The Gods Told Me

In the ancient past, the Prea god-folk who descended to earth liberated humanity, who had been livestock and slaves of other races, and established the old empire.

Although the empire fell for unknown reasons and became a world where various wizard houses competed, all humans still worshipped them as gods.

And the first teaching written in the scripture that worshipped them was about the relationship between wizards and humans.

Humans shall serve wizards, and wizards shall rule over and care for humans.

While houses and individuals differed in whether they emphasized ruling or caring, that was the basic framework.

If the Burner's mumblings were true, many wizard houses would have to struggle between divine teachings and reality.

On the way back to the burned village, Bisen's group discussed this topic.

"No matter how I think about it, it doesn't make sense. Honestly, if such a thing was possible, someone would have tried it by now."

"Right. It's not like there's only one or two madmen in the world."

"But the divine bloodline has been spreading in the world for thousands of years. Except for other races, wouldn't everyone have at least some magical power? Just at a level where they can't properly handle it."

"True, if you go back enough generations, everyone probably has at least one wizard..."

If it became possible to obtain magical power by killing ordinary people, the world would become several times more cruel than before.

Either massacring the common people of enemy houses during wars, or those in crisis killing their subjects to gain power for a final counterattack.

Of course, if such a method really existed, it would likely have become widely known long ago.

Even the superstition that ordinary humans could become wizards by catching masu had produced countless masu hunters.

Eventually, Bisen's group was divided between two opinions.

Two saying they should just kill him without bothering to investigate what was clearly a baseless rumor, and two saying it wouldn't hurt to subdue and question him.

In the midst of debating whether such knowledge would be useful even if true, and whether it could be used on serious criminals, one of them turned to Turan and asked.

"What do you think, Sir Turan?"

"Let's attack with the premise of killing him first, and if we can subdue him, then we try subduing him."

While he had no intention of using methods of gaining power by killing people even if he knew them, separately from that, he thought it better to know.

Just closing your eyes to uncomfortable things didn't make them disappear.

As their discussion was ending, the remains of the burned village came into view.

"Ah, we're here."

"Then shall we start the pursuit? Asha?"

"Yes!"

"Stand at the very front and search. I'll be behind you, Gil and Kebek in the middle, and Sir Turan, I'd like you to take the rear."

"Alright."

Turan answered Bisen's request while glancing at Gil, the man who had accidentally shot the flame spear earlier.

Though he had the Tamer bloodline ability to tame masu, he didn't have any useful masu with him due to lacking even enough magical power for himself.

Moreover, as could be seen from his accidental spear shot, he was the youngest and most inexperienced of the four.

"Now then... I'll start searching."

Asha widened her eyes and scanned here and there.

The immediate search conditions that came to mind would probably be 'human male footprints' or 'red fabric'.

Turan thought the former would have too many traces within the village, while the latter wouldn't leave many traces unless the clothes had been torn somewhere.

"How is it?"

"I think we need to look around more."

"Okay, let's move. Which way should we go?"

Turan quietly followed behind them without getting involved.

He was curious about how good the half Zahar's tracking skills were, and also wanted to conserve his magical power for any contingencies.

Fortunately, Asha showed herself to be a careful and experienced hunter, unlike her small and youthful appearance would suggest.

She first led the group down a path, but upon seeing it connected to a main road, shook her head and returned to the village.

After repeating this process three times, Turan asked a question.

"How exactly are you searching right now?"

"I find traces of a human male, and when it leads to a main road, I look for the scent of ashes. If he hasn't changed clothes, he should have ash on his clothes..."

Her search method was quite professional.

Why hadn't they been able to find him like this before?

Thinking about it, not knowing the gender must have been a big problem.

While men generally move around outside more than women, it still meant doubling the number of targets to search for.

Plus, they said this was the first time they'd found a crime scene this quickly.

After tracking for a while, resting when magical power ran out, and repeating this several times.

Just as it was starting to get dark, Asha, who was following the thirteenth trace, let out an exclamation.

