Chapter 107: The Heterogeneous
The next day, Jana and the King of Batevil appeared with their eyes swollen shut.
The Spero members were inwardly curious but didn’t poke into matters out of unnecessary curiosity.
In a world like this, it was proper etiquette for both parties to appropriately overlook others' secret affairs.
“From now on, we, Spero, will go to the ‘Forgotten Stone Tower’.”
Elwin declared to everyone gathered.
“Depicio will be there.”
“Depicio? Are you certain?”
“Yes. Because the only means to achieve their grand cause lies dormant there.”
His tone held strong conviction, so no one doubted its truth.
They just figured Elwin had done his Elwin thing, or that Spero’s intelligence network was exceptionally outstanding and had found out.
“……I see.”
Only the King of Batevil, who knew what kind of place the Forgotten Stone Tower was, let out a quiet breath.
Elwin explained the plan.
“Once we arrive in the airspace near the stone tower, we will immediately jump down and enter the Depicio hideout.”
“Jump down, you say?”
An old retainer from the Batevil Kingdom cautiously spoke up.
His face was full of worry.
The other retainers had similar expressions.
“Even if you are Hunters…… will you be alright?”
“Near the Forgotten Stone Tower, strong whirlwinds always blow, making it difficult for ordinary people to even approach.”
It was a valid concern.
They didn't know that the Spero members had special cloaks.
“Ah! However, we absolutely, decidedly, did not mean to disregard your capabilities!”
“Please just think of it as the excessive worry of old folks. When you get old, you just get more needlessly anxious……. Haha.”
The retainers added, flustered.
Elwin smiled faintly.
“Of course, I understand.”
When they showed their sincerity, how could he not know?
It was just that…… the ministers who had been discussing the major and minor affairs of a nation just a few hours ago were acting like ordinary old men, and the gap felt new.
“Don’t worry. We can fly. The things you are concerned about won’t happen.”
While Elwin was reassuring the retainers, Jana, who had been subtly observing the situation and gauging the mood, raised her hand.
As if she had something she wanted to say.
“Lewin. Um…… there’s something I haven’t had a chance to tell you. It’s information related to Depicio. I thought you might not know……”
Jana began to speak hesitantly.
“I’m sorry. I judged that it wasn’t very important under my own discretion…… No, no. That’s an excuse. I decided it would be difficult for Lewin to believe me even if I told this story.”
Saying so, she indirectly confessed that she hadn't completely trusted him, the acquaintance of her deceased husband and a benefactor who had helped her greatly so far.
As if embarrassed by that point, Jana’s cheeks reddened.
“It’s alright. I don’t mind.”
Elwin paid no heed to this.
He merely asked urgently.
“But information I don’t know? What is it? Miss Jana.”
If Jana’s words were true, this could become another huge variable, and…… if one were to be precise, it was Elwin who had deliberately deceived Jana.
In reality, he and Oridion Bartwell were not acquaintances, but complete strangers.
Actually, it was strange that Jana had trusted and followed Elwin.
No, perhaps she knew deep down.
That the boy named Lewin Legisel was a complete stranger with no relation to her husband.
It was just that…… she had closed her eyes for a moment.
No matter how much of an iron lady she was, who had sworn a bloody revenge, she would have needed a place to briefly fold her tirelessly flapping wings and rest.
“It’s something I found out…… when I returned to Depicio after finishing a long-term mission.”
Jana, who narrowed her brow as if still reluctant to speak about the mission, then slowly continued.
“Frauqi, meaning Depicio, which didn’t accept anyone other than demi-humans as members…… strangely, there was one heterogeneous being. They said it was an accomplice of Depicio.”
“A heterogeneous being? An accomplice?”
Elwin frowned.
The nuance of the words felt strange somehow.
“Are you perhaps referring to a LAMPASian?”
Among all demi-humans, a lone LAMPASian would inevitably stand out.
Just as a white crane stands out among a flock of black cranes simply by its existence.
“No. It’s different from…… such racial classifications!”
Jana immediately denied Elwin’s question.
“It was just, different. Is this a human like me? ……It had such a heterogeneous atmosphere that such a thought suddenly crossed my mind. Hmm, how should I explain this.”
Jana let out a groan and showed her displeasure.
At a glance, she looked like a scholar burdened with the duty of establishing an incomprehensibly difficult theory.
“This is so frustrating.”
Gale, who had been listening silently, shook his head and interjected.
Even though he wasn't from Elwin's past life's homeland, he had a temperament that couldn't stand unproductive waiting.
“So, what on earth is it? I say, white young lady. Tell us clearly, a little more specifically.”
“Hmm, specifically, you say……”
“If it’s too abstract, you can just tell us what you felt.”
Jana, who had been groaning with a troubled expression, soon brightened up as if she had found an appropriate analogy.
“Ah, yes! Something fundamental was different! As if…… they lived in a different world from us!”
“What? No, what kind of nonsense is this now?”
Gale was momentarily dumbfounded by the answer that transcended imagination.
Then Calix and Sercia asked.
“Jana. Are you perhaps talking about something like a monster?”
“I’ve never seen a monster…… so I’m not sure about that. And do monsters also have human appearances?”
“……No. The monsters we saw were hideous beasts.”
“Hmm. Then how does it compare to a Geoma? Is it somewhat similar, Sister Jana?”
Jana and Sercia, who had hit it off right from their first meeting, had at some point started calling each other sister.
