The Unrecorded Extra

Neychta had a tall and slender build with long black hair under the mask, reaching her waist. She had a distinctive mask that covered her entire face. The mask had a metallic appearance and was adorned with black bunny ears on top.

She wore a black, high-collared coat that covered most of her body and was adorned with golden buttons and trim. Underneath the coat, she wore a black skin suit and black gloves. She also wore black boots with golden accents.

As she stepped forward, she asked Nuria.

"Granny, what brings you here today?"

Nuria chuckled and teased back.

"I'm not sure I appreciate being called 'granny', Little Ney."

There was a little snort coming from Neychta as she heard Nuria tease her.

"Looks like you need to check your eyes, Granny."

"Hmm? I could say the same to you."

They both chuckled.

"Hah… It isn't fun when we both are teasing each other. One should be the victim, Granny."

"Haha, sorry if you feel that way. You know how much I enjoy getting back at you when you're teasing me first."

Shaking her head, Neychta sat down on the sofa across from Nuria.

"You're 60 but you're like a kid, I can't believe my idol is this childish."

"At least I'm not weird…" Nuria said as her attention shifted to the bunny ears. "What is that? A bunny ears?"

"Huh?!"

As soon as she heard that, Neychta jolted and the bunny ears immediately pulled in and were changed to black-colored horns.

"B, bunny?! Where? I, it's a devil horn!"

Nuria gave her a deadpan stare but her mouth looked like she was holding a laugh.

"Sure, sure. Anyway, how have you been, Little Ney?"

"Busy. The guild has been keeping me on my toes, especially the apprentices. But I can't complain, it's what I enjoy doing."

Nuria leaned back on the sofa, her eyes scanning the fluffy room.

"Speaking about apprentices, how is she doing?"

Neychta tilted her head.

"She?" Then she realized who was Nuria referring to. "Oh, Shannon. She's been doing great."

"That's good to hear. And what about your search for your sibling, have you found him?"

The question made Neychta flinch. Though her face was covered by the mask, Nuria could tell that her question had made her uncomfortable.

"I'm–"

The masked girl answered before Nuria could apologize for bringing up the topic

"Truthfully, I have already found him a few years ago. But…"

Nuria raised her eyebrows, her curiosity built up.

"But?"

"It's nothing. More importantly, he seems to be happy even without me, so I thought it's not necessary for me to look out for him"

Nuria was silent, and so did Neychta. As the silence had stretched for too long, Nuria straightened up, breaking the atmosphere.

"That must be hard for you," Nuria began. "This is advice from who has lived for 60 years. You'd better tell him as soon as possible or you will regret it."

Neychta stared at Nuria behind her mask then leaned on the sofa as she breathe out a heavy sigh.

"I'll tell him. But not right now.

Clasping her hands together, Neychta tuned her voice.

"Enough about that. So, what actually brings you here today? Don't tell me you just want to talk?"

The room's mood suddenly changed. It had been going on a roller coaster, from happy to sad and now serious.

Before she talked, Nuria took a deep breath.

"I've been searching for a person–a culprit. He was caught killing our student on the first day of the new semester. Here's what he looks like."

Neychta's eyes widened slightly as she saw the portrait of a man in a black Victorian coat suit.

Taking notice of Neychta's reaction, Nuria couldn't help but ask.

"Looking at your reaction. I assume you know this person?"

Neychta nodded.

"He's our business partner. We just had our contract signed two days ago. Are you sure he killed an Octagram student? He doesn't look like someone who had the gut to kill people in my eyes."

'In my eyes', that word alone which coming from Neychta, who had killed not a few dozens but hundreds or maybe thousands, had convinced Nuria that at least the person she was searching for wasn't a heinous criminal–A villain.

"Actually…"

Nuria explained everything that happened on the night after Neophyte Nexus and even showed the footage recorded by the drone.

"Isn't that…"

After watching the footage together, Nuria also showed Neychta the student's actual identity as a demon.

"It's not demonic human. But the demon."

"The existence that the demonic human worships?"

Nuria nodded and went on explaining again.

"So, you want to know this person itointerro–questioning him about his reason for killing the student?"

"Yes. We don't know why he killed our student. Was it because he knew that the student is a demon or was it because there are other motives behind it."

Neychta stroked her chin–the bottom part of her mask helmet.

"I see. I'll do what I can to help you, Granny."

Nuria breathed a sigh of relief. She knew that Neychta was always dependable, and she was glad that she saved this little girl back in the days, a long time ago.

"Thank you, Ney. I really appreciate it."

Neychta nodded, and then stood up.

"You can always count on me, Granny. You are my idol and savior, I'll do everything that I can to help you, even if your request cost me my life, I will still do it."

"That's too far. You need to value your life too, at least you must stay alive until you told the truth to your brother. And by the way, you said that you and this person is a business partner. What makes you sign the contract with him?"

Neychta paused. Looking at where her mask's glass was looking, she looked like she was in thought.

"Heh. I bet you'll be surprised. He offered my guild to produce elixirs and use them to monopolize the market."

"Elixir? I thought it has become more common by now."

"It's not an ordinary elixir. It's Horizon Elixir, one that can raise the potential limit."

***

"She didn't come to class today…"

After the class ended, I was deliberately searching for Ember.

I had already asked my classmates about her but no one knew. And instead of getting proper answers, they would only tease me and suspect me I had some sort of feeling for Ember, which was not true.

My purpose was to ask the truth about that particular night, the scene I saw in the flash memory. What did Ember know about that night?

There was one report in the forum about what happened that night. It said that Ember was abducted when she was visiting France and when the local heroes arrived at that warehouse, Ember had already killed the abductors. But they didn't mention anything about a kid who was supposed to be there that night.

Then, as someone told me about Ember's roommate, I immediately looked for them.

But, I remembered something.

'Wait… I can just use my Pathfinding!'

Why was I so dumb?

Stopping my feet, I closed my eyes.

[Pathfinding] was a skill that allowed me to trace and visualize an image of my target position.

Of course, I needed to think about my target so I could find them.

'Red hair…'

Think about how her hair long red hair flowed like a water stream to her waist.

'Red eyes…'

Think about how her sharp red eyes stared at me coldly when I saw her for the first time at Garuda Soar Tower.

'Unparalleled beauty…'

Think about how pretty she was when she put on the earring, captivating me with the sight.

With these thoughts in mind, I focused on the [Pathfinding], feeling a tingling sensation in my head as the image of her location projected in my mind.

What I saw from the image, there were a lot of bookshelves, tables, and book piles.

'A library?'

There was no other place with towering bookshelves and book piles other than the library. Am I right or am I right?

Without a moment's hesitation, I started running towards my destination.

As I run, I couldn't help but wonder what to ask of her about the scene. Should I just straight-forwardly ask her? Should I have a conversation first and then ask her about it? Or should I approach with a more subtle question leading me to the answer?

The questions lingered in my mind as I continued running, my eyes fixed on the path ahead, running from the Eagle realm to the Owl realm.

But no matter what, I knew one thing for sure–

'I have to see her, no matter what it took.'

And then, once I arrived on the library's first floor–the lobby, what came from the receptionist's mouth had struck me with a reminder.

"You need the membership card to browse the library."

Right. I thought to myself that, it was probably the time to spend some money and merits.