The Price of Light

What was insufficient?

His breath wouldn't come. The air itself in this place was thick and stale — like wearing a paper bag over his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head and trying to breathe through a single pinprick of a hole.

Hugging his torn waist, shredded by glass shards, Lian looked up at the Back Window. The shattered pane was stained crimson with blood, and the blade seated in the upper frame creaked with an ominous menace, as if mocking him for being hurled out into the darkness.

『…….』

And there, near the window, a woman in a dark crimson dress stood quietly looking down at him where he lay sprawled on the ground.

"Haah... who are you?"

No answer came. He sucked in air through the suffocating pressure in his chest.

That thing clung to the wall like a lizard, its elongated limbs wrapping around the window frame — as if a new frame had sprouted around the old one.

That's not a dungeon monster... I don't think.

There was so much he wanted to ask. What it was. Whether it knew the Beggar Woman. But the crescent-moon curve of its smile sealed his mouth shut.

(『Insufficient Value.』)

(『Collection Time.』)

He turned those words over and over in his mind, drawing in a slow, careful breath as he surveyed the space he'd been thrown into.

An Oubliette — or as most people called it, a dungeon. On the surface, an ordinary underground cavern. The wide, dome-shaped chamber opened into three separate passages leading off in different directions, giving it the feel of a colossal anthill. There was no source of light anywhere. Only the glow spilling in from the shop through the Back Window let him make out his immediate surroundings.

Here and there across the floor, an unknown black powder had piled up in soft, snow-like drifts. From the ceiling and walls, pallid white spiderwebs hung in great nets, waiting for prey.

So that customer survived just fine in a place like this... Glad I sold her the Luminous Lamp, Lian thought, gnawing at the corner of his lip out of habit.

"Khh... what's your name?"

『…….』

"I'll just call you the Tall Woman, then."

He forced himself to work out the situation. So... the jewel necklace the customer had handed over was worth less than what he'd sold her, and that was why he'd been dragged out through the window — to go fetch something of equal value himself. He wouldn't be going back to the shop until this transaction turned a profit.

CRASH!

He collapsed forward, mid-effort to raise himself up. Every time he put weight into his legs, a searing pain jabbed up his spine.

"Nngh... wh-what's the standard? How much do I need to bring back?"

『…….』

"One necklace wasn't enough?"

『Insufficient Value.』

"Great. We can talk. I'd say we're going to get along just fine."

It wasn't a proper answer, but he could always find out for himself. Thinking positive, Lian put on his Commercial Smile.

Sploosh...

His entrails spilled out through his severed waist. A sickening sensation spread as his body grew cold. Every blink made his legs feel heavier. The blood vessels drained of blood had hardened stiff. The sense of his own body dulling moment by moment was more unpleasant than he'd imagined — and terrifying.

It's fine. I'm going to survive and go back. Just like that customer did.

What rose in his memory was the customer's smile as she stroked her sister's longsword. True, unlike her, he had nothing precious and no one waiting for him — but this worthless life belonged to the Beggar Woman now. He didn't even have the right to die carelessly. So crawl back he would, alive, however ugly the process.

Let's go.

He pressed a trembling hand to the ground and pushed his torso up off his broken waist. The viscous pain knotted into a hard weight in one corner of his heart, and slowly, the bleeding across his whole body began to stop.

Vmmm—.

And then, from his wounds, Dark Grey Particles resembling filthy runoff trickled out. Mana — that was what it was called. The particles that flowed free pooled like rainwater over his torn skin. Then, with the sound of broken bones slotting back into place, the wounds across his body slowly began to close.

That jewel necklace... it looked so expensive. When I get back, I'm definitely going to try it on.

A petty little regret. Before long, every inch of torn skin had sealed itself, and Lian staggered to his feet.

Why his wounds healed, Lian didn't know. It was simply an ability that had appeared out of nowhere on the day, long ago, when a certain child lost everything. He'd come to think of this power as the price of selling himself to the Beggar Woman — like a deal with a devil out of an old story, one where even dying was impossible without his owner's permission. Something like that.

"Honestly, this works out fine."

He massaged his stiff back, then brushed down his wrecked clothes and looked up at the Tall Woman — the blood-soaked monster crouched beside the Back Window. The shop's light passed through the bloodstained glass and stretched long across the floor.

"……."

The path of light, as if drawn in blood, reached the tips of his own feet. The window that had shredded him was also his only way out. How considerate.

"Wait here a moment. I'll be right back with some expensive treasures."

