A woman whose job was “Shaman.”
She had quite a few curious skills.
But the one that personally shocked me the most was this.
[Read Soul — Discriminate Truth]
[You create a special environment in which the soul is revealed.]
[By reading the opponent’s soul thus revealed, the Shaman can discriminate the truth and falsehood contained in their words.]
To tell apart a person’s lies and sincerity.
Yeah.
Put simply—
‘A busted-beyond-belief skill.......’
It might be useless against monsters.
But when it came to forming relationships among fellow humans,
it could be more powerful than any other ability.
In fact, with this one skill alone,
an interrogation to extract information from the other side would be more than doable.
‘She must have planned for cases where the target refuses to open their mouth at all.’
The reason she tried to fling that curse “Confession,”
was probably exactly that.
If the target exercises a right to silence, you can’t even tell what’s true or false.
‘Anyway.’
To grasp the truth and lies contained in speech—
there is a condition that it only works after creating a particular environment,
but still,
a skill that guarantees overwhelming advantage in dialogue or psychological warfare.
It certainly is one hell of a busted skill.
But that only applies......
‘...if you don’t know she has that kind of ability.’
The point was simple.
If she can separate truth from lies,
‘that’s good for me.’
I could
just use it in reverse.
****
“Then I’ll begin.”
The first to start asking questions
was the Shaman.
“The three who were captured with you— as I said, they committed serious crimes.”
“Yes, well. Looked that way.”
“I heard you were with them. In fact, that when they were attacked, you to some extent even protected them......”
With sharp eyes,
the woman glared at me.
“What exactly is your relationship with them?”
Criminals cast out of their own group.
And I was the person who’d been with them.
Given the situation, it wouldn’t be strange to suspect I even conspired in those crimes together.
Starting with that question was only natural.
“I was ambushed by those bastards.”
“......Pardon?”
“I sensed people while traveling, approached, and they suddenly shoved a gun in my face and told me to hand over everything I had.”
On this part,
they were simply misunderstanding as they pleased.
“I couldn’t exactly say, ‘Sure, go ahead,’ and get stripped, so I tried to counterattack, and I won.”
“Ah.......”
“I wanted to find out what kind of scum jumps people like that, so after subduing them I tried to check who they were...... and that’s when your people stormed in. First day we’ve seen each other, and you even treated me as an accomplice on the attackers’ side— as a bonus.”
From my position—being arbitrarily misunderstood—
I’ll admit, I was more than a little resentful,
and the feeling leaked into my voice.
“According to Junggu, he clearly said you protected them when they were under attack......”
“Is it so strange to stop someone from killing someone else before you even know who they are?”
“Ah.”
At my words,
a hint of apology colored her face.
Seeing that expression, I was certain.
‘She’s using that truth-discrimination skill right now.’
The reason she suddenly looked sorry was just as simple.
With that skill, she would have learned I wasn’t lying.
Anyone with a normal mindset would feel sorry.
‘Does she think that because we’re in the dark I can’t see her face?’
She didn’t even try to hide her expression.
For me, that wasn’t a bad signal.
Feeling sorry also meant
this was an organization with normal sensibilities.
“I understand.”
All the while, she was trying somehow to conceal the fact that she could detect lies,
which I could only find amusing.
“Now it’s your turn. Please ask.”
“Hm!”
Before questioning,
I hesitated a moment.
‘This setting...... exists for them to extract information from me.’
However.
It wouldn’t do to just hand over my information and be done.
I needed to gain something too.
To do that, I had to set my objective clearly.
The reason I crossed the wall
was to find information about my family
and to save as many humans in this region as possible.
For that,
I had to contact a friendly organization where I could make the most of
my “cooking” ability,
and after crossing into Gyeonggi Province,
the first group I wanted to approach was exactly people like these.
It was good that I made contact—
the problem was the odd way it happened.
They did not trust me right now.
‘I originally planned to state I was from the army unit that fired that radio message.’
But with the Penalty from crossing the wall, that method was no longer possible.
So what I had to do was simple.
By other means,
clear their suspicion
‘and make them trust me.’
Decision made,
I opened my mouth.
“You said I came from that Demon Realm.”
“......You speak of yourself like you’re someone else.”
“I don’t know what that ‘Demon Realm’ is supposed to mean. And frankly I don’t see any reason I should be treated like a criminal just because I came from there. I’d like you to explain that part.”
At my words,
the Shaman tilted her head with a puzzled look.
“Is there really anyone living in Gyeonggi who doesn’t know that......?”
“......I lived, sure. But since the monsters appeared, I’ve never had a conversation with people from Gyeonggi.”
“Pardon?”
That wasn’t a lie.
‘I was in Gangwon.’
Ever since the day of ruin, I’d been in Gangwon all along,
and I’d never spoken with anyone in Gyeonggi Province.
To me, it was obvious.
“To say you’ve never spoken with people......”
They would now think I’d had no human contact at all.
From here on, it wouldn’t seem strange if there were many things I didn’t know.
“So, will you answer or not?”
“Ah, yes. Ahem.”
She smoothed her surprised expression,
then answered my question.
“In the world as it is now...... there are places called Monsterland and the Demon Realm.”
“Hm?”
“The outskirts of Gangwon— that is, near the place with that burning black wall— we call that area Monsterland. Do you know about the wall?”
“Ah, that I know.”
It was exactly the wall
I had crossed.
“As you can see from the scenery here...... winter came unusually early this year. Strictly speaking, we should say abnormal weather occurred rapidly.”
As if recalling the past,
she spoke with a pained expression.
