Sorcerous Stabber Orphen Rogue Journey Vol 3 Chapter 4

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen Rogue Journey Book 03 - Spectre, Sleeping on My Chest - Chapter 4 - Stupid public confession   Chapter 4 - Stupid public confession     (Everyone has a past.) This was true, though some people would rather forget about their past. Orphen looked around the dark hall, he breathed deeply. The windows were closed, and the room was very dusty, so dusty that you could your footprints could be clearly seen. He was in the hall of a big house, he gazed upwards to a tall majestic statue. This statue is a G.o.ddess that is worshiped all over the continent, a thin smile was engraved on its face. “This G.o.ddess……” Orphen said to himself. He then held out his arm, and patted some dust off his trousers. “Hmm?”  Hirietta said, standing near Orphen. “What?” “Nothing……I just admire the owner of this house, he clearly has good taste.” Orphen smiled. He stared at the middle of the statues face, it looked like someone took a chisel to its face, and it made the G.o.ddess look like she had three eyes. In the middle of those gentle eyes, there was a hole, a third eye… Hirietta closed the door behind them, the house was then plunged into darkness. Then, Hirietta lit a portable gas lamp. The statue was illuminated once again. (Everyone has a past.) Orphen repeated this in his head, of course, the same could be said about the G.o.ds. The eldest daughter of the G.o.ddess’ represents the past——the second daughter of the G.o.ddess’ represents the present——finally, the third female G.o.ddess represents the future. The sisters of fate, the fate of the three sisters, their future is their own. But for humans, theirs is unknown. They could die today or tomorrow, anything is possible. Orphen wore a self-deprecating smile, he was feeling sentimental. Standing in the light ofHirietta’s portable gas lantern, he spoke: “I didn’t expect to be taken to a place like this.” “My client wants to meet you face to face, I’ll be taking you to him.” “I’d like to know something first——” Orphen then looked towards the ceiling, he only saw darkness hovering above him. “What are you in this for? Are you looking for someone?” “You’re from the Tower of Fang……aren’t you, Krylancelo?” As soon as Orphen heard that name, he turned around to face Hirietta. Her face was full of mischief, her brown eyes flickered. “I’m looking for a man, the strongest black sorcerer on this continent……Childman, his name is known all over the land.” “Don’t say his name.” Orphen wanted her to stop. But it seemed Hirietta wasn’t done yet. “However, five years ago he left the Tower of Fang for an unknown reason. There’s all sorts of rumours flying around, they say that he was deemed too powerful for the elders to handle, so they sent the Thirteen Apostles after him. Anyway, that’s just a rumour.” She then winked at him. “In the western side of the continent, he went on a search for a missing person, even though that person was said to be dead. The Demon Sorceress——” “Shut your mouth!” Orphen was getting impatient, he grabbed Hirietta’s arm. He desperately wanted to hold back his feelings, but he couldn’t. “Don’t call me Krylancelo! Starting five years ago, I became Orphen. I left the Tower of Fang because I wanted to. Also, that name——” Hirietta wasn’t intimidated by his scowl. In fact, she was enjoying this. Orphen went on to say: “Every name has a meaning. I am Orphen, Krylancelo no longer exists! No matter who calls me by that name……I won’t accept it.” Orphen said his piece, he was ready to let go of her hand——but Hirietta’s hands were faster than his, she put her other hand on top of his. “You are like a chirping bird, except no one is listening.” “And you are nothing but foolish dog Hirietta! Unable to complete a mission Hirietta! Of course, you tell people these are nothing but lies, but it’s the truth. You always betray ninety percent of the people you work with. If you are commissioned to kill someone, you’d help them escape. If you are a.s.signed to escort someone, you’d disappear and leave them. The only thing you are good at is killing sorcerers.” “……I know.” Hirietta agreed with him. She gently let go of his hand. “Alright, let’s continue walking. We’re going……to an underground room, okay?”     “Achoo.” “…………” Orphen found it strange to see her this way, she was blushing. Using the faint light of the gas lamp, they made their way around the house. This house had been abandoned a decade ago. When people lived here, they had their servants clean every part of the house until it was spotless. The owner of the house had no relatives, he lived together with a few servants and a.s.sistants.   However——that time had long since pasted. It was dark, they could hear a sharp cry and the tapping of little feet, there was probably a large group of mice nearby. Orphen brushed multiple large cobwebs out of their path. Hirietta’s mood then changed. “You know——if you go west from here, you can find a village that’s not on the map. The locals call it Rain Dust, that means the debris of the times, it also refers to the residents who live there. Simply put, their homeland was destroyed by sporadic fighting. They’ve had to rely on their own strength to survive……over time, they unknowingly formed a village, that’s where my home is.” Upon hearing this, Orphen muttered: “……Funny, my hometown is also in that area.” “Your hometown? You call yourself Orphen, do that mean you were an orphan?” Hirietta was surprised. Orphen took a deep breath, and said:  “I don’t generally like to talk about my past, but this time was an exception.” She shrugged. “When I left the village, I was just a boring fifteen year old——simply put, I ran away from home with a simple bag. I kept running until I reached another village, this village……” “Fifteen years old……” Orphen said out aloud, he then looked at Hirietta and tried to guess her age. “I see, so did this happen ten years ago?” “You’re wrong. It was nine years ago——” “We’re not that different…” Orphen said. Hirietta laughed—— “Sometimes the difference can be very big.” She said, but then she seemed sad. Orphen looked at her, then a bug dropped on him from above, he started scratching his head. “If I left the village a year later, I probably would have never met him.” “Him?” Orphen said, as he tried to get rid of the spider in his hair. “Yes. I fainted when I reached this village, he took care of me…Sami.” Just as she said that name, he mouth suddenly shut. Orphen didn’t say anything, but he remembered that name from somewhere. At the same time, he got the spider and threw it to a group of rats behind him, there was lots of noise as they fought over it. They had been walking in the house for a while——they had walked down a small hallway until they reached the kitchen, they then came to a pair of stairs leading to the cellar. “If you came here a year later, how would you not meet this Sami?” Hirietta’s answer was very simple. “That’s because……he died a year after I met him.” (……This guy, since he’s dead, I shouldn’t encroach upon this touchy subject.) Both of them slowly went down the stairs silently. Because the rainy season had just pa.s.sed, the staircase was wet——not just wet, but hot. Orphen realized this when he touched the wall, he wiped his hands on his leather trousers. The further down the got, the thicker the moisture became.  Orphen felt that his patience had reached his limit. “I say, what happened to this Sami guy?” When Hirietta answered, she didn’t look back——he didn’t know what her expression was. “He was the a.s.sistant to the owner of this house. The owner was from the Tower of Fang, he was exiled to this village……his name was Fonogorosu.” When she finished, they had reached the end of the stone stairs. Ahead of them was an iron door. Hirietta extinguished the gas lamp. Darkness consumed them. “……What are you doing?” Orphen casually asked. Hirietta took a deep breath, and shrugged her shoulders. Her hands reached for the door, she found the handle and opened it. The heavy door emitted a loud creaking sound, a gust of wind flew out of the room as she opened it. The air smelled terrible, it was rancid water. Looking into the room, they saw a faint light. It looked like a huge ball of fireflies, but there was nothing holding it in the air. On the right hand side of the room, there was three layers of wooden boxes. They were arranged very neatly——it was one meter tall, the boxes looked very strong, and were tightly sealed. Then… “This is the manufacture date? Red Light Emperor thirty-eighth year......a decade ago?” This surprised Orphen, Hirietta had a serious look on her face, she was biting her lip. Orphen then navigated his way through the boxes until the bas.e.m.e.nt became very narrow, he saw a another very large box—— No, it wasn’t a box——Orphen was stunned for a moment, it was a huge gla.s.s sink, it was backed up against the wall, and was about two meters high. All the sides of the sink were covered in moss, some places seemed to have been cleaned. The sink was also full of water, Orphen didn’t dare look into it.  “Here it is——” Hirietta’s demeanour changed as she entered the room. She reached for the ball of light. “Here is Fonogorosu’s……niches?” “Niches?” Orphen said. Then—— “That’s right.” A reply came from the sink. “You finally came. I’ve been waiting a long time for you to come……I am Kiev Fonogorosu, the exiled researcher from the Tower of Fang.”   ***   “This is Vulcan’s first chamber of commerce meeting! I’ll become rich by collecting drops pieces of metal from the ground!” On a white sheet, several characters were written, he turned it into a flag. Vulcan walked forward with five children tailing behind him, they kept staring at the road. It was a scorching afternoon, Vulcan walked with the children and picked up any sc.r.a.ps they could find, everything they found they sold. Now there was a queue in front of Vulcan, it was more children who wanted to join his business. Meanwhile, Dortin was with three children who were putting bent nails and other metal sc.r.a.ps into the wooden box. He didn’t know how much all of the junk would be worth on the market, but one thing he did know was that it won’t be good. A few days later, Dortin was tortured by Vulcan for sleeping on the job, it was unavoidable.  Then, they noticed two familiar faces coming towards them. One of them was wearing a light blue shirt and jeans, it was Cleo. The other person was wearing all black, he was a teenager. Dortin searched in the depths of his memory for his name. (……Um…Magic, right? He’s a student of that loan shark.) The two people noticed them, and ran across the road towards them. Cleo raised her slender hand and said: “Hi.” “……h.e.l.lo there.” Dortin stopped to say h.e.l.lo. Vulcan and his "chamber of commerce" slowly disappeared.  “Out for a walk?” “No……we’re looking for Orphen. He suddenly disappeared.” Cleo said, as she sighed. “I haven’t seen him today. Have you checked with the police?” “Yeah, but he went out with that a.s.sa.s.sin and never came back.” Those last few words sounded very forced. Dortin was intrigued by the mention of an “a.s.sa.s.sin”. “a.s.sa.s.sin?” Majic replied: “Ah——that——no, that tall and long haired woman, she appeared in our hotel room the other night.” “That person, I remember……” Dortin tried to remember what he could. Cleo glanced towards Majic and whispered: “We need to hurry and find Orphen——that woman, she was sent to kill Orphen. She has weapons with her, remember?” (Compared to an a.s.sa.s.sin, I’m more afraid of Orphen than an a.s.sa.s.sin……) “I’ll help you find——” Dortin was saying, then suddenly—— “Ahhhhhh!” Someone screamed. Looking forward, they saw Vulcan fall to the ground clutching his flag——a man knocked him down, the other children scattered.  “Out of the way!” The man shouted as he ran, everyone calmly watched him. He had a short beard, and looked like he was old. He then tripped and went flying towards Cleo, she deflected his approach with a spin kick, and her foot struck him directly in the nose. Majic who was standing next to Cleo began to shout. “Ah, he’s bleeding!” Blood was spewing from the man’s nose, he then exclaimed: “What are you doing?!” “Shut up!” Cleo rushed over to the man, he was getting up from the ground. “What are you doing?! You appeared out of nowhere and almost trampled the kids!” “He was running scared, he just happened to run into them……” Majic whispered, Cleo looked back at him, she didn’t care for his opinion. “Listen, little girl——now is not the time to be talking!” The man waved his arm, as he stood up. Seeing that the box was overturned and the metal sc.r.a.ps were everywhere, the little children desperately tried to gather them. Meanwhile, Vulcan was wailing senselessly. In short, no one was injured. Then, Cleo began to shout: “Now is certainly not the time to talk! We’ve got to protect Orphen from that promiscuous a.s.sa.s.sin!” “Promiscuous?” Majic said, his eyes half open. Hearing this, the man quickly grabbed Cleo’s wrist. “An a.s.sa.s.sin? I’ve got no time to babysit you kids——” He stooped mid-way, as if he remembered something. “Did you just say, Orphen?” Cleo tried to shake his grasp. “Don’t touch me, nosebleed man!” Whack! Cleo headb.u.t.ted the man. “Ahhh!” The short bearded man fell to the ground once again. “You are so annoying!” Cleo said, then she let Majic take a look at her head. “Hey, are you okay?” Dortin said as he ran towards the man, he could tell that he was obviously the victim here. He pressed down on the man’s nose, he groaned. “You a.s.shole——dirty b.i.t.c.h, you won’t get away from Kozen the shadow——” It seemed that the man’s name was. Dortin asked him once again: “Are you okay?” “Uh-huh, by the way, got