Chapter 99: The Spirit Race and the Tigerfolk
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 99: The Spirit Race and the Tigerfolk
‘I have to stay calm.’
I tried to quiet my pounding heart as I met Bipa's gaze.
I made a point of looking him right in the eye.
Bipa and Mugol would know my face. They said we were in the same party in Wyndham.
An encounter like this could lead to an unpredictable situation—awkward questions directed at me, for instance.
But I came here knowing that was a risk.
There were two main reasons.
First, within the confines of this place, I was far more trusted than these outsiders. Professors like Meldini and Isilof were on my side. The Consul's expectations of me were at an all-time high. On top of that, I'd already been "vaccinated," so to speak, by declaring I wasn't a Possessor under a lie detection spell.
No matter how awkward the conversation got, if I fudged my way through it, the people of Sohen would take my side.
And the second reason.
‘I can probe them for information.’
Why was someone like me, who didn't even have a Memory Book, part of a three-person party of Deep Layer adventurers? How did the Eight-Tailed Fox Spirit, Hyedam, die? Was she really dead? Did I truly kill her? Everything was unclear, but they had to know something.
Being able to talk to them in such a favorable environment was an opportunity for me.
‘To catch a tiger, you must enter the tiger's den.’
Isn't that right?
Mugol, you tiger-man.
“Caleb…?”
I couldn't tell if he was being genuine or just acting, but Bipa behaved as if running into me here was a complete surprise.
“Caleb! It is you, right? Wow, it's been a long time!”
The Spirit Race member's white eyebrows curved with a smile.
“How long has it been? No, more importantly…”
Bipa tapped the tip of his fan against his lips.
“You were alive?”
What an anticlimactic thing to say. You have no idea the hell I went through just to survive.
And Bipa's reaction right now felt a little off.
If I had really killed his party member, Hyedam, he wouldn't be all smiles and laughter at our reunion.
As I thought, there was more to that fox's death.
“Do you know them?”
Meldini asked, tilting his head toward me.
“Yes. This is Bipa of the Spirit Race, and this is Mugol of the Tigerfolk. They're Deep Layer adventurers and my former party members.”
I hadn't been idle all this time, either. I'd managed to gather some information about my past and Wyndham.
I decided to test the waters, carefully dangling some bait.
“This was before I came here for the crime of killing the Possessor Fox Spirit, Hyedam.”
It was a statement of fact, straight from the court's verdict, but it was also a loaded remark. Though I myself didn't know what it was loaded with.
“…”
Bipa's smile turned a little sour.
I wished he would ask more.
“You were party members with Deep Layer adventurers?”
Professor Isilof's question was filled with disbelief, as it was a difficult story to accept at face value. I gave a simple affirmation.
“Yes. For a time.”
Then I stared at Bipa, as if to say I didn't want to be the one to explain.
“Well, everyone has their own circumstances.”
The Spirit Race member tried to brush off the conversation with an easygoing smile.
“Our Hyedam was always one for eccentric behavior. She liked taking Labyrinth newbies to the Deep Layer.”
That matched what the Fox Spirit Soyul had told me before.
“She didn't torment them, though. She'd just have them carry some luggage, do some cooking and cleaning, or run simple errands. She always ensured their safety and paid them generously. And in Caleb's case…”
There was definitely information to be gained by confronting these guys. Though it was a bit shocking.
“He and Hyedam were lovers.”
“…”
I poured every ounce of my being into keeping a straight face.
Yernil failed to do the same.
A strange gasp escaped her shocked throat.
“They probably wanted to be together all the time. That's why he went to the Deep Layer with her. They were madly in love…”
Bipa continued.
“So he couldn't stand it when Hyedam was possessed. That murder… I understand it. He wasn't killing Hyedam; he was taking revenge on the Possessor who killed her.”
No… fuck, this is getting more ridiculous by the second.
So, the original me was in a relationship with the non-possessed Hyedam, but then she became a Possessor, and in a fit of rage, I killed the possessed Hyedam?
To be honest, that would explain one thing.
How a third-rate adventurer like me, who wasn't even a wizard and had no Memory Book, could have killed Hyedam, an Eight-Tailed Deep Layer adventurer.
