Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Retribution (4)
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Signs of humanity began to emerge from the monsters.
It was a monster with an unusually small frame.
Though too twisted to truly call it human, it was about the size of a child if it had been one.
Once again, a human recognized traces of humanity in that monster.
But it wasn't certain.
>
They shoved aside their doubts and hesitation, killing the monster first.
But their hesitation deepened with each passing day.
It was because monsters that retained some semblance of human form—not perfect monsters—were increasingly appearing.
Of course, if that had been all, they wouldn't have hesitated.
The trouble began with one particular monster.
It crawled into the cavern like any other monster and tried to kill them.
And then it spoke.
"He-re... is..."
>
That was the moment their doubts became reality.
"Honey! Honey!! Ev-everyone, stop! That's my wife! My wife! Don't kill her!!"
One minister charged toward the monster.
"Are you mad?! That's not your wife! Your wife isn't some monster like that!"
The minister who had rushed forward was grabbed by the scruff of his neck and sent tumbling backward.
They slew the monster in place of the wailing man.
After the monster died, the minister wailed for a long while.
Clutching the dead monster's corpse, he screamed at the others.
"Why! Why! Why did you do it! That was my wife! My wife...!! Kughhh..."
"You're utterly insane. Snap out of it, you fool! Your reaction is exactly what that bastard who trapped us in this hell wanted!"
Monsters continued to pour in after that.
At first, it was just one human they recognized, but gradually they came to realize the true nature of every monster they killed.
They were humans.
Moreover, humans who had once been their friends... or family.
The instant they realized it, their injury rate—which had been steadily dropping—surged dramatically.
The moment they grasped that these were their kin, their hands froze up.
And yet, they somehow held on.
Because the one who had imprisoned them there wanted them alive.
"...These monsters are starting to look more and more human."
"Kugh... My daughter... My son..."
"Why did you do it...... Why...!"
They lived on, dying slowly.
As their bodies and minds withered away, one man came up with an idea.
"From the looks of things, every monster sent here is family or a friend. So why not just stop killing them?"
"If we don't kill them, we die...?"
"No. Every now and then, one of the monsters snaps out of it."
So they spared one monster that regained its senses.
"Wh-where... is this...?"
"Uh...! Do you remember who you are?"
"Remember? My memory...? Y-yes. I was captured by the barbarians—"
The monster clamped a hand over its mouth and retched.
Then it recoiled in horror at the sight of its own hands, only to jolt again upon seeing its reflection in a sword.
"Wh-what happened to me?!"
"D-don't panic. You are..."
"A monster."
>
The monster struggled but ultimately accepted its identity.
At first, it conversed normally, its sanity restored.
The monster knew nothing about where they were, either.
A day passed since they spared it.
No new monsters appeared, but food and water didn't come either.
By the second day, one man who couldn't hold out any longer spoke up.
"That monster! We won't get food unless we kill the monster, right?!"
>
Calls to kill the monster rose up.
The monster resisted, as did some of the ministers.
By the third day, the calls to kill it had grown overwhelming.
So they decided to do it.
"D-don't do this...! Is this something humans should do?!"
"You're not human. You monster!" "I... I'm human... a monster—" That was the moment. The monster—which had been lucid until seconds ago—suddenly lunged and tore into one minister's throat. Its reason vanished in a puff of smoke, replaced by the monster's primal instincts.
> The surviving humans killed the monster. After that, no one suggested sparing them anymore. They killed and were killed by monsters who had once been their family and friends. One by one, humans emerged too crippled to fight any longer. The next day, that minister vanished somewhere. They disappeared one after another until, in the end, the cavern stood empty. A short while later, a new high-paying job listing appeared in Delgaria. 📋 Job Recruitment 📋 Position: Biological Maintenance Manager
> • Work Location: Near the capital of the Delgaria Kingdom (exact location notified to selected applicants only) • Pay: Base daily wage of 10 gold (negotiable increase after interview) • Schedule: Shift work (5 days/week, 12-hour shifts) / Dormitory provided • Main Duties: Assist in managing prisoners and maintaining their lives. • Nutrient Supply: Administer specified insects and water to prisoners at designated times. Force-feeding required if they resist.
