The Strange Adventures of Hearn the Believer

The other three turned around and gave him a look that seemed to say, "Are you an idiot?"

Yukinoshita Yukino: ""

After a while.

Touma cleared his throat and calmed himself down, “It’s obvious that the initial identity of the believer is decisively different from that of the four of us. Without a doubt, if she were also a member of the team, she would have taken that private charter plane with us from the Valley Kingdom to the capital of the Cold Wind Kingdom.”

“The problem now is how to get in touch with Scones. This planet has a surface area more than twice that of Earth, and more than six continents have been explored. Searching for someone without any clues is like looking for a needle in a haystack.” Kuroyukihime dusted off her skirt and sat up straight on the sofa.

“Based on past experience, unless he’s caught up in another front, he won’t be thrown too far away from the main force. In other words, I think Mr. Hearn is most likely still within the territory of the Kingdom of Coldwind,” Charlotte deduced.

"I don't know if I should say that," Yukino Yukinoshita tentatively began.

Three gazes focused on the girl's face, making her slightly embarrassed. However, Yukino quickly regained her composure and said softly, "Aren't you worried about Mr. Hearn at all? What if he's in danger? There are just too many uncertainties like this."

""

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“If he falls into a ruin, it’ll be an Indiana Jones-style adventure movie,” Touma replied after a moment of thought.

“If he crashed on a major road, it would be a classic American road movie,” Charlotte added softly.

"If he fell into the bedroom of a noble lady or young lady, then it would be a completely natural and environmentally friendly movie." Kuroyukihime rolled her eyes.

Yukino Yukinoshita fell silent once again, overwhelmed by the astonishing remarks of her companions whose thought processes were so diametrically opposed to her own. She realized that no matter what she did, she seemed completely out of place with the three of them, so she obediently shut her mouth and silently prayed for Mr. Hern, praying that he wasn't currently stranded in the wilderness, suffering from frostbite in the freezing snow, and that he would have a small cabin to shelter him from the wind and snow, with a fireplace to light, and some bare essentials like fabric and blankets to keep him company as he slept peacefully.

May the Golden Witch's blessing bring him good luck.

The snowy figure pushed open the door, and a gust of cold wind rushed into the house. Sun, who was trying to keep the tiny flame in the fireplace in the living room, turned around and breathed a sigh of relief: "Buddy, you're finally back!"

Hearn, the believer, brushed the snow off his shoulders and went inside. He closed the front door tightly, letting out a blast of cold wind. He put down a bundle of firewood and said, “There’s a small lumberyard nearby. I found this in a cabin over there. Hopefully, it will be enough.”

“Well done, buddy! This is enough to keep the fireplace burning until dawn. I ransacked the settlement and found some canned goods and fresh water. Thank goodness, it looks like we won’t be freezing or starving tonight.” Sun pointed to the bottles and jars on the table next to him, including a jar of honey.

“Yes, you did a good job over there, buddy,” the believer replied weakly. “I’m not hungry yet, Sun. Take care of the fire and don’t let it go out. You know, we used up the last drop of oil in the car to light it.”

"Of course, leave it to me!" the young man patted his chest.

“I’ll go upstairs and see if there are any blankets I can use for the night. Hopefully, the residents here didn’t pack up their belongings before they ran away.” Mr. Hearn slowly walked up the stairs to the second floor.

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on the first floor. I'll let you know immediately if anything happens!" Sun watched his tired companion disappear around the corner of the stairs.

Looks like you've used up a lot of energy.

Sun shook his head, secretly beginning to worry about his ordinary friend.

Sun himself is first and foremost a Funa, whose innate beastly bloodline makes them far superior to pure-blooded humans of the same age in terms of physical ability. Secondly, he is also a formally trained hunter, and even though he has not yet graduated from the elite hunter academy, his physical abilities are far superior to those of ordinary humans.

Starting tomorrow, let's try to keep Hearn away from heavy physical labor.

Sun made a decision in her heart.

