The High Priest Ttubi was dead.
It was an expected outcome. After all, the murderer’s occupational quest was probably .
[System]: Someone wishes for your death.
From the moment the second quest ended, this notification must have been ringing incessantly for the High Priest.
I examined the scene through the eyes of a Seeker.
‘Who’s the murderer?’
There was no way I could identify them with the naked eye.
Regardless, the users who had been forcibly converted and treated like slaves were now freed.
[The High Priest who converted you has been slain by the murderer! You are now a free soul!]
“Long live freedom!”
“Who’s the murderer? Long live freedom!”
“Murderer! Murderer!”
Absolute chaos.
Had he not been killed, this Priest could have lasted quite a while. The title of ‘High Priest’ wasn’t handed out lightly—it was a promotion title granted only when one had converted over a hundred people.
“It’s great that the scummy Priest who was muddying the waters is dead, but… what’s the murderer? A Special Occupation? Like, do they have some personal mission like ‘kill one person a day’ or something?”
One of the women gathered around Kessler raised a trembling suspicion.
‘Not a bad guess.’
She was surprisingly close to the truth. In reality, the murderer held a Special Occupation that required them to kill at regular intervals in order to survive.
And the reason they targeted the High Priest Ttubi this time was clear.
—The higher the victim’s fame, the greater the achievement rewards.
—Once a Priest is promoted to High Priest, they gain the ability to see things others cannot.
In Last Shadow, as the name suggests, “shadow” was a crucial concept. It was said that once someone became a High Priest, they could see things like the number of shadows each person carried around with them.
In that sense, a Priest—who could identify the heavy chains of death trailing behind a murderer—was a natural enemy to them.
In truth, even regular players could deduce who the murderer was, provided they had a sharp eye. Because of the murderer’s skill traits, after killing, they would hide within a shadow. So, right after an incident, if someone went missing from sight, that person was likely the culprit.
‘Impossible. No way.’
But there were about eight hundred people gathered here.
Finding a missing face among so many unfamiliar ones would be nearly impossible.
However, Kessler might know. That guy was a pretty capable Seeker, after all.
I looked up at Kessler, trying to follow the direction of his gaze while he held me tightly.
All I could see were his nostrils.
“Why? Want me to give you a kiss?”
What the hell is he saying?
Before I could even resist, his lips pressed against my cheek. His fur felt soft as he rubbed his cheek against mine, so I quickly smacked him.
“I want to rest.”
Anyway, if I stuck close to Kessler, there was a high chance I’d find out who the murderer was soon enough.
He would know that it was in a Special Occupation’s best interest to form alliances early on.
“Out of the way, you husks.”
“Husks… Why are you calling us that? …Kessler, where are you going?”
“Going to sleep with the Baby Arctic Fox.”
Kessler pushed his way through the crowd of women gathered around him and walked off. As he strolled down the hallway, he let out a huge yawn, making it clear that today had been an exhausting day for him.
It seemed he had already memorized the layout of this castle, as he confidently crossed the polished hallway on the first floor without hesitation. It wasn’t far from the Chapel where the incident had occurred.
The room we arrived at had a cozy sofa inside.
“Close your eyes too.”
Kessler lay down and pulled me into his arms.
….There was no way I could fall asleep. No matter how much of a sleepyhead I was as a baby, I was still nocturnal by nature. Still, I curled up like a coiled snake… but quickly got bored and started thumping on Kessler’s body.
That’s when the sudden commotion erupted outside the door.
“Fire, fire! Call One-One-Nine!”
“Fire! Run!”
“What’s this about a fire?”
“Some crazy Ttubi follower went nuts! Used a fire amplifier and set himself on fire in a suicide attack! He said he’d kill everyone who had anything to do with Ttubi’s death!”
The ghosts drifting through the air let out eerie shrieks and rushed toward the commotion, seemingly excited.
‘This is absolute madness.’
Worse yet, the ghosts were trailing fire behind them, spreading it wherever they went.
At this rate… we were going to get roasted alive.
Miyang! Nyang!
I jumped up and down on Kessler’s body. But no matter how much I bounced, he didn’t wake up.
‘No, get up, damn it!’
I smacked his cheeks with my front paws over and over. But Kessler didn’t even blink, instead starting to lick my paw like he was sucking on cotton candy.
…This crazy bastard.
The heat from the slightly open door was getting stronger and stronger.
If we didn’t get up, we were going to suffocate and die!
I changed tactics. Instead of using my paws, I started furiously rubbing my butt all over Kessler’s face.
A method to wake him by suffocating him, blocking his nose and mouth.
Sniff, sniff. I heard the sound of him smelling. Was he awake? I tilted my head and glanced back. Kessler had opened his eyes.
“Why do you keep shoving your butt at me?”
Kiiing!
“Are you asking me to suck it?”
Kking!
As I launched a rear-leg attack at this lunatic spouting nonsense, my butt ended up getting grabbed instead.
You pervert! I’m male, MALE, damn it!
The captured butt was firmly pulled, causing my upper body to slide forward, leaving me in a rather… seductive pose for a Baby Arctic Fox, butt raised high.
No normal guardian would ever think of sucking it. That’s just insanely unsanitary.
Kiiing! Kking!
While I was flailing in protest, his flesh touched me. He pressed his cheek against my butt and started rubbing it.
“Soft.”
He lingered there for a moment as if finding solace against my backside, then finally released me and said,
“How dare they set fire to my castle?”
Just then, a ghost trailing fire tried to rush into the room, but it was hurled backward as if slammed by some enormous force, disappearing into the smoke.
“Ill-mannered bastards.”
Kessler walked over to the spot, nonchalantly stamped out the flames licking at the severed ghost’s tail with the tip of his foot.
“Right?”
He looked at me as if to tell me not to be afraid.
While the flames and screams filled the castle, reverberating off the floors and ceilings, suddenly—like a lightbulb flickering out—the chaotic world went dark. The screams ceased at once.
In the sudden darkness, there was a gaze fixed directly on me.
“Let’s sleep again, little fox.”
As if nothing had happened, Kessler trudged back to the sofa, flopped down, and immediately fell back into sleep.
“…What the hell?”
How could he be so relaxed?
There are many kinds of casual gamers in the world. But I had never seen anyone who spent so much effort on item setups only to play with such careless, half-hearted leisure.
Normally, people pour love and dedication proportional to the work they put in.
‘And… was it really just a coincidence?’
The moment that bastard woke up, all the fires in the castle had been snuffed out.
Even if he had some top-tier items and skills, that wasn’t something an ordinary user could pull off.
‘It must have been coincidence, right?’
Maybe it had just coincided with the timing for the castle’s manager to intervene.
Still suspiciously eyeing the sleeping Kessler, I bolted out into the corridor.
The situation had already been resolved.
In the hallway lay the corpses of those whose souls had been stolen by the ghosts, and inside the sealed rooms, bodies of those who had suffocated to death.
Now… it was loot collection time.
‘Damn.’
[System]: You have acquired a Burnt Sock.
[System]: You have acquired a Melted Bead Bell.
[System]: You have acquired an Overcooked Conch Shell. Eating its contents may cause food poisoning.
There was nothing worth salvaging.
On the first day, people had trembled in fear at the sight of death, but now, blinded by greed for items, they eagerly scavenged through the corpses.
‘Nothing but trash everywhere.’
Still, determined to at least scrape up some scraps, I kept digging—and then stumbled upon something unexpected.
[You have discovered traces of murder with your keen sense of smell!]
Huh?
Seeing that it was triggered by “keen sense of smell,” it seemed to be an item invisible to ordinary users.
[There’s no such thing as a perfect crime. The dead Painter left a painting of the murder scene.]
I inspected the painting left by the Special Occupation Painter. However, most of the canvas was scorched, making it impossible to discern anything clearly.
[!!! Insufficient evidence detected. An alternative reward will be provided.]
At least the system has a conscience.
[Acquired a Puzzle Piece depicting the Murderer’s Sketch!]
[The montage will be revealed once you collect all three puzzle pieces.]
[Murderer’s Puzzle Piece (1/3)]
Ooh… Whether I’d actually be able to collect all three was questionable, but having one was definitely better than having none.
‘Where should I store the puzzle piece?’
My bag was cramped. While I was carefully organizing the junk I had picked up today to make more space—
[!!! The murderer has noticed your presence!]
[A quest has been triggered for the murderer!]
[!!! A puzzle piece containing hints about you has been given to the murderer. (1/5)]
What the hell… seriously?!
Startled, I flailed my front paws, scattering the neatly arranged contents of my bag all over again.
I hurriedly reread the notification window. My heart pounded violently in my chest, but there was at least one small comfort—the murderer’s conditions for success were more demanding than mine.
I needed to collect three pieces; he needed to collect five.
‘…Is that really an advantage, though?’
Even if I found out who he was first, I was just a fragile Baby Arctic Fox—an ornamental pet that couldn’t even communicate properly with humans.
In other words, even if I learned his true identity, the only thing I could do was frantically run away.
On the other hand, the moment he collected all his hint pieces… that would be the day of my funeral. I’d become nothing more than a chunk of fox meat.
That absolutely couldn’t happen. I had to act fast.
[< Baby Arctic Fox, do you want to become human? >]
I opened the Race Quest window.
Completing this quest was my only chance.