"Found it!"

"Wait, Asha! Slow down a bit!"

Following after her as she ran ahead, they arrived at what appeared to be a natural cave.

Far too small for human habitation, at most it looked like it could accommodate small animals.

"Here?"

"It doesn't look like anything bigger than a cat could enter."

"Wait."

Turan passed between their murmuring and pushed aside a rock that had been placed at one side of the natural cave.

When magical power was applied, the rock the size of two people tilted with a thud, revealing a large entrance.

"This is how he must have been coming and going."

"Wow..."

"The sound of the rolling stone was too loud. It would have been heard inside."

"We can't not open the door though. Let's go in."

As battle was imminent and the opponent's location secured, they changed formation with Turan and Bisen in front, the other three behind.

Creating a small light orb to illuminate the surroundings with light emission magic, Bisen asked Asha.

"Anyone inside?"

"Yes. One person..."

"Must be him. No one but a criminal would have reason to be alone in a place like this."

Turan carefully observed the cave interior not revealed by the light using the Zahar bloodline's unique night vision ability.

A desolate appearance with not a trace of human modification...

Even for a noble, while a few days might be manageable, living in such a place for long would be tremendously uncomfortable.

Was the murder committed here important enough to endure even that?

Soon after, they discovered an open space in the deepest part of the cave.

There was a small hole in the ceiling that seemed to be for ventilation, and in the corner was a primitive bedding made of blankets and wood blocks, along with some pots containing unknown liquids.

Several torches burned on the walls, illuminating the surroundings.

In the middle of this makeshift shelter, a man stared at their group as if he had been waiting for them and asked.

"What brings guests to such a remote place?"

A red robe with a hood—the child must have mistaken it for a cloak—along with a rough face and beard, exactly matching the girl's description.

A faint scent of uncompletely washed ash wafted from his body.

Asha whispered softly to inform them.

"I can smell it, it's him."

At that moment, Turan felt a strange sense of déjà vu in the man's gaze.

That unusually clear gaze...

It was remarkably similar to the gaze of Midan, the masu hunter he had recalled recently.

If not for the facial features, he might have thought it was him.

While Turan was puzzled by this fact, Bisen, who had already created an ice bow, nocked an arrow and asked.

She seemed to have lost some confidence due to the earlier mistaken identity.

"Though I'm sure it's you, I'll ask just in case. Are you the murderer who's been capturing and burning villagers to death in the nearby villages?"

At Bisen's question, the Burner tilted his head as if he couldn't understand.

"I don't quite—"

Seeing the opponent's hand stretch forward, Turan immediately used both thought acceleration and the Guardian magical device.

Along with this, explosions occurred on both sides of where they were standing.

"Aah—!"

"What—!?"

The source of the explosion was bags of some unknown black powder in the corners of the cave.

Turan, who had used the Guardian magical device, and Bisen, who had inadvertently received some protection from Turan acting as a shield, were fine, but the three behind them were thrown to the ground, taking the full force of the pressure and heat from the explosion.

Even if they were inexperienced, to instantly incapacitate three nobles—it was an absurdly powerful trap.

'What's this?'

As Turan was surprised while spinning his sling once to prepare stones for counterattack, Bisen shot an ice arrow toward the Burner first.

Her arrow flew faster than sound, piercing his thigh and freezing his leg.

"Agh!"

But even as he collapsed with his thigh pierced, the Burner didn't give up his counterattack.

When he slammed his palm on the ground, the surrounding rocks distorted and formed into hands that rushed at Bisen and Turan.

Earth manipulation, and at this distance with such speed and scale—it was quite a high-level magic.

'This is...?'

Though they had naturally assumed he had the Pyromaniac bloodline because he burned people to death with fire.

With this level of skill, there was a high possibility he had the Earthkeeper bloodline specialized in handling earth.

"Kyaa!"

While Bisen was caught by the stone hands, caught off guard by the unexpected situation, Turan quickly threw himself clear of the grasping stone hands thanks to his accelerated thought speed.

