Chapter 53

“……Night?”

Quilbion stopped walking for a moment. The hawk that had been resting on his shoulder flew up into the sky.

“Night.”

He’d been so caught up in the joy of being able to see that he’d forgotten an important fact.

This was the goblins’ world.

The surface realm.

It was a world without sun or moon.

What had been scattering light everywhere was the giant ‘Sun.’ The massive monster that possessed overwhelming nark.

Quilbion stared at the ‘light’ gradually disappearing. It was slipping away beyond the ridgeline like the sun, but he was certain that thing wasn’t the sun.

It wasn’t the ‘Sun’ either, though.

The Sun had disgusting legs clinging all over it.

What was ‘that thing’ that had cast light over the surface realm in the Sun’s place?

A new goblin?

His head throbbed. It was a world he couldn’t understand at all. Well, not being able to understand it was natural. Anyone who understood this kind of thing was one of two things.

A crazy bastard.

Or an even crazier bastard.

The hawk cutting through the sky began circling in place. He moved toward where the hawk was.

They were in sync now. The beast that couldn’t understand human speech felt more endearing than humans.

“Wow.”

They were trees that had shot up so high they didn’t know the sky. A colony of long, thick trees easily exceeding 15 meters.

They looked like they wouldn’t budge even if struck by lightning.

He climbed up the tree using the finely spreading branches as footholds. About halfway up, he saw a spot where branches as thick as an adult’s torso extended in a tangled mess.

He tested his weight on one. It didn’t even shake. He climbed onto the branch and lay his body down. It couldn’t be more comfortable.

“Thanks.”

He spoke to the hawk circling in the sky. The hawk went around the area as if scouting, then soon disappeared from view.

Where does the hawk go?

Does it have a separate resting place, or does it go to its owner’s side?

Darkness poured down like a flood and swallowed the surroundings in an instant. Perfect darkness without even moonlight.

Even in the darkness, his sixth sense-based vision clearly distinguished the objects around him.

Whether it was bright or dark didn’t matter.

It was a convenient power.

He lowered his eyelids. As if reflecting his will, when he lowered his eyelids, the eyes that had been projecting everything also closed.

It would’ve been awkward if he’d kept seeing even with his eyes closed. He wouldn’t be able to sleep.

He yawned long and released the strength from his body.

He’d fall asleep quickly once he laid his head down anywhere. It was a skill he’d acquired in the harsh labor environment.

Sleep should arrive in an instant.

“……”

But sleep wouldn’t come.

He steadied his breathing and tried to sleep again. There was no anxious feeling. His body was in peak condition and his mind was clear.

No, was the problem that he was too clear-headed?

The clock in his head moved. Tick, tick, tick. The spring clock sounds he’d often heard in the employer’s room came back to life in his ears.

Tick, tick, tick.

It was peaceful, but sleep remained far away.

Hours passed like that.

Light knocked on his eyelids.

Quilbion opened his eyes feeling very refreshed. He hadn’t slept, but he felt good. It was a strange thing.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at the rising ‘light.’ He didn’t feel nark from it like from the ‘Sun.’ It was literally a pure lump of light.

That’s why he was certain. That thing was a crystallization of power someone had created.

He observed a little more.

Only then did he detect that the texture of the power the light emitted resembled Winte’s.

“A real god, maybe.”

If you could create a sun that illuminates the world, what else could you call it but a god?

He surveyed the surroundings with his wide-open vision.

There were goblins scattered here and there.

How many should he catch and bring back?

Winte must have a target number in mind.

Quilbion looked down at his own body. Each time he absorbed nark from a goblin corpse, he could feel himself becoming healthier.

It was a vague expression, but there was no other way to explain it. He grew less tired, hurt less, struggled less.

If he kept hunting, would the nark ‘that woman’ left behind also be removed? Was that what Winte wanted?

A god who helped directly and indirectly.

An entity of unknown identity who’d made a promise with the god.

The hawk’s owner.

“Why are they helping me?”

Maybe it was because there was the absolute example of Twella, but suspicion came first.

If they planned to fatten him up and eat him, he’d go down smoothly this time.

When a monster that creates suns in the sky wants to eat you personally, what can a human no different from a bug do?

If beings beyond imagination were treating him like a toy and playing around……

“Fuck, what can I do? I have to do what I can.”

When all senses were illusions and he couldn’t trust anything, what should he believe? He’d asked Winte that.

Winte had concisely answered ‘yourself.’

He thought he understood what that meant now.

Whether the world went to shit or not, in the end, the one accepting it was him. As long as he didn’t let go, even lies could become truth.

“Why are you looking at me like that today?”

If he believed the grinning Twella over there was real, then she was real. Of course, that one’s fake. Ptooey.

“You look like you’re in a good mood.”

“I am.”

“Why?”

“Because I am.”

“That’s a good answer.”

Quilbion looked at Twella with an expressionless face.

“When are you going to disappear?”

“Mm, when you get sick of seeing me?”

“That’s strange. I’m really sick of seeing you.”

“I don’t think so?”

A snicker escaped.

“Yeah, keep chattering away next to me. It’s nice not being bored.”

“What? Are you finally admitting your feelings for me?”

“How about you giving up your feelings for me?”

Twella’s hazy fantasy became clear for just that moment. Clear enough that the surrounding objects looked blurry.

“I won’t give up right now. But it won’t be forever. Partings always come eventually. For you too, and for me too.”

He’d intended to pick a fight, but the answer that came back was remarkably gentle. That’s why it bothered him.

“Get lost. I’ve said everything I need to say today.”