any toilet paper?” “I’m sorry. No.” Kozen groaned as he stood up, he then pulled out a knife. When Cleo saw this, she stepped backwards. “Come on, there’s no need for something like that.” “I don’t like to fight with women and children, but I can’t ignore what you’ve done.” Kozen stepped towards Cleo. “Can’t you just forgive me this one time, Mr. Nosebleed? it was just a joke.” “You better draw your sword!” Kozen said, as he waved the knife at her. “Actually, seeing that you are affiliated with Orphen, I should take you hostage!” "Uh——” Dortin looked at Kozen and said: “Is this really the right time for that sort of thing?” “Uhm……” Kozen stood frozen for a moment, he had made his decision. Then, suddenly a crowd started to gather. The children’s parents came after they heard the children crying loudly. Vulcan couldn’t’ find a safe place to hide, so he just watched with the rest of the crowd. He also shouted: “Have no fear! The security of the business is guaranteed by that guy with the gla.s.ses!” (Is he talking about me?) Cleo then hid behind Majic, and shouted: “Orphen was right, you must be one of those a.s.sa.s.sins he talked about……” “Master said that more than one person wanted him dead, Cleo.” Majic frowned, as he looked at Cleo. However, Kozen was enraged. “How dare you lump me in with those guys! Unlike them, I’ve made a name for myself!” “Well, sounds like you’re pretty famous.” “Of course! I am the ash mercenary, the shadow which runs to the coast——Kozen! Dortin took a fighting posture, and said: “You’re about to kidnap someone, your name will be in the newspaper……” “That, and we’ve seen your face.” “Shut up!” Majic said, he didn’t want this to end b.l.o.o.d.y. “Come on guys, calm down. Let’s all count down from ten, nine, eight, seven, six……” “………?” The a.s.sa.s.sin thought this was stupid. Majic closed his eyes, and slowly counted down. “Five, four, three, two, one——” After the countdown of ended, the young blond boy shouted: “Sword of Light, whom I do release!” Majic extended his hand, a white flash of light flew out and struck Kozen. “……What?” Majic looked at his hand. “Looks like I wasn’t concentrating properly.” “You’re useless.” Cleo said, as she grabbed Majic’s shoulder. “Who’s useless? At least I tried to do something.” “You little b.a.s.t.a.r.d, how dare you try something like that.” (c.r.a.p!) Kozen shouted, as he charged Majic with his single-handed sword.   But Cleo was faster, she met Kozen’s attack before it struck Majic, she used her sword to shield him. Dortin was watching the whole thing, he wondered what he could do——but there wasn’t enough time. He remembered that one time where he read a book about people fighting, one of the men was cut down as soon as he pulled out his weapon. But he didn’t know if this fight would end the same way. Cleo had been trained to use a sword——but now the a.s.sa.s.sin had disarmed her, if would be impossible for her to win if she fought without a weapon. Even Majic couldn’t do anything to stop the a.s.sa.s.sin, simply put, they were on the verge of despair. The only thing Dortin could do is throw stones, that’s the best he can do in this situation. (d.a.m.n it.) Dortin picked up a stone off the street, he threw it in the direction of the a.s.sa.s.sin. After a few seconds, the a.s.sa.s.sin cried out in pain. It was then that they saw the back of the a.s.sa.s.sin, it had disappeared. Though if you looked closer, you could see a black shadow covering his entire back. Kozen collapsed onto the ground, and started twitching wildly. “d.a.m.n it, it followed me!” “Ah……” Dortin looked around to the others——the children and their parents had run away. Their positions were taken by other onlookers. “What’s going on?” Cleo said slowly. No one answered. No one wanted to answer. Then suddenly——black armour encased the a.s.sa.s.sin and sent him flying into the air, then it pummelled him into the ground, he didn’t move after that. A hole then appeared in Kozen’s shoulder, and a black mist poured out. The mist started to take a human shape, then someone in the crowd shouted: “It’s the curse of Fonogorosu!” With this cry, the crowd started to scream and run away. Dortin could hear the dead spectre whispering something. “You——yesterday I didn’t notice you——you sorcerer!” The ghost took on the appearance of a nervous young man, it turned to Majic, and said: “Find him——find Fonogorosu! “Aren’t you Fonogorosu?” The spectre ignored him, it just raised its arms and cried: “The debt must be repaid!” Boom! A gust of wind was sent out in all directions——for a moment, it was like the area was stuck by a small tornado. Dortin watched as the villagers ran around in a panic, shouting, screaming, and shouting all kinds of things. Then, the winds stopped. The crowd was gone, Vulcan was lying on the ground, but the a.s.sa.s.sin, Cleo, and Majic were gone, the black armour and spectre was too.  “How……how did I get myself into this?” Dortin sat on the ground, he didn’t know what to do. He fixed his crooked gla.s.ses, and said: “This is a great day, an a.s.sa.s.sin and a ghost appears……when did it all go wrong?” This sentence didn’t make much sense, but it was the only thing that came to mind for Dortin. He then slowly approached his brother Vulcan, who was lying on the ground. “Brother, brother, brother.” Dortin started to shake Vulcan. “Cleo and Majic, they’re gone!” Vulcan sat up, and began rubbing his head, while saying: “Hmm………it seems the ghost captured them.” “Oh……” Dortin looked around. He seemed to think of something. “……I think we should tell that loan shark……” He didn’t say his name. But Vulcan knew who he was talking about, he reluctantly said: “I just know he’ll blame us.” “He might not cause trouble for us……” Vulcan ignored him. “You know how he is, he’ll probably try and shove a shake down our throats.” “But it wasn’t our fault.” “Obviously.” Vulcan sighed, then both of them looked upwards into the sky.     ***   “Kiev……Fonogorosu?” Orphen said, with a hand on his chin. The sink was covered in moss, he couldn’t see what was inside. “My father——Kiev Fonogorosu, do you know him?” There was an eerie noise coming from the sink——if you looked carefully, you could see the sound was coming from an elongated cylindrical tube above the sink. He looked back, Hirietta rushed towards him. “Is it alright if I leave?” “Why?” Although she asked, it seemed he knew in advance that she would say such a thing——she squinted one eye, and gave him the same mischievous smile as usual. Orphen slowly sighed. “The next part is to be spoken only between members of the Tower of Fang.” “Okay.” He agreed, and she left the room. Leaving behind a heavy thud of the closing door. Orphen then turned around to face the sink. “I don’t know much about Fonogorosu, all I know is that talk about him and his work was made taboo by the elders…” He fiddled with his dragon pendant——proof that he was from the Tower of Fang. “My teacher, he expressed interest in Fonogorosu’s research for some time. I have seen some information.” “For some time?” Orphen irritably scratched his head, and said: “Fonogorosu’s research, he wanted to elevate human kind to another existence. My teacher, Childman——” He paused for a moment, thinking about what he would say next. “He said that when Fonogorosu was born, he was more advanced than any other human. He had the intelligence of a few hundred year old geniuses.” “I see……” The sink was intrigued by this information. “If that is true, father probably would not have completed his work. But that’s where you’re wrong, his research wasn’t about brining humanity to a higher plane of existence.”  “What did you say?” “Because of his findings, Kiev Fonogorosu’s research was not recognized by the Tower of Fang——every night he repeated this. He…” The tone of the sinks voice changed, it now spoke quietly. “He was able to overcome the Dragon Race and make a fighting biological organism.” “Able to overcome the Dragon Race, biological……” Orphen repeated. “About the Dragon——” When the sink spoke next, it was almost poetic: “In ancient times——when the G.o.ds on this continent had magic, there was six races who stole their magic. Afterwards, humans gained the ability to use magic from mixed race breeding with the heavenly beings……their descendants, my father and you among others……gained the ability to use magic.” “Your father and me?” Orphen said. “Can you use magic?” “No. Although I am the child of my father, I did have the potential to use magic. But my father didn’t give me the relevant training, he was too busy with his work.” The voice now spoke in a self-deprecating manner. “So……there’s no way for me to deal with a man-made beast.” (Man-made beast……) Orphen said in his head, he wondered if everything that’s happened up to this point was because of this man-made beast. If so, then—— “Ah!” Orphen snorted. “Don’t be silly——there’s no way something that can be created is better than the magic of the Dragon Race, their fighting power is far beyond anything humans can imagine.” “Then, you will survive, won’t you?” The sink said calmly, then Orphen stopped talking. The room suddenly went quiet, the lights flickered. “The man-made beast was only a test subject……father wanted to phase it out in favour for a more powerful man-made beast. It could be said, that this is evolution. Did you know? Long ago——when humans got magical powers, they weren’t that powerful. But as time goes on, their strength continues to grow……however, even now, they still cannot overcome the Dragon Race.” “But there’s only so much humans can achieve. Recently, the number of powerful sorcerers have decreased when compared to the past.”   “All will be eliminated, at least I think so.” The voice from the sink said in a quiet tone. Orphen became agitated as he looked at the tube above the sink, it was making noise——he saw that the tube went upwards through a hole in the ceiling, it must lead somewhere outside.  “The next step of human evolution, is not to save the past……but to improve the present by sacrificing it. But such steps will not save the high level sorcerers from being born, at the present rate of evolution, such a tragedy cannot be avoided……” “Is this your father’s point of view?” Orphen said, as he crossed his arms. “Yes. Yes. My father wanted to challenge such a tragedy. That’s why accelerated evolution is needed.” “I would like to say I have no interest in such a thing. But, because of these reasons the G.o.ddess’ in the hall are marked, it’s so sad, they were antiques.” Orphen joked, but he didn’t get the response he wanted. The sink continued talking as if he said nothing. “As a result, my father died. He really wanted to enhance human values, but in the end he couldn’t control the monster he created. Father called it a man-made beast, I called it a failure. Then in father’s study, he did something unimaginable.”   “……In layman’s terms?” “He did something foolish.” The sink said flatly. “It was criminal, dozens of people were sacrificed for his research.” Orphen thought about the celebrity who built the Inn——and his tragic death outside the village. Although it didn’t matter, he had to ask. “……How many victims?” “Just count the number of wooden boxes.” Orphen looked at the pile of wooden boxes. At first glance——there was likely more than a dozen, but less than twenty. “A box for animals——snakes, rabbits. Three elements were put in the box, simply put, a body was wrapped in two or three monster eggs. I don’t know the production methods, but father wanted to investigate the artificial creation of an animals fighting ability, he conducted human trials in secret. He would open the boxes from time to time, watching the parasite eat the body and grow to full size. This was the only way to keep an uncountable monster.”   “Wait, hold on a second——” Orphen thought of something. “Wouldn’t this process result in all kinds of monster?” “Yes. For example, a huge snake.” “Ahhhh!” Orphen remembered something from yesterday, he saw Dortin come into his room with a wooden box, it had a large snakeskin in it. When Orphen told the sink this, it wasn’t pleased. “I see——Hirietta never mentioned this, nor did she speak of any man-made beats in the village……” “Well...” “That wooden box——my father called that artificial beast’s box…Pandora's Box. Some of his other experiments are unaccounted for, some were lost in the disturbances, some were most likely stolen by thieves……this room, even if something was taken right in front of me, I would be helpless. Your friend probably found one of the boxes which were thrown in the forest. I’m unsure if he let the creature out of if it was already open, this is troubling……” “d.a.m.n it!” Orphen cried out, as he squatted on the ground. “A monster——that stupid racc.o.o.n dog, one day I’ll kill him!” Of course, he’d have to recover his money first. “……I see, there must be three of these man-made beasts in total. A spectre, a snake man, and a hand.” “The first one is Samii.” “……What?” “As for the snake man, that’s Kikyuimu. The hand is……Kenkurimu. Also, Accelerator might have been in the same box.” “What…the names don’t matter!” Numerous memories ran through Orphen’s mind. Round and round, these memories circled him until he was forced to recognize them. (Samii, he must have been Fonogorosu’s a.s.sistant. Is that why he’s a ghost, because Fonogorosu failed in his experiments. He sacrifice all those poor people, he secretly used humans in his trials.) Orphen couldn’t help but think of all the pain and suffering that Fonogorosu caused on those people. “Fonogorosu transformed his a.s.sistants into terrible creatures!” Orphen instinctively shouted. The sink went silent——Orphen walked towards the sink covered in moss, he then punched the gla.s.s. “Answer me! Did