Shirou, who returned from the Fairy Kingdom

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"........."

Shirou and Kallen exchanged a glance, but neither of them spoke or went to open the door.

As time went on, the knocking gradually became more aggressive.

From "thump, thump, thump" to "bang! bang! bang!".

Just as the dilapidated door was about to collapse due to the violent knocking, Shirou kicked it down with a flying kick—

Waiting for them in the corridor outside were people carrying machetes, hand axes, and old-fashioned rifles.

The person at the front lunged forward, and Shirou slashed at him without hesitation—

After taking one down, he grabbed Karen's wrist and started running.

Shirou leaped over the people crowded in the narrow passageway.

Several people who tried to grab Shirou or Kallen had their outstretched arms cut off by him.

He fought his way through the crowd and escaped through the back door of the hotel.

A large number of people had gathered outside.

It was a scene resembling a zombie apocalypse.

They were carrying rifles, pistols, sickles, axes, machetes, and various other weapons. Surprisingly, they made no sound and their faces remained expressionless.

There was no surprise, no sadness, no anger; he simply kept his mouth shut and stared intently at the hotel.

Finally, they slowly began to move, rushing into the hotel one after another.

There was no fear, no hesitation, and no anger.

The situation escalated into the worst possible scenario that Shirou and Karen could have foreseen.

What is the safest way for a magician to live in seclusion in a rural area where communication is difficult?

Is it about minimizing communication with others and letting them think you're a weirdo?

No, it means bringing everything around you under your control.

The people in this town have probably already been turned into ghouls by Ode Bolzac.

The people who had gathered were all expressionless. This was not because they had cut off their emotions to endure something, but because their brains had stopped functioning.

"Oh dear, now there's no way we can expect to find out anything."

Karen's suitcase contained many torture devices she had acquired out of personal interest, which she had hoped would be useful for some real-world testing, but it would be pointless if her opponent was a ghoul.

"Should we grab one and question them using magic?"

Shirou hesitated somewhat regarding Kallen's proposal.

"The other party is also a magician. To prevent their location from being revealed, they will probably take appropriate precautions... There's no other way, it's better to try than not to try."

Even the most powerful Dead Apostles transformed from humans couldn't possibly control the entire town's residents, so Odd Bolzak must live nearby.

The two walked out of the hotel's back door and ran away with their backs bent.

Karen attacked a lone resident; "Maria's Shroud" is very good at doing this.

"Take me to see your boss here."

After Shirou used suggestive questioning techniques, the man bound by the red shroud showed a dazed expression.

Karen, who was standing nearby, quickly shouted in a deep voice, "We want to see Od Polzak!"

Shirou gave her a complicated look: "..."

The man reacted after hearing the name.

He nodded slowly—then pointed directly to the east side of the hotel's back door and held up three fingers.

"Three kilometers east of here? Three hundred meters?"

He shook his head, then nodded—it seemed the answer was the latter.

Shirou and Kallen exchanged a glance, then began to move toward their destination.

Teleology: A secluded cabin, from the outside, seems perfect for a magician to live in seclusion.

Time was of the essence, and Shirou burst through the door of the hut.

The room was filled with various decorations that evoked the stereotypical image of a magician, and a neatly dressed, cold-faced young man stood there.

No doubt about it, he is Ode Polzak from the report, and it's clear he had plastic surgery using magic.

Noticing Shirou and Kallen's intrusion, the magician opened his mouth—

Before that, Shirou's "Blade of Chaos" pierced through Od Bolzac's chest.

"Ugh...ugh...ah!"

The apostle known as the "Demon Bee Envoy" didn't even have a chance to scream before collapsing to the ground with a thud and never moving again.

"...?"

Karen frowned slightly, a strange sense of disharmony welling up inside her.

Is this... the end?

The man who had been hunted by the church and association for decades and remained at large was so easily killed by them.

During the six months she worked with Shirou, the two of them did encounter some crises.

Magicians are the most cunning creatures, and venturing into their domain naturally carries corresponding risks.

But this time, they dealt with their most troublesome enemy with almost no effort.

