The Demon Hunting Method of the Regressed Inquisitor

Pinocchio (1)

She felt nothing.

She suspected nothing.

It was only later that Linnea was shocked to realize the boy was not human.

Dangerous. She had already guessed who he was and spoken it aloud.

Even if she was wrong, he was not an ordinary person.

How he would react was unknown.

Linnea slowly distanced herself from the boy who was staring at her with a blank expression.

And then.

“Hello? Sister.”

“Huh…?”

A drawn expression appeared on the boy’s previously blank face.

An innocent boy’s face.

In that gap, Linnea couldn’t help but feel momentarily bewildered.

The sense of alienation she had felt disappeared. The fear also lessened.

Could it be her imagination? Had she mistaken an ordinary boy for a machine because of stress?

Such countless doubts began to float in her mind.

Even now, she could hear a sound like gears meshing, a sound that could not come from a human, coming from the boy.

Linea heightened her vigilance to the maximum.

It was strange. This was not a situation where she could afford to let her guard down.

The other person made it so.

Then how?

‘Like a real person…’

A figure that perfectly matched the image that came to mind when thinking of a boy of that age.

As if countless samples had been gathered and woven together to create this form.

Why go to such lengths?

“Do you know what this big building is for?”

“It’s a mansion. A place where people live.”

Linea answered honestly.

However, she did not say who lived there. If the boy’s purpose was Geppetto’s life, it could be dangerous.

She only spoke of things that wouldn’t matter if said.

“And this wall?”

“The wall… is a wall, right?”

What other explanation was needed? It didn’t seem like he didn’t know what a wall was.

“To keep someone out?”

“An outsider, perhaps?”

“Is that so?”

“Maybe… yes.”

Linea kept her words to a minimum.

She avoided giving a clear answer about who the wall was for.

“Then am I an outsider?”

“…I don’t know?”

This question was a landmine.

A wrong answer could mean pulling the trigger herself.

Linea still didn’t know the boy’s purpose. She couldn’t answer lightly in a situation where she didn’t even know if there was hostility.

“I see.”

Linea gave the best answer she could. She drew a line, as if to say she had no connection to the owner of the mansion.

But the boy seemed to sense the deep-seated fear within Linea and answered himself.

The boy returned to his expressionless state and looked up at the building’s wall.

A high and solid wall of separation.

After staring blankly at the wall for a while, the boy trudged away.

“…….”

It was only when the boy’s figure disappeared that Linea could move. This was no ordinary matter.

She had to inform someone. But who should she inform?

‘Titan?’

Linea first thought of Titan, the core force of the party.

Should she tell him?

＞＞There was a trial?

＞＞Where is he now?

＞＞I need to check how strong he is.

＞＞Boom!

No, she shook her head.

Informing Titan without a plan would be like pulling the trigger. There was nothing to gain from provoking an unknown trial.

In that case, she needed someone who could analyze the situation more calmly, even if they were a bit less powerful.

This time, she thought of Lost, who could be considered the center of the party.

＞＞What? A trial? Are you sure?

＞＞How can you be certain?

＞＞Suspicious? That kid? Why?

＞＞Do you have some strange ability or something?

No, absolutely not. How had she kept this secret until now?

She couldn’t create a situation where she would be caught.

Linea shook her head vigorously. Titan was out of the question. Lost was also out of the question. That left only one option.

“Claire!”

“Linea, sister?”

Linea’s logical circuits were broken.

She knew it wasn’t the right decision, but by the process of elimination, Claire was the only one left.

“C-Crisis, it’s a crisis.”

“…What on earth happened in the last 30 minutes?”

Claire stepped back, startled by the extreme change in Linnea, who had been smiling just a moment ago.

“T-That’s…!”

Linnea, driven by instinctive fear, began to babble about what she had experienced.

Claire listened to the story with a calm face and came to a conclusion.

“Are you going to tell Mr. Lost?”

“That’s…”

“Is it a problem with the content gap?”

