Do Not Speak.

The inside of the warehouse, where the masquerade ball was taking place, had already become a pandemonium.

Masked Disguisers stabbed one another, swinging weapons as they shouted about finding the “First Finger.”

In the center of it all stood Barkal, pressing down a helmet made of bone.

Around him, disguisers whose masks had come off were strewn about. But their masks had not come off as a result of furious battle.

“Are you my brother!!”

Barkal grabbed the face of a Disguiser who charged at him and gently removed the mask.

“—Ack! Wh-what are you doing!?”

“No!”

Crunch.

The sound of bones grinding echoed gruesomely as Barkal squeezed the man’s head with one hand.

The man did not die. But perhaps because he fainted, his body did not move even as it was cast aside.

“Brother!!!!!!!!”

Barkal shouted in anguish.

“Serena!!!!!”

Despite his cry, no answer returned.

Barkal’s rage began to boil over.

Every time he exhaled, a red aura surged out.

It was as if Thrag, the God of Blood and Revelry and deity of the Red Wolf Tribe, was empowering him; redness swelled with every breath Barkal let out.

“Where have you hidden my brothers!”

The air grew heated at Barkal’s words, riddled with murderous intent.

The Disguisers, frozen with terror so chilling it felt like their blood had turned to ice, momentarily forgot their hunger for “power” and hesitated.

“You must be the main culprit behind all this commotion.”

Cutting through that atmosphere of oppressive force, a giant nearly two meters tall stepped forward.

It was Silas, the Disguisers’ “Second Finger.”

“Quite the size. And strength too.”

Silas’s voice was low and heavy. But unlike the other Disguisers, he wasn’t stiff.

Rather, a hint of delight glimmered in his tone, as if he’d found a new toy.

“A barbarian, aren’t you? Am I right?”

Barkal fingered his axe, then spat onto the ground.

“Where is my brother?”

“Brother? What brother?”

“Where is my brother!”

To Silas’s question, Barkal merely parroted the query right back. So Silas sighed.

“I had things I wanted to ask, but… this doesn’t seem to be the time.”

Scarlet aura rippled with Barkal’s every breath. Seeing this, silas lowered his stance.

Bestial instincts whispered to him: the barbarian would soon charge.

“Come, barbarian!”

In an instant, a gunshot-crack split the air.

Barkal, gripping his huge axe with both hands, slammed it down towards Silas. But Silas didn’t panic.

Mana began to faintly flow from the gauntlets on Silas’s hands, and as he thrust his fist forward, he deflected Barkal’s axe.

Metal against metal.

The impact of their collision was enough to make nearby Disguisers recoil.

“Urgh!?”

Amid this exchange, Barkal’s face showed surprise.

“Impressive, isn’t it? This is the strength of an ogre.”

Having deflected Barkal’s axe, silas smirked arrogantly.

“Right now, my body is imbued with ogre power. Thanks to this ring.”

Silas then showed off the ring on his finger—a crude band shining an iridescent orange.

“This ring gives the wearer ogre strength. Isn’t it amazing?”

Loosening up as if to warm up for a bout, silas spoke in a voice flushed with excitement.

“Power is speed, and power is destruction. How about it? Impressive, right?”

Barkal, ignoring Silas’s words, lowered his head, preparing to attack again. However, silas darted inside his reach first, driving a gauntleted fist into Barkal’s flank.

“Graah!”

Barkal gasped roughly.

“Slow, barbarian!”

In that instant, silas’s attacks began to flow nonstop.

Elbow to collarbone, then spinning, silas smashed his heel into Barkal’s helmet.

The more the blows continued, the more Barkal’s red aura began to dissipate from his lips.

Watching this, silas intensified his assault.

A knifehand to the nape.

A fist to the solar plexus.

A knee to the abdomen.

Each blow, with the sound of shattering bones, made Barkal’s body rock.

“This is what a martial artist with ogre power looks like, barbarian.”

Seeing Barkal’s body wobble, silas opened his mouth.

At Silas’s unhurried attitude, Barkal felt cold sweat trickle down his back.

* * *

The First Finger.

The actual executive who led the Disguisers.

Upon hearing that, I stared at the Disguiser in front of me.

He knew that someone from our group—Barkal—had gone missing.

Had he been watching us even before we arrived? Who is he? He doesn’t seem like a stranger.

“I’ll say it again, we’re looking for you—uwaah!”

Driven by curiosity, I reached out and pulled the mask off the one calling himself the “First Finger.”

It came off more easily than I’d thought.

“Wa-wait! What are you doing!?”

The face beneath the mask was unexpectedly familiar.

“Ah, it’s you!”

Serena seemed to recognize her as well.

“You’re the errand girl sent by the Odheim nobles, aren’t you!?”

Right, that.

I couldn’t quite remember her name…

“Miss Miriam! You’re Miriam, aren’t you!?”

Yeah, that was her name.

Serena has such a good memory.

Being called by name, miriam flinched and quickly took the mask back from me.

Awkwardly putting it back on, she began to speak, trembling.

