Chapter 62

“So what exactly is this promise?”

“Watching over you. Plus giving you a bit of help, I suppose?”

“Who did you make the promise with?”

Winte closed his mouth.

“You said you fulfilled the promise. If the contract is over, spill it all now.”

“There’s still a bit left.”

“So you can’t tell me?”

Winte’s pupils turned toward Quilbion.

Golden-tinged eyes.

“Does it matter? It’s all over anyway.”

“Over, my ass. I’m alive and well, and from the circumstances it seems like that promise was with that one’s owner.”

Quilbion pointed at the hawk sprawled across the rooftop. From a distance, it looked like a large cow had keeled over.

“Ask him then.”

“What?”

“Ask that one. Then he’ll probably tell you.”

Quilbion waved his hand dismissively.

“Never mind, forget it. If you don’t want to talk, don’t. I have my own thoughts too.”

“……Remember that taking coffee hostage is an immoral thing to do.”

“There’s still morality left in the world? I had no idea.”

He stood up while giggling. He took light steps and dropped down from the rooftop.

Dust rose with a heavy sound.

Quilbion waved his hand to blow away the dust and went to the shelf inside the building to brew coffee.

“I want something cold today.”

Winte, who’d suddenly appeared from behind, said.

“Make it yourself. I’m only brewing mine.”

He caught the coffee he’d pressed by hand in a cup.

“At first I thought, what’s the point of drinking this? But as I kept drinking it, I grew attached, and once I was attached, the flavors became more distinct, you know? Now I only drink coffee too. Since I’m a body that doesn’t need to eat anything else.”

The man who wouldn’t bat an eye even if people died before him showed quite an anxious look in front of coffee.

Quilbion blew softly. So the coffee aroma would waft away.

Winte, whose nose twitched, looked at the shelf.

The coffee beans moved on their own and were ground in midair. The powder was sucked into cloth, soon transformed into black liquid, and moved into a cup.

Quilbion grinned and said,

“Looks tasteless just from looking at it.”

Winte didn’t even touch the coffee he’d made.

“Shall we talk?”

“Talk? About what?”

“About the sorcery I’ve collected. And about goblins. Furthermore, about the world.”

“Do I need to know?”

“It’ll help you get out of here. It’ll take time, but time is worthless to both you and me, so it doesn’t matter.”

“You should have said so from the start.”

He prepared coffee while smiling brightly.

Winte looked at empty space and small ice pieces formed. The ice cubes danced and entered the cup.

“Good.”

Winte was satisfied as he drank the coffee.

“Let’s talk while walking. There’s a friend sleeping on the rooftop.”

“As you wish.”

He came outside the dormitory holding his cup.

As he walked at a leisurely pace, Winte spoke.

“What should I tell you first?”

“Goblins, sorcery, the world and all that are good too, but…… first explain what you are, Winte. I’m really curious about that.”

“Something close to a god.”

“Not like that.”

Quilbion tapped Winte’s shoulder.

“Have you lived alone your whole life? Well, in that burrow you mentioned before? That can’t be it.”

“True enough.”

“If you’ve interacted with others, you’d have a name. At the very least, an occupation. Me, when I lived outside, I never once heard anything like ‘there’s a man close to a god!'”

“You wouldn’t have. You lot also called me these things. Dragon, the Sky’s Miracle.”

“……What?”

He stopped walking. Winte continued forward as if he had no intention of waiting.

Quilbion scratched his head, then started moving again.

“Dragon? That thing from books? The one that causes natural disasters and can even save people?”

“Life forms touched by the Designer’s breath cannot be reversed. I don’t have that authority. I can cause natural disasters if necessary though.”

“Even lies have limits……”

He trailed off and suddenly looked up at the sky.

The sun illuminating all directions.

“Ah. I guess it’s not a lie.”

“I have no need for lies. Lies are usually used to protect oneself from threats.”

“You have nothing to be threatened by, Winte?”

“Even if all this vanishes, I’ll remain for a little while. I’ll look into the emptiness where everything disappeared, soon get bored, and extinguish my own life though.”

Saying it so plainly made it scarier instead.

“Why can’t such an amazing person take me out? I could brew even tastier coffee outside.”

“Because this is a place of disorder. The Designer’s intentions aren’t reflected here. Born from an error…… yes, it’s a kind of bug.”

“Bug? Like an insect?”

“Something like that.”

What’s an insect?

Quilbion looked around. Though separated by the special wall called the sky-barrier, the ecosystem here was similar to the outside world.

“Trees are properly rooted, water flows well. It doesn’t seem disorderly.”

“The form is similar. But the things born within this place are clearly outside the Designer’s intentions—literally crystallizations of disorder. Even the Designer watching this must be flustered. Because there’s no way to fix it.”

Winte drank his coffee.

Quilbion flicked away an insect buzzing before his eyes and asked,

“You keep saying Designer, Designer…… what are they anyway?”

“A pure god. The starting point of everything. The one who created not just me, but all of this.”

“So the boss of gods?”

“Boss, huh.”

Winte smiled slightly.

“I suppose you could say that.”

“Is this Designer watching us?”

