Chapter 10: Magic Stone(4)

In fact, her worries were nothing more than groundless worries.

The evil energy that should have remained in the corpse of the demon beast had already almost completely disappeared.

To be more precise, most of it had been absorbed into Avalli’s body at the time of defeating the demon beast.

Was this one of the forms of experience points as Avalli had thought a little while ago?

If not…

“Ugh, ugh.”

Avalli placed the corpse of the demon beast, bent into a bizarre shape, in front of the outer wall of the village, or more precisely, near the door that Bern had made.

She wasn’t sweating at all, but she was mentally quite exhausted.

Her entire body was covered in the blood of the tenacious demon beast, which made her feel quite uncomfortable.

She had originally planned to leave the corpse here and enter the village around sunrise, but—

‘… I have no choice but to wake Bern.’

The wild animals that followed Avalli at a distance were annoying.

However, if she were to kill all of those animals right next to the village, there would be people who would wake up to the commotion.

‘I can’t help it.’

It was annoying, but since she had already started, she had no choice but to tie it up properly.

Avalli sighed deeply and entered the village.

***

Bern was passed out from drunkenness.

In the dream, a mean-spirited little witch was whipping Bern.

‘Hehe.  This day has finally come. What kind of experiment will you use me for, Bern?’

The one who included a huge amount of compensation in the contract for supplying magic stones to Bern.

‘Golem? Homunculus? Or soul transplant?’

Bern desperately shook his head to express his refusal, but the witch smiled and pushed the contract forward.

‘It says here, Bern. If you fail to supply magic stones by the specified date, ‘any means’ will be tolerated. Don’t worry. If you listen to me, I’ll play with you for a long time—Gyaaaaah!’

The little witch who was smiling broadly suddenly melted in a brilliant light.

The owner of that light was a beautiful girl, Bern had never seen before.

The girl with sparkling silver hair looked at Bern with deep green eyes and opened her mouth.

“-Yo.”

However, it was hard to hear her voice properly.

Bern tilted his head and gestured for her to speak a little louder—

“Wake up!”

“……Whoa!”

He was suddenly pulled from his dream back to reality.

Still drunk, he couldn’t properly grasp the situation around him.

As he staggered to check for the intruder, a soft, spotless hand touched his temple.

“… Uh.”

At that moment, the alcohol that had been tangling his head disappeared in an instant.

Bern, who had regained his cognitive function in an instant, tried to check whether what had just happened to him was a dream or reality.

To be more specific, he pinched his cheek.

It hurt.

So it wasn’t a dream.

The girl looking down at Bern, who was sprawled on the floor, was definitely a real person in this world.

‘Really?’

Of course, it wasn’t easy to believe that fact even with a sound brain.

That was because the girl in front of him was so beautiful.

To the point that Bern himself, who dared to define the girl with the word ‘beautiful’, felt blasphemous.

“Bern.”

The girl opened her small lips.

Bern pinched his thigh with all his might at the pure voice that was hard to believe was from this world.

‘… It really hurts!’

This pain was real.

After confirming this, he had no choice but to accept it.

That was why Bern cautiously opened his mouth to the girl in front of him who seemed like a fantasy.

“…… Who are you?”

The girl looked young for a long time, but Bern couldn’t help but speak politely.

That was because the energy he felt from the girl was not ordinary.

“There is a demon’s corpse outside.”

However, instead of answering Bern’s question, the girl only blurted out one word that he couldn’t understand.

“That… yes?”

“You take care of it yourself.”

“No… what do you mean by demon?”

Crack.

Bern didn’t notice, but a tendon appeared on the girl’s forehead as she watched him rambling on.

“Haa… Follow me.”

Bern followed the girl as she sighed and left the house, as if possessed by something.

The girl guided Bern to the back of his house, where there was a secret entrance—

“Hee… Hee.”

When he saw the purple ‘lump’ in front of him, his legs gave out and he collapsed.

“I… That’s a demon beast?”

“Yes, Bern. I heard you’re a demon beast hunter, so you can handle it as you see fit.”

Hearing the calm girl’s words, Bern felt goosebumps run down his back.

Could that girl really be the one who created the horrific object in front of him?

“That…, that…, that large demon beast is… this is my first… I wonder if I can do it properly.”

“Is extracting a magic stone that difficult?”

“Yes… yes! That… the corpses I’ve handled so far… they weren’t… that big…!”

Bern’s voice was quite desperate as he trembled while answering.

Except for those who are sufficiently trained, there aren’t many humans who can hunt a demon beast on their own.

Especially a demon beast that large.

But this girl, who caught that demon beast without a single scratch and left it in such a horrible state…

‘What kind of monster is she?’

And why was that monster interested in Bern?

“Can you tell me how to do it?”

“That… first, the magic…, blocking the magic from touching my body—huh!”

Bern then realized that he wasn’t wearing any protective gear.

He hurriedly covered his nose and mouth to try to distance himself, but…

‘No magic?’

He stopped moving when he noticed that he couldn’t feel any energy from the grotesquely twisted corpse.

Judging from the faint heat rising around the corpse, it was clear that it had not been dead for long.

But why?

“Bern.”

The girl opened her mouth again and urged Bern, who was blankly staring at the sight that was incomprehensible to his common sense.

“Tell me how.”

“Uh… That… Usually, there’s a magic stone near the heart—”

Before Bern could even finish answering, the girl moved first.

She stuck her small arms into the demon’s corpse and began to rummage around.

The girl frowned slightly, perhaps because the sensation was unpleasant, but soon took out the object she was aiming for.

“… Huh?”

Bern let out a dumbfounded sound at the sight.

Since the magic stone was in a state of becoming one with the demon beast, it would have to go through several processes after death to be separated.

“Is this it?”

“… Yes.”

The black jewel in the girl’s hand was definitely a magic stone.

And it was an enormous object, one that Bern had never seen before.

“It’s simpler than I thought.”

The girl said and put the magic stone on the floor.

“Take it, Bern.”

“… Yes?”

“I told you all along. You should dispose of it as you see fit.”

After saying that, the girl walked into the forest with plodding steps.

Bewildered, Bern didn’t dare to say anything more and watched the girl disappear—

“Oh, that’s right.”

The girl with a bright smile quickly turned her head to look at him.

After that, the eyes of countless beasts sparkled between the trees in the forest where darkness had fallen.

“Is it a secret between the two of us?”

“Yes… Yes! I understand! I’ll keep this a secret!”

Bern nodded hurriedly, then grabbed the magic stone the girl had left behind and hurriedly entered the outer wall of the village.

Without any protective gear, he braced himself for the terrible pain that would soon follow…

‘…Huh.’

Even after he firmly locked the outer wall and entered the house, no pain came.

Bern, calming his startled heart and turning on the lantern in the room, was astonished again.

“This isn’t a dream……?”

The magic stone had already been perfectly processed.

It was a crystallization of pure power that did not feel even an inch of magic, to the point that it was embarrassing to even call it a ‘magic stone.’

Bern couldn’t even dare to guess how much value this large magic stone could have.