Chapter 37

“I don’t want to die.”

He let out a slightly trembling voice. Lil looked at Quilbion with a truly regretful expression.

“I’m sorry. The seed is like a soul, so if it’s torn out, you’ll die. But don’t worry. There won’t be any pain at all.”

“This bitch.”

The curse slipped out on its own. Lil said he could curse all he wanted. That she’d gladly listen if it would ease his heart.

She was thoroughly insane. She thought of herself as a noble human. The religious fanatic from the village came to mind. The brazenness of talking about sacrifice while keeping herself removed from it.

“We’ll definitely save those kids in the dormitory.”

“What good does that do me! I’m the one about to die here.”

“Your one life might save dozens, maybe even hundreds.”

“I value myself more than those dozens.”

“How can a person say something like that?”

Lil was horrified as she retorted.

Did this woman know that every word coming out of her mouth was contradictory, or was she unaware?

Either way, she was definitely insane.

“You were born like this because your parents loved you, right? You could exist because of your parents’ sacrifice. That’s what the world is. For someone to survive, someone else’s sacrifice is necessary.”

“I agree with that—my parents sold me for cash. Huh? If you put it that way, I’ve already sacrificed once, so shouldn’t I be spared?”

He asked with a weary smile.

Lil stared at Quilbion with murky eyes for a while before turning with the bowl in hand.

“Tell me when you’re hungry. I’ll give you some then.”

“Sister, Sister Lil! Keep talking. About that sacrifice thing!”

Lil didn’t answer and went toward Drich. She held out a spoonful of porridge to Drich, but Drich swung his left foot and sent the bowl flying.

The bowl spun through the air. The moment the porridge inside spilled onto the floor, Drich made a choking sound and fell flat on the ground.

The rope tightly bound Drich’s hands and feet.

Lil calmly scraped together the spilled porridge with her hand. The porridge covered in dust was gathered into the bowl.

“Come on, open up.”

Lil gripped a handful of porridge and shoved it into Drich’s mouth. Drich struggled and tried to spit it out, but it was useless.

Thunk!

Lil brought the bowl down on Drich’s head. The crude brass bowl was dented.

Dull impact sounds continued.

Quilbion saw red blood seeping into the porridge remnants spilled on the floor.

Drich stopped resisting. Then he obediently accepted the porridge.

“Please just stay still. Please, I’m begging you.”

Lil brought a cloth scrap and wrapped Drich’s head.

“I’ll make more food. Just wait a bit.”

Lil left the room. Leaving behind the sound of her humming.

Quilbion stared at Drich lying face-down. The rebellious gaze had disappeared. All that filled his hazy pupils was deep terror.

“That, that crazy bitch tried to kill me.”

“She was planning to kill you from the start.”

“To beat me to death, like it was nothing! That thing isn’t human. Absolutely not.”

Would he be swallowed by a goblin and die, or die struck by eating utensils wielded by a deranged woman?

It was truly a dogshit situation.

Lil returned quickly. She knelt with her knees together in front of Quilbion and held out a spoonful of porridge with an affectionate touch.

It was food he couldn’t refuse. The moment he shook his head refusing to eat, a metal lump would come flying at his crown.

He obediently accepted the porridge and carefully opened his mouth.

“I’ll stay still like you said, sister.”

“Right, you seem smarter than him, so I knew you’d understand.”

“If I’m going to die anyway, I want to be helpful too.”

If he could regain freedom of his hands and feet, an opportunity might arise.

“Helpful?”

“I’ll help with whatever. I just don’t want to stupidly wait for the day I’ll die. You understand how I feel, right, sister?”

“I understand, of course I do.”

Lil approached with a warm eye-smile and embraced Quilbion’s head, gently stroking the back of his head.

“But.”

Lil’s voice tickled his ear.

“I don’t think you’ll be much help, so just stay like this. When Geron returns, we’ll remove the seed depending on the situation.”

“This fucking bullshit!”

He tried to bite Lil’s nape with his teeth, but the moment he opened his mouth, a powerful suppression force dominated his entire body.

It felt like dozens of invisible hands were dragging his body to the floor. The force that had knocked Drich down.

The moment his whole body was about to stick to the floor, Quilbion sharply raised his head.

The nark wasn’t being released, but it was moving freely inside his body. He glared at Lil while resisting the force flowing from the rope.

“Sister, I won’t die easy. When three kids died in that cramped warehouse, I didn’t die. When a terrible disease was going around, I survived it. I’m that kind of bastard—I won’t go down easy.”

“No matter what you say, if I cut off your head, you’ll die, won’t you?”

Quilbion stared at the nark flowing from the rope.

Al Terua had said it. That nark itself has no power. That mana drawn by nark creates phenomena.

Now he understood.

How Geron had disrupted sorcery.

Nark was no different from a sheepdog. When you drove the flock of mana called sheep in the right direction, sorcery was realized.

You couldn’t touch the flock. If you tried to touch them directly, they’d rampage violently.

So you struck the nark containing the opponent’s will. If the sheepdog collapsed, the flock wouldn’t move.

However.

“Grrrrk!”

Even straining with all his might, he couldn’t discharge nark outside his body. In the end, Quilbion’s body slammed into the floor with a thud.

His entire body tingled as if he’d fallen from a high place. He heard a slight ringing in his ears.

