Stigma Effect

Proofreader: kuroneko_chan

Yuriel saw Baraha off and turned her gaze to the place where the monster had disappeared. Her steps leaving the place were heavy.

She knew time went by fast. Less than a month left would pass by without realizing it.

There was not enough time left, but there was a lot of work to be done.

She would have to hear from Raphlet about the changed subjugation site today and have the monster stay away from there. She was worried that it might become prey for the knights.

Yuriel found Shudmuel’s office with a heavy footstep, as if she was hung on a rope. Upon knocking on the door, permission to enter was granted.

Yuriel opened the door and spoke in a surprised tone at Shudmuel’s unusual appearance.

“Oh, you are getting ready to go out. I must have mistaken the time today.”

Shudmuel’s desk, which had been prepared so that he could perform the test immediately if she arrived on time, was empty. No medical tools were visible. As if he was getting ready to go out, he wore a coat he didn’t wear in the office, he nodded his head as if to ask Yuriel to come in.

“No, you came at the promised time.”

He said bluntly to Yuriel, who was worried that she might have missed the appointment. Buttoning his coat, he spoke.

“I have urgent business to go to. Is the time alright?”

She didn’t train and Raphlet was also absent from the meeting, so Yuriel, his exclusive maid, had nothing to do externally.

Yuriel nodded her head and said.

“Yes.”

“You get ready to go too.”

“Yes? Where… ?

Yuriel, who had no good memories of leaving the Knights Order, frowned.

“The Alchemy Tower.”

He answered calmly and handed Yuriel a robe to cover her face. Yuriel answered with an anxious voice to his gaze as if asking what she was doing without putting it on quickly.

“If you’re going to the Alchemy Tower, I don’t think I need to accompany you, Sir Shudmuel. If you need a servant on the go, get someone else….”

“Yuriel. Do you think you have the right to say no?”

“Ah….”

A cold gaze reached Yuriel. It was a look that had no thought of rejection. Shudmuel spoke cynically and dropped the robe on Yuriel’s arm.

Yuriel couldn’t deny his words. She wanted to say no, but when she looked into Shudmuel’s eyes, her lips did not open as if glue had been applied there.

Yuriel’s face darkened as she wore the robe as he commanded. After meticulously tying the robe that she wore on her body, trembling for fear of going out, she saw Shudemuel leaving through the door.

Yuriel hurriedly followed Shudmuel, who was leading the way, without explanation.

She looked like she was in serious trouble.

Yuriel, who was on her fastest steps heading to the Alchemy Tower, opened her mouth that was rarely opened.

“Sir Shudmuel. Why are you going to the Alchemy Tower?”

He answered as he watched the waterway leading to the Alchemy Tower in the humid wind.

“Do you remember the slave trader who dragged you away?”

I can’t forget it. When Yuriel replied that it was a matter of course, Shudmuel said, still with a firm face.

“I heard that all the monsters kept in the basement were moved to the Alchemy Tower. Until now, the princess had been claiming ownership, but it seems she lost to the alchemists. They say the alchemists have been working on core extraction for three days.”

“Is that a reason for Sir Shudmuel to go to the Alchemy Tower?”

There were no casualties. If it was to extract the monster cores, his strength wouldn’t be necessary.

Yuriel tilted her head and remembered that the Alchemy Tower had never sent a dispatch request to Albraka. Requests for dispatch always went through Raphlet, but no requests were sent to the Commanders within a few days.

Baraha was also taking it easy, but then why was Shudmuel?

“You didn’t even get a dispatch request.”

“… We have to deal with the monster core before they use it for anything else, so we need to go quickly. Like last time, if I ask Commander Raphlet to protect it, it will be difficult to handle.”

Shudmuel said in an inaudible voice. The words continued in a voice so small that it could not be heard even in a quiet place, and faintly vanished by the sound of a whistle that just rang.

“I’m sorry, Sir Shudmuel. I didn’t hear it well….”

“It’s all right. When you arrive, get ready to get off.”

It was said with the intention of her not being able to hear it. Yuriel clings to Shudmuel to tell him the story again, but he never explains it again.

“… After you get to the Alchemy Tower, don’t go far away from me. It will be good for you to remain close.”

It was the last thing he said as if to warn her as they got off the boat that arrived at the pier.

The Alchemy Tower she visited for a long time was busy.

“Send everything you don’t need because we need to make room.”

