Stigma Effect

Proofreader: kuroneko_chan

Yuriel knew in advance which direction the monster was moving. No matter how fast the monster moved, Yuriel didn’t need to pay attention to it.

If she aims the gun at the place where the monster would appear and pull the trigger, the monster would fall.

“The monsters keep jumping in front of her gun.”

“Are you in control?”

“Are you controlling monsters?”

Yuriel fell into a trance, not hearing what the people she was protecting were saying behind the scenes. Defeating monsters felt like her mission.

Yuriel felt something captivating her with a sense as if Yuriel was watching Raphlet, or even more than that. It was surprising that there was something so captivating to her.

Pulling the trigger continuously, Yuriel started to reflect on everything that had happened to her..

After Raphlet left her and joined the Knights, there were things that supported Yuriel.

Baraha, who wandered through the forest more anxiously than herself, who had lost Raphlet, and the servants of Grand Duchy Mogris who were dying under the attack of monsters. Without Yuriel’s help, they would’ve died immediately.

Although she missed Raphlet who was far away, she spent time helping them. She was able to forget for a moment the gloom that seemed to engulf her by staying busy with helping the servants of the Grand Duchy Mogris.

The feelings she felt then seemed to be awakening even more now.

All the loaded bullets ran out. Yuriel reloaded faster than usual and destroyed the core in the middle of the regenerating monster’s body.

Yuriel pulled the trigger toward the core and raised her head to find Shudmuel, who was staring blankly at her. The reporter’s camera, which Shudmuel was blocking, was now pointed at her, and he was taking pictures with an excited face, and meticulously taking notes of the current situation.

She was displeased with the man writing feverishly as he looked at her, but there was no time to stop him. Yuriel aimed at the point where the monster would appear and fired her gun.

＊＊＊

Shudmuel couldn’t stop the reporter from taking pictures of Yuriel. All he could do was watch Yuriel destroy the monster’s core from afar.

Yuriel’s abilities greatly exceeded his expectations.

Finding the movement of the monster was something that Shudmuel could easily do. Even if he didn’t have foresight, if he only knew the ecology of monsters, it would have been simple. However, that is not simply the ability to find the movement of monsters.

Yuriel was moving in anticipation of the monster’s behavior.

In the eyes of those who were watching, it was precisely enough that she seemed to be controlling a monster.

Unlike Yuriel, who quickly dealt with monsters, the knights were struggling. Because of the agreement between the Alchemy Tower and the Temple, the Knights were trying to subdue the monsters without destroying the monsters’ cores.

Since the core of a flying monster was especially rare, the knights were struggling even more. It seemed that they seldom thought of destroying it, knowing how much of a loss it would be to destroy it.

Perhaps she did not know the value of nuclear weapons yet, but only Yuriel was destroying the exposed core without hesitation. The image of Yuriel neutralizing monsters was clearly etched in Shudmuel’s eyes.

To Shudmuel, all the people involved in Albraka and the Alchemy Tower were deceptive beings protecting the monsters in the name of using the monster cores to make rapid progress.

Raphlet, who was called a saint, was no different. Was the person who puts the core of a monster into his body and has the same powers as a monster truly a saint?

In Shudmuel’s eyes, Albraka was just a hotbed of monsters. They take the person who has the core of a monster as the head and assists him in gathering more monster cores. It’s strange to see the knights dispatched to protect the monster cores and feel nothing.

He couldn’t even count how many people were sacrificed to protect the cores. Despite the many sacrifices, no one said that they had to destroy the monster cores.

The most powerful power source in existence.

If the core that drives everything in the Imperial Capital was destroyed, they would have to give up everything they enjoyed now.

Carriages led by horses and coaches would reappear instead of automatically running chariots, and the speed of ships across the river would be significantly lower than they are today. They would have to light a candle instead of the convenient magic stone lamp.

It was impossible for anyone to want to return to such an uncomfortable life.

Except for a gang of terrorists who had lost something precious due to the monster cores.

The goal of those involved in terrorism was to inform people about how dangerous it was to use monster cores, and ultimately destroy all objects that used monster cores.

The monster cores attract monsters. Few people knew about it.

