It was nearing midnight when Roy used Kanashima Kana's ID to rent a room, citing a covert operation to investigate parasitic organisms. He couldn't expose himself.
What could Kanashima Kana do about it? With the two of them, taking her identification was effortless.
Watching Roy enter the room with two beautiful girls, the clerk behind the counter looked at him with undisguised contempt.
Scumbag.
Back when she was young, she too had suffered a heartbreak…
Due to limited funds, they only rented two rooms. Ryuu and Kanashima Kana shared one, while Roy stayed alone. In Orario, aside from military weapons, daily necessities weren't much different from the modern world.
There were refrigerators, gas stoves, and the like. The difference was that modern society relied on electricity, while Orario used magic stones as an energy source, so Roy wasn't worried about Ryuu having trouble adapting.
Roy drank another bottle of low-grade healing potion. A vivid emerald glow of life flickered across his skin—the wounds inflicted by that bastard Jura still hadn't fully healed.
He lay on the bed, deep in thought.
The reason they had managed to lure out five parasitic organisms today was simple: there were plenty of "fish" in the pond. But once one was caught, there would be one less. Before long, it would become increasingly difficult to find them—three to five days might pass without encountering a single one. He needed to plan ahead.
Roy didn't have much patience.
It was like downloading a game. He didn't care when the progress bar was halfway done, but if it got stuck at 99.8%, he'd want to smash the computer.
His gaze shifted toward the city hall.
The final boss, Gotou—and the large group of parasitic organisms gathered around him. Wipe them all out, and this dungeon run would be cleared in one go.
Still, this required careful planning.
The urgency of reaching LV.2 didn't cloud Roy's judgment. At critical moments like this, calmness mattered even more.
Gotou was different from other parasitic organisms. He was a special existence created by Tamura Reiko.
With four parasites—including Miki—coexisting within the same body, Gotou could fully unify their consciousness, unleashing terrifying combat power. His entire body could undergo large-scale hardening, enough to tank indiscriminate shotgun fire.
His speed exceeded 60 kilometers per hour, and Roy suspected that wasn't even his limit. In terms of pure physical ability, he was no weaker than an LV.4 monster.
The night passed without incident.
After the three of them got up, washed up, and finished breakfast, Izumi Shinichi came running over without stopping.
"Thank you so much!"
Relief from surviving a disaster was written all over Shinichi's face as he looked at Roy with profound gratitude.
After Roy's warning, Shinichi had called his parents the previous day, urging them to return to the hotel immediately.
Less than half an hour after they left, a couple was murdered at that very location. If they had delayed even ten more minutes, the victims would have been his parents.
The thought left Shinichi drenched in cold sweat. Though he felt sorry for the other victims, he was overjoyed that his parents were alive.
Roy waved his hand. "No need to thank me. Just doing my part. Your timing is good—your father must have been questioned by the police yesterday. Have him contact them for me. Tell them… I have important information about parasitic organisms."
Shinichi's eyes widened. He almost thought he'd misheard. Everyone else avoided parasitic organisms like the plague—what was this man saying?
"Alright."
Given that Roy had saved his parents, Shinichi couldn't really refuse the request.
Roy turned to Kanashima Kana. "Your task is complete. Do whatever you want next. If you keep staying with us, the police might start watching you. I won't disclose your information—basic decency still applies."
Kanashima Kana recalled scenes from certain movies. People like her, humans who could sense monsters, usually ended up dissected for research. The thought sent a chill down her spine.
"Thank you!"
After thanking him, she fled back home in a panic. After yesterday's hunt, she finally understood what the signals she used to sense really meant. From now on, she would never dare rush toward them again.
Upon hearing there was information about parasitic organisms—and that it came from someone directly involved—the police arrived at lightning speed.
The true person in charge of handling parasitic organisms in this town, Assistant Inspector Hirama, entered the family restaurant. He was a middle-aged man of average build, his face lined with wrinkles that spoke of adult hardship, wearing thin-framed glasses.
Under Roy's guidance, Shinichi shifted all responsibility onto Roy—everything from yesterday's hunt to the warning that his parents would be in danger.
All of it was to make the police take Roy seriously.
"Isn't that just a middle schooler?"
"Could he be parasitized?"
Two young officers whispered among themselves, a trace of wariness on their faces, until Hirama sharply muttered, "Quiet." Only then did they fall silent.
"Hello."
Hirama forced himself to muster some courage and politely extended his hand.
Roy shook it openly and said with a smile, "I'm human. There's no need to doubt that."
Hirama stared at Roy for a long time. Though he lacked the ability to distinguish parasites from humans, as a veteran policeman, he trusted his judgment of people.
"We did indeed discover five parasitic corpses yesterday. So it was you. Thank you very much—for removing such a threat to society." Hirama bowed deeply, his attitude extremely sincere.
"No, no. Protecting society is everyone's responsibility," Roy replied with a smile, helping the old policeman back up.
Hirama unconsciously used honorifics. "I heard you have information about other parasitic organisms?"
Roy looked toward the city hall and said quietly, "Mayor Hirokawa Tsuyoshi. There are more than twenty parasitic organisms around him. It's the largest nest in the entire town."
"What?!"
Hirama's facial muscles twitched, his expression grave. "Are you certain?"
"If it were just one or two parasites, we could deal with them ourselves," Roy said with a smile. After all, they had wiped out five yesterday.
Hirama fell silent. After a long while, he said, "This is beyond my authority. I need to report this up the chain. Please wait a moment."
"As fast as possible," Roy said. "If they realize they've been exposed and re-enter human society, it won't be easy to find them again. They can change their appearance."
"Yes!"
Roy's psychological pressure tactics were extremely effective. Hirama's report was passed upward layer by layer, reaching the highest levels and terrifying everyone. Overnight, panic spread everywhere.
The existence of parasitic organisms was simply too horrifying.
Their abnormal strength was secondary. What was truly terrifying was their ability to seize a person's brain and continue existing using that person's body and appearance.
Without anyone noticing, they could even seize a nation's highest authority.
The situation in this town was the perfect example: Mayor Hirokawa Tsuyoshi and a large group of parasitic organisms had usurped the city hall as their base.
That was why Roy was certain that, compared to the two "superpowered individuals" capable of killing parasites, the upper echelons of the country would prioritize dealing with the parasitic organisms first.
By the time Gotou and the others were dealt with, he and Ryuu would already be long gone. The idea of capturing them for research was nothing but a fool's dream.
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