On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

You may ask, why am I immediately running to Brontes Dukedom by myself? Why did I volunteer to infiltrate the Dukedom by myself? Why am I so confident in my ability to accomplish it? Why did I even suggest it?

The answer to those questions is simple: personal interest. I have killed the daughter of the Duke of Brontes, the sole child of his whom he adores so much.

The news of his daughter’s death isn’t out yet even though it has been more than two months since her death—Valeria keeps a good job in covering it—but as long as he is still alive, he is bound to hear it.

He will be completely pissed if he ever hears the news, and I am sure he will move many troublesome people just to seek revenge. It will be a hassle to face those people, which is why killing him is required.

This world’s humans, though united, they are more ungrateful than humans on Earth. As long as you are not a Hero, in this world, once you die, no one will honor you as much as those close to you.

The people you have saved will forget you and the promise they have made with you. Gone will be the debt they say they will pay in the future after you die.

Because of that, although we will cause a ruckus by killing one of the respected Dukes of Antares Kingdom, Niles Brontes, the aftermath of our action won’t be as damaging as letting him alive and hear the news of his daughter.

After he dies, after all, no one other than those who are really close to himself will seek revenge.

Considering how rowdy the method our General has suggested, I am sure we will never be able to kill Niles. He will definitely run away as soon as he hears the commotion outside the gate.

This golden chance of finding him in his less developed territory won’t come twice. By doing that, we will only waste the chance, which is the reason why I suggested the plan.

I can’t let Niles go. Valeria and Ilschevar expects me to kill him, and I don’t want to disappoint them.

“I think here is fine.”

After five minutes of running, I stop in my tracks and hide behind a tree. I am already just two miles away from the Dukedom’s gate, so I am going to take my mask off and change my outfit.

Out of the four of us, my face is the only one that Xenon and friends haven’t seen. This is the reason why I volunteered to infiltrate the Dukedom.

Eliseus, Vibiane, and Velucan’s “human form” needs only a thin layer of Magic, which is unnoticeable. It has been seen, unfortunately, so the only way for them to infiltrate the Dukedom is to completely change their appearance.

This will only attract unnecessary attentions that way, however, due to their heavy usage of Mana. The only way to mask the trace of Mana covering their body is to exude a heavy amount of Mana, which will make many people suspicious.

It is not an everyday event, after all, for powerful individuals to visit such a remote place as the other half of Brontes Dukedom.

“Well… It fits me surprisingly well.”

I have finished changing my outfit in less than a minute, thanks to the method Eliseus has taught me.

The clothes are consisted of a grey shirt, a black vest; and a pair of black, fitting pants. The shirt is tucked into my pants, and the sleeves are folded to my elbows, revealing half of my arm.

Thanks to the formal clothes I bought from the store in the human village where my troop mates satisfied their urge, I look worthy of someone respectable.

“Now, I need to style my hair. Luckily, I bring a mirror with me.”

I am slightly surprised by how I look when I look into the mirror; it has been days since I last saw my face. I had taken my mask off a couple of times for the past few days, but it is my first time in a while using a mirror.

Shrugging afterwards, I tie the sides of my shoulder length hair to the back, leaving the rest untied. While looking into the mirror, I style my bang so it won’t obscure my eyes—I don’t want to look suspicious.

“Am I handsome? Well… I guess I am attractive,” I mutter as I look at my face carefully. “Whatever. The idea here is to look like a respectable person, so everyone will not carelessly approach me nor will they be suspicious of me.”

When I am done styling my hair, I store the mirror into my Spatial Storage. I come out behind the tree afterwards, ready to dash at the gate.

Stab!

Just before I kick the ground, however, something struck the tree beside me. I look to the side and find a scroll stuck in its trunk.

I know who has sent it to me, so I know what the scroll is. It is the Array that we will use to Seal the entire Dukedom and completely separate it from the rest of the world.

“Those bastards… Aren’t they the one who offered to take care of the Sealing part?” I grumble slightly. “Are they pranking me now that they have failed their initial prank or are they just too lazy to move their ass?”

Sighing lightly as I accept my fate, I take out the scroll and store it. Kicking the ground afterwards, I dash toward the gate without looking back once.

When I arrive in front of the gate, although I am only exuding roughly a tenth of my original pressure, I still attract everyone’s attention. I immediately find out that most of them are civilians, which is why they are startled.

All of them react the same. They look at me from the bottom to the top, but immediately turn their eyes away the moment they see my face. I don’t know if my eyes are that scary for them, but it slightly wounds my fragile heart.

Anyway, that is for the better. Having someone suddenly get talkative to me is something I don’t want to happen after all.

Before long, my turn of entering the Dukedom comes. “W-What is your purpose of visiting our Dukedom, sir?” The guard looks a little bit flustered, probably due to how respectable I look.

“What do you think I am going to do here?”

“S-Sorry for asking, sir!”

As the guard became even more flustered, I blink my eyes in slight surprise. This is my first time in a while speaking with other people without my mask on, and I didn’t know I sound that cold.

My mask alters my voice, so whichever tone I use to talk will sound emotionless. I mostly speak neutrally due to my personality development—as far as I know—so, I am actually quite surprised how cold my voice actually is.

“Forget it.” I wave my hand. “I am here to visit my fellow Priest. Is that a good reason for you?”

“Y-Yes, sir! You may pass! P-Please have a good day, sir! Next!”𝓞𝑣𝔩xt.𝗇𝓔t

The guard immediately turns his head away after he gives me the past. He acts like I am going to cut his head if he stares at me longer than a minute.

I can’t blame him though; cutting someone’s head off when they are displeased is something Priests always do. They are considered holy in this world, so anyone who “taints” them with their eyes are worthy of punishment.

No one finds it weird; not because they are Priests and the agents of God or anything, but simply because they have the power to do so. Power decides everything in this world.

Those who have power can do whatever they like. The public may not like it, but again, with power they can make the public’s opinion sway toward them.

“I expected to see a typical rural area, but this place looks even more developed than Scentillion.”

Upon passing through the gate of Brontes Dukedom, I am greeted by the sight of a bustling road that is filled with carts and street vendors. Three storey buildings or well built houses decorate the streets, adding a slightly sophisticated look to the city.

I find myself questioning if this place is an undeveloped territory; as far as I can see, there is no sign of poverty and famine. It gives me a weird sense of annoyance knowing that life seems good here.

“As expected of a Dukedom that is managed by a rich Kingdom I guess?” I shrug.

Ignoring the curious gaze people are giving me, I walk toward the city hall that provides the city map. I have actually seen the map when I was studying about Brontes Dukedom with Valeria, but there is no way I remember all of it.

I keep walking for a minute or so to any magnificent building I can see. I am looking for the city hall, and I realized it late that I don’t know where it is or how it looks.

Inwardly slapping myself on the head, I sigh and look for a stranger I can ask for help. Spotting a pink hair among the crowd that stands out like a sore thumb, I grab the hand of the person thoughtlessly.

“Hey, who do you—”

The person got angry as I expected, but I immediately cut her. “Excuse me, can I ask you where the city hall is?”

“O-Oh… Hi, handsome.”

When the person whose hand I am holding turns her head to me, I immediately sigh inwardly. It is someone I know—Winerva, whom I instinctively don’t like just because of the problematic vibe she is giving.