Chapter 44 - Nameless Village (2)

Fortunately, Acel's flames didn't spread to the kidnapped people. Those rescued by the group kept expressing their gratitude, bowing repeatedly.

"Thank you, thank you!"

"It's nothing, we just did what we had to do."

Saya and Warren took charge of dealing with the survivors. Acel and Quill went to search the burned corpses and the bandits' hideout for anything useful.

"...Are you really a mage who just does research in a study? You seem used to this kind of thing," Quill asked while rummaging through a corpse's pockets. 

Acel chuckled and threw him a money pouch he found.

"I lived like this when I was young. Not exactly good memories."

The slums were a world of survival of the fittest. The strong took, the weak lost. Acel survived there like a hyena. A life of searching dead bodies for useful items and receiving scraps as a low-level drug gang member.

Thanks to that, he was immune to corpses. The burning smell was a bit much, but even that was better than the stench of decay. Acel roughly dropped the corpse he was holding and dusted off the ashes on his hands.

There wasn't much to gain from the bandits' hideout. There was some money, but not much even then.

Well. How much wealth would bandits hiding in a place like this have?

A mountain on the outskirts of the empire, though still within it. Not very suitable for thievery. They probably maintained their livelihood by kidnapping travelers or outsiders entering the mountain to sell as slaves or eat.

Of course, maintaining a livelihood in such a way was nonsensical, but human trafficking and cannibalism occurred more frequently than one might think. It was just not widely known.

In places where the reach of the law was weak, actions that abandoned human ethics could occur at any time. With devil worshippers and criminals rampant, this was the same across all countries to some degree.

The world had been topsy-turvy for some time now. Acel thought this as he lifted the tent flap to exit the hideout.

"Did you find anything?" Quill asked. 

Acel shook his head while throwing him a leather pouch full of silver coins.

"Nothing except this."

"Really?"

Quill roughly tucked the money pouch into his chest and returned to the group with Acel. 

Saya, who was handing water and food to the survivors, spoke to them, "These people say they're from the village that sent the request. They were kidnapped while out gathering herbs."

"If they're villagers, can't we just ask them to guide us?"

"Yes, we've already agreed to go together. Is that okay?"

Since there was no reason to refuse, Acel and Quill nodded simultaneously. Saya returned to the survivors with a satisfied expression.

Not long after, the march resumed. This time, the rescued survivors took the lead, with Warren and Acel following closely behind. Quill stood at the very back of the line as Saya's bodyguard. He slung his spear shaft over his shoulder, listening to the occasional animal sounds.

"Do you know anything about doppelgangers?" Warren asked. 

The survivors looked back at Warren with expressions that seemed to say, “What's that?”

They were people living in a village cut off from the outside world, let alone the countryside. They might know some basic knowledge, but it was impossible for them to know about magic beasts or their characteristics and ecosystems. Warren seemed to realize his mistake and gave them a response that it was nothing important.

Silence fell again after that. Occasionally hungry bears or wolves appeared, but they were all annihilated by Acel and Warren's magic. There were no other obstacles to the march. Thanks to this, they arrived at the village in less than 30 minutes after dealing with the bandits.

"Locals are definitely better," Quill muttered. 

Everyone in the group agreed with his words.

"Dad!"

"Honey! Where have you been all this time!"

As they entered the village, the families of those who had been kidnapped greeted the survivors enthusiastically. Because of this, the group standing behind felt a bit awkward, but Acel didn't mind and looked around the village.

The nostalgic smell of livestock and all kinds of filth permeated the air. The village where Acel lived when he was young, before even entering the slums, used to smell like this. It wasn't a place with particularly good memories, but he couldn't help remembering it whenever he came to such places.

"We are honored to meet such esteemed guests."

While he was thinking, an old man with snow-white hair approached the group. He looked like the village chief at a glance. 

He bowed to Acel, who was openly looking around, and said, "I heard you saved our villagers. I don't know how to repay you..."

"We didn't do it expecting any reward, so it's fine," Saya answered. 

She stood facing the old man and conversed with him.

"Still..."

"If you insist, could we perhaps borrow an empty house to stay in for a while?"

"An empty house... you say?"

"Yes, we need a place to stay while solving the request."

"By request, do you mean...?"

Instead of answering the village chief's question, Saya took out the request form from her chest. Seeing this, the village chief's face brightened. He led the group to his house as if treating royalty.

A wooden hut twice as large as other houses in the village. Perhaps he had a more authoritarian personality than expected, as even inside the house there were cheap jewels and ornaments on display. It wasn't much to the group, but for villagers who hadn't seen many ornaments in their lives, this alone was enough to assert authority.

"Please, have a seat," The village chief said, pointing to the sofa. 

The group didn't particularly refuse his offer and sat on the hard sofa. 

The village chief sat opposite them and began speaking, "I assume... you've confirmed the contents of the request."

"Yes. We think this is the work of a doppelganger."

"A doppelganger, you say? Perhaps... could you explain what that is…?"

Saya kindly explained about doppelgangers in response to the village chief's question. The village chief nodded as if something occurred to him after hearing this.

"Indeed... it wasn't just dead people suddenly appearing. Sometimes living residents would also appear in impossible places."

"Could you tell us where, perhaps?"

"...It's a bit difficult to explain in words. I'll guide you directly," the village chief said as he stood up. 

The group judged it better to divide roles rather than all move together, so they split into two teams. Warren and Quill would gather information about the doppelganger from the villagers, while Saya and Acel followed the village chief.

The place he guided them to was the edge of a steep cliff. Not a very high cliff, but one where falling would easily break a leg or two. The village chief stood at the edge and pointed to the ground.

"This is where it was most recently discovered. There's a young man among our villagers named Nom, and he said he saw his dead wife here. When he approached in surprise, his shoulder was bitten."

"...Hmm."

"Being a hunter, he always carried a knife, so he managed to fight back. Thanks to that, they both shed blood, and the monster—the doppelganger, was it—ran away."

"What happened to the young man named Nom?" Acel asked. 

The village chief answered with a slightly sad expression, "He died recently. He fell ill and passed away after suffering for a while."

Doppelganger saliva and blood contain poison. It was natural for Nom to die if he was bitten by a doppelganger and didn't receive proper treatment.

Acel let out a thoughtful sound and closely examined the ground where the village chief was standing.

Faint but remaining bloodstains. Since the cliff was made of rock rather than soil, although some time had passed, red marks still remained on the ground. However, they were so faint that they wouldn't be noticeable unless observed closely.

That was enough. Acel called Saya, who was holding back her windblown hair, to come nearby. Saya approached him with quick steps.

"Did you find something?"

"Bloodstains. More importantly, take out the magic tool."

"The magic tool?" Saya asked but obediently took out the magic tool she had put in her pocket.

A compass-shaped magic tool that tracks the owner of blood when it was ingested. Its performance was certain, but it could only accept blood or bodily fluids in liquid form. It couldn't be used on dried or trace bloodstains like this.

Acel knew this fact too. Yet he told Saya to take out the magic tool because there was a way.

"If the form of the blood is the problem, we just need to turn it back into droplets."

"...What? What nonsense are you talking about?" Saya asked with an incredulous expression. 

Instead of answering, Acel grinned and placed his hand on the bloodstains on the ground. In that state, he manipulated magical power. He shaped the blood manipulation technique Elena had shown into a form of magic.

Acel hadn't forgotten the technique Elena had shown during the entrance exam. Although he hadn't gone into detailed research, it was easy enough to borrow fragments of that power.

Woong.

Following Acel's will, the magical power changed its nature to be like that of a vampire.

It wasn’t magical power with the same nature as ordinary vampires. It was close to the bloodline of true ancestors. Magical power similar to pureblooded vampires born without other impurities. The formula was assembled accordingly, and Acel created the necessary effect on the spot.

"...You. What kind of person are you?" Saya, who immediately noticed what Acel was doing, asked with wide eyes.

