In this chapter and a half of the next, I'll show Finn's point of view, as he will become an important character in the story.
In addition, some people here and on other sites I publish have had doubts about what happened. About how Finn found out he didn't have a falna, etc.
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POV: Finn
A few days earlier.
"Is everyone ready?" I asked, feeling extremely confident. We were standing in front of the dungeon, preparing for an expedition to hunt down the killers of our Familia members.
The main party, which included me, consisted of Ais, Bete, Tiona, Tione, and a few other high-level members.
Besides this main party, there were two additional groups, though both were made up of lower-level adventurers.
As soon as we entered the dungeon and reached the first floor, I saw someone. It was a young boy—he couldn't have been older than sixteen or seventeen. He looked lost and was unarmed.
I'd never seen his face before.
Is he part of a Familia?
'I can't sense any energy coming from him. He feels like a normal human. That's... strange. I can usually tell when someone's an adventurer, but with him, I feel nothing.'
Without thinking, I said:
"You don't have a falna. What are you doing here? It's dangerous." I only said it to test him. I might be wrong, but I don't care if I am.
The boy froze for a few seconds, setting off alarm bells in my mind.
This guy is strange.
"I'm sorry. I heard murders were happening in the dungeon, and I came looking for my brother. He's been inside for almost a day now... but I got too scared to keep going."
He's a terrible liar. Who is he?
That discomfort...
"Your brother? What Familia is he in?"
"Dellingr Familia."
He's lying. He picked the name of a minor Familia to throw me off. The boy, who had been smiling, suddenly changed his expression and said with tears in his eyes:
"Alright. If you see someone who looks a lot like me, just a bit taller—please help him."
He walked past me, and a chill ran down my spine, but I stayed silent. As he left the dungeon, I saw him glancing at every member of every group, for some reason.
I even thought I saw a smirk on his face, even though he had just been "crying."
"You. Follow that guy," I ordered one of the members of the main group.
"Huh? Why?"
"That guy's suspicious. I can't leave right now, so I want you to follow him."
"Got it!" He nodded and left the dungeon.
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Some time passed, and we encountered a few suspicious people wearing masks. There were more of them than I expected. We ran into several groups, but none of them were who we were looking for.
All of them identified themselves right away when questioned and even showed their falnas.
In the end, minutes went by—then more minutes—and we still hadn't found anything that could lead us to the killers.
I thought the murderers might try to attack us, but they wouldn't be that foolish. They know I'm here.
When we reached the fifth floor—the floor where the killings had taken place—I decided to split the large group into three separate teams.
I'd had this idea in mind for a while, but now that we were on the fifth floor, I decided to put it into action.
Three teams were formed.
My group had the strongest adventurers. The second group had several level fours and a few level threes. The last group was led by a level four whom I trusted deeply, but the rest of its members were level threes.
As the teams split up, I began to feel uneasy, wondering if this was the right thing to do.
The killers had already murdered several level three members of our Familia, and that third group was made up almost entirely of level threes. As much as I trusted their leader, I still felt uneasy.
"Hey, aren't you supposed to be with the third group? What are you doing here?"
I heard Bete and turned around. One of the members I'd sent with the third group was standing beside Ais.
When I saw him, that same discomfort returned.
The same feeling I'd had when I saw that boy on the first floor.
That's not him.
It's someone else.
Did he copy his appearance? I thought of the strange creatures that had appeared in the dungeon recently. They were also suspected of being involved in the murders.
I considered confronting him, but instead, I said:
"Leave him be. It doesn't matter."
With a serious look, I turned and continued walking toward the scene of the murders.
The creature that had joined our group didn't do anything suspicious—he was just observing us. He pretended to be helping in the search, but I noticed. Then, I saw his eyes widen.
A few seconds later, his expression changed—it became blank.
Then, our eyes met.
I approached him and cornered him against the wall.
"Who are you?" When I asked, he acted like he didn't know what was going on. He didn't answer—just pretended to be scared. "You know something—tell me right now if you don't want to die. Was it you? Did you do this? Did you kill them?!"
The other Familia members stared at me in shock.
Then I looked at his back—and saw the mark. Identical. Am I wrong? No… I can't be.
"Finn, what are you doing?" Tiona asked.
"..." I stayed silent for a few seconds, then turned away. "It's nothing."
"What do you mean, nothing? Who is he?" Bete pointed at the creature, still silent and pretending to be afraid.
"That guy... he's not one of us." Even without being sure, I said it.
"What do you mean?"
"That thing... it stole someone's face."
"What are you saying?" Ais asked.
Then I turned and looked at the creature's blank face. It remained silent, and once again, a chill ran down my spine.
That boy who left the dungeon earlier—he looked at all our members and picked the weakest one. And now this thing shows up.
They're connected.
There are more of them, just like the rumors said.
Damn it. This bad feeling... I started to panic a bit, and then I remembered the weakest group.
Without another word, I started running.
"Hey, Finn, what are you doing?!"
"Finn?!"
Everyone was surprised and started chasing after me.
With a serious expression, I kept running, using all my senses and instincts to find them.
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Next chapters: Chapter 40 - Pov: Finn / Chapter 41 - I've said too much. / Chapter 42 - Another city. Potions store. / Chapter 43 - You've reached the limit. / Chapter 44 - Outside Orario.