The believer, Hearn, walked slowly up to the second floor of the building, her steps very light.

He turned around and set up two simple spell models at the top of the stairs, inserting an energy-attribute dust crystal into each to charge them. The two quickly began to function normally.

A Tranquility spell and a Vigilance spell are both beginner-level tricks.

After doing all this, he no longer restrained himself and casually walked into one of the three rooms on the second floor, the one furthest from the stairwell and closest to the outside of the building.

The believer, Hearn, closed the bedroom door, looked around the room, which resembled a master bedroom and included a bathroom, and then turned away.

With a hurried and crisp metallic crack, he snapped the inside handle of the bedroom door off and threw it to the ground, leaving only a highly deformed and unusable metal break in its original position.

Everything is ready.

Mr. Hearn stared at the large white box on the bed in the bedroom and fell silent.

The room was completely silent. Mr. Hearn didn't even turn on the lights, not because there was no electricity, but because he felt guilty.

Leaving aside Skinner's box theory, the process of drawing lots, opening boxes, and smashing eggs—human beings challenging the unknown—is always so captivating. It's a thrilling experience that combines panic and anticipation, a morbid gambling mentality that makes your heart race, releases a surge of adrenaline and dopamine, and elevates your emotions—but it can also lead to a slump after the mystery is solved.

Even the devout Hearn was not immune to this.

"May Yukino Yukinoshita protect me from getting a weirdo." Before taking action, the woman silently repeated the name of the Golden Witch, who was said to bring good luck, one last time, and then took a deep breath.

Sun's off-road vehicle broke down in the snowy jungle. When the sun rises tomorrow, they may have to trek to the nearest human settlement. For now, they are staying in an abandoned village, where the environment is fraught with danger and they cannot afford to be careless.

All unstable factors must be eliminated, and the closest thing to the believer is undoubtedly this white box that is clearly sealed with a living creature.

I should have known better than to do that.

The believer approached the bedside, held her breath, and reached out to adjust the silver locks on the white box. Unfortunately, the triple silver locks were all sealed by multiple combination dials. The believer couldn't wait that long, nor did she have the time to honestly rely on her hearing to estimate the correct numbers on the dials. She opened a subspace rift with her fingers, moved the white box to insert all the locks, including the combination dials, into it, and then closed the subspace rift.

In this way, the silver lock that sealed the white box no longer exists due to the spatial division, leaving only a bare silver seam, indicating that a silver lock structure once existed in this part of the box.

Outside the window, wind and snow raged, and the temperature inside the room was close to zero. The woman's hands felt slightly numb from the cold.

He gently gripped the top edge of the white box with his cold fingers, his nails digging into the gaps. With a slight exertion, he lifted the lid of the white box by two or three centimeters, and a gust of warm, humid air blew out from the gap.

As expected of a product manufactured by a monopolistic mega-capital corporation! The inside of this box not only keeps things warm but also keeps them moist!?

Before the believer could finish marveling at the excellent performance of this broken box, the white box was suddenly forced open by an internal impact.

Bang!

With a muffled thud and the impact on her chin, the woman endured the discomfort and stood still, lowering her head back slightly to face the open white box.

Two pairs of thin, ice-blue eyes stared silently at each other less than five centimeters apart in the pitch-black night, creating an awkward silence.

A moment later, the icy blue below began to waver, its gaze darting away, revealing an unspoken unease.

After a brief moment of confusion, Ice Blue, who was in the upper hand, suddenly understood. He took a step back and pointed in a certain direction inside the bedroom.

"Um, the bathroom, it's over there." The woman gestured somewhat embarrassedly, then turned and went to the window to gaze at the snow under the night sky—to prove her innocence.

The silver-haired girl in the white box silently stared at his profile until he turned away completely. Then she vanished from the bed, leaving behind only a twelve-sided ice crystal-shaped magic seal emblem.

As the believer listened to the sound of the bathroom door closing and locking behind her, she began to rack her brains, trying to figure out how to fool Sun downstairs.

