Chapter 44

Is God favoring Lumière?

The ship’s engineer said they could repair the damage in a day or two.

Thanks to that, the captain didn’t have to come up with a complicated lie to get the passengers off the ship.

“The cabins are too damp to stay in comfortably. Luckily, there’s an abandoned village nearby called Reki. Let’s take a look around.”

One of the explorers frowned.

“Reki? Isn’t that a detention center?”

“It’s been decades since anyone died there. That shouldn’t be a problem. A disease needs the sick to spread, after all.”

“It’s not the disease I’m worried about… The rumors are unsettling.”

“Haha! Think about its history. It’d be stranger if there weren’t any creepy stories.”

Fortunately, the explorer didn’t go on and on about curses like that old sailor. Instead, he made an excuse about being tired and lay down, saying he’d go last.

The sailors who went ahead, along with the explorers who volunteered, soon returned with good news.

“There are more intact buildings than expected. We just need to bring our bedding.”

One of the sailors whispered to his crewmates.

“I cleared out some skeletons in a few buildings. If it feels too eerie to stay in them, we can use them as storage.”

“Got it. Good work.”

The sailors huddled together to discuss which supplies to unload first.

“What about the Maloja herbs? Should we bring them down right away?”

“Let’s wait and see. If people start asking why that’s the first thing we’re carrying off, it’ll be a hassle.”

“Then should we start with things that can’t spoil?”

“And among those, let’s pick the ones customs or quarantine would hate to see the most.”

Among the items that met both conditions, the first to touch the ground was a massive taxidermy piece from the captain’s quarters.

It was so lifelike that one explorer gasped at the sight of it holding a piece of fruit.

“Whoa… Is this a monkey? Do they even get this big?”

“They call it an orangutan. They’re clever with their hands and smart too. Some even let fruit rot on purpose to brew their own alcohol.”

“Amazing! I think I’ve found my next travel destination. I need to visit the homeland of this fine gentleman… Ah, no. Not a gentleman. A madam.”

The passengers, who had been grumbling about the sudden disembarkation, started peeking out one by one, curiosity lighting up their faces.

The captain wasn’t about to waste this chance. He ordered more taxidermy pieces to be brought out.

“What’s special about this little bird? Why is it stuffed?”

“See that curled-up trumpet-shaped leaf next to it? That’s its nest. These little guys use their beaks like needles to stitch leaves together.”

“Huh… You’re right! Look at those stitches!”

A bird preserved with its nest. A plant with fluttering pink leaves like a flower. A lizard so massive and hideous it could be mistaken for a dragon…

Even a circus would struggle to put on a better show.

As the navigator was thinking they could probably start charging admission, he spotted two sailors carrying out a glass tank. He rushed over and blocked their way.

“Hey! Hey! What the hell are you doing? Why are you bringing that out?”

“We’re moving anything that might rot, aren’t we?”

“This isn’t taxidermy. Look, it’s in formalin!”

“For-what now?”

“Just put it back. And think—what do you think people will do if they see this?”

The navigator lifted the cloth covering the glass tank.

Inside, submerged in a faintly yellowish liquid, the body of a young girl floated in the shifting light.

That alone was enough to send anyone reeling.

But then…

One of the sailors, carrying the box, suddenly noticed something just below the girl’s neck.

A flat, infant-like face, as if a newborn’s, was fused to her skin.

He gripped the tank tightly but instinctively tried to step away from it. His voice trembled.

“I-Is… is this real?”

“I don’t care.”

The navigator covered it again.

“The doctor personally requested this. It’s worth far more than any taxidermy, so handle it carefully.”

“Understood.”

Moving stiffly like crabs, the two sailors hauled the tank back inside the ship.

Half the cargo that would make customs, quarantine, and the navy lose their minds had been unloaded.

The captain exchanged a glance with the navigator before stepping into the passageway with a few other sailors. He was probably heading to retrieve the most important item—Maloja herbs.

Which meant it was time to get to work on this side of things as well.

The navigator stepped off the ship to send the remaining passengers to their temporary lodgings. By now, the excitement of the spectacle must have cooled. They could head to the detention center, chatting about taxidermy along the way.

But the atmosphere at Reki’s entrance was different from what he expected.

Excitement and curiosity hadn’t just simmered down. They had turned ice cold.

It was like… watching a jester’s neck snap in the middle of a lively circus show and seeing him dragged behind the curtain. When their eyes met the navigator’s, people tried to smile, but their expressions were stiff.

The navigator turned to a crew member.
“What’s with their faces? Did some idiot start rambling about curses again?”
“No, nothing happened.”
“Really?”
“Well…”

The crew member lowered his voice.
“You know that taxidermy piece? The one with the big, fluffy black mane? When they were moving it, one of the passengers freaked out and said, ‘That thing just glared at me!’”

The navigator burst out laughing.
“What is this, a cheap horror novel?”

But when he saw the crew member’s silence, his laughter faded fast.

