***
Riley, who noticed that someone had used mana from the direction of the memorial, was heading back there to join the part who used it.
“Young master, is it okay if we leave commander behind?”
Because Mi-rae decided to not leave her mother, who was sick, Riley, who was worried to leave her alone, chose Sera to accompany him, who had a good sense, when he had to decide either Nara or Sera to stay at Mi-rae’s house.
“He doesn’t understand the language… wouldn’t it be better for me and commander to go, and young master stays with Miss Mi-rae…”
When Sera asked as she was worried about Nara, who was as tactless as Ian, Riley, who had been moving toward the memorial, turned to her.
“What do you sense?”
“Ummm…”
“Don’t look anxious, just judge with ‘your sense’.”
When Sera, who frowned at Riley’s words, was troubled, Riley continued to help her make a choice.
“Is it right or wrong to leave Nara there? Don’t try to judge with your head, judge with your sense.”
Because he believed in her ‘sense’ that he had kept an eye on before coming to this world, Riley chose Sera, not Nara, to return to the memorial with him.
“I’m taking you with me because I don’t know if we will cross paths. And most of your senses are right.”
Whether in this world or the other world, there was such a thing as ‘a woman’s sense’ but… the sense that Sera had was far more special than those that are publicly spoken.
Her sense is almost at the level of prophecy that most choices lead to correct answers.
As if proving what Riley was muttering inside, Sera thought for a while, then slowly shook her head and spoke.
“In my judgment, I don’t think it’s wrong.”
She just felt bad for Mi-rae for leaving that tactless commander behind.
According to Sera’s senses, giving Nara the task to guard her house was not wrong.
“I just… should I feel bad for Miss Mi-rae?”
“She’s a good child. She’ll be fine.”
Although Nara often had quarrels with Iril, he treated her like a little sister and often let her win.
Riley, who thought Mi-rae would treat him as kindly as her brother, left him at her home and ran towards the memorial.
Mi-rae was no different from Iril. Riley, who thought she would treat him kindly like her brother, left him at her house and ran towards the memorial.
“…hmm?”
Riley suddenly stopped with a frown, hiding his face.
“Wait, stop.”
“What’s wrong?”
When Riley, who was running ahead, raised his arm to stop Sera’s path, she stopped after him and tilted her head as if wondering why.
“There.”
Sera, who was recently learning how to use her sense in Riley’s advice, narrowed her eyes as she looked in the direction Riley was pointing.
“People are gathering?”
Although there were people gathered, Sera couldn’t feel anything with her ‘sense’ and asked as if she wasn’t sure why Riley was pointing there.
“What’s wrong there?”
“That.”
To explain what Sera didn’t know, he pointed to the carriage flashing out blue and red lights alternately… in other words, to the police car and continued, wearing a hood as if he were suspicious.
“That flashy carriage, in this world, is driven by people like ‘guards’. The problem is… there are too many carriages.”
Sera, who stiffened as if she knew what was going on based on Riley’s explanation, murmured as she looked at the street where dozens of police cars were gathered.
“The number of carriages is approx… fourteen or fifteen.”
After that, Sera noticed not only the police car but also the people wearing the same police uniform. She hid her presence and stood next to Riley.
“Let’s test it.”
“What?”
Riley glanced at Sera next to him and suggested testing her ‘sense’ right here.
“What do you think? That sight?”
For Mi-rae, who was worried about her parent’s illness, the priority was to find parts that could heal, but… there were police cars in front of them.
“In my sense, I don’t think it should be overlooked.”
Sera thought for a moment with an ambiguous look after noticing what Riley was trying to test, then answered without hesitation.
“Let’s just pass it.”
“Is that your sense?”
“Yes, I don’t know what’s going on there but… at least, I sense that it seems to be a lower priority than joining the other parts or helping Miss Mi-rae’s mother.”
When Sera answered without hesitation, Riley nodded as if he knew it, pulled down the hood that covered his face more deeply, and hurried his steps.
“…what happened?”
“I think there’s been a murder here.”
“A murder?”
“Yes. It’s not just one or two, but a bunch of people died.”
“Oh my God…”
“They said all the bodies were torn apart.”
“Oh my God, Oh my goodness… How could that be!”
“From what I hear, like the flesh of the dead that’s torn apart…”
The voices of the people were putting behind their heads.
*****
“Tsk, are we one step late?”
Andal, who had teleported in front of the memorial, was clicking his tongue as he looked at the magic circles around him and on the ground where only traces remained.
“It’s right. It’s Nainiae who stopped by here.”
After looking at the ground and checking it, Andal identified it’s really Nainiae based on the way she drew the magic circle. Abyss, who was holding his chin, asked with a sad look.
“Can you find any traces?”
“Hmph!”
Andal, who put a lot of strength on his shoulders, replied.
“I’m sorry, but I’ve never taught my disciple such a sloppy magic circle. There are traces, but it’s hard to find out anything anymore.”
“You mean you can’t find it.”
“Haa…”
“What, you guys, isn’t it time to praise this body?”
He taught his disciple so brilliantly, yet these two people, who looked at him pathetically rather than praised him, sighed. Andal walked away with an unjust look.
“Praise… Yes… I will praise you.”
“Yeah, you’re great.”
“Haha! You can give me a little more praise! If you want to, raise your middle finger and praise this body!”