he succeed turning those people into specialized combat weapons!” “Father——” “Don’t give me any of that c.r.a.p!” Orphen punched the sink again. This time he hurt his fist, it started bleeding. “You aren’t his son! You are Fonogorosu himself!” He had no proof to back up his claim, but the sink didn’t do anything to defend itself. Orphen went on to say: “Fonogorosu may have had loved ones! But he hated humans, that’s why he used them as test subjects! He transformed Samii into one of those creatures!” “……If that’s the case, then you should be able to handle them, after all you have received combat training as a sorcerer……Krylancelo.” The sink said calmly, Orphen stopped hitting the sink, and took a step backwards. “Based on the information Hirietta gave me……I want to see if you can——help me dispose of the man-made beasts. You were thoroughly trained in the Tower of Fang, you have a variety of weapons in your a.r.s.enal. It’s said that you can kill people with your bare hands, even if you don’t remember, I bet your body still remembers those tricks. How is fighting a man-made beast any different than a person?” “My teacher……” Orphen clenched his dragon pendant, his voice now hoa.r.s.e. “My teacher, he was a genius. Just as tough as any monster. Even though he wanted his students to inherit his skills, but none of them were ever a match for him……” He swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and went on to say: “So he taught each student different things. I just happened to learn fighting techniques, but even so, he still wanted me to achieve more. He nurtured my abilities, not manufactured them. And——” Orphen clenched his teeth. “I am not Krylancelo, I am called Orphen!” Just as he finished, he heard a noise——it came from above him. “............Ahhhhhh............” (Screaming?) As he thought at that, suddenly—— From the hole above the sink, something fell and landed in the sink. Muddy water flew out of the mossy sink, and hit the ceiling, Orphen couldn’t help but shout.     “Sword of Light, whom I do release!” A wave of light and heat hit the sink, it exploded. Gla.s.s fragments flew about the room and sewage poured onto the floor, Orphen them saw a familiar person in the sink.  “Majic!” Orphen was covered in moss as he grabbed his apprentice from the water. Majic coughed for a while, you could clearly see there was tears in his eyes. “Master! Where did you go?” He cried. Orphen didn’t know what to say, but he knew he had to apologize. “I-I’m sorry.” “Sorry isn’t good enough! Cleo’s dead!” “……What?” Those words suddenly beat Orphen senseless. He pretended not to understand——he then saw something at his feet. Majic looked down too. At his feet, was a big fish about two meters in length. From his point of view, it looked like a tuna. But this fish had features unlike any other he had seen, the fish had red gills which started to swell——it couldn’t breathe, it lay there motionlessly.   The fishes belly——was white, it looked wrapped in shiny silver scales, and there was a human shape beneath the fish scales. It was like a snake swallowed someone, the fish’s entire body was swollen like a snakes too. A nose and mouth was pressed against the skin, though you could only see the outline, it seemed this person and the fish were stuck together. It’s mouth opened slightly, there was a hose in its mouth. The hose was long enough for anyone to see, it went from the fishes mouth to the sink. But even now, the fish didn’t move. “What is this……?” Majic asked, as he pulled pieces of moss off him. “What the h.e.l.l. He transformed himself into an animal……the fool.” “……Hey?” “This was probably Ramon——or Fonogorosu……I’m not sure. Then…… Orphen could feel the atmosphere change, the hairs stood up on the back of his neck. From the ceiling came a blanket of darkness, it slowly came towards them. “Did you think you could escape——Fonogorosu——” He then looked at Majic, he was trembling. “I saw an opportunity to escape, I jumped into the shaft……but Cleo——” He could not go on. Majic’s eyes were filled with tears, he entire body was trembling. “You’re looking for Fonogorosu? Sorry, he’s already dead.” But the spectre——Samii stubbornly shook his head and said: “That man——that beast——wasn’t Fonogorosu—— “ “Huh……” (This isn’t right……what the h.e.l.l is going on?) Orphen clenched his fists, he didn’t know what kind of magic would be useful against a spectre, only G.o.d knew…… At that time, a voice came from behind Orphen——it was Hirietta, she said: “Welcome, Orphen. Let me explain something——this is my real client. Samii.”   End of chapter 4