“…Wait. Are you serious? Did the damn thing actually roll its eyes or something?”
“Of course not.”
“Of course?”
“It might’ve moved a little, but… probably just the leather shrinking from the humidity. Or maybe they just saw fur shifting the wrong way.”

“…”

Honestly, it would’ve been funnier if the crew member had just said, ‘I saw it too! Its glowing blue eyes were scanning for prey!’

But instead, the man’s hesitant denial, the way his eyes trembled with unease, was scratching at the navigator’s own nerves.

So he raised his voice on purpose.
“Nothing happened. Right?”
“Yes. Nothing happened.”
“Then drop it. Don’t make a fuss over nothing. Get ready to move.”

The navigator patted the crew member’s shoulder and looked back toward the detention center.

A little distance away, the taxidermy piece was moving in a worker’s arms.

No—being carried. It wasn’t moving on its own.

The navigator forcefully shoved the thought aside, making excuses in his own head.

‘A well-made taxidermy piece can start to feel unsettling if you stare at it long enough. That’s all this is.’

Besides, the strange creatures brought in from foreign lands—the ones that seemed like their creator had either added too much or left something out—somehow fit right into this sick, forsaken place.

On these broken roads, where neither man nor thoroughbred could walk easily, maybe a giant lizard would be more at home. In those abandoned ruins, which had never really been a prison or a hospital, maybe the new inhabitants weren’t human, weren’t monkeys, but… something else.

Before the navigator could let his mind wander too far, the crew member tapped his shoulder. He snapped out of it, embarrassed, as if he had been caught daydreaming.

 “Uh—yeah. We need to guide the passengers now. You wanna do it? I’ll grab food and water from the ship—”
“No, wait. Look over there.”

The crew member, his hand slightly shaking, pointed toward the village.
“That’s… a person, right?”

The navigator narrowed his eyes.

A group of people was approaching them, but not from the path the advance team had taken.

Their steps were slow but steady, like a rocking doll creaking forward.

Then, the navigator noticed something. The woman at the front—her ankles were rotting at different rates.

Her mismatched shoes, stained with pus and blood, glistened white each time she took a step.

The navigator cursed under his breath.
“What the hell was the advance team doing? How did they miss those?”

The stench of the sea hit him. Thick and foul. Some of the passengers covered their mouths, while the crew tensed and stepped forward.

The strangers moved at a suffocating pace. The limping woman was even distracted by the taxidermy piece being carried past her. Her admiration was sluggish.
“Oh my… A new arrival…”

The figures behind her muttered in broken voices, their eyes still on the taxidermy.
It doesn’t look sick. Lucky. But too small…

Their words held no meaning—only discomfort. Like eavesdropping on a conversation between sewer rats in the dead of night.

Only when the taxidermy was out of sight did they finally turn their eyes toward the navigator’s group.

The navigator clenched his jaw, swallowing a curse. First, figure out who they were. Then swear.

“…Who are you? Are you from Reki…?”

“Are you all… prisoners?”

The woman’s voice was so meek it was almost pathetic.

The navigator studied her and the others more closely.

All of them were skin and bones, reeking of decay. The kind of people who belonged in a detention center.

‘But… wasn’t the place abandoned?’

Sure, some lunatics bought old medieval prisons to turn them into private jails, but…

If someone had revived this wretched place for the same purpose, they had to be one hell of a sick bastard.

Before he could think any further, the woman spoke again, more firmly this time.
“You’re prisoners too, aren’t you?”

“…‘Too’?”

The word sank in a beat too late, hitting him harder than it should have.

His crew were wearing proper uniforms. They might be a little damp, but they were crisp. How could she mistake them for people like her?

The navigator knew how to deal with people like this.

He squared his shoulders and answered firmly.
“No. We’re with the navy. Stay back if you don’t want any trouble.”

Prisoners should know their place. They should cower before authority.

Even if she didn’t believe it, a little rough handling would convince her.

The passengers standing with him caught on and lifted their heads as well.

But before the woman could answer, before she could even react to their threatening stares—

She smiled.

She met every ounce of their hostility head-on and grinned.

All that pitiful meekness was gone.

Her mouth stretched wide—so wide it looked painful. Inside, her gums were dry and dark red. She had no teeth.

And yet, she spoke with perfect clarity, so everyone could understand.
“Not anymore.”

“…What?”

“The dead can’t swim.”

There was no time to ask again.

The woman vanished.

The bloody footprints she had left with every step—gone.

The prisoners who had followed behind her, the old and the young, all of them—gone.

All that remained was the thick stench of rot seeping into the wet earth.

“W-Where did they go? Just now…?”

The passenger who had been standing tall beside them turned, trembling. The sailor distinctly remembered him as a robust middle-aged man.

But now, as the man faced him, his cheeks were sunken like those of an old man in his eighties. When he opened his mouth to speak, a front tooth dropped out before any words could.

The change spread as quickly as the stench.