Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Ghouls & Lightning

In a dimly lit room, the sound of a static current could be heard. And in that room was a tutor and his pupil.

“...You know I don’t want to do this…. Right?” asks the man. 

He was holding a stun gun and directed it toward the boy. The boy who had gotten used to it stared at him lifelessly. 

“I know, Mister Adel. I wasn’t able to solve the problem, and you have to punish me on the orders of Master Noah Miller….” 

“....And if you scream or cry?” Adel asks with concern. 

“Then it won’t end with just one shock, Mister.” 

[....Why do I have to do this to such a brilliant child? Only if he wasn’t born into this accursed family….] 

“...Are you prepared then?” 

“Yes.” 

And just like that, the boy was electrocuted, he neither screamed nor cried, and his expression was calm as he twitched on the floor.

“.....” 

— :::: — 

It was a rainy night, and a thunderstorm had hit the plains. Alum wakes up due to raging thunders and rainfall. 

He steps out of the shelter and watches the lightning strike as he manipulates water around him to avoid getting wet. Everyone was sleeping in their own shelters and was separated by males and females. As he walks. He hears quiet sobs from the female shelter. 

Only recently has it been quiet in the boy's hut. Everyone was in distress, and as the night came, many broke down while trying to sleep. 

He keeps walking and watches the lightning storm while creating sparks of electricity in his palm. 

Alum scoffs while looking at his palm, which produces an electrical current. 

[If a god exists in this world, they’re playing a rather cruel trick, aren’t they?] 

As he kept walking, he spotted a light further away, and from the looks of it, it was under a tree, and the light source seemed to be a fire. 

Alum walks closer to inspect and what he found was rather horrendous. It was a dead person, and there seemed to be something eating them. It kept eating without noticing that Alum was right behind it. 

It probably couldn’t hear or pick up any sent due to the heavy rain. 

[Now… is it alone?] he ponders as he looks at it while it enjoys its meal. 

If he could describe the look of the creature, it was somewhat human-like and pale, and if he’d guess based on the mythology of his world, he’d say this was a ghoul. 

[Seems like this really isn’t earth, huh? Or maybe we’ve been put in a deserted place with these running around.] 

And before turning around, Alum saw the man that was being eaten open his eyes, his reaction was weak, and the eye contact they made gave the man enough energy to ever slightly move his mouth. 

Although Alum could read lips to a certain extent, the man wasn’t speaking in a language he understood. But despite that. 

[Please, kill me, huh?] 

This was the one thing he could do for this unknown man. Alum had assumed he was dead and was about to walk away, but now… this was a different story. 

Alum creates needles of ice and threads of compact liquid ice to bind the ghoul. Surprised by this, the ghoul turns around, and its creepy crimson eyes stare at him as it attempts to jump on him. 

Alum fires his needles. And as it penetrates the creature's skin, he slowly freezes it, and it attempts to scream, but... Alum had already restricted its ability to. 

It slowly froze and became a statue of ice as it started to crack up, revealing the frozen, crystallised blood.

Alum looks at the man, and he has a somewhat satisfied look on his face, but then his body twitches and becomes strange. But by that point, Alum had already restricted him, and from the looks of it, he had turned into the creature that was just eating him. 

He kills the unknown man that had turned, and as he sighs, he turns around. 

There was Miu on the wet grass, and she was shaking while she had a horrified look on her face. 

He walks closer while she keeps staring at the two frozen corpses. She, too, was frozen in a sense, but it was due to sheer shock. 

‘Why did you follow me? It’s dangerous, you know?’ Alum whispers. 

Miu turns her head and looks at him. 

[...How can he be so indifferent?] she asks herself. 

‘S-sorry,’ she replies. 

Although he isn’t sure why she followed him. Since… it took him about an hour to get here, and he had a pretty long walk if he had to say so himself. 

‘....Can you stand?’ he asks. 

‘...Sorry I-I can't…’ she meekly says. 

He gets down, carries her in his arm, and drains all the water from her clothes. 

Miu, on the other hand, was still shaking, and it probably wasn’t due to her being in the rain. Since it seemed like she got drenched recently. She was most likely shaking due to witnessing his actions. 

‘I-I’m sorry…..’ 

Miu apologises as she was unable to walk for herself and the fact that she got scared of him. 

‘....You can close your eyes, and I’ll go closer to inspect.’

‘....O-okay…..’ 

She’s clearly uncomfortable with him getting closer to the monster and the dead person. But what can she do? She’s too scared to do anything and too frightened to be alone. 

Miu was rather light and soft, but another thing stood out to him ever since they first arrived in this world.

He feels stronger and more robust than before. And it may be thanks to the thing he feels circulating his body. 

