Chapter 14
“Excuse me. Dr. Esha, are you here?”
There was no response.
“Hello, I’m Alice Boucher, the doctor who arrived in the village yesterday. I came to introduce myself!”
Damn it, if there’s no answer this time, I’ll have to knock on the door of the hut behind the detention center.
…No.
‘Should I just go check it out now?’
The “doctor’s” house that residents must pass through before going outside and the suspicious hut behind it felt like a central piece of a mystery puzzle.
Removing her hand from the detention center door, Alice cautiously shifted her steps toward the hut.
‘It looks even worse up close.’
The wood that made up the walls was in such poor condition that it could hardly be called “timber.”
Branches were everywhere. Had someone who had never held a saw in their life done the trimming? The cut surfaces were…
‘…Is this really cut with a saw?’
The white grain seemed as if…
‘It looks like they just broke off fresh wood.’
Almost every piece of wood was oddly bent, making it impossible to believe they had used naturally fallen trees from the forest to build a hut. Gathering enough bent wood to construct even one hut would be impossible even with daily typhoons.
Alice took another step forward, feeling tense, and pressed her face against the slightly twisted gap in the wall before suddenly covering her nose and mouth as a wave of stench hit her.
‘Ugh…’
The overpowering stench jolted her brain instantly, slowly creeping out from inside her nostrils and making it impossible to escape the smell.
‘Formalin?’
That uncommon scent dragged forth memories of the anatomy classroom at Canery Medical School, buried deep in her mind.
Memories of cadavers lying on marble slabs, a conjoined twin specimen donated by a hospital, and pig organs displayed for anatomical comparison all flashed before her eyes.
Formalin was a bookmark for foulness, masking one stench with another.
It had no place in a tranquil rural village like this.
‘What on earth is going on inside there…?’
In any case, her course of action was clear now. Her heart raced.
Alice circled around, searching for the hut’s entrance. However, much like the state of its building materials, the structure of the hut was free-spirited, and after circling it twice, she realized it wasn’t even a cuboid shape.
From above, it might look like a distorted pentagon. Surely, if it had been built as a structure, it must have an entrance somewhere…
Before she could find an entrance by feeling along the walls, a voice came from behind her.
“Are you trying to leave the village?”
Alice pressed her shoulders against the wall in surprise and turned around as casually as she could manage. A resident she hadn’t been introduced to looked down at her.
“Dr…. Esha?”
“That’s what everyone calls me.”
The response came smoothly. The voice was beautiful, and unlike other residents dressed in basic clothing, this person wore an elegant dress that seemed fit for attending some gala event. Their round, fair face likely didn’t need any makeup at all. However, all those experiences with countless men hinted that this person’s body was closer to that of a male.
Swallowing her surprise, Alice asked again, “Hello, I’m Alice Boucher, an assistant here to help Professor Nathan.”
“I think I’ve heard rumors about you. What brings you here?”
“I came to introduce myself and also to apologize for causing trouble in the village last night.”
“What happened last night? Oh, but you don’t need to explain; I’m not that curious. I’m sure it’s another story about someone breaking the rules.”
“…You’re exactly right.”
This resident had an outfit and mannerisms that didn’t seem to match their words at all. Yet that indifferent attitude oddly put Alice at ease. She took a step closer and offered her hand for a handshake.
If this was the person every resident sought out before leaving, they were undoubtedly an important figure. It wouldn’t hurt to get on their good side.
“First, I look forward to working with you. I’ll have a lot of questions for you over the coming days…”
But Dr. Esha took a step back and said, “Ah, I’m in a rather lonely phase right now. If you’re not here for that, please don’t get too close.”
“…What?”
The thought of them being someone who “puts others at ease” shattered instantly. Memories of unpleasant jokes told by a few of her medical school classmates resurfaced in Alice’s mind.
Alice stiffened her expression.
“If I understand correctly, that’s quite an awkward joke, Doctor.”
“It’s not a joke.”
Esha shook his head slightly, his light brown hair with a reddish tint swaying chaotically.
“Of course, I do have an ideal partner in mind… but life gets to a point where you think, ‘Does it really matter who it is if we grow fond of each other?’”
“…”
“I know it’s rude in many ways. Yes. But I want to maintain a certain level of rudeness myself. I don’t want to waste time unnecessarily.”
It seemed he had already crossed several lines. The nonsense from her classmates was easy to understand in comparison.
However, turning around and leaving was difficult because the formalin smell wafting from the hut held her back. And—though it might be a bit self-justifying—it was better for the first impression of a potentially dangerous person to be bad rather than good. She wouldn’t be easily deceived.
Dr. Esha scratched his head and asked, “I can’t invite you into my home for that reason. Do you have many questions?”
“Oh, not too many.”
