Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Raw Night (2)
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The dawn was frozen in time.
The blizzard that had raged all night had finally stopped.
The prisoners awoke inside their hastily built igloos.
"C-C-Cold……."
"I don't even feel alive."
"Did I sleep for like a minute? This is driving me insane……"
Their bodies, frozen stiff from the night's cold, wouldn't loosen up properly.
If they hadn't made a fire, they all would have frozen to death.
There had been voices saying to conserve the expensive firewood they'd bought…… but in the end, they even scraped up and burned the sawdust scraps.
"Hey, wake up."
"Leave him. The ones stuck to the walls are all goners."
"Hmph, looks like this child sex offender froze to death last night too. No wonder, being a penniless bum who couldn't even afford a coat."
Some wouldn't wake even when shaken.
These were the ones infamous for heinous pleasure crimes like child molestation or serial killings.
They were also the ones pushed to the back of the igloos because they couldn't afford firewood or cold-weather gear due to having no money.
Had they at least bought weapons, it might have been different, but without even enough for a small dagger, they'd been forced to the rear—and freezing was inevitable.
Among the prisoners, a hierarchy had already formed based on "how many corruption cases they'd confessed to."
Soon, the prisoners emerged onto the snowy plain.
There stood a boy stripped to the waist.
His delicate, beautiful features could almost make one mistake him for a girl.
His hair, whiter than the snowfield, was soaked in crimson blood.
No nickname could fit better than Blood Lily.
Federback.
He had spent the night butchering the corpse of Yate, which he'd used as a sleeping bag.
Squish—slice—squish—
He tilted the knife to separate flesh from bone.
He removed the entrails separately and squeezed out every last bit of filth from inside.
Not a scrap of meat clung to the fully skinned hide.
"Urk—"
"Ugh!"
"I-I'm gonna puke."
The prisoners retched at the foul stench of blood and guts.
Even hardened criminals who'd seen it all on their way here found the smell unbearable.
But Federback calmly scraped out Yate's insides without a care.
Then he extracted and lifted a heart as big as his own head.
Steam rose from the still-hot organ, pulsing as if it might beat again any moment.
Crunch—
Federback bit into the heart without hesitation.
Chew—chew—chew—chew—
He tore into it like a starving beast.
"……."
"……."
"……."
The prisoners stood dumbfounded, forgetting the cold.
Watching a beautiful boy devour a monster's heart like an animal—it was impossible to tell if this was reality or a dream.
One thing was clear: never get on that thing's bad side.
At that moment, Federback opened his blood-smeared mouth.
"Don't just stand there like idiots. Build a fire pit."
"P-Pardon?"
"I'm turning Yate's flesh into jerky. It'll need to be smoked in intense heat, so dig out a spot for the pit."
"Ah, yes. Understood. But how about the fire……."
"I'll handle that. Just get the pit ready."
Federback continued while chewing Yate's heart.
"I'll share jerky with those who help."
"!"
Those magic words spurred the prisoners into action.
* * *
Soon, the prisoners gathered Yate's chunks of flesh in one place.
They laid them on a grill made by crisscrossing bones.
The prisoners placed the jerky materials over the fire pit and waited for Federback.
"I-It’s all ready, Young Master."
Federback nodded at the prisoners' words.
Flutter—
He sucked up all of Yate's blood, then draped the hide over his body.
The prisoners gulped dryly at the sight.
Federback, mouth and body smeared with blood, wrapped in white fur.
He looked just like the legendary Snowy Mountains demon, the Wendigo, descended to earth.
‘The Wendigo appears during blizzards, they say.’
‘No matter how many people it eats, it’s never full.’
‘Even if the Demon King revives, it wouldn’t be this savage.’
So the prisoners thought.
Meanwhile.
‘…….’
Federback recalled the previous night's ordeal in the extreme cold.
Inside the hot, sticky gut of Yate, he had achieved a breakthrough in his realm.
3rd Circle.
Federback had finally broken through the 2nd Circle wall into the 3rd.
It felt like all the blood in his body had drained out and been replaced with fresh blood.
At the same time came a ravenous hunger.