Just as Karen was immersed in an indescribable sense of strangeness, a noise came from outside.

She looked out the window and saw a large, dark mass of residents surrounding her.

"……How can it be!"

Karen's eyes widened.

The magician who was their master has been eliminated. How can these mindless ghouls continue to survive?!

"Shirou...!"

Karen turned around and saw Shirou squatting beside Od Bolzac's corpse.

"This isn't the time for that, we're surrounded, Shirou, hurry..."

"Karen, come here."

Shirou used his knife to slice open the magician's body, cutting from the chest to the abdomen in one go.

"!"

The girl looked incredulous—there was nothing inside.

The magician, who should have become a dead apostle, only had a decaying heart inside his body; all other internal organs had been artificially removed.

"Just as I thought." Shirou sighed.

"Wait, what's going on...?" Karen asked, puzzled.

Unless it's a monster of the "Ancestor" level, even a Dead Apostle needs all their internal organs intact to maintain daily activities.

Therefore, it's impossible that Od Bolzac removed his own internal organs—

The truth is probably that he was transformed into a walking corpse by someone.

"Who on earth did this?!"

Even when she was kidnapped, the nun who could remain calm broke down.

"Was it that bounty hunter? Natalia Kaminsky did this!"

The woman killed Od Polzak before we arrived, and the inhabitants outside were also her doing—”

Shirou stood up from beside the Dead Apostle and put his hand on Kallen's shoulder to signal her to calm down.

"I'm sorry, I lost my composure a bit... But Shirou, what exactly happened..."

Karen swallowed hard: "What exactly are we fighting?"

“You’ve made a mistake based on your preconceived notions,” Shirou said.

"What is it?"

Shirou said, "Natalia is not chasing the 'Demon Bee Master'—"

Another, even more powerful Dead Apostle lives in this town.

-----------

Volume 6, Chapter 273: Shirou, His First Time Selling His Body?

After completing the investigation, Shirou prepared to leave.

"Even if you say we should evacuate... we're already surrounded!"

Kallen stared at the door being pounded on repeatedly, her face pale, and asked, "Shirou, are you planning to kill all those ghouls?"

The number of ghouls surrounding Odd Polzak's residence was staggering.

It's not impossible to defeat them like this, but that would alert the hidden mastermind behind the scenes.

After thinking for a moment, Shirou said, "There's no need for that."

Based on my observation, these ghouls only possess the most basic stress response capabilities.

Karen, do you remember how we were first attacked by the ghouls?

The girl tilted her head and thought for a moment before answering, "That is... um, could it be checking into a hotel?"

Shirou nodded: "That's right, it's the act of 'staying at an inn' itself."

Because we rented a house in the hotel, the ghouls finally took action and surrounded us.

The same thing happened this time; the ghouls only came and surrounded the house because we broke into Od Bolzac's house.

These ghouls lack basic cognitive abilities and can only react according to pre-set scenarios.

"Hmm, I see... So what does this have to do with our current situation?"

"Once you understand how they operate, it's easy to get around their line of sight."

Shirou said, "First of all, if we try to escape from the house, they will definitely lock onto us, so what we need to do is make them think that we are already dead."

Karen seemed to realize something: "Wait, you wouldn't be going to..."

"It's that 'couldn't be' part."

Shirou smiled.

……

……

Seconds later, the ghouls surrounding the hut finally broke down the door.

They lined up expressionlessly to enter the cabin and began searching for their target.

The ghoul's tiny head only recorded Shirou and Kallen's appearances; it had no interest in anything else.

Of course, they wouldn't notice the sword stuck in the center of the room floor.

Just then, the sword burst forth with light—

"Fantasy Collapse".

The explosion caused by Shirou generated enormous energy, blasting the entire hut into the sky.

The ghouls that entered the house vaporized instantly in the aurora, while the ghouls blocking the outside were also turned into indistinguishable chunks of flesh in the shockwave.

"That way, the ghouls will think we died in the explosion too."

Shirou, who was hiding in the cellar and had set up a protective barrier, said to Kallen.

The latter rolled his eyes, utterly speechless: "What should we do next?"