In truth, she had quite a few. She would need to narrow them down now.
“I read the rules given by Madam Adelaide, and it mentioned that residents must receive treatment from Dr. Esha before leaving the village.”
“That’s right. It’s necessary.”
“I wanted to know what kind of treatment that is.”
“What kind? That’s quite a vague question.”
Perhaps she had been too ambiguous in her inquiry. Alice thought of an example to clarify.
“There are various preparations for traveling, right? For instance, taking medication beforehand to avoid local diseases or taping up your legs for a comfortable journey…”
“I understand now. You’re asking what it’s for and how it’s done.”
“Exactly!”
Her momentary delight at effective communication was short-lived as Esha continued to respond with an expression devoid of playfulness.
“To prepare for Reki’s curse.”
“…”
Her suspicions were confirmed once again.
Her expectations of Dr. Esha had shrunk from being a knowledgeable figure in the village to something akin to a village shaman. Still, Alice made an effort to appear interested, trying to find modern clues within his mystical explanation.
“You mean the curse that rots the intestines, right?”
“I see you’ve heard it from Professor Nathan. That’s correct. You know this village used to be a detention center, right? It wasn’t just called that; it was a place where prisoners were left to die of illness. Hundreds of prisoners starved to death on this land—it would be stranger if the place weren’t spiritually tainted.”
Biologically speaking, it likely wasn’t clean either.
Once the hosts disappeared, did the dormant plague emerge? While Alice pondered this possibility, Esha continued speaking.
“Perhaps due to their resentment, at some point, sinners visiting Reki began to be cursed. While staying in the village, they are fine, but once they try to leave, their stomachs rot and decay.”
“Sinners…”
Naturally, questions arose in her mind.
“By ‘sinners’, who exactly do you mean? Only criminals? Is it in a religious sense? Or does it no longer apply that way now…?”
Alice realized she might have asked too many questions too quickly as she looked at Esha’s tightly closed lips now forming a straight line. It would be ridiculous to pull out pancakes now as an attempt at appeasement.
“Dr. Esha…? About what you said…”
“Sinners,” Esha smiled as he replied.
“We determine who that is.”
“…What?”
“It’s always been like that. Heresy is decided by priests. Criminals by judges. And here, the ‘sinners’ are decided by the ones who rule this place.”
A smile layered over Esha’s smile grew wider; his lips curled upward more and more until they formed an arch that slowly opened into a gaping shape facing downward.
“The sinners will slowly perish within the detention center. If they dare to leave, they’ll die quickly instead. Such a simple curse to understand, isn’t it? Of course, if they seek aid from the villagers, we won’t necessarily refuse to help.”
“…”
“However, we cannot lift the curse… so what we can do is one thing: make you like us.”
“‘Like us’…?”
“Cleansing sin has always been the same, hasn’t it?Clean yourself up a bit, empty out the dirty parts, and fill in what’s lacking.”
The voice flowing from his oddly gaping mouth felt more like laughter than words; it sounded almost like noise itself—a strange crackling sound mixed in with his speech.
“Was that answer sufficient?”
She wanted to cover her ears and escape immediately. However, ironically enough, the formalin smell wafting from the hut and the memories intertwined with it helped Alice regain her composure.
Having thought she had experienced all kinds of horrors in life, why should she be afraid now? The pain from that time was definitely not an exaggeration!
“Dr. Esha! I still have more questions!”
With that sharp sound echoing through the air, Esha’s mouth snapped shut as he tilted his head slightly.
“Hmm?”
“I asked about the treatment residents receive, but you only mentioned what applies to outsiders. Of course, I was curious about that too… but is the treatment for outsiders different from that for residents?”
“Hmm…”
Dr. Esha’s round eyes rolled around as he seemed to ponder for a moment.
Was he trying to lie?
No.
“Do you really need to know?”
He didn’t even attempt to lie.
“You can’t become a resident.”
“Dr. Esha…”
“You wouldn’t want to anyway. You think this village is filthy and miserable, don’t you? You didn’t even want to set foot here!”
Esha dramatically spun around, the long frills of his dress slapping against Alice’s foot.
It felt like a slap to the face. Damn it, that kind of admonishment should be directed at Nathan!
“I never thought that! We just want to help you with our abilities!”
“…”
“And surely you don’t brand every visitor get marked as sinners. What kind of treatment do non-criminal guests receive—”
“You’re a doctor, right?”
Esha interrupted her sharply.
His next words fell like the blade of an executioner.
“Then you’re 100% a criminal.”
“What?”
“If you ever ask to observe the treatment process, be prepared for me to take out your intestines and decorate them with that tacky dress frill.”
As if he had run out of things to say, Esha abruptly turned and opened the detention center door.
Just before the door closed, Alice wedged her foot into the gap.
