Chapter 41

The way to keep Fiore occupied was simple.
Break the village fence and report it.
Fiore was the only resident who could go back and forth repairing the fence, so if Arno swung his mallet (a medical hammer) just a few times, Fiore would be stuck there all day.

So today, even if Alice ended up drenched in blood, even if she couldn’t move and had to cry out for help…

‘…It’s fine. If I die, I die.’

Even in the worst-case scenario, someone else would just finish what Alice had started.

A few months ago, she had tried to inject a lethal dose of a cardiac stimulant into a particular vein. As she traced that same vein again, Alice quickened her pace.

‘Arno said he was about to throw a corpse off the cliff when he heard a voice and came down, right?’

Being drawn by a voice immediately brought to mind the image of a siren.
Like something out of folklore—had Arno been lured down the cliff by an irresistible, beautiful song?

After a brief moment of thought, Alice headed straight for the shore. She didn’t want to risk falling off the cliff.

As she walked down the sallow path, the yellow sand gradually grew coarser.

The first thing that welcomed her was the scent of the sea.

‘The smell… It’s already so salty!’

The sea breeze she had smelled in the village had been nothing more than a lingering trace. Now, the briny stench physically filled her nose.

Alice raised her hand to cover her nose, but a rough gust of wind lifted her skirt against gravity, forcing her to lower her hand immediately.

“Ah—Eek!”

To make matters worse, the ground beneath her feet grew unstable. The rounded pebbles, smoothed by the waves, rattled and danced with every step she took.

All her anxious imaginings vanished in the face of the raw force of nature.

Gathering up her skirt, she tied it behind her waist.

Only after steadying herself did she finally take in the sight of the ocean.

‘Ah…’

Alice was at a loss for words.

It wasn’t her first time standing by the sea.

Back when life was easier, she had even learned to swim at a southern resort with her family.

But the sea before her now was fundamentally different from the one she had known.

If the sea she had known was like a sardine tucked in the corner of a pasta dish, then what she faced now was…

‘A Kraken.’

The idea that the villagers had arrived through the sea and could leave the same way was immediately dismissed. The waves hurled themselves at the jagged rocks with such fury that nothing would remain if they were caught in them.

From the hill, those rocks had seemed to play hide and seek with the water. But up close, they looked like a lower jaw, endlessly chewing at the sea.

‘No ordinary ship could get through this.’

Even a large cargo ship would run aground here. Would it take a warship to navigate safely?

‘Then how did the villagers get in? The treasure hunter theory was ruled out from the start… Did they stow away on a cargo ship?’

That seemed even less likely. Stowaways usually traveled in groups—families, comrades bound by common roots.

But the relationships among the people of Reki were so dry that even baby spiders from the same egg sac would be closer than they were.

Alice stopped tracing their origins in her mind. That wasn’t important right now.

If there was no way out, then the next step was to find what Nathan and Arno wanted—something in the sea that might be a weakness of the villagers.

Alice recalled the rules concerning the ocean.

If you want to swim in the sea, go in alone without any tools.
Do not enter the water if you are injured.

And most importantly:

[Even if you hear human voices, ignore them. They are…]

“…Help me!”

Alice’s body stiffened.

She had definitely heard it—a voice, rough and rusted like old iron.

It came from the direction of the cliff.

Beyond the jagged rocks and the fog that refused to clear even by noon, a looming shadow, black as pitch, flickered against the hardened waves.

Of course. It made perfect sense why Arno had chosen that spot to dispose of a corpse.

The moment a body fell, it would be pulverized by the waves and the rocks, leaving nothing behind.

Even though she was prepared, Alice’s steps unconsciously slowed.

Because that scene was capable of swallowing more than just corpses.

It could take the living, too…

“Help me!”

The voice was clearer now. Instinctively, Alice reached for her medical bag—only to grasp the small satchel she had packed instead.

The voice echoed from below the cliff.

“Help me, I can’t open this on my own!”

As she walked toward it, Alice felt an odd sense of unease.

This was different from the countless pleas for help she had heard from patients before.

Rather than desperation, it sounded more like… exhilaration.

Gripping the pocket knife in her hand, she pressed forward.

Then, she stopped at the edge of the cliff’s shadow.

The darkened view, the damp mist brushing her cheek, and the stench piled up like a fortress all told her one thing.

Beyond this point, it was truly dangerous.

Her instincts screamed at her to run.

But what pushed Alice forward was simple logic.

‘The drug’s effect can’t wear off yet.’

She pressed a handkerchief to her mouth and quickened her pace.

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness beneath the cliff, she noticed something—another shadow, darker than the rest, stretching beneath the overhang.

She realized what it was as soon as she rounded a barnacle-covered rock.

‘A… house?’

A massive pillar blocked the path. At first, she thought it was absurd to call it a house, but as she traced it upward, the truth revealed itself—a black wall, looming at its base.

A stranded cargo ship.

Looking closer, she saw a metal fence enclosing the wreck. What she had thought was a black wall was actually a rotting deck, full of holes.

The deck, long since claimed by the coast, foamed with seawater every time the waves breathed.

‘For being abandoned for ten years, it’s in decent shape.’

There hadn’t been reports of another shipwreck since then, so it was likely the same vessel from a decade ago.

Before she could dwell on it further, the voice rang out again—clearer this time.

“Help! There’s treasure inside, but I can’t open it alone!”

‘A treasure hunter?’

After the ship ran aground, treasure hunters had flocked to the area.

…But that had been at least nine years ago.

Passing a flag crusted with algae and stepping over crates reduced to skeletal remains, Alice finally found the source of the voice—

“…”

She swallowed a scream.

She had thought she could handle any horror. But she had not expected something this grotesque.

The man shaking a metal box with his bony hands slowly raised his head.

He was definitely a man.

His tattered pants sagged, revealing his pelvis—thin and sharp as an arrowhead, stripped of flesh and muscle.

The remnants of his jaw creaked open.

“Help… me.”

“What… are you doing here?”

She forced herself to believe he was just another villager.

One of the strangely shaped villagers.

Even so, she couldn’t stop her voice from trembling.

The man didn’t seem to mind.

“Help me open this.”

“…”

“There’s silver jewelry inside. Foreign women use it to pin up their hair. I’ll give you ten percent if we sell it. Deal?”

“Ten percent…? Uh, how much would that be?”

“Come on, it’s worth it. Help me open this.”

He wasn’t making sense. As Alice hesitated, the man gave up and started shouting again.

“Help me! There’s treasure here!”

The rusted metal screeched. Alice flinched and stepped back. Rotten water splashed under her shoes, but there was nowhere to escape—the stench, the stains, the noise.

From all around, figures clad in tattered rags, once human, cried out:

“Is anyone there?! There’s a living person here! Help me!”

Then—

“…Or are you a beast?!”

A new voice erupted from within the ship.

A man in a tattered sailor’s uniform burst from the shadows—brandishing something—shouting at Alice.

“Are you a beast?!”