64
It wasn’t a coincidence that the man, ‘Andrew’, appeared following the group. Even after barely escaping from Leriana and Casia, he couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling when he returned to his house.
Perhaps that’s why his eyes fell on the bookshelf that he usually only cleaned but never really looked at properly.
He discovered a book that unnaturally had no dust on it, and he read his father’s diary for the first time in a long while. Then he realized that the very last page had been torn out by someone.
There was a chance it had been torn from the beginning, but he kept thinking about those priests. He couldn’t sleep properly and paced by the window, and that’s when he saw four people running quickly.
Of course, even if he followed them, he couldn’t keep up with the speed of the four. Moreover, they seemed to notice someone following them midway and increased their pace, so when he came to his senses, there was no one left around him.
It was pure luck that Andrew managed to find this place. He had been wandering aimlessly around the area when he suddenly heard a small sound.
That led to this unexpected encounter.
“Why… why are you here?”
The old man sprawled on the ground in an unsightly manner was clearly his father. Much older and shabbier, but still him.
Seemingly not caring what expression the other was making, Bint jumped up and shouted,
“Andrew! We need to escape from here right now. Those guys are not in their right minds!”
“Is that important right now? Why did you suddenly disappear? Do you know how hard it’s been for me alone all this time…!”
“This is more important right now!”
Bint’s eyes were bloodshot as he yelled. The shabby-looking father and son raised their voices at each other. The four others had stepped back slightly, just watching it all unfold.
Bint grabbed Andrew’s hand. He pulled strongly as if telling him to run away immediately, but Andrew shook it off instinctively.
It was then that he felt the oddness of this space. His father’s seemingly deranged eyes, the faint screams of people buzzing in the distance – it all suddenly felt real. Shaking off the hand was a reflexive action.
Because he shook off the hand that had been pulling strongly, Andrew’s body staggered greatly. He tried to grab the desk beside him, but perhaps because too much force was applied to one side, the desk flipped over in an instant.
The flasks and various beakers containing unknown liquids that had been placed on top toppled over.
“Aaaargh…!!!”
Naturally, all of those spilled onto Andrew who had fallen. Just as he felt his body getting soaked, intense pain started rising from the parts wet with the liquid, making him writhe.
“What have you done?! The precious research material…!”
Bint tried to clean up belatedly, but of course, the spilled contents couldn’t be recovered. Suddenly, his face was slammed to the floor.
Rohan had moved in a flash, subduing him without any mercy in his hand movements. His eyes were cold as he looked down at the screaming man.
“This is… disgusting.”
Ugh, ugh. He seemed to be in agony, unable to breathe due to the severe pain and the pressure pushing him down. The man brutally subdued by Rohan made choked breathing sounds.
Irritation, anger, disgust. Family was a kind of sore spot for Rohan. The reason he moved so abruptly was likely because the two men were father and son.
Noticing the hint of emerging emotions, Arpel approached Rohan and slowly stroked the back of his head. His fingers gently caressed down to the nape of his neck. Only then did the sporadically bursting killing intent subside.
Naturally, the force in his fingertips lessened, and Bint, who had been struggling in agony unable to breathe, also relaxed his body. Nevertheless, he was too terrified to make even a proper breathing sound.
“It seems there was something related to spirits among the liquids.”
Casia examined the black, sticky liquid spattered here and there on the floor and the black spots starting to appear on Andrew’s body. Her expression had already been furrowed for a while.
Arpel wasn’t interested in the man writhing in pain. He just felt a slight emotion of ‘ah, he’s dying’.
Having been doused with not just a few drops but an entire bottle, it was clear he would die if more time passed.
“I’ll do it, that.”
“It’s better if we all purify together.”
“No, not purification.”
Arpel, who hadn’t been planning to step forward, spoke up solely because of Rohan. In Rohan’s gaze fixed on Andrew with tightly closed lips, there was a tiny hint of regret and sympathy. Only after realizing that Rohan wanted a smooth resolution to this situation did Arpel move.