If she had just been possessed, it might have been possible, right?
I couldn't get my bearings right after I was possessed, either. I came close to getting my head chopped off by a goblin's knife. If it weren't for the hourglass, it would have been game over for me right there.
Even if a Possessor took over the body of a Deep Layer adventurer, if that Possessor was just some person who used to commute on the subway and eat ramen and triangle kimbap from a convenience store, they wouldn't be able to handle the sudden threat of death.
It's like putting an ordinary person in the cockpit of a state-of-the-art fighter jet. They wouldn't know how to fly it and could be killed by a barbarian with an iron club.
‘But is that story true?’
And how much of it did the original me believe was true?
Perhaps it was a lie Bipa and Mugol had prepared in advance. A story they had agreed to tell publicly—a lie that I myself might have been a part of.
This was confusing.
‘I want to ask.’
I wanted to probe them, to ask if they were the ones who actually killed Hyedam.
But it was too risky for me to ask directly. I had no idea how much the original me knew.
I wish someone else would ask for me…
[Your turn. Time remaining: 60 seconds]
[Action Points: ■■■■■■]
She'll do it, right?
I believe in you, Yernil!
“Wait a minute!”
A conversation she had overheard at the auction house suddenly flashed through Yernil's mind.
Of course, Yernil hadn't been part of that conversation, but with her sound-mapping ability, her ears couldn't help but pick it up from that distance.
She hadn't meant to eavesdrop. She just heard it.
“You people! You go around killing Possessors!”
That's what Gadozumi had said.
Bipa and Mugol.
He said they had a bad reputation.
That they were psychopathic murderers who hunted down and killed Possessors.
“Didn't you kill that Fox Spirit colleague, too? And then…”
Yernil grabbed Caleb's arm.
“Didn't you frame Caleb for it?”
She had already been framed for a terrible crime as a drug dealer while working at the errand center.
This world would rob you blind! Let your guard down for a second, and you'd be had.
Caleb was much smarter than her, of course, but how could he possibly stand against two Deep Layer adventurers if they were determined to frame him?
“So, what I'm saying is, didn't you commit that murder… yourselves…?”
But Yernil's courage plummeted with each word. The tiger-man's piercing blue eyes were fixed on her.
“…”
Terrified, Yernil hugged Caleb's arm tightly.
“That is not so,” Mugol said.
“It is true that we despise and kill Possessors, but we have no reason to frame someone else for it. The fine for killing a Possessor is a mere three thousand gold.”
“…”
“No. There is a reason.”
Suddenly, Meldini went on the offensive.
He had reviewed Caleb's trial records before.
“Back then, the process of proving whether that Fox Spirit was a Possessor or not dragged on all the way to a third trial. That would have been a risk for you. If you had confessed to the murder from the start and then failed to prove she was a Possessor in court, you would have been punished not for killing a Possessor, but for murdering a fellow adventurer.”
Meldini's suspicion was logical.
“Otherwise, how could Caleb have possibly killed an Eight-Tailed Deep Layer adventurer? You bastards pulled some kind of trick. Didn't you?”
And Meldini, who was hot-headed by nature, was far worse than usual today. Because a student had already died.
“Because of you bastards, Caleb got a criminal record! And because of that, he might have become a target for a slave-hate crime!”
“Do not insult us.”
The Tigerfolk's fangs glinted in the dark as he growled.
“We are not so cowardly as to frame our own party member.”
“Who knows? In fact, I find the circumstances of Teramond's death highly suspicious as well! How many people have the guts to murder a wizard on the grounds of the magic university in Sohen?”
“…”
“This is the first time a student has died on campus since the last Labyrinth Eruption! And what a coincidence that you bastards show up in Sohen? A Spirit Race and a Tigerfolk, who are never seen around here, suddenly appear at this exact moment? Do you think that's a coincidence?”
“How dare you say such a…”
“Let me tell you what I think. Caleb took the fall for you bastards, became a slave, and came to Sohen. And now he's cleared his name. You got worried. Worried that the truth about framing him would come out. So you came here to kill him off beforehand. Am I wrong? But by mistake,”
Meldini pointed at Teramond.
