IBWMD 84

~Chapter 84~

“Zeon and the Creeping Horror”

Thud.

Zeon landed on the ground with a dazed look, not even appearing to be in pain.

“Something just brushed past me…”

As he rubbed his kicked backside, his eyes met mine.

I stepped through the alley with a composed smile plastered on my face.

“Sir Knight, are you alright?”

“……”

“Why were you… stuck in there like that?”

“Elaine?”

Oops. That slip.

There was no point wondering how he recognized me.

Eliza had dressed me in raggedy men’s clothes for my pickpocket disguise, and I had tied up my long hair and hidden it under a floppy hat.

So technically… yes, I was in disguise as a man again.

‘No wonder he recognized me.’

Zeon blinked in confusion, then said with a puzzled voice:

“…I thought you would’ve quit the Holy Knights by now and gotten married.”

“Uh…”

Not exactly wrong. His instincts were weirdly accurate.

“Then why are you dressed like this…? Did your family go bankrupt?”

“…No.”

“Or were you excommunicated for insulting the Holy Pope?”

“That’s… disturbingly on brand for me, but no.”

I reached down and helped the still-bewildered Zeon to his feet.

‘Polygamy is forbidden in the Grand Duchy.’

Karl’s voice echoed in my head, and I suddenly felt a weird sense of guilt.

‘Are you going to hold another man’s hand?’

He hadn’t even said that out loud—but now my brain was supplying his imaginary protests?

‘You’ve ruined me, Karl.’

What’s so weird about helping someone up?

It’s just basic kindness!

But Karl’s phantom voice wouldn’t leave.

And then…

“So good to see you again!” Zeon suddenly shouted and crushed me in a bear hug.

“Ugh!”

‘Now hugging another man too?’

‘It’s not like that!’ I protested mentally.

It’s just a friendly gesture!

‘But you never hugged me like that.’

If he had a problem with it, he could show up himself and hug me!

Check if I’m okay—say he’s alive.

‘Honestly, you’ve really messed with my head.’

Meanwhile, Zeon had picked me up and was shaking me around like an overexcited golden retriever.

“I’m only still alive because of you!”

“…You mean stuck between walls like that?”

“Seriously, thank you!”

“I’m gonna suffocate, you idiot.”

“By the way, do you have a younger sister? A while back—”

“No. And don’t even dream of asking about my older sister.”

“But Lady Reyna is already engaged, isn’t she?”

“Just put me down before my shoulder pops out.”

Is this man a holy knight or a gorilla?

After I smacked his forearm, Zeon finally set me down.

While I rotated my sore shoulder, he stared at my rough appearance.

“If you’re out here for something serious, I can help—”

“I don’t need your help.”

“But I owe you a debt—”

“Then pay me in gold.”

“You haven’t changed at all.”

I have changed. I grew up. Met someone new.

But instead of saying that, I just patted the back of Zeon’s head gently.

Which somehow made me feel guilty again.

‘Anyway, that’s not the point right now.’

I looked over Zeon, noting his lack of full knight’s armor.

“So why are you here?”

“Ah, well…”

What he said next was completely unexpected.

“…Some Holy Knights from Saint Portou have gone missing?”

“Not all of them—just a few.”

Zeon spilled what sounded like highly confidential church information.

While he’d been under disciplinary action, some knights had been sent on a mission and never returned.

“And no one knows what the mission was?”

“Yeah. The ones who came back looked pale… but wouldn’t talk.”

“……”

“And they were all soaking wet.”

“Wet?”

“Like they did some kind of cold-water punishment training… except I was the only one left out.”

The more I heard, the stranger it sounded.

I wanted to press further, but then Zeon looked down at me with a suddenly serious face.

“Come to think of it, you’re not part of the Holy Knights anymore, are you? Maybe I shouldn’t have said all that.”

“No, it’s fine. You can still—”

“No can do. It’s an internal matter. Wouldn’t be proper.”

Ugh. Why does he go full rulebook gorilla when it comes to rules?

I rolled my eyes internally.

“Anyway, I got curious and started poking around… That’s how I heard the rumors.”

“About the monster meat, right?”

“Yeah. How do you always know these things?”

“Beats me.”

“Anyway, I came to check if the knights were involved with this situation.”

‘But I doubt it.’

If the monster-meat rumors were serious enough to involve the knights…

Then the skewer vendor would already be rotting in a heretic’s dungeon.

Given that he was Jeremy’s uncle, the Grand Duke’s estate would’ve known—and the servants would’ve been talking.

‘But I haven’t heard a word.’

I hadn’t spoken directly to the staff, but I’d listened intently any time they passed by my door—desperate for news of Karl.

Even Beth had sighed about how I’d picked up sneaky habits thanks to that fox of a man.

‘So maybe this knight situation is unrelated.’

While I was pondering that, Zeon tapped my shoulder.

“I only got stuck earlier because I was trying to hide. You saved me.”

“Hide from what?”

“There was a monster-like figure at the corner… I was going to follow it but—oops.”

“Why didn’t you say so earlier?!”

“I got distracted talking to you.”

This idiot gorilla with glasses!

I grabbed Zeon and peeked around the alley corner—and sure enough, there it was.

Far away, staggering strangely, was a shadowy figure.

But… something felt off about it.

“That’s what you think is a monster?”

“Yeah. I felt that sharp aura—like when you’re near monster poison or dark magic.”

“Right, your holy power is pretty strong.”

I pushed Zeon ahead of me like a magical bloodhound, just like a hunter with a tracking dog.

And suddenly, a pang of frustration stabbed at me.

‘If I had power like his…’

I would’ve sensed the danger ahead of time.

Karl wouldn’t have had to suffer for me.

Maybe I could’ve even healed him properly…

I was spiraling into that guilt again when—

“Hm. I can’t really see from this angle. Let me get closer—”

CRASH!

Zeon, clumsy as ever, knocked over some junk.

The shadowy figure halted mid-step.

Both of us froze instinctively.

Screeeeech…

That stiff, creaky sound wasn’t just in our heads.

Under the moonlight, we couldn’t see its face, but…

Creeeak. Screeech.

It twisted its body in an impossible angle to stare directly at us.

‘What is this, a horror movie?’

It moved exactly like those possessed demon girls in famous horror films.

“Oh Lord,” Zeon whispered, making the sign of the cross without thinking.

The figure crouched low, as if ready to pounce.

It looked exactly like that scene where the demon girl starts crawling on all fours—

I clutched my musket instinctively.

“KIEEEEEK!”

The figure screamed like a monster—

And bolted.

…In the opposite direction.

“Huh?”

“Dear merciful god, please protect us—”

“Zeon! Hey!”

Why was he freaking out now?!

“Snap out of it! We’ll lose it!”

Finally regaining his senses, Zeon spotted the fleeing figure and groaned.

I smacked his back.

“You take the rear!”

“Elaine? Then you’re—”

“I’ll get ahead and cut them off!”

And with that, I jumped onto the rooftops.