~ Chapter 128: Rumors of a Serial Killer ~

[Kalderan’s point of view]

While fighting in this tournament, I came to realize something… important: I was strong.

Unlike before, when I was lowering my head in front of average adventurers or trying my best not to anger someone who looked strong, I felt as though no matter who my opponent was, I would end up easily defeating them. I knew how dangerous it was for power to get to your head, that was why, as soon as the fights for the second part of the tournament were over and the ending procession began, I decided to have a talk with both Coshun and Alkelios about this.

“And that’s my worry...” I told them after I explained it properly.

“Hm, it is wise to seek help when you realize that you might get overwhelmed by your own strength. I had that happen to me too, but General Brekkar made sure to pound the truth in my head. There will always be individuals far more powerful than you out there, no matter how fast you grow in strength and when there is none, then there will be the gods themselves!” he declared with a nod as he held his arms crossed at his chest, trying to show off like a wise and mighty knight.

The fact that he was wagging his tail tip made it known to all of us that he was simply happy to have someone ask his opinion. Coshun, no matter if he was a Prince or not, he was a simple man at heart, and this was a good thing.

Alkelios on the other hand waited for a moment before he gave me his reply.

“To be honest, I too had my ideas of strength shattered back on the Dragon Continent... In battle, I found myself being able to survive and dash out attacks that were equivalent to a ballistic siege, but then here, on the Human Continent, I ended up encountering a... creature that simply made me run away in fear.” he looked me in the eyes and then continued “If you are worried about being corrupted by power, you won’t be able to show it when it really matters, however, while I personally don’t think that you actually need someone to show you just how weak you are in comparison to them, I won’t hesitate to beat you up in the ring if that’s your request, but...” he then closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them, he said “I also don’t think this is the place for us to show what we can do.”

I found his words to be a bit confusing at first. My intent was to be shown that I was not mighty, but it seemed as though he was trying to say that this was not actually my true desire... How could it not be when such a difference in strength was clearly shown to me in these past couple of days. Powerful fighters from whom, previously, I would have had to run away were now nothing more than moving punching bags for me.

If my impression of these men and women is just that of a “punching bag” then why can’t they see just how wrong and terrible this is?! What could stop me from actually abusing my power and... I thought but seeing me deep in thought and with a furrowed brow, Coshun placed his hand on my shoulder and then asked me while looking straight into my eyes.

“My friend, what bothers you?”

“I... I’m afraid that I’m growing too strong and then... I’ll become like them.” I told him.

“Will you?”

“NO! I won’t, but this doesn’t mean that...” he stopped me there and shaking his head, he told me.

“Then there’s nothing to worry about. However, when that time comes, we’ll make sure, the both of us, that you won’t go astray.”

“He’s right.” Alkelios told me and then with a big grin on his face, he added “Besides, just look at me! I’m ridiculously powerful, but does it look like what you are saying happened to me? I mean, seriously, I don’t think there’s any organization or parties of adventurers who could go against me in this country. Among all the contestants, knights and whatnot in this tournament, I didn’t see a single one against which I thought that yes, I should go all out against him! Hahaha!” 

“So... I’m an idiot for worrying about this?” I asked raising an eyebrow at him.

“Nope, on the contrary! You are actually wise, because, you know, although what you’re worried about seems like a normal thing for you, there aren’t actually that many people who do it. In my opinion, that just proves to show that you are a good guy.” he told me.

“But... what if I actually use my power like I fear I would?” I asked him as I looked at the SMG sheathed at my hip.

“In that case, I’m going to bet on the fact that you will have a good reason to do it, and if you don’t then I’m certain there will be someone to pummel you back to reason.” he smirked.

“Heh... You make it sound so simple...”

“Because it is.” he nodded.

“I agree! When you are in the army, you will see a lot of young draconians thinking that they are the King above the sky, but then there will always be a superior who will drag them back to the ground and show them the hard cold reality. By the time the whelps end up truly being so powerful that the past them was nothing more than a speck of dust in the past, they will also be far wiser and know how to wield that strength of theirs. Those who don’t, well... they usually either die because of their own stupid mistakes or they end up being tossed in jail because they abused their power and caused harm to an innocent. This has always been the case and it always will be. It’s one of those things which won’t change even if you are a Human Hero or not.” Coshun told us as he showed us a big smile on his lips.

“Well, with this being said! Let us head back to the inn and grab something to eat! I have a feeling everyone’s starving at this point!” Alkelios suggested and then looked back at our companions, who were waiting for us to finish our chat.

“I apologize...” I said.

“Nothing to worry about! Now let us all grab some grub!” Alkelios declared.

“Fish?! Tamara likes fish!” the nekatar jumped up in joy.

“A meal does sound good right about now.” Ildea added.

“Ah... food... I was starting to see brother as a big steak right about now.” Drumora joked around.

