Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 93

I decided to take a few days off at Valerie’s workshop.

It was partly to recover, and partly because there were things I wanted to hear from Valerie.

As soon as we entered the workshop, Valerie took the specimens and captured monsters into the lab.

After a while, she seemed to have finished her analysis and called me.

“What are the results?”

Valerie took off the glasses she was wearing and said,

“I couldn’t find out much. It’s similar to what I saw with my magic eye back then.”

In other words, she hadn’t found any traces.

Valerie put a cigarette in her mouth.

I stared at Valerie for a moment.

She looked calm and normal, but her pupils were moving slightly awkwardly.

“Valerie.”

“What.”

“You remember I won the three-question game, right?”

“…….”

Valerie made a flustered expression.

“Why are you bringing that up suddenly!”

“Didn’t I tell you that it’s obvious when you lie?”

Valerie looked blank.

I chuckled as I looked at her.

In the first place, Valerie wouldn’t have called me without finding something.

Valerie is the type of person who researches until she gets results, not someone who gives up when she doesn’t.

Valerie let out a hollow laugh.

“You’re really cheeky. If you knew how I was treated in France, you’d be shocked, you know? This older sister really…….”

“Yes, yes. I understand.”

“No, really! Do you know how much people revered me in France? I was the famous rose of the Eiffel Magic University! And how many people at the Magic Tower tried to exchange even a word with me. If I published a paper…….”

I stared at Valerie, who suddenly exploded and began to rant.

Just looking at her appearance, she was honestly beautiful.

A small face typical of Westerners with distinct features, and her skin was white and flawless even without makeup, probably because she didn’t see the sun often.

The dark circles under her eyes and her unique tired expression gave her a slightly decadent feel, but that was part of Valerie’s charm.

But there was something strange in her words.

‘Wait… a rose? Is she crazy or something?’

I already knew the nicknames she had been given in the press.

Rather than a rose, she was more like an eccentric, and more like a weirdo than an eccentric…….

“Okay, stop changing the subject and tell me quickly.”

“Oh, really! You weren’t listening to me!”

“I didn’t listen, so let’s stop talking. Us.”

“…….”

Valerie’s face turned tomato-red, and she began to tremble, her lips tightly shut.

‘She really looks like she’s about to sulk.’

If I went any further, Valerie, who was like the incarnation of self-love, would shut her mouth without hesitation.

I moistened my lips and spoke in a subtle tone.

“There’s no way someone like Valerie wouldn’t have found something out. So please tell me quickly. I know you’re amazing, so you don’t have to stall like that.”

“H-huh?”

“You’re the owner of the Interpretation [a powerful magical skill or technique], you’ve elevated my level of magic, and you’ve even unlocked the secret of the stone tablet hidden by my ancestor. Only Valerie could have deciphered it. You explained it easily to me, but you said it was a very difficult task, right?”

Oops. I praised her for too long and ended up sounding like I was reading from a textbook.

I subtly checked Valerie’s expression.

But perhaps she didn’t notice, as Valerie puffed out her nose and arrogantly crossed her arms.

“Hmph! Of course. There’s no way I wouldn’t have found something out, right?”

“So please stop talking and tell me now.”

When I smiled at Valerie, who was grinning, she opened her mouth with a beaming smile.

“Okay. You know, I…….”

But soon, Valerie snapped back to her senses and tightly closed her mouth.

“……Before I tell you, there’s something I want to ask.”

She’s changing the subject again.

At this point, I was a little puzzled.

What did she find out that she’s being so hesitant about?

“Ask me.”

“The monsters who attacked you this time, were they targeting you from the beginning?”

I hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

“I think so. I couldn’t tell exactly because they weren’t in a state where they could communicate properly.”

“What did you find in the place where the stone tablet was? Do you know what they were after? Is it a very important item?”

I focused on one word rather than the content of the question.

People.

Valerie said people.

I hesitated and said carefully.

“I did get a few things… but it’s a little difficult to tell you everything. I trust Valerie, but this is a slightly different matter. As you know, the stone tablet is a family heirloom, and I can’t just tell anyone about it just because I found it and discovered it.”

It wouldn’t matter about my ancestor’s coat, but I couldn’t reveal the parts about the Black Night Records and the black mist.

Valerie seemed to be pondering my words for a moment.

“Why are you asking all this? Please tell me the reason.”

