Dark Fantasy’s Extra Chapter 105

Before we headed to Cheshire Village, an elite agent from the Intelligence Department was going to conduct preliminary investigations.

Thanks to that, our departure was postponed to next week, and in the meantime, I decided to take care of things I needed to do one by one.

First priority was going to Hilde to enhance the Executioner’s Axe.

The result of my visitation request to Hilde should be out by now…

“Ms. Hilde has declined.” 

Said the administrative staff at the mid-ranked hunters’ quarters.

“What? Declined?”

I couldn’t process the meaning of those words for a moment.

Hilde declined?

Meeting me?

“…May I know the reason?”

What could it be?

Could there have been some sudden change of heart…

“She said she wasn’t ready yet on her end.”

“Ready?”

“Yes. That was her only response.”

She’s not ready?

…Come to think of it, when I parted with Hilde, she said she would come find me first so I should wait.

Could that be why?

If it’s Hilde… she might think that her skills and achievements aren’t enough yet to face me, in her own opinion.

If that’s the case, it’s very like Hilde and somewhat admirable.

But separate from that, it’s quite a perplexing situation.

I went all the way to Vile’s old laboratory to enhance the Executioner’s Axe, and just when I could finally start building the most crucial foundation for clearing the story, she refuses to meet.

I can’t exactly plead with the administrative staff right now either…

“Then… could you at least deliver a letter or memo?”

“Yes. Though we’ll check it first.”

“Then… could I borrow some paper and a pen?”

I wrote on the note borrowed from the staff telling her to take the axe to Zepetia.

“Please make sure to deliver this. It’s a very important matter.”

“Yes… I’ll deliver it by tomorrow.”

The administrative staff checked the note and put it in their desk drawer.

After seeing that, I left the administration office and headed to Workshop 3 next.

When I arrived at the workshop and knocked, there was no response.

Is she doing some strange experiment again…

When I slightly opened the door and peeked inside, sure enough, I saw Zepetia crouched in a corner holding a candle with the lights off.

What scary thing is she doing over there?

I carefully entered and observed what Zepetia was doing.

“…Hehe, so later in a quiet place…”

Zepetia was constantly muttering something.

I looked up at the wall, and sure enough, Pinocchio was hanging there.

Iron Hans’s brain wasn’t visible, probably already placed inside, but the atmosphere emanating from the giant automaton doll hanging lifelessly on the wall felt even more bizarre than before.

“…Huh? Why aren’t you answering?”

“Who’s supposed to be answering?”

“Eeeek!?”

Zepetia jumped with a shriek, hunching her shoulders and neck.

Then she hurriedly turned to look at me.

“E-Eugene?! Y-y-you didn’t hear what I was saying, d-did you?”

“What did you say?”

She said something about a quiet place, but honestly, I was a bit too unnerved by Zepetia and the atmosphere here to listen carefully.

“I-if you didn’t hear then never mind…”

“Who exactly were you talking to?”

“Who else but Pinocchio?”

Zepetia grinned and pointed at the automaton hanging on the wall.

I followed her pointing finger and looked carefully at Pinocchio again.

“…”

It’s just a doll.

Though it has some incredibly bizarre parts inside, it’s just an inactive automaton.

“Have you finished it?”

“Not yet.”

“Did you add speaking functions?”

“No.”

“…”

“Why?”

“Uh… never mind. It’s nothing.”

Seeing that granddaughter of the legendary inventor looking up at me with an excessively stupid expression made my words disappear.

Well… for such a creepy genius, having one or two delusional tendencies isn’t that strange… probably?

But did the Zepetia in Blue Paper Moon have these kinds of delusional tendencies and talking to herself too?

…She did.

But somehow, it wasn’t this kind of self-talk, just unconsciously muttering about inventions and ideas.

Just now it was like she was talking as if someone was actually there…

“What brings you here?”

“Ah right. So… you said you finished decoding the research on weapon enhancement using moonstone and bloodstone, right?”

“Yes! Oh, do you want me to enhance something? I have one each of moonstone and bloodstone.”

“Not for me, I was hoping you could enhance a weapon my junior uses. Ah, but… are we allowed to use that moonstone and bloodstone?”

“No one said we can’t use them, so we can just use them.”

“No, usually you’d report first…”

Come to think of it, Blue Paper Moon’s protagonist did freely use whatever items they brought back from all sorts of dangerous places.

In reality too, the Order let people who found old Order weapons with no identifiable owners keep using them until retirement.

And most importantly, if I ask about procedures and get told we can’t use the moonstone and bloodstone, we won’t be able to enhance Hilde’s weapon.

“…Yeah. That would be good. Anyway, I already told my junior, so when they come asking to enhance an axe, make sure you do it.”

“…That junior.”

Zepetia said in a slightly subdued voice.

“Is it perhaps that girl who used to follow you around?”

“Yeah. She’s a mid-ranked hunter now so she doesn’t follow me around anymore.”

“But why give it to her?”

“Huh?”

