20
Chapter 20
I lay on the floor, having lost my balance and collapsed due to the rotation.
I looked up at the ceiling.
Though gravity had pulled the corpses to the floor, bloodstains still clung to the ceiling.
I searched my memory, trying my best to recall how everything had rotated. It had happened suddenly, but since it was so recent, it wasn't that difficult. The first movement had shifted me downward, flipping the ceiling and floor, suggesting a rotation of about 180 degrees, and as I tried to stand, the clockwise spin sent me rolling across the floor.
It would be easiest to assume I was roughly opposite my original position.
That didn't necessarily mean I was on the opposite side from Estella, so I believed the chance of us reuniting wasn't that low.
"Ugh."
I pressed a hand to my forehead and looked at the corpses around me.
"I need to move."
If the dead Majin hadn't been lying, there were probably at least twenty more of them in these Ruins.
I had heard during the fight that Majin could smell blood, so it was best to relocate. Fortunately, since I had only fired arrows from a distance, I wasn't covered in the scent.
I might stand a chance against a weakling, but I had no hope of winning against a group.
I opened a random door and stepped inside.
The sight beyond the door was exactly as expected: a bizarre arrangement of countless stairs and doors.
"Tsk, this is hopeless."
I moved through the area, concealing my presence as much as possible.
Why does nothing ever go according to plan?
I pulled an arrow from the quiver on my back and nocked it to the bowstring, ready to fire at a moment's notice.
The Ruins were silent.
It meant no one was in the nearby rooms, but since others could hide their presence as I did, it didn't hurt to be cautious.
In this room, I prepared to open another door and enter.
I would have done so if I hadn't suddenly felt something pull at me from behind.
Startled, I shrugged off my outer coat and leaped away.
When?
I hadn't felt a single presence until just now.
I drew the bowstring and spun around.
"Huh?"
I found a white-haired girl flailing around, tangled in the coat I had just discarded.
"Luna?"
I pulled the coat off her to check her face.
It was definitely the same face I'd seen this morning.
"What are you doing here?"
"I followed you."
I frowned and looked at Luna.
She followed me?
I hadn't sensed a single presence until now.
It could be because my level is lower than hers, but Estella was with me too. The entry records at the Demonic Realm's entrance clearly stated two people, with no additional notes.
Even if Luna was counted as part of the two because she's a Spirit, there would have been a note like 'and one Spirit'.
Could a Spirit who had only lived for eleven years really deceive both the protagonist, Estella, and the Entry Management Office?
As I stared at her with a frown, Luna shrank back slightly and spoke.
"Are... are you mad?"
"Am I mad? Yes, I am."
At my answer, Luna curled up even more, making her already small frame seem even tinier.
"I told you it was too dangerous to follow me. You shouldn't have. Don't do it again."
I said this while affectionately messing up her hair.
"O... okay."
I picked up the crestfallen girl.
"How did you even follow me?"
"That? Like this!"
Seeing my interest, her gloom vanished instantly, and her face brightened as she used what seemed to be a Spirit's unique magic.
Her physical appearance didn't change.
Instead, it was my senses that shifted.
My perception was warped; it felt as if her presence and the sounds she made were perfectly normal, as if she were one with the background, blending into her surroundings through Assimilation until every action felt like a natural phenomenon.
"Ugh..."
"What's wrong?"
Luna's expression suddenly soured, and the ability deactivated.
"I used it... too much today."
It made sense; if she had been using it since the moment I met Estella, she must have maintained it for hours, consuming a significant amount of mana.
"Get some rest. Take some of my mana too. With an ability like that, it'll be safer to run away from the Majin than to have me fight them."
Since even Estella didn't notice it, the ability would certainly work on the Majin here.
"Am I useful?"
As she looked at me with such desperation, I felt as though I were looking at my past self.
What did I want to hear back then?
What words should I give her now?
Back then, I gave everything just to hear that I was useful, because I didn't want to be abandoned or ignored. That was why I felt a kinship in the trembling of Luna's voice and expression; I understood exactly why she had acted this way.
"Are you uneasy?"
"What?"
Luna looked bewildered by my words.
