Chapter 30
Her arms felt heavy.
Alice thought that if a fairy appeared and offered to grant a wish, she would say, “Let me sleep for eight hours straight,” as she cleaned the floor of the shelter.
Arno used a shovel thrown by Adelaide to fill in the holes outside the storage room. “Damn, if only I had this shovel earlier, things wouldn’t have turned out like this.”
After the place was somewhat tidied up,
Adelaide smiled.
“You both look exhausted. I’d like to let you rest, but… we need to clarify some ‘sensible’ things first.”
She handed glasses of water to the two slumped figures before continuing.
“Even though I’ve let you use it, the shelter is technically a public facility. Please keep it clean to avoid upsetting other residents. Honestly, I’m disappointed I even have to say this.”
“…”.
“That’s all.”
“Wait!”
“Yes, Arno?”
Adelaide awkwardly smiled—a perfectly natural expression for someone trying to be friendly to an unwelcome person.
“I think I’ve covered all the important points. What’s the issue?”
“What the hell is this place?!”
“It’s the village of Reki, as you know.”
Arno’s words were cut off. Instead of shouting further, he swallowed hard and composed himself.
“We… did that to someone, and you knew about it but left us alone?”
“Excuse me, how old are you?”
“What?”
“You look middle-aged. If you expected someone to correct your behavior at that age, you should rethink that expectation.”
“You’re the one who sets the rules for this village! Doesn’t it matter that killing someone isn’t against the rules?”
“Oh, it seems like we’re not communicating.”
Adelaide looked at Alice with a scowl and asked,
“Are you always like this? Cause a problem and then demand attention by asking, ‘Why didn’t anyone stop me?’”
Alice almost chuckled at that, but Arno’s outburst prevented it.
The rebellion was short-lived.
“Aaah!”
Adelaide swiftly twisted Arno’s arm, his face reddening like a tomato about to burst.
If Alice hadn’t intervened, his shoulder might have been dislocated.
“Adelaide! Stop! I’ll speak for Arno.”
“Hmm, okay.”
“Is there a way for us to leave here safely?”
Alice asked the most important question without hesitation.
Adelaide replied with a hint of boredom.
“You’ve forgotten the rules already. The best course is to receive treatment from Doctor Esha.”
“What kind of treatment is that? No one explains it properly, and Doctor Esha’s hut smells like a hospital morgue.”
“…Alice, we didn’t invite you here. Why do you speak like we owe you something?”
“You’re the ones who decide who’s a sinner, aren’t you?”
Though it can’t be explained scientifically, if this is indeed a ‘curse,’ she had no choice but to ask them.
“I heard from Doctor Esha that anyone who comes to this land is cursed, and when they leave, their intestines rot. The villagers here decide what constitutes ‘sins.'”
“…”.
“How can we be free from this curse? How can you lift the curse from us?”
“You’ve misunderstood. The explanation wasn’t wrong, but your interpretation was.”
“What do you mean?”
“When we settled in Reki, the land sensed our pain and set the standard for ‘sin.’ Just as someone who cries by the river can’t get their tears back from the river or the clouds, we can’t change the fate of this land.”
“So, you’re saying we can’t lift the curse?”
“It’s not a curse; that’s just how the world works.”
Adelaide gestured elegantly towards the door.
“There are places where it snows all year round. Some places are underwater. Humans might call such lands ‘cursed,’ but to someone else, they’re beautiful worlds.”
“…”.
“For those living underwater, hearing sounds and smelling through water is natural. In lands that exist only in summer, branches and green leaves serve as the ground for villagers.”
Adelaide’s eyes moistened as if recalling something. She soon returned to reality and smiled kindly at Alice.
“The rules of sin belong to us. But the judgment is this land’s. The moment an uninvited guest steps into our village, everything is already decided.”
“T-then… if we leave…”
“We don’t know if you’ll die or not. But humans usually have a high chance of dying.”
Adelaide’s voice was endlessly kind, like a teacher teaching a child how to walk.
Alice cried out desperately.
All she needed was one clear answer.
“What is the standard for sin?”
Adelaide’s smile widened.
“I don’t want to say.”
Her gentle voice suddenly changed, becoming as mischievous as a child running away with a teacher’s baton.
“I’m not telling you! If you figure out the ‘rules of sin,’ you’ll just leave the village, right? Letting obvious sinners stay and forcing the innocent to leave? Why would we deal with that kind of nonsense?”
