Chapter 57

Linus wandered through the West District, searching for the children of the spiral. However, Maria was always on his mind. He wished so strongly for her to be found that it was hard to tell which was the main purpose and which was the side task. As he walked down a street near the slums, one of the least trafficked in the West District, he noticed the smell of blood coming from a house next to him. It looked like an abandoned house, unused for a long time. However, the smell was fresh. He reached out to the front door. It was unlocked. He forced open the creaky door and stepped into the dusty room. The floorboards creaked eerily. Even though it was daytime, the room was dark, and he had to squint to avoid bumping into the furniture. There, Linus stopped and listened. A faint rustling sound, like fabric, could be heard. There was a presence of someone, and it seemed someone was hiding there. Whether it was Kirill, Maria, or a homeless person, it was a dangerous area, and it was entirely possible that someone was using the abandoned house as a home. Without getting his hopes up, he drew his short sword from his waist, ready for an attack. The house was not very large. He walked down the corridor and stopped in front of a room at the end. He placed his hand on the door, paused for a moment, gripped the knife again, and slowly pushed it open. The room was even darker than the corridor. However, Linus could clearly see someone sitting in the corner. The blonde woman, wrapped in rags like a robe, hugging her knees, looked very much like the person he was searching for.

"Is it you, Maria?"

"..."

There was no response. However, a splattering sound was heard, and red liquid spread from her face to the floor.

"Hey, are you hurt?"

Linus, worried, tried to rush over.

"Don't come near me!"

But she clearly rejected it. By her voice, Linus realized it was Maria. No matter how much she rejected him, now that he recognized her, he couldn't stop. Linus approached her, crouched down, and touched her arms, which were hugging her knees.

"Don't come near me..."

"If I gave up that easily, I wouldn't have fallen in love with you, Maria."

His gentle voice seeped into Maria's heart. Linus was always like that. He didn't force open closed doors but tried to open them from the inside with sweet words.

"...That's unfair."

"What is?"

"Linus always... targets my weak spots, which is unfair. You probably seduce other women the same way, right?"

"Since I met you, I've only had eyes for you, Maria."

There was no lie, so Linus said it with confidence. Still, Maria knew that if he saw her current state, he would be disillusioned.

"Can you at least show me your face? The amount of blood suggests a serious injury."

Linus thought she didn't want to show her face because of the injury. However, he also wondered why she didn't use healing magic.

"It's not an injury."

"But with this much blood, it can't be..."

"No... really, this is... something else, Linus."

Saying that, Maria lifted her face. What appeared before Linus was a swirling mass of flesh. It pulsed, glistened with blood, and dripped from her chin.

"Isn't it ugly?"

With each word, the swirl trembled and secreted more blood.

"Can you still say you love me, even like this?"

Her voice was trembling. Despite dedicating herself to Origin and giving up everything, in front of Linus, her true self emerged. Love is like that; it can't be suppressed. Therefore, she despaired. Maria planned to confirm that Linus's feelings had waned and then leave. This time, she would completely abandon her human self and fulfill her role as Origin's apostle. However, he didn't act as she expected. Without saying a word, he reached out and touched her cheek, where her face used to be. His hand was stained with sticky blood.

"...Huh?"

Maria was stunned. Linus, looking apologetic, said:

"Sorry, I touched you without permission. Does it hurt?"

He didn't understand what Linus was saying. Why wasn't he afraid? Why didn't he scold her? Why, in front of this monster-like appearance...

"Well, it's bleeding and exposed, right?"

—He could speak to her in the same tone as always.

"Wh-Why...?"

"What do you mean, 'why'?"

"Stop it, if you touch me... your hand will get dirty."

"Heh, what's that? Whether it's dirty or not, isn't touching Maria more important?"

He laughed. Contrary to expectations, he transcended everything, destroying Maria's resolve to abandon everything.

"Sorry, I won't dislike you just because of this."

"...You're crazy."

"Maybe, I've fallen for you so much. But it's not just my fault, Maria. It's yours too, and I can't take all the blame."

Of course, Linus preferred her original face. He had fallen in love with both her appearance and her inner self. However, because of that, even if one part was lost, his feelings wouldn't change.

"But... what can we do? I can't go back to my original form by my will. Even if you love me like this..."

"Are you worried about what others will think? Then, after things calm down, we can live in a remote countryside where there are no people."

"Wh-What? You'll give up your position and honor!?"

"So what? If it's money, we can live off my savings. We can farm and hunt occasionally, and live a peaceful life. Might be boring for you, though."

It wasn't a lie or an ideal; Linus was genuinely prepared to do it. He had already started planning in his head. First, protect Maria in a hideout in the capital. After the battle with the Children, they would leave the capital together and hide in a border area free from conflict. Life in the countryside would be inconvenient at first, but with her, he believed he could enjoy even the hardships.

"No... No, that's not it. But... Ah, such a dream-like thing..."

"Dream, huh? I'm glad you think so highly of me. Then, let's be a couple. It'll be fine, we'll definitely have a happy life."

Maria, in turn, began to think about whether she could bear children with this body. No, it was impossible. She was being poisoned by hope.

