The Presence from Another World
I felt a strong premonition that anyone could sense, and it pushed Damien aside as I hurried through the door.
Breathing heavily, I glared at the door while Damien clicked his tongue, grabbed me, and pulled me behind his back.
“Stay right behind me.”
Damien stared at the door and gave the order in a low voice, the way a battlefield commander speaks.
I nodded urgently and tightly clutched the hem of his clothes.
Damien looked back at me with a startled face.
“Ah, sorry.”
If I was grabbing his clothes, he couldn’t move at all. Seriously.
Since coming from District 88 to District 14, I had never once faced a life-threatening situation, so I clearly couldn’t judge properly.
I quickly let go of the hem, bit my lip, and nodded as if telling him to hurry up.
Damien hesitated for a moment before whispering.
“I’m really strong, so don’t worry too much.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Assassin S.
At first glance, I thought there couldn’t be many like that, but now it was the ultimate icon of trust in my Status.
If Assassin S, I could do anything. I knew he had learned swordsmanship. He had defeated three knights.
I clenched and unclenched my fists to calm myself.
Every time Damien walked, I followed right behind him.
Before opening the door, he hesitated briefly.
I thought he was scared, but it wasn’t that.
Probably because the one behind him was being noticed.
Why? Was it because of something I did?
Did I grab him again?
I quickly looked around, but I was just clenching my fists with both hands. I wasn’t grabbing him.
“Why? Did I do something wrong?”
When I asked him, he shook his head and said,
“You’re too close. Never mind.”
This guy, what the—
“I told you to stick close.”
“Yeah.”
Damien sighed.
Out of the corner of my eye, his side profile looked rather troubled.
That was somehow reassuring.
If he was bothered by me being close, it meant he was truly confident.
He opened the door with an uncomfortable expression.
Why did he care more about behind than in front? I whispered, “Look ahead!”
He muttered, “Yeah, yeah—” and looked forward.
“Oh, when did you two become so close?”
Pythia stood there in a fur robe.
She smiled sweetly at us.
At that moment, Damien tried to pull away from me.
“That’s not it.”
“Ehh, what else would it be? You have nothing to be embarrassed about.
When you’re twelve years old,”
“I greet the High Priestess of the Grand Cathedral of Gerka the Honorable.”
A voice that had become familiar today rang out from behind Pythia.
I unconsciously grabbed the hem of Damien’s clothes tightly again.
Damien’s head turned slightly to glance at me.
But it was only for a moment.
He looked forward once more.
“Pythia, come here.”
It was a rather commanding tone, yet as always, Pythia showed no hesitation.
She walked lightly and approached Damien.
Damien caught her arm, which carried a kind smile as if asking what was going on, and pulled her behind his back.
I immediately hugged Pythia.
“Arian? What’s wrong?”
Does Gerka’s saint need protecting?
“Arian, why are you shaking…?”
Damien’s voice overlapped with Pythia’s.
“The saint does not meet just anyone. Reveal your identity.”
If you could climb a sheer cliff path, you could meet anyone, including beasts.
Yet Damien demanded the opponent’s title as though Pythia were a noble, high-ranking saint.
He shot it out with the attitude of a creature writhing in disgust.
“Hah, how intriguing. You suddenly appear in someone else’s temple and threaten us with trouble if we don’t let you in, then come in and spout a bunch of nonsense claiming you’re the saint’s imposter.
You even bring the high priest to check and then run away.
Now what? You want us to reveal our identity?
Reveal the identity of the woman standing behind you.
What kind of woman are you, anyway?”
Hearing this, I felt like the imposter.
More like the one who was the imposter.
Damien also looked at me with disgusted eyes.
Did you really do that?
His eyes were full of suspicion.
So I hugged Pythia tightly and, without letting go of Damien’s hem, peeked my head out to check on the monster far away.
[Flesh-eating Monster, Prefers Human Flesh]
As expected, the Status remained unchanged.
“Th-the god gave us a revelation.
This priest is a monster.”
“……”
“Really.”
“What are you—”
At that moment, the monster’s eyes changed after I said it was a monster.
Oh no, oh no.
The thing only moved its mouth to say that, then sprang forward like a spring right on the spot.
There wasn’t even time to scream.
As I opened my eyes wide in a frozen moment,
blood splattered into the air.
Damien held a transparent window glowing with blue light.
It precisely pierced the monster’s heart.
