Familiar Faces – Part 03

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Translator: Kell


Trembling all over, Lily climbed a tall tree and clung tightly to its trunk. She held her breath and listened carefully. She could hear the priest’s footsteps on the grass.

He was right around the corner, slowly closing in on his prey. His steps were steady, as if he was simply talking a walk.

Why, why, why, why, why?

No answer came. Why did the priest want to kill her? Sanare cast some kind of Magic on him, and she simply ran up to him.

There was only one reason.

In the darkness of the night, the priest took off his eye patch and regarded Lily.

“Filthy Beastfallen,” he spat out. His two words spoke volumes.

The priest despised Beastfallen all along. He probably found Lily so repulsive that he wanted to kill her.

Sanare’s Magic simply brought his true feelings to the surface.

I’m so stupid, she thought. He hated her, loathed her, yet she still wondered if he would like her if she became human.

Even if she became human, it would not change the fact that she was a former Beastfallen. The priest would never give an exemption. It made her sad, even when her life was in danger.

What should I do now?

She couldn’t hide on top of a tree forever. She had to run or she’d be killed. But run where? If she ran and ran, then lost him, then what?

There was a sharp sound, and a nearby branch fell. Shortly after, the branch that Lily was clinging to was also cut.

Lily fell to the ground. She screamed and ran away. But invisible strings entangled her body, pulling her, and she rolled on the ground, unable to move.

“I found you, embodiment of depravity. I thought I killed you, but you’re one stubborn guy. This time, I will make sure you’re dead.”

Ruthless eyes peered down at Lily. The scythe on the priest’s shoulder gleamed under the moonlight.

“No… No! Father! I didn’t do anything!”

“You took everything from me. You, who were everything to me!”

Lily didn’t know what the priest was saying. She only knew that his fierce, red eyes—filled with overwhelming hatred—were looking at someone else, not her.

“I’ll make it quick!” The priest raised his scythe.

I’m gonna die. Here. Like this. It was like she was taking someone else’s place.

“No…” Lily’s small hands clutched at dirt. “No!”

“No, you don’t!”

“What?!”

A huge lump of heat charged straight at the priest with incredible force, sending his slender body flying.

Lily, wrapped in the priest’s strings, was pulled by the momentum and thrown into the air.

She closed her eyes, prepared to crash onto the ground, when two firm arms caught her. Lily blinked repeatedly, puzzled.

“That was close,” the familiar voice said. “Made it just in the nick of time.”

Lily looked up. A large carnivore with a terrifying face smiled at her, revealing vicious fangs.

“Squirt almost killed the priest.”


Countless rats were on the verge of attacking the priest. Not only rats, or squirrels, but all kinds of rodents were rushing towards the priest to save Lily, snarling.

I tackled the priest with all I got to save him from a horrible death.

“Mercenary, his ribs are all crushed and his internal organs are ruptured,” Zero said as she examined the motionless priest. “Being swarmed by rats would have been much better in my opinion.”

“Yeah, right! He’s an adjudicator from Dea Ignis! Lessening the impact should be easy for him.”

“The priest was trapped in an illusion. Perhaps he was completely unaware of your approach.”

She made a good point. When I was lost in Sanare’s illusion, I couldn’t see my surroundings. I even tried to kill a vague, mysterious silhouette, not realizing that it was Zero.

As soon as she heard our conversation, Lily slipped out of my arms and rushed to the priest.

“I-Is Father going to die?”

“Fortunately, I am a witch. I can heal this level of injury with Magic. It has not been long since he received the wounds as well. He will feel weak from blood loss, but not a lot.”

“I think he’s benefiting more from spells than me,” I said. “When it comes to treatment, at least.”

It wasn’t really that surprising, though. Humans were much more fragile than Beastfallen.

“I also nullified Sanare’s Magic. When he wakes up, he will be back to normal.”

“He’ll be back to normal?” Lily asked anxiously.

“Of course,” Zero replied, stroking the Beastfallen’s head. “He will not try to kill you anymore. As you can see, Mercenary is no longer out to kill me.

I choked a little.

Lily’s jaw dropped. “You tried to kill her?!”

“Th-The illusion’s that bad, okay?!”

“Th-Then… Father doesn’t hate me?”

“Do you mean why the priest attacked you?” Zero asked. “I would guess it was simply because you were nearby. From what Mercenary said, this is a Magic spell that turns someone nearby into the object of the hatred you see in your nightmares.”

“Yeah, I saw Zero as Sanare. So the priest must’ve been seeing someone else.”

“I thought so,” Lily said.

“You realized it?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “He was saying some weird things.”

Right. I think I heard something about taking everything from him.

The priest groaned.

“Are you awake, priest?” Zero called.

The priest opened his eyes a little, then bolted upright. He looked around. “A dream?” he muttered. “It felt like… I was dreaming about the past.”

“You seem to have had a nightmare. It was caused by Sanare’s Magic, but you do not have to worry about it anymore.”

“Sanare,” the priest repeated the name, as though he still didn’t understand the situation clearly.

When he noticed that the staff beside him had transformed into a scythe, his eyes suddenly widened. He realized what he had been doing.

“Who was I chasing?”

“Uh—”

“Him,” Lily cut in, pointing at me.

The priest would certainly feel better if he found out that he was trying to kill me. But it was too late. I was already startled, and the priest, with his eye patch off, saw the look on my face. There was no way he wouldn’t notice.

With an indescribable expression, the priest looked at Lily. She was hanging her head, eyes on the ground.

“Are you covering for me?” he asked.

“No.”

“I almost killed you.”

“I was just hiding.” She puffed out her cheeks. She had all the right to be mad at the priest for almost killing her, but she didn’t plan to yell at him, it seemed.

The priest gently pressed his forehead. “Well, I don’t really care either way.”

Pursuing the matter wouln’t really make a difference anyway.

“We’re pretty far from the main road now,” I said.

Green pastures surrounded the town of Latette, but we were in a forest now.

“Yeah. I ran and ran,” Lily said.

“Oh, I can see that. You could’ve run towards Fomicaum.”

I meant it as a joke, but the priest hit me hard on the back of my head. I dropped to the ground.

“You deserved that,” Zero said.

Only Lily, who should be the one offended, showed any concern for me.

“Anyway,” I said, “we’re not gonna make it to Fomicaum before the gates close. We can probably force our way in with some threats and coins, but we’ll never be able to get a horse out of town.”

“So the quickest way would be for you to run towards Plasta,” Zero said.

“No. Even if I ran nonstop without rest, I’ll probably only get there tomorrow night at the earliest. It’s not much different from waiting for Fomicaum to open and getting a horse. Plus I can carry you, but not the squirt and the priest. We’d have to leave them behind.”

“Unbelievable.” Zero breathed an irritated sigh. “She succeeded in stalling us. We could have made it to Plasta before dawn had we gotten a horse in Fomicaum. This delay is a little frustrating.”

“Let’s head back to Latette for now,” the priest said. “It will be somewhat faster to head for the main road from there than to continue on through rough terrain. If we can make it to Fomicaum before the gates open, we’ll have some time to rest. Above all, we’re stuck.”

I knew what the priest was trying to say. We were one step behind. Sanare would no doubt use this opportunity to set traps for us.

The last thing Sanare would want was for us to stop the execution. What kind of hurdle was waiting for us on the way to Plasta?


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