“Well, you see… Haa.”

Valerie soon let out a deep sigh.

She sighed so deeply that her whole body slumped like a deflated balloon.

Valerie shook off the burnt cigarette and put another one in her mouth.

Then, after hesitating again, she finally opened her mouth.

“Just know that this is just my speculation. You can listen to it as if it’s a fantasy novel.”

Valerie’s expression was more serious than ever before.

Valerie slowly began to speak.

“During the Great War, there was a group.”

It was a secret story that was not known to the world.

* * *

The Great War.

The war, also known as the World War, began with a large-scale invasion by monsters.

But when the war intensified in earnest, it was no longer just a war between humans and monsters.

Humans, other races, and monsters.

Thoughts and ideologies.

Numerous races and numerous thoughts were intertwined, creating a chaotic situation, and their interests came together to turn the world into a sea of blood.

The era craved blood, and in response to the call of the era, many things that had been sleeping beneath the surface emerged.

There were six groups that emerged in this way.

They were bizarre, mysterious, and, on the other hand, infinitely charming.

They were those who looked at the structure of the world in a slightly different way.

Their ideologies were dangerous yet attractive, and they seemed wrong yet right.

The six groups influenced the world in different places, in different forms and ways.

However, due to their strange commonalities, people grouped them together and called them this.

“The Six Nights. They are groups that are hard to find even in history books.”

Valerie continued with an uncomfortable expression.

“Actually, even the name was taught to me by my teacher. People group them together, but the Six Nights did not see each other as the same kind.”

“Then are the things I met yesterday one of the groups Valerie mentioned?”

“There was a group among them called Behemoth. It’s close to a religion, but not quite… What I heard from my teacher about them is similar to what I heard from you.”

Valerie dragged out her words and flicked off the cigarette ash.

“Their ideology is actually simple. Escape from reason. Humans should live by unconsciousness or instinct.”

“Considering you said it was dangerous, isn’t that what scholars and thinkers of the time often said?”

“It would have been if it had stopped there.”

Valerie leaned back on the sofa and blew out cigarette smoke.

“The appearance of a human is ultimately a mask, and if you take off that mask, you can gain true freedom, and in order to gain that freedom, they wore the appearance of monsters.”

“……Excuse me?”

Suddenly, what kind of bizarre story is that?

“Why is the story suddenly going that way?”

Valerie frowned her beautiful forehead.

“I don’t know either! But according to what my teacher told me at the time… they claimed that monsters are the most correct form of living beings, moving by unconsciousness. So they tried to become like monsters.”

“Then did they turn humans into monsters back then too? Why did Valerie say it was impossible when there was a precedent?”

Valerie shook her head at my words.

“No, your words and my teacher’s words are different. He said that they were just people who wore masks that imitated monsters or wore skins, but there was no story of people becoming monsters.”

I took a moment to organize my thoughts and said to Valerie.

“Hearing only that far, it just sounds like a typical cult.”

Valerie slowly opened her mouth as if to organize her thoughts.

“They were… quite radical.”

“Radical?”

Valerie made a subtle expression and continued.

“They believed that their ideology was unconditionally correct, and they devoted themselves to spreading their ideology and created followers in many ways. At the same time, they were such a strong organization that they even waged war against countries.”

It was an amazing story.

A mere cult was strong enough to oppose a country.

Crack!

The sound of Valerie’s cigarette burning was particularly loud.

“Actually, that’s why I was hesitant to talk about it. The stories about them were forgotten because they needed to be forgotten, and they were covered up because they needed to be covered up.”

Valerie looked straight into my eyes.

“It’s still unclear whether they were really the ones called Behemoth, but in any case, some organization that hasn’t revealed itself to the world is targeting you, even causing such an incident.”

“Yes, I know.”

“So?”

Clang!

Valerie slammed the cigarette butt into the ashtray.

“What are you going to do from now on? Honestly, I’m… a little worried.”

She wasn’t ignoring me, but genuinely worried about me.

But no matter who was targeting me, my decision was already made.

“I plan to continue my life as a Murim Lord [a martial arts master].”

At my words, Valerie sighed as if she knew it.

“If I was going to return to the family because of an uncertain danger, I wouldn’t have come out in the first place.”

I am living this life to avoid running away and being taken away.

Whether it’s an unidentified organization, the privileged forces of the family, or anyone else.