"Turn in front of you."
It was a girl's husky voice. I followed her said. Honestly, I was puzzled as to why she would say something like that when she already had the chance to cut my throat with her dagger. If she was going to do something like that, I would have acted accordingly. The self-defense techniques I learned in my world include karate and aikido. Naturally, these techniques are useful when the other person attacks.
Now, we were face to face. The follower concealed her face with a black hoodie and mask. She had a dagger, just like Rona's, in her hand. Her clothes were casual and the same color. She looked at me for a few seconds, then took a deep breath, removing everything that concealed her face.
I really need to work more on my senses.
Because, I suspected was not that nalia.
She was the only other nalia I couldn't see any signs of emotion. I watched in amazement as she tied her purple hair into a ponytail and constantly checked her surroundings with her red eyes.
"Um… What exactly is going on here?!?"
Had all my assumptions been thrown out the window? That wasn't possible. This nalia in her hand was holding the same dagger. I couldn't have been mistaken. This girl was also a cultist. So why wasn't she attacking and why didn't she look angry? I had killed a her comrade who supported the cause she supported. Her remaining calm didn't make sense.
"Would you like to shout a little more!?"
She rebuked me but the tension in her voice was clearly evident. It was as if a rope about to snap.
"But... Wait, wait, wait... My mind completely shut down."
Even though I had memories from my previous world, I wanted to be mad at myself for not being a genius.
"That's perfectly normal. After all, you saw the true face of a cultist and survived."
I had many questions in mind, but for now, I needed to find answers to the most urgent ones.
"How did you realize?"
At that moment, I observed the nalia lightly touching her slightly curled horns. It was as if a fog had formed in her eyes.
"This is what my magic is about."
Another monster. She didn't say what kind of magic she used but that one sentence summarized everything. Somehow, this nalia could read minds.
"If I have the same ite. as yours in my inventory, I can read your mind."
That was her cheat. Dropping a meteor from the sky couldn't be this terrifying either. At that moment, I somewhat understood the nalia's intention.
"Are you a spy infiltrated into the cult?"
"It's a complicated story."
She said this in a flat, emotionless tone. After saying that, I watched as the woman collapsed to the ground. She didn't deny my question. She was truly acting as if they were right there. I don't know how many years she had been doing this but her ability to still keep her sanity was a miracle. Like a smart person in a mental hospital. I wanted to help her up, but she signaled with her hand for me not to approach.
"Nell!"
At that moment, I heard a familiar voice.
"Iris?"
I was so focused on the person following me that I didn't think my own friend would do the same.
"What's going on here, Nell?"
"I would like to tell you everything but you need to listen to this girl first."
I saw the nalia stand up. She looked sharply at Iris. After noticing her stare, she hit her forehead and looked around once more.
"There's still no one... It's just you two. What I'm about to say won't be ordinary. If this gets out, you won't be the only ones. You will witness your family being murdered right before your eyes, your bodies and minds tormented with torture. Your lives will turn into pure hell."
She looked around again. Then, as if checking whether she was dreaming, I saw her break her own thumb. She suppressed her pain and didn't even let out a cry. Her paranoid behavior was normal. Besides, what she was saying was enough to freeze many people's blood. Iris, seeing her behavior, was clearly terrified and hid behind me.
"Please…"
Her voice sounded extremely sad. It was obvious she was holding back tears.
"Save Quintah. The ones attacking your own kingdom are not them."
I couldn't say a single word. This nalia... was seriously asking us for help. There was no active declaration of war between the two kingdoms but in the last three years, their relationship had significantly worsened. It would be helpful to detail what happened between the two kingdoms three years ago. Quintah carried out a surprise attack and took over a small part of Ucretnight. Because they seized the valuable mines in that region, even if a counterattack was launched, it failed and a non-aggression pact was signed between the two kingdoms. At that time, the current king, III. Leon, had just ascended to the throne, and with this agreement, Quintah's further expansion was halted.
Since then, we've been gradually cautious toward the nalia race.
That's why the words of the cultist-like spy in front of me felt strange. In a way, she was asking her enemy for help.
An enemy of my enemy is my friend.
This only meant one thing.
"Who are you really?"
Quintah kingdom must have been surrounded from within by cultists. Like a parasite settling into a creature's body, they were gradually consuming the kingdom from the inside. This was frightening in a single word. It also seemed like even Quintah itself was unaware of the attack three years ago.
This suggests that Quintah kingdom had already turned into a cage.
That's why, anyone who could escape this cage could not simply be a nalia with this kingdom. The nalia in front of me was certainly not an ordinary person and I started to see her differently. This time, my instincts told me I was right. The nalia in front of me was still looking around her surroundings. Then, she examined her hand and shook her head. She must have been contemplating breaking another finger. Without saying a word, she started to walk around the steel building. Iris and I followed her. I saw the cultist touching specific parts of the steel structure. After a few minutes, a gap appeared large enough for a person to fit through.
"For F's sake, this is a secret door."
I remained silent and looked at Iris's worried face. All three of us went through the secret door and entered that hangar-like building. The inside was quite deserted. There might not have been many people around the building but it seemed she didn't want anyone else to hear her secrets besides us.
And she looked around again. I knew this was paranoia but this was truly over the top. The cultists wouldn't suddenly appear inside the building. Not even they could perform such miraculous madness.
The spy finally knelt down and bowed her head to the ground.
"There is a civil war inside Quintah. Please, get involved in this war and save us all."
The spy revealed her true purpose by providing a few details from her previous words. Quintah kingdom was indeed struggling with cultists. Since I already knew this, her identity became even more intriguing to me. With her next words, my curiosity found an answer.
"I am Emerra, the princess of Quintah. I beg you. Please, arrange a meeting with the king for me."
"Princess!?!?"
I saw the hesitation in Iris. If there was someone above the nobles and ritchis, it was also those carrying royal blood. This girl clearly didn't need to know mind-reading magic for no reason. Members of the royal bloodline are astonishingly skilled in controlling their powers. Considering that mind-reading magic requires very little magical energy and has quite a cryptic condition for it to work, the question of how she wasn't caught was answered itself.
"Honestly... If I said I didn't expect to hear something like this, it would be a lie. That mind-reading magic couldn't be performed by an ordinary nalia."
"Don't look at me like I'm special. My mother was just an ordinary maid."
"Oh... So, you're an illegitimate princess."
Yes. Normally, even ascending to the throne wouldn't even be a possibility but...
"But?"
"All my half-siblings are supposed to be dead. If I die too..."
She couldn't continue her speech. This highlighted how serious the situation was. Even if she was illegitimate, someone carrying royal blood shouldn't be here.
"This thing you did... I mean, infiltrating as a cultist... Your family doesn't know about this, right?"
"Even worse... They genuinely think I joined the cult."
It was truly a complicated story. She had made a decision that would cause even her own family to look at her with hatred, just so her country could be saved. Most people couldn't bear the weight of this decision. I could be one of them. That's why I felt an inexplicable sense of weakness when I looked at this nalia.
It wasn't even this medicore. I felt like a newborn deer witnessing real power for the first time.
"How many years has it been?"
At that moment, I saw Iris approaching the Quintah princess who was bowing in front of us and performing a healing magic on her broken finger.
"You... don't have to do this. To the others, it's just part of my devotion…"
"Aren't you tired?"
Iris asked this question in a gentle voice.
And at that moment, I saw Emerra's red eyes fill with tears, flowing like a waterfall, and I witnessed her hug Iris tightly.