Shiayar walked over to Anlina, whose face was slack with a dazed expression, and disdainfully tossed the fainted Nightmare Butterfly aside. He then squatted down, reached out, and began to search from the nape of her neck, passing over her ample chest and down to her lower abdomen. Ultimately, he found his target in a layer of her clothing around her waist. It was a small stone carving, engraved with a twisted beast's head. An intangible yet decayed and deathly aura seeped from it. This aura was all too familiar to Shiayar; it was undoubtedly a contaminant tainted with the Evil God's corruption. Shiayar picked up the stone carving to examine it, then placed it into a mithril box he had prepared. The mithril acted as a barrier, and the decaying aura no longer seeped out.
"Next time, learn your lesson. Even if you're concocting wild schemes, you need to choose your target wisely," he said. "However, given your crimes, I'm afraid the best outcome for you is spending the rest of your life in the Jurisdiction Bureau's Black Iron City Prison. It's unlikely you'll get another chance to use this."
"Ha, you're merely a selfish Bounty Hunter, yet you pretend to be some paragon of virtue," she snarled. "You clearly had the power to control everything, yet for a measly bounty, you still allowed me to kill that young man at the start."
Anlina seemed to have recovered somewhat from the dazed state caused by her spiritual power exhaustion. She slumped to the ground, a mocking smile on her lips. Seemingly having accepted her inevitable fate, she no longer wore a façade, her expression replaced by fierce loathing. Yet Shiayar, the object of her gnawing hatred and spiteful gaze, remained indifferent.
"I don't dispute your assessment of me as selfish," he replied. "But you might be mistaken about one thing."
He closed the mithril box carefully, securing it close to his body. Looking at Anlina's ferocious expression, he let out a light sigh. "Causing innocent casualties during a mission results in a deduction from the mission's bounty by the Jurisdiction Bureau. Besides, as a self-interested person, I hold my own life quite dear. Charging head-on without summoning a Pet Beast is the fighting style of those brutes from the Knights Academy. And I'm not one of those guys with muscles for brains."
He stood up, looking down at the noblewoman beneath him—seduced by the Evil God and the thrill of newfound power, now on a path of no return.
"So," he continued, "since when did you start harboring the illusion that I wasn't using 'Mirrored Flower, Reflected Moon'?"
The sudden indifference in Shiayar's words caused Anlina to stiffen. The next moment, she saw the Silver Moon hanging outside the window suddenly become intensely bright—crystal clear and luminous. In an instant, as if by some Magic Power, the Silver Moon captivated her full attention, dominating her entire mind. Then, on the surface of that bright Silver Moon, three blood-red, magatama-like patterns began to spin and enlarge.
「...」
When Anlina suddenly awoke, she found herself still slumped on the ground. Only, she didn't know when it happened, but her undergarments were completely soaked with sweat, as if she had been startled awake from a nightmare. Shiayar still stood before her, gazing at her with his calm eyes.
The only difference was that, unbeknownst to her, a snowy-white figure had appeared on Shiayar's shoulder. It was a delicate white ferret, its silver-white fur as smooth as silk, reminiscent of the Three Sages Snow Mountain in the Far North Land. The petite white ferret lay on Shiayar's left shoulder. Within its blood-diamond-like left eye, three silver moon patterns resembling blood-colored magatama were slowly fading away.
Is this his Pet Beast? It looked no different from those decorative Pet Beasts, not at all like it had formidable combat capabilities. Did I actually lose to such an inconspicuous Beastmaster?
But as Anlina shifted her gaze from the white ferret and began to scrutinize her surroundings, her eyes froze. Behind Shiayar, the people who should have drunk the poisoned wine and collapsed, powerless to retaliate, were still sitting in their seats, looking at Shiayar and Anlina with uncertainty. Even the unfortunate young man whose life Anlina had clearly taken with her dagger was standing unharmed. He stared at Anlina, whose face was contorted with ferocity, his expression one of utter disbelief. His eyes were filled with the crushing despair of shattered dreams, of a world collapsing around him. The angel he had once admired had suddenly transformed into a life-stealing demon before his very eyes, then began to flail at the air with her knife like a madwoman. It was not hard to imagine how devastating this sudden turn of events had been to this besotted admirer.
"Good job, Silver," Shiayar said, extending his hand to stroke the little white ferret on his shoulder. The creature, "Silver," lazily squinted its eyes under Shiayar's touch and rubbed its fluffy tail gently around his neck. After playing with Silver for a bit, Shiayar turned around again.
His gaze swept over the group of bewildered victims in the hall. "I'll take her to the Branch Jurisdictional Bureau in the city center," he announced.
"As for the rest of you, there's no need to worry. After the Jurisdiction Bureau's hounds finish questioning you, you should be free, most likely. Given that your Soul aptitude has reached the level of Apprentice Beastmaster, the officials will probably make proper arrangements for you.
"Whether it's becoming a reservist for the military and enjoying the Empire's stipend, or being accepted by the Extraordinary Academy in Resa City, these are all good options for your current situation.
"So, it's time to wrap this up."
Shiayar yawned, took his coat from the back of the chair where it had been hanging, smoothed out the wrinkles, and draped it over himself.
Just as Shiayar finished speaking, Anlina, still reeling from astonishment, felt a strong wave of sleepiness overcome her. Even with her spiritual power as an intermediate Beastmaster, she couldn't prevent the drowsiness from rapidly spreading.
"Almost forgot to mention, my main Pet Beast is also skilled in Illusion Techniques," Shiayar said.
Before her consciousness was completely enveloped by Darkness, Anlina only saw Shiayar make a gesture with his fingers in front of her.
"And its Illusion Technique, 'Moon Reading,' might be just a tiny bit more proficient than that unsightly butterfly of yours..."
"By about a... billion points."