“Yes, yes... Wait? What?!” Amadeus looked back at her in surprise.

Drumora giggled when she saw his reaction.

“Well, we should have expected that today’s tournament would last so long, but we never expected for Alkelios to be among the last to go out and fight. Sigh...” Risha explained her dissatisfaction towards the tournament’s organizers.

They did not have to tell us again, we all joyfully returned to the inn to eat our fill, however, that night, while having a casual drink, we would end up hearing some rather disturbing rumors.

[Alkelios’ point of view]

No one expected Kalderan to be bothered by something like that. Personally, I couldn’t even remember if I was ever bothered by this idea or not. Ever since I arrived in this world, I was always among the strong and powerful. Seryanna was the first person I met on the Dragon Continent and back then, she made me feel like I was barely strong enough to lift a flower to her, let alone fight against her in a fair duel. Afterwards, I got to meet dragons and dragonesses who were one stronger than the other.

Maybe that was the reason why for me, being strong wasn’t a goal but rather a natural side effect of all the adventures you went through while making some sense of your life. You really had to make an effort in order to become weak in this world. The Magic Energy that was abundant here was lacking back on Earth, so it was very easy to grow strong even if you just simply tagged along a bunch of adventurers. There were also the rich folk who would just hire adventurers to hunt and capture strong monsters so that they could deliver the final blow on them and reap the benefits.

There was no doubt that there were even groups of humans out there who were using the party system that came with our [Hero] skill, so becoming weak was not something anyone could just stumble into. Of course, there were the special circumstance where one ended up contracting some sort of disease or affliction that prevented them from using their full might or even gradually weakened them until it ultimately took their lives. The [Berserker Burst] was one of the many conditions out there that could afflict even the powerful breakthrough-ers.

The human mind was something that not even the brightest minds back on Earth could hope to understand, while those who lived in this world probably understood even less about it. The Human Heroes brought back notions and ideas never heard off before, but at the same time, we all showed our fair share of problems that we needed to confront.

I did not believe that our little talk was enough to convince Kalderan that he had nothing to fear and that everything would certainly be alright. This was one of those battles in which we, his friends, could only stand back and watch while he slowly made sense of things and struggled to reach the conclusion, we probably already shared with him some time ago.

I was quite certain that I was in a similar situation right now but regarding other problems. There were probably good notions and ideas that were spoken or even described in detail, but which entered through one of my ears and then came out the other without leaving anything behind, yet sometime in the future, I would end up reaching the same conclusion on my own and through my own struggles.

This little conversation also reminded me of that time I was educated by Kataryna on how foolish of a man I was regarding Seryanna. If not for her beating the crap out of me, I would have probably lost my wife to that infuriating dragon.

Speaking of which... I miss Kataryna too... I wonder what she’s doing, how she’s been? Is Kleo still messing around with her or did that prankster dragoness finally settled down with that dragon Iolaus? I wondered.

After we had our fill at the inn, we laid back in our chair and had something to drink while talking about various stuff like monsters we encountered or funny things that happened to us. Our joyful time, however, was interrupted when a woman suddenly screamed at the entrance of the door.

“NOOO!” she then dropped down on her knees, crying.

I almost fell off my seat when I heard her, but when I looked at her, I saw the two city guards in front of her looking troubled by her sudden outburst.

Curious about this, I got up from my seat and walked up to them. The other guests at the inn were trying not to stare, but no one seemed bothered by this scene beyond the fact that the woman started crying and the earlier scream startled them.

“Sorry to bother you, but what happened?” I asked one of the guards.

“Huh? Ah, well... she just got the news that her brother was found dead in an alley nearby.” he replied as he was scratching the back of his head.

“Dead? Is there a murderer on the loose?” I asked raising an eyebrow as I knelt and gently patted her back “It’s going to be alright...” I told her.

“More like a serial killer.” the other guard shook his head and replied.

“M-My brother... he was strong! He wouldn’t have died like that!” the woman spoke through her tears.

From the leather armor that she was wearing, and the sword sheathed at her hip, she seemed like an adventurer, probably an Intermediary Rank, judging by her strength.

“Well, you are not wrong here, the man was a Master Rank and even participated in the tournament until the second part. That’s how I was able to recognize him.” the guard said.

“I see... So, who else was killed by this murderer?” I asked.

“Currently, there are twenty-four people who died by his hand, all of them cut down by a sword or a sharp object, and all of them were participants who lost in the tournament. We tried to push forward an appeal to the Knights, but we were ignored and told that they don’t bother with anyone who isn’t already a part of the tournament.” the guard told me.

“That’s outrageous... and at the same time, typical.” I let out a sigh and then shook my head.

“Indeed, but what can we city guards do about it? None of us is strong enough to take down such a foe. Usually, when we encounter a problem like this, we call the Knights, but now... for some reason, all of them refuse to participate in the investigation.” the guard shook his head.