Claire couldn’t be unaware.

The decisive reason Linnea was suspicious of the boy was missing.

She was hiding something.

And she didn’t want Lost to find out.

‘Do you like him? Such a child?’

Claire’s judgment was strict.

Lost was human trash.

It was an extremely subjective judgment filled with her prejudice.

‘Linnea is too good for him…’

In terms of social status, wealth, and even ability, Linnea was too good for him.

Naturally, she had more affection for Linnea, who usually took care of her.

“Then let’s do it this way.”

Anyway, it was not her place to interfere. She was already contemplating whether to kill Lost or not.

“I said I felt suffocated and wanted to go outside, and Linnea, who happened to find the boy, talked to him.”

“Oh, is that okay?”

“Of course. You even gave me such a wonderful gift.”

Linnea quietly nodded. It was a pity.

Such a kind child.

Why did she have to live such a harsh life?

“Don’t be flustered.”

“Okay.”

“Take a deep breath… and speak calmly.”

“Okay!”

Claire comforted Linnea, who still couldn’t shake off the tension from the encounter with the ordeal, and then lay back down.

Somehow, she felt tired.

‘What is she trying to do here?’

She said she came to Nidavellir to find her weapon. A weapon that Claire, who didn’t have the strength to wield a sword, could use temporarily.

Nidavellir had many such weapons. Weapons for the weak.

The most representative one was a gun.

A weapon that could kill a person just by pulling the trigger.

Besides that, there were also many unidentified weapons presumed to have flowed in from the inner city.

So, was Lost looking into those weapons?

‘No, he has another purpose.’

It wasn’t a long time, but Claire had figured out something about Lost. He was a suspicious person.

A person full of secrets he didn’t tell others.

And he draws people into his plans. So naturally, that they don’t even realize it.

He was good at understanding people.

So, he leads them into situations where they have no choice but to comply, even if they know.

‘He’s a villain.’

Claire stared blankly at the ceiling and then turned over.

She saw the test paper that Lost had made.

“…He’s good at making things like this.”

Unlike the strange scam where she bought a lousy book, the test paper that Lost had organized and made was quite well-made.

It was easy to understand and clear what could be learned through the problems.

It even explained objectively and clearly how the problems could be applied in various fields.

Although not as much as Linnea, Lost’s academic background was much higher than she had imagined.

“But why…”

He was a smart person. A person who understood people’s hearts well.

Yet, he was a person who built walls.

Like a traveler who only unpacked the minimum luggage so that he could leave at any time.

“They’re all just kids.”

Although she was still very young, there was no one in the group who had become an adult.

“Everyone… is as immature as me…”

Claire felt her eyes slowly closing. It was a comfortable bed.

“Maybe…”

It might have been to stimulate Geppetto for her weak body.

So, she might have been able to stay in such a wonderful place.

*     *      *

Following Claire’s advice, Linea ran calmly and composedly.

“Mr. Lost! It’s a big deal!”

At least, that’s what she thought.

As she wandered around the mansion, she fell into panic again.

Her heart was anxious because she couldn’t see Lost.

Being relatively ordinary, the mere thought of meeting a transcendent made her heart sink.

“…What on earth is going on?”

Lost scratched his cheek as he looked at Linea catching her breath.

He had never seen her overreact like this.

“I, I encountered a trial!”

“What? How did that happen?”

“…Claire wanted to get some fresh air, so I took her out and met a strange boy. He looked infinitely human… but he was a mechanical device.”

“Hmm.”

Fortunately, Linea was able to calm down somewhat as she spat out the excuse she had thought of with Claire.

“What did you talk about?”

“Well, that…”

Lost asked with a cold attitude, as if meeting Linea’s expectations.

Of course, Lost couldn’t have imagined that Linea would face a trial in such a situation.

But it’s not impossible.

After all, it might have been because Linea was a beastman that she could notice the secret of such a boy.

Those with senses superior to others do not come to Nidavellir in the first place.