As he walks closer, he uses the water to pick things up as his hands aren’t free. Looking at the dead man. He has a sword and something that looks like a rifle. And in his small bag, the inside was relatively spacious compared to how it looked. 

[This will be useful… hm? Bullets?] 

Alum picks up a bullet from the bag, which isn’t what he expected. From the looks of it, it was just a piece of metal. He wasn't sure what metal it was, but… how would it fire without ignition? 

He looks closely at the firearm again. 

[Is it a railgun? But… it’s relatively short, and how does it meet the energy requirement? I doubt this is more effective than the magic I used… of course, that is to say, it plays by the same rules…..] 

Alum looks at the man. 

[If he’s out here, I doubt we’re far from a civilisation…. Anyhow, these plains aren’t safe.]

He looks at the creature again and cleanly snaps the crystallised head off, putting it in the storage bag and walks away.

On their way back, he spots another ghoul. It wasn’t able to see them since now that Alum knew they existed, he had created an illusion with the surrounding water. It also helps when it's raining at the same time. 

Miu probably questions why he’s standing still, but he covers her mouth, and as she opens her eyes, she becomes terrified. 

The creature was only a meter away from them, looking around and sniffing, and as it got closer, it turned around and started running the way they just came from. 

Miu was in tears as she trembled from fear. 

Seeing this, Alum gently compliments her. 

‘Good job, you didn’t panic and throw a fit.’ he gently says.  

He then removes his hand from her mouth, and she starts panting as she struggles to properly breathe. 

Miu, who couldn’t utter a single word, just nods as tears flood. She also firmly put her arms around him and closed her eyes as she latched onto him more than before. 

And after walking for an hour, they arrived at their small camp. It was still dark, and everyone seemed to have fallen asleep. 

“Miu, we’re here,” Alum says in a gentle tone. 

But… it seems like she has fallen asleep. 

[It can’t be helped….] he thought as he snuck her into the girl's hut. 

He gently lays her down, and as he is about to walk out, Emely grabs his hand. 

‘Where were you!’ she whispers. 

‘....I went for a walk, but Miu followed me… and well, things happened.’ 

‘....W-well, your young…..’ Emely awkwardly said. 

‘Well… I’ll explain in detail tomorrow.’ 

‘H-huh!? No need for that!’ Emely retorts. 

‘...? But it’s important,’ Alum says as he tilts his head.

‘.....Okay,” she replies. 

Alum nods and left. 

— :::: —

The following day, as the sun was rising, Alum was near the river to catch some fish since he couldn’t sleep last night. 

He walks back and is greeted by Noel as he is starting a fire. 

“Good morning,” Noel says as Alum approaches. 

“You’re up early….” Alum replies. 

“Well… it was hard to sleep.”

“Here’s some fish and vegetation.” 

“Sweet!” 

“....Ahaha?” 

“...What was that?” 

“No, nothing….” Alum awkwardly replies. 

Alum then hands over the fish and vegetation. 

“Anyways, here.” 

“Can you wash these?” Noel asks. 

“Sure,” Alum replied as he created water and washed the ingredients. 

He then put it down on a plate made from wood and handed it to Noel. 

Noel then pulled out a knife made out of stone. 

“...Did someone make that?” Alum asks curiously. 

“Yeah? We grilled yesterday, but I figured we’d get tired of it.” 

“I see?” 

“So… I asked Kurt to make these.” 

Kurt was one of their classmates, and one Noel and Miu spoke to before they arrived here. Kurt was also friendly to everyone.

“Oh? The guy that likes… what was her name again?” 

“...It’s Lena… but is that how you remember people?” 

“No? It’s just that you guys talk about it pretty often.” 

“Well, he is honest….” 

“Anyways… so he manipulates rock and earth?” 

“Pretty much? He was also the one to come up with the hut’s design.” 

“....I see. What will you make?” Alum asks. 

“Huh? You hungry?” Noel says teasingly. 

“A little. I’ve been awake for most of the night.” 

“Then… how about simmered vegetable with smoked fish?” 

“That sounds good, although… how will you simmer the vegetable without cookware?” 

Noel then smugly grins. 

“Hehehe~, with that bad boy!” Noel says as he points at a clay pot. 

“You made him make that too?” 

“Why, of course!” Noel excitedly said. 

“You guys are loud… well, Noel is the one that’s loud, though.” A male classmate said. 

Noel and Alum look over and see the guys get out of the hut. 

“Finally awake! Come help me prepare all this!” Noel cheerfully says. 

“So bossy,” they all said as they chuckled. 

And later, when the girls come out, Professor Emely joins in on the cooking; the ones who cannot cook are only allowed to restlessly watch. 

All the girls had come out except for Miu. 

“...How’s Miu doing,” Alum asks one of the girls. 

“Oh… she said she wasn’t feeling so good,” she replied. 

“I’ll go check on her.” 