Even devouring Yate's entire heart hadn't been enough.
Chew—chew—chew—chew—
Liver, tongue, gallbladder, eyeballs, brain, genitals, tripe, large intestines, small intestines…….
Federback swallowed everything from the hot, soft innards to the tough, chewy bits.
Only after the high-calorie organs filled his stomach did the hunger subside a little.
Tsss……
The negative-dimensional mana accumulated in Yate's body spread throughout Federback's.
The newly filled blood in his veins held no impurities.
Thus, the negative-dimensional mana flowed straight to Federback's heart without loss or delay.
His heart, pulsing like a furnace, devoured all the incoming yin energy and converted it to yang.
Fwoosh!
White cold qi erupted wildly from Federback's body, soon turning into scorching heat.
…Roar!
Impurities, parasites, and vermin boiled away in the bubbling blood.
Drip drip drip—
The surrounding snow melted completely.
Meanwhile.
Sizzle sizzle sizzle…….
Yate's flesh cooked in the intense heat radiating from Federback's body.
The chunks on the fire pit had become fully dehydrated jerky.
Only then did Federback stop emitting heat.
"Pack the jerky in leather pouches. Anyone who steals some, I'll rip out their tongue and make it into jerky."
"Eek!"
The prisoners who'd been eyeing a few pieces flinched.
Federback continued in his usual impassive tone.
"We're resuming the expedition now. Move out."
* * *
Several hours later.
Federback and the prisoners arrived at a cave midway up the mountain.
A sign stood there reading as follows.
<Beauvoir Mine>
But an X in red dye slashed across the sign.
Meaning: abandoned.
"……."
Federback swept his hand across the ground.
Despite no maintenance, there was no snow or ice here.
The sand in his hand was gritty with iron and faintly warm.
"Geothermal heat flowing in the heart of the Snowy Mountains. Good find."
Federback nodded.
The prisoners behind him murmured softly among themselves.
"Beauvoir Mine? Where's that? Never heard of it."
"Everything around is eternal snow, but it's warm here. This ain't normal ground."
"I've heard of it. My grandfather's generation said it was a bustling mine back then."
"Me too. Top mineral producer in Meursault territory, right? Closed down 'cause monsters kept showing up."
Just as the prisoners said.
This mine was rich in iron and all sorts of minerals.
But dangerous monsters infested it so much that human entry was now forbidden.
Step—step—step—step—step—
Federback and the prisoners passed the sign and delved deep into the cave.
Roar—sizzle sizzle…….
Sancho in the lead illuminated the surroundings with a torch made by skewering Yate's ribs on a wooden stick.
Soon, the abandoned mine's interior came into full view.
Coal and iron ore exposed on the walls, collapsed rotted supports, discarded mining tools everywhere.
And piles of dust-covered trash: old rice bowls, blankets, books, shoes, clothes.
"Eek! Wh-What's with the skeleton over there!?"
Sancho freaked out at a skeletonized corpse slumped in one tunnel.
Overall, it looked like a mine abandoned long ago.
‘……Just as I remember.’
Federback gazed around nostalgically at the place left untouched for decades.
Before his regression, he'd stumbled upon it by chance while resting after a grueling mission on the way back.
‘And nearly died facing an even greater danger there.’
Ending his brief reminiscence, Federback ordered the prisoners.
"Set up camp here."
The prisoners' faces visibly brightened at his words.
Sancho threw his arms up and shouted.
"Yaaay! Hooray! Does this mean our grueling journey's finally over!?"
Tears of gratitude welled in the prisoners' eyes.
But.
Federback shattered their expectations to pieces.
"What are you talking about?"
His words followed into the prisoners' stunned ears.
"We've only just arrived at the destination. Your real mission hasn't even started."
* * *
The cave's interior structure was unique.
Federback strode unhesitatingly through the twisting ant-tunnel shafts.
The prisoners following soon halted before an astonishing sight.
Bubble bubble bubble……
Deep underground, brilliant light and intense heat boiled.
Crimson lava flowed through massive cracks in the surface.
