Volume 10 Chapter 6 Deviating From The Human Path
Ice confirmed that Wade was indeed gone, then turned to Mung.
Mung had a weird look on his face. "Something wrong?" Ice asked, and Mung replied, "Ah, no."
"A little surprised, that's all. I didn't know my expression would change so much when my favorite guy isn't around."
"Huh?"
"Ice, you're not even aware of it."
"Come on, Sandra-chan too... what's going on?"
"When Wade's not around, Ice, a lot of things get scary. Especially since we're about to have a scary conversation, it's even more so."
"Ah, sorry about that, Sandra-chan, Mung-san too... I'll be careful..."
Ice touched her own face, feeling a bit puzzled. Maybe when she's with Wade, her mouth corners are always slightly raised. Or maybe she's just using her cheek muscles.
But that's not important. "So," Ice said, getting to the point.
"I figured that if those people were just left like that, they'd probably get rejected like that... So, I've been thinking of a way to deal with it, in my own way."
"A forceful method, huh? Tell me, what kind of method are you going to use?"
When Mung asked, Ice summoned an ice soldier.
"Are you planning to intimidate them?"
"No, not at all. I just want to talk about what's inside this ice soldier."
"Inside...?"
Mung looked at the ice soldier suspiciously, and Ice beckoned to it.
"I can control up to several thousand of these ice soldiers at the same time. But originally, I could only control a few dozen with my mind, and it was a huge struggle."
"Controlling dozens with your mind is impressive, but it's increased a lot, hasn't it?"
"Yes... And there's a mechanism behind it."
Ice made the ice soldier bow its head, then touched its head with his finger and cracked it open.
Inside, complex runes were etched in a 3-dimensional, layered pattern. Mung peeked in and laughed, "Whoa, this is amazing!"
"Demon also uses sorcery to carve runes and use sorcery, but I'll be... This guy is... Ugh...!"
Mung continued to read the runes carved into the ice soldier, and halfway through, he realized the intention. "You" he said, eyes wide with surprise, looking at Ice.
Ice nodded deeply.
"These kids are given pseudo-intelligence through runes, you see. It's a forced method, but... it's the same thing we're doing with these kids."
"Ugh...!"
Silence. Mung was speechless, staring at Ice. His hand trembled slightly, and then he checked the ice soldier's head again.
"This rune is carved into its head because it's necessary. This thing is made to resemble a human creation. Since humans think with their heads, this thing also has runes carved into its head."
"Yes."
"So, the same thing means... you're saying it's okay to do the same thing to those doll-like creatures, right? To crack open their heads and directly carve runes into their living brains?"
Sandra finally understood, looking at Ice with admiration and nodding, saying only "Impressive".
Ice replied.
"Yes. Unlike actual training, we don't need to change our approach based on their reactions, so it should be a simple task with less burden."
"Yeah, that's right. As long as they don't die, it's fine. We have secured many artifacts like this, so we can work on 20 at the same time. We can also make templates for the runes to be inserted..."
Mung started muttering to himself, doing some calculations. This went on for about ten seconds.
"One week."
Mung said.
"If we have 3 thousand people in the training room, we can do it in one week with a full team. If we modify this large rune a bit for demon use, it should work. Do you have the design plans for this?"
"I do... I prepared them in advance."
Ice pulled out the design plans from her pocket. Mung took them and stared at them intently, his face scrunched up in concentration.
"...This is a great large rune. No waste at all. And it's like a playful description that's been developed to have potential. I see, I see..."
Mung said to Ice with a teasing tone.
"This phrase at the core. I can understand it myself. It's about love."
"!!"
"Hahahaha! You're so red in the face, Miss. Wade-san really did a number on you, didn't he?"
Ice's face turned bright red from Mung's teasing. Seeing that, Sandra started to feel a sense of rivalry, thinking "I won't lose".
"I-I mean, that's good, but..."
"Hahahaha. You're really scary. To think you'd come up with a plan like this just because of love. Women are really terrifying."
As Mung wrote some notes on the design, he said.
"Alright, I'll take on this request. The difficulty level is low, but there are some things that can't be helped. I'll leave those to you."
"Y-yes... I'll gather the people from the slums."
"Ah, that's what I wanted to talk about. There's something else I want to ask... or rather, warn you about."
"W-warn us?"
"Yes, warn you. You see, the people from the slums that you'll be gathering... actually, there's a bit of demand for them."
"...Demand."
Ice's expression turned serious. Sandra was already thinking about the competition, mentally preparing for a fight.
"There's a famous assassin from the Dark Guild, someone called 'The Master'."
"The Master... is that right?"
"Yes, The Master. He's the leader of a huge clan that uses demons called 'Hounds'. He's the successor to Ede Wolf, and his organization has hundreds of members."
Ice felt a strange sense of discomfort from Mung's explanation.
The Master, Hounds, control... if it's a large organization, you'd imagine a structured group.
But from Mung's explanation, it sounds more like a dog owner who keeps multiple dogs.
"I'm not allowed to say more because of confidentiality, but if you're gathering those people, you might run into him somewhere. Just be careful, that's all I'm saying."
Mung scribbled down some smooth lines on the parchment while talking. As Ice touched the paper, thinking it might be a contract, she realized by the texture that it was actually human skin paper.
"Here, it's the invoice. It's like this, right?"
The amount due was written in the payment section, equivalent to a few big gold coins. When Ice said "So, here it is" and handed it over, Mung's eyes widened in surprise, saying "You're kidding, cash on the spot?"
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