A Heartfelt Talk

“Do you know about Guan Ruoxi and the Hunting Night?”

Aimira asked the question directly.

She adopted the tone of a young girl earnestly seeking knowledge.

Her inflection, expression, and posture were all flawless.

But the man’s eyes changed in an instant.

His gaze shifted from seeing ‘someone who had helped him’ to ‘a mortal enemy’.

The wind died.

The air froze.

The sunlight vanished.

The chirping of birds and insects fell silent.

The world was receding from her.

He had done nothing.

He had merely unleashed his killing intent.

“Where. The. Hell. Did. You. Hear. Those. Two. Names?”

He spoke.

Each syllable was a cold, sharp blade.

Any ordinary person would have been driven mad instantly, bathed in such a frigid, oppressive aura.

“Uh, I just…”

“Where did you hear them?”

“Well—”

Crack!

The Ninth Apostle ripped out her heart.

Literally. He plunged his hand into her chest, piercing through ribs and lung, and tore her heart out.

Yet even without the pump, blood still flowed through her veins. Air continued to stream in and out of her ruptured lung.

He held the heart in his grasp, thorns sprouting from his fingertips to entwine it tightly.

Aside from a hollow feeling in her left chest, she felt no discomfort.

But her intuition screamed that if those thorns pierced her heart, a fate far more terrifying than death awaited her.

“The heart is the core of all power systems. The act of ‘removing the heart’ is enough to seal the combat abilities of most people. I advise you not to even think of escaping. So, now—”

He stared into her eyes, the pressure mounting with every second.

“Tell me honestly where you heard ‘Guan Ruoxi’ and ‘the Hunting Night’! That’s an order!!!”

…

…

…

…

…

“You dreamt it!?”

“Yes…”

“…………Are you kidding me?”

“N-No… It was really a dream…”

I felt my intelligence had been insulted. But Aimira was already sniffling, her eyes welling with tears.

‘What’s there to cry about? I’m the one who wants to cry here…’ I thought.

Ah, right. I was still holding her heart.

“When I… hic… when I was four… my brother and I… we heard a terrifying… woman’s voice in a dream… She was laughing… and said to us… ‘Come and play.'”

“…And then?”

“I was scared, so, so scared, but my brother… he seemed so excited… Then… not long after… my brother, my mom, and my dad all disappeared…”

“Is there any trace of them?”

“They’re… nowhere… It’s like… they never existed in the first place… Everyone forgot about them… sob…”

Even I found it hard to watch a beautiful girl cry like that. But this matter was of the utmost importance.

It was my ‘beginning’ and, in a way, my ‘end’—a nightmare from the past, a sunless hell.

And yet, she knew about it. She even dreamt of it… Was that possible?

…No, it wasn’t impossible. In fact, that was probably the proper way to receive an invitation.

I was the anomaly, the fool who had blundered right into it.

She was one of the lucky ones; though she heard the call, she never participated, managing to escape that fate.

While everyone else involved had their very existence erased from the world, the atrocities that bastard Guan Ruoxi committed would not disappear.

For twelve years, the memory has remained vivid, sometimes waking me from my dreams.

“I see… I was overthinking things…”

I… was probably too sensitive. Hearing that name and that phrase again after twelve years had caused me to lose my composure.

Well, maybe it was more than ‘a little.’ I did just tear out her heart.

‘The Apostle has stolen your heart (physically),’ hehe☆.

“You’ve stolen my heart, haha… though on a physical level.”

Seeing that I had calmed down, Aimira even tried to crack a joke…

‘You’re already crying your eyes out, don’t force yourself.’

“Sorry…”

I retracted the thorns and carefully placed her heart back inside her chest.

She let out a strange gasp in the process… I averted my gaze.

Only beautiful armpits could distract me now.

“You don’t need to apologize! It was I who was rude!”

“No, how should I put this… I understand how you feel. Your family mysteriously vanished when you were very young, and your only clues are the name ‘Guan Ruoxi’ and the phrase ‘the Hunting Night’ that you heard in a dream, correct?”

“Yes. That’s why I studied so hard to get close to a public investigative agency. I want to find out the truth…”

“…………”

A pitiful child.

Of course, I knew what she was hoping for, but I couldn’t give her the answer she sought.

I had never spoken to anyone about the Hunting Night. There was no point.

Every participant besides me was dead, their very existences erased.

The organizer was gone forever.

More importantly, I could never bring myself to say, “If your family really participated in the Hunting Night, then I might be one of the people who killed them.”

“Is this… something that cannot be spoken of?”

“…There’s no point in speaking of it. I can only tell you that the people who participated in that event… besides myself, no longer exist. That includes your family.”

“…………”

“I’m very sorry, but I can’t help you.”

It was cruel, but a clean break was better than prolonged agony. It was best to extinguish her hope right here and now.

“I see… Then… I guess there’s nothing to be done…”

The vitality in Aimira’s eyes had vanished.

She was like a wilted flower.

It seemed she didn’t want to give up completely, but in the end, she didn’t press any further.

“Then… I’m sorry to have bothered you. I’ll… be taking my leave for tonight.”

“…Be careful on your way.”

After she left, I was overcome by a brief wave of self-loathing.

