(3rd pov)
The smoke has finally subsided.
Wrine noticed the two girls unconscious on the ground and immediately helped them by bringing them to the nearest benches.
It is better than being on the ground, right?
He sighs with relief after checking to see if they are still in good condition.
The outcome is better than he anticipated.
Fortunately, he did not act like a hero by jumping to help them.
Wrine is not underestimating himself; he simply recognizes his flaws and would rather help someone in another way.
…
(Wrine's Pov)
After I check Ashley and Rhealyn, I noticed the dog is looking at the ashes on the ground.
On the face of the dog, I noticed a strip of water.
Did he cry?
I don't know if a dog can cry but a familiar pet might be since he is not an ordinary animal.
"Uhmm… hey, Mr. dog?"
"Hanzo. My name is Hanzo de gozaru."
I imagine taking a slow approach but unfortunately, I really don't know how to have a conversation so I decided to get to straight point.
"Then, Mr. Hanzo, are you acquainted with the "No" man—I mean the man with a "No"-shaped shadow?"
"…"
Silence.
I didn't talk since I might offended the dog.
Curiosity kills the cat and it looks like I'm gonna be the cat.
The dog is much stronger than me so I'm dead if the dog really attack me now because of my question.
"Yeah."
It seems that I gonna live another day since the dog answer my question.
I sigh in relief inwardly.
I thought I'm dead.
Anyway, they are acquaintance huh?
"This shadow is my owner…"
Oh… Huh?
"… specifically the last remaining shadow of my owner. My owner has been dead for a long time and the only reason why I'm still manifested is because of his shadow de gozaru."
What the heck?
The dog— I mean Hanzo is dropping too much lore to me.
…
Hanzo's owner is a prodigy.
Because of the same reason, many people are jealous by his talent and decided to take him down in the park ten years ago.
Hanzo's owner is a shadow user who can create many clones out of it.
Unfortunately, against ten people he couldn't get away and died.
His body is still remains under the pond.
However, before he died, he curse the people who killed him.
He is still sane, so after cursing those who killed him, he summons Hanzo and forms a contract to kill his shadows once his revenge is complete.
His revenge lasted ten years.
Unfortunately, Hanzo's owner's shadows developed an instinct to kill more, and the missing people incident was about to begin, but it was able to be ended before it became too large.
Since the revenge is complete, Hanzo must adhere to the contract.
Hanzo eliminated nine out of ten shadows, but the final one is adept at hiding.
And we know the rest of the story.
Ashley and Rhealyn unintentionally met the shadow, and the dog defeated it.
…
"By the way, why does the shadow's shadow look like the word "No"?"
This has been bothering me for some time now, and I need to know the answer.
"My owner has a shadow for every month's name. The "No" stands for November de gozaru."
Every month?
So his owner has a lot of shadows.
I wanted to ask if they were equally strong, but seeing Hanzo's longing look, I decided not to continue.