Here's the bonus chapter from yesterday. Please vote, recommend, favorite, and promote!

Chapter 39 My loyal Skyward Kingdom will never allow you Slaven elements to act with impunity.

A haven of tranquility, affluent high-rise area, hotel suites, private hot springs.

"Hoo~"

Kuroyuki emerged from the warm bath, her jet-black hair clinging to her vest in the hot spring water. She sank back into the water, keeping her body just above her delicate collarbone, and unconsciously let out a soft, contented moan.

A neatly folded towel, soaked in hot spring water, flew through the wisps of steam rising from the hot spring and landed squarely on the girl's forehead.

"Ouch!" Hei Xue cried out in pain, then ripped off the towel and looked around for the culprit with red eyes.

Pushing aside the mist, Touma stood by the hot spring with one hand on his hip, his right hand empty, though judging from the way it was clenched, he must have been holding something.

The snow beneath him silently increased the distance between himself and the black snow, in case he also met with misfortune.

"During the break of the strategy meeting, you two sneaked over to this hot spring?" Touma's gaze, a mixture of annoyance and judgment, swept over the two girls in the hot spring pool. "Or do you two just really enjoy playing in the water with your surfboards?"

"I was brought here by Ms. Kuroyuki without any explanation." Yukinoshita tried to defend her innocence, but was interrupted by Kuroyuki halfway through her sentence.

"So what if you have big breasts, you dairy cow! You're already twenty-two! Your potential has reached its limit! We're still developing, with endless possibilities for tomorrow! Besides, you talk so righteously, but haven't you already stripped naked yourself!?" Kuroyuki took a step to the right and casually covered Yukinoshita's mouth, hiding half of her body behind Yukinoshita, while protesting towards the edge of the bathtub, "A surfboard is a surfboard! Now it's three surfboards against one dairy cow like you, 1 vs 3, who gave you the courage?"

Touma's eyes narrowed, her gaze gradually turning dangerous. A phantom-like "" appeared on her forehead, but a mocking smile flickered across her lips.

"Actually, it's 2 vs 2." A calm, cool voice came from behind Touma. Little Red Riding Hood, having removed her cloak, strolled forward to stand beside Touma, silencing Kuroyuki who was about to say something.

"Charlotte, you traitor!" Miss Black Snow cried out in anguish and despair. "You always pretended to be a sweet and innocent Little Red Riding Hood, deceiving our pure feelings! You're not Little Red Riding Hood at all! You big bad wolf—no, Charlotte, you're a devil, a devil! A devil!!!"

Miss Touma and Miss Lesenba exchanged a glance, nodded, and then stepped into the hot spring bath together, cornering Miss Kuroyuki against the wall.

"Reflect on your actions." Touma smiled lifelessly, reaching out to press the struggling black snowflakes into the perfectly warm hot spring water, giving it his all.

Miss Lesenba turned around, her gaze drifting to Miss Yukinoshita, who was silently watching from the side, looking bewildered, and gradually approached her.

A look of horror crossed her face. She stood there, hesitating and thinking hard, when suddenly she clapped her hands as if a flash of inspiration struck her. “That’s right, Miss Charlotte. Before I went into the hot spring, I tried to contact my former teacher at the Hunter Academy in the Sanctuary. He is a real person and knows us. This means that our extensive network of connections is real, which may help us find Mr. Hearn as soon as possible.”

“Good.” Miss Lesenba withdrew her hands, which had been pinching Yukinoshita’s cheeks, expressionlessly uttered a short compliment, turned around and returned to Miss Touma’s side, silently joining her in punishing the slacking middle school girl.

Yukino swallowed hard, still shaken. She hesitated for a moment, then moved over and joined the perpetrators.

In the Kingdom of Cold Winds, in the wilderness, in an abandoned settlement, on the second floor of a residential building.

Mr. Hearn sat at his desk by the window in his bedroom, with his back to the window, where the cold wind howled.