Immediately throwing the stone he had been preparing, a familiar bursting sound rang out as the Burner's right hand aiming at Turan was completely shattered.

"Kuaaaaaaah!"

Turan approached the Burner who was screaming in agony from his lost hand while rubbing his left hand twice.

Lightning magic created by amplifying minute amounts of static electricity.

Though precise aiming was still difficult, hitting a person at this distance wasn't hard.

When the lightning that crackled forth struck his chest, the Burner's whole body trembled before collapsing to the ground.

Lightning-type spells were certainly the most suitable techniques for subduing opponents.

Though if the power was too much, they instantly became lethal techniques.

"Did, did you defeat him?"

"Probably."

Turan briefly answered Bisen who asked from behind while checking if the Burner was still breathing, then proceeded with the process of complete subdual.

He scattered some vine seeds on the ground, grew them to bind both arms behind his back, and wrapped another strand around his eyes to prevent him from seeing.

It was impossible to put up meaningful resistance when deprived of vision, which helped gauge the direction for magic, and arms, which helped with targeting.

If he tried to break free by concentrating magical power, the signal would immediately go to Turan who was controlling the plants, and he could just kill him.

The only drawback was that Turan's magical power was consumed in strengthening and controlling the plants, so he couldn't maintain it for too long.

"Now that he's subdued, please attend to those three first."

"...Thank you."

As expected, if Turan hadn't come along, these four would have certainly departed for the celestial palace already.

This guy seemed to have thoroughly prepared for intruders.

While Bisen woke the healer Kebek to treat the injured three, Turan tapped the Burner's cheek with the flat of his dagger.

"Hey, wake up."

"Ugh..."

"Stop, raise any more magical power and I'll kill you immediately."

When the Burner who woke up with a groan instinctively tried to raise magical power to remove the vines wrapped around his wrists, Turan immediately pressed the knife to his throat and threatened him.

The Burner seemed to understand the situation and complied obediently.

"Who are you people, how did you find this place..."

"We have our ways. So, you're the Burner, right?"

"That—"

Seeing the opponent hesitate, Turan immediately stabbed his dagger into his thigh.

A harsh scream echoed through the cave.

"Answer quickly."

What reason was there to show mercy to a mass murderer who had burned hundreds of ordinary people to death?

At Turan's growling voice, the Burner nodded while tears flowed from his vine-wrapped eyes.

Just then, Bisen's group approached behind Turan, having finished their treatment.

"Did you subdue him with vines?"

"I didn't know a noble with the Guardian bloodline could do this too..."

"Let's ask what we need to ask first."

He deliberately didn't mention that it was difficult to maintain the restraint for long.

The Burner might think he just needed to stall for time if he heard that.

Fortunately, he wasn't particularly strong-willed, so the interrogation proceeded quickly.

His real name was Obil Kraft, 78 years old, a noble from House Kraft far to the south of here.

He was currently wandering after cutting ties with his older brother, the head of house...

"So, why was the wandering noble burning the villagers here to death?"

"The gods, the gods told me. That if I burn the souls and flesh of sinful ones, I could become closer to them..."

"What?"

"You shouldn't treat me like this. I'm about to become the founder of a great house!"

According to the rambling Burner Obil, one day the gods had revealed to him various secret methods of obtaining other bloodline powers.

He had already seen several other nobles gain new bloodline abilities through these methods.

Among these, what Obil had undertaken was the method to obtain the Pyromaniac bloodline, which required a ritual of burning multiple humans at once and covering oneself with their ashes.

He pleaded to be released, twisting his body while saying he only needed to do it a few more times.

"...Isn't he just crazy?"

"Yeah."

Bisen's group laughed at Obil's story that was absurd just hearing it.

But Turan couldn't do the same.

'Even ordinary people can gain power by killing masu! I've already seen several wizards like that!'

A suspicious superstition, claims that there were already several similar cases from who knows where...

Not just similar eyes, but Obil's claims were remarkably similar in form to what Midan had said in the past.