“Adelaide!”
“Now, take all the time you need to think about whether you’re a sinner or not. You’ve got plenty of time!”
Adelaide’s eyes sparkled. She extended her hands and firmly grasped Alice’s and Arno’s hands.
“Thinking means you’re alive, right? Yes, before you die, make our village happy. The outside world will surely kill you!”
“Let go!”
Alice struggled in Adelaide’s grasp. The hands that had once felt so reassuring and warm when bringing water and food now felt like heavy shackles filled with blood and flesh.
Arno also struggled. He tried to twist Adelaide’s fingers, but he couldn’t even bend one joint.
It was an unbelievable strength.
As Arno scratched Adelaide’s hand, he shouted in desperation,
“You don’t care if people die? Then what happens if I kill you all?!”
This was clearly a slip of the tongue. Alice flinched as if splashed with cold water. However, Adelaide didn’t lose her smile.
“You can’t kill us.”
She applied more pressure. A ominous sound echoed from Arno’s knuckles—crack, crack…
“It’s not just about strength. You won’t ever, ever be able to kill us.”
“Kkkk, ahk! Let go! Let go of me!”
Adelaide immediately released her grip. Arno fell backward.
“Ugh!”
“You’re already putting on such a fun show! I almost want to roll you around again… No, no, no.”
She shook her head, her slightly sagging cheeks wobbling.
“I think I’ve explained everything. Since we’ve cleaned up, would you like to come to the management office for some tea?”
“…”.
“Honestly, I’d love to serve you a meal, but my cooking skills have such a bad reputation that it might feel like a punishment. Oh, right! Arno, I heard you’re a good cook. Could you teach me sometime?”
It was a gentle offer of reconciliation.
However, neither Alice nor Arno responded.
Looking at their pale, tingling hands, they could only ponder the death sentence delivered by the kind leader.
Adelaide patiently waited for a while before slowly withdrawing her hands.
“You’ve taken a path many have walked. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want you to become arrogant, but you two are quite well-behaved.”
“…”.
“Nothing changes. You are our guests, and whether you stay or leave is your choice… ‘logically.'”
“Logically…”
“I’ll head back to the management office. Feel free to come for tea anytime!”
Her light footsteps faded into the distance.
Alice slowly turned to look at Arno, specifically at his fingers where the ominous sound had come from earlier.
“Arno, show me your hand.”
“Hah, hah, hah…”
“Arno, snap out of it!”
“…”.
Arno held up his trembling hand. His ear, slightly smeared with blood, suggested he’d hit it when he fell.
“If anything hurts, tell me immediately. Head injuries can be dangerous.”
“Hah… You’re really rational, miss. I just want to smash everything and sleep somewhere.”
No, Alice also wished for something similar. She wanted to be in a large bag, loaded onto a train cargo car, where no one knew her and she knew no one.
But she was trying to hold herself together by acting as a doctor.
“We should disinfect this wound. Want to go to the clinic now?”
“No.”
Arno stood up. His sturdy body, which had once seemed like a small bear, now looked fragile and unstable.
“I’m going to sleep. Just for now… I just want to sleep.”
“…”.
“Being an adult… I’ll do that later… Please.”
“…Okay.”
Alice didn’t wait for a response and left the shelter. Her footsteps slowed after a few steps. She wanted to sit down and sleep right there. How wonderful it would be if she woke up to see the ceiling of her crumbling apartment.
However, the sea breeze, which carried a hint of salt unlike the city, kept her sane. She recalled the words that had accumulated in her mind so they wouldn’t sink into the depths of her memory.
Fiore had mentioned ‘hunt without need.’
The criteria for sin were defined by the villagers. The judgment lay in the hands of the village.
Whether they were guilty or not had already been decided.
And…
“‘Humans might call it a ‘cursed land,’ but to someone else, it’s their beautiful world. For those living underwater, hearing sounds and smelling through water is natural.”
A world that might seem strange to some but natural to others.
No one found the female doctor strange…
“No. What am I even thinking”
Alice shook her head immediately.
It was like imagining diving into seawater because her throat was dry.
“…The sea.”
Alice looked at the sea.
She had gathered a few premises.
The residents of Reki came from outside. Reki had a long-standing curse, and leaving the village was dangerous even for the villagers.
If she pieced these clues together—
“Maybe the villagers settled here through the sea?”
The path they took to enter might also be the path to leave.
