Chapter 24
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Beast Handler (4)
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When you wake from sleep, the dream covering your eyes tears apart along the boundary with reality, shredding like wisps of cloud.
Sometimes, reluctant to leave the dream behind, you reach out to grasp its tattered wings, only for the empty afterimage to scatter like cotton candy, crumbling away.
But nightmares linger in the memory with unnatural persistence. No matter how you try to shake them off or erase them, they dig in like corns beneath your eyelids, grating against your eyeballs.
To escape, no matter how painful, you must squeeze out the pus and let it flow away with your tears.
In that sense, I was lucky. I didn't need to shed tears to tear away the nightmare that once haunted me. If anything, it almost made me want to laugh.
"Eup! Euuup! Euuuup!"
The nightmare thrashed, letting out strangled screams. It must hurt. After rummaging through one person's mind for years, it was finally being expelled. In that way, Nadia was my nightmare, my illusion, my parasite.
Thinking of her that way clarified the order of operations. To remove a parasite, you start by severing its legs. I tossed the ear in my hand to the floor and grabbed her other arm. Then, I methodically tore away the fingers clinging like hooks.
"Heuup! Heuuup!"
Blood and thick remnants of life oozed out with each finger ripped free. Worried she might pass out from this alone, I poured potion over it. If a nail inside occasionally popped out and embedded itself, all the better. I had no intent to inflict pain for its own sake, but I didn't wish for painless disassembly either.
"Ugru... Ugruk...!"
Suddenly, she let out a grotesque moan. When I released her hand, clear tooth marks remained on my palm. With the hand over her mouth freed, Nadia groaned in agony while making one last desperate struggle.
"Save me! Please, Luca! I don't want to die... I don't want to die! I'll get rid of the child. Please... so... please spare me! I... I'll tear it out myself. That'll do it, right? No need to dirty your hands. So please, Luca...!"
I pinned the arm where her fingers had been severed under my knee, then pried open her jaw. On second thought, all vermin bite. So the muzzle had to come off first.
This time, I reached for her teeth. Facing the twenty-eight white, sturdy bricks, I oddly felt like a mason. The bad news was these bricks to demolish were needlessly tough; the good news, there were plenty of them. The longer the labor dragged on, the more the current act felt like mere work rather than murder. I repeated that to myself as I set to the task.
"Aaaahhh! Aaak! Graaak... Aaaahhh!"
Once I yanked out the pesky tongue that kept getting in the way, she could no longer speak. Even if left intact, she wouldn't have said anything meaningful. Blood pooled in her throat, and I indifferently poured potion over it. Two shades of red liquid mingled, then bubbled and subsided. Only then could I proceed.
Luca.
Suddenly, her voice calling my name echoed in my mind, then scattered like dust. One. Two. Three. With each tooth pulled, memories of her were stripped away one by one, emptying my head.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. I counted habitually, finding peace of mind. Memories I loathed faded that much, leaving only pure rage and thirst for vengeance toward her. If someone tried the same on me, I'd advise this: To kill a parasite, first excise your emotions. The first place to wield the blade is inside your own head.
"Aa... Aaa..."
She could no longer even groan properly, staring at me with eyes mixed with terror. The reason I'd left her eyes till last was so she could witness every moment with her own two eyes. Confirming she was watching, I moved my hand downward.
"Aaa... Aaaaa..."
I hadn't even touched her yet. Nadia's eyes welled up, primal fear leaking out. At this point, pain was no longer the concern. The terror of watching her own death unfold completely would drive her mad. Fearing she might close her eyes, I tore off even her eyelids.
Then, savoring the taste of fear spilling with her tears, I ripped open her belly with my hand.
"Aa... Aaaaaahhh!!!"
A scream that might be her last vibrated from her gut, filling the banquet hall. Glancing aside, even Rick, who had been groaning in pain, had squeezed his eyes shut, trembling all over.
While rummaging through her innards by hand, I deliberately avoided looking inside. Having practiced countless times in my mind and for real, I could do it with eyes closed.
Instead, I watched Nadia's face. Unable to express her pain vocally anymore, I had to read her expressions.
When my hand first burrowed inside, she gritted her teeth. Up to then, physical agony likely outweighed the mental. But as I extracted what I'd planned to take from Rick instead and held it before her eyes, she shed tears. As if begging not to die, or at least not like this, she shook her head, drooling saliva and blood.
With each shake of her head, I pulled out another organ, slashing through bone and flesh, scattering them roughly. For the first time, blood surged through my body, heat rising to my head. I even felt like I could converse with her now. Just peering into her dimming eyes and the fear creeping in let me read her mind.