The triple-glazed windows provide excellent sound insulation, fully putting into practice the wisdom accumulated by the inhabitants of the cold regions over thousands of years as they have lived and thrived on this land, ensuring a completely silent bedroom.

Although the woman believed she had no habit of eavesdropping, the occasional soft sound of running water drifting into his ears in the quiet darkness made him feel quite embarrassed.

The most urgent task is to clear up the misunderstanding.

The believer had a guess, based on the invitation letter that belonged to him, that he had real interpersonal relationships on this planet called "Tree Child", rather than just empty talk.

This means he will have a traceable background, no longer be without evidence, and will be able to follow the clues to find out his own identity, social experience, and resources, instead of having to engage in insincere conversations with natives like Sun.

This is based on past experience. Although we don't always encounter such a difficult start where we are separated from our companions and have extremely limited personal information, we have still accumulated some experience—clearly define your own position and then use that as a starting point to achieve your goal.

As Sun mentioned before, all four kingdoms on this planet have established elite hunter academies in their capitals to train batches of young hunters to dedicate themselves to the front lines of protecting human civilization and fighting against the invasion of Grimm.

Witcher, what a noble profession.

The believer guessed that she and her companions were also demon hunters who had graduated from one of these four academies. After all, according to the age settings, they were all adults who were no longer suitable to continue to waste their time in the academy.

Seventeen is the normal age for enrollment, and the school system is four years long, with graduation at twenty-one. However, there is a possibility of some students repeating a year.

Mr. Hearn fiddled with the compass in his hand, lost in thought, until later he noticed that the subtle sound of flowing water in the stillness had abruptly stopped.

The bathroom door opened.

However, before that, a gentle breeze arrived in an instant, and alarm bells rang in the believer's mind. His sixth sense forced his body to dodge before his thoughts could catch up—his head tilted slightly to the right, and a flash of silver light streaked past his left ear, where his left eye used to be.

It was a four-grooved silver longsword shaped like a military dagger. The menacing yet practical blood grooves were carved into the four edges of the cross-shaped blade. With just a glance out of the corner of her eye, Xin Nu understood completely that this weapon and its owner were not ornamental works of art like a caged canary. It/she was a true killing weapon, deadly yet elegant.

When the first strike failed, the silver blade of light shot out like a streak of light, and a violent piercing burst forth like a storm in the next moment. The woman meticulously manipulated the opening of subspace rifts in front of her, and each small rift swallowed the shooting sword light without missing a single one. A pale golden light appeared on the blade of the bayonet-like longsword, and some kind of supernatural power was added to the blade. Even the world in front of the woman slowed down, as if the intangible concept of time had been completely stretched out.

"Hmm?" Noticing the familiar golden light and the source of the storm—the zodiac wheel appearing at the base of the sword hilt—the woman quickly matched this ability with a certain impression from her memories of a few hours ago. "You're the one who secretly helped me when I was fighting the mechs on the train?"

With most of her innate abilities still unknown, Hearn, the Believer, did indeed encounter considerable difficulties when fighting the giant, crimson spider on the train; that thing was incredibly tough!

However, his question went unanswered. The girl in front of him, wearing a tattered white evening dress that had been violently altered, saw that the assassination attempt had failed. Instead, she abruptly withdrew her sword and thrust it into the ground in front of her with both hands.

An ice flower bloomed out of nowhere, engulfing everything in front of the window. Caught off guard, the believer tumbled off the desk. With a tearing sound, the hem of his shirt was frozen into the ice flower. As he moved, the pure white fabric was torn open, leaving a ripped seam.

"Holy crap!" The believer was so frightened that she cursed. The sudden appearance of the ice flower blade was sharp and menacing. As she rolled over, one of the needle-like petals grazed her nose! Compared to her nose, the fact that her clothes were now tattered was completely irrelevant!

