Chapter 10

“Quil, Quil!”

Was it because of yesterday’s incident?

Even though Drich shook him violently, it was difficult to open his eyes. With a parched throat, he asked back, “What’s going on?”

“Get up quickly! The Pioneer has come again.”

“Who? The Pioneer?”

“Yes!”

His eyes snapped open. The image of a pig covered in filth came to mind, making his stomach churn.

Quilbion got out of bed and headed to the window. The area in front of Friendship House was bustling. All the students had come out to watch.

Just then, the Sun stretched out its disgusting legs and scattered light in all directions. He blocked the intense light battering his eyelids with the edge of his hand and watched the situation closely.

“What’s going on so early in the morning?”

“You didn’t hear anything?”

“No.”

“How deep were you sleeping? It’s been noisy since earlier.”

Drich raised the window. The sounds of students chattering drifted in.

“Is it just that kid?”

“It seems like there are more.”

The child pointed out as ‘that kid’ was standing alone in the clearing in front of the dormitory. With a completely terrified face, constantly scanning the surroundings.

The Diligence House Ascetics standing beside them guarded both sides of the child with expressionless faces.

“For two Pioneers to move personally, just how big of a crime did they commit?”

“They deserve punishment.”

“They’ll fail, won’t they?”

“They’re coming.”

The students’ chatter stopped in an instant. Everyone’s gaze converged on Diligence House to the right.

A woman wearing pure white robes—the Pioneer’s symbol—emerged from Diligence House.

It was a Pioneer he’d never seen before. Two Ascetics followed, holding onto one student.

“No, no! It’s not me!”

The child kicked and screamed loudly. Quilbion knew this child’s name. Toren. The student with the best grades in Diligence House.

“I haven’t done anything wrong! There must be some misunderstanding. Ascetic, Ascetic!”

Toren shrieked and resisted. But when the two Ascetics pulled, he was dragged out.

Toren, who’d been repeatedly saying it wasn’t him, swung his arm wide.

Thwack—along with the sound, the Ascetic’s jaw turned. The struck Ascetic crumpled to the ground.

The surroundings went silent.

Quil looked at the frozen Toren. Trembling all over, he reached out to the Ascetic he’d hit, but the Ascetic slapped his hand away.

“Did he just hit the Ascetic? Has that kid really gone insane?”

Drich looked ready to rush out at any moment. To trample Toren who’d assaulted an Ascetic.

The other students’ expressions were similar.

To harm a teacher worthy of respect—it was behavior that went against the teachings, an evil act that couldn’t be resolved with penalty points.

“Disappear!”

“Vanish! You should fail!”

“You piece of trash.”

The students began shouting excitedly.

Quilbion looked at them and thought of the word madness.

Even without anyone leading them, they all showed the same reaction. If the Pioneer and Ascetics just lifted a finger, dozens of students would rush out and kick Toren.

No, it wouldn’t end with just kicking.

Quilbion looked at the Pioneer.

Mediation was needed. To calm the overly excited students and handle the situation rationally…

The Pioneer’s hand rose. The gently raised index finger pointed at Toren.

“You’ve committed an unforgivable sin. Ah, poor child.”

It was a sticky voice. The moment he heard it, his eyes twitched.

An unfocused malice surged up. It felt like it wouldn’t settle unless he poured it onto someone.

The Pioneer’s finger entered his view again.

Quilbion felt his breathing quicken.

We must punish them, we must punish them, we must purify the filth with our own hands.

An unknown voice whispered.

Quilbion focused on the voice. He felt sweetness in the sound. A voice he wanted to keep hearing.

Thwack!

A dizzying impact sound bored into his ears.

Quilbion looked down at his body. He’d definitely been inside the room, but at some point he’d gotten outside through the window.

A broom used for cleaning was held in his left hand.

When did I grab this…

Thwack, thud, thud!

Heavy sounds came one after another. Quilbion looked ahead in a dazed state.

“Disappear, disappear!”

“Vanish! Fail!”

“Fail quickly! Quickly! Don’t defile this clean place!”

“How dare you hit the Ascetic? You filthy bastard!”

Dozens of students stood in a circle, beating down on something.

Faces drenched in ecstasy.

Between the cleaning tools moving up and down rapidly, there were also stones.

Red things clung heavily to both the cleaning tools and stones.

Thud, thud, thud.

Flesh and blood sprayed up.

The red laughter confused his eyes and ears. Intense pain struck his head.

Quilbion looked around while gripping his trembling body.

The two Pioneers and the Ascetics were watching the students.

Quilbion squeezed his eyes shut and opened them.

They had human forms but weren’t human. Something whitish and unidentifiable covered them.

He concentrated on the hazy mist-like thing.

Just as he’d focused when looking at the talisman.

The whitish thing covering them gradually took shape.

It swelled larger and soon took on a form that couldn’t be called human.

“…The Sun.”

Quilbion saw ‘their’ true forms. Things similar to the Sun, cramming their bodies into human shells.

What the hell are those things?

If he looked more closely, couldn’t he learn something? Just as he was taking one step toward them.

“No, not now.”

Twella grabbed his arm.

“We can’t be separate like this. Those bastards will notice us.”

Hearing Twella’s urgent voice, he blinked. The Pioneer and Ascetics’ appearances had returned to human.

Just then, his eyes met with one of the Ascetics.

