I Must Exterminate These Fucking Bugs!!! (1)
The sandy path stretched on endlessly. Thirin had mentioned something about beach sand earlier, but this was quite different. It was as if someone had carved out a chunk of desert and forcibly crammed it into the middle of a forest. A sandy path through the woods beneath the moonlight. The description alone sounded rather poetic, but in reality, it was utterly bizarre.
The forest on both sides of the path was lush and overgrown, proudly displaying the excessive growth of summer, yet the path itself where the two walked had not a single blade of grass—just pure sand. Walking through an actual desert would have felt more scenic by comparison.
“......”
Thirin stared at the sandy path with keen interest. How was something like this even possible?
“Hold on a sec.”
Thirin glanced back and forth between the forest and the path, then gestured for Klaus to wait before suddenly slipping into the underbrush. Not long after, she emerged holding a few mushrooms in her hand.
Klaus unconsciously furrowed his brow.
“What the hell are you...?”
Even with his limited knowledge, Klaus could tell. A red cap covered in white spots. That mushroom straight out of a fairy tale was clearly a deadly poisonous one. And yet Thirin was casually munching on it without a care in the world.
“Have you lost your mind?!”
Klaus shouted before he could stop himself. The image of a rabbit convulsing and dying right before his eyes during survival training flashed through his mind.
“This? It’s actually pretty good. Tasty. Want a bite?”
Thirin held out a piece of the mushroom with a perfectly straight face. Klaus recoiled in horror.
“No thanks! Do your crazy shit by yourself!”
Seeing his reaction, Thirin let out a small snort of laughter.
“Just kidding. I figured you’d be the type to eagerly swallow anything a girl spits on, but you’ve got more principles than I thought. Color me impressed.”
Klaus let out a deep sigh and looked up at the sky. Conversations with this woman always went like this.
“......”
The sandy path continued without end. The wheel tracks from the carriage were clear, but there were no signs of ambush or any other threats in the surroundings. After walking in silence for a while, Thirin spoke first.
“Stick guy. I’ve got a question.”
“I’m listening.”
“That thing you did when you shoved me out of the way earlier.”
Thirin continued.
“You timed it perfectly. How the hell did you do that? Do imperial soldiers get divine blessings too?”
She was asking about the superhuman movements Klaus had displayed while fighting the werewolf—movements that completely defied common sense.
Klaus hesitated for a moment. The imperial military’s engravings weren’t exactly top-secret, but they weren’t something you just explained to anyone either.
“......”
But the woman in front of him was no longer just a bounty hunter. She was a comrade sharing a mission. Mutual information sharing was essential for successful mission execution.
Klaus’s explanation was concise.
“...It’s not a blessing. It’s a power created by the empire to imitate divine authority—the ‘Engraving.’”
“Engraving?”
“That’s right.”
Klaus explained it simply. Instead of relying on the fickle grace of the gods, the empire had analyzed and replicated divine power, standardizing it.
“The [Acceleration] engraving, modeled after the authority of the ‘Winged Foot and Staff God.’ And the [Mind’s Eye] engraving, modeled after the ‘Thousand-Eyed Watcher’ that reads the flow of battle. I used both at the same time.”
It was an imperfect miracle. But it wasn’t without its advantages. While not as overwhelmingly powerful as true divine blessings, anyone could learn it through training.
However, the drawbacks were equally clear.
“The reason I fell into temporary exhaustion was because of that. The technique itself has flaws, and I’m still quite inexperienced with it.”
“Hmm.”
Thirin’s eyes sparkled.
Acceleration feels similar to the ‘Point’ I got from Heres, so I don’t need that one… but Mind’s Eye, huh.
An eye that can read the flow of battle. That sounds pretty tempting.
“Tell me more about this Mind’s Eye thing.”
Klaus hesitated again. He didn’t particularly want to explain the detailed capabilities of the engravings, but…
“...Mind’s Eye is exactly what it sounds like—a technique that lets you see the battlefield with the eye of your mind.”
“What exactly can you see?”
“Everything. You can read your opponent’s next move, predict their actions, and analyze their condition—for example, their level of fatigue, injured areas, shifts in their center of gravity, and so on.”
Klaus continued.
“It’s not just seeing. It forces you to ‘calculate’ everything.”
“For example?”
“For example, if an enemy twenty meters ahead charges at you, it calculates their stride and speed to predict it’ll take them 2.3 seconds to reach you. Then it determines that drawing your sword and swinging it twice to subdue them takes 1.7 seconds, leading to the conclusion that you can end the situation within a total of 4 seconds. It converts every variable into numbers and finds the most efficient formula for victory. That is Mind’s Eye.”
“Hmmmm......”
“Of course, not just anyone can do it. Even if you receive the Mind’s Eye engraving, at first you’ll only feel like time has slowed down. You need considerable training to actually use it properly.”
“Hmmmmmm......”
Thirin licked her lips.
…Should I ask this guy to stab me once? Maybe I could physically realize it.
Thirin glanced at Klaus, then immediately shook her head.
No, this fragile bastard. He threw a whole tantrum just from getting his finger pricked by a claw earlier. If I ask him to stab me, he might develop actual trauma. Gotta save the human sandbag for when I really need it.
Thirin’s way of thinking was not that of a normal person. Klaus felt a chill run down his spine. He had vaguely sensed the insane thoughts running through her head.
Thirin continued her train of thought.
