Stigma Effect

Yuriel's condition was somewhat strange, but the subjugation proceeded as planned.

Krug was a huge underground city. Yuriel, imagining something like a small stone tomb behind the imperial palace, opened her mouth as soon as she entered the ruins. A look of surprise filled her face, which had been gloomy up to the time she went down the stairs.

The fountain and clock tower, which look more gorgeous than the current Imperial Capital, caught the eye. After that, the panoramic view of the underground city spread out so wide that it was impossible to see at a glance.

A transparent wall had been erected in the place where the water flowed, so she could see into the water.

“This is a historic site… ?”

Yuriel murmured in daze.

“I think someone is still living there.”

“There are monsters. You don’t know how troublesome it is to have to deal with monsters while preserving the ruins.”

Helio smiled and spoke to her. There was a time when Helio, like Yuriel, admired the view of Krug.

But now it was all a thing of the past. It had become too dull for Helio, and there was no more surprise left at this sight. Recently, he was even feeling the urge to destroy the ruins and drive out the monsters easily.

Raphlet stopped Yuriel from walking through the ruins.

“It’s dangerous because you don’t know where the monsters will appear.”

"Ah yes… I'll be careful, Lord Raphlet."

Yuriel answered, pushing his arm away. Raphlet's eyebrows went up first, then Helio looked at them with interest.

It was a bit dull to see this amazing scenery, but it was nice to see Commander Raphlet looking perplexed.

Raphlet had the hand rejected by Yuriel in the air, then he came to his senses and lowered his arm. However, it seemed impossible to stop his gaze that followed Yuriel.

A gaze that seemed to be hunting a prey followed Yuriel's face. Yuriel didn't know what to do and was trying to avoid Raphlet's gaze.

Helio asked as he approached Yuriel's side.

"What's going on with you and Commander Raphlet? Did you just avoid him?”

“When, when did I? Why am I avoiding Lord Raphlet?”

Yuriel was visibly agitated.

Yuriel, who had been in denial with a bright red face and blinked her eyes, moved to Baraha’s side, avoiding Helio.

Unit 4, Baraha. He, who manages the auxiliary unit, not the assault unit, was checking the weapons and tilted his head as he saw Yuriel approaching him.

“Do you need bullets?”

“No, ah, hmm.”

Baraha handed the ammunition to Yuriel's hand anyway as she was unable to answer anything.

“If you have nothing to do, help me check the weapon.”

"Hmm, hmm, that’s good."

Yuriel nodded her head wildly. Yuriel, who was very close to Baraha, avoiding the pouring gaze from behind, bowed her head and touched the gun.

Yuriel held the cold barrel in her hand and sighed.

When Raphlet smiles, grabs her arm, sighs, walks, and even stands still. All his actions caused a deep ripple in Yuriel's heart.

When she saw his smile, she remembered the smiling face that looked at her affectionately, and when he grabbed her arm, she remembered him moving his waist while he pressed her arm, and when he sighed, she remembered his moan.

She was about to go crazy. No, she was already crazy.

As proof of that, Yuriel could not get close to Raphlet, but repeatedly sneaked a glance on his face from afar and ran away.

It is unknown whether this was fortunate or unfortunate, but Raphlet was acting as if he had forgotten all the memories of the day when he and Yuriel were entangling their bodies.

Even if it was not reality, it would remain in her memory even in the form of a dream, but Raphlet’s face was not conscious of Yuriel at all.

Looking at his usual attitude, Yuriel clearly realized that Raphlet had no interest in her at all.

She was the only one who was conscious of it.

"Ha….”

“What’s wrong?”

As Yuriel grabbed the gun and kept sighing, Baraha, who couldn’t bear to hear it, asked a question.

“Baraha.”

Yuriel put the gun on her lap and opened her mouth with a determined attitude.

“The aphrodisiac I asked last time.”

He furrowed his eyebrows and nodded his head. At his signal to speak, Yuriel squinted at where Raphlet was and asked a question.

“If you get poisoned, all your memories of that day will be gone, right?”

"No. You remember more clearly.”

"Really?"

“It’s as clear as if you saw it right before your eyes, and your senses are so vivid as if you had experienced it in real life.”

“You speak as if you have been through it. Have you ever been hurt?”