Quilbion knew exactly what he needed to do. He lifted the broom he was holding above his head and headed toward where the students had gathered.

“I lost consciousness for a moment.”

He spoke to Twella in a low voice.

“Me too.”

“The kids who got caught are probably in a similar state to us, right?”

“It seems that way. So…”

Twella stopped abruptly. Her eyes colored with sadness in an instant.

Quilbion looked at the two children who’d been trampled miserably between the students who’d stepped aside.

“Ah… ah…”

Toren stammered as he opened his mouth. But it was impossible to understand what he was saying.

All his teeth had been pulverized and scattered across the ground. His jaw had also been smashed down with a stone and was broken.

The child who’d been dragged out before Toren wasn’t even moving. They seemed dead.

“Apologize to the Ascetic! If you’d learned properly, you should at least apologize!”

A student holding a stone high above their head shouted. The other students also repeatedly cried out ‘Apologize, apologize.’

If he stepped forward now and persuaded the other children, could he save Toren?

Quilbion examined the students’ faces.

Liberation and ecstasy.

They were enjoying this situation.

It was madness that couldn’t be stopped.

Cruel. Powerless.

At the same time, he was furious beyond endurance.

The more his anger pierced his head, the calmer his breathing became in contrast. His organized thoughts reached a quick conclusion.

Quilbion grabbed Twella’s hand.

Twella’s body, which had been about to reflexively rush out, stopped.

“You can’t.”

He knew the situation was wrong.

But even so, they couldn’t step forward.

The moment they did, the Pioneer’s index finger would point at them.

An order without mercy would fall: make those two unforgivable ones fail.

Quilbion looked at Al Terua standing among the Ascetics. Al Terua was just watching without any change in expression.

Was he also furious at his inability to stop the tragedy but enduring it?

Or…

“He’s writing something?”

“If he can’t speak, he should at least leave words. That’s right, quickly apologize to the Ascetic. Acknowledge your sin and humbly accept failure.”

Toren’s pulverized fingers slowly moved. The finger that had been slowly digging through the ground stained with his own blood soon stopped.

“…Idiots.”

It was Toren’s last words.

Quilbion looked at the writing on the ground.

[Don’t be deceived.]

The students gathered in a circle looked at each other’s faces and asked.

“What does this mean?”

“Don’t be deceived?”

“When we tell him to apologize, he just keeps saying strange things to the end.”

A raised foot stomped on Toren’s hand. It was a signal. The students who’d stopped their beating rushed in again.

Quilbion looked at Toren soaked in blood and thought.

Toren had died. He’d reached a state where he could no longer speak. Then what meaning did the body remaining there hold?

Did it hold no meaning at all?

If it truly held no meaning at all, if what remained there was really just a shell… why wouldn’t his anger subside?

Al Terua had said death was an irreversible phenomenon.

A complete end.

Since it was the end, there should be nothing left.

Quilbion looked at the students still beating. He stared at Drich mixed in among them.

“Apologize! Apologize!”

His hands moved first. Quilbion grabbed Drich’s arm.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“It’s over.”

“What?”

It was a scene noisy with mad laughter and shouting. Drich brought his ear close, asking him to say it again.

“It’s over. So stop.”

“What are you talking about? We still haven’t received an apology. Look at those things! They still don’t seem to want to apologize, do they? So they need to be hit more. They need more punishment. That’s how they’ll understand what they did wrong.”

They’re already dead! Just as he was about to shout loudly.

“Stop.”

Someone’s hand landed on his shoulder. Under the pressing hand strength, Quilbion closed his mouth.

Al Terua patted his shoulder again and stood before the students. The students who’d been beating stopped simultaneously with bright smiles and stepped aside.

“We punished them.”

“Will the Pioneer look favorably on us?”

Eyes full of expectation.

Al Terua showed a faint smile.

“The Pioneers were deeply moved by your learning and dedication.”

Al Terua turned their body halfway and pointed at the two Pioneers. The students cried out in joyful celebration.

“Pioneer Dilim says they will pray for all of you, so let’s clean this place thoroughly. Make sure not to leave any filth behind.”

“Yes!”

The cleaning tools in the students’ hands finally found their proper use.

The two dead students were loaded onto a cart and disappeared behind the hill. The scattered flesh was swept up by rags and vanished in an instant.

The pure white floor that wouldn’t tolerate even a speck of dust revealed itself once more.

“Now, let’s return to our daily routine. A delicious breakfast is waiting for everyone in the dining hall.”

The students dispersed.

The Ascetics also vanished from the clearing while attending to the Pioneer.

Quilbion stood in the empty clearing, in the cleaned clearing.

His emotions wouldn’t settle.

Toren’s dying eyes lingered. The laughter of the students covered in red blood and flesh wouldn’t disappear from his mind.

Anger.

But the emotion surging in wasn’t only anger. Occupying the emotional homestead with an even more massive frame was—

“…”

Quilbion pushed the thick flesh of his palm into his mouth and bit down hard. If he didn’t do this, he would have cried loud enough for the entire dormitory to hear.

His teeth dug into the flesh, creating a fishy taste of blood.

On this day, Quilbion understood death’s cruelty, loneliness, and sadness.

No, perhaps it was the sorrow of a situation that couldn’t be changed, rather than death itself.

After crying internally until his eyes stung, he finally pulled out his bitten hand.

“Fucking shitty place.”

He spoke quietly while looking at the still-blue sky wall.