“Hey, that’s enough! Don’t badmouth the Knights or we’ll never hear the end of it from the captain!” urged the other guard.

“Indeed... Well, there is nothing we can do about it anyway... Since the victim’s identity was confirmed, we would like for the lady here to come with us to make sure it was him. This way, at least, he won’t end up in an unmarked grave somewhere.”

“Just take care of her and make sure she doesn’t end up as the next victim to that killer.” I told the two guards.

“We’ll do our jobs, no need to remind us. Besides, like I said, the killer’s targeting competitors, which makes it easier for us. After all, if they cannot fight him, how could we?” the guard remarked with indifference and then shrugged.

“Thank you, stranger, but... I’ll be alright now...” the woman spoke with a soft voice and then got up.

She was anything but alright, she was acting tough. We could all see how she was still shaken and trembling after hearing the news, but the gentleman thing to do here was to simply turn a blind eye to her moment of weakness and hope that her fake strength will soon turn into real strength.

I let out a sigh and then returned to my table. The others all watched what happened from afar, however, we were all probably wondering the same thing, which was why did a contestant killer appear right now?

It could not be said that this was just a simple coincidence, maybe it was someone who was wronged in a competition before and was now taking his revenge upon those who failed to advance in the tournament, but such madmen could be easily caught sooner or later. What made this stranger was the fact that the Knights were refusing to lend their help in this matter. Just as the guard said, they were individuals with a higher level and strength than them. If someone could easily kill so many contestants, then the guards were no match for this killer.

“Who do you think it could be?” I asked as I looked at the others.

Coshun closed his eyes for a moment, Kalderan did the same and so did Ildea. Tamara wasn’t bothered to answer this question and just enjoyed the petting she received from Drumora and Amadeus. The first to speak was the dragon Prince.

“Back in Albeyater, acting like this would have been seen as no different than a disgrace, and no one would have approved of the killer’s deeds, but that much is expected everywhere... However, it’s strange, I don’t think it’s a killer who is out for revenge.” he shook his head.

“I agree.” Kalderan opened his eyes and spoke “A killer would have a modus operandi, a pattern that could be tied up to a trauma or inner motivation of the killer. In this case, just because they are contestants in the tournament is too little. There’s also another big reason why I think it isn’t your usual serial killing here.” he then looked at me.

“Hm?”

“Back on our world, killers like that would usually leave marks or gather trophies from their victims. They wanted their deeds to be known and spread to the skies and above. This killer doesn’t do this, and most importantly, his victim pattern has no continuation.” he explained.

“OK, I can understand the whole MO thing, but what do you mean by a continuation for the victim pattern?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“The victims...” Ildea said “The killer can only find victims during the tournament period, right?” she asked as she looked at Kalderan.

“Yes.” he nodded and then continued “A typical serial killer first attains a victim pattern that can be found as often as he needs. It also revolves around body characteristics or personality traits, not something like an event that takes place god knows when. For a serial killer, murder is the drug that he craves; a fix to their morbid dependence.”

“Oh! I see!” I finally realized it.

“But what does this mean?” Coshun wondered.

“Hm, well... let’s see. We have a killer who targets contestants who failed to advance but not those within the tournament. Not all the contestants were killed, so... what’s the difference between them?” I wondered.

“Allegiance?” Amadeus asked as he was scratching Tamara’s chin, and she seemed to be liking it.

“Allegiance?” I said as I blinked in surprise.

“What do you mean by...” Coshun was furrowing his brow, but then he stopped and hit his palm with the bottom of his fist. “I think I got it!” he declared.

“What is it?” Ildea asked.

With a big smile on his lips, he then said “Well, the contestants who agree to join the killer will get to live, while the others will be killed! That’s simple! This isn’t a simple serial killing but a recruitment of some sort!” he laughed.

“That... That’s actually plausible...” Kalderan said as he then found himself submerged in his own thoughts again.

I let them be. As long as this killer wasn’t going to target us, he would get to live, but if he dared to... well, I would make sure that he wouldn’t harm any of us. My guess was that tomorrow, after the tournament, either Coshun or Kalderan would end up getting approached by this mysterious killer with the intent of recruiting them. Maybe they would skip the dragon because he wasn’t human, but Kalderan would definitely get a visit if our guesses so far were right on the mark.

“We’ll just have to wait and see...” I said as I grabbed my tankard and drank the rest of my mead... or at least I thought I would. “Why isn’t there any more mead in my tankard?!” I asked as I looked at the empty bottom.

“Hic! Weird tasting fish~! Hic~!” Tamara hiccupped while looking flushed.

“I swear, I have no idea when she grabbed it!” Drumora looked just as shocked as the rest of us when we realized that the nekatar swiped my drink.