“Probably. While traveling around various dimensions observing, they’d have left certain singularities to Kartsi though.”

“What? Kartsi? What’s that now?”

“Something you don’t need to know. Though if you want to know, I could convey the essence.”

Quilbion shook his head frantically.

“Even if I’ve become numb to pain, I absolutely couldn’t endure the agony I experienced then. So shut your mouth. I won’t be curious.”

Every time the word ‘essence’ came from Winte’s mouth, it made him flinch.

He never wanted to experience again that overwhelming despair where everything vanished until he couldn’t even sense himself.

“Anyway.”

Quilbion looked up at the sky.

“Designer! If you’re watching, let me out! I’ve suffered like hell—you can at least do that much, right? You made me, didn’t you? Then you should take some responsibility!”

His booming voice shook the atmosphere.

He waited briefly.

“There’s no answer.”

“That being is just an observer now, not intervening.”

“Where’s there such an irresponsible god? You said this place is disorderly too. If there’s something wrong, the one who made it should think about fixing it.”

He grumbled as he poured coffee into his mouth.

“It’s entered a stage beyond intervention. That’s why that being is praying you lot will completely gain independence.”

“Gods pray too? To whom?”

“To you lot.”

“What?”

Winte stopped walking. It seemed he’d finished his coffee. The hand holding the cup tilted slightly.

Quilbion squeezed his eyes shut at the dizzying vertigo, then opened them. The scenery had changed.

It was in front of the dormitories.

“……Unbelievable.”

“Make it hot this time.”

Winte pointed at the shelf.

While carefully brewing coffee, he continued asking questions.

“So basically, there’s a problem even the great god can’t handle, right?”

“Simply put, yes.”

“Then what about us? Are we all dying?”

“Such a future can be seen too. Depending on what comes from the outside, we might vanish in an instant.”

“Outside? Where are you talking about?”

“I don’t know that either. The world began moving centered on you lot, so there are many things I don’t know now. Especially this place, the surface realm, really……”

Winte stared vacantly at the coffee cup.

When he tugged the cup slightly, the golden eyes moved along with it. It was fun, so he repeated it a few times.

“Do it once more and I’ll cut off your head and reattach it.”

“I’ll stop.”

He offered the coffee cup with a friendly smile.

“Knowing about the Designer and such probably won’t be very useful to me.”

“Not immediately, no.”

“Then let’s move on to goblins. I’m very curious about what happened to the nark I absorbed, why my body became like this.”

“Those are simple matters.”

“Really?”

This time they went up to the rooftop.

Having finished its nap, the hawk had vacated the spot.

“Nark is a power transmission medium born together with the residents of this place. It moves freely within the surface realm, but if you leave here, most of it will become unusable.”

“Really?”

He clenched his fist. Would this body that didn’t age or get hurt return to normal when it went to the outside world?

“Are you disappointed that your power will vanish when you leave?”

“It’s a bit disappointing since I suffered to obtain it, but if I can just get out, I’ll gladly give it up. What’s the point of living healthy alone in this remote place? I’d just go crazy again.”

“You’re already crazy. So you don’t need to worry about mental problems.”

“You sure have a pretty way with words.”

He moistened his mouth with coffee.

“Anyway, so? Why did my body become like this? Nark has been inside me for a long time. That’s why I could use sorcery. But back then my flesh was soft.”

Quilbion pointed at his skin that wouldn’t be cut even by a sharp mirror.

“You’ve said it many times. That you’re not human.”

“I did. How can I be human when my spine can snap but I can walk again after resting a few days?”

“Just as you said, you’ve become an entity somewhere between human and goblin.”

“I’m a goblin?”

“Yes.”

A goblin, huh.

He sniffled once and laughed.

“Then do I have to start eating people from now on?”

“If you want to.”

“No thanks. The thought alone is disgusting. And you said everything returns to normal when I escape from here anyway, right?”

“That’s what will happen. Probably.”

Probably? That was an extremely unsettling word.

“What kind of explanation is that?”

“I told you. I don’t know anything about this place either.”

“You’re really useless. You don’t know anything yet you just abandoned me in the middle of the forest?”

“I told you I picked one method among many. When the Human Tribe absorbs goblin nark, physical collapse occurs at a high probability, but I found that certain special individuals inherit traits like goblins.”

“Are you kidding me? So you experimented on me?”

“The more test subjects, the better.”

Winte drank his coffee with a serene expression.

“From where I’m looking, you’re the one who’s properly insane. If you were human, you wouldn’t do such a thing……”

“I’m not Human Tribe. If I had to classify it, I’m an individual far superior to you lot. And unique.”

“Because you’re so great, you don’t need to know the circumstances of those beneath you?”

Winte looked at Quilbion and grinned mischievously. It was a chilling smile.

“Let me show you briefly.”

“What?”

His eyes stung unbearably. He squeezed them shut and covered them with both hands.

“Did you gouge out my eyeballs?”

“No. I just touched them slightly. You need to understand what kind of world I see for our conversation to flow smoothly.”

As he listened to Winte’s words, he lifted his eyelids.

“……What is this. Ugh, disgusting.”

Countless insects were crawling across the ground.