Chapter 36: Return(3)
Chapter 36: Return(3)
Nassen and Furuku were being held in a giant, boiling pot. It was a horrific torture, their lower bodies being boiled alive.
“Aaargh! S-save me! We did everything you told us to do!”
“Buhiik! I hate hot water! I don’t wanna be a boiled pig!”
The one torturing Nassen and Furuku was Barikmeteo, a monstrous man with the head of a lion and wings.
Barikmeteo had saved Nassen, but it was by no means for Nassen's sake.
“You did as you were told? Then where is the White Witch?”
“Th-that… we really don’t know! The orb vanished without a trace!”
Nassen suspected Lina’s group had the White Witch’s seal, but if he admitted that now, he’d be devoured on the spot.
“Then you deserve to die.”
Barikmeteo stoked the flames beneath the boiling cauldron, and the water began to bubble furiously.
“Aaargh! J-just spare our lives, and we’ll find the White Witch’s seal, no matter what! We’re the only ones who can find it now.”
Nassen shouted through clenched teeth. Barikmeteo picked his ear with a finger, not even pretending to listen.
“The only reason you were accepted into the Organization was because of that seal. Without it, you are useless.”
“S-so we’re saying we’ll get it back! You need it, don’t you?”
“And the sacrifice?”
“…”
“You lost the sacrifice, too. Tsk. You really are useless fools. You’d be better off as my snack.”
“Buhiik! Th-the sacrifice! I know where she is! I received a thought from the ghoul that was last chasing them.”
“Where is the sacrifice now?”
“The cliffs of the Noid Forest… Buhiik! She fell from there with that annoying man! Buhiik! It’s too hot! Put out the fire!”
“An annoying man?”
Nassen instantly knew who Furuku was talking about. The man who always ruined their plans at the most crucial moments.
It was Kerry.
Of course, Nassen and Furuku didn’t know his name was Kerry.
“Th-that bastard is the problem!”
“That bastard?”
“The man who fell with the sacrifice! He’s the one who’s always interfering with our work! If it weren’t for him, everything would have gone according to plan!”
“Is this man stronger than the blonde woman?”
“N-no, but… he’s always the one who ruins things at the most important moments.”
“Hmm. I think I know the type. Men like that are certainly more annoying than ones who are merely strong.”
“Buhiik! Nassen is telling the truth! That man is annoying!”
Barikmeteo let out a low growl and stroked his chin.
“I’ve decided. I will capture the sacrifice and that man myself. I cannot allow someone who interferes with the Organization’s work to live.”
Nassen was delighted. He was in this mess because that man had interfered. No matter how clever that man was, he would be no match for Barikmeteo.
“Give us one more chance!”
“What to do. Ending up in my stomach now would be better for you than making me angry later.”
“I can’t die like this, I’m too furious! Do you have any idea what kind of hell I went through to get the White Witch’s seal?!”
“Hahaha. Fine. It’s not like you can run away, anyway. I’ll give you one more chance. Find the White Witch’s seal.”
Barikmeteo released Nassen and Furuku. Then he soared into the sky. Watching him go, Nassen smiled grimly.
It was the end for that annoying man who always foiled their plans. And with him gone, it would be much easier to retrieve the White Witch’s seal from those women.
Nassen’s boiled-red legs throbbed with pain, but inside, he felt a sense of triumphant relief.
*
Meanwhile, Kerry was carefully making his way down to the first floor of the treehouse.
How was I supposed to sleep feeling so uneasy? The sound of scratching from the wall during dinner was still bothering me.
Just then, I sensed a presence behind me. Kerry spoke in a low voice.
“Victoria. I told you to wait. Why did you come out?”
“On second thought, I am the stronger one… so shouldn’t I be the one to protect you?”
She had a point, but Kerry could handle an old man like that on his own. His stats were pathetic, after all.
But seeing Victoria follow him with a worried expression was kind of cute, so Kerry decided to let her be. Besides, it didn’t seem like she’d go back even if I told her to.
Kerry and Victoria carefully descended to the first floor.
