The Rooster in the Dark
"Nnngh..."
I knew this would happen. When I opened my eyes that morning, Lily was still there — the same Lily who'd promised to slip out before dawn.
"Hey. Get up."
"Huh? Oh... I accidentally fell asleep."
"Get out of here and go back to your room before the others wake up."
"Okay, got it."
I opened the door and ushered her out. And then I stopped.
Why were they already standing there?
Maisha and Clotine were right outside the room, already talking. This was bad. They'd ask about the Saintess who'd just walked out of my room — and that could blow Lily's cover. That would be a problem.
"Ah, Kyle. You've risen, have you? Th-the situation is dire."
Was this really something that would rattle her this much? Well, at least she wasn't paying any attention to Lily. Small mercies.
"Why? What's going on that's got you this shaken?"
"When I awoke this morning, all my belongings had vanished. My bow, as well!"
"A thief, then."
"Clotine's room appears to have been hit as well. You ought to check yours."
I hurried back inside. Sure enough, everything I owned was gone. The Holy Sword was still there, thankfully. The fact that no one but me could even lift the thing made for excellent theft prevention, at least.
"My things are gone too!"
"This is bad. Not just clothes — weapons, money, everything was in there. The whole lot, vanished..."
"Worse still. We haven't even the coin to pay for our lodging."
"We catch them. No matter what."
"How? We don't even know when we were robbed."
"Seonbae, I can do it!"
Right. We had a mage.
"There's a spell that reveals traces. If I use it, we should be able to see the culprit's footprints."
"Oh, perfect. Let's try it now."
Clotine muttered something under her breath. Light burst from her eyes.
Trace Revelation
"Hmm... there aren't any footprints?"
"No footprints?"
"No. None besides our own."
"How can there be no footprints? Did they fly?"
"Well, there's another method besides reading footprints."
"What is it?"
"Um, tracking residual magic. If they used a spell to erase their footprints, I can find that."
"Got it. Let's try it."
Clotine concentrated for a moment. A faint blue trail materialized in the air.
A faint blue trail unfurls through the air, winding away into the distance.
"Ah! I found it this time!"
"Alright. Everyone follow it. We catch them no matter what."
Events were definitely unfolding differently than they had before the regression. Probably because I'd forced Lily into the Saintess role. From trivial things like conversations all the way to incidents this significant — everything was happening in ways I couldn't predict.
The trail stretched on for quite a distance. All four of us followed it together, until the path suddenly forked.
"Huh? The trail splits here!"
"So they had an accomplice."
"Or they deliberately split it to throw us off."
"That's possible too. Which would make them more dangerous. If they knew we'd come looking and planned the crime accordingly, they probably already know who we are and what we do. Which means this is a trap designed to lure us in."
"What should we do?"
"We've been cleaned out completely. Even if it's a trap, I think we have to go. Anyone disagree?"
Everyone nodded. No point wasting any more time. We needed to move.
"Then we pursue. If they're real thieves, we have to move fast — they're running as we speak. Clotine, how old are these traces?"
"I can't tell the exact time. But the fact that the trail hasn't broken means the mana source forming it is still nearby."
"Good. Since the path splits, we'll divide into two groups. I'll go with the Saintess. Maisha and Clotine, you're a team."
"Saintess. Shall we?"
Lily and I took the left fork. Clotine and Maisha sprinted down the right.
"Oppa! Could you— hah, hah — slow down a little?!"
"Hey, how am I supposed to slow down? We're chasing a thief!"
"I can't run anymore! I'm not some exercise freak like you!"
I stopped for a moment, catching my breath, and considered how to solve this rather pressing problem.
"Get on my back."
"What?"
"I said get on my back."
"Are you sure that's okay?"
"Not like we have another option. And someone your size shouldn't be a problem, right?"
I bent at the waist, offering my back so she could climb on.
"Come on. Just get on."
"Ugh, whatever. I'm getting on!"
"Oof. You're a lot heavier than I expected."
Thwack. Lily smacked me in the back of the head.
"Ow! Why'd you hit me?!"
"You're supposed to say that kind of thing in your head! In your head!"
Ah. I'd said that out loud by accident.
"Sorry. But you are heavy, though."
"Oh my god, seriously?! Fine, whatever. Just run! Run!"
On Lily's command, I kicked off the ground and started running.