The city full of noise is only painful for them. Even if they do come, most of them are people who know how to control their senses.

There are not many fools like Linea who wander around with all their senses open in a noisy and headache-inducing place.

“And in the end… they asked if they were an outsider and then left.”

“That’s ominous.”

“Yes! It’s ominous! Do you think I did something wrong?”

If her words were to bring a great disaster to Nidavellir, she wouldn’t be able to bear it.

Hadn’t she hidden everything about herself to fit in with people?

Such fear was constricting her body. As if it were a fate she couldn’t change no matter what she did.

She felt as if she would be despised by people.

“Calm down for now.”

Seeing Linnea’s fox ears trembling with anxiety, Rost clasped her hands together.

Then, as if praying, he held her hands tightly.

Whether it was the gentle touch that calmed her, Linnea’s breathing began to relax along with her ears.

“It’s nothing serious. If a few words from you could cause problems in Nidavellir, it would have happened long ago.”

“Do you think so?”

“There was no malice in the first place.”

Rost closed his eyes as usual and lit a cigarette. It was Rost’s ritual to calm his mind.

The way to control fear with another fear.

He dedicates himself to the ritual to keep his mind sharp.

“The child is so anxious.”

Rost, looking at the flickering flame at the end of the cigarette with blurry eyes, quietly turned around and asked.

“Wouldn’t it be better to say something? Master Geppetto.”

Geppetto’s complexion was beyond pale, almost white. He was so agitated that he couldn’t hide his expression.

Maybe he was lucky. Because it was a situation where he couldn’t make excuses.

“If my guess is correct, they came to see you.”

Geppetto closed his eyes tightly.

Rost was right.

The “One Who Draws the Future” came to see him. Moreover, it was impossible to hide it now that he had shown such blatant emotional agitation.

“…Miss Linnea, how did that child look to you?”

It was something that had never happened before.

The “One Who Draws the Future” came to find him. Or maybe he just hadn’t noticed, and the child had been waiting, blocked by a wall, all this time.

“Well…”

Linnea swallowed dryly as she watched Geppetto’s desolate expression.

The worry that she might have caused a problem had disappeared. Therefore, she could objectively judge the past events.

“It might have… looked lonely.”

But she wasn’t confident.

The boy was smiling.

Just like a child of that age.

Thinking it looked lonely was just because the question felt that way.

Unfortunately, Linnea couldn’t feel any emotion from the boy.

Even so, she gave such an answer because Geppetto’s expression seemed so desperate.

“Yes, I see. That would be natural.”

Geppetto, who had been trembling while looking at his hands, finally seemed to decide something and spoke with wide-open eyes.

“As you said. The child called ＜The One Who Draws the Future＞, Deus Ex Machina, was created by me.”

Geppetto assured that it must have been a miracle.

“And it’s my fault that the child turned out that way.”

“Whatever it is, let’s correct the subject first.”

Lost spoke as he watched Geppetto, who seemed to be vomiting out words. He hadn’t come to blame Geppetto.

It was all for the sake of resolution.

Defeating or denying the other was not the only solution.

The saint she respected always lived like a fool. Did that seem foolish? No, it didn’t.

That attitude towards life should be respected more than anything.

“The relationship that makes you so miserable, that must have been a deep one. Then, there must be a name you gave, not the one given by ignorant people, right?”

Not a grand name like ＜The One Who Draws the Future＞ or Deus Ex Machina, but the name that shakes the heart of the dwarf Geppetto.

“That child is…”

Geppetto lowered his head.

It was something unimaginable.

Until now, no one had cared about the real name of the child who came to be called a trial.

Maybe that’s why.

“Pinocchio.”

It was the secret he had been bearing alone.

Then the man smiled faintly.

“It sounds like a name that would have worried your parents.”

At such a casual remark, Geppetto, as if recalling a forgotten past, answered with a trembling voice, tears welling up and a bitter smile on his face.

“Yes… He was a reckless one…”

And so, the gears that had been halted in Geppetto’s mind began to turn.