TEB Ch 95

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

“Yes!”

And then what followed was a terrifying roar that shook the entire mountain range. The hallucinations that had surrounded Liev disappeared in an instant as the ground shook as if an earthquake had occurred. The laughter that had been whispering loudly in his ears just a moment ago and the horrific sight before his eyes disappeared, and a normal foggy forest appeared. Then came the voices of his comrades.

“Hey, where is everyone?” 

“The communication line has been down for a while, so I think it would be best to gather at the center!”

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

“I was so shocked when you suddenly disappeared!”

“I-I don’t know either. We were definitely together just a moment ago, but then you were gone….”

“This place isn’t somewhere I can just burn everything down, so you need to be careful!”

Liev looked at Renard, who kept nagging him with slightly awkward eyes, and scratched his cheek. Although he immediately got angry when he saw him, it was a strange feeling to realize that it was not criticism out of fear of being abandoned 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. He was grateful and relieved that he came running right away as soon as I called him.

It was a strange feeling to realize that it was not criticism out of fear of being abandoned.

“Anyway, thanks for finding me.” 

“I would have done it. Even if Liev didn’t thank me.” 

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

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

At Sigrid’s declaration, Liev also nodded, and they all gathered around the light in one place. 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 each witnessed something they wished they hadn’t.

“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.” 

Whatever it was, it didn’t seem like it was that cruel. Everyone shrugged their shoulders, thinking it was nothing serious. Anyway, no one was hurt or left behind. That was a relief, so everyone started sharing what they had seen one by one.

The illusions created by the fairies were of two types. One was based on the victim’s past experiences, showing them visions conjured by their own imagination. The other distorted and reflected things the fairies had recently seen themselves. Since each person could distinguish illusions stemming from their own trauma, sharing unfamiliar visions could provide clues about recent events in the forest.

“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?” 

As Liev listened, someone described a scene identical to what he had seen, prompting him to raise his hand.

“I saw corpses that had been gruesomely mutilated. I couldn’t tell where they were from because their uniforms were unfamiliar.”

“Dark black with gold trim, right?”

“Yes, it seems we saw the same thing.”

Even without mentioning the baby wolf he had encountered earlier, a rough hypothesis began to take shape. Someone had brought creatures here in cages, released them, and unleashed chaos. While it wasn’t clear whether the culprit was connected to the soldiers in the unfamiliar uniforms, those soldiers had been attacked by the creatures. This raised an even darker suspicion: perhaps this series of events wasn’t a natural accident but a deliberate act orchestrated by someone. After a moment of hesitation, Liev opened his mouth to speak.

“It’s something I’ve been suspicious about for a while now, but it seems there are quite a few cases where the monsters appearing here don’t match the surrounding environment’s ecosystem. Take this area, for example. There aren’t any large herbivores nearby, so there isn’t much prey for large canine monsters like wolves to hunt. For creatures of that size, they’d need to prey on animals like reindeer or bison at the very least. Their bodies are far bigger than regular wolves, after all.”

It was only logical. For a beast of that massive size to survive on rabbits, it would probably have to hunt and eat over 200 rabbits a day. Such an environment would be unsustainable for both monsters and animals. As Liev explained with logical reasoning, the others looked at him with expressions of astonishment, as if the thought had never crossed their minds.

“Now that you mention it, that makes sense. Monsters are fundamentally most vulnerable to hunger.”

So, someone must be deliberately releasing these monsters. That much was now certain. The problem was what came next. There was no evidence to be certain about who was doing this and why.

“For now, the first assumption we can make is…”

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

“First, there might be someone like Count Vasil who is plotting a crisis for the entire country. Second, there might be a group that, for reasons unknown, wants to disrupt the security in the border region.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. If it were the latter, could it be an imperial conspiracy? After all, the empire had already seized the opportunity to demand permission to station troops under the pretext of addressing the deteriorating security. For now, that seemed like the more reasonable suspicion. The pressing question, then, was how to uncover evidence to confirm it.

“Do you remember anything else related to the soldiers?” 

Unfortunately, no one had seen any other clues. Only Liev was silently fiddling with the metal fragment he had tucked into his pocket earlier.

“…..” 

The only things that fairies could manipulate were hallucinations. They didn’t have the ability to create physical manifestations to show and tell things that would make their targets see what they had seen and heard. 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’d like to check. Would it be alright if I went into the forest one more time?”

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

“If there’s even the slightest sign of danger, I’ll call for Renard.”

If he stayed close to Renard, the fairies wouldn’t appear, so he had to go alone. Although everyone thought it wouldn’t be dangerous even if Renard waited nearby, they still expressed negative opinions. At that moment, Sigrid smiled and offered 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.” 

“Then how about this? It doesn’t seem like the fairies are keeping watch up in the sky, right? So, while Liev investigates the forest, Renard can watch from above.”

That way, they could prevent Liev from being lured into illusions and heading towards cliffs or ravines. With Sigrid’s proposal, everyone seemed to think it was a good idea and looked at Liev. Renard still seemed reluctant.

“Then let’s do that.”

Liev nodded and rose from his seat by the campfire, which had been lit to keep them warm. Rushing wouldn’t make a huge difference, but once a possibility came to mind, he couldn’t rest until he confirmed it. Perhaps he could prevent further accidents that might occur in the future.