The Race of Beautiful People

I started to move while hiding my presence.

An opponent who gives off this kind of intimidation… I still can’t determine if it’s an enemy. However, I already had a guess based on the conversation that those four people had before.

“This is the wrong guy, right?” “But, as expected I couldn’t put my hands towards the prey…”

It may come from the one they were chasing.

[Nevertheless… I think that the one they’re chasing after had the intention to fight back.]

He plans to attack from the front huh… If he plans to launch a surprise attack, he should have erased his presence. But, he have such a stupidly deep fighting spirit full of simpleness. It’s as if he’s intentionally expressing his defiance. Is he that confident with his abilities? Or is it that he’s just stupidly honest? I pick up one of the thick branches nearby.

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Hyuuu…

I threw it somewhere diagonally in front of me.

Gasa…

In just that one moment…

[Pii.]

Pigimaru, who was also peeking out through his protrusion signalled me by making a small cry. The other party have moved. Pigimaru’s protrusion would show the direction where he had moved. He moves frighteningly quick. It’s as if he’s a raging gale. I quickly stood up and made my move.

I will catch him off guard when I attack him from the back.

It seems that he’s also surprised when he noticed me behind her. But, he’s a bit slower in his response.

[<Paralyze>]

He was not able to turn towards me. No— he can’t turn towards me. It seems that he’s confused why his body can’t move. Now that I looked at her closely, it appears she’s apparently a woman. Is that a hood covering her head? No, that’s wrong. It’s those things… It looks closer to what nuns wear. If I’m not mistaken, they’re called veils, right? Or rather, aren’t hoods those head covers that extends or connected to their backs? Just like those hoods in a parka.

The next thing that caught my attention is her overall attire. Is it possible to explain it if I just said that she’s wearing a dress-like armor? The base color of her armor and other equipment is white. There are also blue and green streaks added on some parts. Her hair is a pale yellow, like the color of lemons. Her hair was tied into a ponytail which drooped down to her back. It seems she have quite a slender body, though it may be somewhat be difficult to know of because of her armor. But, the thing that I was most concerned about…

[I felt your intent to attack me—… though I also felt some impurities mixed along in your killing intent. Anyway, that’s beyond the point.]

I found out that the nature of her killing intent has changed along the way. I feel hesitation in them. The quality of her killing intent was different from those with pure killing intent, nor those mixed with sadistic tendencies. Compared to the monsters from the ruins and the four people that I had just met, her killing intent shows a different emotion. After being able to compare these kinds of killing intents, I could finally understand the difference between them.

[I felt that there’s something different from the four-person group I had met earlier, so I guess I’ll talk to you for a bit. Though I said that, I’ll keep your movement sealed just in case.]

There is that unchangeable fact that my opponent might have dangerous thoughts. Though if you ask me, I’d rather face those four from before. Therefore, the fact that I’ve gained the initiative could be considered a win for me. There’s nothing better than making every situation more favorable towards myself.

[What… do… you… want…?]

The woman asked. I guess I’ll answer honestly for the time being.

[If I were to put it simply, I feel like I lost my way. If you’re knowledgeable about this place, tell me where the nearest town or village is. I’m not a local of this place. It’s also because of it that I don’t know those things that you’d usually call common knowledge. That’s why I want you to tell me everything I need to know about this place—]

There is some change on the woman. I could see some confusion in her. It slowly turned to doubt… I slowly walked in front of her while being careful for sudden attacks.

[…a blindfold?]

Is it included to that equipment she’s wearing on her head? That part have completely covered her eyes. It’s as if she’s wearing an eye mask. I looked down slightly. The whiteness of her skin stands out now that I’m looking at her in the front. Her chin have a bit of rotundity in her acutely-angled jaws. She could be considered to be someone who have a small face in her head. (T/N: kogao, some japs are obsessed with them. ¯_(ツ)_/¯) The thin lips of the charming woman is faintly quivering

[Those… four…?] [—Are they your friends?] [They’re… not…] [………]

Talking with someone who is paralyzed is really difficult. There is also quite a bit of the remaining gauge left. Sigh… It can’t be helped.

[I’ll make it so that you can just move your mouth so that we could make this conversation easier.]

It’s actually the whole head that would be released, but… I’ll just say that I will release her “mouth” here. I declared as such so that I could control the way our conversation goes.

[But… Try anything funny, and I’ll use my skill on you again. I’ll also make sure that such movements have some appropriate punishments prepared for them. Are we clear?]

