The hesitation was brief.

The moment I saw Bell in the hands of the black monster, I opened the window and jumped straight into the yard on the first floor.

I thought that if I disappeared from sight even for a moment, I might miss him.

Even while falling to the floor with the help of wind magic, I didn’t take my eyes off where he was moving.

As soon as I saw his movements and actions, I instinctively realized.

That he must have been the true identity of the ‘ghost’ Chris was talking about.

Because of the gloomy scenery and the bizarre atmosphere, I couldn’t figure out what it was like at once.

Whether he was trying to hide his identity or that was his original appearance, even his face inside the hood was covered with a black mask.

But this one thing was certain.

That he was also one of the apostles of the Dark Church who had killed, burned, and exploded countless times in his previous life.

There were a lot of things on both shoulders that I don’t know if it’s an arm or something.

A number of at least ten or more.

As soon as both legs touched the ground, he immediately kicked off the ground.

If I let her go like this, Bell might die.

No, it might be better if I die.

For the young girl who was to be used as a test subject for the Dark Church, death might rather be a repose.

“… … !”

Perhaps he also noticed my noisy footsteps, so he turned his steps away from the orphanage.

Spitting out the strange cries of non-humans as a bonus.

“Give me the bell, you child kidnapper.”

“… … !! … … !”

It was a hostile reaction to anyone’s eyes.

He carried the bell on one side of his waist with his strange tentacles, and immediately stretched out some of the tentacles on the other arm towards me.

The tip of the tentacle changed sharply and was extending toward the vital part of my body.

As soon as I met him for the first time, the magic I had memorized was activated first.

‘pop!’

Out of the three tentacles that extended, the ends of two of them exploded due to the explosion magic.

I couldn’t bring the staff because I was in a hurry, but it was powerful enough in its own way.

The last one, as usual, was cut through with a broadsword.

“… … !! … … … !!!”

What are you talking about, really.

Are you in pain or are you scared?

Anyway, seeing the guy talking in a strange voice, I saw a possibility.

The possibility of being able to rescue Bell, who was now hanging out in his hands as if he had fainted.

“Hey, monster.”

“… … ?”

“If you leave that child wrapped around your waist right now, your life will be saved this time.”

“… … .”

“If you don’t, you’re going after me here.”

It was important.

Killing him right now was important, but even more important was Bell’s life, which was at stake.

A chance to kill him could have been recreated at any time, but if she missed Bell, she probably wouldn’t have another one.

Killing the apostle of the Dark Church, the cause of the tragedy, was something he had to do, but he couldn’t give up the life that could be saved right in front of his eyes.

“… … .”

Perhaps the monster understood what I was saying and muttered something to me.

“… … !”

Whiik. With the sound of the wind, I tossed the bell I was holding into the air.

“… … !!!”

Then, without getting tired, he stretched out his tentacles at me again and continued the attack that I thought I would give up.

“You son of a bitch.”

I had to stretch out my body right now to catch Bell’s body, but if that happened, I wouldn’t be able to cope with the attack from the front.

Do you save Bell or deal with him?

Although it would be dangerous for a bell tossed into the air helplessly and falling to the ground intact.

If I blindly ran to rescue Bell, there was a possibility that even I would be attacked and knocked down.

In the middle of conflict over which choice to make, a voice like a ray of hope came from behind.

“Senior Conrad! I will protect Belle!”

Stella was running at full speed towards us with her booming voice.

Since the options were reduced to one, there was no reason to hesitate.

I used the explosion magic again on the hand that reached out towards me.

Successfully removed two additional tentacles.

“… … !!!!!”

Confused by the unexpected appearance of reinforcements, the guy screamed once again.

“Protected!”

“Nice job, Stella!”

The moment he checked Bell safely in Stella’s arms and turned his gaze to face the enemy in front of him once again.

‘Flash.’

In the middle of the night, my vision was momentarily obscured by a flash of light that suddenly shoved right in front of my eyes.

I couldn’t see for a moment, and while I was careless, I heard something crawling on the floor.

“Ha, damn it.”

The Apostle of the Dark Church who tried to kidnap Bell had already disappeared into the darkness.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

the next morning.

An indescribable feeling of exhaustion ran through my body.

The Apostle of the Dark Church I encountered last night was the price of not being able to finish it off with certainty.

I had to be careful of the guy who didn’t know when he would come to the nursery school again.

Stella and I alternately kept watch throughout the night so that no suspicious person would appear.

Because I couldn’t chase him into the darkness where he disappeared.

Darkness was the place where the Dark Church guys fought best, so there was no reason to fight in their space.

And if he came in while I was away to chase him, I didn’t have enough confidence that Stella could deal with him alone.

Although it was a fact that she already knew that she had defeated him in her previous life.

It was also a fact that she already knew that she had not been able to prevent a considerable amount of sacrifice at that time.

And above all, there was a corner that I believed in.

Chris’ information that there were already scapegoats ahead of him meant that he regarded this space as a base he had secured.

He wasn’t going to give up so easily in this space where he had easily obtained prey until now.

He probably reappears with regret for the prey he could not hunt.

The question is only when will it be important.

Will it show up again tomorrow?

Or will it show up again in a month?

If not, it would disappear until it was determined that it was completely safe. The problem was the duration.

Of course, neither I nor Stella could be stationed at this orphanage forever, so we had to secure and deal with the suspect as quickly as possible.

He was probably posing as someone from the nearby village of Weidl.

He was too tall to disguise himself as one of the children in the orphanage.

