Paradigm Parasite

The black robe explodes in front of my eyes, spreading a black mist.

I let out a sigh.

...Again.

This is the third attack since then.

Naturally, I've beaten them all back, but...the trouble is, just when I think they can't move, they explode into a black mist and disappear.

Like special effects monsters.

Thanks to this, I couldn't extract their memories and had no idea what was going on.

The second and subsequent attacks were silent, so I tried to find a way to kill them when I turned the tables on them, but...it didn't work.

I tried to kill them instantly, but they exploded as soon as they died.

I tried to prevent the explosion, but it seemed that something was planted around the heart, and when it exploded, there was a hint of magic coming from there.

This time, I tried to cut out the heart before it exploded, but for some reason, the head exploded.

Apparently, they planted something in their heads as well as their hearts.

If I kill them, I can't take away their memories. But if I hurt them halfway, they would kill themselves, which would also be difficult.

So, I thought I would make them unconscious and incapacitate them, but no matter how much I hurt them, they never lost consciousness.

The crazy thing is that they seem to be doped up with some kind of medicine or magic or whatever to keep them unconscious.

The knights and holy knights would notice if things went on like this.

Aside the knights of the country, I don't want the holy knights to take notice of me.

How did this happen?

I was thinking to myself.

If I don't manage to capture one of them alive and suck out their memories, these creeps are going to attack me again and again.

That would make my trip difficult.

Worst case scenario, I'll have to retreat to Oratorium.

No, no, no, why should I do that for the convenience of these incomprehensible people?

It made me a little angry. Either way, they were going to attack me, so I'd better get back at them.

And I'm going to hurt the organization so that they'll never be able to touch me again.

It was all well and good until this point....

After the fourth time, the attacks stopped abruptly.

I tilted my head and said, "Oh?" as i intentionally passed through unpopular places, but there was no sign of them coming.

Just to be sure, I used my detection magic to the fullest to see if anyone was following me, but there was no sign of them either.

Did they give up? I thought that they might have given up, but they probably just pulled out for a while because of the reduced number of people.

Anyway, if the followers disappeared, i should go back to the inn and take a rest.

If it's too late, Heidi might come looking for me.

When I returned to the inn, Heidi was taking care of her equipment.

When she saw me, she had a slightly complicated expression on her face.

What is it? I thought, but I soon found out. There was blood on the dagger and on the cloth that had probably been used to wipe Kukri.

"What happened?"

Heidi looked as if she was about to say something, then gave up and began to speak.

"It was after I parted with you..."

After a while after we separated, she felt like someone was following her, so she went into an alley and lured him out, and she caught a suspicious man in a black robe.

...So. When she tried to ask him what he was up to, he attacked her without saying a word, so she turned the tables on him.

"I didn't mean to kill him, but when I disabled him, he suddenly killed himself..."

The rest exploded and disappeared.

From what I've heard, it sounds like they came after I'd driven them away one way or another.

When I thought they didn't come, they went to Heidi's side.

Were they trying to make a deal with me?

They seem to be obsessed with me for some reason...so why did they set their eyes on a guy like me again?

I don't think so, but can they recognize a reincarnated person?

If so, no wonder why they are persistently trying to get their hands on me.

So I'm in their sights and they've taken an interest in me....

Perhaps they are trying to obtain the abilities of the reincarnated.

If they get it, they may indeed be able to "transcend the limits of the human condition."

Well, if only they could reproduce it.

I have no problem if they do it without my knowledge, but if they want to use me as experimental material, that's a different story.

I'm going to have to get some information out of them, or they're going to keep an eye on me.

"How many did you take down?"

"Six, two groups of three."

They are still working in units of three.

I've eliminated four for a total of 12. That's a total of 18, so that's a lot of people.

"I just don't understand why they're coming after me."

"Those guys are that group of creeps from the guild called Darzain, aren't they? Aren't they indiscriminate?"

"Creeps?"

"Rumor has it that they kidnap women and children indiscriminately. They must have thought you were easy to kidnap."

"Is that so...?"

I'm sorry to Heidi, but I just muddled it up with a few casual comments. Naturally, I did not tell her that they came to me.

I don't want to tell anyone about my reincarnation and constitution.

I trust her to a certain extent, but only to a certain extent.

I don't trust her with my lifeline.

I'm not that trusting of others to begin with.

The few exceptions are Fatima and those I have under my "root" control.

...They're not strangers, they're literally my hands and feet.

"I understand what you're saying. I'll be as careful as possible tomorrow."

I closed the conversation by saying that.

Tomorrow we'll visit the ruins, and we'll work together to see what they'll do.

Dylan Crye Guidry, a Temple Knight, had an ordinary childhood with an adventurer father from Laipolisch.

His father had taken him on an east-west trek through the territory ever since he could remember, and he grew from a child to a boy through a hectic childhood, never settling down in one place.

His father was not a good father.

He asked his own son, when he was able to move around a bit, to help him out.

He was asked to do chores for him, to take care of his equipment, and in the worst cases, to act as a decoy to lure monsters to him. Every day was a near-death experience, and he was not happy.

He did not have a mother.

From the conversations he heard, it seemed he was the product of a relationship with the daughter of the village where he used to be based.

Once he asked a question about his mother and was beaten up.

From his reaction, it was clear that his father did not want him to be born.

And that's probably why his father didn't have a base in the village.

In other words, if there was a mistake, he would run away from it without taking responsibility.

When he came to understand the situation, he came to despise his father, and at the same time, he thought that if he stayed under this man, he would be killed.

It was extremely difficult for him to study reading and writing without his father's eyes on him, but he did it desperately because it was obvious that he would get into trouble if his father found out about it.

