The Reason for the Abnormal Symptoms
The Reason for the Abnormal Symptoms
Everything that rises into the sky is bound to be drawn back to the ground.
If this round thing before his eyes were a balloon, it might have resisted gravity a bit and floated away.
-Tuk
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. It falls.
After all, what he saw was a human's—or what appeared to be a human's—head.
Black Blood scatters across the ground once, then flows. It soaks the floor.
The body that had been sitting there held its position without a head as if frozen, then tilted and collapsed.
Looking at the changes in the corpse afterward, this guy... seems to be a fairly basic type of Doppelganger.
The body grows more muscular and larger as if compressed tension was being released, but that's really all there is to it.
...Good, now he had confirmed that he had definitely dealt with one Doppelganger.
What he had to do now was deal with the eyes of the other person remaining.
"Huu... Huu...."
Jin takes a deep breath, as if trying to steady his breathing.
Of course, he wasn't out of breath at all. It was just a matter of drawing and swinging.
This is merely a performance.
A sort of show to appear as if he's calming his trembling heart after beheading something that looked like another human.
He quickly sheathes the blade, restoring it to its cane form.
She must have seen it already, but there's no reason to keep showing the sword's form needlessly.
Black Blood was still slowly flowing along the blade, and normally, putting it back into the scabbard like this could cause problems.
But it's fine. His sword is special. Beyond just being disguised as a cane, there's something even more special about it.
"That was dangerous...."
"...."
"I felt such a chilling sensation. As expected, it wasn't human."
Even if one is suspicious, does it make sense to slice off a person's head in a single stroke? A person who seemed to be rambling just a moment ago?
And what kind of ordinary person carries a sword disguised as a cane?
He had answers prepared for such questions. If she asked, Jin could answer.
...But the best thing is not to give her the chance to even have such doubts.
The next best thing is not to give her the leisure to speak even if she has those doubts.
He immediately presses her.
"Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"...Uh, huh? Yeah, I-I'm okay...."
"That's a relief... Truly, it's a fellow that looks no different from a human on the outside...."
"Y-Yeah...."
The trembling in her voice seems to have worsened. It's understandable.
After all, seeing someone with a human appearance die in an instant is jarring, and the fact that it wasn't even a human would be even more shocking.
That appearance is something a human could sufficiently show,
'...Hmm.'
And it's also an appearance a Doppelganger could show.
Anomalies don't particularly hold their own kind in high regard.
However, if a being capable of threatening their lives appears, they would be on guard.
The woman's increased trembling spread from her words to her body.
The woman, who had been struggling and saying her body was cold, is finally shivering in front of the campfire.
Thinking back, Jin had been suspicious of her from the moment he first saw her.
The only thing that can clearly distinguish a Doppelganger is Black Blood. Other than that, there's nothing one can point to with certainty.
...However, while they aren't criteria for certain identification, there are characteristics sufficient for suspicion.
If someone behaves in a way that doesn't fit most humans, it's worth suspecting.
A person who stutters. They can exist. But most people can speak properly.
A person who is always cold. They can exist. But most people can regulate their body temperature themselves.
If these characteristics keep overlapping, it's worth suspecting.
And the less those characteristics are related to each other, the more so.
If being cold and coughing an unusual amount overlapped, one might think they caught a very nasty cold.
But there's no major connection between stuttering and being cold, right?
Unless the stuttering is caused by the body shivering, but she hadn't shivered significantly until now. Not enough to justify stuttering.
So if he were to suspect anyone, it was her. Her, who wouldn't even reveal her name.
He dealt with Jack first. Simply because he was more cooperative and there was more to learn from him.
He looks at the head rolling on the ground.
He is still unable to close his eyes, staring wide-eyed.
...Our eyes met. I shouldn't have looked.
"Sigh... First... I think we should deal with that corpse."
"H-Huh...?"
"I'm worried it'll get troublesome if we leave the smell of blood lingering. This is a wild forest, after all."
"Ah... T-That's true...."
Like a pack of wolves or a horde of goblins.
It's not dangerous. He still has plenty of stamina left.
But... isn't it annoying? If you run into them at night.
"I-I'll do it...."
"...How, exactly?"
"On the way here, I-I saw a r-river. I'll sink the corpse there...."
"That... might be okay...."
Whether burying it in the ground far away or throwing it in the river, there isn't much difference.
If it's at a reasonably far distance, this would be better. If it's too far, it's hard to get there, and if it's too close, things attracted by the smell of blood might take an interest in this place.
"A-And... do you, do you happen to have something to hold water...?"
"Uh... I have a water bottle."
"Let's... lightly wash off the b-blood here..."
"If it's for that, there's no need to go fetch some; we can just handle it with what we have now. It's enough."
