approached me like a cat stalking a mouse, with her lips trembling as she got closer, it felt like I was in a dream.

But suddenly, a warning sound rang out.

It was the unique sound that triggered when a magical trap was activated. I had heard it before when someone triggered a magical trap.

I quickly realized something was wrong.

“Stop!”

I twisted my body and managed to push Rin aside. Then, I hastily got up and grabbed my sword.

Rin, too, seemed to regain her focus as the mental haze cleared. Her pupils, which had been unfocused, returned to normal.

But then, chaos erupted.

“Thief!”

“Stop the thief!”

“Close the entrance!”

Not only the security guards but also the professors and even the dean rushed out in a hurry. I had never seen such a chaotic scene at the academy.

Ares and Hayun, who had been under the tree, were already caught and being questioned by the guards.

Rin, who had slowly gotten up, began to look around, seemingly confused. She was probably wondering what had just happened.

I looked around at the commotion and saw a group of security guards chasing after someone.

“Here she is! She’s near the library!”

“What are you talking about? I’m chasing her! She just passed by the pond!”

“Front gate! She’s running towards the main gate!”

The guards seemed to be chasing multiple thieves. But what could they be stealing around here?

This area was rarely frequented by people in the academy. If I had to guess, it was the tree we had just been at, the designated confession spot?

Then, a female student ran toward us.

“Rin! It’s chaos out there! We need to run!”

“Uh, yeah!”

I vaguely remembered her as one of the students who often hung around with Rin. I didn’t know her name exactly, but she urgently gestured for us to follow her. Rin seemed to naturally move to follow her.

I struck the girl in the abdomen with the scabbard Hayun left behind, knocking her off her feet and holding the sword to her throat.

“Da, Daniel, what’s wrong!”

I don’t know if I’ve come to my senses or if I’m pretending not to notice, but Rin, now in her usual mood, stopped me in surprise, but I shook my head.

“Why are you here?”

Outside, they were making a fuss about catching thieves, but a student suddenly showed up?

It was too suspicious to be true.

But the girl frowned and replied.

“Because I saw you go out! Hayun and you hanging out at the cafe! Everything you did tonight, I saw from the window and told Rin!”

I glanced at Rin and she nodded.

“Ma, that’s right, I followed you because Hare tipped me off……”

Rin was uncharacteristically hesitant, but aside from the change in her mood, her memory seemed to be clear.

“I’ll explain everything that happened a little while ago, so for now……”

“No.”

Rin clung to me, almost pleadingly, as if to see if I blamed her for my stony expression, but that wasn’t the reason.

But I clarified,

“So you used your friend to steal from me?”

I said, looking down at Hare, and she shouted in frustration.

“What kind of bullshit is that! I only told Rin to help you because I know she likes you, and I came along just in case!”

She looked like she was about to go crazy with frustration as she yelled at me, but my mood turned cold.

Rin was about to say something in her defense, but I raised my hand to silence her.

“In the Forest of the Abyss, there is a demon called Cockatrice.”

Rin looked at me as if she didn’t know what I’m talking about, but Hare’s expression hardened and her eyes grew wider and wider.

“It enjoys deceiving people rather than killing them, and hunting it can be quite challenging.”

“…..”

“It possesses mysterious abilities despite not using mana. Personally, I call it ‘witchcraft’ rather than magic.”

It was a unique creature that created most of the legends and myths in the forest. It played pranks on people who were just starting their journey through the forest, leading them to wander endlessly, making them encounter people who looked exactly like them, or suddenly causing their hands to stick to their legs and their legs to become hands. It even caused teeth to grow on nearby plants, which then started devouring humans.

It didn’t want to kill people, but the result of its pranks was often death.

“Do you know the easiest way to deal with its tricks?”

My lips involuntarily twisted into a smirk.

A sigh escaped me in disbelief.

“Check the color of the moon. When they’re playing tricks on you, your vision is shared, and you see it the way they see it.”

Upon hearing this, Rin raised her head abruptly, and her lips trembled in astonishment.

“Green, moon?”

