The Endless Hunger
Ian organized the information he'd gathered from the children. The witness to Maria's necromancy was a shepherd boy named Pael. And Maria had been acting strangely for a long time. Once, when she was with Pael, she'd tried to eat a rotten wolf corpse.
Pael. Maria. And Eric.
The girl suspected a love triangle between the three. It wasn't just some childish hunch.
"This is getting weirder by the minute," Ian said to his companions, sharing his thoughts. "I still have no idea why Maria killed that Eric guy. They say they were in love, right?"
"She even gave him gifts," Belenca muttered. In her hand was Eric's dagger, one of his possessions—and the giver had been none other than Maria.
"Killed with necromancy in plain sight, and she even got caught."
"Ian... you think..." Kira asked cautiously.
Ian nodded. "The one who killed Eric... might not be Maria."
Belenca narrowed her eyes slightly. "But didn't she admit it herself? Said she killed that Eric bastard."
"No. What Maria said was, 'It wasn't on purpose.'"
"...? Isn't that the same thing?"
"It means Eric died without her intending it."
Exactly. Maria had never explained why she'd murdered Eric. She'd only repeated that she had no memory of it and that it wasn't intentional.
"If Maria's really the culprit, why would she let herself get caught by a bunch of rural farmers?"
"Maybe she couldn't use magic for some reason."
"...Fair point." As a mage himself, Ian knew better than anyone how unreliable magic could be. What worked yesterday might fail today if the mystery refused to cooperate. Maybe Maria had just gotten unlucky and been caught.
"But she's locked up nice and quiet in that shed now, right? We could just go ask her calmly again..."
Ian was saying this when someone came running frantically from afar.
"Ma, mage sir!"
The village chief gasped for breath. "Bi, big trouble!"
"What's with the panic?"
"Ma, Maria! Maria!" The chief shouted hoarsely. "That bitch is gone!"
"..."
What a clusterfuck.
Belenca's eyes sharpened in an instant. Kira's face hardened as she awaited Ian's orders.
"Looks like shit just hit the fan."
"Haa. Let's go find her." Ian hurried after Maria.
Surprisingly, one of Ian's hidden talents was tracking. Spending so much time with Oberon had given him a knack for understanding birds.
"Oberon! Go find the black-haired girl!"
"Caw! Caw!"
[On it, master!]
Proving that ravens were the thugs of the bird world, Oberon grabbed random birds in the forest, smacking their heads while yelling.
[Where's the black-haired girl? Spill it, bird-brain!!!]
[Eek!]
The birds spilled everything in terror at Oberon's raven-fist combo.
[Sh-she went that way, to the clearing!]
[You sure? If she's not there, fists won't be the end of it!]
[Eeeek!]
Oberon was surprisingly big. About the size of a well-fed country chicken—which explained why Ian always griped about his weight. In the animal kingdom, size meant fighting power. Oberon could beat up any bird that wasn't a raptor.
Thanks to that, tracking Maria was over in no time.
"Caw!"
[Found her, master!]
"Where?"
[She ran down to the valley!]
She'd gone pretty far. Ian immediately led his companions down to the valley below. Noxious weeds that could pass for green zombies grew thickly, and the steep slope made it hard for humans to descend. In other words, it was a spot where fugitives could shake pursuers easily.
Without Oberon, Ian wouldn't have checked here.
"Stay sharp! Ian! Her accomplice might show up!" Belenca warned sharply.
If Maria had escaped with help, an ally popping up wouldn't be surprising.
There!
Moments later, Ian spotted the black-haired girl. She was wandering around, searching for something.
Ian immediately uttered the Maronius incantation.
"Earth, heed me!"
⟨ Geokinesis ⟩
The solid ground shook and turned to soft mud. Ian had altered the earth's properties with Geokinesis.
The girl stumbled in panic.
"Ian! You gonna kill her?"
"Hold off, Jua-bil."
"Got it!"
Jua-bil growled, ready to rip her apart at a word.
Ian signaled his companions to stay alert and approached Maria alone. As if she'd never panicked, she was digging in the soft earth again.
Ian watched silently to see what she was after.
Moments later, Maria pulled something from the dirt.
"..."
It was a palm-sized earthworm. Ignoring Ian's gaze, she brought the wriggling thing to her mouth... Her jaws gaped wide.
In that instant, Ian slapped her hand away.
Thwack.