No idea how. But try first, think later. Having boldly declared this to the Tall Woman, Lian turned around — to the pitch-black dome and the three passages leading away into the dark.

"...Hm."

He studied the darkness with narrowed eyes. He'd been staring at passages he couldn't see one hand-span into for a while now when — with an awkward laugh — he turned back to the Tall Woman.

"Time out."

『…….』

"Can I go grab a Luminous Lamp from the shop?"

It was too dark. He asked whether it would be all right to duck inside for a moment — and the creature regarded him with an odd expression before reaching one long arm through the window into the shop.

Pat. Pat.

The sound of it fumbling around the shop's ceiling. Then its elongated fingers plucked down a single Luminous Lamp and held it out to him.

Oh — it's giving me this. Surprisingly nice.

"Oh, thank you so mu—"

『Left arm.』

Joy, as ever, was short-lived. The Tall Woman called out the lamp's price in a voice as cold as ice. The cost of a tool to light the darkness: his left arm.

Without the Luminous Lamp, he would die. Without his left arm, he was in serious trouble too. He couldn't fight to begin with — he'd have to keep dodging monsters the whole way — could he even move properly missing an arm? But with the lamp...

But...

...No, wait. With the lamp, his odds of survival were higher. Weren't they?

『…….』

The Tall Woman slowly began to withdraw the outstretched lamp — ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as if to say, choose faster.

Wow. Good business.

He understood, just a little. The more desperate the buyer, the higher the price of a thing climbed. He'd have to start calling that monster senior colleague from now on.

Thuuunk.

His deliberation didn't take long. He would buy.

"Deal!"

Resolved, Lian stretched both arms out in front of him. The Tall Woman gave a quiet nod, and set the gleaming Luminous Lamp in his right hand.

KRRUNCH!

The next instant, its hand clamped down hard on his collarbone and left arm—

CRREEEAK—!!

—and tore his perfectly healthy left arm clean off.

"————!!"

Flesh ripped. Like a rubber band stretched past its limit, muscle tore away in ragged strips. The arm wrenched free with a sickening twist. Blood sprayed, and the world went white.

Lian pitched forward and curled into himself like a shrimp.

"Haah...! Haah...! Haah...!"

I'm dying. I'm actually dying.

The 'death' he'd only ever watched through the window had come right up to his face. The clinging darkness clogged his nose and mouth. His breath wouldn't come.

(Little child. I want to buy you.)

But he couldn't. He was not allowed to die. Because he was worthless.

"Haah...! Haah...!"

A pool of blood spread beneath him. A red puddle — and it dredged up a painful memory.

(Live as though you are dead.)

The memory of losing everything. Dark and cold as the night sky.

Vmmm—.

As he turned the past over in his mind, a heavy weight ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠settled onto Lian's heart. Dark Grey Particles flowed from the stump of his left arm, pooling over the wound like a puddle of rainwater, and the bleeding began to stop.

Crunch. Crunch.

A strange sound came from above his head. Lian lifted his face. The Tall Woman was eating his left arm.

Crunch...

The sound of bone being ground between teeth. Of tendons snapping. It was weeping as it ate the 'meat.' Had it been hungry? In that case, this 'left arm' must have been worth quite a lot to the creature.

"Hurk—!"

He retched. The sight of a piece of his own body being devoured by a monster hit harder than he'd imagined. Having emptied his stomach, Lian pushed himself upright with his one remaining arm.

"I'm... fine...!"

He forced a positive word out of his mouth. He felt like he might just live.

Vmmm—.

The pain was still there, but the bleeding had stopped. The cuts from the glass shards had already sealed over, but the torn-away left arm did not grow back right away. Perhaps his regeneration had limits. It didn't matter.

(See you later, Merchant!)

The customer's words pushed him forward. That woman, chattering away so brightly despite having come back from the brink of death. Lian, backing away from the Tall Woman, stopped dead.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Fear crept into his eyes as he looked up at the creature. His fingertips shook as if in spasm, and every instinct was screaming at him to run — and yet, for some reason, his feet had stopped.

(Next time, I'll come and see you!)

Krrk...

Why had his feet stopped? He couldn't say. But Lian wrapped his trembling right hand — tightly — around the round Luminous Lamp. The moment he carved his Commercial Smile onto his face, the trembling began, little by little, to fade.

"No refunds!"

Then, with a forced wave at the Tall Woman — see, all cheerful here — he stumbled away from the threads of light spilling through the Back Window, lurching on unsteady legs into the cold darkness.