The once brilliantly shining moon now displayed a greenish hue, as if covered in mold.

“The moon has been green ever since you arrived. I don’t know how you invoked a Cockatrice’s magic, but it was highly suspicious.”

I felt sorry for the guards and professors who were oblivious to everything but catching the thief, not even considering gazing at the moon. Well, even if they did, they probably wouldn’t know if it was a result of a Cockatrice’s magic.

Even the thieves who were currently on the run used the most basic of a Cockatrice’s spells to evade capture.

“Kuk, kuk, kuk.”

Hare acknowledged this with a mumbled agreement, nodding her head. “Kuk, kuk! I never thought you’d know about a Cockatrice. How did you know? On this continent, you could probably count the people who know Cockatrice’s on one hand.”

The creature was so unique that it never showed itself, so no one knew of its existence, and therefore no one hunted it.

‘Rather, I was curious.’
I wondered how on earth this girl knew a Cockatrice, but suddenly her body disappeared like a mirage.

“Do you know about this too? If you’re ensnared by a Cockatrice’s pranks, there’s no way out!”

Hare’s voice echoed ominously. Outside, the guards and professors stopped in their tracks, bewildered, and looked around.

“Even though I considered going easy on Rin since I saw her, it seems that won’t work. I guess I’ll have to give you a little trauma.”

The appearance of the trees in the academy began to change suddenly. They split in half, and from within, tongues and fangs emerged.

What’s important is that it wasn’t just me who saw this, but also the other guards, professors, and even Rin.

It seemed she couldn’t fully control the Cockatrice’s power.

Leaves started falling from the transforming trees, turning into sharp fangs that flew toward me.

“No!”

Swish!

Since I had no intention of dodging, Rin, who was behind me, flew in front of me and protected me.

This was an unexpected turn of events, so I was momentarily taken aback. I grabbed her injured shoulder as she shouted into the air, “Hare, what’s wrong with you, all of a sudden!”

But she continued to sink her fangs into her friend without answering, and Rin stepped in front of me, casting a protective spell.

“It’s okay! Don’t worry. I’ll protect you!”

Her protective spell was incredibly intricate and solid, to the point where it surprised me. I knew she had magical talent, but achieving this level of skill at the age of eighteen was no small feat.

However, unfortunately…

“Huh?”

The fangs completely ignored the existence of the protective spell and flew towards me.

Splat! Splat!

The fangs pierced through again. Rin had flown herself into the path of dozens of fangs, and her hand was even completely mangled.

“…..”

I watched her silently.

As the pain flowed through her and her body trembled, Rin took a step forward and caressed my cheek with her one remaining hand.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

What was she apologizing for?

“I’m sorry for not understanding your feelings. I’m sorry for not being there for you when you needed me. And… I’m sorry for trying to kiss you.”

“…..”

I remained silent.

“As your childhood friend, can I ask for one thing?”

As her breath grew shallow, the flying fangs stopped. The tree monsters, instead of attacking us, charged towards the professors and guards.

“Tell me.”

I said bluntly and Rin smiled faintly

.”It would be so nice if you didn’t hate me……”

“……”

I picked up the slowly collapsing Rin and laid her on the ground.

“There’s so much I wanted to say…… so much.”

Watching her straddle the line between death and life, I slowly stood up and drew my sword.

I wondered what Hare was thinking as she watched her friend die… or did she even consider her a friend?

“You know what?”

I said to her,

“Why do you think we see the green moon she sees when we are under the Cockadric’s spell?”

Only the sound of the rustling wind and the professors arguing echoed as an answer.

“That’s because her senses are shared with us. So, what she sees, we see, and what she feels, we feel.”

She’s a curious creature, isn’t she?

“Actually, it doesn’t matter. The point is, she is.”

I paused, condensing the irritation building inside me, and spit it out.

“She’s got a psychosis that’s so fucking extreme, it’s unbelievable.”

To the extent of seeing hallucinations, hearing voices, and feeling phantom pain.

“In other words, everything we see is what a Cockatrice normally experiences, sees, and feels.”

