Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 134

Damian slowly opened his mouth.

“So, I don’t understand things like that… I envy you and Casey.”

“Envy? What part?” Lilliana asked back, but Damian shook his head and said, “This is why I said I didn’t want to seem childish.”

He got up from his seat.

“I’m a bit tired, so I’ll go up first.”

Lilliana nodded, and Damian disappeared upstairs. Left alone, she stared at the spot where Damian had been sitting and muttered to herself, “So what part is childish? He always trails off like that.”

Lilliana felt a bit disheartened by Damian’s words.

This stubborn guy was so strict with himself that he felt deeply ashamed to show even a little bit of his vulnerable side to others. He wasn’t a wounded wild animal.

She wanted to be friends with Damian and truly considered him a friend. But she couldn’t understand why their friendship was so difficult.

***

Two days after their visit to Soliel’s, late at night, past midnight.

Damian headed to the location where Seidel’s golem was trying to return. Casey was with him.

Unlike Damian, who had a slightly nervous expression, Casey had a relaxed attitude as if he was just going out for a drink, his hands clasped behind his head.

Damian adjusted the black bag slung over his shoulder and looked at Casey with a dubious expression.

“I can really trust you, right?”

“What are you worried about?”

“It’s a bit worrisome to have someone who comes back injured every day as my backup.”

“I won’t get injured today since Damian is here,” Casey said with a shrug.

Damian let out a small sigh and looked around. They had arrived near their destination.

He took out his handgun and rifle from his bag, checked the magazines, and held them at the ready. He holstered the handgun and held the rifle in a position where he could use it at any moment. Then, he lightly tossed the remaining handgun to Casey.

“Just in case, take this.”

He had noticed this while Lilliana was practicing her shooting, but Casey was a much better shooter than her. He was surprisingly skilled with firearms.

Casey nodded and casually tucked the gun into his waistband. They each put on one of the two cloaks they had prepared, pulling the hoods over their heads.

Hiding in an alleyway for a moment and checking the path ahead, Damian confirmed there was nothing unusual and said to Casey in a low voice,

“Let’s go.”

According to Damian’s prior research, the address was the top floor, the 5th floor, of a commercial building in the slums.

Damian, who had imagined a secluded secret laboratory, was surprised to find it in a densely populated area.

But considering it was located in a slum where all sorts of people came and went, it wasn’t entirely incomprehensible.

“Here it is.”

Damian looked up at the building, which exuded a gloomy aura. Like most buildings in this area, it looked like it could collapse at any moment. Casey and Damian entered the building, muffling their footsteps.

Damian moved quickly and reached the 5th floor in an instant. Even though he was trying to be quiet, his speed was beyond that of an ordinary person, but Casey kept up with him without falling behind.

An iron-barred gate blocked the stairs leading up to the 5th floor. It was locked, so he shot the doorknob and broke it.

Damian carefully opened the gate and shone his light upwards. It seemed like there was nothing there, and all was quiet, but he couldn’t turn back now without checking properly. The two climbed the stairs again.

There were two rooms on the 5th floor. After scanning the hallway and confirming the number of rooms, Damian signaled to Casey to enter the second room. He then stood in front of the first room.

They carefully turned the doorknobs, and the unlocked doors opened. Casey and Damian exchanged glances and nodded, then flung open both doors simultaneously.

The first room Damian opened was empty, but he didn’t just pass it by.

There was a large desk, a bed beside it, and a wardrobe on the opposite side. Other than that, experimental tools were scattered across the floor.

Damian tilted his head, not knowing what they were used for. He aimed his rifle cautiously and flung open the wardrobe door. But despite his vigilance, there was nothing inside except for a few women’s clothes.

Just in case, he rummaged through the clothes and confirmed there was nothing else before lowering his gun.

To Damian’s eyes, it was an ordinary room, so he headed to the second room where Casey had entered.

“Anything there?”

Casey, who had been examining the second room, turned around at the sound of someone approaching and asked Damian. Damian shook his head and asked, “What about this room?”

Damian scanned the room with his light. Casey gestured towards a corner of the room.

“I’ll have to take a closer look to be sure, but it seems like this is where the golem production took place.”

As Casey pointed out, crow feathers were scattered around, and there were several bags filled with something.

When he cut one open with his knife, a sand-like substance poured out. It seemed to be the same material used as filler for the crow golem.

“So there’s nothing else here?”

“Nothing…” Damian muttered.

Casey tilted his head and asked, “What was in the room you went into?”

“Nothing…”

At Damian’s words, Casey frowned and left the room. He entered the first room that Damian had checked and looked around. Casey opened the wardrobe that Damian had deemed insignificant and said with a hardened expression, “Damian. There was nothing in this wardrobe?”

“There were only clothes,” Damian replied, sensing from Casey’s uneasy expression that something was wrong.

Casey took out two or three pieces of clothing and tossed them to Damian.

“Those are little girls’ clothes.”

Damian checked, and indeed, the size of the clothes was too small to be considered adult clothing.

“So?”

“Listen carefully, Damian. The most troublesome of Seidel’s golems is…”

Casey looked around cautiously and continued, “One in the form of a young girl…”

Just then, they heard small footsteps outside the door. The light tapping sound indicated someone small and light, not a heavy adult.

Damian hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should raise his gun, but Casey quickly closed the door and shouted, “Escape through the window!”

“From here?!”

At Casey’s sudden instruction, Damian went to the window and looked down. Casey, with his superhuman body, might be able to survive the fall, but it was too high for Damian to jump down in one go.

While Damian was calculating an escape route, the door burst open with a bang, its hinges torn off.

Casey clicked his tongue. He stood in front of Damian and breathed fire towards the door. Damian shielded his face from the heat with his arm.

As Damian hesitated, he heard running footsteps approaching through the flames. Casey pushed Damian aside and dodged.

Crash!

Something slammed into the spot where Damian had just been standing. Casey let out a hollow laugh and continued what he had been saying.

“That’s the golem I hate the most among Seidel’s creations. The Dorothy type.”

As the flames subsided, the figure of their attacker was revealed. Standing there was a girl around 15 years old with curly silver hair.

“Hello, intruders.”

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