Chapter 63 - Night of the Hunt

“Are we going camping or something?”

Katya asked the question as she surveyed all the gear strapped around Aiden.

“We’re going hunting.”

More precisely, he intended to get to the entrance of the void region ahead of time and set up a position where the magical beasts would first pour out when the attack began.

Katya tilted her head at his answer.

“Not camping?”

“...”

Fair enough. Rope, a tent, a hammer, and stakes to drive into the ground.

He had requested all of them from Grand Duke Aslan, but taken together, they certainly invited that misunderstanding.

“Well, these will be enough.”

They really would. Killing the thing wasn’t his objective in the first place.

“Really? Well, if you say so...”

As Katya spoke with a shrug, Noel casually approached Aiden and took some of his supplies.

It was simply common courtesy to share a heavy load. She clearly hadn’t intended to draw attention to it.

“...”

But Katya’s eyes narrowed as she watched.

Somehow, she looked as though Noel had stolen something she herself hadn’t even thought of...

“... Give me some too.”

“Pardon?”

“I said, give me some. I’ll help carry it.”

“No, you don’t have to—”

Without even letting him finish, Katya approached with a pout and all but snatched several things out of his arms.

Then she lurched sideways.

Unlike Noel, she had apparently never carried anything like this and had had no idea how heavy it would be. She staggered back several steps before planting one foot with a thud and barely regaining her balance.

... Her face was bright red.

“Those are pretty hea—”

“Shut up.”

“Just give them back. I’ll carry them.”

“I’m fine.”

Watching quietly, Noel brushed a hand across her mouth. She seemed to be suppressing a laugh.

“... Why do something you aren’t even used to, Your Highness? Just hand them to me. I’ll help Aiden.”

“I said I’m carrying them. Try taking them and I’ll burn you.”

Noel turned away with a sly smile as Katya glared at her. Then, apparently remembering something, she spoke.

“By the way, Aiden. Wouldn’t it be better to have some people from House Aslan supporting us?”

The ducal House of Aslan was the Empire’s foremost martial house. Surely they had people who could help with whatever he was planning.

“No. The three of us will be enough.”

At his categorical answer, Noel wiped beneath her nose. She looked as though she suspected he was planning something absurd again.

But Aiden had a perfectly good reason he couldn’t request extra hands.

Largely along the lines Noel suspected.

‘How am I supposed to let people see me earning a magical beast’s affection?’

He was serious. His plan was to squeeze skills out of that thing too, after all. Given that, there was a very good chance his behavior would be incomprehensible to an ordinary person.

Fortunately, he already had everything he needed for the job.

Namely, the two skill-copying opportunities he had received from Grand Duke Aslan.

-System Message

▶ Copying ‘Skill: Tracking.’

▶ Copying ‘Skill: Ironman’s Instinct.’

-Skill Info

◆ Tracking

Combine clues relating to your quarry with environmental evidence to deduce information about your target. This skill can be used on any kind of target, provided traces exist.

◆ Ironman’s Instinct

Those who have survived long years on the battlefield can assess situations faster than anyone. Your reflexes grow quicker as mortal danger approaches.

One major advantage of taking other people’s skills was, of course, being able to copy techniques involving supernatural powers that unleashed explosive force in battle.

But he could also copy skills honed into second nature through experience.

To acquire these techniques on his own, Aiden would have had to spend decades risking his life against magical beasts. Now that Duke Aslan liked him very, very much, however, he could help himself to these top-tier skills.

‘... In a way, these might be even more useful than supernatural powers.’

Their effects weren’t spectacular or flashy, but in terms of strategy and survival, they were undeniably powerful.

And certainly...

“Dame Noel, would you come with me for a moment?”

“Pardon?”

“There’s something I need to set up.”

In a situation like this, they were very likely to prove more helpful than any supernatural power.

▣

“... Dame Noel.”

“Yes?”

“Why have you been staring at me like that?”

“I was simply thinking how much you enjoy doing strange things.”

“...”

He had only asked because she kept sighing at him through narrowed eyes, but honestly, Aiden had little to offer in rebuttal.

After all, he had tied a rope to the edge of a cliff, lowered himself down, and begun the mysterious task of hammering stakes into cracks between the rocks. Explaining the point of all this was no easy matter.

Noel had offered to help several times, but each time he had waved her off, insisting that he had to do it himself. That made further questions awkward.

“...”

“...”

Only the tapping of Aiden’s hammer rang through the silence.

Still, Noel couldn’t feel entirely at ease just standing there watching.

‘... He always works so hard.’

She might constantly question what his true identity had originally been, but until quite recently, he had been living as a run-of-the-mill con man.

It was no exaggeration to say that his life had taken a completely different course after she forcibly brought him with her.

... Not long ago, she had even met the family who missed him so dearly, which had made her reflect yet again on what she had done.

And despite that, she kept digging into his past. Even now.

Aiden himself hadn’t shown much reaction to it, but every reminder left Noel burning with anxiety.

“Aiden.”

“Yes, Dame Noel?”

So the strange question she suddenly asked was half impulsive, even for her.

“Have I made you unhappy?”

At the solemn question, Aiden paused in his work.

“... Pardon?”

His bewildered reply snapped Noel back to her senses, and she looked down at him.

“... N-no, forget I said anything. That was a strange thing to say out of—”

“I’m not unhappy.”

His immediate answer made her go rigid.

“...”

