The angel, who had taken my final strike head-on, transformed into a small cluster of light and vanished without a trace.
Not only that, but the man in the black hood, presumed to be the mastermind behind all of this, had already fled into one of the many passageways along the walls, as if he had sensed his defeat moments before.
Unfortunately, by the time I had prioritized dealing with the situation to rescue Riel and the human girl, Purin, it was already too late to pursue him.
Since the original request was to capture that man alive, I was worried about Riel’s reaction.
However, unexpectedly, she accepted the outcome calmly.
Even though we had failed to capture him, we had dealt a significant blow to their forces and, more importantly, prevented a large-scale terrorist attack before it could be executed.
According to her, that alone was a sufficient achievement.
Thinking back to what he had been ranting about during the battle, it was indeed an absurd scheme—to ruin the birthday celebration of the Demon Emperor.
So, she wasn’t wrong.
***
After wrapping everything up, we returned to Stern, the hideout of the humans, and gave the residents a brief explanation of the current situation.
Leaving them with reassurance that the immediate danger had been dealt with, we turned our backs and left the sewers.
As we emerged above ground with the help of the spirits, just as we had done before, I was immediately greeted by the now-familiar cool dawn air of Trassion.
Thankfully, as Riel had predicted, we had completed everything just in time before sunrise.
With that, we began walking toward the guild to settle the payment for the request.
And inevitably, a strange, indescribable atmosphere lingered between us—an awkward silence that neither of us dared to break.
Without a single word exchanged, she and I walked through the empty, shadowed streets, the silence between us feeling suffocating.
To be fair, this discomfort had been all but inevitable.
After all, she had just witnessed something utterly extraordinary with her own eyes.
Given that my true nature was already shrouded in mystery, it was only natural that anyone with common sense would start to suspect something about me.
But the irony was that even I had no real understanding of this unknown power of mine.
From a logical standpoint, there were only two possible reactions she could have in this situation.
Either she would bombard me with an endless stream of questions, her curiosity shining in her eyes, or she would maintain a cautious distance from me.
Based on what I had observed of Riel’s personality from our brief time together, I had expected her to fall into the first category.
However, the reality was quite the opposite.
She chose to remain silent, keeping her thoughts to herself.
And because she said nothing, I, who had nothing in particular to say either, naturally kept my mouth shut as well—completing this uneasy atmosphere between us.
To make matters worse, I had lost my mask during the intense battle, leaving my face completely exposed to her.
Riel herself didn’t seem to care much about it, but for me, it was impossible not to feel self-conscious.
Thankfully, my cat ears remained intact on my head, but even so, facing her directly without the mask—my only shield—felt incredibly burdensome.
Still, despite everything, she never once brought up the overwhelming power I had displayed.
She simply walked ahead of me in silence.
‘What could she possibly be thinking right now?’
If I could at least see her expression, I might be able to make an educated guess.
But unfortunately, I didn’t have the confidence to meet her gaze again, just for that reason.
And it wasn’t just that—I was already overwhelmed with my own confusion, making it difficult to focus on anything else.
***
From the moment of my ranking examination to now, everything surrounding me had been a tangled mess of mysteries.
Rather than uncovering any answers, things only seemed to be growing more convoluted.
My mind had already reached its limit.
At this point, I wasn’t even sure where to begin unraveling it all.
It felt like I was facing an unsolvable puzzle, and all I could do was let out a dry chuckle.
Honestly, looking back, I had no idea how I had managed to take down that monstrous being all by myself.
Even as the one who had done it, I couldn’t fully grasp how it had been possible.
In the midst of this inexplicable silence, we soon left the slums and arrived at the guild branch.
Since I could no longer enter without my mask, Riel handled the process of reporting the completion of the request on her own.
After a short while, she walked out of the building.
And there, she stood before me, looking straight at me.
To be honest, I had considered leaving while she was inside, without saying goodbye.
After all, my face had already been exposed to her, along with several inconvenient truths.
Spending any more time with her seemed like a terrible idea.
And yet, the reason I had waited for her instead of leaving was simple.
A lingering curiosity…
And an unresolved question that refused to fade.
Meanwhile, Riel, as if surprised to find me still here, gazed at me with a hint of astonishment in her eyes.
“…That’s unexpected. I thought you’d just leave right away. The fact that you waited for me…”
“I actually have one thing I want to ask.”
“Hmm, something you want to ask… Well, normally, it should be the opposite, but I guess I’ll hear you out.”
It was hard to believe that all of this happened just this morning, but maybe it was the result of a difficult journey.
With a tired look clearly visible on her face, Riel gave a small smile and muttered.
That was a rather sensitive topic for me, so I tried to hide my unease and cleared my throat before speaking seriously.
“You’re really not going to ask anything…? There must be a few things you’re curious about after seeing something like that. You said you hired me out of curiosity, right? To be honest, now I even have doubts about that.”
Instead of responding to Riel’s silence, I asked a blunt question that was almost a direct approach.
Of course, this was not a question that would benefit me at all.
But I couldn’t just let it go and pretend everything was fine—it was bothering me too much.
When she first hired me and mentioned curiosity, I found it hard to believe, but I could somewhat accept it.
However, that was as far as it went.
***
As time passed, I came to face the true nature of the secret mission she was assigned and the complex and serious background behind it, which naturally led to more questions.
She chose me, an uncertain partner, for this huge task ‘just because of curiosity…?’
Maybe her personality was strange enough for that to be true, but somehow, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was some other reason behind it.
The most telling part was when we were coming back after escaping the sewers—she didn’t ask a single question about me, and that only added fuel to the suspicious circumstances.
If anything, if I had relentlessly shown my confusion, maybe it would have been different.
But during our journey here, her behavior was certainly different from before.
At my bold question, Riel fell silent, seemingly lost in thought for a moment as she nervously touched her lips.
But soon, it seemed like she made up her mind, and after letting out a deep sigh, she opened her tightly closed mouth.
“Heh, you’re more perceptive than I expected? I thought you were the innocent type and wouldn’t figure it out until the end.”
“Ugh, who’s innocent!? Wait…! Then, no way.”
“Unfortunately, you’re wrong. The reason I approached you back then was truly out of pure curiosity, with no hidden agenda. And as for the reason I didn’t ask you any questions while we were coming back here, the answer is simple. You’re not just someone hiding a powerful, mysterious force… You’re a ‘mechanical doll.'”
“This is no longer something I can just approach out of personal curiosity. I may be quite curious, but I prefer to avoid getting involved in clearly dangerous situations.”
At the moment when my doubts almost turned into certainty and I became extremely wary, Riel’s voice came again, causing me to reflexively widen my eyes.
At the same time, my mind went completely blank.
She confidently said the perfect answer without hesitation, calling me a mechanical doll.
At first, I doubted if I had misheard, but as my senses slowly returned, my expression changed to one of complete shock.
“W-what do you mean!? Ah, is it because of my skin color? Is that it? Well, just like you, Riel, I have quite a bit of human blood in me… So…”
“The disguise was perfect. It was just that the other party was wrong. For someone like me, a spirit mage, distinguishing between those with life and those without is very simple.”
Since the moment the mask was lost, I had been worried, but when the situation was revealed to be true, I couldn’t hide my shock.
For a moment, I kept speaking without thinking.
But once she interrupted me to speak the truth, I could only remain silent before her.
It was like a cat in front of its prey…
Her emerald eyes were shining brightly amidst the deep darkness.