The huge worm writhed on the ground. Maria stared at it blankly.
"They not feeding you enough?"
Maria gave a sultry smile. "Nope. Why would they feed a murderer witch like me? They'd wanna kill me ASAP, obviously."
She reached for the worm again, fumbling. Ian gently took her hand to keep her from startling.
"...What?"
"Don't eat it. If you need food, I'll give you some. Just... don't."
"..."
Ian had suspected as much. Combining Robert's testimony about her gluttony with the kids' story of her trying to eat the rotten wolf made it clear.
Maria was under the influence of the mystery of death. The endless hunger of the undead was controlling her body.
"But..."
"You're not eating it because you want to, right? Don't."
"...!"
For a moment, Maria looked shocked, gazing up at Ian. But she quickly masked it.
"Heh. Sorry you saw something embarrassing."
Ian observed her for a bit—more precisely, the thick aura of death's mystery clinging to her. Some soul was attached to her body. Though no necromancer himself, Ian felt he knew its name.
A starving ghost. Or a ghoul...
"Worms probably don't taste great anyway."
"Taste? Hehe. You think I'd eat that crap for the flavor?"
Maria muttered. It sounded like a normal girl's musing, but Ian sensed the boiling mystery beneath—reacting in sync with her anger. Like what sometimes happened with Kira. The mark of a novice mage unaware of their contact with the mystery.
"What I really crave is corpses."
"Corpses?"
"Yup. There was a sweet smell around here. Just rotten enough, crawling with maggots and worms—a masterless body's scent..."
Thud.
Maria knelt quietly.
"Now that I've explained, you get it. Yup. I'm a monster."
"..."
"I've always been like this. Like a rabid piglet, wanting to shove anything in my mouth. Salivating at rotten meat... Ha, haha... Disgusting, right? Horrifying?"
She bared her pale neck to Ian.
"Death's power flows through me. The dead's will gnaws at mine endlessly—my body and mind. Yup. So I killed the man who loved me."
Drip. Drip.
Water droplets fell. With her head bowed, her face was hidden. But Ian knew. She was crying.
"My madness...! My evil power...! The screams of the dead...! It ruined everything!"
"Maria."
"You could suppress my curse and take my head."
She sobbed. "Kill me now."
"..."
"Kill me and take this horrific curse! Please!!!"
Ian gazed down at her silently for a while. Belenca squeezed her eyes shut; Kira bit her lip. The girl's tear-choked wail was eerily poignant and heartbreaking.
Those who contacted mysteries often ended up like this. Mysteries were called that because humans couldn't comprehend them. It was natural for those touched by them to act incomprehensibly.
Maria obsessively craved food—rotten flesh. Not her will, but the dead infesting her body and soul.
Beyond her control. That truth was driving her mad.
Kira pitied her. If I hadn't met Ian...}
Kira had drawn the fire mystery's interest without proper initiation. Without Ian, she'd still be playing with fireworks—and one day, unable to extinguish her own flames, she'd have burned to death.
The mystery's favor was both blessing and curse.
"Ian."
"..."
"Want me to do it?" Belenca drew her longsword.
But Ian shook his head. "No. No need."
Having traveled with Ian long enough, Belenca could tell. He wasn't pitying Maria or hesitating over murder.
Ian was angry.
Shing.
Ian drew Anorilsil and aimed it at Maria.
In a cold voice, he said, "If you want an easy death like you asked, tell the truth."
"Ahh... Of course!" Maria lowered her neck for a clean cut.
Ian fired questions without mercy.
"You've been in contact with death's mystery for a long time. Right?"
"Yup. Probably since I was twelve."
"But you never learned to control it."
"...If there was a way, I'd have learned it—even if it meant ripping out my heart."
"Never met a necromancer."
"Never."
"Never prepared a ghoul to kill Eric."
"..."
Suddenly, Maria looked up at Ian. Before she knew it, he'd sheathed Anorilsil. Instead, with a soft smile, he stroked her hair.
"You just told the truth. No contact with necromancers, no learning necromancy."
"...What are you saying? I'm possessed."
"Being noticed by a mystery and wielding it are different things, you fool."
Maria's eyes widened. Only now did the young man before her look different. Ian Eredis Raven. Not some noble executioner, but a mage versed in the world and its mysteries.
Ian declared, "Maria. I know for sure now."
"...What?"
Ian smiled gently. "You didn't kill Eric."