Jana’s eyes widened.
“Come to think of it, that sinister aura felt like a Geoma too! Though I don’t know if there are humanoid Geoma.”
Jana’s eyelashes trembled faintly as she recalled that time.
It was too difficult to put into mere words the bizarre and strange experience she had felt back then.
“Besides, she said strange things from our first meeting. Like my soul was pretty, or that I would bloom into a beautiful flower.”
A woman who exuded a strange atmosphere, as if thoroughly isolated from the whole world.
-Aha? It’s you! The White Moon who returned after completing an important mission?
Her appearance was identical to most female LAMPASians.
She seemed to be quite beautiful, but Jana wasn't the type to judge people by their appearance, so she wasn't swayed by this.
Her insensitivity to beauty and ugliness also played a part.
-Your soul, it’s so, so, so pretty~! It’s pure white and sparkling! I want it!! You’ll really bloom into a beautiful flower…….
As soon as Jana saw ‘her’ smacking her lips as if disappointed, she felt an intense sense of unease, something that pierced her mind and couldn’t be ignored.
“The moment I first saw ‘her,’ I realized. It was a very instinctive feeling.”
─Malice.
As if pitch-blackness had melted and stuck to it, as if it contained a piece of the abyss.
A pure and innocent malice, like that of a child.
“That woman, no…… ‘that thing’ is an enemy of humanity. A harm that must be killed and eliminated immediately.”
Sharp killing intent glinted in Jana’s eyes.
The cups on the table trembled from the murderous intent of someone who was once a Depicio executive.
That alone was enough for them to know she was speaking her true feelings.
“…….”
As the assembly quietly drew in their breath at Jana’s ruthless and somewhat incomprehensible remarks.
Elwin’s pupils, who had been listening silently to Jana’s words, shook violently.
“……Could it be?”
He had an idea of what it might be.
No! Given the current circumstances, there was nothing else it could be.
A certain fact and a hidden secret of this world, which no one but Elwin could know.
“Of all times……”
Elwin said, covering his face with his hand as if in pain.
Of all times, that had appeared as a variable now?
At Elwin’s unexpected appearance, Gale asked, puzzled.
“Hey, kiddo. Do you know something about what that white young lady said? The person? Whatever that being is?”
“……How could I not know. They are very dangerous beings.”
Elwin, who had let out a hollow laugh, was just about to open his mouth.
“Outsider.”
* * *
Meanwhile, at the Forgotten Stone Tower.
Around it, a raging whirlwind, like a storm, blew ceaselessly.
A giant tree trunk enveloped the stone tower.
Like tentacles.
Between the trunks, several spacious areas were connected like an anthill; that was Depicio’s hideout.
The inside was tumultuous.
“Reporting to the Leader!”
It was an untimely uproar.
Good news and bad news had arrived simultaneously.
“The submarine, filled to the brim with Salamosa, which we had moved to the upper reaches of Nevera Valley, has disappeared without a trace!”
“Hake has successfully abducted the White Moon!”
The man, seated on a throne woven from thick tree trunks, listened silently to the report.
“Hmm.”
The leader of Depicio, the Mountain Elder, opened his mouth with an inscrutable expression.
“I see. So it has come to this.”
“We apologize, Leader. We should have watched over it carefully until the end.”
The subordinates who had finished reporting bowed their heads where they stood, looking ashamed.
“It’s alright. As long as the Top Hunter of Yellow has intervened, I never expected all our plans to be fully realized anyway. It’s regrettable, but we cannot retrieve what has already gone over to their side. We will proceed with our scheduled plan. And bring Hake.”
One subordinate quickly went outside.
Soon after, Hake, dressed entirely in black, entered.
“You called for me, Leader.”
There was no emotion on his face as he prostrated himself in a posture of obedience.
Like a well-made doll.
“I thought you would die for failing the Mediale invasion plan. But you did well this time. You brought the White Moon, did you not?”
“Yes. She happened to have joined the Spero side, so I brought her here safely.”
A monotone voice asked.
“I heard she was with the Spero members. How is it, the level of the members? ……Was the Top Hunter of Yellow there?”
It was the most important question.
Depending on the presence or absence of the Top Hunter of Yellow, the success rate of achieving their grand cause would change.
“To answer your first question…… the Spero members are strong, but if the Depicio elite assassination squad and the Shadow Clan forces unite, they shouldn't be a major hindrance.”
Hake continued to answer.
“And the Top Hunter…… was not there. Currently, Spero is led by a vice-commander named ‘Lewin Legisel.’ I expect the Top Hunter is in charge of defenses at Mediale.”
“Is that so? Is that how it is? Hahahahaha-!”
The Mountain Elder burst into loud laughter.
“A good start. Very good! Are the heavens helping us!”
The Mountain Elder, who had stroked his lips satisfactorily, soon shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Where is the White Moon? Bring that child here!”
It sounded like a declaration of sorts.
“We will perform the advent ritual!”
“Waaaaaaah-!”
Then, a thunderous cheer erupted from the mouths of all the assassins in the hideout.
Hake, the only one in this place who wasn't cheering, thought.
‘You will never succeed in the ritual.’
Because the person they currently believed to be Jana was actually a disguised Nero.
Hake subtly raised the corners of his mouth and sneered at his clueless former comrades.
* * *
“……We need to hurry. Nero and Sir Hake’s lives might be in danger!”
Elwin, with a sunken expression, said coolly.