“We will need a few more wagons.”

As they entered, she saw a long line of wagons. The large number caught her eyes first, and then she saw a scene of strong young men loading something onto the wagon.

‘Are those the monster cores?’

Yuriel, who narrowed her eyes and looked at it, grasped the contents.

Everything loaded in the wagon were monster cores. Last time, they thought that calling in the knights of Albraka was the cause of the terrorist attack, so this time, they ended with light security, as if moving a worthless object.

They said that they were working on extracting monster cores and it looked like they were working on sorting out the useless cores.

Yuriel’s thoughts were right without error.

Due to the considerable value of the monsters they had gathered from the slave traders, the alchemists were in a state of frenzied excitement, as if they had discovered a philosopher’s stone from an old book.

There were quite a lot of monsters, and the core extraction had barely finished 30% of the total. The worthless cores were being moved out of the Alchemy Tower through a private mercenary company.

Yuriel tightened her robes lest the alchemists would notice her, and saw some of the mercenaries carrying the cores turned towards Shudmuel. Shudmuel, who met their eyes, blinked something.

It was a secret glance, as if worried about being caught by someone.

The blink passed in an instant without anyone noticing except for Yuriel, and Shudmuel calmly entered the busy Alchemy Tower as if nothing had happened.

“Commander Shudmuel?”

“What did you come here for?”

“I came here because I urgently needed a research core. Can I get a supply?”

“Ah, if that’s the case, I’ll talk to the Elder….”

The alchemists and the mercenaries greeted Shudmuel, who came without a word, and exchanged suspicious glances with Shudmuel.

Watching the wagons loaded with monster cores pass through the Alchemy Tower one by one, Yuriel felt the premonition she had when she dreamed of a monster.

＊＊＊

The ominous premonitions related to monsters never went wrong. The problem, however, was that this time, an ominous situation different from the expected direction occurred.

Some of the many wagons were given to Shudmuel. Hearing that he needed experimental cores, the Elder gladly gave away wagons filled with cores.

As the private mercenaries were driving the wagons to the pier, a small explosion occurred in the Alchemy Tower.

The tall tower caught the eye from anywhere on the street.

The exterior wall, which had been repaired, collapsed, and the black objects inside it could be seen moving slowly.

“What is that… ?”

“I think it exploded. Did an alchemy experiment go wrong?”

No one could accurately see objects in the distance. Passers-by, who had been watching the explosion on the street, put their hands around their eyes and looked at the Alchemy Tower.

They frowned and stared intently at the tower, as if trying to see even a little more clearly.

“But doesn’t it look like it’s moving?”

“Uh, what is it? For real.”

“It’s moving.”

“Is it a person?”

The sudden explosion also stopped the wagons on the street. Most of the mercenaries were also talking while staring at the place.

Yuriel, who was staring at the Alchemy Tower, quickly grasped the identity of the wriggling object in it. She was well aware of a monster’s movements.

It was a monster, not a human, that moved in that form. Seeing the monster crawling out of the open wall, Yuriel looked for Shudmuel.

“Sir Shudmuel… !”

Yuriel turned to look for him and found Shudmuel, who was also making eye contact with the mercenaries. The mercenaries who exchanged glances with Shudmuel who did not seem to have any interest in the Alchemy Tower, unlike those who fixed their gaze on the Alchemy Tower and showed curiosity.

“Hey, it looks like a human. It must be clinging to life.”

“Oh… ! It’s falling over there!”

“Wait, why is it coming out?”

“They would have died if they fell from that height.”

Passers-by, who mistook the falling object for a human, screamed in surprise.

While the eyes of passersby were directed at the Alchemy Tower, the mercenaries were busy moving.

Yuriel was startled to see what they were taking out of the wagon. It was an egg of a monster that she saw only once during subjugation.

It was used when it was necessary to completely pull out hidden monsters and uproot them. Monsters have the characteristic of gathering at the place where the eggs and young are.

The form didn’t matter. Any kind of monster with a core will gather to protect the eggs.

It was extremely rare, and Yuriel had only seen it once.

The mercenaries who made eye contact with Shudmuel; the explosion that occurred the day she went to meet Raphlet with him.

Yuriel’s head turned quickly. Shudmuel’s calm gaze with the mercenaries and the monster eggs they took out as if waiting meant one thing.

Shudmuel has links to terrorism.

Realizing this, Yuriel’s face turned white.