Organs like limbs made of tentacles would have been able to change their appearance, but growing and shrinking their bodies would be impossible for them.

I needed a bit more information in order to identify the guy hiding among the people.

Fortunately, we had an eyewitness who saw the guy up close.

A young witness who was the only one who came back to save his life from last night’s raid.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

When Bell woke up from fainting, the clock hands had just begun to point to afternoon.

Looking at the unnatural way of sleeping somewhere, it seems that it was probably not put to sleep in a normal way.

After waking up, Bell was brought to the director’s office and asked questions about what had happened last night.

“Are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah… .”

“I’m going to ask you a few questions about what happened last night, but can you answer as best as you can remember?

If you don’t remember or don’t know, just answer honestly and say you don’t know.”

“Yes, Mr. Conrad… .”

He still looked bewildered, but he didn’t seem to have any problem answering.

“Last night, where was the last place you were alone?”

“Last night, after we all cleaned up together and put away our cleaning tools, we stopped by the bathroom on the first floor before going up to the bedroom.”

“Where did you go after you came out of the bathroom?”

“I don’t know. I even remember going to the bathroom… . I don’t remember anything after that… .”

“Then don’t you know where you first met the monster that tried to kidnap you?”

“I don’t know. I don’t remember where we met yesterday.”

“Have you seen the face of the monster?”

“no. And I didn’t even know I was abducted by a monster until I woke up this morning. It was the first time I knew that ‘it’ wasn’t a ghost.”

“… I see.”

I wondered if there was a memory that could be a clue, but it seemed that I couldn’t remember any information that could be the key.

but. Even in that monster’s position, if Bell had known who she was, there would be no way he would have left her like this.

It was probably that he used her as bait to escape, even taking risks.

It must have been because he was sure that even if she was questioned like this, her true identity would not be revealed.

Rather, it could have been good news.

If Bell’s identity had been identified through his testimony, there was a high possibility that he would disappear without returning.

However, believing that his true identity had not been identified, he was sure to return to this nursery school in peace.

I don’t know if he’ll show up again in a month, as Chris said last night, or if he’ll show up again tonight, thinking he failed in yesterday’s hunt.

Come to think of it, it was necessary to hear the rumors about ‘ghosts’ spreading among the children through Bell’s mouth.

“Bell, are you calling the monster that tried to take you away last night a ‘ghost’ that appears once a month?”

“… I think so.”

“Is there a set day for the ghost to appear and take any of you guys away? Or do you know if it appears every few days exactly?”

“I don’t know… . I only know that it’s about once a month… .”

“Has anyone ever seen a ghost?”

“Yeah… .”

This was also a rumor with an unspecified target in many ways.

I didn’t know if I could figure out the identity if I analyzed the pattern that appeared before.

I should have asked Stella a little more clearly in my previous life.

Even after defeating him, it was an incident like a sore finger to Stella in her previous life, who had to sacrifice so much.

I didn’t ask deeply because I didn’t want to see him get depressed every time this story came up.

If I knew it would be such a regret, I should have known it without shame.

“I, Mr. Conrad… .”

Noticing my serious expression, Bell carefully looked at me and opened her mouth.

“Why is that, Bell?”

“If the teacher thinks it’s okay… . Shall I be the bait until the monster reappears?”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

Those were words that couldn’t come out of a child’s mouth.

No, it was something that shouldn’t come out, so I dismissed her words at once.

I couldn’t have shown any hesitation and really thought that sacrificing myself would be helpful.

“I-I can really remember this time! So, if I go out alone in the middle of the night again, maybe that monster will target me again… .”

“No. It’s never going to happen, so don’t even say those words again.”

“Yeah… .”

Bell’s expression showed a hint of disappointment, but he just said no to what wasn’t possible.

Using children as bait to lure the apostles of the Dark Church?

It was not an operation that a normal person could have imagined.

“Still, if I’m not taken away, other friends might disappear… .”

It was as if it was better for him to disappear than to sacrifice another friend.

Even at such a young age, I couldn’t leave the guy who made me learn the concept of sacrifice all the more.

… for a moment.

I hadn’t been able to figure it out until now, but listening to it quietly, something was strange.

According to Chris last night, there were at least 7 victims who were taken away by the church’s apostles.

The fact that a similar incident had been going on for at least half a year was the background in which I felt a sense of incongruity in many ways.

This orphanage has been going on for half a year already.

What was Hermia, a former mercenary, doing up until now?

First of all, how did you not even give us a tip about what’s going on?

“bell.”

“Yes, teacher.”

“What was Miss Hermia doing when another child disappeared on a day other than last night?”

“The first day Nella disappeared, Miss Hermia went out of the nursery in the middle of the night to find Nella.

And he returned after almost three days, and in the end Nella couldn’t find it, so she told us to forget it.”

“… What?”

“And the next day Tony disappeared, it happened to be the day Miss Hermia was out. It’s a day like today when you go out regularly, saying you have something to buy from outside the village.

Unfortunately, Tony disappeared from the nursery school that night, and I never saw him again.

It was like that on the day Kael disappeared, and even on the day Elin disappeared… .”

It felt like realizing that the puzzle pieces that had been unnaturally put together had been wrong from the start.

Didn’t think of this simple possibility from the beginning.

Originally, Hermia Serre, the head of the orphanage, was kidnapped by her first victim, Nella.

He died while chasing the forces of the Dark Church in the dark.

At Cherryfield Nursery School, only the monster of the Dark Church disguised as her remained.