The monster simply wandered aimlessly through the palace corridors.
In a state of complete concealment, he could move around without being noticed by anyone.
However, after a while, he realized it was meaningless.
‘…I can’t test that technique while hiding.’
Using Mana or aura would break the monster’s concealment. High-level techniques like the “falling edge” were even more so.
If he tried it on just anyone, he would be exposed and forced back into a life of being hunted.
‘I need to change. My appearance. Into a human.’
The monster entered an empty room and deactivated his concealment.
What form would be good? He didn’t need to think long.
The monster transformed into Azier, nodding his head as he spoke in Azier’s exact voice.
The best body to test the falling edge was naturally Azier’s.
And since Azier seemed to be on his side from what he had observed, he could easily deceive someone who didn’t know the situation.
The monster’s murderous intent towards the Emperor and his survival instincts had faded at this point.
He could imitate anything, and as a result, he imitated and learned everything indiscriminately.
For the first time, he chose what to imitate on his own. Even though the result would still be a mere imitation of something, the choice itself was his own will.
He strongly desired and clung to that very fact.
“Azier, Azier de Roach.”
He recalled Azier revealing his name to the demon Mizonas.
This is my name, the monster repeated the words several times.
This repetition wasn’t for the sake of saying his own name. He still couldn’t speak human language fluently. If he engaged in conversation, he would be exposed immediately.
So, at the very least, he had to react as naturally as possible when someone called this name, preferably without opening his mouth.
‘…I hope this Azier isn’t originally a talkative person.’
The monster himself didn’t know, but.
He was transforming into a person perfectly suited to that hope.
“Mr. Azier, hello.”
“Is your brother alright?”
Whenever someone spotted him transformed as Azier, they offered a light greeting.
Most of them were knights on patrol. The monster simply nodded or gave short replies like “yes” each time. That was enough. No one found it strange and went their own way.
‘This should be enough.’
The monster drew his sword. Of course, drawing a weapon unless in a dangerous situation was clearly out of line, but the monster didn’t have such common sense yet.
And surprisingly, no one pointed it out as he walked with his sword drawn. Some didn’t even notice he had drawn his sword, and most just passed by, thinking, ‘It must be for a reason since it’s Azier.’
“Oh my, Mr. Azier.”
However, there was someone who stopped the monster’s walk after a while.
The monster lowered his gaze slightly. The person was shorter than the humans he had seen so far. White hair and red eyes.
Philly Terst was waving at him, of course, with palace knights guarding her
“…Yes.”
For now, the monster responded as he had been doing. It had worked well so far.
“You’re working hard on patrol. I’m doing some different investigations right now, but it’s surprisingly difficult to find anything.”
Philly sighed as if she were tired.
While others were investigating the background of the suddenly appeared monster, Philly continued with what she originally intended to do.
That is, investigating the Shadow Unit.
‘My gut feeling tells me that this monster attack and the Shadow Unit are not unrelated.’
Since Philly hadn’t returned to the hall at the time and was with Aten, she had only heard reports about the attacking monster and barely knew what it looked like or how it moved.
“I want to meet your brother, but it seems like they don’t want to let him go from my husband even for a moment.”
Philly was postponing meeting Frondier due to the earnest requests of the vassals.
But the investigation wouldn’t progress that way, so she was out investigating alone, accompanied by knights.
“…Yes.”
“You’re even more taciturn than usual today, Mr. Azier. And with your weapon drawn.”
Philly tilted her head.
Philly was originally perceptive and intelligent, but the monster in front of her now was undeniably Azier in her eyes.
When it came to people in disguise, the first thing Philly suspected was a ‘mask’, so she had developed an eye for distinguishing between ordinary human faces and ‘masks’.
However, the monster was now completely transformed into Azier, so it wasn’t a ‘mask’. This fact, ironically, lowered her guard.
Swoosh-
At that moment, the monster slightly raised the sword he had drawn. It was about the height of his knee.
“…Weapon.”
“Yes?”
“Weapon. For a moment.”
The monster had no murderous intent right now. He was simply left with a childlike desire to try out the technique he had just learned.