“Huh? Oh… okay,” the girl said. 

She then mutters something awkwardly. 

‘She’s not feeling so well since you guys did something last night… in the rain.’ 

“Huh? Did you say anything?” 

“Huh!? Umm… no, it was nothing….” 

After that, Alum walks away toward their hut and enters. 

“How are you doing, Miu?” he asks. 

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“...I still feel somewhat weak,” she replies. 

“We’re having breakfast soon. Want me to carry you?” 

“....That would be too embarrassing,” she says as she covers her face.

“I’ll lend you my shoulder then.” 

“...Thanks.” 

And as they walked out, everyone was staring. 

“Good morning, everyone….” Miu meekly greets everyone. 

Many of them had a worried look on their face, and that was a give. Miu was cheerful most of the time, but she was just quiet and meek now. 

“Miu, I will tell them about last night,” Alum says. 

Miu weakly nodded while everyone was in a daze and staring. 

“Wait, wait! You can’t just say it and explain ‘that’ in detail to everyone!” Emely cries.

And as Emely says that some guys threw a fit while the girls just squeaked.

Noel just looks at his friends with wide eyes as he spaces out. 

“...Huh? Like… did you do it….?” he asks. 

“What? Do what?” Alum replied. 

And it was then Noel knew they all misunderstood something. 

“Sigh…. Everyone, it's a misunderstanding!” Noel shouts. 

“A misunderstanding?” Emely asks. 

Everyone seems to have the same question: How does he know? 

Alum shrugs as he looks over at Miu, who is still out of it. 

‘They seem to think we snuck out to have sexual intercourse last night,’ Alum whispers in a low voice. 

“....Huh!?”

Then Miu snapped out of it, staring at everyone before turning red. 

“W-w-wait! I-i-its a misunderstanding!” she yells. 

Hearing her say this, they burst out laughing, some out of relief. 

She then stares at Alum as she recalls the way he worded the whole ordeal. 

“Geez, you’re unbelievable!” 

“....Anyways, it’s not what you guys think, rather… never mind, we should all eat first,” Alum said. 

Things quieted down as they chatted over their meal. 

— :::: — 

After the meal, they gathered around Alum as he held a bag in his hands. 

“So, last night, I’m sure we all had difficulty sleeping, right?” Alum asks. 

And looking at each other, they agreed with a nod. 

“I went for a walk last night, and I don’t want to frighten you. So I will tell you to prepare yourself beforehand.” 

“....What, you think we can’t handle your ghost story?”

Everyone was looking at the cocky classmate who snarky commented on Alum’s warning. 

“Oliver… take this seriously,” Miu says angrily. 

“....Fine.” 

Everyone knew he had a thing for Miu, and he was displeased that she and Alum went out last night. Miu already rejected him once, and it was a known fact in the class. 

“Well… that aside, are you prepared?” Alum asks again, dismissing Oliver's glare. 

They all nodded. 

“I think it’s best to just show you.” 

Alum then put his hand in the bag to try fining the head he snapped off last night. 

He finds it and pulls it up. 

Everyone seemed to not understand at first but then had horrid looks on their faces.  

“This is the head of a creature I found last night.” 

No one said anything, and it was dead silent. 

“I was walking north from here and found it by a man's corpse. Well, he was alive but dying.” 

“...Was he human?” Noel asks. 

“Yes, he certainly looks human,” Alum replies. 

“....So, is this the man that looks human…?” a classmate asks.

“No, but this was probably human at one point too.” 

“....What do you mean,” Noel asks. 

“Well, this thing was eating the man, and not too long after the man died, the corpse started to come alive and transform.” 

Everyone was feeling shocked by this and just kept quiet. Even Oliver shuts his mouth. 

“And well, the reason why Miu is out of it is this very reason.” 

“...When I caught up to Alum yesterday, I… I saw all of it. The man that died transformed and became one of these things. Of course… Alum did a quick work of that….” 

“...Here is also another thing I found, a rifle.” 

Alum pulls out the rifle and passes it around. 

“Does anyone know what it is?” He asks. 

But they all just shook their heads. 

“Here are the bullets.”

He also passes the bullets around. 

“Huh? But these are just pieces of metal….” one classmate comments. 

“Precisely,” Alum nods. 

“...So, this rifle uses another method to fire its projectile?” 

“My best guess is that it's a railgun,” Alum says. 

“.....I got many questions, but I don’t think the main reason you gather us is to scare us, is it?” Noel asks. 

“Correct, I think there is a civilisation nearby if we walk by the river, and it’s probably better to check it out than staying here.” 

“I see…” Noel says as he looks around. 

Everyone seems to agree on this idea and starts to pack. 

After backing, they all left and walked by the river. 

Soon enough, they arrived at the place Alum was talking about, however…. 

