Chapter 8: I… Died?

I… died?

Seeing the line, Peleti slowly put down the newspaper. Her lips parted slightly, her brows furrowed as she stared blankly at the ceiling.

The train roared along the tracks, the rumbling drowning out all the noise in the carriage. Peleti’s heart rose and fell with it.

She still hadn’t recovered from the explosive information printed in black and white.

According to the newspaper, Dispel had died in a massive explosion. Nothing remained of the body; his friends buried what little was left. In the photo, Peleti even saw Brenda among them.

If Dispel is dead… then who am I?

For a moment, Peleti’s mind was filled with nothing but that one question.

She stared back down at the newspaper — the explosion occurred inside the convenience store.

A convenience store…

Peleti remembered: she was knocked out by Josuna inside a convenience store.
Looking at it now, Josuna had caused quite a commotion just to keep her locked in that basement for life.

The mystery that had been troubling her was finally answered.

Why had no one come looking for her after she disappeared for so long?

Because everyone thought she was already dead.
The dead don’t require concern.
No one would ever think she had not died but had been locked in a basement by the Holy Maiden candidate. To ordinary people, that possibility had two nearly impossible assumptions.

Why would an ordinary person like Dispel survive such a huge explosion?

And with Alice’s death setting the precedent… no one would question whether Dispel’s death was real.

So if she was “dead,” then of course nobody cared about her. No one would try to rescue her from that basement.

Josuna was a Holy Maiden candidate — and the most gifted candidate in the past two centuries. Her reputation and character were impeccable, the very image of a “perfect daughter.”
Even she used to think Josuna was the ideal, smart, beautiful girl.

And that was only with superficial understanding.
Ordinary people who knew even less would never doubt her.

All these factors together created Josuna’s nearly flawless conspiracy.

If it weren’t for Dead-Fish-Face… she really would’ve spent her entire life in that basement.

The only thing Brenda and the others needed to worry about was bringing flowers to her grave next year.

When did Josuna become so smart?

Peleti couldn’t help thinking that.

She had felt something off about Josuna lately — but she couldn’t pinpoint what.

Maybe… she’d matured?

As the First Candidate, having a more mature demeanor was normal.

Just… unfortunate for Peleti.
She couldn’t tease Josuna like she used to.

Troubled, she laid the newspaper across her lap and tilted her head to look out the window.
Nearby trees shot past too quickly to be seen clearly; only the distant ones on the mountains moved slowly — also too far to make out.

The train was long, and unless it turned she couldn’t see the road ahead.
Still, watching the scenery pass was… alright.

Something flashed outside.

Peleti thought she saw a black shadow darting through the forest — something cat-like, but much faster than any normal animal.
And she felt like… it was looking at her.

No—

It was coming straight for her.

In her vision, the black dot grew rapidly.
Before she could react, the creature was clinging to the outside of the train, two burning orange eyes locked directly onto her.

A humanoid tiger with yellow-striped fur, its muscular arms gripping the roof. Its other hand swung forward, claws smashing through the window as it let out a deafening roar.

Her mind went completely blank.
Her body froze.
The carriage fell into dead silence.

No pretending anymore—
This thing was definitely coming for her!

Her body reacted faster than her brain.
Just as the beast’s claws reached for her, Peleti shoved the student beside her with all her strength, sending both of them tumbling to the floor.
Only then did the other passengers react, scrambling to flee — but packed in such tight space, no one actually got anywhere.

The creature had the form of an animal but stood like a human.
Peleti had seen this in books — this was a beastman.

Beastfolk were divided into beastmen and demi-beasts:
Beastmen were animals with human traits, while demi-beasts were humans with animal traits — like a human girl with rabbit ears.
They differed, but not in hostility — in fact, the two groups were united.

The reason was simple:
Beastfolk as a whole had nearly been hunted to extinction by humans.
Without unity, they wouldn’t survive another sunrise.

Human–beastfolk relations were terrible in every nation.
On the battlefield, humans almost always had the upper hand.
Thus, in human lands, beastfolk were used as slaves.

To put it bluntly:
Males were labor.
Females were sent to the mines.

Demi-beasts were rarer and fetched higher prices in human s*ave markets.

But only the females.

Recently, human nations had been too busy fighting cultists, so their offensives against beastfolk had weakened — even abandoned.
With less pressure, some stronger beastfolk snuck into human lands to assassinate nobles.

Clearly, this one was such a suicidal assassin.

But why was it here to kill her?!

This was her first time appearing in public in this new form.
Could it have mistaken her for someone else?!

Very likely.
She had no money, no status — why would a beastman target her?

If she hadn’t dodged, her skull would’ve been crushed.

She couldn’t help admiring her body — even without conscious thought, it reacted fast enough to avoid a fatal blow.
But what came next… she wasn’t sure she could escape.

From the fact that it had outrun a train — Peleti knew she stood absolutely no chance in a fight.

“Pretty fast…”
The beastman’s voice slithered into her ears like a whisper from hell.

“You’ve got the wrong person!!”
Peleti tried to stall while it talked.

Trains usually had guards.
With such a huge commotion, they had to come check.
She doubted they could beat something faster than a train, but she had no better options.

“Hmph.”
The beastman scoffed and vanished from the window.

Just when everyone thought the tiger had disappeared, the entire carriage shook violently.

It was trying to break the carriage off.

Peleti instantly understood.

If the carriage was separated, they’d lose contact with the front.
In this wilderness, she had nowhere to run.

She couldn’t outrun a train!

CRACK—

A sharp sound rang in her ears, followed by a violent spin.
The carriage flipped over and slammed into the ground with tremendous force.

“Cough… damn, that almost killed me…”

Maybe a witch’s body was stronger than a normal person’s — her head adjusted quickly to the dizziness.
But the impact still left her in agonizing pain.

She crawled through the shattered window — and immediately froze when she saw the raised yellow claws in front of her.

“Holy sh*t.”

The beastman swung its claw—

A flash of cold light—

And Peleti heard nothing.