Three weeks. Three weeks of fucking walking! All because some idiot—yes, you already know who I'm talking about—decided to walk instead of using the wormholes to travel to Dr. Stein's residence. Why? Because we needed to question every single fucking apprentice and doctor about their experiments. With this faction being as big as the Southern Ocean, I'm relieved that his residence wasn't on the complete opposite side of the faction.

Unfortunately, due to her position being higher than mine, I was forced to obey her. Even though I suggested more efficient ways to find the culprit, she stubbornly insisted on hers. And I was the only one that was tortured because of this due to how fragile humans were compared to aliens.

I'm not saying that I traveled for three weeks without rest and whatnot, but that doesn't change the fact that I spent most of my time walking! Where are the flying brooms or transport? Oh wait, we were supposed to 'leisurely' travel so we could pay attention to our surroundings.

Just like with humans, if the one with a higher position was stupid, those below would be forced to suffer from their careless and idiotic mistakes.

I was confident in my mental fortitude, so she deliberately took a hit at my physical well-being. Surprisingly—or maybe not—she only decided to use her brain when it came to bantering and picking on me. If only she had taken her role seriously and used such smarts to come up with a more efficient plan.

Well, venting aside, before I visited Dr. Stein, we had to book our stay at an inn because we didn't know how long the process was going to take.

"Maria and," she snickered at my exhausted state before continuing. "Brat, you two go book the inn. I'll do a bit more investigating."

Oh? Did she notice it too? The fact that the doctors here are more reserved compared to the previous areas we have been to. Nah, this is Alpha we're talking about. No way.

"Then, shall we, Maria?" I tugged a smile, relieved to finally be away from that sadistic knight commander.

Maria nodded before linking her arm with mine.

"We shall, then. Cain~"

Nice. Things are getting better.

Due to the unfortunate fact that people are divided based on their expertise, the stores were mainly managed by doctors, so...

"Blegh!"

"You're overreacting," she giggled at my silly display.

"Can you really call this food, though?"

Yep, you guessed it. We only had healthy food in this faction. And do I need to emphasize, once again, the fact that it's been three weeks since I set foot in this faction? I miss eating unhealthy... I miss slowly dying.

"Hm?" A quick disappearance at an alley caught my attention from the corner of my eye.

They sure love their alleys, unlike Alpha hating on her new ally.

"Wanna go? We were assigned to book our stay, not investigate," Maria inquired, analyzing my intrigued expression.

"Yeah, sorry. We finally have time alone, but something doesn't sit well with me in this area." I finished my quick meal before throwing the trash in a nearby bin.

There weren't any restaurants, only vendors. So, this place wasn't ideal for dates anyway.

"Don't worry about it~ It doesn't matter what we do, as long as we're alone," she reassured before leading the way.

We weren't in any sort of romantic moment, nor was her life in danger. I wasn't the target of a murder. Taking all of that into account, my King's Eye, and curse weren't active. Therefore, my senses were sloppy. Thus, Maria took the lead.

Following the path that the victim took before disappearing, we ran through a long alley. By that, I meant a very, very long alley. It felt like one of those mazes that never ended until you realized that you were walking in circles or somehow ended up back to the start.

After five minutes of running, we reached a dead end.

Strange. I understood that the doctor disappeared to place the trap, but why did the victim disappear as well? As far as I knew, the 'disappearance' was a stealth spell that the doctor used to monitor the target without being spotted. That sole strategy was legalized so that there was at least a pattern. Not only that, but it was also so that the target had a choice. Like when I was a target, I found it shady that someone conveniently dropped their wallet in a secluded alley. But the target disappeared before making a decision.

Even if this doctor wasn't the culprit in the recent abductions, he still broke the law.

"Where did they go?" Maria wondered, looking around.

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She was right. I kept on fooling myself by claiming that they disappeared, but they were only removed from our sight. Assuming that the doctor was capable of using his stealth spell—which removed one from the eyes of others and erased their presence—on the target, it didn't explain how they escaped this dead end. Did they perhaps run out of the alley before we entered?

No, the stealth spell isn't that great otherwise it would've been banned. It doesn't work if the user makes a lot of noise, or if they're in a crowded area. Abrupt physical contact would disrupt the spell, after all.

I looked up, considering another possibility.

Considering they have superhuman strength, they could've jumped—is what I would've assumed, but this alley is between two hospitals. That would only be possible if it was between two houses—or rather, witch huts.

Maria walked around in frustration. She was probably more frustrated at the fact that our alone time was going to waste instead of being used on a fun adventure.

"Hm?" I looked down after noticing a different sound in between Maria's steps. "Maria, stop for a second."

"H-huh? Mm...okay," she obeyed obediently then tilted her head while eyeing my weird behavior. "Did you find something?"

After knocking on the suspicious spot, we found a lead.

"Ma-"

"What are you two doing here?" A man interrupted.

I looked behind me to gauge the source of the voice. It was a silver-haired, red-eyed doctor with a mask. It looked more like someone who would take lives instead of saving them.