Three passages, connected to the chamber that held the window. His only support: the Luminous Lamp clutched in his hand.

Between the smell of blood and the light, there was no telling when a monster might come — he needed to move fast. Wincing at the throbbing ache in his left arm, Lian stopped in front of the passages and held the lamp out ahead of him, examining each dark tunnel in turn.

"Hm?... Something's written here."

And when he shone the lamp down the right-hand passage, the first thing that caught his eye was neither the sagging cobwebs nor the crusted bloodstains, but a single message — gouged into the wall as if carved out by fingernails.

Writing soaked in frustration. Someone — a scavenger who'd passed through here before him? From the look of it, the right-hand passage had traps.

Lian silently offered his thanks to whoever had left the warning behind.

This time he found two messages by the left-hand passage — warnings of some kind, each written in a different hand. Whoever had scrawled them had been in a hurry; broken fingernails and bloodstains were visible around the gouged letters.

A monster nest must be close on this side... I can hear footsteps, too. Let's take another way.

Getting his hands on something valuable would mean taking risks, but he had no courage to spare for a face-to-face with monsters. Shaking his head, Lian shone the lamp down the central passage — the direction the customer had gone.

Blood had seeped into the nail-marks, staining the letters red. He'd now checked every passage. Roughly speaking, he knew which way to go.

Step, step...

Lian eased himself, little by little, into the central passage. Careful not to brush against the webs on the walls and ceiling, ignoring the throbbing ache in his left shoulder with every step, he swept the lamp around him as he went — on the chance that underground monsters were weak to light.

The central passage... if he was lucky, might he run into that customer again? He didn't dare hope for actual help. Even just learning how to deal with monsters... no — even just knowing he wasn't alone would be a help in itself. Amid the pain and the fear, he laid out his petty little wishlist.

"Haah..."

The passage stretched on and on. He studied the web-draped walls closely. They were covered in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠countless nail-marks — as if a single person had spent a very long time digging out this tunnel with nothing but bare hands.

Like the Tall Woman before it, this 'dungeon' was full of strange things. He'd thought it was just a place where you fought monsters. Would he really be able to find something valuable in a place like this? If it came to it, he'd gather up spiderwebs and call it a day. Lian forcibly shook off the pessimism.

"...Light."

And just around the time he was starting to grow numb to the pain in his left arm — he spotted it. A faint glow, far off, at a bend in the passage ahead. The light of a Luminous Lamp. The exact same light even now glinting from his own right hand.

The customer from before.

She hadn't gone far. One more corner, and they'd meet. Lian's pace quickened.

Tap-tap!

He ran without even checking his surroundings. Had he been this desperate? He realized it himself, then — he'd been pretending to be fine all along.

Tap-tap! Tap-tap!

The first human traces he'd managed to find. Tap-tap! The deeper he pushed toward the light, the thicker the spiderwebs around him seemed to grow — but somehow, he wedged his body through between them.

"Haah...! Haah...!"

The light drew closer. Just a little more.

Thud.

He'd made it to the very mouth of the bend where the light spilled out — and there Lian froze, just for an instant, at a message someone had left long ago, now shrouded under a blanket of webs:

Then he forced his head back around and hurried his steps. Had the light of hope blinded him? Or did he have a trauma about being alone?

Lian passed by the message someone had left behind — and rounded the corner of the passage.

...

...Plip.

Plip...

The clear sound of water droplets falling, one by one. Lian stopped walking and lifted his head.

"……."

Beyond the corner he'd run so hard to reach—

Scrapeee—.

A Luminous Lamp rolling across the floor. Potion bottles shattered to pieces all around it.

"...Uh."

And then—

above his head—

hanging upside down in the webs—

a woman.

Plip... plip...

A sharp spider's leg had skewered her through the chest, and the blood would not stop flowing down. Plip. Plip. The woman's corpse, long gone cold—

—was still clutching her sister's longsword, precious and tight, to her breast.

The one thing she couldn't bring herself to throw away, even at the very end.

(See you later, Merchant!)

"...Why?"

Their eyes met. Her dilated violet eyes, gone glassy and dark, had never managed to close.

(Next time, I'll come and see you!)

"Why?"

He heard a voice that wasn't there.

(『Insufficient Value.』)

"What... what was insufficient?"

Scrapeee—.

The enormous spider clinging to the ceiling looked down quietly at the 'prey' the light had lured to it.