“I’m not unhappy, Dame Noel. I think I’m fortunate to have met you.”

“...”

“If I hadn’t, I really would have been in trouble.”

Well. Unhappy, was it?

‘There was a time when I thought that.’

It did bother him a little that he still couldn’t see his family.

But in a world without a protagonist, he alone knew what the future held. If Noel hadn’t forced him into the main scenario, there would surely have been no one to stand in the way of the world’s steadily unfolding destruction.

In that sense, he was genuinely grateful.

“Fortunate...”

“Yes. I think I’m fortunate.”

“Fortunate...”

“... Yes. That’s what I said.”

“Well, yes, fortunate... yes...”

“...”

“Heh... hee, heehee...”

Watching Noel repeat herself and giggle as though she had malfunctioned was a little dizzying, though.

Aiden sighed and was about to resume his work when he suddenly stopped. Noel tilted her head at the sight and called down the cliff.

“Aiden? Is something wrong?”

He tilted his own head as he answered.

“No. I just felt some sort of vibration all of a sudden.”

Odd. He had checked his gear thoroughly before coming out.

“A vibration...? I didn’t feel anything.”

“I probably imagined it. More importantly, Dame Noel, I’d appreciate it if you kept a careful lookout.”

That was most of the reason he had brought her here in the first place.

“A lookout... Well, I think it would be hard not to notice a magical beast approaching.”

“That thing can probably use something like optical camouflage.”

“...”

“Anyone would be in danger if it used that to sneak up and strike a vital spot.”

“...”

His matter-of-fact declaration silenced Noel for a moment.

Well. It was true that she had never fought a magical beast. But even so...

“... Optical camouflage?”

“Yes.”

“... You mean it turns invisible?”

“Yes.”

“How could a magical beast possibly do that? It isn’t as though they can use supernatural powers...?”

“They’re creatures shaped by demonic energy, not natural evolution. They haven’t been scientifically explained, so judging them by evolutionary theory is a stretch to begin with.”

If the beast was intelligent, as Grand Duke Aslan suspected, then it was a given that it would possess several unimaginable traits.

And as for what Tracking had revealed about its habits on the way here...

After analyzing several carcasses of magical beasts hunted down without even noticing its approach, the skill had concluded that it very likely possessed such an ability.

Aiden turned his head slightly to look at the small Tracking window attached like an appendix beside the system window.

‘... This skill.’

It seemed far more useful than he had expected.

It analyzed his surroundings in real time, processing and piecing together information so quickly that it felt like having a brilliant private detective at his side.

As that thought crossed his mind, he noticed the rope trembling again and frowned.

What was it? Had he really botched his equipment check?

There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with its quality...

“I expect it to be fairly large, but there are still several signs to look for. If we use its traits, spotting it won’t be completely impossible.”

“Signs...?”

“Echolocation is the most obvious one. Some creatures pinpoint their targets using properties of the air rather than sight. Think of bats.”

“Aiden.”

Noel sounded incredulous.

“How do you know all this?”

“...”

“... I studied hard.”

That was what he said, but it was all thanks to the skill.

Even as he sat still, Tracking kept feeding him real-time information about the beast that should be prowling somewhere nearby by now.

In truth, he didn’t even know what echolocation was. He had merely recited the sentences appearing in the system window to Noel.

‘So there are creatures that detect things through vibrations.’

If anything, he was the one learning new facts. The system window was making him more knowledgeable...

And as he mulled that over, his hand stopped.

His expression hardened at the sight of the rope securing him trembling ominously.

This time, a scientific fact he already knew flashed through his mind without the system’s help.

Where cold and warm air met, sound bent toward the cold air. That was why sound generally spread upward during the day, when the sun was out. At night, conversely, it traveled low to the ground.

And it was nighttime now.

Meaning that if there were any vibrations, he would sense them more keenly than Noel up on the cliff.

Then he glanced at the system window.

... Tracking was updating its information on the target at a terrifying pace.

Noticeably faster than before.

“...”

A theory suddenly surged into his mind.

To confirm it, he asked in a trembling voice about one of the sentences in the system window.

“... Dame Noel?”

“Yes?”

“Do you happen to see anything like white powder right now?”

“How did you know? It keeps falling around me.”

A chill raced through Aiden’s veins as though all the blood in his body had frozen.

He quickly scanned his surroundings. The vibrations in the rope were growing stronger. In that case...

“Dame Noel. There’s something I need to tell you.”

At his sudden change in manner, Noel tilted her head and looked down at him.

“... Aiden? What’s suddenly...?”

“There’s actually another trait.”

He drew a knife from his waist and carefully examined the arrangement of the rope.

In other words, he was looking for a way for both him and Noel to get out of this alive.

“They give signs before attacking. Especially the one I was just telling you about.”

“Signs... before attacking?”

Aiden took a deep breath and raised his knife.

‘... Ah.’

That inward sigh came unbidden.

He was about to do something he had never imagined he would have to do in his life.

“The one I’ve been describing releases a sort of white dust from its body when it’s about to hunt someone.”

“... Pardon?”

“In other words.”

One second. Noel’s brain registered the meaning of his words.

Two seconds. She tilted her head, looking as though three question marks had been stamped between her brows.

Three seconds. Her face turned deathly pale.

Four seconds.

“Jump off. Now.”

At those words...

* * *

----------------------------------------------------------!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A monstrous cry erupted from above the cliff, as though tearing the entire forest apart.