"But there's one really troublesome thing."

"What is it?"

Linus scratched his head and said with a wry smile:

"In this case, where do I kiss you?"

"Th-That... I don't know either."

If she had her normal face, Maria's face would have been as red as a ripe fruit. Even though he couldn't see it, Linus felt a sense of tenderness. Even without a face, emotions could be understood. In the end, after pondering, Linus took Maria's hand and kissed the back of it, imbuing it with a promise.

"Shall we go, princess?"

At the cliché line, Maria's heart raced, and the feeling of "love" swelled so much that she felt dizzy. Taking his hand, she surrendered to the dream.

◇◇◇

After leaving Reach's house, Flamm went around the East District and then headed to the Central District. The East District was almost deserted, probably due to the incident that morning. She had already encountered Nekt and Mute, so she thought the possibility of them being there was low.

"It feels strangely noisy overall..."

Flamm didn't know about the runaway carriage incident on the main street. She just noticed that the people passing by seemed somewhat flustered. She then continued and reached the front of the church.

"I wonder if Sera is okay..."

Flamm stopped, looked at the place where Sera grew up, and suddenly remembered her. Although she was acting with Neigus, Flamm wondered if the demon was really trustworthy. She seemed to like Sera a lot when they first met, so it might be safer for her to be with them rather than staying in the capital.

"This place is unusually quiet..."

While thinking, Flamm noticed something was off. The church in the Central District was quite large, but there was almost no human presence on its grounds.

"Are they all out, or is something happening inside?"

If they were out, it meant there were a lot of injured people in the capital. Either way, something was definitely happening. While searching for the presence around her and heading towards the chapel, she heard someone running up from behind.

"Huff, huff, huff... Phew. Finally, I found someone I know. You're Flamm, right?"

A blonde man spoke to her in a familiar manner.

"You're Slow, right?"

"Call me Slow, I just use 'sama' for you because you're a guild regular."

"Alright, Slow. What's the matter, running up like that?"

"Well, listen to this."

He looked unhappy and told Flamm about the incident on the main street. A carriage had run amok, causing many casualties. Gadio had saved the situation, and he had been trampled in the chaos caused by the fleeing people. It seems he had just managed to escape and reach the church.

"Runaway carriage... Maybe Luke did it."

Luke, one of the remaining Children of the Spiral, was a bratty boy with blonde hair similar to Slow's. How he used his ability to make the carriage run amok, and how he twisted the bodies found in the morning, was unknown. If that were known, dealing with him would be easier, but Slow didn't seem to have seen it in detail.

"You know the culprit? Impressive, hero."

"Stop calling me that, I just have a hunch. So, if no one is in this church, maybe everyone went to treat the injured?"

"Probably, I saw the nuns running around. But this makes it impossible to do the errand Ira asked me to do... sigh."

Slow unfolded the crumpled memo in his hand and sighed while looking at its contents. Flamm understood his feelings well. She was a troublesome type when angry, and her grudge would last for a long time.

"Maybe she'll forgive you if you say it's an emergency?"

"But she'll definitely be upset."

"Wow, that's likely... Then, I'll go with you to the guild?"

"Really? That would be a big help."

The situation seemed to have been resolved by Gadio, and gathering information in the chaotic Central District was difficult. Flamm planned to move her investigation to the West District while escorting Slow. After agreeing, they left the front of the church and started walking side by side. Just then—

"Watch out!"

"Whoa!?"

Flamm sensed a killing intent from behind and instinctively pushed Slow away. Whoosh! An invisible something passed by at high speed, where Slow had been standing.

"Slow, stay back, you might get caught in this!"

"What, what's happening!?"

"Just do it!"

Slow, not understanding the situation, sat on the ground, looking confused. Meanwhile, Luke, who had been approaching at an unexpected speed, wrapped his arms in rotating air like a rock grinder and thrust his right fist forward.

"Air, rotate."

Flamm intercepted the trajectory, blocking it with a pitch-black blade drawn from an alternate dimension.

"Ugh...!"

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang! The air rotated, eroding the blade and pushing back Flamm's arm. It was a similar force to the first time she fought the deformed Ogres. No—perhaps it was the same. The ability Luke received from Origin was probably "rotation." He was likely the one who caused the carriage to run over people on the main street and the twisted bodies found in the morning. For the carriage, he probably made the wheels rotate at high speed to cause the accident. After enduring for a moment, the projectile naturally disappeared. Taking advantage of the gap, Slow ran towards the nearest building—the church.

"What the hell is that creepy-faced guy!?"

While running, Slow used Scan to check Luke's status.

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Luke Fooloop

Attribute: Earth

Strength: 3298

Magic: 3792

Health: 3512

Agility: 3148

Senses: 4215

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One of the reasons they often claimed to be "different from the first generation" was this status. The first test subject, Ink, had not adapted well to the Origin Core and remained physically human. However, the second generation benefited from the Core in terms of physical abilities, achieving a body comparable to S-rank adventurers. However, they had not received much combat training, so they lacked skills in martial arts and magic. Still,