Chapter 37: The Hundred Hearts
As I took a step forward, my legs felt limp, like the strength had drained out of them. Had my muscles deteriorated from lying still for too long?
Grrrggle—
My stomach growled, a hollow, painful sensation as if my insides were glued to my back.
It wasn’t just my imagination.
I must’ve been lying down for quite a while.
Ah, I could really go for some fried chicken.
Maybe it was because of that dream, but I couldn’t stop thinking about a combo meal from the delivery app—crispy, golden fried chicken from modern times.
A juicy, savory feast was exactly what I needed today.
As I wandered through the trees, lost in these trivial thoughts, a shadow suddenly dropped down in front of me.
“I was wondering when you’d finally come to. Today, huh?”
An all-too-familiar voice and presence.
It was Karl.
I looked up at him, perched on a tree branch.
That’s high up—around the fifth floor of an apartment building?
Yet, when he dropped down, there was barely any sound, let alone the impact you’d expect.
It meant his body was light as a feather now.
“Are you fully recovered?”
“I got plenty of rest, so yeah.”
“Seems like I was out for quite a while.”
“The parasite moved slower than expected. A full week has passed.”
A week?
No wonder my whole body felt like it was sore. I’d been unconscious for an entire week. I also didn’t realize it was possible for a human to go a week without eating and still be mostly okay.
“Did everyone just leave an unconscious patient behind and go off somewhere?”
“We just expanded the perimeter and set up watch. The base is safe.”
“Did something happen?”
“Things have gotten... a bit annoying.”
“Huh?”
Karl gestured for me to follow him and began walking.
Judging by the direction, we were heading back to the base.
As I followed behind, I asked, “Did the procedure go well?”
“It was a success. You see the bracelet, right?”
“Yes.”
“The parasite is settled in your wrist now. The bracelet will slowly drain its life force, killing it off bit by bit without it even noticing.”
“What kind of magic does that?”
“It’s Life Drain, a dark magic that siphons life energy. Nasty stuff, but the amount on this bracelet is so minimal it’d only make the parasite feel a bit itchy.”
“Lucky you knew someone who could make something like this.”
“I happen to know a dark mage who’s, well, reasonably principled.”
A bracelet with a miniature Life Drain spell, just enough to kill a single parasite over the course of a month. Ingenious, really.
It would slowly kill the parasite without triggering any defensive reactions, like it was designed specifically to handle Boom parasites.
Who was this dark mage who’d come up with such a device?
“Hungry?”
Karl’s question immediately erased my curiosity.
“Of course I am. Got any meat?”
“Something like it.”
Once we returned to the base, Karl handed me a small pouch.
Inside, I found it packed with dried jerky.
It wasn’t fresh and juicy, but at this point, anything was welcome.
Settling in, I tore into the jerky, stuffing it into my mouth as fast as I could. Hunger really does make everything taste better.
Karl watched me in silence for a while. Sensing his gaze, I swallowed a piece of jerky and looked up.
“What is it? You look like you want to ask me something.”
“Your sense for these things is uncanny. If only Elton had half your awareness, I’d have no complaints.”
“Isn’t loyalty more important than awareness?”
“For a disposable pawn, yes, loyalty is enough. But for someone you plan to keep by your side for a long time? Loyalty alone isn’t sufficient—especially for someone in a high position.”
“Why is awareness so important?”
“Because it’s directly tied to survival. We’re assassins. None of our targets are weaker than we are. We’re constantly facing stronger opponents in a game of wits.”
“To wait, to hunt, or to flee—timing is everything.”
“Exactly. That split-second decision can be the difference between life and death.”
Karl nodded approvingly at my answer.
‘Arthur Clayton.’
Karl observed the man in front of him.
Guzzling down water from a flask and still eyeing the remaining jerky like he hadn’t had enough.
It had only been a short time, but we’d spent hours discussing various topics.
At first, I annoyed him with endless questions, asking about this and that, but as time went on, he found himself enjoying those conversations.
‘We’re on the same wavelength.’
Meaning, despite his forty years of experience, I was able to follow his line of thinking with surprising ease.
I didn’t seem formally educated, yet I was quick with my judgments and had the savvy of someone with plenty of life experience.
Sharp instincts and quick understanding, too.
For the first time in a long while, he’d met someone with real potential.
He almost wanted to train me properly.
“You’ve reached 2-star, I see.”
“Ah, yes, I awakened just after the procedure. I forgot to mention it. How did you know?”
“That’s part of why the procedure took so long.”
“Wait, it caused problems?”
“I’d prepared the dosage based on you being a 1-star. When mana starts circulating, Bethel’s Poison begins to neutralize. The antidote diluted too quickly, throwing off the timing for the parasite’s movement.”
“Oh.”
I hadn’t thought of that.
Who’d have guessed that reaching 2-star would interfere with the procedure?
Karl had to administer more poison to fix the issue, which likely explained why I’d been unconscious for a week.
That had been a close call, but I was lucky.
Or maybe I’d only pulled through because Karl had taken an interest in me.
I thanked him once again.
“I owe you my life. Thank you.”
“Well, you did save me, too. The experience of being in a slime’s stomach… let’s just say it was unforgettable.”
“Yeah, it was pretty horrible.”
As I devoured the last of the jerky, we shared some light conversation. After a while, Karl hesitated, then asked me a question.
“When we get out of here, do you have somewhere to go?”
An offer of recruitment.