I didn’t know what the window was.
And I didn’t know how it had appeared in Damien’s hand that had nothing there.
Magic? Was that it?
Damien looked at the monster with a cold face.
“You were talking, weren’t you, you rude thing.”
The monster’s body began to freeze gradually from the pierced chest.
The monster barely moved its lips.
“H-how,”
How did you know?
How could you attack like that?
Or perhaps it meant something else.
The monster seemed to want to ask something.
But he couldn’t finish.
It was his last words.
The monster’s outer shell cracked and fell away.
It was some glittering powder, like dust floating in sunlight if I had to describe it.
Light, dirty… ephemeral.
The powder flowed down and melted away in the air.
And inside, a small thing fell.
It looked like a monkey.
A monkey infested with germs.
Damien looked down at me.
I was still clutching his clothes.
He probably was worried about me.
He was the guy who would have gotten himself killed even against an Assassin S who had fallen for Pythia.
But he wasn’t a bad guy.
If it were me, I wouldn’t have trusted myself.
Yet Damien trusted me and decisively dealt a fatal blow to the monster pretending to be a priest.
“Thank you.”
At my words, Damien’s lips moved slightly.
He seemed embarrassed and just moved his mouth, but said nothing.
Relief made tears fall.
I thanked Damien once more.
“Because you trusted me… thank you.”
At my words, Damien barely squeezed out his voice.
“It’s nothing.”
Pythia supported me.
“Come to bed early today.
You must have been scared, right?”
I briefly wondered how to dispose of the monster’s corpse, but in the end, I headed to the bedroom as Pythia instructed.
Someone would clean it.
I needed rest right now.
Damien wandered around the kitchen and was astonished.
There were more things than when he had come two months ago.
How could Pythia, who barely survived by chewing on black bread when he wasn’t there, fill the kitchen like this?
It had to be that woman’s skill.
What to take out?
After thinking, I took out two cups.
From behind, Pythia said,
“Arian has just fallen asleep.”
Arian Danier.
Daughter of the Chamberlain.
Damien had seen Arian Danier before.
The first time was when she was three years old.
She was wearing a flamboyant dress befitting the birthday party host.
Under the chandelier, sparkling lights shone.
“Yes.”
Pythia approached and stood beside Damien.
She looked up at his face and asked,
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
Pythia showed a wry smile.
She knew Damien Hamilcar.
Yes, no, I’m fine.
An expressionless doll who finished every answer with those three words.
Yet this doll showed rather human reactions toward Arian.
He argued, checked her mood, and made impulsive decisions.
Pythia carefully observed Damien’s side profile and asked,
“You’ve been surprised while living with Arian, haven’t you?
She’s quite natural and has a unique charm for the Chamberlain’s daughter.”
While saying this, Pythia felt a slight pang of conscience.
Natural and unique… Can I really lie like this while being praised as a saint?
But Damien nodded without the slightest doubt at her words.
“Yes.”
“She’s a child I really like.”
It was sincere.
“Yes.”
“Get along well.”
At Pythia’s gentle words, Damien recalled Arian from a moment ago.
“Because you trusted me… thank you.”
Damien hadn’t killed the priest because he believed Arian.
He would have done the same whether the priest was a monster or a human.
He had just rushed forward.
There was no reason to spare someone who attacked during conversation.
That was all.
Yet Arian seemed to believe he wouldn’t have died if the thing hadn’t been a monster.
Arian didn’t seem to remember herself, but he remembered the first time he saw her.
A peer girl.
Just for being born, she was blessed.
Her birthday party was grand beyond words.
The king blessed her birth, and nobles competed to give her beautiful gifts.
Silver-blonde hair that melted like moonlight, eyes like sunset dahlias, and snow-white skin without a single speck of dust.
Numerous accessories and expensive dresses wrapped around it all.
The child looked more like a fairy than a human.
Beautiful and adorable.
She seemed sweet enough to melt in your hands.
I remembered the moment I entered the birthday party still wearing the blood-soaked robe.
People’s contemptuous glances and the strange eyes of the female protagonist.
The clear gap that clearly told they were from another world even in the same space.
And that gap still remained.
Or perhaps it had widened even more.
“I don’t really want to.”
Today, I had acted unlike myself.
I talked too much and acted immaturely.
I was strangely excited.
So maybe I had forgotten who I really was.
I was Damien Hamilcar.
An existence of original sin.