Abilities permitted at the species level. Their unique power that other species couldn’t use or even understand. Acel not only imitated their characteristics and properties exactly but even sublimated them into magic.

It was different from blood magic. That ominous magic only controlled blood through formulas, it couldn’t transform magical power to be similar to vampires' like Acel. It was a miracle that only he, with extreme talent for magical power, could perform.

"If vampires knew, they'd try to kill you."

He ignored the voice chattering meaninglessly beside him. Acel separated the doppelganger's blood from Nom's among the bloodstains on the ground and manifested a formula to return it to droplet form.

The dominion over blood of those called the blood clan of the night didn’t discriminate between living beings. The doppelganger's blood bloomed on the cliff without any particular obstacle. Nom's blood remained as bloodstains.

"Phew."

Acel lifted the blood that had returned to droplet form into the air and injected it directly into Saya's magic tool. Saya also calmed her startled heart and looked down at the magic tool blankly.

Rattle!!

The needle of the compass that had absorbed the blood began to rotate violently. The built-in formula activated, and with a faint light, the red eye drawn in the center of the compass bloomed. Various tracking magic centered on blood magic. They writhed to analyze the doppelganger's blood and found its location.

Eventually, the moving needle stopped, pointing in one direction.

Saya looked up at Acel.

"Are we going right away?"

"We should return to the village first. We need to hear the opinions of the rest of the group. Also, looking at the eye engraved on the compass, it seems we don't need to worry about the compass stopping unless the magic tool and the prey directly encounter each other."

"That's fortunate then," Saya said and told the village chief they should return to the village for now. 

The village chief nodded and walked ahead towards the village.

***

Not long after, they returned to the village. Warren and Quill, who had been visiting residents and gathering information, had also just finished their work.

Now all that remained was a meeting to decide when to subjugate the doppelganger.

Saya requested the empty house she had asked the village chief about earlier to find a suitable place for the meeting. The village chief willingly handed over an ownerless house to them.

A house not too spacious but not too cramped either. The four gathered around a wooden table and shared the information they had obtained.

In fact, most of the information was pretty useless. Except for the blood Acel obtained, there weren't many significant results. Rather than being Warren and Quill's fault, it was largely because there was no information to be gained from a stagnant village to begin with. The stories they told were just what was already written in the request form.

Honestly, it didn't matter much. Now that they had obtained the blood, finding the doppelganger was just a matter of time.

All that remained was deciding when to set out for the hunt.

Saya first asked for the opinions of the group members, "What do you think we should do? Should we rest from the journey today and depart tomorrow morning? Or go right now?"

"I think we should go right away," Quill answered first. 

He chewed on a piece of jerky while looking out the window at the sky where the sun was still up.

"I don't see any reason to delay. We've rested enough while riding in the carriage, and now that we know the location, there's no need to hesitate. In my experience, it's easier to just rush in and kill these things in one go."

"I agree. I don't want to be stuck in this village for too long either."

Warren clicked his tongue while stroking his spirit.

"Honestly, it's not a very pleasant village. I don't know why, but the longer we stay, the more eerie it feels."

"Hmm... Acel, what about you?"

At Saya's question, Acel thought for a moment and then nodded.

"I'm fine with it too. I have enough magical power."

"Alright. Then let's depart right away. Everyone pack your things," Saya said and started neatly packing necessary items into her backpack. 

Acel stared at her for a while, then stood up and gazed out the window.

Warren's words about it feeling more eerie the longer we stay.

If that bothers him, is it really just a feeling?

Spirit mages shared some characteristics of spirits, who liked clean and pure places. Thanks to this, they could identify and avoid unpleasant and dirty places in advance.

Because the spirit contracted with Warren was a low-level spirit, his senses probably weren't exceptionally good, but he should still be able to discern to some extent.

For someone like him to say it felt eerie. Acel had vaguely felt it too, but he wasn't certain yet.

Still, he should remain vigilant.

"..."

He glanced at the gradually setting sun, then tucked a dagger he had brought into his chest.

So far, things were progressing smoothly.

So far.