“Do you not know that Disguisers are severely punished if they remove another Disguiser’s mask!?”

“I’m not a Disguiser.”

“Me neither.”

We just have masks on, that’s all.

“Still…”

Even though I couldn’t see her face, I could feel the incredulity in Miriam’s voice.

Anyway.

“Were you the First Finger?”

Before revealing her identity, miriam had clearly claimed to be the “First Finger.”

“Th-that’s right, I heard too!”

Serena chimed in.

“But you said yourself you hadn’t officially joined the Disguisers! Why would you lie!?”

Like she couldn’t forgive any lies, Serena moved closer to Miriam.

“I can’t forgive lies!”

“It’s not a lie! I really have never joined!”

Perhaps frightened by Serena’s slow advance, miriam started to speak faster.

“Th-the First Finger isn’t a person, it’s a title! It’s a position that my family has inherited for generations, so I-It doesn’t mean I actually joined, see?”

I see.

So it’s like starting as an executive because your family runs the company—you never had to join as a regular member.

That’s wordplay.

“That’s just wordplay!”

As if reading my mind, Serena snapped for me.

No, really—she did more than just speak for me. Grabbing Miriam’s face with both hands, she began to squeeze.

“Aaah!”

“If you were going to show up like this, you could have tipped us off before we came in! Because of you, we lost Brother Barkal!”

At the almost punitive scene, I clicked my tongue.

Still, since everything Serena said was correct, I didn’t really feel the need to stop her.

“I-I couldn’t help it! I used a classical cipher because I-I wasn’t sure it was actually you!”

Classical cipher?

Now what’s that supposed to mean.

“I’m sorry that you were separated from your comrade.”

“No need to apologize. If you’re the ‘First Finger,’ you can call people over to help search.”

“Um…”

Miriam’s expression turned troubled. It couldn’t possibly be that she can’t, right?

“Hardly anyone knows I’m the First Finger. And…”

“And?”

“Th-the Second Finger, silas, is after me, remember? If he finds me, I’ll definitely be killed!”

Miriam pleaded pathetically. She didn’t give off the impression of being the executive of the Disguisers at all.

Is she a fake?

“He’s a Gold Rank Adventurer. A veteran martial artist who’s been through many dungeons!”

“Why would someone like that become a Disguiser Finger?”

“I-I heard he killed his comrade. That’s why the Adventurer’s Guild went after him, and he needed a place to hide…”

“He killed his comrade! He’s trash!”

At Serena’s scathing insult, miriam flinched.

“A-anyway, he’s a dangerous bastard!”

“We’re not leaving until we find Barkal.”

“He might already be dead.”

Still trembling, miriam continued to speak without hesitation.

“The masquerade ball is in chaos searching for me. If Barkal is in there… aaah!”

“You really don’t know when to quit!”

As if done listening to Miriam, Serena tightened her grip on her head.

“Ow, ow! I’ll really die! I’ll really die!”

“As a cleric of Liberas, the God of Love and Virtue, I guarantee as a priest—this isn’t enough to kill someone!”

“A cleric… doing this!?”

Leaving the two behind, I turned my gaze toward the direction we had come from a moment ago.

The pier where the masquerade ball had taken place was still full of noise.

Miriam had said,

Barkal had probably died.

Honestly,

I just couldn’t picture it.

* * *

With every punch, Barkal’s body shook violently, dull booms resounding through the air as if his bones were rattling.

“Gah!”

Blood spattered from Barkal’s lips.

Even so, he refused to fall.

Silas rained down blows.

Ribs.

Solar plexus.

Jaw.

Stomach.

Every punch hit home, the shock of flesh and bone vibrating through his fists.

But—

“Hah, hah.”

Barkal stood firm. Blood streamed through the skull helmet, but the burning light in his eyes glowed even brighter.

Silas knit his brows at the sight.

‘A normal guy would have died by now.’

Tough bastard. Is this what a barbarian is?

‘No.’

Silas denied his own thought. No matter how much of a “barbarian”

Barkal was, no one could withstand this kind of onslaught.

This was the power of an ogre, after all.

Thanks to the ring Silas wore, he wielded the very strength of an ogre.

There’s no way a simple “barbarian” could withstand an ogre’s assault.

“What a monster.”

Thus, silas sneered at the barbarian before him.

“Ptui.”

Receiving that sneer, Barkal spat on the floor. The spit was tinged deep red with blood.

“You are a monster, as well.”

As if acknowledging his foe, Barkal said so.

“It truly is ogre power. Each time you hit me, I’m reminded of the ogre I once faced.”

Stating the obvious.

“You’re saying wearing that ring gives you ogre strength?”

Silas only nodded, still with a mocking face.

“Yeah, as long as I have this ring on, I wield an ogre’s might.”

“If that’s the case,”

Barkal steadied his breath and spoke again.

“—then just how strong will you become if you take the ring off?”

What?

Silas cocked his head, not understanding Barkal’s words.

This bastard.

What nonsense is he spewing now.

***

**New Names, locations, skills, and Techniques**

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep