Saint & Wanderer

ht… in the rain.

”Huh? Did you say anything? ”

”Huh!? Umm… no, it was nothing…. ”

After that, Alum walks away toward their hut and enters.

”How are you doing, Miu? ” he asks.

”…I still feel somewhat weak, ” she replies.

”We
e having breakfast soon. Want me to carry you? ”

”….That would be too embarrassing, ” she says as she covers her face.

”Ill lend you my shoulder then. ”

”…Thanks. ”

And as they walked out, everyone was staring.

”Good morning, everyone…. ” Miu meekly greets everyone.

Many of them had a worried look on their face, and that was a give. Miu was cheerful most of the time, but she was just quiet and meek now.

”Miu, I will tell them about last night, ” Alum says.

Miu weakly nodded while everyone was in a daze and staring.

”Wait, wait! You can just say it and explain hat in detail to everyone! ” Emely cries.

And as Emely says that some guys threw a fit while the girls just squeaked.

Noel just looks at his friends with wide eyes as he spaces out.

”…Huh? Like… did you do it….? ” he asks.

”What? Do what? ” Alum replied.

And it was then Noel knew they all misunderstood something.

”Sigh…. Everyone, its a misunderstanding! ” Noel shouts.

”A misunderstanding? ” Emely asks.

Everyone seems to have the same question: How does he know?

Alum shrugs as he looks over at Miu, who is still out of it.

They seem to think we snuck out to have sexual intercourse last night, Alum whispers in a low voice.

”….Huh!? ”

Then Miu snapped out of it, staring at everyone before turning red.

”W-w-wait! I-i-its a misunderstanding! ” she yells.

Hearing her say this, they burst out laughing, some out of relief.

She then stares at Alum as she recalls the way he worded the whole ordeal.

”Geez, you
e unbelievable! ”

”….Anyways, its not what you guys think, rather… never mind, we should all eat first, ” Alum said.

Things quieted down as they chatted over their meal.

— :::: —

After the meal, they gathered around Alum as he held a bag in his hands.

”So, last night, Im sure we all had difficulty sleeping, right? ” Alum asks.

And looking at each other, they agreed with a nod.

”I went for a walk last night, and I don want to frighten you. So I will tell you to prepare yourself beforehand. ”

”….What, you think we can handle your ghost story? ”

Everyone was looking at the cocky classmate who snarky commented on Alums warning.

”Oliver… take this seriously, ” Miu says angrily.

”….Fine. ”

Everyone knew he had a thing for Miu, and he was displeased that she and Alum went out last night. Miu already rejected him once, and it was a known fact in the class.

”Well… that aside, are you prepared? ” Alum asks again, dismissing Olivers glare.

They all nodded.

”I think its best to just show you. ”

Alum then put his hand in the bag to try fining the head he snapped off last night.

He finds it and pulls it up.

Everyone seemed to not understand at first but then had horrid looks on their faces.

”This is the head of a creature I found last night. ”

No one said anything, and it was dead silent.

”I was walking north from here and found it by a mans corpse. Well, he was alive but dying. ”

”…Was he human? ” Noel asks.

”Yes, he certainly looks human, ” Alum replies.

”….So, is this the man that looks human…? ” a classmate asks.

”No, but this was probably human at one point too. ”

”….What do you mean, ” Noel asks.

”Well, this thing was eating the man, and not too long after the man died, the corpse started to come alive and transform. ”

Everyone was feeling shocked by this and just kept quiet. Even Oliver shuts his mouth.

”And well, the reason why Miu is out of it is this very reason. ”

”…When I caught up to Alum yesterday, I… I saw all of it. The man that died transformed and became one of these things. Of course… Alum did a quick work of that…. ”

”…Here is also another thing I found, a rifle. ”

Alum pulls out the rifle and passes it around.

”Does anyone know what it is? ” He asks.

But they all just shook their heads.

”Here are the bullets. ”

He also passes the bullets around.

”Huh? But these are just pieces of metal…. ” one classmate comments.

”Precisely, ” Alum nods.

”…So, this rifle uses another method to fire its projectile? ”

”My best guess is that its a railgun, ” Alum says.

”…..I got many questions, but I don think the main reason you gather us is to scare us, is it? ” Noel asks.

”Correct, I think there is a civilisation nearby if we walk by the river, and its probably better to check it out than staying here. ”

”I see… ” Noel says as he looks around.

Everyone seems to agree on this idea and starts to pack.

After backing, they all left and walked by the river.

Soon enough, they arrived at the place Alum was talking about, however….

”Theres no corpse, ” Alum mutters.

”We don think you
e lying since there are traces of blood and ice here…. ” one classmate comments.

”…When we were on the way back, another one of the creatures was heading here…. ” Miu says.

This whole time, Miu has been sticking to Alum. While they were walking, she would quietly hold onto the hem of his shirt.

Some guys were jealous, not of him, but it was since he had a cute girl close to him. Well, except for a few like Oliver.

Although Miu was a little scared of him, this world scared her more, and who else was more reliable than Alum? After all, she witnessed him defeating one of those things last night. Shes scared of him, and finding out that her crush was like that… she feels a great conflict; she likes him but is afraid of him.

And breaking her train of thought was Lena.

”….I see something further up ahead, ” Lena says.

Lena has enchanted hearing and sight on demand and has been using her sight for quite a while as they walk.

As they kept following the river, they saw a windmill and a barn not too far away.

”You were right! ” the other classmates praised Lena.

She blushed a little and glanced at Kurt. And since he was watching her, their eyes met, and both would blush and break eye contact, only to slowly sneak a glance at each other again. And the thought that went on in everybodys mind was: Just get together already!

And as they approached the barn, they heard sounds from the inside. Alum gestures for everyone to stop as he draws water from the river and prepares needles of ice and threads that look like ice but are somehow in a liquid state.

”….Wait, ” Emely says.

”…What is it, Emy? ” Alum asks.

”…..You
e not going alone, are you? ”

”If not me, then who? ” Alum asks as he looks around.

”Ill go with you, ” says Noel.

”Me too, ” Miu says.

”I guess them too, ” Alum replies.

”….then, be careful, ” Emely says.

She looks guilty, as she is the oldest, but she still lets her students do something so reckless, which makes her heart sink.

Alum glances at Noel and Miu.

”…Try to not panic if things get hectic. ”

” ”Well try…. ” ” they both replied.

And as they approached the barn, it broke down, and something big came running their way.

It was a colossal ghoul, and blood was dripping from its mouth. It probably picked up their scent as they got closer.

”Miu, its weakness? Noel, prepare fire! ”

Noel snaps out of it as he hears Alums command, and Miu, as frightened as she was, doesn turn her head and tries to analyse it.

”…! the part that looks like a head on its side! ” Miu shouts.

Alum binds it as it runs towards them, but… this one is way stronger than the one from yesterday and managed to actually move in the bindings.

In the meantime, Noel was creating a big ball of fire.

The threads of liquid ice were starting to break.

”Noel now! ”

”I hope this hits! ” Noel shouts.

And the massive ball of fire was flying its way. The creature broke free from Alums bind. But it was too late, and it got hit by Noels flames.

A massive explosion erupts as the shockwave soon follows.

They could hear cheers from their classmates from a distance, but that didn last long as the ghoul pushed away the smoke and rushed towards them.

Alum expected it to still be alive. However… flesh was hanging from the creature as it rushed towards them. It was dangling and lost its right arm.

It was covered in burns, and half of its face was blown away, yet… it still ran toward them, and the strange thing was that it regenerated. And fast too.

Noel and Miu look terrified when Alum glances over.

He bound the creature again, but this time, it was weak enough to not be able to break free.

”Good job, you two, ” Alum says as he walks toward the ghoul.

He electrocutes an ice needle with so much energy it starts to glow, and as he fires at the thing. And with a loud rumble, the ghouls head was gone.

It fell down flat on its headless face. And what was intriguing was that it started to bubble where the head was.

It was regenerating despite having its head blown away.

[I guess I did the correct thing by freezing the ones from yesterday. Otherwise, Itd be as annoying as this one.] Alum thought as he sarcastically scoffed at the ridiculous creature.

And as it regenerated, Alum pierced its limbs and started crystalising the ghoul by forcefully injecting water into its bloodstream and turning that water into ice.

The other came and gathered around them, and they had horrified looks on their face, and some even collapsed on their knees there and started to vomit.

He turns to his classmates, and with a cold look, he stares into their eyes.

”Sorry to break it to you all, but living in this world will be very challenging. ”

And after saying this, more collapse on the ground and would dryly laugh out of helplessness and confusion.

Emely comes up to Alum and gives him a hug.

”Please… don go alone and be reckless, ” she pleas.

”I won , ” Alum says as he hugs her back.

He glances over at the dead creature and looks into the distance.

[It seems like I need to teach them how to stay put… they already have the potential to fight with these powers… but are too weak-minded to properly utilise them….]

He looks at Miu and Noel. They both had helpless looks on their faces. And so did everyone else.

….It seems like Ill start today. Alum mutters.