“You’ll hurt yourself doing that.”

When Lil lightly touched his shoulder, the force suppressing his whole body disappeared.

“Get some rest.”

After stroking Quilbion’s head, Lil gathered the bowls and went outside.

“No, no. I can’t die like this. After how I’ve survived. When there are so many things waiting for me outside!”

Drich screamed.

He begged to be spared. But Lil only hummed and didn’t answer Drich’s cries.

“Please! I’ll do whatever you tell me. Kidnapping kids? I’ll do that too. What two people can’t do, three can! Lil! Hey! Please just say something!”

Drich kept making dry coughs, his voice hoarse.

“She has no intention of sparing you. So don’t beg and think of a way instead.”

When Quilbion offered a word, Drich glared at him.

“You were the problem from the start.”

“Me?”

“It’s because you did unnecessary things that I ended up like this! Why did I have to go through this kind of…”

“Should I have left you when you came to your senses in the dormitory? If I had, you wouldn’t have ended up like this just like you said. You would’ve either been beaten to death by the kids or eaten by an Ascetic.”

“Shut your trap.”

“How do I shut a hole that’s already open?”

Drich thrashed about.

“I’m different from you! I’m not someone who should die in a place like this. Got it?”

“I don’t know. I don’t, so just shut up.”

“That’s why you shouldn’t associate with lowlifes. No, that’s not right. Quil, try convincing that bitch. I saw earlier—she seems to listen to what you say to some extent.”

Drich’s eyes shook without focus. He seemed unaware of what he was even saying.

A brief silence continued.

Lamenting their situation wouldn’t change anything.

A way. He had to find a way to get out of here. As he was wracking his brain while looking at Drich, it happened.

The guy’s expression became strange.

“Father! Father, I’m sorry. I didn’t do it because I wanted to. It was Uncle’s orders. What? Please believe me! Father!”

Thud, thud, thud!

Drich banged his head on the floor. The area where Lil had hit him split open and blood flowed again.

“Father! Don’t come! Put down that knife!”

Terrified out of his wits, Drich crawled toward the wall. He curled up his body and started muttering something, but it wasn’t audible.

Why is he like that?

He couldn’t understand why Drich was suddenly seeing illusions and freaking out.

“Oh no.”

Lil belatedly rushed into the room and approached Drich, who was pressed against the wall.

Drich thrashed in Lil’s arms, then soon gently closed his eyes.

“It seems to have started.”

“What’s started?”

It was an ominous sign. Quilbion looked back and forth between the unconscious Drich and Lil.

“How much do you remember about the outside?”

“I remember most of it roughly.”

“Really? But seeing how you’re not having fits, I guess you’re similar to me.”

Lil was carefully lowering Drich’s head. It was a grotesque sight. Just moments ago she’d been beating his head with a brass bowl, and now she looked worried he might get hurt.

“Did most of the kids brought here end up like this too?”

Setting aside his distaste, he grabbed another thread to continue the conversation. Whatever the case, he needed to keep talking with Lil to gain information and create an opportunity to escape.

“Yeah, they all did. Four years ago too.”

Lil brought a towel and wiped Drich’s face.

“At first, I didn’t think much of it. I thought it was nightmares, or that they were exhausted. But as time passed, it got worse. And the number of kids having fits increased.”

“And you were fine, sister?”

“I was completely fine. My outside memories all came back, but I just had a slight headache and that was it. But the other kids gradually went insane. Miyen, that kid was especially severe. Though her body was here, her mind was somewhere else—she kept talking nonsense. And then…”

Lil covered her face with both hands.

“She stabbed Parson’s throat while they were sleeping together. When I asked why she did it, that kid smiled brightly and said she’d dug up sweet potatoes.”

Even while unconscious, Drich kept calling out for his father. Was there a serious mental problem caused by the returning memories?

“Every single one of them went insane. So we had no choice but to move up the schedule.”

How could the word ‘schedule’ be this chilling?

“So you had no choice but to kill them, you’re saying.”

He agreed while suppressing his revulsion. Lil’s expression was relaxing slightly.

“Right, exactly. You’re finally understanding what I meant?”

“If the kids were suffering, there was no choice.”

“Right. It was unavoidable. According to the plan, we should have lived together for a month.”

The more he talked, the more it felt like thorns were growing in his throat.

Four years ago escape, children, schedule, and plan.

The worst conclusion was forming in his head. He wanted to ignore it and move on, but he had to confirm.

“Um, sister.”

“Yeah?”

“Four years ago, Geron planned the escape, right? You just happened to come here with the kids.”

He stared only at Lil’s mouth with tension.

A crooked smile was beginning to form.

“No. I was the one who told Geron. I told him I’d hand them over if he helped me.”

No way.

“…Who taught you about goblins and sorcery?”

He prayed inwardly.

Please let it be different from my expectations.

“There was someone who told me. Thanks to that person, I was able to come this far.”

A person.

A feeling of futility swept through his entire body. Bad premonitions always came true.

Ah, damn it all.

“That person knew a lot about goblins. And they knew how goblins become stronger too. They were the only person who taught me what hope was.”

“Hope?”

“Right, hope!”

Lil’s face twisted grotesquely. She looked extremely excited, but also like she’d fallen into endless despair.

Lil’s distorted mouth opened.

“Al Terua—he became my beacon.”