"O-Okay... I'll be back...."
She stands up and approaches Jack's corpse.
While her eyes twitch slightly, she somehow grabs it and drags it along.
"Let's do it together."
"...Huh? O-Oh, no! I-I can do it a-alone...."
"It's heavy, isn't it?"
"It's manageable.... I-I'm not weak...."
"It's not a matter of whether it's manageable or not, it's heavy regardless."
"...."
Silence. This time too, it signifies affirmation.
Looking at her, she always handles difficult questions with silence.
And since that silence only means one thing, it's not a very effective strategy.
"Let's save our strength. We don't know what might happen at night."
"...Y-Your l-leg doesn't look good either."
"I'm going to drag it, not carry it. I'll just give you a hand."
"W-What about the head...? Won't your hands be f-full...?"
...Ah, the head. The head, right.
Indeed, it might be hard to take it all at once.
Kicking it like a soccer ball... would look too violent.
And he didn't want to go back and forth twice, so
"Let's bury that nearby."
"O-Okay...."
"Now, let's go."
Cleanup complete. Fairly successful.
He didn't know if the smell of blood would remain, but the corpse was discarded and the blood was washed away as much as possible. He had done all he could.
"Could you hold out your hands?"
"L-Like this...?"
"...No, not a high-five, but like you're cupping your hands to wash your face."
"Ah...."
He poured water into her hands. Washing off the blood.
"You're more composed than I thought."
"I-I'm usually like that."
"Do you do this kind of work often?"
"...Yes."
Being close to each other while maintaining silence was awkward, so he struck up a conversation.
The response came back quite well. Strangely, it felt like her speech had opened up after Jack was killed.
Is she afraid? It doesn't seem like that kind of vibe.
"I-I'm an adventurer."
"I thought so. Based on your attire."
"...."
"Earlier... what were you trying to say before that monster came?"
"It's nothing m-much... just that there are m-monsters in the Citadel."
"Aha."
In the end, it overlapped with what Jack said.
"...By any chance, could you tell me anything for my sake?"
"H-Huh?"
"Information, I mean. Anything is fine."
"L-Like what Jack j-just did...?"
"Yes... like that...."
Even though he was a monster, the fact that there were monsters imitating humans there was true. He added,
"I d-don't have anything... what I know is...."
"Even a trivial matter is fine.... Please... I beg of you...."
He sets the emotional tone.
Setting up the act that he had been pretending to be okay until now, he begins his real performance.
"Even now, my dongsaeng... must be waiting for me...."
"...."
"Alone... all by themselves... shivering.... Waiting only for me to come...."
"...."
"So, so please...."
The woman's eyes tremble here and there. As if she doesn't know what to do.
Jin opened his mouth. And just as he was about to say something, his lips quivered once and he stopped.
"...."
Silence, what remained here was silence.
What appeared before his eyes were pure white hands.
Hands that had the blood washed off, hands that she didn't know what to do with, unable to even pull them back.
"...I'm sorry."
"...."
"Seeing such a... monster, I got a bit emotional."
He pretends to regain his reason and takes a step back.
He plops down on the ground. And stays there, staring blankly.
"...W-What I can say is."
She bit. The woman finally bit the bait he threw.
"There's really... not much.... Because that guy, he said it all...."
"...."
"S-Still, should I try telling you h-how I got here...?"
"Yes, it would be a great help if you could tell me even just that."
She was an adventurer. Today, she set out on an adventure.
Together with the comrades she had happened to meet and had been working well with.
One comrade was strange. They showed a lot of odd behavior.
She asked if they shouldn't rest today, but they said they were fine.
"B-But... but they said they were fine...."
"...."
"T-That f-fucking... bastard.... That monster bastard...."
Unfortunately, it was a monster.
As soon as someone in the party got hurt, it revealed its true form.
Many people died.
There was the monster, and everyone in the party except herself.
And among them was a child she considered like her own biological dongsaeng.
"...F-Fucking, that bastard.... My, my dongsaeng. My dongsaeng...."
"...."
Her expression had turned as if she were about to cry at any moment.
As if she were about to burst into tears right now.
She had fled. Miraculously, she was able to escape before getting hurt. She ran away with all her might.
She stopped by the Citadel, and as soon as she confirmed that place wasn't normal either, she fled again.
Because the control was strict, she snuck out when the guard was at its weakest. She even invested expensive potions and magic tools to get out.
There were those chasing her from behind, but she fled for her life.
And since that day, the stuttering began.
After being covered in hot blood once, her body cooled down and she began to feel the cold.
'This is quite....'
She was a woman with a story that reminded him of something very nostalgic, something sad.
Jin looked at her face.
Her face, wearing a sorrowful expression, somehow made him think she resembled his past self.