"You don't have to be so anxious. To you, my decision to bring you along might seem impulsive or an emotional choice born of pity, but I know the weight of a life. You're probably scared because a whim can be easily reversed. But I'm not keeping you around because I expect you to be useful. Even if you are useless or if you change suddenly, I won't be the one to leave you behind."
"But..."
I don't know about this child's past. If she doesn't tell me, I may never know, and I have no intention of digging into it. Even if I somehow find out, I won't change my mind.
"You don't need to prove anything. I don't know your past, but even if I do, I won't shirk my responsibility just because I didn't know. Just act like a child, be spoiled, and be a nuisance. I didn't accept you because I wanted something from you."
Because being abandoned is a truly wretched feeling.
Luna said nothing, burying her face in my chest and remaining quiet.
I couldn't see her expression, but I hoped my words had eased her worries, even if only a little.
After a moment, Luna pointed toward another door with one hand.
"The way."
"Thanks."
I thanked her and moved forward, gently stroking her hair.
I didn't know if that was truly the path, but since I was lost, there was nothing to lose by trusting her.
***
She had been in a very good mood lately.
When she realized that the intriguing man who produced no sound not only lacked a presence of his own but also silenced the noises around him, she felt a sense of comfort she hadn't experienced with others in a long time.
Moreover, training him was proving to be quite an enjoyable task. When she first saw his condition, it was so severe that she wondered if he had ever received a single day of formal training, yet his response to feedback regarding his form and movement was remarkably fast.
As she watched him stare down a blade stopped right before his eyes during training, she thought he might be more of a natural than she'd expected. The fact that his mana circuits were closed—or perhaps burst—made him view the existence of mana as something alien, allowing him to easily draw it all out of his body, which was a significant advantage.
Although his physical abilities were below average, leading him to believe his progress was slow, the fact that he had defeated a Knight-class enemy, even with help, was an impressive feat.
Especially since that Magic Beast was one of the lowest-tier Knights, yet possessed exceptionally tough hide, making it a fight where raw power was inevitably lacking.
"We're looking...! We're still looking, so please stop..."
"You walked right out the door! How are you standing in front of the same door again?"
"Strange, isn't it?"
"What on earth is strange about this!"
"It works so well now, so why didn't it work just a moment ago?"
She forcibly moved the Majin, who were now half-corpses.
"What are you talking about! Argh!"
"Isn't following the scent of blood your instinct? Instead of overthinking, wouldn't it be better to find the way faster?"
She looked at them with a cold expression. Her movements were devoid of hesitation, as if she were simply clearing away pests.
"You monster..."
A Majin's head falls.
Naturally, there is no guilt.
They were once human, but they became monsters who betrayed and slaughtered their own kind.
They were beings far too hideous and wretched to be treated as human.
"Have you ever seen such a pretty monster? You said it yourselves: 'She's quite a looker; tonight will be fun.' It's almost night. I'm having a blast; aren't you?"
In truth, those were the reasons people would give, not my own.
"You psycho..."
She drew a small blade from her clothes. It was a Kukri, a knife with a sharply curved edge.
She plunged the Kukri into the Majin's abdomen and twisted.
The Majin's eyes rolled back in agony as he screamed.
"I'm searching...! I'm searching...!"
My mother believed these were people who had simply made mistakes out of desperation.
But that was a lie. They were nothing more than foul, filthy, and disgusting trash.
I don't believe my mother was wrong to say that every human has a spark of goodness.
It's just that these things weren't human.
"I told you I'd spare you if you found them before my friend got hurt. Why is everyone but that one guy so slow on the uptake?"
Because my mother, who mistook these creatures for humans, was betrayed and killed.
"Aaaaaah!"
She pressed the embedded Kukri downward.
"How annoying."
The sounds of filthy desire and the resurfacing memories of the past fueled her irritation.
As she pulled out the Kukri, the Majin's body collapsed limply, and I cleaned the blade with mana before returning it to its sheath.
And then.
"No! No! No!!"
The sole surviving Majin shrieked in desperation.
Gravity is shifting.
Everyone's feet lift off the ground, floating in mid-air.
That's right. The space is rotating.
It means the time limit she set has expired.
Amidst the shifting space and gravity, the creature spoke.
"I can find them! I can do it! I can find them even if it changes!"
Without a word, she drew a random weapon and sliced it in half.