Becoming the Guide of the Mysophobic Villain? Absolutely Not! - Chapter 234
Hermann Caulo. Despite losing much support since the current regime took over, he was still acknowledged as the Prime Minister and the second most powerful man in Arteon, right after the President.
An elderly man with gray hair and a bushy beard, his square jaw and piercing eyes still radiated an aura of overwhelming authority.
Hermann rose from his seat, smiling as he extended his hand to Claude.
Claude knew it was meant for a handshake, but instead of taking it, he just looked down at it disdainfully.
It wasn’t an attempt at a power struggle. Despite wearing gloves, Claude still had a reflexive aversion to touching others, except for Rose.
He saw no reason to endure that discomfort just to touch the man in front of him.
“Sir Claude…!”
“It’s fine. I’ve heard rumors about your sensitivity to physical contact. Seems they were true.”
Hermann spoke casually, acknowledging Claude’s aversion.
Claude’s eyebrow twitched at Hermann’s mention of his weakness.
Despite meeting Claude’s frosty gaze, Hermann remained unperturbed.
They stood there, staring at each other for a while.
The Director was the only one unable to bear the tension.
“Now, now, Sir Claude… please, take a seat. The Prime Minister wouldn’t have come all this way if it wasn’t important. He’s seeking your expertise…”
“Just get to the point.”
Claude interrupted, frowning with irritation. His blatant rudeness made the Director’s face momentarily stiffen.
However, Hermann chuckled good-naturedly even in this tense atmosphere.
“Well, it’s understandable. You’ve just returned from a long expedition, and you’ve barely had time to rest since coming back. And having left your imprinted Guide, only to be summoned by this boring old man, you must feel resentful.”
“Prime Minister, even so…”
“It’s fine. As you said, let’s get straight to the point. Take a look at these photos.”
Claude strode over to the desk where they were seated. Several photos lay on it.
They were graphic photos of corpses, each one with parts of their bodies torn off.
“These are the corpses found recently in the capital, dead for unknown reasons. The official count is five, but… including the ones not disclosed to the public, the total number is twenty-one. More than twenty bodies torn apart, and not a single witness to any of the incidents. It’s a serious headache for us.”
“…It’s the work of mutants,” Claude said flatly as he scanned the photos.
“…Do you think so?”
“There’s no doubt when you look at the cut surfaces. They match the dental patterns of large mutant creatures. Judging by the bleeding and coagulation at the cut surfaces, it’s clear that the cuts were made while the victims were alive, making the dismemberment the direct cause of death. The clean cuts indicate the victims couldn’t resist at all. There are two possibilities: either the victims didn’t notice the presence of the mutants until the attack, or they were aware but unable to move. In the latter case, restraint or anesthetic poison would be the likely reasons.”
“……”
“The problem is that none of the existing mutant species match these characteristics. There are a few large mutants with similar dental patterns, but none with the ability to restrain or anesthetize. Large mutants usually attack humans and kill them instantly before devouring them, so they don’t neatly dismember people like this.”
“I heard that on this recent expedition, mutants exhibiting collective behavior and intelligence were discovered. Could it be that different mutant species communicated and hunted together?”
“That differs from what I’ve witnessed directly…”
The idea of large mutants in the capital, tearing people apart, cooperating with other mutant species, was unimaginable. If asked before the expedition, Claude would have dismissed it as nonsense.
Claude knew more about mutants than anyone in Arteon. Even scholars who had studied mutants for decades hadn’t observed them as closely or for as long as he had.
Yet, even Claude was taken aback by what he witnessed on this expedition.
At a basic level, different mutant species seemed to cooperate.
Even Claude had no clear explanation for what he saw. He couldn’t be certain about anything at this point.
He had to consider all possible scenarios.
