Dark Fantasy’s Extra Chapter 192

After the special department had gathered, Sephira explained the next mission.

“As you all know, Vile was hunted by Mr. Eugene, Miss Hilde, and Miss Gerda together with Sir Ozwald. They also rescued Oscar, or rather Dorothy. It was an excellent result. However, our mission isn’t over yet.”

“Here is our next target. I should mention beforehand that this mission must be handled with utmost secrecy. Naturally, you cannot disclose this to anyone.”

Dominic distributed documents stamped with [TOP SECRET].

Opening it, the words ‘Mass Disappearance of Civilians’ were visible at the top.

“While entire villages being massacred happens occasionally, they still leave traces behind. However, recently there have been quite a few cases where people vanish without leaving any traces, as if they evaporated.”

“Could it be the work of a high-tier Beast rather than a behemoth? Or perhaps the aftermath of what grandfather did showing up later?” 

Zepetia asked.

When it comes to work, her mind is sharper than anyone else’s.

“While that’s possible, there are absolutely no traces left. Not just of the abducted people, but of the perpetrator themselves. This level of ability would be somewhat difficult for a high-tier Beast. And while Vile’s Beasts don’t leave traces, his methods do leave evidence.”

“I see… Since it’s unrealistic to make everything disappear in an instant with a ‘poof’, should we assume it involves powerful mind control abilities?”

“It could be a witch’s doing.”

Dorothy said.

“While there are witches with mind control abilities, they all tend to leave traces behind. At the very least, signs of resistance from someone.”

Dominic shook his head.

“For there to be no signs of resistance would mean they controlled all the villagers at once. Or they did it so secretly and gradually that no one noticed. But over time, traces of the perpetrator themselves should remain.”

I supported Dominic’s opinion.

If Margarete were to do it, she’d need to bring many clones, which would definitely leave evidence of large-scale movement.

The same goes for Bari.

While Bari can also control minds, she’d need to bring several behemoths or high-tier Beasts to cover an entire village.

With that level of movement, traces would inevitably remain.

Then the likely suspect would be…

“Yes. As written in the report, the most suspicious one is an ancient behemoth called Charmol.”

Black King Charmol.

In the current era, only two ancient behemoths remain – Charmol and Blanc.

They are the only survivors from the last Holy War.

“The lack of traces is precisely what makes it suspicious. While Blanc is the behemoth that runs away, Charmol is the behemoth that hides.”

The vast majority of behemoths died at Belle’s hands precisely because they never even considered running away or hiding.

However, Blanc escaped from Belle because she only wanted to die at the hands of a hero she acknowledged, while Charmol couldn’t be caught because of his nature of hiding to achieve his goals.

Both had mindsets that were radical for behemoths.

Even Vile, once he awakened through some trigger and became a true behemoth, didn’t try to hide or run away.

If he hadn’t broken free from his self-awareness as an intelligent human, he probably would have detected and responded to our attack in advance.

“A hiding behemoth… But how do we find it?”

Hilde asked.

“We’ll need to use bait.”

Dominic said.

“Charmol is a behemoth that desires Blanc. While this is from past records, as a behemoth, that desire wouldn’t have changed.”

At the mention of Blanc, Sephira and Hilde flinched.

Zepetia also subtly turned her head toward me.

“Wait, surely you’re not suggesting using Mr. Eugene as bait?”

Sephira said.

“That’s the plan.”

“Absolutely not!”

Hilde shouted.

“No way! Using Senior as bait against a behemoth!”

“But Mr. Eugene wouldn’t refuse, would he?”

Dominic looked at me and said.

“Well, that’s true.”

I nodded lightly.

A lower-ranked hunter being used as bait to face a behemoth.

Nothing special about it – just a standard operation.

“Who do you think you are.”

Zepetia gripped my arm tightly.

“Who do you think you are trying to die? Planning to just leave me behind? Hm?”

Her eyes began gradually losing rationality.

While she’s cold and rational about work, she reacts sensitively to matters concerning me, her attachment figure who prevents her loneliness and rampages.

“You’re quite popular.”

Dominic said.

There wasn’t even a hint of sarcasm in that voice.

“That’s enough of that – can we properly discuss the operation? You’re not just telling me to be bait without a plan, right?”

Conversely, I spoke somewhat impatiently.

Seeing them react this way about me makes me a little, no, quite uncomfortable.

Only Dorothy was quietly watching us with an amused look, but even that gaze feels strange.

“Of course. To begin with, our primary objective isn’t to fight the behemoth but to negotiate.”

“Negotiate? With a behemoth?”

Dorothy asked.

“Is a judge from the Heresy Inquisition Department seriously saying this?”

“When dealing with behemoths, even we can show some flexibility. Getting annihilated while sticking to principles helps neither side.”

While that’s undoubtedly sound logic, that’s precisely what makes it strange.

All judges undergo powerful brainwashing to ensure absolute obedience to the Saintess and adherence to doctrine.

