Chapter 54
However, the next second...
Her body trembled, and she sat up in bed in an instant.
He quickly looked around and found himself in an unfamiliar house.
"How could I...?"
Thump thump thump...
Before Alice could ponder for long, a knock on the door pulled her back to reality.
"Alice, it's time to get up!"
Takuson, who was a full 1.8 meters tall, stood in front of the door and called out to the people inside.
Xiu Er, on the other hand, stood quietly behind him.
He had already scanned the room and found that the girl Alice was currently inside, and had just woken up.
But Takuson didn't know.
"That's strange. Could it be that the person isn't awake? Was my voice too soft?"
He was touching his head, wondering why he hadn't woken up yet after all this time, since he had finished his daily morning exercise.
By the way.
Takuson, in the Xiu Er system, gets up at 5:30 a. m. and then exercises for 2 hours until 7:30 a. m. as a morning workout.
Under Xiu Er's tutelage, Takuson became a very self-disciplined person.
Although Xiu Er needed to supervise it at the beginning, it has now developed a stable biological clock and will wake up automatically at the appointed time.
Before long, his highly sensitive senses, honed by regular training, detected that the person inside the room was approaching the door.
Click.
As the door opened, the figure inside appeared before the master and disciple...
"Yes, we have learned the details. All I can say is to accept our condolences."
At the villagers' invitation, Takuson finally decided to have breakfast before leaving.
Xiu Er had no objection to this.
It's just a meal, nothing urgent, and it won't take up much time.
Alice, who was sitting at the same table as Xiu Er and his apprentice, sat upright and looked quite uncomfortable.
She just kept her head down and ate her bread in small bites.
"So Alice, what are your plans for the future?"
At this point, Takuson, who was halfway through her meal, suddenly asked her about her plans for the future.
"It may sound harsh, but your parents are probably in grave danger right now."
It's hard to say. Based on the information provided by the girl, even the sentimental Takuson felt that the chances of her parents surviving were extremely slim.
Since they were attacked by a group of Monster, they were almost certainly going to die. If they were lucky, they might be able to find their remains.
Alice could certainly understand Takuson's implied meaning.
To be honest, even she knew this was possible, but she didn't want to give up just like that.
"..."
Seeing Alice's dejected appearance, Takuson felt a pang of sympathy for her.
He himself had experienced this feeling.
However, the other party's parents were killed by Monster, while his own family and friends all died at the hands of Demon.
He looked at Xiu Er, who hadn't said a word the entire time.
That look in his eyes seemed to be seeking the other party's help.
Xiu Er naturally understood his apprentice's meaning, but he did not react at all.
They simply threw the question back at them.
You picked it up yourself, so you can decide what to do with it.
While the master and apprentice were exchanging glances, Alice, sitting opposite them, had already made her decision.
"Um, you're adventurers, right?"
The girl's voice pulled Takuson back to reality.
"Yes, that's right, we are adventurers."
"Then may I hire you?"
Alice's next words were exactly what Xiu Er had expected, but Takuson's expression immediately changed upon hearing them.
What do you want to do with us?
Without first asking if the other party had the money to pay, Takuson was now most curious about the details of the other party's request.
Upon hearing this, Alice, realizing there was a chance, immediately raised her head and looked at Takuson with hopeful eyes, making the latter a little embarrassed.
"I think..."
Rustling sound—
Xiu Er emerged from the bushes and arrived at his destination.
This was originally the safest path in this forest.
Based on the traces on the ground, it can be inferred that countless carriages have traveled this road.
But now, a tragedy has occurred in this area.
The ground was covered with messy footprints, some from humans and Monster from large monsters.
Bloodstains were splattered everywhere, corpses were gnawed beyond recognition by wild beasts, and there were signs of battle everywhere—signs of Monster —as well as several broken carriages lying by the roadside.
"14 individuals have been confirmed dead."
"Cause of death: Monster bite and... sharp weapon wound."
Um?
A sharp weapon?
Just as Xiu Er was scanning the surroundings, Takuson emerged from the bushes he had come from, carrying the girl with him.
"So, teacher, have you found any clues?"
As they were talking, Takuson walked up to a corpse. Behind him, Alice, who was afraid of corpses, hid behind him, only daring to peek out at the corpses on the ground.
"[Answer] Total number of deaths: 14. The common cause of death was laceration, which is consistent with the characteristics of Monster attack."
"[Conclusion] What Alice said was not a lie."
"14 people..."
Alice pondered the number in her mind, and slowly, the expression on her face began to turn ugly.
"[Supplement] Among them, the DNA results of these two individuals are related to Alice."
Xiu Er pointed to the two corpses next to the big tree in front of him and said this, which also attracted the girl's attention.
She quickly ran out from behind Takuson and came to Xiu Er, looking at the two headless corpses.
"Father... Mother..."
Alice knelt on the ground, tears streaming uncontrollably from her eyes.
Seeing this, Takuson was at a loss for words and could only stand quietly to the side, waiting for the girl to vent her emotions.
Xiu Er stared at the two headless corpses, another question arising in his mind.
Are there Monster that have the habit of specifically cutting off the heads of their prey?
He didn't know how many types of Monster existed in this world, nor did he know if Monster with this particular habit existed in this world.
Logically speaking, these monsters shouldn't be so particular when they're eating people.
"Takuson".
"Teacher, what is it?"
Takuson, who had originally intended to calm the girl down, immediately abandoned the idea after hearing his teacher's shout.
"[Announcement] All individual corpses will be gathered together."
"Ah, okay."
Having immediately understood his teacher's idea, Takuson put it into action right away.
And so, in no time, all the corpses, including Alice's parents, were gathered together.
"— [Codex Opening]— [Pseudo-Codex]—..."
In an instant, the corpses were engulfed in flames, and the intense heat burned them to ashes in just a few seconds.
Meanwhile, Alice, who had been crying for a long time, finally stopped, wiping away her tears.
After all, she knew that her parents wanted her to live, and she should pull herself together.
Although I don't know what to do right now, I still have to pay the promised commission.
Fortunately, her own carriage was loaded with enough money to cover the cost of hiring two adventurers.
Next, all I need to do is continue hiring that master and apprentice pair to take me to my relatives' house, right?
After all, Alice remembered that her and her parents' destination was a relative's house. This trip was to visit relatives and do some business in that city as well.
I never expected to encounter something like this.
Alice walked up to the pile of carriage fragments and began searching through them.
"Huh?"
While Xiu Er cremating his body, Takuson stood silently beside Xiu Er, facing the flames, his hands clasped together.
Pray for the dead.
This was something the Old Monk had taught him when he was young.
This is also one of the few things he has done so far that conforms to the behavior of a "monk".
After finishing his prayers, he intended to check on Alice, who had just lost her parents, but when he turned around, he saw a girl anxiously searching through the wreckage of a carriage.
With his doubts in mind, Takuson approached the other person.
As he got closer, he gradually heard the girl's soft mutterings more clearly.
"It's gone... how could it be gone?"
"It should be here...?"
As Alice's tone grew increasingly panicked, Takuson's brows furrowed.
"Monster probably wouldn't need these things, right?"
In his panicked state, he didn't even notice that Takuson had already come up beside him.