These damn things, always aiming for the same thing…

Muttering a curse under his breath, Ethan swung his sword in a single, decisive motion, severing one of the Cagrenis’ wings.

Screeeech—!

The Cagrenis let out a bloodcurdling scream. It flailed desperately, trying to get away, but no matter how hard it flapped its remaining wing, its massive body only spun in place, unable to move.

“If you’d just stood still, I would have finished you quickly. Why the hell are you making a fuss?”

He had no interest in hearing its screams.

A beast’s hide had to be flawless to sell for a high price, and if it struggled in pain and got scratched, its value would drop considerably.

Still, Ethan put aside the thought of preserving its by-products and tightened his grip on his sword.

Each stroke sent dark blue blood spurting into the air.

Why the hell do they all behave the same?

Brushing the blood from his head, Ethan let out a ragged breath.

Whether it was instinct or something else, beasts like this always targeted the weakest first – wounded soldiers, new mercenaries – when they encountered a group.

Animals fled when they sensed danger. Beasts, however, did the opposite.

They knew how to take hostages, play with their prey even when they weren’t hungry, and had the cunning to be downright cruel – just like humans.

“I want to see too.”

Sensing the faint sound of something approaching, Ethan tightened his grip and swung his sword.

The same blade that had torn mercilessly at the beast’s weak points, as if torturing it, now ended its life in an instant.

“Tsk.”

“You killed it too soon.”

As Ethan swung his sword forcefully, the dark blue blood clinging to the blade scattered in a curved arc before falling away.

“I told you not to come down until I said so.”

“But I’m curious.”

There was no point in trying to stop them – it was a lost cause a long time ago. Ethan let out a sigh.

Sheathing his sword, he reached out and pulled If around his waist as they hovered around the fallen Cagrenis.

“What exactly do you wish to see?”

“This.”

A slender forefinger extended, pointing directly at the beast’s exposed entrails.

Despite the still oozing blood, their gaze and gesture remained eerily indifferent.

They had always shown an interest in animals, but Ethan hadn’t expected them to dabble in anatomy. Until now they had only concentrated on touching things.

Ethan picked up a sturdy branch from the ground. The beast’s violent thrashing had broken many branches, leaving many thick ones.

Carefully, he used the branch to push the entrails aside, avoiding any splashes of blood. As he did so, clusters of black lumps spilled out in a steady stream.

A foul stench filled the air, so overwhelming that Ethan instinctively covered his nose and grimaced.

He had slaughtered countless beasts, but he had never encountered a stench like this.

And the body was fresh – it had only just died, with no time to decompose.

Even a human corpse wouldn’t smell this bad after decaying.

“Was it poisoned?”

That would explain why it was outside its usual habitat.

If it had been poisoned, it wouldn’t have been able to travel far.

Perhaps it had been attacked by another beast while trying to move.

As Ethan muttered to himself, If shook his head slowly.

“Those are tumours.”

“What?”

“It was consumed by a virus.”

There were cases where creatures lived without knowing that the cancer had spread to different parts of their bodies.

But this one had so much of its body covered in cancer cells that it must have noticed something was wrong.

The internal organs didn’t have any nerves, so it wouldn’t have felt pain, but it must have felt discomfort when relieving itself or eating.

When the spilled guts were examined carefully. The organ at the side was probably a testicle. Normally they were too small to be visible, but was their size due to the mating season or simply because the creature itself was large?

Recalling the anatomical knowledge stored in her mind, If shifted her gaze.

The blackened part of the intestines. From a distance she had been unsure, but now, up close, it was clear.

Belphirn had a significant number of beasts, and the devices left in the city scanned every living creature above it.

Since Belphirn had more beasts than humans, If had ended up learning more about beast anatomy than expected.

Of course, the scanned data was all they had—If had never actually observed these creatures firsthand.

There were cases like this one, creatures not even recorded in the data.

Although the scanning devices in Belphirn gathered information on the beasts, the long-range scans over the city lacked precision.

The most accurate scans came from the devices in the city itself, the same ones used on Ethan.

Not that they were curious enough to drag a beast into the city just to investigate.

Beasts were creatures that had mutated when viruses infiltrated animals and plants.

Over long periods of evolution, they had adapted to survive while carrying these viruses, but that didn’t mean they were immune to all of them.

“Wait. Didn’t you say that the Beasts were created because of this virus? And now they’re dying because of it? All of them?”

“Huh? No, not all of them.”