After learning to read and write to a certain extent and accumulating a certain amount of money, he ran away from his father and took the entrance examination for the "Academy," the gateway to becoming a holy knight in Laiborish, and managed to pass the examination.

After that, he trained both mentally and physically at the academy and graduated.

After becoming a holy knight, he changed his class to a Temple Knight and began his duties... He was assigned to escort a certain lord's idiot son, and after a shitload of work ........., oops, it's morning.

Next morning.

I was walking along the road to the ruins with Heidi, but so far there was no sign of anything suspicious.

I periodically probed with detection magic during the night, but there was no response there either.

Heidi was also on alert during the night, or perhaps her sleep was shallow.

Heidi was also a little sleepy, although she was trying to hide it well.

"What are you going to do after seeing the ruins?"

"..."

Heidi's question made me wonder what I should do.

I can't leave the city until I take care of them.

At the very least, I'd like to suck out some knowledge and at least get some information on them.

If possible, I need to kill all the people who have their eyes on me, and then find out why they approached me.

However, since Heidi is also being targeted, I can't spend too much time on this.

It's going to be tough, but I'll get it done by the end of the day.

"Well. I don't have anything special to do, so I'll leave tomorrow. Is everything all right on your end?"

"I've already restocked my supplies, and I'm ready to go."

"Okay. Take the rest of the day off and we leave tomorrow."

After a day of waiting, they let us in right away.

The walls and floors were smooth and shiny like marble, and it even looked like a museum of some kind.

"It's a beautiful place, isn't it?"

Heidi is looking around with curiosity while patting the bracelet she was told to wear upon entering.

I also looked down at the bracelet on my arm.

It is a pure white bracelet with some small magic stones attached to it.

Apparently, as long as I wear this bracelet, the people who manage this place will know where I am.

Of course, I can't seem to remove it by myself.

Well, there is no particular problem, so let's take it easy and go see the ruins.

The structure of the building is very unusual.

I tried to touch the walls, but they felt smooth to the touch and cool and pleasantly cool.

I tried to rub my cheek against it, but the feeling was quite nice.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Heidi looked at me with a bit of a drawl, but it was a trivial matter.

The structure was magically unusual, and although I used detection magic, I could not see beyond the wall at all.

It seems to have a property that repels magic.

I lightly tapped it with my hand, but it was hard. It seems to be difficult to destroy.

The structure is intricate, and it would be easy to get lost if there were no signposts to guide us.

There is a part where the wall seems to have been opened, and it is clear that the staff members have been removing these traps as they go along.

I was curious as to what procedure was used to release the trap, but was not sure, as it seemed that the trap itself was removed by some means after it was removed.

The monotonous scenery seemed to continue for a while, so I should finish my business.

I sent a thought to Fatima.

I was not sure if the message would penetrate the wall, since it has a property of repelling magic, but it seemed to be all right. Or is this "communication" not in the category of magic?

--Fatima...

--Mr. Rothfeldt! I have been waiting to hear from you! I've missed hearing from you lately!

Is it my imagination that her character seems to change every time I talk to her?

--I'm sorry, but I don't want to preface this. I'm in Nordia now, and things got a little messy.

I told her the story of Darzain and a little bit of the background.

Fatima listened silently, but when I finished, she let out a sigh.

--Darzain? Another troublesome group has spotted you.

--I agree with you.

--In terms of knowledge about these people, I am not so different from Mr. Rothfeldt, who has my memory, so I can't give you much useful information.

--No, I think there was someone in your family who might have that kind of knowledge and information...

--......... Oh, my father and sisters.

--Yes, that's right. I know you don't get along, but can you do something about it?

--I'm very sorry to tell you this, but...

What is it? You've suddenly become very brusque.

--Just a few moments ago, the entire Liard family died, except for me.

Yes?

--So my parents, servants, and sisters are all dead.

Oh, come on. That's a pretty big deal.

What's going on with the Liards?

--If you are talking about the - territory, there is no problem. I will manage both well.

What?

--Lately, you've been strangely eager to increase the number of your subordinates, but you don't mean...

The timing is right, the snake woman should have arrived by now.

Most of them are from the thug world, but in addition to the Temple Knights and the Snake Woman, there's even Trust. Maybe she even used Peggy.

She could have easily taken down the lord's mansion.

--......fufu

Fatima only laughed and didn't answer.

I felt a chill run down my spine.

This bitch has done it.

-- I hope there's no problem there, right?

--Uh-huh. No. I'm not exaggerating when I say there are no problems. And as for your request about Darzain, I'll check to see if there's anything left at the mansion. May I contact you as soon as I find out?

-- I understand. Only then will I allow it.

Fatima replied happily and hung up the 'communication'.

Actually, I forbid Fatima to contact me here.

After leaving Oratorium, she contacted me so often that I became annoyed and forbade her to use "communication" with me until I contacted her.

What is that woman thinking?

I didn't expect her to attack and take over her parents' house.

I don't think she would act in a way that would be detrimental to me...or maybe not?

I can't make a decision even if I think about it, so let's wait and see for a while.

I can revoke the command I gave Fatima at any time, and for now I have no plans to return.

...I guess we'll see how it goes for a while.

I've decided to put it aside.

Let's look at the ruins and get healed.

That's right. Let's do that. I lightly escaped from reality and went back to visit the ruins.

It was quite a large place, and although I went in early in the morning, the sun was already high in the sky by the time I got out after going through the ruins.

"It was an interesting place, wasn't it?"

"Oh, yes, it was. It's getting late, so we'll have dinner later."

Heidi nodded with a smile.

The tour of the ruins was quite interesting.

The only thing left to do was to get rid of those unpleasant people.