But it's usually those who look scary that are kind.

"I'll ask again..." He menacingly closed the distance, using his sinister appearance to interrogate us without struggle.

image [https://i.imgur.com/tJryYLa.png]

"What are you doing tapping the floor, vermin? Did you lose a coin or something?"

Vermin?

"Ah, Dr. Stein. It's been a while. Once again, thanks for saving Cain." Maria skillfully shifted the topic, cheerfully expressing her gratitude.

So, he's Dr. Stein.

"Forget about that. What ar-" Dr. Stein was interrupted by a siren.

The sudden change in his and Maria's expression made the atmosphere heavier. They looked up at the tall building where the siren came from briefly before Dr. Stein walked away.

"I'll inquire about your suspicious activities later. I must get going."

"Wait, we'll help you," Maria stopped him.

Help? With what? Did that siren perhaps alarm the residents about some sort of trouble?

"'We'? Are you including that vermin who looks like it is on the verge of dying, a human no less?" He queried, shooting a skeptical glance my way.

"I gave him my father's left eye, didn't I?" She smiled at him reassuringly and confidently, ceasing his doubts. "Don't underestimate the one I chose."

He ruffled his hair in contemplation. After a few minutes, he relaxed his hands in his pockets before concluding.

"Alright, fine. Take care of the north wormhole. Leave the rest to me."

Not long after, he vanished from our sight.

"So, what's going on?" I asked.

"Hm? Ah, an attack from the Rebel faction. They're the faction that's hostile towards the alien nation. Naturally, they're targeting our support faction."

"Why does your enemy have a faction of their own and access to the wormholes?"

"To weed out the evil. Instead of letting them lurk in every faction, we gave them a domain to reside in. It's like the slums and dangerous areas that the humans have. The wormholes are accessible to them because we don't personally dump evildoers in the Rebel faction, but let them enter themself."

"What a flawed system," I murmured.

"True," she agreed through a giggle. "But it seems to work really well. There are more than a billion residents in the Rebel faction."

"Doesn't that mean there are more than a billion criminals? The alien nation is fucked."

"Don't worry. We won't lose," she declared confidently.

"I bet. It's easier to erase them from this world if they're all grouped. It should be easy for Alpha, the strongest knight, huh?"

"Nah~ Master isn't strong enough for that. Also, Master isn't the strongest. Strongest knight? Yes, but far from being the strongest~"

"There are people stronger than the Knight Commander of Division One?"

What a weird ranking system. Is the king perhaps stronger than her or something?

She responded to my question by showing two fingers.

"There are two people that are capable of destroying an entire faction with ease."

Um, what the fuck? What does she mean by 'with ease'? At least say they are capable of doing so with some struggle.

"Well, unfortunately for us," she shrugged. "Neither of them wanna do something about the Rebel faction. In fact, one of them resides in the faction, acting as a neutral."

What a mess.

"Internal and external conflict, huh? Not that we humans are any better. Let's leave it at that. I want to make a good impression on Dr. Stein." I began stretching.

I wasn't in the best condition because I hadn't fully recovered from my fight against Alpha yet. Well, assuming that they were attacking from all directions, it shouldn't be a big deal taking care of a single direction with Maria's help.

She's the one that sent me into a month-long coma with a single attack, after all.

"Shall we go then?" I asked, all warmed up.

"Oh dear, are you planning to fight without the use of your King's Eye~?" She grinned at me mischievously.

I have a bad feeling about this.

She closed the distance between us, trailing her finger down my torso. She locked her sultry gaze on my flustered face.

"Do you need me to help you activate it?" She asked, licking her lips.

Good grief. Why did I know that it was going to lead to this?

"The smart, aloof girl in the streets, but mischievous and indecent in the sheets, huh?" I remarked with a nervous smile.

"I prefer calling it exclusive behavior given to you from yours truly~" She purred, leaning closer to my face, her lips mere inches from mine.

"You two wouldn't have been interrupted if you did it in the room that I asked you to book," a voice said nearby.

We both looked back at the source of the voice.

"Ah, Master. What happened to investigating?"

TIMING!!

She sighed, trying hard to ignore what she witnessed and what...she was about to witness.

"I was on my way to the inn after hearing the siren but I met Dr. Stein on the way and he filled me in. Let's just...hurry to the north wormhole."

Well, combat is indeed one way to forget about what she saw.

"Heeeh?" Maria whined. "But I haven't given Cain his love points yet~"

Love points? That's news to me.

"L-Love points?" Alpha questioned in disbelief.

It seems we thought about the same thing.

Maria innocently nodded.

"Mm. Well, now that you're here, I guess there's no need for Cain to play a big role."

You're saying that as if you didn't consider the possibility that Alpha would join. Seriously, this girl... Also, I NEED TO play a big role to get Dr. Stein's attention.

"Now then..." Maria suddenly grew pink butterfly wings on her back. "Shall we go kick some rebellious ass~?"