Could I still call myself an Apostle?

…Whatever. I hadn’t been one for a long time anyway. Besides, this was for her own good.

From the look of her, she probably hadn’t given up completely.

But I had to apologize; I would be leaving tonight.

Jadette had already set her sights on this place, making the city no longer a safe haven.

I had to go, without hesitation.

In the southern part of the city, at the hideout of the one-off villain trio—

“An Meng, Paris, we’ve got a lead!”

Justin was thrilled upon returning to their temporary base, eager to share the news he’d gathered at the Lord’s Mansion with his two (or was it three?) companions.

“Jadette met with a female investigator in the Lord’s Mansion. They discussed… the Ninth Apostle?”

An Meng’s mind struggled to keep up.

Wasn’t that too much of a leap?

How did the Ninth Apostle get dragged into this?

“You mean Corvus Lupercal!? Are you serious??”

As expected, Paris had the most extreme reaction.

“From their conversation, it sounds like the Ninth Apostle is no longer in Sandra City. It was more like he ‘might have been here a few days ago.'”

“Hah? What a letdown…”

An Meng, however, was more concerned about Jadette.

“No guards, no one else from the Alchemist Association, she came all by herself?”

“That’s right. This will save us a lot of trouble.”

“Who cares about that woman! The Ninth Apostle is what matters! Are you saying that investigator has a clue about him!?”

“I got the feeling the investigator was hiding something. She definitely knows more.”

“In that case—what are we waiting for!? How long is that broad staying here?”

“She’ll probably leave tomorrow.”

“Why not make your move tonight? There’s no time like the present!”

“Isn’t that too reckless… No, not really. We’ve had a backup plan for a while now. It’s just a matter of when we execute it!”

“Let’s do this!!!”

Both Paris and An Meng were fired up.

The two were naturally impatient and had been cooped up here for over a month, practically sick with boredom.

Justin forced a wry smile, then excused himself to the restroom and left the room.

‘Ah crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap the Ninth Apostle is still in Sandra right now, dammit!!!!!!!!!!!’

He clutched his head and knelt, using all his might to suppress the shriek that almost tore from his throat!

‘Damn it all!’

After leaving the Lord’s Mansion with time to kill, he had tailed the investigator named Aimira for a while.

He watched as she entered an unremarkable apartment building—and then—and then—

‘It’s him—the real deal—I’m almost certain it’s the Ninth Apostle himself! Crap!!!!!!’

Justin knew he had just danced on the edge of death’s door.

Thankfully, he had been wearing his ‘Polarizing Armor’ and ‘Refractive Haori’ at the time.

The Ninth Apostle and the investigator also seemed to be in some kind of dispute, which had diverted their attention.

Otherwise, he would be nothing but a mangled corpse by now!!!!

He had never been so proud of his stealth abilities!

If he told the others, that idiot Paris would surely charge in looking for a fight, and then it would all be over!

The only silver lining was that the Ninth Apostle seemed to be planning to leave as well.

As long as he was long gone by the time they made their move—but even that wasn’t a guarantee!

This was a highly unusual, unexpected situation.

He had to ask his superiors for instructions!

Justin inserted a black, jelly-like object the size of an earplug into his ear.

It immediately began to emit a beeping sound, like a telephone ringing.

‘Please… please… pick up… Lady Nicoviss… Ah, wait!’

Today was the Third Sovereign’s scheduled day of labor!

Everyone on her end must be in a total frenzy.

There was no way they’d have time to answer!

“Then… the… Fifth? Come on, pick up… Lord Kustik…”

Click. The line connected.

“Hello! Your Magnificence, the Fifth Sovereign, this is—”

“KONNT IHR MICH SEHEN?—WIR SEHEN DICH!!!!! KONNT IHR MICH FUHLEN—WIR FUHLEN DICH!!!!!!!”

The wave of heavy metal sound that erupted from the earplug nearly boiled his brain.

“Tch… How did it come to this…”

Justin was a direct subordinate of the Third Sovereign, a very high-ranking position among the demon race.

Even so, he was only authorized to directly contact three Sovereigns, including his own.

The Third was unavailable, the Fifth was apparently engaged in his avant-garde art, which only left…

Ah, the last one connected!

“Hello… excuse me… Is the Second Sovereign there?”

“…………”

“I am a subordinate of the Third Sovereign, Lady Shub-Han Yue-Nicoviss. I am currently on a mission infiltrating the human race under her orders, and I’ve run into major trouble… It’s… it’s the long-missing human Ninth Apostle…”

“…Abba abba abba?”

“…………”

This was—useless!!!

No normal person could communicate with the Second Sovereign, only his disciples!

“Hey! Justin! You said you were going to the bathroom, what are you sneaking off for?”

“Slacking off? Paris and I have already decided. There’s no time like the present. We’re doing this tonight!”

“You guys, take it easy—”

But how could the eager Paris and An Meng hold back any longer?

They were both formidable fighters and extremely confident in their own abilities.

“We’re heading out, hurry up and follow!” they shouted to Justin as they started towards the Mercenary Guild.

‘By the Demon God, please let those two idiots wait until after the Ninth Apostle has left before they act…’