“Come to think of it...... it seems this was an abnormal phenomenon that existed from day one of the ruin. But at first, everyone thought it wasn’t a big problem. In spring and summer it was actually cool, which wasn’t bad. Corpses decayed more slowly, so the worry of plague lessened, and we could store food comparatively longer.”
“Hm.......”
“The problem really began around autumn.”
A phenomenon present from the beginning—temperatures lower than usual.
It became a real problem
starting in autumn, the season when cold begins.
“A tremendous cold wave, incomparable to before, swept in, and people had to scramble to survive the cold. Only then did we properly catch on to this abnormality. But.”
Her gaze
went past the window toward the distant forest.
“The monsters didn’t seem to be the same.”
“What do you mean?”
“From the early days of the ruin, the monsters flocked near that wall of heat.”
“Ah.”
The reason
was obvious without being told.
“As you know, near the wall there’s a gigantic barrier that emits tremendous heat.”
“That whole vicinity is comparatively warm even amid the cold due to that heat......”
From my experience,
those monsters are unexpectedly very influenced by the environment.
If their environment isn’t met, they even have to create habitats in the form of [Dungeon]s so they can survive.
“Monsters with resistance to the cold are still around here, but those without cold resistance have been gathering near that place since the early days of the ruin.”
They foresaw the cold that would blanket this place,
and moved in advance to a location where they could withstand it.
“Because there are too many monsters in that belt, it became a place people never approach, along with the areas near army bases.”
“......Once winter came, it should have been worth going anyway, no? It would be a good place to endure this cold.”
“As you say, once winter came there were humans who tried to settle near there...... but they all failed. At best, only our Association’s guildmaster managed to confirm the cause of that Monsterland— the Wall of Fire— and return. That was the limit.”
A place where humans cannot live,
and only monsters are—
Monsterland.
“......Putting that aside, what about the Demon Realm?”
“You’ll understand if you look at this map.”
From afar,
she pushed a map to me with something like a staff.
“Please look at the checked area.”
When I spread the map,
the southwest of Gyeonggi,
a broad zone near the edge of the border, was shaded in red pen.
“What is this?”
“As far as we’ve learned, the cold grows stronger the closer you get there. The source of the cold was there.”
“......Hmm.”
“The monsters also know where the cold intensifies...... so they especially gathered in the place farthest from that cold.”
The source of the cold in the southwest.
To avoid it, the monsters massed in the warmest place.
The place with the most monsters would be the exact opposite of the southwest—
the northeast of Gyeonggi.
And that was......
“The very place you came from.”
The direction I had crossed the wall—
the side where Gangwon lies.
“Among Monsterlands...... the place where the strongest monsters are gathered the most.”
“.......”
“Because its overwhelming density means humans can never survive there, we call it the Inhuman Demon Realm, or simply the Demon Realm.”
Damn it.
No wonder I’d thought there were too many monsters in that forest.
‘If the whole of Gyeonggi were occupied by monsters at that density, even if the Legion came, there’d be no answer—so I thought.’
It was the opposite.
It wasn’t that all of Gyeonggi was occupied by monsters of that density.
It was that the monsters across Gyeonggi
had gathered there.
‘What rotten luck......!’
Of all places—
right where I arrived after crossing the wall!
“The reason we suspected you is that too. Everyone in Gyeonggi knows there are many monsters in Monsterland. So they try not to approach. Even so, the sort who still insist on staying near there are usually......”
“People who committed crimes, or who for some reason can’t stay where other people are?”
“Correct.”
Only then
did I understand why they were startled.
‘The very fact that you lived there marks you as someone to be wary of.’
Because there’s a high likelihood you’re a criminal hiding out.
That alone makes you an object of caution—
and worse, such criminals,
“Additionally, if they’re ‘alive’ near there, the probability they’re extremely dangerous is high.”
are criminals who avoided people,
yet in that place overflowing with monsters didn’t die and stayed alive.
‘Possesses considerable ability and is likely dangerous.’
A tremendous powerhouse who might be a criminal.
And I had come from even deeper than Monsterland,
from the place they call the “Demon Realm.”
From their perspective, it was more than enough to be wary.
“Next is my turn.”
After hearing that,
I fell into brief thought.
“You were in that Demon Realm. In a place ordinary people would never be.”
“Yes.”
It was incontrovertible that I had come from beyond that Demon Realm.
In that case—
“We still can’t let go of our suspicion. Why were you there? Perhaps......”
How should I use this information?
“Did you go there because you committed some crime?”
She was basically asking if I was a raider or criminal.
But
I straightened my chest and spoke proudly.
“I am innocent.”
“......!”
I had done a few questionable things to survive,
but among what I’d done until now, there was no clear evil.
‘Because I wasn’t confident I could keep my sanity if I committed that sort of evil.’
To keep my humanity, I had worked with everything I had—
I could say that to myself with pride.
“Then why were you in such a place......”
At that,
I decided to carry out
the ‘way to use this information’ I’d considered earlier.
“As I said, since the monsters appeared, I haven’t met people from Gyeonggi.”
“Yes. You just said so.”
“In other words, conversely, it means I’ve had no opportunity to commit crimes against people in Gyeonggi.”
Since I’d never met them,
it was only natural I’d had no chance to commit crimes against them.
“And...... to add one more thing.”
“......?”
“Since the monsters began to appear, not even once have I—”
Pointing to a corner of the map she’d handed me—
the region they call the Demon Realm,
the place I came from—
“I have never gone down below this place as a baseline.”
“......Pardon?”
I had never “come down” from the Demon Realm.
Put simply,
it goes like this:
“Ever since the day of ruin, I have continuously—”
Perhaps she sensed
what I was about to say.
“Been beyond the place you call Monsterland or the Demon Realm.”
“That’s...... impossible!”
She
let out a scream of astonishment.