But Mind’s Eye does sound pretty appetizing. Is there any way to get it?
She briefly considered enlisting in the imperial army, but immediately erased the idea. No matter how insane Thirin was, that would be going way too far.
The two continued walking down the sandy path.
“......This is.”
An odd sight caught Klaus’s eye. A massive dead tree straddling the boundary between the path and the forest. The part within the forest had fresh green leaves, but the portion extending over the sandy path had crumbled away as if it had endured thousands of years in an instant.
“...This is divine authority,” Klaus muttered quietly.
“Divine authority?”
“Yes. The authority of a forgotten god is twisting the flow of time in this space.”
Klaus recalled the basic theology class from his time at the imperial military academy.
“The higher a god’s rank, the more abstract and powerful their authority becomes. They deal with concepts like justice or balance, like the ‘Goddess of the Eyepatch and Sword.’ Conversely, the lower the rank, the more intuitive the authority—like the ‘Thousand-Eyed Watcher.’”
“Then what kind of authority is this?”
“...I’m not sure exactly. We cannot know the authorities of gods who refused to join the Pantheon. There are too many of them, they’ve been forgotten, and they made sure they would be forgotten. However.”
“However?”
“To use an authority of this scale, the price must have been enormous.”
Thirin picked up on his words.
“Must be the kids.”
“......”
“We need to hurry.”
At the end of the sandy path, the building finally revealed itself. Klaus hesitated to call it a ‘temple.’ It was far removed from the splendid, majestic stone structures of the Pantheon temples he had seen in the empire.
A building half-buried in sand. Its overall shape resembled a pyramid, but its surface was heavily weathered as if it had endured countless ages. How could something like this be hidden in the middle of a forest?
An abandoned carriage sat forlornly in front of the entrance. Thirin looked at the majestic yet grotesque sight and muttered quietly.
“What a shitty house they built.”
“......”
The two cautiously approached the carriage. Fortunately, the horses were still harnessed, but the inside of the carriage was completely empty. The driver was nowhere to be seen. He had probably gone inside first… or perhaps…
“Let’s go in.”
Without hesitation, Thirin stepped into the temple—or whatever it should be called, perhaps a tomb. Klaus followed behind her, sword drawn.
The interior consisted only of a narrow, long corridor. Just like outside, sand covered the floor, muffling their footsteps. Klaus raised his torch to illuminate the walls.
“...This is.”
Simple characters were carved into the wall.
My deeds behold, O ye mighty ones.
And despair.
Thirin shrugged.
“Someone’s doing performance art.”
Halfway down the corridor, a massive door blocked their path. It was a sliding door that opened by pushing from both sides. The door was firmly locked.
“Guess we’ll have to break it,” Klaus said, adjusting his grip on his sword.
“We could break it, but the noise would obviously echo. Hold on…”
Thirin clicked her tongue and pulled a small glass vial from her bag.
-Sssssss...
When Thirin poured the green liquid into the gap of the door, a horrifying sound of something sizzling and melting echoed. Klaus no longer had the energy to be surprised. He simply stared at her blankly.
“......”
Thirin seemed to notice his gaze and glanced back at him.
“What?”
“...Nothing.”
Klaus said nothing. He knew that speaking would only earn him some bizarre insult. It was a learned response.
“......Tsk.”
Thirin clicked her tongue as if truly bored and turned her head away. Carefully pushing open the door whose lock had melted away, the two cautiously stepped inside.
“Shh.”
This time, Thirin’s voice was serious.
“There’s something up ahead.”
At the end of the corridor, in a wide open space, faint light and murmuring voices could be heard. The two pressed themselves against the wall and peeked inside.
At the heart of the temple was a ritual chamber. In the center of the large circular space stood an altar, and around it, five priests were preparing some kind of ceremony. And arranged in a circle around the altar were twelve coffins.
Twelve coffins. But one was empty. Eleven children lay inside the coffins with their eyes closed.
“......”
Klaus gritted his teeth. Thirin had been right. These bastards were planning to use the children as sacrifices.
Thirin nudged Klaus. Then she pointed at herself and him alternately before making a throat-slitting gesture toward the priests. Klaus immediately understood her intention.
…Before they notice, we take them out simultaneously.
When Klaus nodded, Thirin moved without a sound.
-Swish.
She vanished as if melting into the shadows. Klaus could barely sense her presence at all. He circled around to the opposite side and approached the nearest priest from behind. He waited for Thirin’s signal.
-Tap.
The sound of a small pebble falling onto the altar. The moment all the priests’ gazes turned toward the noise, Thirin and Klaus moved at the same time.
-Slice. Thud.
A silent assassination. The five priests collapsed onto the cold floor without even letting out a scream.
“...That was easier than expected,” Thirin muttered as she flicked the blood off her blade.
Klaus checked the fallen priests, then immediately ran toward the coffins where the children were trapped.
“Fortunately, they’re all alive. Aside from looking a bit drained of energy… their physical condition isn’t bad.”
“They’ve been missing for quite a while. How did they survive without any food?”
“...Must be one of the cultists’ authorities.”
“Anyway, let’s get the kids out first. I’ll take two.”
Without hesitation, Thirin picked up two children, one under each arm, and stood up. Klaus did the same, carrying two as well. The children were in a deep sleep and showed no signs of waking.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly. The anomaly occurred when they returned to the ritual chamber for the second time.