Chapter 179

  Eternal Lament (V)

  "His name is--was--A'tun Elkath," yeah, sure, whatever you say. "He was born with a rather rare Essence Core, though it wasn't spectacular by any means. Of his generation, he always lagged behind those at the very top, and as his Father was one of the Primes, the pressure was... immense."

  "Hm."

  "We know that he started experimenting when he was thirteen." Okay, I asked for his appearance and how he got away--not his freakin' life story! "And escalated to his first human sacrifice when he was sixteen. When he ran away, he was twenty--in the span of those four years, we suspect he killed a little over sixty people. Since then, however, that number... well, though cruel it may sound, we've stopped keeping count.

  "As for how he escaped," the woman's face turned a bit dark for a moment. "It was his Father. He'd known for a whole year prior and helped both cloak his son and provide him with an avenue to escape. He's since been stripped of his position and thrown in the dungeons, but no matter how much we tortured him, he never offered us up a way to find him. When he escaped, he was average-looking and entirely unassuming, though I don't see how that matters. As I told your Disciple, he can take on any form he desires."

  ... I'm no psychoanalyst (I'm pretty sure that is self-evident), but you live among people long enough, you pick up on a few things. Especially being the guy everyone goes to for pills--you tend to meet random folk from all walks of life.

  And underachieving sons of prominent father figures who turn to any extreme they can in order to satisfy either real or perceived expectations?

  Yeah.

  They fed the pharmacy, you could say.

  It's hard to generalize, though, as, with age, most of them slowly soften up and begin recognizing there's really no point in measuring yourself against someone else to such a degree. So, the question, then, is: is he the type to have healed up and grown, or not?

  Seeing as how he's still killing indiscriminately and how he's keeping a thrall as his 'stand-in', essentially... yeah, I have no idea. Look, I said I'm not a psychoanalyst--the reason I asked is simply because people, as on Earth so here, are creatures of comfort. Just how serial killers have a 'hunting ground', he, too, probably has certain rituals that give him comfort and safety.

  Besides, at the end of the day, isn't this all kind of for a show? Won't Long Tao find him regardless of what I do? I mean, yeah, I should probably start putting in effort myself--no, no should. I will. Screw it.

  This is a bad guy, and I've yet to properly be a hero of justice out of desire rather than desperation.

  ... did I just use the phrase 'hero of justice'? Oh my God. I think I'm gonna vomit.

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  "Mister Lu?" Thankfully, Zhu's voice pulled me out as I finally spoke up.

  "I've found that the more I know about someone, the easier it might become to predict them. Though, I suppose, if you two can't do it--knowing him as well as you do--it's a futile effort. Perhaps the opposite approach might be better."

  "The opposite approach?"

  "You know your Captain."

  "What about him?"

  "He's... well, there's no easy way to say this: he's a Thrall."

  "...!!" Okay, part of me thought they actually already knew, and that's why they've been 'hanging' out with the guy. But, judging by their absolutely flabbergasted expressions... yeah, no.

  Even Long Tao seemed a bit surprised--yes, surprised, but not shocked--though it quickly faded. He likely wasn't surprised that the man was a Thrall, but that I knew it, too.

  "A-are you... are you sure?" Lilia asked, swallowing a knot in her throat. "Captain has been around for so long... and even generations prior know about him..."

  "I can say, without a shadow of doubt in my heart, that, right now, he's a Thrall. Whether he always was or became one at some point... that, I don't know. Right now, however, he's just a husk and nothing else. You don't have to believe me--I'm sure you have means of confirming it."

  "... no wonder," Lilia suddenly laughed, and Zhu followed right after. "No wonder all our attempts have been futile. I... I just thought he was so desperate to stay by my side because he had feelings for me... but to think..."

  Okay, while she processes whatever feelings she's trying to process, I should also process how to go about this. Excluding Long Tao, because I'm petty and I want to do it before him, left me actually with very few options.

  The biggest hurdle is that... I know nothing about Shamanism, and even less so about this particular type.

  ... however.

  If I suppose, in the broadest sense, that he's vampire-like--not a vampire, not truly, but vampire-like... there are a few bits of info that I can extract.

  Even without that, however, I can confidently say that he's not in the castle--he probably comes and goes frequently enough, but this isn't where he stays. Since he already has the eyes and the ears in the perfect position to observe everything, he probably wouldn't risk being here all the time.

  He is known, though; perhaps even as a few people.

  But going back to the whole 'vampirism' business, if he is anything like them, then he probably finds blood--or life energy, Life Qi, whatever it's called--essentially irresistible. And, in a cruel twist of fate, blood here isn't just a specialized body fluid composed of plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.

  Actually, wait, I don't really know--is it? It's entirely possible that what everyone here calls a 'Bloodline' might really just be a genetic mutation (of aggressive order) that has nothing to do with blood and is entirely in the genes.

  ... Okay, I'm off on a tangent again. Back to the topic.

  Regardless, people believe that it's in the blood--which means that those who suckle at... nope, just no.

  Those that use blood as an elixir likely drool over 'good quality' blood.

  ... and don't I have the best? Well, not me me, but, you know, these little monsters around me. If we dangle the bait--

  Something is seriously wrong with me. It might be the kids getting to me with their freakish feats of superhuman strength, it might be the world wearing me down, but the frequency of thoughts like these is... increasing.

  No. I won't dangle the kids as damn bait, even if it's the only option I have.

  "So, we should then follow Captain? See if he does anything suspicious?" Zhu suggested. I glanced stealthily at Long Tao, who just shrugged... which is to say, it's a stupid idea.

  "No," Lilia said before I could. "Thralls are essentially a 'second mind' to a Blood Fiend. They share all senses; the two of them meeting for any reason would never happen."

  "... not never," I said, a bulb lighting up inside my head.

  "Hm? What do you mean?"

  "Say, if the Thrall were to be seriously injured, would not the Master come out to heal it?"