Shudmuel, who was in deep thought, looked at Yuriel, who was destroying the monster’s core, with subdued eyes.

In his eyes, Yuriel looked more like a saint than Raphlet.

‘If I further strengthen the brainwashing that I had done on Yuriel, I may be able to attract her.’

Rumors about the maid, whom Raphlet cherished, had already spread throughout Albraka. Shudmuel was only trying to use Yuriel to hold Raphlet’s feet.

However, after confirming Yuriel’s ability, he changed his mind.

He had an intuition that Yuriel would be a great help to the terror he was causing in the Imperial Capital.

The eyes of Shudmuel, the traitor of Albraka, stared at Yuriel greedily.

＊＊＊

The knights were collecting the cores extracted from the monsters’ bodies in one place. Yuriel had dealt with most of the monsters, so there were only a few intact cores. The expression of the knight who was checking the quantity of cores was not good.

“If Miss Yuriel hadn’t come forward, we would have been able to collect more cores….”

She heard someone mumble in dissatisfaction. It was a mumble of criticism. She felt like she should have said she was sorry, but she couldn’t. Yuriel leaned against the wall with her exhausted body.

Her head was pounding.

Yuriel, who was unable to move a single finger, rolled her eyes and looked around. The first thing that caught her eye was the knights telling people that the monsters had been dealt with and that it was okay to move.

People outside the building Yuriel was blocking were crawling around. As the people who had been evading looked at the repaired street, Yuriel felt that the building she had her back on was too quiet.

Apparently, many people entered the building, but no one came out.

Why is no one coming out?

Yuriel barely turned her head, which was hard to move, and looked around the building.

The people inside were wary of Yuriel hanging right next to the door.

Yuriel saw the gaze filled with fear and cleared her throat. Yuriel, who stood up holding on to the wall, spoke as loudly as possible.

“Now, you are safe. There are no more monsters nearby.”

Her voice cracked as she shouted during evacuation. Even though she coughed and cleared her throat. They could have heard it, but no one would come out.

Yuriel tilted her head and spoke again.

“There are no monsters nearby, so you can go back safely.”

When she shouted loudly, people hesitated and came out. Yuriel blinked in embarrassment as she saw the people turning as if trying to avoid her.

Why do they look like they were afraid of her? Is it because she has a gun?

Yuriel hid the gun that was sticking out through her cloak with her clothes and stepped aside. As she got out of the door, the people came out faster.

As expected, they’re also afraid of the gun. Well, it could be because they saw her killing monsters earlier.

Yuriel thought so and looked at the people who were avoiding her.

Yuriel, who was trying to protect them, licked her lips, feeling a little disappointed. She protected them by using all her energy to the point where it was hard to move, but what came back was a gaze filled with fear.

I miss Lord Raphlet….

In a moment of gloomy thought, Yuriel found Raphlet holding out his hand in front of her.

“Lord Raphlet!”

Yuriel’s voice, who shouted cheerfully with strength, broke through the air. No answer came back. The wind blew through his outstretched hand.

Looking down at her empty hands, Yuriel blinked and raised her head.

“… uh? Obviously, I saw you in front of me… .”

Yuriel, who had clearly seen Raphlet in front of her, muttered hazily. Raphlet was coming into sight, but he was still far away.

Raphlet found Yuriel leaning against the wall, went to her side, and held out his hand.

It was like a fantasy she had just seen.

＊＊＊

Upon returning to Albraka, Yuriel fell into a deep sleep as soon as she laid down on the bed. She slept without waking up until morning, and when she woke, her body was aching.

Perhaps it was the aftermath of blocking the attack of the monster, she felt her body sinking heavily. It looks like she has a fever.

She felt her forehead before getting out of bed, but it was difficult to determine whether she had a fever with her own hands.

“Should I take a day off…?”

Yuriel, who was staring at the ceiling with a blanket wrapped around her body, remembered the promise with Shudmuel and raised her heavy body. After returning to Albraka yesterday, Shudmuel left a message asking her to come to his office.

She looked at her watch and saw that the time they were supposed to meet was near.

Yuriel struggled to get up and went into the bathroom.

Yuriel, who arrived at Shudmuel’s office on time, was greeted by an unwelcomed newspaper article.