Chapter 34: The Great Purifier and Ruel

Chapter 34: The Great Purifier and Ruel

‘I forgot that the main character, who wouldn’t be odd in this kind of incident, was still in the carriage right now.’

Shhh!

A sound was heard piercing the wind.

“I’m still here!”

Aris raised his voice toward the soldiers.

Ting ting!

Shields were concentrated to protect Ruel.

They seemed lazy, but when the situation called for it, their hands and feet were more ready than ever.

Their training seemed to have been well done.

Ruel didn’t get up.

‘I’d rather sit, it would be better for them too.’

‘... Cassion isn’t coming?’

If anything happened, he would have come running, but he didn’t.

‘Was there an attack on that side, too?’

“Fire.”

Harrrrr.

Flames rose on both hands of Aris.

Ruel’s mouth opened wide at the sight of using magic.

‘... Crazy, he definitely wasn’t called a genius for no reason.’

Soon, Ruel smiled cheerfully.

The genius was currently his escort.

“The body shall be divided and burned.”

The six flames appeared in front of Aris’ body as he chanted and were quickly fired in a direction out of Ruel’s line of sight.

“Appear, shout, blow.”

Soon, the wind blew from Aris.

As before, it was divided into six equal parts and shot out in a similar direction a moment later.

Ruel grasped Aris’ intention.

‘Right! The wind makes the fire stronger.’

He wasn’t that far away from Cassion or Ganien’s level of strength. It was very sad that he couldn’t see it.

‘Did he hit any enemies?’

“Are you okay?”

Cassion’s voice was heard behind him.

“You are late,” Ruel said.

“I came late on purpose. Just like you, I was curious about how much Aris can do.”

“Did Aris handle it?”

Without knowing that Cassion had come, Aris continued to be wary of the surroundings.

“I checked on the way here, a few of them were being grilled quite nicely. Oh, I killed the two people that he missed.”

“What about Ganien?”

“He’s swinging his sword excitedly.”

“Did you catch one of them?”

“I caught one this time.”

That was very good news.

I was starting to wonder about the mental state of this group, 18, who dared to attack even at the most crowded places.

“Tell your subordinates to watch them. I’m going to meet you when I’m done with my business.”

“Did you know that this would happen?”

Instead of answering, Ruel looked at Cassion with an arrogant expression.

“To think that even you had noticed... Hmm. Alright. We’ll proceed with the interrogation in advance.”

For a very short time, Cassion expressed his anger.

It seemed that one of the guild members made a mistake.

These were the people who were like his own limbs, so it shouldn’t happen if there’s something against them.

“... I stabbed him once.”

“What do you mean you stabbed him once?”

His voice was harsh, Ruel quickly turned his head.

“Ah... When did you get here?”

Aris was surprised to see that Cassion had arrived.

“Good job.”

Ruel stood up with Cassion’s support and praised Aris.

Clink.

Aris let go of his sword in his hand and looked at Ruel.

With Ruel’s proud expression, Aris slowly turned his eyes to his own hands.

‘Did I protect... him?’

‘I fought them off by chance and I happened to protect him.’

‘No, I’m still inexperienced in my use of magic and missed a few of them.’

Aris clenched his fists and looked at Ruel again.

Except for the dust on his clothes, he had no injuries.

Aris bent his back to Ruel while hiding his face and held his trembling mouth tightly.

“I will continue to protect you, Ruel-nim!”

“Okay.”

At his calm voice, Aris firmly bit his lip.

‘I’m so glad that what I did was not in vain.’

Ruel picked up the fallen sword and handed it over to Aris.

“Don’t drop the sword anytime, anywhere.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Let’s go.”

***

The two gates were wide enough to take 10 minutes to travel through even by carriage.

After passing the external gate, the Masu Forest entered their field of vision.

Unlike ordinary forests, the trees were more than twice as large, the branches were black, and the leaves were purple.

The Masu Forest, which gave off an ominous and gloomy feeling, was divided into two sides along the road in the center.

“What day is it today?”

Ganien grabbed the sword’s handle excitedly.

Ruel asked reluctantly, worried about something.

“Why?”

“A beast is coming.”

‘It’s because of you!’

Ruel swallowed the words he couldn’t bear to say and looked at the wagon window.

It was angled so Ruel couldn’t see outside unless he opened the door.

“It’s okay. The Knights can handle that much. Are you feeling better at that?”

“What did you hear from Drianna?”

“I was told by Tyson to take good care of you when we enter Masu Forest.”

“Tell me if you run out of mana.”

“It doesn’t cost too much to use <Hold>.”

‘Is it like a fan?’

It would cost less mana to have something to act like a fan.

“You look comfortable.”

“Right, it’s very comfortable.”

Ruel responded to Aris’ statement.

‘The magic, <Hold>, is so comfortable that I might get addicted to it.’

“Ruel-nim, can you tell me the reason why you came all the way to the Masu Forest?”

Cassion walked silently and opened his mouth.

“I came for a walk.”

Ruel replied leisurely, inhaling Breath.

“Masu Forest... Are you saying you came here for a walk?”

“Yeah, it’s exciting.”

Sometimes it is good for mental health to get away from work and enjoy your personal interests.

Ruel looked around with a smile to Cassion, who wanted to hit him.

‘Hmm.’

Ruel’s expression subsided.

Something was weird.

‘I can’t even see the beasts with my eyes, but I can feel where the beasts are, like a mini-map in a game.’

As we approached the depths of the forest, the feeling became more distinct.

‘... What? This is very strange? What should I say about this?’

After contemplating for a while, Ruel called Cassion.

“Cassion.”

“Yes.”

“Will you go over there for a second and check if there are any beasts there?”

Among the beasts spread out, Ruel pointed in the direction of the one closest to them.

“There is. It’s a little far, but I’ve detected 11 in the direction you’re going.”

‘Isn’t it 15?’

When Ruel found out that his senses were not false, It felt like someone had hit his head with a hammer.’

‘Do I have an ability? The kind of ability that detects beasts? Really?’

However, despite knowing that he had an ability, Ruel was surprisingly not happy.

Rather than that he felt drained and let out a deep sigh.

“Is there anything you’re uncomfortable with?”

Aris was treating Ruel very carefully like a glass doll.

“No, I’m doing good.”

“Are you expecting a beast to appear?”

“It’s just a walk.”

Masu Forest was quieter than I thought.

The purple leaves were interesting, but the flowers on the ground were also unique in shape, which caught Ruel’s eye.

Even the grass took on various colors such as yellow and blue.

If there were no beasts, it would be perfect for a walking trail.

‘... Huh?’

The 15 beasts suddenly began to flock to one place.

“Cassion, the beasts. Do they cooperate with each other?”

“If it turns out that they’re collaborating, the scholars will be shaken up.”

‘Then what is the situation? They just flock together as if competing for one prey.’

Ruel felt a deep curiosity.

Ruel also had a simple expectation that he might be making a discovery that would upset the academic world.

“That way.”

Aris turned around without a word and walked to where Ruel pointed.

As Aris approached where Ruel pointed to, Cassion’s expression turned fierce.

“Not over there. Let’s go somewhere else.”

“Why?”

“The beasts are swarming.”

“You mean the beasts are gathering? They don’t cooperate, right?”

Ruel laughed playfully.

They were about a 10-minute walk away from them.

“You can’t.”

However, Cassion looked at Ruel with a face that showed his incredulity at the situation.

Ruel glanced at the place he was going to and inhaled Breath at what he said while enduring the pain in his heart.

‘Since he’s against it like that...’

“Okay, go back.”

“Aris, take him over there.”

Cassion pointed to the side where there were no beasts.

‘At least, let me see one beast.’

“Zeep.”

Ruel suddenly stopped talking and couldn’t even scream at the sudden shock.

“...!”

Something flew and crashed into Ruel’s body.

The magic of Aris’ <Hold> spell was broken, and he flew helplessly.

A moment later, Cassion noticed and caught Ruel, who was falling.

“Ruel-nim!”

Cassion was nervous for the first time. He couldn’t sense what had happened at all.

‘Obviously, there was nothing there... !’

“Are you okay?”

Aris looked at Ruel in surprise.

Ruel hadn’t lost his consciousness yet, but he was shaking all over.

-Boo hoo!

He felt like he was about to die of pain. He had caught a glimpse of a bright red fox piercing his body.

It was that fox kit who had suddenly flown and collided with Ruel.

Ruel gasped at his fading consciousness and desperately moved his mouth.

“... Fox, damn fox... .”

“Fox...”

Ruel’s words before passing out made Cassion doubtful.

This was Masu Forest, where not even the tail of a fox could be seen, let alone an actual fox.

Cassion got up while holding Ruel.

“We’re going back, Aris.”

The walk was over.

Aris couldn’t even breathe properly because of the aura the angry assassin had been emanating.