I hesitated to answer right away. Sensing my hesitation, Karl continued.
“If you have nowhere else, why not join our organization? With a common enemy, we could go beyond a mere alliance.”
“I’m sorry.”
But I declined.
Getting close to Karl was beneficial, but joining an organization was a different story.
Belonging to a group meant limitations on my freedom. It was best to avoid that.
I might be inhabiting the body of an assassin, but I had no intention of remaining one forever. To survive until the end of this novel, I needed to grow stronger than anyone.
Karl looked a bit disappointed by my answer, but only for a moment. He quickly moved on to another topic.
“So, when are you going to tell me about your awakened Divine ability?”
“I’ll tell you now.”
The last time Karl had asked for my real name, he’d also inquired about my Divine ability. At the time, I hadn’t yet figured out the full capabilities of my ancient glyph, so I’d asked for a few days to understand it better.
The power of the ancient glyph.
After absorbing multiple bio-stones and using it to counter that dark sorceress, I’d gained a lot of insight into the glyph’s potential.
Karl still mistook the glyph for my Divine power, but I didn’t plan on correcting him.
My actual Divine ability, Enchant, was something I intended to keep as a hidden card.
After all, it was Karl himself who taught me to hide some of my strength to survive. He would understand if he found out later.
“Purification?”
“Yes, it suppresses or removes unstable or impure energies.”
“That sounds more like the power of a priest or cleric. Do you serve any god?”
“I’m an atheist, actually.”
“…An atheist? Denying the gods when they clearly exist? You’re a strange one. The priests would foam at the mouth if they heard you say that.”
Was being an atheist going to be a problem here?
In a world where priests and clerics wielded divine power to perform miracles, it might make sense.
I wasn’t keen on a witch hunt.
Maybe I should consider aligning with one of the gods?
As I briefly pondered the gods in this novel, Karl suddenly asked another question.
“Then, can you heal?”
“Heal?”
“I’m asking if your power can be used to heal others, not just yourself.”
Using my power to aid allies…
For now, my ability seemed different from a priest’s. While a priest’s power focused on healing, my ability felt broader.
It could affect both physical and mental ailments, if that made sense.
“I’m not entirely sure, but I think it’s possible.”
“Really?”
Considering I’d lifted a curse off myself before, it seemed likely I could cure curses affecting others.
“How often can you use it?”
“How long can it last?”
“What’s the range?”
Karl continued with a barrage of questions, and I answered him without holding back.
Just as Karl had told me about Elton’s fire affinity, I couldn’t really keep my own power a secret while living together. Hiding it would only raise suspicion, so it was best to be forthright.
At the end, I drew a large circle on the ground with a stick.
The range of the light.
Karl studied the area of the circle, deep in thought.
What was he planning?
He’d mentioned things were chaotic outside. Could he be asking about my power because it related to whatever was happening out there?
After a moment, Karl clicked his tongue and said, “Even with your ability, it’s going to be tough to get everyone out.”
“Escape?”
“Let me fill you in. People have been flooding into this area at a terrifying rate. Nothing like the bandits from before.”
More serious than the bandits?
That would mean Dominic is openly raiding villages around the territory.
If things had escalated this quickly while I was unconscious for a week, it could only mean one thing.
“The monsters… their true form is Chimera. Bio-weapons created through artificial means.”
“Did Dominic’s information leak that far?”
“More than that. Word is, he’s a former high-ranking mage from the Tower, once loyal to Grand Duke Clark. He used to research biological enhancements using monster tissues, but now he’s a deranged mage who experiments on humans.”
So I was right.
Detailed information about Dominic and his Chimeras was spreading all across Tobaron.
There were likely two main reasons for this.
‘The Butcher has made his move.’
One, the Butcher had spread rumors about the bio-stones, and two, the involvement of Beneta.
“Have you seen any non-humans among those captured?”
“Non-humans?”
Karl thought for a moment before nodding.
“Yes. Since three days ago, I’ve started noticing them. And their numbers are growing.”
“Any elves among them?”
“No elves.”
I’d been hoping to see a female elf in the mix, but Karl shook his head.
No elves here…
That meant she was likely imprisoned in another experimental facility.
“Why do you ask?”
“I need to look into something. I suspect the ratio of non-humans here will increase quickly.”
“Non-humans?… Wait, don’t tell me.”
Karl seemed to catch on to the underlying meaning of my words.
“Is it Beneta? Dominic is attacking them?”
In all of Tobaron, the only place with a large concentration of non-humans was Beneta. Dominic must be using his Chimera army to raid the surrounding villages there.
The reason Dominic targeted non-humans was that his research on human subjects had reached its limits.
A hunt for non-humans.
And that would spark a major incident.
‘The abduction of the elf Sharbadin.’
Sharbadin was the lover of Dorneth, the ruler of Beneta.
She was the beautiful elf who, after persistent courting by Dorneth, finally agreed to marry him, as mentioned on the fifth floor of Blue Rose.
This abduction would set off a chain of events, drawing both Beneta and the Black Rose into action.
In the end, it would lead to the downfall of both factions.
‘They might’ve already clashed by now.’
Eventually, the Butcher would take over all of Tobaron, and it was Dominic Huaton who set the stage for his rise.
The arrival of a mad mage shattered the balance of power among the three great forces of Tobaron—Blyer, Etor, and Beneta.
In the time I’d been unconscious, it seemed the Butcher’s major power-boosting event, The Hundred Hearts, had already begun.