Silence rules the room after I enter with a bizarre entrance.
"..."
"..."
An awkward silence that is yet to be broken.
I glance at Alice with a simple eye turn.
'Really? This is your brilliant plan.' I mentally glare at Alice.
But Alice turns her head away, pretending not to notice the awkwardness.
'Don't you dare play dumb. I know you notice the awkwardness.'
"..."
"..."
"Who are you?"
In the suffocating silence, a man speaks up.
I am glad and hurt at the same time.
'If you had ruined someone's life, keep track of them.'
'Then... again, as low-level thugs, I guess they did what they were told.'
"I am-"
"You don't need to know."
Before I finish speaking, Alice cuts me off.
Her words silence the thugs, but not for long.
"And who do you think you are?"
Another man speaks up.
Watching him get pervy to Alice gives me the icks.
And the man beside him.
Rough face, rough beard, in fur trench coat, height shorter than average man.
Yup, that's Diggie.
I knew he was short, but he's shorter than I thought.
"-And after we are done with you, we will play with you, lady."
"You will love it so much that you will be begging for more--"
When my thoughts come back together, I hear the same man's voice before I lost in thought.
I turn my gaze to him and tilt my head slightly.
'He for sure can talk.'
"Yeah, I will lick you like this, like this..." Splorch!!
Annoyed by his actions and words, I throw an air blast at him.
His head pops like a wet balloon.
And once again, the room falls into silence.
In silence, they exchange glances.
As for Diggie, he took a step back.
His terrified eyes dart between me and the headless corpse.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
The silence is broken by a man who has a very high-pitched voice.
He screams like a princess, by the way.
'What a high-pitched voice! Is he half siren?'
Sigh
'This is torture.'
So, I torch him.
I extend my hand. In front of my palm, a magic circle appears.
Soon after, a screaming man went up in flames.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
Louder, of course.
'Well, that's backfire.'
'Let's wrap this up before I go deaf.'
***
The battle ended quickly.
Just low-level thugs—they don't pose a threat to me and Alice.
I look around, shaking my hands like I'm flicking off water.
Crimson splatters across the stone floor.
Sure. I could've used magic, but....
Honestly, they aren't worth that much.
So I went old school. Fist to skulls.
Some are so terrified, so I help them skip the screaming part.
'As for Alice?'
I turn to Alice and see her wiping off the blood from her rapier.
'Well, she's just being herself.'
A satisfied smile curved on my lips.
"Now, let's chase our runaway boy."
I look in the direction where Diggie ran.
"I wonder where that kid ran to."
I lead the way, and Alice follows me from behind.
***
Thud.. thud.. thud
Thud!
His body slam against the ground.
Haaah... haaah
His breath comes out short, ragged.
His vision blurred, heart pounding, sweat trailing down to his jaw.
Diggie couldn't accept it.
'That's impossible. He is supposed to be bedridden.'
'How is he fine? How can he use magic? The poison that I used should have destroyed all of his magic.'
He can't stop running, because if he stops, he's dead.
So, he gets up and swipes away the cloud of dust and starts running again.
Further into the forest.
Slam!!
"Aaahh!!"
He hits a wall.
But... when he looks up, there is nothing there.
"Wh..what?"
"Are you done running?"
A voice came from behind.
A voice he doesn't wish to hear at this moment.
He turns around and sees Daniel, along with his maid, Alice.
"Wait.. I can-"
"Shooosh"
Before he could finish, his mouth was sealed shut.
"I use spells too, but... I like using raw magic more."
"You know, natural magic, without any filter."
He couldn't speak, so all he could do was nod or shake his head.
When Daniel lifts the seal on his mouth, his breath comes out ragged.
"Huff...Huff"
He feels like he hasn't breathed for ten years.
Daniel comes closer to him and asks.
"Who ordered you to poison me?"
His body trembles in fear; he can feel it.
"I have to answer if I want to live"
"It was-"
When he was about to spill the beans, his chest glowed red.
Soon, Diggie's body exploded.
Daniel, surprised by an explosion, missed a presence in the dark of the wood.
"I wasn't expecting that."
I look at the post-explosion area where the interior of his body, formerly known as Diggie.
"That's disgusting."
I turn and see Alice covering her mouth, nearly vomiting.
'I guess his loyalty is quite something.'
'Or remote detonation?'
There is no way to tell now.
Let's head back home.
"We are heading ba-"
"Let's go back home, young master."
Alice's voice comes from at least 10 feet away.
'When did you get there?'
'I guess even the iron girl like Alice has a soft spot'
'That's cute'
I move my feet to go back home.
My mind is thinking whether Diggie is extremely loyal or exploded remotely.
The latter is highly possible.
Then who is it?
Who is targeting me?
There's no way to tell, for now.
'I should make a trip to the capital.'
'Let's meet that saintess, as fellow NPC.'
***
Sigh...
A figure emerges from the darkness of the forest, and he sighs deeply.
"To think, he would rat me out without even a hint of hesitation."
"Well, what was I expecting from a lowlife like him?"
He looks at the way Daniel and Alice went.
"Soon. We will meet soon. My other half."
A board, coated in dark and despair, appears beside him.
[Name: Daniel Ra Vindaloo(separated self)]
[Chosen Path: Mirror of Other Half(Hidden Evil)]
"Huh?"
The board show a line of text as if it's relaying the message.
[Creator God finds your scheme amusing and decides to use it for the story]
He smirks.
"If you like it, you should reward me."
The board stays silent.
"What a load of bullshit."
***
At the same time.
[Part of the story where you are included has been completed.]
[Your role has been decided.]
[Your role is ∎∎∎∎]
I look at Olivia with visible confusion.
'What does it mean?'
"You know, Olivia, you are getting a lot more difficult to figure out"
With that, Alice's worries for Daniel's mental health have increased.