Chapter 107: Extracurricular Activity (6)

The Guard Captain turned his head toward the door.

“Your friends have arrived, it seems?”

Saying that, he leaned back from where he’d been facing me and rested against the chair.

I realized it then.

‘This guy was conflicted too.’

Whether to take me down here or not. He’d been weighing it.

But with the others arriving, he seemed to have changed his plan.

He took a step back.

“I hope you don’t misunderstand. I wasn’t trying to hide the magical beast issue. It’s festival season, so we just wanted to handle it quietly. I was planning to share it with you all today.”

“…….”

“So how about you help us out?”

“We’re supposed to find Kimi.”

“Haha. The magical beast is the culprit. Catch it and you’ll naturally find Kimi. We’ve actually been working on Bedrock’s request for a while. We’ve been trying.”

Bullshit.

I’d bet anything.

If I hadn’t encountered the werewolf here and hadn’t run into the Guard Captain, he’d have kept this hidden forever.

‘It’s obvious.’

Hypocritical, but I decided to play along for now.

“Alright, fine.”

“Haha. Thanks.”

The situation was clear.

But there was no solid evidence they’d kidnapped Kimi.

More importantly,

‘There are still things to confirm.’

“My assistant will pass you the info on the werewolf. I’ll be waiting for good news.”

The Guard Captain stood, opened the door, and left.

Through the crack in the door, I saw the others facing off with the city guards outside.

“Let’s go.”

As the Guard Captain left with his guards, the others rushed into the house.

They surrounded me and bombarded me with questions.

“What happened, senior?”

“Did something else happen?”

“They said it was a serious discussion and no one could enter. Is it that bad?”

I tilted my head.

“Huh? They said I kept them out?”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t do that.”

A brief silence.

Then someone’s murmur spread like thin ice.

“Ugh… These nobodies are really pissing me off.”

It was Karina.

Right. I wondered why she was so quiet.

She’d been suppressing her boiling anger.

“What do we do? Should I throw a fireball at them?”

Karina’s fingers trembled as she struggled to control her rage.

Then she glanced up at me.

“…….”

“Sigh. Alright, alright! Karina, you’ve really mellowed out.”

Karina slumped onto the table.

Watching her flip like that, I thought,

‘I forgot to take her to Professor Ilai for a check-up.’

Damn it.

Her condition seemed to be getting worse… I’d have to take her right after this extracurricular activity.

No forgetting this time.

“What did you talk about with the Captain?”

Ivan asked from beside me.

I told them everything that had happened.

How I saved Bedrock from the werewolf, how the Guard Captain showed up shortly after, and what he told me about the werewolf.

I left out my suspicion that the city guards were the ones who kidnapped Kimi.

“A magical beast in a big city like this? Is that possible?”

“It is. Our Academy’s been hit by terrorist attacks several times already. Plus, it’s a werewolf with special abilities, right?”

At Yuria’s question, everyone’s eyes turned to me.

Yeah.

I’d have to confirm, but I was already considering that possibility.

A variant created by the cult.

In other words, the mastermind behind the city guards was the Beltus Cult.

* * *

Not long after the Captain left, someone arrived.

Introducing himself as the Guard Captain’s assistant, he handed me a document with information about the werewolf and a magitech device.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a werewolf tracker.”

It looked like a compass.

He said he didn’t know how it worked.

“You’ll figure it out by using it.”

That’s what he said.

“Then I’ll be off.”

The assistant gave a curt nod and left.

I looked over the document detailing the werewolf’s characteristics.

Appearance, size, weight, abilities, and the areas it had appeared in so far.

It was a detailed report covering various aspects.

What caught my eye was the werewolf’s ability.

“Stealth, huh.”

This werewolf was a variant that used stealth.

The stealth described here wasn’t hiding behind objects or terrain, or blending into bright light or pitch darkness.

It was complete full-body invisibility.

It concealed everything—presence, scent, even magical detection.

‘Was there ever a werewolf like that?’

I shook my head.

Not just werewolves.

No variant magical beast with such stealth had ever appeared in the original story.

‘Why now, of all times…’

The butterfly effect caused by me.

In other words, this variant was somehow connected to me, big or small.

‘Wasn’t the Demon Council the cult faction operating in the southern region?’

Among the five factions of the cult, the Demon Council was the development arm.

They worshipped demons, aspired to emulate them, and conducted relentless research and experiments.

Naturally, their biological experiments disregarded life and ethics.

I checked the document again.

The werewolf’s physical traits, its small stature, and a notable scar on its face stood out.

At the same time, Bedrock’s words came to mind.

‘I scolded Kimi harshly once. He came back from the playground with a big scratch on his face. I was so shocked that anger overtook my worry.’

A laugh escaped me.

“They hid it to deal with it quietly before the festival? Ridiculous.”

The werewolf was clearly an experiment of the Demon Council.

An important one, at that.

But it had escaped by some stroke of luck, and the city guards’ job was to track and capture it.

‘And that variant werewolf is Kimi.’

That’s why the Captain had immediately pressed Bedrock about where the magical beast was hidden.

He knew everything.

All the pieces of the puzzle fit together.

‘Then we need to find Kimi before the city guards do.’

Whether Kimi could be turned back into a human, I didn’t know.

But thinking back to what just happened, it seemed possible.

‘It’s only his appearance that’s turned into a werewolf. Inside, he’s still Kimi.’

The problem was how to find Kimi first.

The city guards, with their greater numbers, had the advantage in tracking.

The good news was that the Guard Captain had shared the tracker with us.

‘Does he think we don’t suspect him?’

Either way, it was a boon for me.

