“Serandic...” Fula repeated. He felt as if he had heard the name somewhere before.
“I will investigate the truth. As for the next few days—you are not allowed to go anywhere.” Fula turned sideways and raised his hand. “Alright, cover your face. Given your appearance, covering it up is indeed quite understandable...”
After haphazardly wrapping the scarf back around himself, Ogre made another plea. “But I... really have a favor to ask.”
Fula was silent for a moment before speaking a single word: “Speak.”
“Do you know about variantization...?” Ogre's very first words were a bombshell.
Under Fula's slightly peculiar gaze, Ogre began a limited amount of bullshitting. “My teacher, Yade... I suspect he has already succumbed to variantization...”
“Do you know what you are saying?” Fula stared intently at Ogre and asked flatly.
He naturally knew the reason why Yade had been demoted and reassigned.
But he did not believe that a Discipline Paladin would actively choose to undergo variantization.
“I know exactly what I am saying... At the tallest clock tower in the frontier city, you might find the answers you seek.” Ogre speculated. Yade had told him to go back there in a month.
In truth, this was largely giving him a choice.
Whether to go or not was entirely up to his own whim.
If not for that meeting after Serandic had turned into a variant, Ogre might have already decided to go.
He felt that Yade wouldn't have gone to such convoluted lengths if he wanted to harm him.
“That place is under the jurisdiction of the Church of Truth.”
Fula now had confirmation—the pretty young girl before him had indeed come out of the frontier city.
Moreover, her relationship with Yade was definitely not simple.
Otherwise, there was absolutely no way she would know about this sort of thing.
“Please, you must believe me.” Ogre placed his hands over his chest.
“Hearing is deceitful, but seeing is believing. Once I have dealt with the matters in Roke Town, I will personally verify this. As for now...” At this, Fula suddenly extended a finger and thrust it sharply toward Ogre's forehead.
However, although Fula's movement was incredibly swift,
it was still within the capture range of Ogre's enhanced vision.
Thus, in the face of this situation, Ogre still had a chance to react—this was a capability deserved by his physical body, which had been tempered to the absolute limit multiple times!
And when facing such an attack,
Ogre's first instinct was to counterattack, while his second instinct was to dodge...
Under normal circumstances, these two responses were undoubtedly the optimal choices.
However, neither was the best option right now.
The true optimal solution was to—show weakness!
Having already prepared himself, Ogre forcefully suppressed his instinctive reactions and closed his eyes as if in fear.
“Open your eyes...” Fula's voice called out.
When Ogre opened his eyes again, Fula had already hidden his hands back in his sleeves.
It was as if the person who had just attacked wasn't him at all.
“W-What did you do to me?” Ogre's beautiful eyes widened slightly, and he hurriedly took quick, small steps to the riverbank.
Looking at his reflection in the water, a pure white flame was burning out of thin air at the center of the 'girl's' brow.
“This was planted to prevent you from running away, but it is also to protect you.”
After explaining, Fula turned around.
Even as they spoke, the flame grew smaller and smaller, eventually transforming into a golden pattern engraved upon Ogre's forehead.
“Go back to staying by Macar's side for now. I will come for you later. And also—do not let me catch you seducing him again.” Leaving these words behind, Fula completely vanished from Ogre's sight and left the area.
Normally, Fula would have investigated Ogre further, but he was very busy right now with many other things to do.
Therefore, after a brief test of Ogre's capabilities,
Fula lost any desire to stay.
To him, a girl who could be chased around by goblins posed no threat whatsoever.
Except... she was a little too pretty.
'Has he left?'
Watching the white-robed figure vanish around the bend, Ogre showed a smile.
'My goal has been achieved...' Touching the slowly fading pattern on his forehead, Ogre knew that his purpose in coming here had been accomplished.
Next, he just had to find an opportunity to return to the city.
With this protective Dawn restriction, he should be considered safe.
Ogre possessed some understanding of the restriction Fula had left behind.
It was just as Fula himself had said—it served as both a tracking method and a means of protecting him.
Normally, it could be used to detect the recipient's location.
When the recipient felt danger and encountered an irresistible threat, the power hidden within the restriction would erupt.
At that point, the restriction would self-destruct and release the power left behind by the caster to protect the recipient. The caster would also be able to perceive the general information of the location at that moment.
“I'll wait another couple of days... It's not the time yet,” Ogre muttered to himself as he extended his hand.
A black, diamond-shaped mark slowly appeared on Ogre's palm—it was the contract between Ogre and Night Crow (the shadow demon).
In this meeting, there was actually another point that had caught Ogre slightly by surprise.
That was the existence of Night Crow (the shadow demon).
It had actually gone unnoticed by Fula.
Ogre had originally been prepared to sacrifice the fellow to gain Fula's trust, but in the end, nothing had happened.
All the rhetoric and excuses he had prepared had gone to waste.
'Is it because light and shadow do not inherently conflict in essence? No, that's not right. Perhaps it's just because a soul crystal is purely made of soul energy... After all, this thing can be directly made into a spiritual potion.' Ogre hypothesized in his mind.
His decision to let Fula examine him voluntarily earlier actually carried another layer of intention as well.
Ogre mainly wanted to see if Night Crow had tried to play any tricks on him.
From the looks of it, the fellow was behaving itself quite well, so it seemed usable.
In a couple of days, once he had the assistance of Night Crow's extra perspective,
there should be many more things he would be able to do.
At the very least, he wouldn't have to run out in person every single time.
“Well, future matters can wait until later. For now, it's time to see how Macar's theatrical performance is going.”
Pulling up his scarf to cover his face, Ogre departed from the riverbank.
He figured that since the main act was back, he should be free of his duty.
As for the strange occurrences in Roke Town...
Ogre had no intention of sticking his nose that far.
It was better to leave professional matters to the professionals. After all, there were too many affairs in the world for Ogre to manage anyway, and he hadn't even cleared up his own mess yet.
Whoever had the responsibility should take charge.
As for whose responsibility was greater...
Whoever had greater power bore greater responsibility.
'Time to watch the show.'
Having sorted out these thoughts, Ogre's mood instantly turned pleasant.
Perhaps only when one was free of responsibility and desire would everything truly become light and easy...
It was a pity, however, that Ogre had yet to see anyone truly escape both—himself included.
...
Rate on N.U.
