Chapter 76: The Graveyard IX

Rian nearly fell out of the tree.

Somehow, Marie had landed on the branch beside him without making a single sound. She was crouched only a few feet away, her golden eyes staring at him suspiciously.

"Shh!"

He instantly raised one finger to his lips before pointing toward the clearing below, where the other two were still talking to each other. Marie glanced toward Julius and Eliza, but still didn’t understand why he was hiding.

"What are you doing?" she repeated.

"I should be asking you that," Rian whispered. "You’re supposed to be hunting around the chapel."

"I was."

Marie lifted the small pouch tied to her waist. Several monster cores knocked against one another from inside.

"Then why are you here?"

"I saw an enormous disturbance of mana coming from your direction," she explained. "It was large enough to blow away part of the fog, so I went to investigate."

"Was that you?"

"No."

"You answered too quickly."

"You really think I could do something like that?"

Marie narrowed her eyes, but continued regardless. "Before I reached that area, I spotted you moving through the trees. You were acting suspiciously, so I followed you here."

’She spotted me?’

Rian had concealed his presence and used Sylpheed’s currents to avoid disturbing the branches. Even Instructor Klein had struggled to locate him under the veil, yet she still managed to do so?

’Those eyes really are ridiculous.’

"And now you’ve found me," Rian whispered. "Go back to hunting."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you still haven’t answered my question." Marie leaned closer. "Why are you hiding in a tree and watching Julius and Eliza?"

Obviously, he couldn’t tell Marie that he was observing Eliza because he suspected one of them of planning to trap everyone inside the Graveyard. Now Rian was starting to recognize a pattern.

He would plan something, and Marie would come along to ruin it all, then he’d have to provide some kind of explanation.

Rian sighed softly, but this time, a believable cover story wasn’t too hard to think of. He pointed to the pair once more.

"I’ve known Julius all my life, and that guy always preferred books over people. Hell, even at family gatherings, he would find a quiet place to read the entire evening."

"That sounds lonely."

"It was his choice. But I’ve never seen him this interested in another person before."

"Wait...don’t tell me... Do they actually...?"

Rian gave her a deliberately vague shrug.

’She believed that way too easily.’

For someone capable of seeing all kinds of things, she was surprisingly dim-witted about things like this. If someone else had gotten this ability, who knows what terror they could be causing right now.

’Thank god Marie was the one who possessed them.’

Rian adjusted his weight, getting ready to go down. It was nice that his cousin was getting some time with the ladies, but they should be heading back soon.

He dropped from the branch and landed behind them, causing Julius to flinch and reach for the wand inside his bag. Rian held out his hands harmlessly.

"Hey, it’s me."

"Ugh...Rian, you gave me a heart attack."

Marie dropped from the branch a moment later, landing behind Rian without so much as disturbing the dirt.

Eliza flinched again. "Where did both of you come from?"

"Doesn’t matter," Rian shrugged. "We’re heading back to camp."

"Already?" Julius glanced toward the chapel. "We still have over an hour before we’re supposed to regroup."

"The surrounding area has been cleared out, and Marie already collected several cores." Rian pointed toward the pouch hanging from her waist. "There’s no reason for everyone to remain here."

Eliza began gathering her scattered tools. "What about the Bone Hound?"

"That’s why the three of you are going back first."

Julius frowned. "You’re staying here?"

"I’m going to scout the chapel and confirm whether the Bone Hound is actually inside." Rian glanced toward the ruined structure. "There’s no point planning around a rumor if the monster doesn’t even exist."

"I can come with you," Marie offered.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I said scout, not hunt." Rian gestured toward the cores she had collected. "Take those back to camp before you accidentally lose them."

"What if the Bone Hound attacks you?" Julius asked.

"Then I’ll run."

All three of them stared at him doubtfully.

Rian sighed. "I’m not planning to fight a 3-Star monster alone. I just need to confirm its location and find out whether there are any other entrances into the chapel."

"Alright," Julius nodded, coming around on the idea. "Besides, you seem capable of protecting yourself."

The two girls seemed hesitant, but decided to trust him nonetheless. Once everything had been collected, the other three began making their way back toward Base Camp D.

Marie glanced over her shoulder several times, evidently still suspicious of Rian’s intentions. However, after he pointed toward the path and mouthed the word go, she finally disappeared between the trees with the others.

Rian waited until their footsteps could no longer be heard.

Then he turned toward the surrounding traps.

Luckily, Eliza had spent a considerable amount of time rambling about how each mechanism functioned. Rian had pretended not to care, but he had memorized nearly every word.

He approached one of the alarm threads and crouched beside the metal stake anchoring it to the ground, making sure to take the attachments as well.

And doing exactly as she instructed, Rian plucked a few rods out from the ground and left the others as they were. Within less than a minute, they had been placed nice and snug in his sling bag.

And just in case, he briefly pressed his palm against the ground and allowed Seismic Sight to spread beneath the ruined chapel.

A large core pulsed somewhere below its collapsed floor, surrounded by several smaller signatures.

The Bone Hound was real.

But it wasn’t the prey Rian really cared about. When Group Thirteen returned without the Bone Hound’s core, the group beside their tent would likely rush toward the chapel and attempt to claim it.

They would trigger the remaining traps, cause complete chaos around the perimeter, and make it considerably harder for Eliza to notice that a few of her alarm stakes had disappeared beforehand.

He closed his sling bag and made sure everything was inside.

While everyone was busy with the entrance examination, Rian’s sight was somewhere else.

There were a few reasons to care about this traitor, but the most important one was making sure Julius survived until the very end.

In the original story, Julius had become one of the casualties of this incident. His death had shifted the balance between the other Imperial Princes and strengthened factions that should never have gained that much power.

This time, Julius would survive.

And the imperial succession would gain a wild card no one had planned for.