Baraha said while looking into the air with a hazy face as if thinking of something. He looked at the empty space as if he remembered the time he was poisoned, bit his lip and lowered his head.

"No….”

Baraha, who doesn't usually show his emotions, bowed his head in denial, as if feeling shame.

Yuriel stood up from her spot and patted Baraha's back, who had suddenly bowed his head.

When Yuriel patted him on the back, Baraha shuddered and curled up.

“Thank you for letting me know. I will go now.”

"Hmm….”

Baraha answered in a dying voice.

With Baraha’s side organizing the weapons, Yuriel, with a sincere heart, cautiously entered Raphlet's barracks. Even if she looks at his face and then lustful thoughts fill her head, Yuriel still has to spend the night in Raffles' barracks.

It was because he always stood by her side when foretelling the position of the monster.

If Yuriel suddenly says she doesn't need Raphlet, the atmosphere will just get weird... ?

Yuriel clasped her hands and quietly looked around the barracks. A bottle of sleeping pills was placed next to the pillow.

Raphlet was nowhere to be seen.

“Did he go to the strategy room with Sir Helio?”

Yuriel, who looked around, thought it was a good thing, and quickly leaned on the bed and swallowed a sleeping pill.

When Raphlet is not present, she must finish the foreseeing as soon as possible.

She couldn't ask Raphlet to touch her head today.

Yuriel swallowed the sleeping pill and fell asleep quickly.

＊＊＊

It's a dream.

But it's different than usual. Yuriel opened her mouth as she looked at the bustling and cluttered Krug ruins.

"What’s that…?”

When Yuriel arrived, the barren square was full of people. The clock tower rang the noon bell, and the fountain spouted water.

“It is definitely a historical site….”

Yuriel blankly opened and closed her lips. Perhaps, her ability has now come to foresee even everyday life that has nothing to do with monsters?

Is she seeing the future now?

Yuriel looked blankly at the people passing by.

“That sister keeps looking at me.”

One of the children who saw Yuriel staring blankly at the children passing by said with a weeping face while clinging to an adult woman,

The eyes of the people gathered in the square turned to Yuriel at once.

Yuriel shook her head with an awkward smile.

“No, I was just sitting there.”

As Yuriel waved her hands in denial, the eyes of those who looked at Yuriel became even colder. One of them looked carefully at Yuriel's hands and arms and said,

"Miss. Why don't you have a core in your arm?"

"Yes?"

“Is it on your shoulder? The core is your identification, you have to show it!”

“That, there really isn’t.”

“What, how are you alive when you don’t have a core?”

Yuriel was nervous as she looked at the people around her. Their gaze was extraordinary.

She took out the gun she was wearing on her thigh and looked around, on guard.

“What are you trying to get out of!”

“Come, on, don’t, do this!”

A man sticking out from behind, twisted Yuriel's wrist and shouted as if he was suspicious of the hand that was holding on to the gun. Following him, another hand groped Yuriel's thigh and took away the gun.

The kid who took the gun shouted in a hoarse voice.

“This is a gun!”

“Kill!”

“Wa, wait…! You have to tell me why you're doing this... !”

Then, a voice engulfed in madness turned to Yuriel. Yuriel twisted her body as she watched the child unlock the safety lock on the gun he had stolen. Her arms were grabbed so that it was difficult to move her body.

No, what is this!

She foretold the future, now the same people are trying to kill her!

In precognitive dreams, it seemed that the rule of waking up only when dying was applied. The child who watched Yuriel twisting her body raised the gun with the safety device unlocked.

The child was only half of Yuriel’s height.

Black shards were embedded in the back of the child's hand.

The moment she saw it, Yuriel felt a powerful shock hitting her head and woke up from the dream.

"Huh, ah?"

Yuriel groaned and groped her head blankly. She was fine, and the gun she was wearing on her thigh was still there.

She was still the same from when she fell asleep. The only thing that changed was the clock, two hours had passed.

While Yuriel was groping her head in daze, Raphlet entered the barracks.

Yuriel was sitting on the bed, with a dazed face, and Raphlet's expression wrinkled as he saw the reduced amount of sleeping pills.

“Did you take a sleeping pill when I was away?”

Raphlet asked Yuriel a question coldly.

“Why don’t you wait for me?”