He waved his hand and the fantasy crumbled and disappeared.

“Parting, my ass.”

Quilbion loosened up his body and climbed down the tree.

Today too, he had to wander the forest searching for the weak.

*

“It suddenly occurred to me.”

Quilbion spoke while scratching the hawk’s beak.

“I think it’s been about three months since I ate. I’m not mistaken, right?”

He spoke with a silly smile. The hawk twisted its neck this way and that, then escaped from his arms and disappeared into the sky.

Night was approaching.

Quilbion folded his arms and leaned his body against the tree branch.

“Good work today.”

Drich appeared on his left. He was holding a liquor bottle in his hand. Quilbion waved his hand warmly.

“You came?”

“Yeah, I came. How was today?”

“How was it? I followed them around like crazy and caught them and killed them.”

“Same as yesterday?”

“Same. Living a very upstanding life.”

Pfft, a silly laugh escaped.

“It looks good when you smile.”

“I should smile often. How was your day?”

Quilbion received the drink Drich offered.

“Business was terrible today.”

“Why? You were happy about it being the busy season.”

“Some locust swarm canceled the festival. So all the merchants who were supposed to carry goods turned back. With no people, how can there be business?”

“That sucks.”

He took the liquor bottle and filled Drich’s cup. On days like this, you needed to get drunk.

“Hey, hey, pour moderately. It’s overflowing.”

“Drink your fill. You need to get drunk on days like this.”

“If I get drunk, who’ll open the shop tomorrow?”

“When tomorrow comes, everything works itself out.”

“Crazy bastard. You think shop prep is easy?”

“I don’t know, so that’s why I’m saying it. Come on, your cup’s empty.”

Back and forth.

They were cheerfully emptying their cups when it happened.

“Drinking among yourselves again?”

It was Twella.

“You came? Our trash.”

“You’re calling me trash today?”

“Why? Don’t like it?”

“No. I like it.”

Twella sat down beside him. Before he knew it, a full spread of food had appeared. Just the smell alone made his mouth water.

He ate the food and drank liquor. They spent a while exchanging meaningless talk that was fine either way.

Laughing and chattering, crying and chattering.

The three pig brothers joined the drinking party too.

Oink, oink, oink. They kept laughing saying the work was going well and they were in a good mood.

Quilbion laughed loudly once, then looked at the people sitting around.

Flushed faces and sweet liquor fragrance.

“……Get lost.”

He tossed out a single word. The companions who’d been enjoying drinks looked at Quilbion with indifferent faces.

Faces without even a speck of emotion. Dry eyes swept over Quilbion before vanishing in an instant.

The rich food aromas, the drunkenness, the boisterous atmosphere—everything scattered.

Quilbion smiled broadly and lay down where he was.

He closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

Of course.

Sleep didn’t come.

*

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Royle patted his younger sibling’s shoulder and spoke. His younger sibling, who’d lost their voice to mutism, slowly nodded their head.

Swoooosh, swoooosh.

Unpleasant breathing sounds came from overhead. Royle squeezed his eyes shut while trembling all over.

Just don’t make eye contact, then I can survive. Royle hugged his sibling while praying for this terrible time to hurry and end.

How much time passed?

The disgusting sound licking over his entire body disappeared.

Did it pass by?

That’s what he was thinking when he slowly opened his eyes.

“You, you, you. Found you.”

There was a giant mouth before his eyes. From inside the mouth with three or four teeth sprouting, an odor he’d never smelled before flowed out.

He felt the sibling in his arms flinch. Royle thought. What can I do right now?

“……Please spare us.”

All he could do was beg.

The mouth slowly opened.

Royle had seen it many times. That mouth tearing apart people, fellow goblins.

An indiscriminate predator.

Big Mouth goblin.

Ah, it’s over.

Royle hugged his sibling tightly. Would it hurt less if they were eaten in one bite? It might be okay if it doesn’t hurt.

His head was turning pure white as he stared blankly at just the mouth.

A sound came from above.

Royle rolled his eyes upward.

“Eating alone!”

A half-naked man was leaping down gripping a long spear.

Thunk!

The spear driven straight down pierced through the giant mouth. The man twisted his body once in mid-air and landed on the ground, then immediately launched his body toward Big Mouth as if there was no time to rest.

“You! You! You!”

The mouth thrashed while screaming loudly.

“Me! Me! Me!”

The man mocked what Big Mouth shouted while cackling.

The spear moved. The man went wild. He was so fast it was hard to follow with the eyes.

At the same time, he was cruel and bizarre.

The moment the spear broke, the man grabbed Big Mouth’s short torso and opened his mouth wide.

The man’s teeth bit into Big Mouth’s body. Flesh was torn off and scattered.

Big Mouth, who’d always devoured prey, was being beaten by a human.

After thrashing for a while, Big Mouth fell to the ground with a thud.

Royle staggered backward.

Meanwhile, the man was pounding down on the collapsed Big Mouth with his bare fists.

Thunk, thunk, thunk!

The man’s hands pierced through Big Mouth’s torso. The flesh was crushed and then at some point melted and was absorbed into the ground.

The man covered in Big Mouth’s bodily fluids stared blankly up at the sky.

Royle stepped back again.

He could tell instinctively.

The person in front wasn’t normal.

Snap—he stepped on a twig while backing away.

The monster that had been staring at the sky looked at Royle. Eyes without whites. They were dyed completely black.

It’s a goblin, a goblin in human form.

“Zen! Run!”

He pushed the sibling he’d been holding in the opposite direction and shouted. That was the maximum courage Royle could muster.

Right after that.

The monster charged at him.