"Whoa, this is faster than I thought!"
"And you're heavier than I thought."
"Would you cut it out already?! Wait — pillar up ahead!"
Running with someone on my back meant I was looking down instead of ahead. I nearly slammed straight into a pillar.
"Watch where you're going! We both almost died!"
"We wouldn't have died. Just hurt a lot. Hey, you navigate. I can barely lift my head."
"Fine. But you still have to look up every so often, and you turn or stop the second I say so."
"Got it."
"Alright, navigating. Right!"
"Got it!"
How long did we run? Ten minutes? Twenty? With my enhanced strength at a full sprint, we covered ground fast.
"Oh. The trail just cut off. Does that mean we're here?"
"Maybe it just faded because we got too far from Clotine?"
"Probably not. If that were the case, it would've broken a while ago. Clotine didn't cast the spell on the air itself — she cast it on us so we could see the traces in the air."
"Oh, right. But Lily... this place is way too grim for some petty thief to be hiding out, don't you think?"
The place we'd arrived at was a classic back alley — the kind of place that looked purpose-built for crime. The already-narrow passage was littered with garbage, and the dark gray walls, draped in shadow, only made the atmosphere more ominous.
This was getting dangerous. Splitting into two groups might have been a mistake. I was starting to worry about Clotine and Maisha.
"Lily. You stay here."
"What? Don't be ridiculous! I'm coming too!"
Fair enough. Leaving her here alone might actually be more dangerous.
"Fine. Then stick right to me."
"O-okay."
"And... if I get caught, or take an arrow, or I'm immobilized in any way — you leave me and run."
"What? How could I possibly—"
"Just do it. And I probably won't die. It might not even come to that. I'm just planning for the worst."
"O-okay. I understand."
"Alright. Let's go."
The alley was narrow, but it stretched on far longer than it had any right to. There was no telling what waited at the end. We walked for a long time — long enough that I started to wonder whether a city alley had any business being this deep. With every step, the shadows hanging over the passage grew darker.
"Oppa... I think we're here."
Even Lily had been swallowed by the atmosphere. She'd started whispering without realizing it.
"So this is the end of it."
What we found was an abandoned building that looked ancient. Just looking at it, a vicious atmosphere poured off the place. Hopefully it wouldn't collapse the moment we stepped inside. That would be the end of us.
I opened the door slowly. The rusty hinges let out a groan that sounded uncomfortably like a scream. Lily and I stepped inside. The interior was complete darkness.
How does a building have zero windows? What was this place even built for?
"Oppa, I can't see anything..."
"Right, I forgot. I've got matches — I can get us some light for a second. Look around for a torch or something. A building with no windows has to have torches, at least."
I rummaged through my pockets for the matches.
Nothing.
Strange. I was sure I'd put them in there. Where did they go? Did they fall out while I was running?
"Oppa, no matches?"
"Hold on, I'm looking. Maybe they fell out while we were running?"
Hiss. Light flared into existence. The torch in front of me had been lit.
"What? You found the matches? You just said you didn't have them."
"That wasn't me."
"What?"
"There's someone here."
I used the torchlight to scan our surroundings. Nothing. Then something crunched under my foot.
A match. A match with smoke still rising from it. This had just been used.
From the darkness came a voice that made my skin crawl. It was too grotesque to be human — a sound closer to a beast. And with that voice, something came flying through the air.
The matchbox that had been in my pocket.
When the hell did they take that?
"Who are you. Show yourself."
"Weren't you looking for me? You should already know who I am."
This was bad. In pitch darkness, a fight would put us at an absolute disadvantage. I should've brought the Holy Sword. I'd left it behind because it was cumbersome — I never thought it'd come to this. Win a fistfight against an opponent whose weapon I don't know, whose location I don't know? That's insane.
"No need to worry so much. I've no intention of killing or harming you. I just... came for fun."
"You call this fun?"
"Oh, extremely. Because you can't do a thing about it."
"Then let me have some fun too. Let me see your face."
"Well. If you insist."
The presence in the darkness began to move, inch by inch, into the light. Judging by the silhouette, that was definitely not a human.
"What are you? A demon? A human?"
"Call me whatever you like."
The silhouette peeled itself free of the darkness and revealed its full form. And that form was...
"Pfft—hah!"
It was a beastman — complete with a ridiculous rooster's comb and a pair of wings.