Chapter 83: The hunt for the fallen prince (6)

"You want me to literally take his heart out?" I cocked my head to the side, wanting to confirm what I had just heard.

"Yeah. Didn't you say that the elf king told you that's how it should be done?" General Zhang chuckled at me, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I mean, technically, yes," I looked around, searching for a certain blue-eyed kid who hadn't appeared yet ever since we started fighting, "but shouldn't we wait for Jeanne and Firiell? I mean, that little girl is the only one who can extract the crest, right?"

"Ah yes, speaking of which, where's Jean-jean?" General Zhang wondered.

General Emilio started to look around us, seemingly trying to detect any signs of people near us.

While he was busy scanning our surroundings, I opened my mentalist skill to check if her name showed up in my list of people. If it did, that would mean that Jeanne was within 1 km from us.

[Ding!]

A familiar screen popped up in front of my face as I tried to not make it obvious that I was looking at an invisible screen.

"Huh?" I mumbled in confusion.

And no, it wasn't because her name wasn't there. It was kinda expected, to be honest. If she was around us this whole time, she'd already been intervening in our fight from long ago. General Zhang probably wouldn't have had to use his weird 'magic'. So it made sense that she might be quite far away, preoccupied with something unprecedented.

However, I noticed a peculiar thing.

In the very short list of names, I could only see 2 names, those being general Emilio's and general Zhang's.

...I guess I was the one being weird. Not a single elf's name was listed here, but that kind of made sense when I thought about it. The skill description only stated 'someone', so I thought it might work for elves, but I forgot that this system was kinda wack, and it had always favored human wellbeing, for some reason.

I let out a mildly annoyed sigh, and slumped my shoulders.

"I don't think Jeanne and Firiell are around here," I told the group, "did something urgent come up?"

"She better not be captured." General Emilio frowned.

"Nah, I doubt it. She shouldn't be captured that easily." I replied nonchalantly.

Wait, unless...?

"No no, wait. I take that back. She shouldn't be captured that easily if she's alone." I sighed.

"That's the problem. Most likely, something happened to that kid," general Emilio clicked his tongue in annoyance, "hurry up and take his heart out. Or are you scared to do it?"

"Sheesh, okay, okay. I can do it." I pouted at him and crouched near the dying elf king's body. Well, if possible, I would like to do this in a more... Neat manner, but what could I say? We were in a rush since Jeanne and Firiell went 'bye felicia'.

"Just one..."

"Huh?" I flinched when I heard Ioriell's voice suddenly appeared, although I barely recognized it. It sounded so hoarse, and the words that came out of his mouth more closely resembled a gurgle rather than a sentence.

He ever so slowly raised his beaten-down arm that was charred and bloody, and reached out for something behind me.

I looked at his eyes that were half-open and cloudy, as if he wasn't here anymore. Normally, I wouldn't take any chances and would immediately stop his arm, but he looked so... Content? It was as if I was the dangerous one here.

"One what?" I whispered to him, leaning closer to hear his dying words just in case he was going to say something else.

"One... Life..."

'STAB!'

I held my breath and immediately lodged my palms that I've coated with mana into his chest, but just slightly off from where his heart should be.

"Kkh--!" He gagged and struggled to breathe as blood gushed out of his chest.

Ah, I didn't want to do this, but after hearing that cryptic message, how could I not? He could be wanting to end another 'one life', right?

"Brutal~" General Zhang hummed as he saw me crouching here, all bloody from the elf prince's freshly cut wound.

"Don't stare." I pouted and pulled out my hand. Gah, this was going to be messy.

I laid his now unmoving body flat on the ground properly and took off his upper clothes, before starting to cut open his chest right in the middle, from right around where his clavicle met, all the way down to the bottom of his chest.

"Man, this dude's physique is tough," I groaned, "hey eel, lend me your hand. Cut his bones for me."

"Sure~"

I grabbed his hand and after I saw his mana formed a sharp knife on his hand, I guided it to cut the elf prince's bones apart, until I could see a weakly beating thing inside his chest.

"Hey, quick! I think it's about to stop beating for real. Do we cut the whole thing or..?" I frantically looked at general Zhang and general Emilio, waiting for their decision.

"Not sure. You didn't say anything about it, little cub. Just take the whole thing, I guess." General Zhang shrugged.

"Okay, okay." I took a deep breath, before messily cutting around the beating organ, trying my best to avoid breaking it apart as best as I could... Well, I was proud to say that I failed miserably at trying to make it 'neat'. I was no heart surgeon.

"You're suspiciously calm." General Emilio suddenly piped in.

"Yeah?" I raised an eyebrow and looked at him for a second, before shifting my attention towards the messy organ that was halfway out of Ioriell's body.

"You've killed a human before, haven't you?" He asked.

"Yeah, and so have you," I answered quickly, "hey, eel! Where do I put this?" I asked with a frown as I showed him the freshly-cut heart.

"And it looks like you have a high kill count." General Emilio continued.

"I do. I don't keep track of it, but I know I do." I replied while I watched the heart slowly stopped beating. One beat, a long pause, then a second beat, then a longer pause...

"How come? What did you do before coming here?" He inquired further.

"Listen, I would love to tell you, but I think we should hurry and--"

'Thump.'

Huh?

'Thump.'

Whose heart was it?

I took a glance at the heart that was in my hand, but it was positively dead after holding on for so long. No movements whatsoever, much less any beatings.

'Thump.'

Then where did that thumping sound come from?

'THUD!'

As my vision went dark and I felt the ashy ground touched my limp body, there was only one thing on my mind.

Ah, it was my own heart.

--------

'Mooooo~'

...A cow?

I opened my eyes and was immediately greeted by a blinding light, coming from the bright blue sky above me. Strange, wasn't everything covered in smoke a while ago?

'Mooooooooooo~'

Why was there a cow here? Wasn't this the forest? ...Ah! I must've fainted and probably those generals brought me somewhere else. Mm-hmm, that was the only logical explanation. Now, where was I? And where was everyone?

My head moved to the left and right, and I observed my surroundings while checking if there were any familiar faces nearby.

Nah, none. Not even that slippery eel. Probably they went ahead to search for Jeanne? Ugh, so I was left alone... And with a cow.

'Mooo~'

The cow inched closer at me and nudged my hand that was apparently carrying a handful of hay. With one more happy moo, the cow started nibbling on it.

Huh, I just noticed that I had a bunch of hay in my hand. Weird, did they purposely slip these into my hand for giggles? Or did I sleepwalk and took some hay? I had never been diagnosed with sleepwalking before, though.

My left hand moved and started to stroke the cow's head, sometimes gently patting it as it nibbled merrily on the hay.

...Wait, wait, wait. I didn't move my hand. I was planning on scratching the cow, yes, but the one who moved my hand just now wasn't me. The hell?

'Tap, tap.'

This time, my legs were the ones who moved by themselves. They took me to the cow's drinking fountain, and my body bent over to pick up a bucket as I filled it with fresh, flowing water.

God, this was freaky. Was I possessed? Was I dreaming?

I tried my best to move just my thumb, but it wouldn't work. I couldn't even look around unless my body moved my head by itself. Argh, possession magic!? Did it trigger upon the elf prince's death?

Stats. Stats? Skill. Inventory. Shop!

I tried to shout those words, but as expected, nothing came out. I tried repeating them over and over again in my head, but not even one screen popped up. I was starting to miss those weird screens.

"Big brother Ioriell!"

Ioriell? That elf prince?

"There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere!"

My body turned around, facing a beautiful elf lady who had long, shiny yellow hair that framed her delicate facial features. She was wearing a beautiful dark green robe, complete with a matching hair accessory, tying her wavy hair into a half-updo.

"Have you been tending to the cattle all this time?" She giggled and a light pink blush decorated her cheeks. Truly stunning, even for an elf's standard.

I didn't even get the chance to respond when my lips moved by their own, "yes, sister Edelweiss. What do you need me for?" And then I felt my lips curl upwards and my eyelids squishing together, forming a happy smile.

Oh gosh, was I watching a replay of that elf prince's memory while being in his body!?