• Life Monitoring: Continuously check prisoners' physical condition and ensure vital signs do not cease.
• Suicide Prevention: Detect and block voluntary attempts to end life. Use physical restraint and immediate corrective measures (induce unconsciousness) as needed to preserve life.
• Basic Environment: No need for immediate hygiene. Maintain room temperature and humidity.
• Qualifications: • Possess robust physical strength and exceptional mental fortitude.
• Able to perform duties without ethical qualms or unnecessary sympathy.
• Maintain cool judgment unaffected by excessive fear or disgust.
• Prepared to maintain absolute silence on job content and experiences.
• Warnings: • Keep the prisoners alive no matter what. If a prisoner dies, you must compensate 10 times all wages received thus far.
• Do not listen to what prisoners say. It's all nonsense. If you hear anything, forget it immediately.
• For suicide attempts, strangle until unconscious. All actions permitted except killing.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Irena found Ian.
He was perched on the edge of the bed.
"Feeling a bit calmer now?"
"...Yes."
Irena sat right beside him, gazing at the floor he was staring down at.
Bugs were crawling across the floor.
Irena hesitated.
What should she say from here?
She couldn't easily read Ian's emotions right now, either.
"What do you plan to do from now on?"
Ian's goal had been to uncover and dismantle the source supplying corpses to the South.
And that goal had been achieved.
The culprit colluding with the Red Star to supply those corpses was the Delgaria Kingdom.
Delgaria had conducted experiments to resurrect a god using the supplied corpses.
In the process, it received various supports from other kingdoms in exchange for being at the center of those experiments.
Irena wanted to ask.
Did Ian want to smash the remaining kingdoms too?
Or even now, did he still want to destroy Delgaria?
If that's what he wanted, she would gladly do it.
She just didn't know how much longer the process would drag on.
>
"..."
Ian fell silent for a moment.
"Now... I just want to drop everything and quit."
He lifted his head, his face expressionless.
But in stark contrast, his hands trembled uncontrollably.
What comes after intense rage?
What had followed Ian's rage?
"I didn't ask for much. At first, I just wanted to survive. Then, to live a little longer. Eventually, I wanted them to be happy."
Who were the "they" Ian spoke of?
"I moved solely on the thought that the world they protected should remain at peace until the end. After all the death and sacrifice... I couldn't bear to see it all rendered meaningless."
There lay the reason he had kept pressing forward even after every frontline fell.
So what had been the trigger that made him certain and spurred him into action?
>
She had no power to read others' thoughts.
Thus, she could say nothing.
The idea that one could understand and comfort another's emotions struck her as a blatant lie.
How could someone who had never felt such emotions claim to empathize?
Is the grief of losing parents equal to that of losing a pet?
Without any shared emotional experience, telling someone mourning that you "understand their sorrow"—was that truly sincere?
It was Irena's firm belief.
Only those who had endured the exact same pain could truly empathize.
"Tell me. What they fought to protect—was it the world? Or was it the Empire?"
Ian stared at her in disbelief.
"If it was the Empire, I feel like I could smash it all without a second thought. I want to... But what if it wasn't? What if what they protected went beyond the Empire—what if it was this world itself?"
Ian's face remained utterly blank as he spoke.
Not a flicker of emotion showed.
Only the trembling of his body betrayed him, impossible to suppress.
Irena realized he was crumbling, bit by bit.
That the iron mask had slowly rotted beneath, and now the limit had finally arrived.
"I don't... I don't want to keep living anymore. I want to throw it all away."
>
To him, life was hell.
Painful enough to live that he now wished only to die.
That realization hurt Irena's heart.