“This is something you worked hard to get, Eugene. So why give it to her so easily?”

“Well…”

I was momentarily speechless, not expecting such a question.

“Why?”

Zepetia stared at me intently as if demanding an immediate answer.

Somehow, that gaze felt a bit frightening.

It wasn’t threatening, but there was something… something dark that made me uncomfortable.

“…For crying out loud.”

I swiftly opened the curtains covering the window.

Bright sunlight instantly filled this dark workshop.

“Kyaaah!?”

Zepetia screamed and crouched down covering her face.

“T-too bright…!”

Seriously, what are you, a vampire?

“Let’s try to think more brightly too. What’s strange about a senior helping their junior?”

Conversely, the sunlight cleared my thoughts again.

Hilde is my talented junior, and it’s not strange for me as her training supervisor and senior to want to help her later too.

Though briefly, I almost got pulled into Zepetia’s negative thinking.

“And didn’t I tell you before? Get some sunlight. Your mind is getting weird because you keep shutting yourself in your room.”

“I-I’m perfectly fine…”

“Then get up. Come take a walk with me.”

“N-no… I’ll die…”

“Die? What are you talking about? Come on, get up.”

I forcibly made Zepetia stand and took her out of the workshop.

If Zepetia goes down the path of corruption, it can’t just end with ‘that’s troublesome’.

Though it won’t greatly affect the Order since Workshop 1 is still going strong, it would seriously disrupt the operation of the alchemy furnace which is essential for weapon enhancement and crafting needed to clear the game.

Somehow I need to get her to communicate with people around her and get some fresh air like this, but originally this was the protagonist’s job.

…Could this be my fault too?

With male protagonist Noah gone, female protagonist Hilde should have frequently visited Zepetia to do something, but the current Hilde has become too different from who she was in Blue Paper Moon.

It’s my fault for ruining her tutorial where she was supposed to awaken as a warrior…

If Hilde had become a true warrior, she might have keenly felt the importance of weapons and frequently visited Zepetia who gave good weapons for free to build a good relationship.

But the current Hilde only received weapons from me one-sidedly.

She never had a chance to realize how important Zepetia was.

…Since it’s ultimately my fault, I guess it’s right that I take responsibility for looking after Zepetia.

“I’ll buy you something tasty.”

“…Huh?”

Zepetia finally raised her head and looked at me.

“L-let’s get something to drink together… like tea.”

Damn, that’s the kind of line an awkward boy would use when approaching a girl he likes.

This should be done by pretty boys like Oscar or Jarkoff.

“Really?”

“We’re… colleagues in the same department. Let’s get along well and… what’s good is good. Unless you don’t want to?”

“N-no! I want to go!”

At least Zepetia doesn’t seem to dislike it.

No, to begin with, I’m probably the only one who could be called her friend…

…Thinking about it that way suddenly makes me feel very sorry for her.

“…Right. Well there aren’t any restaurants or tea houses, so let’s just go to the convenience- I mean general store. Since I’m 8th-rank, I should be able to buy something more tasty.”

“What’s a convenience store?”

“It’s a thing. Anyway, what do you want to eat?”

I took Zepetia to the general store.

* * *

Blood formed rivers.

Corpses piled into hills.

On top of those hills stood an overwhelming victor, gazing straight at the setting sun.

“…Are you the last one?”

Blanc asked without turning away from the sunset.

“I didn’t come to fight.”

Someone walked beneath Blanc’s stretching shadow on the ground.

“Then what’s all this?”

“Just an experiment. I merely wanted to see how effective it would be against other behemoths. Quite disappointing.”

“So you’re that newcomer.”

Only then did Blanc turn around.

At the bottom of the hill of corpses, standing over the river of blood was a man wearing ordinary clothes except for his head.

But on his head he wore a strangely shaped bird mask.

“Are you Vile?”

“Something like that. Though what’s here is just a biological terminal, not me.”

“Terminal? So you’re speaking through an avatar?”

Blanc jumped down from the hill in one leap and stood before Vile.

“It’s an honor to meet you like this, ‘senior’. I’ve heard stories about you since I was human.”

“An honor to meet me? After suddenly attacking me with your subordinates like this, should I acknowledge your guts or something?”

“As I said earlier, this wasn’t an attack. It was just an experiment. To see how useful those things would be.”

“I see… I wanted to ask about those anyway.”

Blanc pointed at the hill of corpses.

It was a hill made of corpses and fragments of things that looked halfway between Beasts and humans.

“What are those? I haven’t seen anything like that in 500 years.”

“Oh, so this is why you’re one of the greatest existing Beasts? You noticed right away.”

“Just answer what those are.”

“As you can see, they’re Beasts.”

Vile shrugged.

“You’re saying those are Beasts?”

“Yes.”

“Did you make them?”

“Yes.”

“…How did you make them?”

“Though they’re failures, I made them with advanced technology beyond your comprehension. Next time I’ll be able to make something more useful.”

“I see… I get it now.”

“What do you get?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re not a behemoth.”