Master’s Smile

She was not worried whether Apollo’s group might have been involved in some kind of incident whatsoever.

Among the Yelquchira members, she is a person who was the most likely to listen to people outside the guild.

However, that does not mean that she is friendly and open-minded.

Like Laladi, Sorglos also doesn’t care what happened to anyone but herself and her master.

However, her master is different.

He popped out his eyes and had a look of surprise on his face.

“(Such a kind-hearted person, yes….)”

In Sorglos’ mind, her master’s reputation, which could not be raised any higher, was about to rise again.

It was really kind of him to worry about Apollo and the others, whom she didn’t care whether they were alive or dead.

On the contrary, even if her master hadn’t taken Apollo and the others into account at all, Sorglos would still evaluate him as an admirable person.

Master’s evaluation standard was too wide.

“Let’s see….”

Her master asked if the smell of blood was that of a monster.

She’s not Vampir, so she can’t identify an individual by the smell of blood alone.

However, Sorglos is still quite familiar with blood.

She could roughly determine the species just by the smell of blood.

She twitched her nose under the cloth to smell what it was….

“This is not a monster. It’s… a human, and more than one, yes.”

Sorglos concluded so.

Her master then asked if she could tell where the smell of blood was coming from.

Naturally, she will do whatever it takes to accomplish her master’s request.

This time, however, was not that difficult.

“It came from near where Lucille-dono just ran up to, yes.”

Sorglos said so while watching Lucille’s back as he walked into the trees.

Perhaps he too smelled the blood by going near the scene.

Her master walked after Lucille.

And Sorglos would always follow behind wherever he goes.

By the time the two of them caught up with Lucille, everything was already over.

“…What, the hell is this?”

Lucille muttered in dismay.

Looking at him, Master gave a somewhat gloomy smile.

It was clear that the smell of blood was coming from here, just as Sorglos had said.

A large amount of blood spilled onto the trees and grass.

And there were two human corpses lying on the ground which must have been the source of the blood.

The fruits scattered out of Lucille’s arms.

“…Apollo…Rieg.”

The two corpses lying on the ground, staring at the sky with lifeless eyes, belonged to the people who were very close to Lucille.

They were the members of his guild, and had lived together like a family.

They were important people who had generously given the guild’s funds and time for Lucille’s sister, Lucica.

And the two were now dead, bleeding profusely and incessantly from their bodies.

“W-Why…?”

Lucille lost all strength from his body and fell to his knees.

The faces of Apollo and Rieg when they were alive came flooding back into his mind.

Apollo was a good-natured old man.

He was an alcoholic and liked to do things at his own pace, but he was also a broad-minded man who always put his guild members first.

Lucille, who had no parents, thought of him as a father figure on many occasions.

Rieg was a kind man.

He was strict about manners and etiquette, and Lucille, who was not familiar with such things, was often scolded by him, but he knew that Rieg was thinking about him.

He was troublesome when he talked about Angelism occasionally, but he was a man who only thought about the people around him.

If a guild member was injured, he would use recovery magic without thinking about the consumption of his mana.

Lucille loved them both, though he didn’t say so in words.

But now, Apollo and Rieg were lying on the ground, covered in blood.

“Excuse us for a moment, yes.”

Sorglos approached them with Lucille’s consent.

She closed Apollo’s eyes, which were still open, and briefly checked the condition of his corpse.

There were no wounds related to being injured by a sharp blade on Apollo’s corpse.

However, there were bruises all over his body, as if he had been hit with some kind of strong force.

Furthermore, he had lost one of his arms.

When she looked at the cut area, it looked as if it had been torn off rather than severed.

“Uuumu… they might had been attacked by an enemy with tremendous strength. They were probably the type that doesn’t use weapons or other tools, but rather uses brute force instead, yes.”

“S-So, you’re saying that a monster…? A monster killed Apollo and Rieg!?”

“We don’t need you yelling at us, yes.”

Sorglos mildly evaded Lucille who was glaring at her with tears in his eyes.

His killing intent was quite strong, but not enough to make her stiffen.

However, there was something strange.

The place where both of them had fallen, had not left that many signs of battle.

Apollo and Rieg were not weak adventurers.

Of course, they were inferior to Sorglos, a member of the “Salvation Army (Yelquchira)”, but they were not helplessly weak.

In fact, when they were attacked by the “Shield of Pride (Prishield)”, one of the top-ranked guilds, not only did they survive, but rather defeated them.

That was what they were capable of, and yet….

“(It’s as if they were [helplessly] killed, yes….)”

If they went deep into this forest, there would certainly be monsters that could do that.

However, this lake was located in a shallow part of the forest.

Would a monster living in a shallow area be able to kill Apollo and Rieg with no resistance whatsoever?

“Damn it…! I’ll never forgive them! I won’t let them get away with this…!”

Sorglos was thinking as she vacantly watched Lucille, burning with anger and hatred.

In all likelihood, even if he found out who killed them, he would still have his tables turned when he tried to hunt them down.

Rieg was a recovery mage, so he could be excluded, but Apollo, who was the guildmaster, was a melee fighter and more skilled than Lucille.

There was no way for Lucille to emerge victorious as even Apollo was easily killed by the culprit.

Though, Sorglos was not so kind as to advise him every time.

“Fuuuh…. Still, it’s strange, yes. What kind of thing killed both of them like this-….”

“ーーーShall I tell you?”

There was a voice answering Sorglos’ words.

The sleek and physiologically sickening voice was naturally not her master’s nor Lucille’s.

Sorglos’ body stopped as she tried to turn around to see who it was.

No, she was forced to stop.

“I killed those two just like this.”

With a thud, Sorglos’ slender body shook.

She could feel a physical disorderーーーaround her abdomen and she only moved her eyes to look at it.

An eerie arm, covered with a lot of blood while pierced through Sorglos’ stomach, came into her view.

Then, once again, another sickening laugh echoed throughout the area.

“AHYAHYAHYAHYA!!!”