The old man was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he had a separate bedroom. The unlit first floor felt strangely eerie.
Kerry cautiously moved forward, scanning his surroundings. He passed the kitchen and carefully peeked his head around the corner, toward the hallway where the sound had come from.
Just then, something touched me from behind. Startled, I spun around to see Victoria looking sheepish.
“S-sorry. Such a tempting ass was right in front of me… I couldn’t help myself…”
Victoria had touched my ass. This woman has no sense of time or place. I’ll let it slide since she’s cute.
Then, I heard a chilling laugh. This is fucking creepy.
“Kikikik… Just… just a little… a little longer…”
It was the voice of the old man who had served us dinner. But unlike before, his voice was now chilling.
“Who is he talking to?”
“I don’t know. There’s no one else here but us, is there?”
A door at the end of the hall was slightly ajar. The voice was coming from there. Something was in that room.
Kerry and Victoria met each other’s eyes and nodded. They had to check it out.
They walked cautiously on the balls of their feet like cats. As they moved down the hall, the old man’s creepy voice grew clearer. This is straight out of a horror movie.
If this weren’t the only place to stay, I would have bolted out of here in a heartbeat.
Kerry reached the slightly open door. He peered through the crack.
Inside, a rather shocking scene was unfolding.
The old man was stroking an old ghoul.
“It’s okay… it’s okay… everything will be alright… Kikik. If I offer ones so young and pretty as a sacrifice, He will surely calm His anger… He will turn you back into a human… Kikikik…”
The ghoul was tied up, its mouth gagged to keep it from making noise.
Looking closely, the ghoul appeared to be a very old woman. Seeing the way the old man was stroking her, she must have been his wife when she was alive.
“It was wrong to spy on their hideout. No matter how curious I was about eternal life, I shouldn’t have looked… I’m sorry… my dear… but just wait a little longer… I’ll turn you back into a human soon… Kikik. To think such young ones would find their way here on their own…”
A hideout?
The old man was no different from a madman. No one else would caress a ghoul with such a loving touch.
There’s no way to turn someone who’s become a full ghoul back.
Ghouls were moving corpses. There was no way for the dead to return.
“But… what have you been looking at, my dear? Don’t I look tasty to you anymore?”
Just then, the old man, who had been staring intently into the ghoul-wife’s eyes, snapped his head back.
The mad old man’s eyes met Kerry’s.
“Ah! Fuck! You scared me!”
Kerry immediately rushed forward and kicked the old man, then pointed a wooden spear at him.
The ghoul-wife next to him began to convulse, trying to lunge at Kerry.
She wasn’t trying to save the old man. She was simply reacting to the fresh meat she hadn’t seen in a long time.
“Wh-what! You wretches… How did you get in here?”
“You should have locked your door, old man.”
Victoria also surveyed the room, her expression darkening. It was an understandable reaction.
“We heard everything, old man. Who are you planning to sacrifice?”
“…You heard everything?”
This old man was definitely insane. Even with a wooden spear pressed to his throat, he showed no fear.
“You don’t even seem to be thinking of making excuses.”
“And would you believe me if I did?”
“Absolutely not.”
“I thought so.”
Just then, the old man’s eyes turned blood-red, and his body began to transform grotesquely.
[Status – Cursed]
This must be some form of it. The old man’s completely transformed appearance was no longer human.
Red eyes, black skin, sharp fangs. Whatever he was, he was no different from a monster.
“You would have been better off dying peacefully in your sleep. Kikikik!”
The transformed old man was confident. After all, any normal person would scream and run at such a sight.
But Kerry was different. He was an adventurer who had seen ghouls several times and fought against giant beasts.
Besides, when I checked his stats with the Goddess’s Eye, he wasn’t even that strong.
“Fuck! Who are you trying to act tough for?!”
Kerry kicked the monster. It tumbled noisily across the small room.
“What… you crazy bastard! Are you not afraid! Look at me!”
“So what, you weakling? At best, you’re only a little stronger than a goblin.”
That was the truth. Despite his demonic appearance, his stats were pathetic.
