There was a strange silence between the two. Except for the chitter chatter of the crowd.
Ishiki pondered over the name for considerable time, rolling syllables around in mind and looked at Filch who remained equally lost in contemplation.
"Hmm... so why did you ask me about that, suddenly?"
Filch met his gaze and then frowned. "Ahh... he was supposed to go hunting today. That name is on the list, but no one seems to know who that is."
Ishiki scowled. "Huh? Did the list organizer smoke some weird plants?"
Filch laughed. "There are no weird plants around. But he did write the name out of thin air."
Then, remembering something important, Ishiki narrowed his eyes and asked in haste. "And by the way, why is there a hunting party going today? Wasn’t the meat supposed to last a week?"
The taller man looked at him with hint of disappointment—or perhaps despair barely contained within.
"You probably didn’t hear. That beast you brought... it turned to red water."
Ishiki paused, staring at Filch with widening eyes. "What?"
Then he remembered the description of the vestige he had received and clenched his jaw as he understood what happened.
’Damn it! So the meat bastard was hardened just until it remained alive.’
Soon, the princess... Yuki, too came to the commotion, she was once again clad in her armor suite that gleamed in the silver light of the moon.
She looked... tired. Even aristocratic posture couldn’t completely mask accumulated fatigue.
All of them were. In fact, every single person living in this six-hundred-meter clearing was drowning in despair and doubts about futures that seemed increasingly theoretical.
Weather they would live or not?
Would they ever be able to get out of this cursed forest or not?
’Maybe not all of us... who knows?’
Just then, the princess ordered everyone to assemble at a single place. Ishiki sighed and looked back at Filch who was withdrawing something from his pocket.
Ishiki observed him curiously as he pulled out a cigarette and a lighter. He pulled the cigarette to his mouth and set it aflame.
Inhaling deeply, he released a puff of smoke that dissipated into cold air. Only then did he notice Ishiki staring at him with profound disbelief.
He raised an eyebrow and offered the cigarette in his hand.
"What? want one?"
Ishiki’s jaw dropped. "How... it’s been over two months, how do you still have cigarette?"
Filch took another breath, savoring smoke before responding with amusement. "It’s thanks to my skill."
He retrieved an entire pack from his pocket, displaying it like magician revealing trick.
"See? I have a whole pack and it will never end. I smoke one every day—you just never saw me."
Ishiki blinked a few times. "Your skill, huh? What does it do?"
The tall guy straightened up and then gave Ishiki a cryptic smile that told nothing and everything at the same time.
"Sorry, but I can’t tell you that. And I’d say you shouldn’t tell anyone either."
He walked forward, joining the gathering group.
Ishiki shrugged and followed behind.
’Well, I couldn’t tell anyone even if I wanted to. Because even I don’t know what my skill actually does.’
***
Some time later, all Players living within the small clearing sat in wide circle.
Silence felt like physical weight pressing down on each of them—oppressive and suffocating.
The man responsible for counting stood and pointed finger at himself with confused frown. Then looked up at the Princess and said with a remarkably even tone.
"I counted thirty-one too."
Everyone let out a heavy sigh.
From the last hour, They’d all been counting and recounting because the person responsible for recording names had written thirty-two entries for inexplicable reasons.
But no one seemed to remember the individual named...
’Uh? What was the name again?’
Unable to recall, Ishiki sighed.
How was he supposed to remember a name he heard for the first time just an hour ago?
A new hunting party was established and the gathering was dismissed. Everyone went on about their daily lives, or what was left of that in this broken world.
Ishiki had brief conversation with Alex, who looked profoundly disoriented and exhausted.
The young, pale man had become even more pallid and emaciated by comparison to weeks prior. Ishiki rarely saw him anymore—Alex was the settlement’s sole healer, and daily someone sustained injuries while gong on hunts, that requiring treatment.
With only a few... grave causalities.
The causalities that told them, that there existed Withering beasts beyond their comprehension, for whom they were nothing more than just pests.
One such distinction was their Rank that went from 1 and all the way to 5. Each one increased the beast’s threat level and overall power range to a different roof.
Fortunately, they’d never encountered beasts above Rank 3. But the day they did... probably only two or three people here possessed capability to escape those encounters alive.
The other distinction was the prefix. They had no idea how many kinds of prefix existed and even the system gave them no insights on that topic.
’The only one’s so far we encountered are, Blighted and Infested.’
Blighted beasts being weaker, with lower overall statistics and less aggressive behavioral patterns.
"Ishiki..."
Suddenly, he heard a sweet and melodical voice call to him from behind. Ishiki turned and found that Yuki was walking towards him.
’Oh? What does Y... the princess need?’
He greeted her with a wave and a smile. "Hi... Uh, princess."
She passed the smile back and then went straight to business. "Just when the Silver Night ends and the Crimson Moon takes over, I will be waiting for you in front of the temple. Please, show me what you know about Aethelburg."
Ishiki nodded.
The Princess reciprocated the gesture, then turned to leave.
Ishiki’s heart skipped a beat.
’That was... it?’ He seemed a little bit disappointed?
Collecting his thoughts, he smiled faintly.
’Oh well, finally a girl invited me somewhere, and the princess at that. What a lucky day... i mean night, isn’t it?’
He released heavy sigh carrying disappointment he couldn’t quite name.
Then returned back to his home to practice his daily sword training regimen.
’Crap... I forgot to ask her how she learned such exceptional swordsmanship.’