What would happen after the test was already beyond his concern.
So, he wanted to ask the palace knights in front of him to ‘draw their weapons’, but he wasn’t sure how naturally he could say that in human language.
That’s why his words became short, and while not exposed, they naturally didn’t convey his meaning.
“…”
However, at that moment, Philly noticed Azier’s strange state, albeit a little late.
Since her sense of smell and sight recognized him completely as Azier, it was almost like an intuition.
The movement of his eyes, the broken context of his words, even for the taciturn Azier.
She thought it was because he was hesitant to say something, but no.
For Azier, ‘hesitation’ was something that happened maybe once a year.
─Caution.
Philly moved her left hand behind her back and sent a simple signal to the knights. Upon confirming the signal, the knights raised their guard against the Azier in front of them.
And the man who was closest to Azier among the knights was naturally the most tense.
He instinctively placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
In an instant.
‘Ah.’
The monster’s thought was simple.
Even if the sword was still in its sheath, the hand was gripping it.
Then─
Thud-
The monster, like a child approaching a toy, placed his sword against the knight’s scabbard.
‘If I do what I saw earlier like this─’
“Huh?”
The knight was startled by the sudden sense of incongruity from his scabbard. He felt the sword trying to slip out of his hand. Naturally, his grip on the hilt tightened, and
Crack!
At that moment, the monster’s arm twisted strangely.
“Kyaaaaaaaagh!”
The monster screamed in sudden pain. It was the same voice as when he was first attacked by Frondier. A voice completely different from Azier’s.
“Everyone, prepare for battle.”
Upon confirming this, Philly immediately gave the order and stepped back.
“Ugh…!”
One of the knights, the one who had been subjected to the monster’s incomplete falling edge technique, clutched his wrist.
He hadn’t lost his weapon like in a proper falling edge, but there was some damage to his wrist.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, it’s nothing serious.”
The knight said so and drew his sword. It wasn’t a bluff, as his wrist seemed fine without any major injuries.
“Kee, keeek, keugh…”
The monster looked at his mangled right arm.
What was this? He had clearly imitated what he saw, so why was his arm broken? And to such an absurd degree.
‘But it was a little successful!’
The monster saw the man he had tried the technique on clutching his wrist. There was definitely an effect. It wasn’t certain, but it was the only thing the monster could rely on.
‘One more time, just one more time!’
“You’ll never manage it that way.”
A languid voice interrupted the monster’s thoughts.
Footsteps approaching leisurely from behind him. Philly tilted her head, then leaned back further to see the man approaching. Her eyes seemed to say, ‘Why is he here?’
“I see. With no survival instinct, there’s no brake on your body getting damaged. You haven’t learned the concept of ‘preemptively’ avoiding pain even while feeling it.”
The man was Frondier. He walked slowly and created a sword with Obsidian.
It was a sword identical to the one the Azier-turned-monster was holding.
“His Majesty told me to slay you.”
Frondier looked at the monster with eyes that shone not with murderous intent, but rather with curiosity.
“But I’m extremely interested in you.”
Frondier felt that whoever was behind this monster was excessively trying to tie him to the Emperor.
The fact that only Frondier could see the monster’s concealment, and the fact that the monster was toying with the Emperor, combined to mean that Frondier naturally had to stay by the Emperor’s side.
At first, he thought they just wanted to restrict Frondier’s range of movement, but.
After receiving Gregory’s report and observing the situation so far, the sudden appearance of this monster felt like an ‘unexpected accident’ not only for them but also for the enemy.
Then.
“It seems like they really didn’t want you and me to meet.”
“…Who are you.”
The monster frowned.
He was terribly bothered by the sword Frondier had just created.
It felt like he was seeing something exactly like his own ability right before his eyes.
Moreover, unlike himself,
“I am Frondier.”
Frondier had a name.
“Frondier de Roach.”
Unlike the monster who imitated everything and didn’t even know what he was.
Frondier had a clear ‘self’.
“Your teacher.”
“…Teacher?”
Frondier held out the sword. It was a similar motion to what the monster had done earlier.
“I will teach you the falling edge.”