Rohan was still a kind and gentle child. Full of affection, full of worry, truly good. After gently touching Rohan’s cheek, Arpel approached the writhing man. His hand touched the skin where black spots had appeared.
“Arpel!”
Rohan was startled by the unhesitating contact. He even abandoned the man he was subduing and rushed to grab Arpel’s wrist, but all the residual spirit power in Andrew’s body had already been sucked into Arpel long ago.
“What did you just do?!”
“…Huh?”
The reason Arpel took direct action was because Rohan wanted it. But now the very person he did it for was openly getting angry. Faced with eyes fiercely swirling with anxiety and anger, all Arpel could do was blink blankly.
“Because I can absorb it…”
“Do you know what could have happened if you did that! If you got hurt or something went wrong…!”
Andrew, who had escaped the pain and was now sprawled out breathing heavily, had long since left Rohan’s mind. The eyes facing Arpel were flashing brightly even in a place where light barely entered.
What was evident in those eyes was clear fear. Feeling the passionate emotions flowing in directly, Arpel momentarily became at a loss for an answer.
Somehow, his arms that were grabbed ached. It was a very strange sensation, but Rohan’s face that looked like he might cry at any moment was more important, so Arpel deliberately ignored it.
“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”
The voice offering the apology was sorrowful. It was rare for Arpel to speak with his eyes slightly lowered, so Rohan, who had been unable to fully suppress his boiling anger and was even panting, was finally able to calm down belatedly.
“…Do it for my sake too. Please.”
He had known for a while that Arpel didn’t care much about his own well-being. That’s why Rohan put himself forward. For Arpel to put on the brakes even once before acting, for Rohan’s existence to be that brake.
Even the slow gesture of leaning his head seemed precarious. Hugging the close body tightly, Arpel endured the feeling that seemed to be rising stuffily. Taking slow, deep breaths, he put strength into the arms embracing Rohan.
After a long while, Rohan separated from Arpel. What he showed again was his usual gentle smile, but his hand tightly gripping Arpel’s, to the point where veins were popping out, clearly showed that he was still anxious.
“Is it all over?”
Leriana, who approached belatedly, had a quite bewildered face. Naturally, Rohan, who wasn’t the type to care about her, nonchalantly nodded.
“We sent Andrew back.”
“I see.”
“He seemed unable to believe what his father had done… but in the end, he accepted it all. He said he no longer has a father now.”
In the end, abandoned even by his family.
Leriana cast her gaze towards Bint, who was sprawled on the floor with a half-dazed expression. Although he was restrained by Casia, he seemed to lack both the strength to move on his own and the mental capacity to do so.
The man who was the only survivor from the laboratory and would become a witness for interrogation was consumed by the shadow Rohan had summoned. In the darkness that felt like an eternity, devoid of any sensation, he would writhe for a very long time.
As they headed deeper inside, the first thing they saw was a row of numerous iron bars on one side. Along with the thick scent of blood, the faint sounds of crying and screaming became a little clearer. Even a strange grating sound followed.
“……”
The identity of the strange noise was soon revealed. The ‘somethings’ trapped inside the iron bars were scratching at the walls.
Leriana, who had been staring blankly at it, finally covered her mouth. She belatedly realized that what she thought was ‘something’ was none other than people.
The skin had melted, making it impossible to discern facial features. Whether the bones had melted or if it was just flesh clumped together, the stumpy hands were so swollen that fingers couldn’t be distinguished, and they kept scratching at the hard wall surface with them.
Despite being soaked in blood, as if unable to feel pain, they were making hissing sounds through the one strange hole left in what used to be their face. She thought those sounds eerily resembled screams.
“This is…”
The next cell, and the one after that, were the same. There were even some that looked like a single lump with their form completely distorted, to the extent that the one they saw first could be said to look somewhat similar to a person in comparison.
Casia let out a small sigh. Her face, with one hand on her head, had long since turned pale.
Looking at these ‘once-people’ in their horrific state, Leriana suddenly spoke up.