“He said I’d understand by using it.”

As the saying goes, strike while the iron’s hot. I decided to test the tracker now.

“Where are you going?”

“Just up ahead. I’ll be back soon.”

I glanced at the others gathered around the table and left Bedrock’s house.

I pulled down a small lever protruding from the side.

Whirr-

The needle inside spun and pointed in a direction.

Following it, I left the backyard where I’d lost the werewolf and passed through the residential area.

The forest I reached was…

‘…the path to the abandoned mine.’

At the entrance to this path was the open lot where Kimi often played.

The playground.

I stepped inside.

The forest was shrouded in thick darkness.

Just in case, I strapped my longsword to my waist and activated [Night Vision] and [Detection] simultaneously.

Crunch, crunch…

But I hadn’t gone far before I had to stop.

The tracker’s needle suddenly started spinning wildly in place.

‘What? Is it broken?’

I shook it around, but the needle kept spinning.

A defective piece?

“Of course they wouldn’t give me a working one.”

I turned off the tracker and scanned the surroundings.

If it had worked fine up to this point, maybe there’d be traces of Kimi.

And then…

“……Huh?”

I spotted a single footprint hidden in the bushes.

A pressed patch of dirt and a flower stem bent in an ‘L’ shape in front of it.

‘A dog’s footprint.’

But dogs don’t walk on two legs, so these were definitely Kimi’s tracks.

‘Lucky break.’

I moved to follow them.

“……!”

At that moment, [Detection] picked up a presence.

At least three.

Since it was obvious who’d be coming here, I quickly scattered fallen leaves over the footprint to

cover it.

Then I climbed up a tree.

Rustle!

I hid on a sturdy branch and looked down.

Exactly thirty seconds later, city guards appeared where I’d been standing.

Five of them.

Led by a guard leader, they were searching the area.

It was obvious who they were looking for.

The guard leader held a tracker in his hand.

“Huh? Hold on. Everyone, stop.”

The guard leader raised his hand.

I flinched.

I thought they’d detected my presence.

False alarm.

“Damn it. It’s acting up again.”

The guard leader shook the tracker irritably.

With [Focused Gaze], I saw the tracker spinning wildly, just like mine.

The exact same phenomenon.

“He disengaged his stealth here. The mana cut off.”

“So what do we do?”

“What do you mean, you idiot? Search with your eyes.”

At the leader’s sharp command, the guards hurriedly scoured the area.

That’s when I realized how the tracker worked.

‘It’s purely for tracking stealth. It wasn’t broken.’

Kimi had simply turned off his stealth.

‘I was about to toss it. Good thing I didn’t.’

Then it happened.

While looking down, I turned my head to the right.

In the deep, dark forest.

A gaze watching me was there.

The same gaze I’d felt before.

“…….”

The gaze vanished instantly.

At the same time, a commotion erupted below.

“Everyone, gather! Hurry!”

The guard leader rallied his men.

The needle in his tracker had stopped spinning and was pointing firmly in one direction.

The direction where I’d felt the gaze.

“That way!”

“He’s still nearby!”

I watched the scene for a moment, then opened my subspace and pulled out a skull mask and Raven.

Then I dropped down.

“What! A-An ambush!”

“Argh!”

The forest returned to silence.

* * *

The plaza I entered to continue the search was bustling with people.

It was the day before the festival, so the streets were especially lively, and the whole city was

filled with laughter and energy.

Amid the crowd, I checked the tracker.

The needle was still spinning uselessly.

A curse slipped out.

It had been like this since morning.

“Damn it.”

“What’s wrong, senior?”

I showed the tracker’s state to Yuria beside me.

“Oh…”

“I knew it wasn’t perfect, but it’s even more useless than I thought.”

I gave a bitter smile and Yuria shook her head.

“Don’t give up, senior. That bad werewolf will definitely get caught.”

Seeing Yuria clench her fist with determination brought a smile to my lips.

“Yeah. Thanks.”

Well, no wonder the city guards were struggling too.

The tracker only worked when Kimi used stealth.

When would that be?

‘When he’s in danger.’

That meant he was hiding quietly in a safe place right now.

Good news, in a way, but it put us back at square one.

The tracker was just a shiny trinket. In the end, it was a race to see who could find him first, and the city guards, with their numbers, had the advantage.

“?”

That’s what I’d thought until now.

It happened while passing through the market.

My body suddenly froze.

Countless people brushed past me.

Yuria turned back, looking at me curiously as I stood still.

“Senior?”

“Just a sec, Yuria.”

I turned around.

I walked into a narrow alley between two buildings.

Yuria followed silently behind me.

The alley wasn’t long.

After two turns, I hit a dead-end wall.

In front of it were piles of trash swept together by the wind.

I stared into the pile.

Grrr…

Two bright yellow eyes gleamed.

“……A werewolf?”

Yuria quickly stepped in front of me.

As she reached to draw her sword from subspace, I stopped her.

“It’s Kimi.”

“What?”

Yuria looked up at me, as if asking what I meant.

“That’s Kimi.”

The werewolf, Kimi, rose from the trash pile.

His young eyes held a faint wariness.

I knelt on one knee to meet his gaze.

“Kimi.”

I reached out and called his name, and he rushed into my arms.

Whine… Whine…

He was unmistakably a child missing his father and home.

“Kimi, you were really brave. You didn’t know if we were good or bad.”

He must’ve seen me take down the city guards in the forest last night.

Kids respond best to instinct.

“I’ll take you home.”

But first,“Let’s deal with those guys over there.”

I turned around.

The alley we were in was now blocked by city guards.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep