Bonus chapter thanks to @Wordsmith and @taelrak from Ko-fi!
Upon the alert from Morion, the guards moved swiftly, led by Esther. Of course, it was the doppelgänger Esther.
[Intruder detected, intruder detected, the intruder has killed three guards in the morgue. Respond immediately. Intruder detected─]
Following the announcement, the guards headed towards the morgue. The entrance to the prison had already been sealed off. A blockade was formed from the outside, enclosing the area.
A different sound, not from a manually pressed alarm, echoed once again.
Simultaneously, water sprayed from the sprinklers installed in the ceiling.
The intruder had set a fire. But why? Esther and the guards pressed on through the pouring streams of water.
The door to the morgue had automatically locked the moment the alarm sounded. Meaning, the intruder was still inside.
It was hard to comprehend the act of setting a fire in an enclosed space, but then again, it was the act of a madman who had breached Morion.
Esther, who was at the forefront, opened the door without delay. It was a lock enchanted with fingerprint recognition.
Esther had already unleashed her aura. Not only her, but all of Morion's guards could use aura. It was a basic requirement for a guard.
However, the intruder had already disappeared. There was no sign of Renzo's body either.
The guards entered and searched the room to no avail. The culprit had already escaped the morgue.
'It must be teleportation magic. And of an exceptionally high caliber at that. Probably a portal.'
Checking the CCTV would confirm it, but it's almost certain.
Esther pieced together the escape method from the situation.
The culprit had entered through the main gate, spouting nonsense about owing Renzo a favor. If their teleportation was of the 'spatial transfer' caliber, there would have been no need for that.
Initially, they could have taken him out of his solitary cell even before Renzo's death.
Meaning, the culprit's teleportation was a one-way 'return' only.
But that left a question.
'Then what's with the sprinkler?'
Esther had been focusing on her sense of smell since earlier. The fire was extinguished by the sprinklers, but she caught a faint scent of burning. Clearly, the culprit had set a fire here.
The reason why someone capable of returning through a portal would deliberately start a fire inside remains elusive.
'Perhaps fire or water is needed to create the portal...'
As Esther was developing her thoughts, the guards were tidying up the morgue and continuing the search throughout the prison.
According to Esther's judgment, the perpetrator would have already escaped the prison, but her thoughts could be wrong, and even if they were correct, it did not justify stopping the search.
"Ma'am, I have something to report."
At that moment, one of the guards approached Esther.
"According to the staff member who triggered the alarm, the CCTV in the morgue shows that the perpetrator changed their face."
"Changed their face?"
"Yes. When they entered, they appeared as a slender woman, but inside the morgue, their face changed to a more androgynous appearance. It was said their face was malleable, like clay."
"Hmm. So, the perpetrator didn't know about the CCTV?"
"No, they were looking directly at the camera. It seems it was deliberately shown. They can change their appearance at any time, and therefore cannot be found. That was the kind of appeal it seemed to be."
Esther's eyes grew cold.
After lightly touching her chin and lips with her fingertips, Esther said,
"─Then, the perpetrator must be a creature from outside."
"…A creature from outside."
"If they can change their face, in addition to flaunting their abilities, it's likely that their existence has never been discovered by the Empire. Hence the delay in response, and the lack of knowledge about their identity. Their provocation has that meaning."
"Indeed. It was the act of a creature from outside."
The guard nodded as if impressed.
However, Esther still seemed suspicious.
'Even so, provocation alone is insufficient as a reason. I've heard that creatures from outside possess high intelligence. Moreover, being surrounded by creatures as powerful as themselves, they become cautious and secretive due to their high intelligence and the need to be wary of each other.'
If it were just a simple monster, one could see the purpose behind flaunting its abilities.
But if it's a creature from outside, even that flaunting could have been targeting something.
'Renzo's corpse, portal, transformation, flaunting…'
Keywords condensed in Esther's mind one after another.
'Fire or perhaps, water is needed.'
Her eyes soon shone coldly.
'─A creature from outside.'
It's not because of the portal that fire or water is needed.
Perhaps it's the creature itself.
Having reached a conclusion, Esther softly said,
“He showed off his skills. It was a form of self-confidence that we would never find him. But if you look at it differently, what do you see? You come to the conclusion that only a ‘monster’ could do such a thing. And it’s an unidentified monster that we’ve never seen before.”
“Y, yes, that’s right.”
“In other words, he deliberately let us know that he’s a monster. There’s no reason to take such a risk.”
“Since he’s not human, can’t he do that? Their thoughts are impossible to predict.”
Esther shook her head at the guard’s words.
“That’s because you’ve never met a monster outside. Their thoughts are impossible to predict? True. But that doesn’t mean they’re stupid. It’s because they’re beyond our comprehension.”
The intelligence of the monsters outside and humans are pretty much the same. Esther knew that. She had actually met a monster outside, and barely survived with her limbs intact.
However, unlike humans who are greatly influenced in their choices by emotions, logic, beliefs, and values, monsters outside don’t have such things.
They don’t have anyone to protect or a heart. Their excellent intelligence is only used for their own purpose.
If you don’t understand that way of thinking.
"As long as you dismiss the monsters of the Outside as mere monsters, you deserve to be ripped in half."