Chapter 110: Demon Floetta (2)
Nero was flabbergasted.
“You want to cooperate with me, now?”
“Yup! That’s about it!”
“……Are you perhaps a little lacking in intelligence, meow?”
Nero blatantly twirled his finger around his head, insulting Floetta.
It was so absurd that he forgot he was pretending to be Jana and his original way of speaking slipped out.
“How did you know?! Everyone asks that!”
“…….”
“Kitty, you’re smart! Hehe.”
Nero was rarely at a loss for words.
It was an uncommon sight for him, who, as an ever-slick, self-paced individual, had a knack for bewildering others.
If Hake had been here, he would have collapsed, clutching his stomach and laughing.
“Whhyy? Doesn’t it sound fun? Kitty hates Depicio, and I don’t care at all what happens here either!”
“Weren’t you on Depicio’s side, meow? You said you were a collaborator.”
“Well, but it’s true! I was only planning to be on the same boat as Depicio for a little while……! Why, when your paths overlap during a journey, you sometimes travel with other travelers, right? It’s like that!”
Nero stored that information in his memory.
“Besides…… it was a waste to consume a pretty soul like White Moon’s as a sacrifice!”
Floetta flicked her tongue, wetting her lips.
Like a hunter smacking their lips before a delicious meal.
“Isn’t it a good thing for you too, kitty, if you join hands with me? The fact that you came all this way, hiding your true form and imitating White Moon…… means you don’t want to offer that child as a sacrifice either, right!”
Floetta’s innocent question was met with Nero’s noncommittal smile, effectively brushing it off.
Instead, he shifted the topic.
“You seem to be able to see souls…… Is White Moon’s soul pretty?”
The simple Floetta was completely fooled.
She clapped her hands, clap clap, and smiled brightly.
“That’s right, that’s right! It’s really pretty. White and sparkling. It’s so lovely how her soul went right to the brink of shattering and then barely held on! While her own soul was burning black with hatred, her clear face showed no emotion at all!”
“…….”
“Isn’t it suuuuper cute?! I barely managed to resist the urge to turn her into a flower right away, you know? I’m so proud of myself!”
Her grinning appearance seemed to be missing a screw or two, and he desperately wanted to tell Jana to run away from this crazy woman, but.
“What’s your objective, meow? You don’t seem to like Depicio very much…… How did you end up joining hands with them?”
“Hmm? What’s so important about that? What you and I want to do is the most important thing!”
“My thoughts are a little different, meow. It’s an important matter to me.”
Nero no longer let himself be swayed and responded calmly.
Not losing his composure, no matter the situation.
It was one of the many strengths of the current Hunter, who was once Depicio’s foremost prospect and was considered most suitable for handling complex missions.
“Hmm, if you say so, kitty……. Alright, I’ll tell you.”
Then Floetta, contrary to her attitude so far, fidgeted and mumbled in a barely audible voice.
“To meet again……”
‘Could this be a weakness?’ Nero’s eyes glinted for a moment as he artlessly asked back.
“What? I can’t hear you, meow. Speak louder, more clearly, meow.”
For Nero, who often stole others’ appearances and memories and overlaid them onto himself, acting was his most confident specialty.
An opportunity to dig out information about the opponent had come, so he had to be even more proactive.
“Hmm, you see, kitty, about me……”
Floetta’s lips curved into a beautiful arc.
Her cheeks flushed red.
“To reunite with my master, whom I respect and adore most in this world! That’s my goal!”
“…….”
“For that, I can do anything!”
A strange light glinted in her clear green eyes.
“Depicio has become unnecessary lately. I was thinking of cleaning them up neatly before they became a hindrance. It turned out well, didn’t it~! If it’s the two of us, we can clean up even faster. Right?”
“…….”
Nero, who had grown up in a fanatical group and frequently encountered fanatic-like individuals nearby, could tell.
That this was a faith bordering on madness.
‘I have to kill her here.’
Nero suddenly felt that thought flash through his mind.
From the moment he first encountered her, Nero had felt an impulsive hostility towards Floetta.
It was an uncharacteristic impulse for Nero, who thoroughly analyzed and calculated all aspects during missions to derive results.
‘I don’t know why…… but it’s strange.’
However, he was skilled at hiding.
Hiding emotions, impulses, murderous intent, Nero put on a clean smile.
“Alright, meow.”
If it was for the sake of mission accomplishment, Nero was someone who wouldn’t shy away from any means available to him.
The reason Elwin had sent Nero and Hake to infiltrate Depicio.
─To smuggle out the Gnaude tribe.
White Moon, raised to become the vessel for the reincarnating Beastkin King.
Black Moon had called her ill-fated destiny, predetermined from birth, a ‘sacrifice.’
But the actual material consumed as a sacrifice for the Beastkin King’s revival was something else.
It was the Gnaude tribe.
‘They probably intended to use the Gnaude tribe’s Sacrifice Devouring trait to make the power of the reincarnating Beastkin King even stronger.’
It was publicly known that the top Hunter of that era had killed the Beastkin King who had looked down upon the world.
However, this was a story with a few missing puzzle pieces.
The missing puzzle pieces were in the story secretly passed down only to the executives within Depicio.
The top Hunter of that era had killed the Beastkin King’s physical body, but his evil soul was said to be immortal and could not be killed.
