TEB Ch 95

As soon as I shouted with all my might, the voice I had been waiting for was heard. 

“……..!!!” 

And then what followed was a terrifying roar that shook the entire mountain range. It spread like an earthquake, shaking everything in its path. The hallucinations that had surrounded Liev were instantly gone with the deafening sound that seemed to overturn the ground. The laughter that had been ringing in his ears just moments ago and the cruel scene before his eyes disappeared, revealing a normal foggy forest. Soon, he could hear the voices of his comrades. 

“Wow, where is everyone?” 

“Our communication has been down since a while ago, so I think it would be a good idea to meet in the center. Maybe we should gather in one place!” 

Liev breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Renard flying towards him. Renard immediately shouted at him with a frown on his face. 

“I was surprised when you suddenly disappeared!” 

“I-I don’t know, we were together just a moment ago, and then I couldn’t see you.” 

“I can’t burn everything here, so you have to be careful.” 

Liev looked at Renard, who was nagging him with a slightly awkward expression, and scratched his cheek. Although he immediately got angry when he saw him, he realized that Renard was not scolding him out of anger but rather out of concern for his safety. In this situation, where he had no combat abilities, it was only natural for Renard to want to protect him. I was surprised and relieved that he came running right away as soon as I called him. 

“Anyway, thank you for finding me.” 

“I would have done it. Even if Liev hadn’t thanked me.” 

Then, Renard grabbed his sleeve tightly as if he really didn’t want to let him go, and Liev cleared his throat, feeling ashamed and embarrassed at the same time. At that time, Sigrid caught everyone’s attention with perfect timing. 

“I’ll shoot a flash grenade, so gather around me.” 

Liev also nodded at Sigrid’s declaration, and they all gathered around the light. Even though it had only been less than a few hours since they had separated, the group looked exhausted and worn out, as if they had seen something they had never seen before. 

“It was because of the fairies, right? Just now.” 

When the always calm Palvin asked with an unusually tired expression, Rowena nodded in response. 

“Yeah, I survived thanks to Renard. Even though I knew it was an illusion, I couldn’t help but feel scared when I saw something in front of my eyes, so it was difficult for me to think about anything else.” 

I don’t know what horrible sight they saw, but they seemed like they didn’t want to think about it again. Among the group, only Sigrid had a calm expression. Even the strongest among them, Renard, showed signs of displeasure, not due to the fact that the illusion didn’t work on him, but because of how he ended up separated from Liev. Everyone seemed to have some doubts about Sid’s calm expression. 

“What about you? Were you okay? Your complexion looks better.” 

Albert’s pointless question made Sigrid give a bitter smile in response. 

“I’m fine… I’m used to it now. I knew as soon as I saw it that it was just an illusion.” 

It wasn’t that cruel of a scene, right? Everyone shrugged their shoulders and thought it wasn’t a big deal. In any case, no one was injured or left behind. That’s a relief, so everyone started to share what they saw, little by little. 

The illusions created by the fairies were of two types. One was to show the victims, who had been pranked by the fairies own past experiences. And the other was to twist and show what they had recently seen. Since they could share what they saw, it would help them figure out what had happened in this forest recently. 

“I saw a scene where a pack of wolves was trapped in an iron cage and then suddenly broke out.” 

“Oh, I think I saw something similar. I couldn’t see it coming out of the cage, but I heard the wolves howling beyond the bushes.” 

“Did anyone see a scene where soldiers were being attacked?” 

In the midst of listening, Liev raised his hand to describe a scene that was similar to what he had seen. 

“I’m not sure where they were from, but I saw bodies that were brutally mutilated.” 

“Were they dressed in a dark black uniform with gold accents?” 

“Yes, I think you saw the same thing as me.” 

Even without bringing up the story of the baby wolf they met just a little while ago, it was possible to make a rough inference. Someone had brought them here and released the monsters, and although they didn’t know if the person responsible had anything to do with releasing the monsters, in the village, soldiers wearing uniforms that no one knew the identity of were attacked by the monsters. It became even more likely to be suspected that these series of incidents were not naturally occurring accidents but rather someone intentionally causing them. After thinking for a moment, Liev spoke up. 

“It’s suspicious that there seem to be quite a few cases where the appearing monsters and the surrounding environment’s vegetation don’t match. Even here, there are no large herbivorous animals nearby, so there aren’t many prey for large monsters like wolves to hunt. For a monster that tall, it should at least eat things like reindeer and bison, its body size is much larger than that of a typical wolf.” 

If their bodies are that big, they would have to eat at least 200 rabbits a day. In this environment, neither monsters nor animals can survive. When Liev explained with logical evidence, everyone was impressed with faces that showed they hadn’t thought of that. 

“Come to think of it, that’s right. Because monsters are most vulnerable to hunger.” 

So, they can be certain that someone was artificially releasing the monsters. That was now a point they could be sure of. The problem was what came next. Who and why? There was no evidence to be sure of who was doing such a thing. 

“First, we can assume…” 

After listening to everyone’s stories, Albert was the first to conclude. 

“There is someone like Count Vasil who is plotting a crisis for the entire country. And secondly, we don’t know why, but there is a group that wants to disturb the security of the border zone. 

Everyone nodded at the same time. If it’s the latter, could it be an Imperial family of the Empire? It was more reasonable to suspect that, as they had already requested to station an army on the pretext of security issues. So now the important thing was how to find evidence.” 

Do you remember anything else related to the soldiers?” 

Unfortunately, no one else had seen any other clues. Only Liev was touching the small piece of metal he had cut off a moment ago and kept in his pocket. 

“….” 

The only things that fairies could handle were hallucinations and auditory hallucinations. They didn’t have the ability to create physical manifestations to show and tell things that would make their targets see and hear them and suffer. So, meeting the baby wolf in the forest was definitely a clear reality. If the soldiers had brought the baby wolf here just a few months ago, then the fairies could still vividly remember the scene. Liev got up from his seat after a moment of thought. 

“There’s something I want to check. Can I go back to the forest one more time?” 

Everyone looked at Liev with worried expressions, trying to stop him. Liev quickly added to reassure his colleagues. 

“If there’s even a slight danger, I’ll call Renard.” 

As long as he stayed close to Liev, the fairies wouldn’t appear, so he had to go alone. Everyone agreed with this, except for Sigrid, who smiled and suggested an alternative. 

“Then why don’t we do it this way? It seems like the fairies don’t guard up high in the sky. So, while Liev explores the forest, Renard can watch from above.” 

Doing so would prevent Liev from hallucinating and trying to go to the wrong place, like a cliff or a valley. Did everyone agree to Sigrid’s suggestion? Then he turned around and looked at Renard. He still had a disapproving look. 

“Then let’s do it.” 

Liev nodded and got up in front of the bonfire he had lit to warm himself. It wouldn’t have made much of a difference if I rushed a little more, but once he had a possibility in my head, he couldn’t resist checking it right away. Perhaps he could prevent further accidents that might occur in the future.