“Do not look down on me!”
“Kerry. Leave this to me.”
Victoria stepped in front of Kerry. Then she drove her fist into the charging monster’s abdomen.
I could see her fist sink deep into the monster’s stomach. That’s gotta hurt.
The monster clutched its stomach and dropped to its knees.
“K-huuurk…”
“Do you understand the situation now, old man? I have a few questions. May I ask?”
“Kill me… Kihihik…”
The old man truly seemed to have no attachment to life. Had he lived long enough? No. It seemed more like living itself was just that hard for him.
Threatening him with the wooden spear was useless. Then, I happened to see the ghoul-wife, still tied up and drooling.
Ah, this feels a bit scummy. But I have no choice.
Kerry walked over to the ghoul-wife. The reaction was immediate.
“Kiheek! You bastard! Stay away from my wife!”
“Weren’t you just telling me to kill you?”
As Kerry prodded the ghoul-wife with the wooden spear, the old man-monster started to freak out. Victoria pinned him down with her foot.
“Treasure! I have treasure hidden away. I’ll give you everything, just please don’t touch my wife.”
Treasure? I was going to ask about something else, but this was good information.
“We’ll talk about the treasure later. That’s not what I’m curious about right now. You mentioned a hideout earlier… what did you mean by that?”
The word ‘hideout’ kept nagging at Kerry.
There couldn’t be that many people around who turned others into ghouls. It might be the hideout of the skeleton and the pig.
Regressor Lina probably knew about the hideout, but it wouldn’t hurt to find out just in case.
“If… if I tell you… they’ll kill us.”
“If you don’t, you’ll just die right now.”
“…If I tell you just that, you won’t touch my wife?”
“I promise.”
“I don’t know what the inside of the hideout looks like. But… I saw them going into an abandoned mine in the Magic City. The hideout is hidden there. That’s really all I saw. I thought I’d find the elixir of eternal life there… but that wasn’t it… sob. They said I was insolent… and turned me into this… My wife became a ghoul because of me, too… sob sob… This isn’t what I wanted…”
“Thanks for the information, old man. Now, shall we hear about that treasure you have?”
*
Morning came. Kerry gathered firewood and started a fire. Atop the tall pyre lay the bodies of the old man and woman.
“Kerry, do not be so sad.”
I’m not sad at all.
It couldn’t be helped. They had already become monsters that craved human flesh; there was no way I could have let them live.
If I had spared them, they would have continued to prey on people. I’d already seen the human bones discarded behind the old tree.
Cremating them was my way of thanking them for the treasure.
“Victoria. Shall we go check out that treasure?”
“Hmm? Yes. Let’s.”
They retrieved a box from the room the old man had mentioned. It was an old, shabby box, but inside were things that looked quite valuable. Earrings, necklaces, rings, and the like.
“It seems these were likely taken from others he killed.”
“We could get a pretty penny for this stuff.”
Kerry picked up the old box.
“After we sell this, I’ll split half with you, Victoria.”
“…I have no need for it.”
For some reason, Victoria looked a little down. Was it because we killed the old man she had thought well of? I did warn her not to get attached from the start.
“It is not that. I just… feel pity for those two, who had to live on as monsters.”
“…”
It seemed Victoria felt both anger and compassion for their fate. She’s surprisingly kind.
“Let us depart. We can no longer get directions from him… but we did hear which way to go to get out of the forest.”
“Right.”
Kerry and Victoria walked through the forest. Victoria seemed lost in thought, and the mood wasn’t very bright.
“Are you worried again? That the people at the castle might have turned into monsters like them?”
“…”
“Have faith. Lina and Natasha will have handled it.”
“I hope so, but…”
They continued walking through the forest. Then, they finally saw the edge of the woods. Home at last!
“Look over there, Victoria. The forest is ending. We can go back now.”
“But… I see something strange as well. What is that? A lion… no, a person?”
At the edge of the forest, a monstrous man with the head of a lion was approaching.
“So it’s you. The sacrifice and the annoying man.”
The lion-headed man muttered as he drew closer.