“Middle finger?”
“…?”
The two of them looked at Andal, who put a lot of strength on his shoulders, with a strange look, and then slowly shook their heads and began to roll their heads to find another solution.
“What are we going to do now, Abyss?”
Iril, who suddenly felt like they had become a dog chasing chickens thanks to Andal’s ‘incompetence’, looked at Abyss.
[Note: a dog chasing chickens = korean proverb that means can’t achieve one’s goal because of something.]
“We have two options.”
Abyss lowered his chin and held out his two fingers.
“The first is to go back to the alley just before and wait for the other parts to show up.”
“No.”
Abyss, who immediately heard the answer ‘No’, looked at Andal.
“…I didn’t say it to you.”
“Ha! It doesn’t make sense at all!”
Abyss, who lightly ignored the annoying Andal, talked about the second option.
“The second option is to act.”
“Act?”
At Abyss’s word of ‘act’, Andal became interested. He straightened his crumpled face and listened.
“Iril, have you ever acted? Do you have any knowledge of theater or actors?”
When Abyss asked her, wondering if she knew the meaning of the word ‘act’ as she’s still young, Iril nodded as if she knew about it, and answered.
“A little bit… Among the books my grandmother read to me, there were animals that acted.”
“Hoo?”
“In the fairy tale ‘blue hat girl’, the tiger acted as a grandfather and tried to eat the blue hat. Or the wolf that acted in ‘the Moon and the Sun’, saying, ‘If you give me a cake, I won’t eat you!’”
Iril’s story was enough to make Abyss smile. He nodded.
“Yeah, that’s enough. The second option is… Iril, you’re the one who should be that ‘tiger’ or ‘wolf’.”
“Huh?”
“She’s weak, can she do it? Rather, I, who was trained in acting…”
Abyss looked at Iril to ask what option she would choose, pushing Andal’s face out with his right hand.
“Hey, Abyss… the ‘hidden card’ you were talking about earlier is this?”
Abyss nodded at Iril’s question and explained what role she should play if she chose the second option.
“While warming up before coming here, I realized that you were the most ‘best sword-handling part’ among the parts. So you have to act.”
Abyss turned his head slightly, and looked at the memorial of a certain warrior, then continued.
“Riley.”
Andal raised his eyebrows in the opposite direction, making a curious look, while Iril twitched her eyes with a look of incredulity.
“What?”
“Who?”
Abyss shrugged and opened his mouth.
“You don’t have to act Riley completely. To be precise, you just have to act as the person who claims to be Riley.”
Andal opened his mouth.
“…that’s insane.”
It seemed like Iril didn’t have a different opinion from Andal. With a complicated look, she talked about the shortcomings of the second option.
“I heard we came here to catch Helena, the Saintess who put young master Riley and Abyss in trouble. If I act as young master… Wouldn’t the Saintess run away?”
To refute Abyss’s words, Andal built an arrogant image and intervened, talking about the third option he hadn’t mentioned.
“There’s also an option to deliberately step on the trap that Nainiae has set up. It’s not a trap that does harm, but if we step on it, Nainiae will move.”
Whether Nainiae moved alone or moved in a group was still unknown… Andal shrugged and began to ponder whether there was a better solution.
“Well, until I came here, I thought the answer was to wait for the other parts to move, but… it seems like most of the other parts are thinking the same thing.”
If the hesitation continued, it was decided that the next stone bridge couldn’t be crossed. So Abyss decided to reveal the hidden card called Iril first to keep the precipitation going.
“It’s honestly a pity to play the card without Riley’s permission, but there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Abyss then looked at Iril and answered the question she had just asked.
“Anyway, Helena, there’s little chance that woman will run away when she sees you acting as Riley.”
“How can you be so confident?”
When Iril asked, Abyss made a suggestion without answering.
“Can you repeat what I’m saying in Riley’s atmosphere?”
“In young master’s atmosphere?”
Iril, who frowned, nodded with a questionable look.
“Okay, I’ll try”
“Ehem, ehem…”
Abyss, who coughed with his fist on his lips, recited the lines.
“I’m back. Finally…”
“……”
At Abyss’s voice that set the atmosphere, Andal made a disgusted look.
“I, I’m back. Finally.”
“…?”
“…”
Andal, who was looking at Abyss disgustingly, turned to Iril with a look of ‘what are you doing?’.
“…wh, why?”
When Iril blushed and asked why, Andal could see why Abyss was so confident that Helena would never run away.
“Certainly, acting like someone who claims to be Riley will be… convenient, yes.”
Then Abyss, who looked at Riley’s memorial, opened his mouth, scanning the words ‘memorial stone of a certain warrior’.
“It’s highly possible that the woman was involved in this memorial. Now that it’s written ‘a certain warrior’, she probably doesn’t want Riley’s story to be discussed anymore.”
Andal, who looked at the memorial stone’s words like Abyss, frowned and muttered.
“Come to think of it, the name is blank.”
“At this point, if there’s anyone who wants to get Riley’s story out of the water… For example, something like ‘pseudo-religion’ emerged, that must be worth seeing.”
All of a sudden, Abyss began to emit a purple glow in his eyes.
“How dare you treat my friend like this, I can’t stand looking at it anymore.”
As Iril gulped, Abyss continued.
“…we move first.”