In truth, a Cockatrice was not much of a magical beast.

It was just a madman who could share its senses with others.

“So when you experience a delusion, it’s somewhat different from actual pain. She’s never been properly wounded or stabbed, after all.”

This was the crucial part where I figured out its weakness.

“It makes it sound like it’s invincible, but it’s actually quite simple to take down a Cockatrice.”

Push.

Hayun’s sword plunged straight into my thigh. A dizzying pain rushed up my back and stabbed me in the head.

“Aaaaah!”

Hare’s scream echoed harshly.

“The sensation is shared.”

With that, I drew my sword and stabbed myself in the abdomen.

“Arrrrrrrrrrrr!”

“Cockatrice’s would cry and run away after just one time.”

Chuckling, I asked her.

“How long do you think you can hold out?”

***

I didn’t engage in self-harm any further. Hare, unable to endure the pain, fainted.

The moon had returned to its original color, and the guards and professors who had been shooting swords and magic wildly into the air were utterly confused about what had just happened.

I told the Dean I’d explain it to him tomorrow, and we were heading back to the dormitories now.

Rin, who had nearly died from blood loss just a moment ago, found it fascinating and kept examining her unscathed body. Ares and Hayun, who had been swept away with us, were still trembling with fear.

I, on the other hand, had received healing magic and was completely recovered.

I trusted that I could withstand this level of pain.

Outside the dormitory, Rin asked the two of them with a dark expression, “I have a sleep spell that lets you fall asleep without any worries. It has no side effects. Would you like me to cast it?”

“…… Please.”

“Me too.”

I had heard that they had been devoured by plants and torn apart, but they were managing to keep their composure.

“What about you, Daniel?”

“Sure.”

I said, not sure I could sleep after the excitement of the battle, and Rin smiled slightly as she reached out and cast a spell on me, then immediately cast one on herself.

“Now get into bed and you should be able to sleep soundly, it’s a spell I use often so I guarantee it will work.”

Rin said while patting her chest. It must have been a shock for her to realize that her best friend had used and betrayed her, but she kept a steady smile on her face as if to say not to worry.

And so, we each retreated to our respective rooms.

As I undressed, I found myself lost in thought.

I hadn’t heard from Hare about what she had stolen or why she had stolen it, and frankly, I wasn’t curious.

What mattered was…

“Even when faced with the threat of death, she didn’t change.”

The reason I deliberately allowed her to believe she was going to die was simple.

It wasn’t because I thought she would become the Commander of the Undead when pushed to her limits.

“I considered it my biggest hypothesis.”

Instead, she had relinquished everything with such resignation that she even smiled at me as she thought she was dying.

Sleep began to wash over me.

Various thoughts crossed my mind, but Rin’s magic worked better than I expected.

Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep without even taking a bath.

***

Thunk!

I woke up suddenly to the noise and sunlight streaming in through the window. I felt refreshed as if my fatigue had vanished, thanks to Rin’s magic, but there was no time to relax.

Knights in armor had broken into my room and barged in.

In a daze, before I could say anything, they roughly escorted me away.

I had considered contorting my body to escape, but first, I needed to assess the situation.

‘What the hell is going on?’

There was no feeling that they were simply bringing witnesses from last night’s incident.

Not only me, but Ares from the same floor was also being taken away, and when we reached the first floor, Rin and Hayun were there as well.

A stern woman wearing glasses knelt us down and declared as she crossed her arms, “You are under arrest on suspicion of stealing the Treasure of the Sun King from Aios Academy last night. The subsequent procedures…”

“What are you talking about?”

Ares protested with a bewildered expression.

“We are the victims! The culprits are…”

He was getting angrier but gradually stopped speaking.

“The culprits…”

Who were the culprits?

I couldn’t help but wonder why he was acting like that, so I continued the sentence.

“The culprits…”

The culprits…

Slowly, I turned to look at the faces of Hayun and Lin, who were also there, and to my surprise, their expressions changed to a pale and horrified look.

“The culprits are…”

Who were the culprits?

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