It was said that they had barely managed to seal it after immense sacrifices.
But if one interpreted this from a different perspective…… it meant that the Beastkin King’s power at that time was comparable to that of a Top Hunter.
That he could function capably as an adversary to a transcendent Top Hunter!
-So, they probably intended to strengthen the Beastkin King’s power simultaneously with incarnating him into a new body. To be able to defeat the still young Top Hunter of Yellow…… me.
Nero remembered Elwin’s words without missing a single syllable.
-The mission I’m entrusting to you two is somewhat dangerous. But it’s something that must be done.
-Miss Nero, you will disguise yourself as Miss Jana and draw Depicio’s attention, and in the meantime, Sir Hake, please find the Gnaude tribe. The Gnaude tribe will be somewhere in the Depicio hideout.
And Elwin had ordered Zeraphe Gnaude to wait nearby.
The fierce whirlwinds (swirling) around the Forgotten Stone Tower.
Because of them, there was always noise in the surroundings.
So, even if they weren’t too far away, even assassins sensitive to presence wouldn’t be able to detect Zeraphe Gnaude, that was the calculation.
-Once you find the location, Sir Hake, contact Sir Zeraphe via Nexion. Then Sir Zeraphe will abduct, no, safely evacuate the Gnaude tribe.
The role of investigating the Gnaude tribe’s location was to be entirely handled by Hake.
‘Both I, who left Depicio long ago, and that Hake fellow, who would be a stranger to the newly built hideout after relocating…… honestly, we’re not in an advantageous position.’
Every moment was critical.
The second coming of the Beastkin King, who had once made the entire continent bleed, might occur.
Floetta’s assistance, who would be familiar with the geography of this hideout, would be a great help.
“I was sick and tired of Depicio too. For a little while…… I’ll cooperate, meow.”
Nero smoothly affirmed.
‘First, join hands and make her let her guard down…… then watch for an opportunity and kill her.’
With a sharp knife hidden behind his back.
“Wow! Wooow~! Kitty became my ally!”
Floetta, oblivious, raised both hands like a child and rejoiced.
“It’s only temporary, meow.”
Nero said playfully and winked.
At his words that subtly drew a line, she pouted and complained.
“Hmph. Kitty, you’re too self-righteous. But I still like it! I like you!”
“……But you, do you even know the meaning of the word self-righteous, meow?”
“Hmm?”
Seeing her innocent face, as if saying ‘I don’t know anything~,’ Nero decided to just keep his mouth shut.
It was a shrewd judgment characteristic of a self-paced individual who often frustrated many people, realizing that she wouldn’t understand even if he told her.
“Sigh. More importantly, do you have any plan, meow?”
“Hmm~? Not really, nothing like that?”
……Is that a boast?
Nero, who inadvertently thought so, soon focused on the words that followed.
“I know something that looks fun! There’s a really big jar inside the stone tower!”
“……A jar, you say?”
“Yup, yup! They wouldn’t even let me get close. They said even I couldn’t until ‘the time’ came, or something. Doesn’t it sound like something fun!?”
Her clear green eyes sparkled with curiosity.
“Certainly……”
It seemed like there was something there.
‘I need to check it out.’
He had intended to buy time in White Moon’s form, but at the point where he killed Black Moon based on his own judgment, it was too late to remain quiet.
Black Moon was a specialist in mental manipulation and brainwashing.
He arbitrarily toyed with and controlled minds with fine threads of mana emanating from his fingertips.
Even Nero didn’t know what would happen if his hands touched him, so he had killed him immediately.
‘So, it would be best to obtain information that outweighs that.’
Nero wanted to be as competent and useful a resource as possible for Elwin.
Because for a free life without any oppression or pressure, it was right to be by the side of a strong leader.
“Then, you agree?”
Floetta, keenly perceiving agreement in Nero’s expression, exclaimed.
Her spiderweb-like pupils narrowed into thin crescents.
* * *
Meanwhile, aboard Elwin’s airship.
Whooooooong!
Unlike its usual leisurely operation, the airship, flying at maximum speed, caused the internal fixtures to vibrate weakly.
Today, the weather was particularly cloudy and gloomy.
On the airship deck, where sleet was scattering.
A single person stood tall there.
“…….”
The blond boy stood perfectly still, watching as they cut through the white clouds and frost in the sky.
Elwin Krieger couldn't escape a strange, lingering sense of déjà vu.
‘Why did Floetta suddenly get involved in this matter?’
According to the original 「LAMPAS」, she was supposed to be hidden deep within the vast, verdant forest in the Elven Kingdom of the Western Continent.
Deep within the Alf Great Forest.
‘She would have been utterly defeated after recklessly challenging my master, unaware of her own limitations.’
Having barely survived thanks to the mercy of the Azure Hunter, Sarakia, she couldn’t move an inch from the Alf Great Forest due to fear and terror.
Until she was lured by Familia’s Sesto, the fallen fairy, around the mid-to-late stages of the original work.
‘Floetta moved? Was there an incident significant enough for that? What’s her objective?’
He couldn't even begin to guess where the butterfly effect had started.
“It feels like there’s something more……”
But while still completely in the dark, the airship continued its relentless advance.
Towards the place he had to go.
For time and fate never stopped their march.