Brainwashing tends to make human minds blind followers.

Yet being able to show some flexibility means they ignore even the contradictions that arise within.

“Besides, Blanc remains an enemy that must be eliminated eventually. We’re merely postponing that timing. Anyway, may we return to the main topic?”

“…Please continue.”

When Sephira gave permission, Dominic nodded.

“Blanc continuously monitors Mr. Eugene. However, the problem is that being a behemoth good at running away, she always maintains a safe distance. In fact, our Heresy Inquisition Department has tried approaching a few times as a test, but she quickly ran away every time.”

Is that so.

Of course, I knew the Heresy Inquisition Department was monitoring me, and it’s not strange that they were also watching Blanc using me as bait.

“If she runs away at the slightest approach, how do you plan to lure her?”

Hilde asked.

“This time, we’ve decided to completely remove our surveillance.”

“…You want me to meet Blanc alone?”

I crossed my arms and thought briefly.

I see, so that’s why I’m the bait.

“Yes. We’ve decided to entrust the negotiations entirely to Mr. Eugene. To be honest, we don’t have any other viable options.”

“…What about setting up an encirclement with myself and several high-ranked hunters?”

Sephira said.

“Do you think we can accomplish what even the Saintess couldn’t during the Great Holy War?”

“Ugh…”

Even the Saintess failed to capture Blanc.

“That’s precisely what makes her the most dangerous behemoth. The ability to run away alone makes her more vicious than all other behemoths. Besides, realistically it’s also difficult to coordinate the schedules of high-ranked hunters to our timing.”

“…”

Even Sephira, who as a high-ranked hunter is busier than anyone, couldn’t deny this and slightly lowered her head.

“Of course, Mr. Eugene will bear the heavy responsibility of negotiating with Blanc to learn information about Charmol, but can you predict how Blanc might react?”

“She’ll probably try to kill me.”

By Blanc’s standards, a hero must not trust Beasts.

The very act of asking something from Blanc herself, a Beast, might go against her standards.

To begin with, cooperating or negotiating with Beasts itself might be problematic.

“But seeing how calmly you speak of it, it seems you might have some way to handle it.”

“Hmm… I might be able to lead her along while deceiving her somehow.”

“Of course, since this operation relies entirely on Mr. Eugene, if you say you can’t do it, we have no choice…”

“Something’s strange.”

Dorothy said.

“Why are you trying to catch this Charmol guy in the first place? Surely not just because he raided a few villages?”

“That’s…”

“This operation is incredibly sloppy. Relying on a single lower-ranked hunter – the Heresy Inquisition Department wouldn’t do that.”

Of course, making numerous civilians disappear without leaving any traces is certainly dangerous.

But conversely, it means the opponent isn’t planning to do anything immediate.

When there must be many urgent matters to handle, they’re trying to catch someone who isn’t causing major problems right now?

Moreover, the operation seems quite makeshift without any proper Plan B.

This isn’t like the Heresy Inquisition Department’s usual handling of matters.

“…You all deserve to know.”

After some contemplation, Dominic said.

“Actually, this was processed quite urgently, and there’s still much undecided internally. But nonetheless, we’ve determined there’s a need to deal with this quickly. Even if it means negotiating with a behemoth.”

“Something of that magnitude happened? We haven’t heard anything about this.”

Sephira asked doubtfully.

Could there be something even high-ranked hunters don’t know about?

“Actually… we received information about a certain witch, but we need to approach without being detected perfectly on our side. Probably only Charmol has the skills for that.”

“Which witch?”

Who?

Bari who formed an alliance with Charmol?

Or Rusalka who exchanges information more secretly?

“The Frog Princess.”

“…!”

The moment I heard that name, my heart sank and a chill ran down my spine.

“Eugene…?”

Zepetia looked at me worriedly, but I had no composure to respond.

The name Vasilisa weighed too heavily on my mind.

“I can’t give you more details, but that witch is extremely dangerous and difficult to deal with… We need to respond first while perfectly concealing our presence. That’s why we need Charmol’s stealth techniques…”

“Stop.”

Those words burst out before I realized.

“Pardon?”

“Ah, no… That was a slip of the tongue. It’s nothing…”

“Ah, yes. So about the Frog Princess…”

Frog Princess Vasilisa.

If I have any sin, it would be her existence.

Of course, I failed several times as a creator, but I could say those were accidents.

But Vasilisa… wasn’t just an accident but clearly my mistake.

The trigger for me deciding to quit being a god in the first place was my failure with Vasilisa.

Though the details are hazy in my memory, I made some decision after that failure.

Perhaps… perhaps the reason I decided to quit being a god was also because of Vasilisa.

Did I decide to let Belle kill me out of guilt for completely burning and erasing one world?

…What does Belle think about Vasilisa?

The will of the Heresy Inquisition Department is Belle’s will.

What does she plan to do with her sister?

And what does she expect from me, who fled as a failed god and human?