“you killed another wizard, a former slave, who was wearing the same kind of cape Caleb has been wearing lately!”
“Grrrrrr!”
A roar like that of an enraged tiger echoed through the air. In an instant, Mugol drew his sword and aimed it, and the Consul moved at the same time.
The Deep Layer adventurers' swords were pointed at each other in mid-air. Meldini had already drawn his wand.
“Finally showing your true colors, you damn cat. Come on, try me. I'll teach you what a university professor's magic is like!”
Meldini cackled.
Professor Meldini's personality really is something else.
I didn't think he'd go that far.
Is this what they mean when they say a shrimp's back gets broken when whales fight?
Just standing between these monsters feels like I'm going to be crushed to death.
I'm the one who stirred this hornet's nest with my hourglass, but I have to admit, this is a bit much.
Right, Yernil?
You look pale.
Deep Layer-level monsters are different from small fry like Ingelam or Antonelli, aren't they?
“Now, now. Let's all calm down.”
The Spirit Race member began to de-escalate the situation.
“Professor, your conjecture is unpleasant, but I understand. A student has been murdered, so it's natural for you to be agitated.”
Bipa pulled on Mugol's massive hand, urging him to sheathe his sword.
“However, we are not involved in this incident. If you wish to question us, we will cooperate.”
“The professor's speculation may have been harsh,”
The Consul was still suspicious of the outsiders.
“but I must admit, you two stand out. Why have you come to Sohen?”
Bipa shrugged.
“I told you, we're here on vacation.”
“…”
“And one more thing. I heard that the poachers who were active on the 4th floor of the Sohen Labyrinth have been caught.”
Bipa asked, opening his fan to cover half his face.
His curved eyes peered over the fan at the Consul.
“Is that true?”
“It is.”
Consul Peterson said.
“We rounded them up with the help of Caleb here.”
“…I see.”
What is this now?
Why on earth would Deep Layer adventurers from Wyndham like Bipa and Mugol be interested in some nobody like Ingelam?
This just keeps getting more and more absurd.
“In any case, I understand.”
Bipa snapped his fan shut against his palm.
“Caleb. Do tell your new friends our story more often. It seems people misunderstand us.”
“…”
“And Consul. If you find us suspicious, we will cooperate with the investigation at any time, so please summon us to the Public Security Headquarters.”
Bipa pulled his Tigerfolk companion's arm.
“Let's go.”
Seriously, Sohen is way more dangerous and difficult than the Labyrinth.
I can't make heads or tails of anything.
Are Bipa and Mugol really uninvolved in Teramond's death? Maybe they are.
I don't know if they go around killing Possessors, but it seems unrelated to slave-hate crimes.
And they didn't show enough hostility toward me to suggest they wanted to kill me.
So why did they come to Sohen?
What's their connection to Ingelam?
“Caleb. Are you okay?”
Yernil came over to my bed, where I was lying in a daze, and asked with concern.
“I'm fine.”
I started going through everything related to Ingelam in my head.
1. The magic equipment I sold today.
Nothing there would interest a Deep Layer adventurer.
2. The replica business.
A Deep Layer adventurer wouldn't fall for a scam like that.
3. The drug business in the city of Flandre?
Then they would have been looking for Lilweed, not the poachers.
4. Convergence Cores.
Ingelam had been secretly extracting and smuggling out Convergence Cores. He obviously couldn't sell them at the Sohen auction house, so he must have disposed of them on the black market.
Is it possible Bipa and Mugol were fencing the stolen goods for him?
I doubt it.
Convergence Cores have a wide range of uses, but the Spirit Race and Tigerfolk wouldn't use them for personal power-ups. The demand is usually highest among puppeteers.
“I'm so scared, I'd rather be in the Labyrinth.”
I never thought Yernil would say something like that.
“I don't even need to go to the 4th floor. The elevator fee is a waste anyway… I just want to go to the 1st floor and hide. Until the culprit is caught.”
Huh?
Wait a minute.
“Elevator?”
Ingelam had a makeshift elevator.
A hidden, unauthorized elevator is a means to secretly enter the Labyrinth, making it perfect for all sorts of crimes.
All this time, was Ingelam's party really the only one using that elevator?
Or were there other clients?