Dazzling heat haze shimmered, blinding the eyes, while acrid smoke rose like clouds and got sucked into ceiling holes.
…Plop!
Liquid from a stalactite dripped into the lava, rippling it.
Not mere dew or groundwater—the stalactite itself was melting and dripping down.
"My god……"
Who could have guessed such a colossal hidden wonder lay buried beneath the frigid tundra?
"This is where geothermal heat trapped under the strata rises. It melts even rock."
The prisoners, overwhelmed by the spectacle, stood speechless.
Finally, Federback revealed the true purpose of dragging them here.
"From now on, mine and smelt the iron ore here. I need something made."
He picked up a stick and drew something on the wall.
A long rod pointed at one end, blunt at the other.
At a glance, it looked like an ordinary nail or stake.
"Make stakes like this."
Explanations of their tasks followed.
"Mine the iron ore. Melt it in the lava flames. Pour the molten iron into molds and harden it with Snowy Mountains snow."
The prisoners were dumbfounded by Federback's orders.
Sancho timidly raised his hand with a question.
"Um…… Young Master. If I may ask…… We're not technicians, so we don't know much about smelting iron or such…… If we make stakes from crappy unrefined pig iron, they'll be so crude you won't be able to use them. They'll break easy, rust fast, and good luck driving them in properly……."
"Mine roughly, melt roughly, harden roughly. The stakes' quality doesn't need to be good."
He wasn't asking for durable, long-lasting stakes.
Even amateur shoddy work was fine.
Federback issued the command.
"I'm dividing you into five teams from now. Team 1 mines iron ore. Team 2 feeds ore into the furnace and melts it. Team 3 works the bellows to raise the fire's heat. Team 4 pours molten iron into molds. Team 5 buries the stakes in snow to cool. Begin."
"W-Wait! One more question!"
Sancho asked fidgeting anxiously.
"How many of those stakes do you plan to make?"
"About a thousand."
A thousand iron stakes.
A quantity that silenced them.
But the prisoners didn't despair completely.
Since quality didn't matter, they could slap them together crudely.
Sure, they'd rust and crumble in under a few years once driven somewhere, but that wasn't their problem.
‘Yeah. So what if one puny stake takes a thousand years? Ten thousand? If we pull a few all-nighters, a thousand's nothing. Better than climbing this godforsaken Snowy Mountains…….’
Sancho let out a small sigh.
"Ah, understood. My late father ran a smithy, actually. I picked up the basics peeking over his shoulder, so I can fake it."
The other prisoners' faces brightened at that.
Having someone who knew even roughly made the work much easier.
Federback nodded.
"Then you oversee as chief foreman."
"Huh? M-Me? Yes, sir! Thank you for trusting me!"
Sancho's face lit up.
The dream he'd harbored when the journey began.
Becoming Federback's trusted aide to lighten the labor had come true.
But.
"A thousand stakes in one week. Fail to finish on time, and your head comes off first."
"……."
To Federback, "trusted aide" meant something else.
No rights or rewards—just duties and responsibilities.
In the end, Sancho nodded with a half-resigned look.
"Got it. A thousand stakes…… One week might just work if we push. Oh, what size should the stakes be? We need to make molds first."
"No need for them to be that big."
"Right. Still, give us a rough estimate……."
Federback nodded at Sancho's words.
And.
Step—step—step—
He walked a few paces to the side and stood at one wall's end.
"?"
Sancho and the prisoners looked puzzled.
Soon, Federback at the wall's end spoke.
"From here."
At the same time, Federback began walking.
Step—step—step—
He kept going. All the way to the opposite wall. On and on.
Step step step step step step step step step step step step step step step step……
Before all the prisoners' eyes, Federback advanced about twenty paces and stopped.
"To here."
Before the stunned prisoners, Federback continued calmly.
"That's the length of one stake."
A staggering length nearing fifteen meters.
No, better call it an iron pillar.
A thousand of those.
"……."
"……."
"……."
Sancho's face drained of color.
The prisoners in the abandoned mine fell utterly silent, as if nothing living existed.
In that silence, only Federback's voice echoed.
"Time starts now. Begin."