"Stop! Stop! Miss, what have I done to offend you?" The believer began to pace around the relatively spacious room, while the silver-haired girl in the box, wielding a silver longsword resembling a military dagger, followed him like a ghost, relentlessly stabbing him. Expensive and chaotic enchantments were cast by the pursuer as if they were free, causing the entire room to shimmer with light, and the furniture to be riddled with holes in an instant.

“I’m sorry! I was really wrong. After arriving at the settlement, I shouldn’t have pretended to go out and move a bundle of firewood to dispel the monkey’s suspicions. Instead, I should have come up to the second floor and opened the box immediately. The radio said you’ve been missing for six hours. You must have suffered a lot of ‘grievances’ while being locked in the box!” To sincerely express her apology, Xin Nu emphasized the word “grievances” in a sincere tone during her escape.

There was no response from behind, but the believer clearly felt that the pursuing attack had more than doubled in intensity after he finished speaking!

"Wait a minute! It's so cold, aren't you really going to take a shower? The bathroom heating system is working perfectly! I tested it myself! You were only in there for less than three minutes before it went silent!"

"Shameless!" came the girl's angry and embarrassed voice from behind.

Finally able to communicate, the woman continued, maintaining her circling escape speed, "Miss, is there some misunderstanding between us? Although my actions were extremely rude, I would still consider myself your savior, wouldn't I? If I hadn't caused such a scene on the train, the white box imprisoning you might still be in [White Fang's] hands, and your situation would be at least ten times worse than it is now!"

"Die, you devil! The chaotic aura of the subspace emanating from you is as foul as the rotting corpses in the Inquisition's underground graveyard!"

"I... ...

"Believer Hearn, shut your mouth! If you want to talk back, go explain yourself to those cowards in the Sky-Piercing Inquiry Agency! The path of judgment has no place for the fallen!"

"How do you know my name!? Wait, since you know me, you should know that I am a true academic demon hunter, a fearless hero who fights on the front line against the invasion of Grimm and protects human civilization! I graduated from the Beacon Academy of the World, and Principal Ozpin personally awarded me the certificate last year!" The believer began to make up a story with reason and evidence, trying to calm the crazy girl behind her.

"Did you shoot out your brains after you fell into Slaanesh? When did you become a witcher who graduated from Beacon Academy? You were the previous chief witch hunter trained by Skyward Academy! Skyward Academy's past glory, now Skyward Academy's shame!"

"??? What nonsense is this?!"

The believer abruptly stopped. [Warspace Rift] and [Detect Humanoid Creatures] were the only two talents he could still use after a brief trial. A dark blue rift opened behind him before he could turn, then tightened at lightning speed. The operation was a resounding success; the rift, originating from his back, precisely caught the pursuing silver longsword, completing a uniquely styled hand-to-hand combat maneuver. The longsword remained firmly stuck in the rift. The believer took a step forward, and the pursuing girl, propelled by inertia, crashed into his arms. After a muffled thud of flesh colliding, the believer felt his heart nearly stop from being struck by the girl's forehead, but thankfully it continued to beat. His hands moved downwards, quickly wrapping around the silver-haired girl's slender neck. Both lost their balance as he leaned back, and after feeling the ground on his back, the believer made a final adjustment, completing a fatal strangulation in a flash.

The believer quickly felt a damp sensation all over her body—this crazy girl had taken a hot shower in the bathroom and rushed out without stopping, but now the heat had vanished and she was cold again.

He could feel the pulse of the girl's carotid artery, which was becoming increasingly pronounced due to the pressure from the external force, on the inside of his arm; he could feel the futile kicks from the other party in his legs; and he could feel a slight pressure in his abdomen—the struggle from the girl's back was gradually weakening due to the lack of oxygen.

After silently counting to twenty-five, a playful yet cold voice rang out in the quiet darkness. The cold voice was very close to the bound girl's ear, and the warm breath brushed past her ear with each breath, like a midnight demon sneaking into the girl's boudoir and whispering softly at the bedside.

"Death, or a quiet chat, choose one, Miss IceCream/Queen."

"Ok?"

Sun stopped heating the canned food, looked up, and looked around.