"Ha... Haehwo... Haehwuh... Haeh... Aaaahk!"
Nadia chanted incomprehensible words. But the meaning was clear. Save me. Save me. Save me. No more dragging out cheap memories or unheard tales to persuade. She merely repeated an impossible wish. Just once. Please, just this once, spare me.
One by one, two, three—each organ ripped out, each strip of flesh torn, made the wish more desperate, deeper. Save me. Save me. Save me. Please. Just once, spare me. Even her lips formed the plea as the corpse begged. No need for forgiveness. Just spare my life.
The hot blood soaking my body grew cold, and emptiness gripped my hand inside her. I realized Nadia's death was near. I withdrew my hand and lifted my head to meet her eyes. She barely raised her mangled, fingerless hand, extending her final wish.
Please, Luca. Save me.
I gazed down coldly at the faintly raised wish. Without hesitation, I murmured one word.
"No."
Splat.
Nadia's arm, spent of strength, flopped onto the blood-soaked floor. I watched, then slowly stood.
"..."
My hand pressing the floor was drenched in blood, nearly causing me to slip. Trying to wipe it on my clothes, I found not a spot untainted by red, and let out a hollow sigh.
"Haa..."
Suddenly, I missed her terribly. I yearned for her face, always smiling at me—even a portrait would do. With no other way, I pulled a finger from my pocket. Then, delicately removed the ring fitted on it.
Clack!
Roll, roll, roll...
But the finger, exhausted from long labor, couldn't grip the ring properly and dropped it to the floor. Leaving red trails, it rolled far before hitting the door and stopping. I fixed my gaze on that golden gleam and approached slowly. Toward the sole memento Eli had left me, though sullied by blood.
"...Haa."
Then, with someone's sigh, a pristine white handkerchief covered the ring. I halted unwittingly, staring blankly at the spotless cloth and the hand holding it.
The owner carefully lifted the ring and meticulously wiped away the blood. As it regained its color, she offered it to me.
"Sorry. I guessed it was precious, but I couldn't bear seeing it so soiled."
At the low, resolute voice, I frowned and met her eyes. A red-haired girl in a deep-brimmed hat gazed at me with a grave, humorless expression.
"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Luca. My deepest condolences for whoever you lost to those people. I'm Rachel Moonlight. I came to see the baron and his wife on personal business."
I stared at her face for a long while before slowly taking the ring. Then, I uttered barely a word.
"Rachel was your real name, then. How did you know mine?"
"Your name echoed so loudly outside, even to here. Don't misunderstand—I wasn't eavesdropping. I was waiting for my own errand."
She grimaced mockingly at her own name, then clasped her hands politely.
"That said... are you done with your business? I have things to check and tell you."
"Say what you want to me first."
"Right. It's minor, really, but... there are people outside now. Quite a few. Ah! Don't worry—they're not here to bother you. Just... folks with grudges against the baron."
"Those rebels, I suppose. The professor called them?"
"Well... even without that, it'd be hard not to notice. With bodies strewn so spectacularly. And you were inside longer than expected."
"Longer...?"
"You didn't know?"
I hadn't. To me, it felt like a mere instant. Only then did I realize how absorbed I'd been in tearing their flesh. Vengeance was more addictive and enjoyable than I'd thought.
"Anyway, I explained things well. So they're waiting outside now. The baron has some suffering ahead. Seemed like at least a hundred, brimming with rage like you."
"Probably."
I nodded indifferently. She shrugged and posed the next question.
"Next is something I want to ask the baron..."
"About that, I have a question first."
"What?"
I stepped closer to her puzzled expression and asked clearly.
"Why are you looking for the black-haired girl who smells of peppermint flowers?"
"Ah, that."
Hearing the question, the leisure on Rachel's face vanished. Rubbing her fatigued eyes, she replied.
"Where to even start explaining this."
"Obviously, from the beginning. Everything."
"Well, to cut to the chase..."
She looked up at my chin and said.
"She was looking for you, Luca. That black-haired girl loved you with all her heart."
"She... was looking for me?"
"Yes."
Rachel leaned against the door, hand in pocket. For some reason, a vague sense she'd seemed familiar crept up.
"Who the hell are you?"
"That's what you're most curious about, right?"
A smile returned to her lips. After a brief hesitation, she nodded toward Rick's sprawled corpse.
"I'd love to answer, but you have work to finish. Tell you after. I'll wait outside."
"No need."
My gaze shifted slowly downward. The floor still held heaps of unbroken potions, sloshing red liquid with nails. Staring at it, I spoke.
"They say joy doubles when shared."
Then, turning to Rick, I added.
"I hope vengeance does too."