Ethan’s eyebrow arched at the cryptic response.

“Then what do you mean?”

If tilted her head, as if puzzled by his lack of understanding.

Even when viruses had similar structures, the antibodies they produced weren’t always the same.

“It’s a different virus. Looks like someone tampered with another city.”

These creatures had evolved to withstand a single virus, but now they had encountered another – so of course they would die.

Who knew how long it would take them to evolve the necessary antibodies to survive this one?

The evolution of life forms here was agonisingly slow.

“…What?”

***

When Ethan returned after handling the Cagrenis without so much as a scratch, the people erupted into cheers.

They had asked him with little more than a desperate hope, but he had exceeded their expectations, lifting a heavy burden off their shoulders.

And on top of that, he had brought back ingredients for an antidote.

Those who had been resigned to death—and their families—embraced one another in a frenzy of relief and joy.

No matter how much they celebrated or cheered, Ethan’s expression remained unchanged as he pocketed his payment.

What she had said—”another city.”

By his standards, that meant an ancient ruin.

Someone had discovered an ancient ruin.

Back at the inn, Ethan quickly washed up and started to pack his things, only to pause and run a hand roughly through his hair.

Now, at last, the strange behaviour of the beasts made sense.

They were running away from the virus.

That was why they were showing up in places they’d never been seen before, even outside their usual habitats.

The real problem was finding out who had discovered the ancient ruin.

That was the biggest headache.

If an ancient ruin had been found, then ancient relics should have appeared and caused a commotion – but everything was strangely quiet.

That wasn’t a good sign.

Whoever had found it had a reason to keep a treasure worth a fortune hidden.

And in Ethan’s experience, anyone who felt the need to hide their last card was always preparing to stab someone in the back.

After all, the best way to catch an opponent off guard was to wait for an opening and strike when they least expected it.

According to the information he had received from Deverick, there were two factions at play at the moment:

The nobles and the mercenaries.

The commoners, who kept quiet and avoided mercenaries, were also effectively on the side of the nobles.

After all, no vassal would dare defy his lord, and all lords were nobles.

Besides, mercenaries had always had a bad relationship with them.

There was also the possibility of a third faction, one that Ethan hadn’t yet considered.

His face twisted in frustration.

He hated political conflicts like this – they always degenerated into one-sided mudslinging.

Right now, everything seemed suspicious.

Rigo’s attitude, picking a fight he was obviously going to lose.

The silence of the nobles despite the increasing interference of the mercenaries.

Something about the movements of both sides didn’t add up.

“This is a pain.”

Try as he might to avoid it, there was no escaping what was coming.

No matter what, an ancient ruin had been discovered.

And soon there would be war.

It was the worst case scenario.

This power would soon become a tool of war.

Ethan’s gaze shifted to If, who was sitting on the bed.

The ability to use magic without mana.

Body fluids that could heal wounds.

The technology to regenerate and reattach severed limbs.

There was no way of knowing if the newly discovered ancient ruins contained ancient humans, but from what she had told him, they would probably be similar to her.

Like a newborn that imprints itself on the first thing it sees as its parent, they too would learn from whomever they encountered first.

Depending on who reached them first, they could very well become living weapons.

If a war broke out over the ancient ruins, there was a good chance that Belphirn’s existence would be revealed.

And if that happened, even fleeing to another land wouldn’t stop them from being hunted down.

They would search for any trace left behind – including the woman who had escaped with Belphirn.

The sharp ones might even find out that she was an Ancient.

And even if they couldn’t confirm it, the suspicion alone would be enough for them to go after her.

“You said someone tampered with another city, right?”

“Yes.”

If didn’t even look up as she answered, still plucking the thinner feathers from the large Cagrenis feather in his hands.

Somehow, in the time he hadn’t looked, the once intact feathers had become a patchy mess.

“Then is there a possibility that there are other Ancients there?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Her answer was crisp and certain.

It wasn’t a lie – he could tell that much. What he couldn’t understand was how she could be so sure.

According to her, there had once been entire nations beneath this land.

Could it really be that she was the only one left alive in all that vast space?

Ethan stroked his chin, then spoke again.

“It could be a misunderstanding.”

“That’s impossible.”

“There could be humans you don’t know about who survived. How can you be so sure?”

“Because the people of my era… the ones in Belphirn… were the only ones left.”

And they were all dead.

Which meant there was no way the Ancients he spoke of could exist in any other city.