“There’s no corpse,” Alum mutters. 

“We don’t think you’re lying since there are traces of blood and ice here….” one classmate comments. 

“...When we were on the way back, another one of the creatures was heading here….” Miu says. 

This whole time, Miu has been sticking to Alum. While they were walking, she would quietly hold onto the hem of his shirt. 

Some guys were jealous, not of him, but it was since he had a cute girl close to him. Well, except for a few like Oliver. 

Although Miu was a little scared of him, this world scared her more, and who else was more reliable than Alum? After all, she witnessed him defeating one of those things last night. She’s scared of him, and finding out that her crush was like that… she feels a great conflict; she likes him but is afraid of him.

And breaking her train of thought was Lena. 

“....I see something further up ahead,” Lena says. 

Lena has enchanted hearing and sight on demand and has been using her sight for quite a while as they walk. 

As they kept following the river, they saw a windmill and a barn not too far away. 

“You were right!” the other classmates praised Lena. 

She blushed a little and glanced at Kurt. And since he was watching her, their eyes met, and both would blush and break eye contact, only to slowly sneak a glance at each other again. And the thought that went on in everybody's mind was: Just get together already!

And as they approached the barn, they heard sounds from the inside. Alum gestures for everyone to stop as he draws water from the river and prepares needles of ice and threads that look like ice but are somehow in a liquid state. 

“....Wait,” Emely says. 

“...What is it, Emy?” Alum asks. 

“.....You’re not going alone, are you?” 

“If not me, then who?” Alum asks as he looks around. 

“I’ll go with you,” says Noel. 

“Me too,” Miu says. 

“I guess them too,” Alum replies.

“....then, be careful,” Emely says. 

She looks guilty, as she is the oldest, but she still lets her students do something so reckless, which makes her heart sink. 

Alum glances at Noel and Miu. 

“...Try to not panic if things get hectic.” 

““We’ll try….”” they both replied. 

And as they approached the barn, it broke down, and something big came running their way. 

It was a colossal ghoul, and blood was dripping from its mouth. It probably picked up their scent as they got closer. 

“Miu, it’s weakness? Noel, prepare fire!” 

Noel snaps out of it as he hears Alum’s command, and Miu, as frightened as she was, doesn’t turn her head and tries to analyse it. 

“...! the part that looks like a head on its side!” Miu shouts. 

Alum binds it as it runs towards them, but… this one is way stronger than the one from yesterday and managed to actually move in the bindings. 

In the meantime, Noel was creating a big ball of fire. 

The threads of liquid ice were starting to break. 

“Noel now!” 

“I hope this hits!” Noel shouts. 

And the massive ball of fire was flying its way. The creature broke free from Alum's bind. But it was too late, and it got hit by Noel’s flames. 

A massive explosion erupts as the shockwave soon follows. 

They could hear cheers from their classmates from a distance, but that didn’t last long as the ghoul pushed away the smoke and rushed towards them. 

Alum expected it to still be alive. However… flesh was hanging from the creature as it rushed towards them. It was dangling and lost its right arm. 

It was covered in burns, and half of its face was blown away, yet… it still ran toward them, and the strange thing was that it regenerated. And fast too. 

Noel and Miu look terrified when Alum glances over. 

He bound the creature again, but this time, it was weak enough to not be able to break free. 

“Good job, you two,” Alum says as he walks toward the ghoul. 

He electrocutes an ice needle with so much energy it starts to glow, and as he fires at the thing. And with a loud rumble, the ghoul's head was gone. 

It fell down flat on its headless face. And what was intriguing was that it started to bubble where the head was. 

It was regenerating despite having its head blown away. 

[I guess I did the correct thing by freezing the ones from yesterday. Otherwise, It’d be as annoying as this one.] Alum thought as he sarcastically scoffed at the ridiculous creature. 

And as it regenerated, Alum pierced its limbs and started crystalising the ghoul by forcefully injecting water into its bloodstream and turning that water into ice. 

The other came and gathered around them, and they had horrified looks on their face, and some even collapsed on their knees there and started to vomit. 

He turns to his classmates, and with a cold look, he stares into their eyes. 

“Sorry to break it to you all, but living in this world will be very challenging.” 

And after saying this, more collapse on the ground and would dryly laugh out of helplessness and confusion. 

Emely comes up to Alum and gives him a hug. 

“Please… don’t go alone and be reckless,” she pleas. 

“I won’t,” Alum says as he hugs her back. 

He glances over at the dead creature and looks into the distance. 

[It seems like I need to teach them how to stay put… they already have the potential to fight with these powers… but are too weak-minded to properly utilise them….]

He looks at Miu and Noel. They both had helpless looks on their faces. And so did everyone else. 

‘....It seems like I’ll start today.’ Alum mutters. 

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