I guess this should do for now. The other party should now have thought that I would use my “paralysis skill” on her again. However, it is actually impossible to stack the same <Paralyze> skill in a row. Well, it’s not like I told any lie to her.

After all, I will just my other skill <Sleep> on her if she tries anything strange.

However, I can’t really talk with someone when they’re sleeping… That’s why, I would avoid using <Sleep> if possible. Well, I could just make her sleep, then bind her with some rope but— let’s just leave that for later if I she doesn’t cooperate. Pigimaru’s staying silent. It’s as if it had completely read the air and kept its breath. I was impressed by its spontaneous act… Or rather, I feel like Pigimaru had been getting smarter. It took a few moments, but the woman have finally replied.

[Yes.]

I tapped the gauge that was floating near her head and tapped the Partial Release (Head) tag that appeared next to it. The way of changing the display works the same way as the other cancellation options of my skills.

Kasha…

After partially releasing her paralysis, I took a bit of distance away from her just in case. The woman just stared at me blankly.

[—I can… finally talk… like normal…] [The only part you can move is your mouth. I’m sorry, but I still don’t trust you. There’s a lot of people that I have met before I got in here. That’s why, I can’t easily trust a stranger.] [No— It’s not wrong for you to be vigilant against strangers. It’s just how a traveler like you would naturally think.]

She said no sudden insults. Is this just how she normally is? I could hear her clear voice filled with determination. If someone like a pure knight exists, he might be someone like this. I observed her again. With the way she looks, I think you could even say she could make money with just her appearance.

I took a glance at the yellow gauge. I noticed one thing just now. It may be because I haven’t partially released those four-people just now, that’s why I haven’t really noticed it and it made me really uncomfortable now that I did.

It’s probably because there’s no one other than me who can see the gauge.

They’re not aware of this gauge. In other words, they can’t guess that there should be a time limit on my skill if they can’t see the slowly decreasing gauge. If I were to use my skill on someone who had never been targeted before, maybe I could just fool them and tell them that the effect is permanent?

[There is one thing that I want to ask before I would answer your questions.] [I’d answer it depending on what your question is.]

[Did you meet a four-person group earlier?]

[I met them.]

[Where are they?]

[I killed them.]

[……eh? You killed them?

[Did I do anything wrong? They look like sh*t who can never change, and with the way their conversation went earlier, I think that these four were actually chasing you.]

[Ah— No… It’s not that you did anything wrong. It’s true that they were really chasing after me. It’s just that…]

The woman looks at me as if she’s ascertaining if I’m telling the truth.

[The White Walker… Don’t tell me, with just you alone? Or are there perhaps, some of your friends nearby?]

[…I have one friend nearby. I’ve gotten rid of them along with my friend. It’s just that, I don’t intend to show my friend to you.]

I’m not lying about this either. Certainly, there is one more person “lurking” in here. I’ll just let her think that I have a friend nearby who she can’t see. This should also be an effective means of blocking her way just in case she ever intends to move. Anyway, for those four people to actually have a great reputation… Well, those four were not on this woman’s side. It’s enough that I know this now. Thanks to that, it became easier for me to talk to her. After all, it’d be harder to talk to her if I had actually killed her friends…

[………….]

Though I said that, I still can’t trust this woman yet. For example, this woman isn’t even showing her “eyes”. I’ve heard before that you could tell if someone is telling the truth through his eyes more than through what he speak. Did she hide her eyes so that others couldn’t see through her lies? That’s what I thought…

Kasha…

–when that veil that was covering her eyes slid upwards. What a nice timing. I don’t think… that she’s been reading my mind. I observe the appearance of the woman again now that the areas where that veil has covered before was being revealed. She have neatly arranged double eyelids. Her beautiful set of eyelashes are really elegant. She also have quite an intriguing, pale blue eyes. I wonder if I’ve ever seen eyes as clear as hers before. The cover in her face was completely removed and I could now clearly see her face. She’s what you would undoubtedly call a beauty. Though, she had this mysterious beauty that’s made her be disconnected from the average people. When I looked at her, only “that race” came on to my mind. In the literary creations that could be seen nowadays, they are often depicted as beings who have a slender figure along with beauty that surpass all the others. Their race was commonly called referred to as “Elves”.

However, she doesn’t have that “part” of her which symbolizes them the most.

Right…

[……….]

The woman’s ears that had been revealed after her veil was removed, is undoubtedly from a human.