Chapter 8
“Why is that, Madam Adelaide?”
Fiore, who had come to a slow stop, smiled slyly.
“Guests occasionally come, you know. Do we have to pamper every single one of these worthless parasites?”
“You never know. Treat them as guests until they break the rules. I know you particularly dislike doctors…”
“Doctors?”
Fiore’s eyes widened in confusion.
“Wait a minute. That woman is a doctor too? Not just an assistant?”
“She said she was a doctor.”
“Aha, yes, yes, understood.”
Fiore tried to move again, but Adelaide did not step aside. Her broad shoulders were as sturdy as tree trunks.
Well, he could jump over her, but if he did, he’d probably find himself on the ground a second later with his ankle caught in the dirt.
“Fiore, answer me. You won’t go out of your way to harass the new guests.”
“……Yes, understood.”
“And don’t expect anything unreasonable.”
“Isn’t it the same for you, Madam? You expect something every time a guest arrives.”
“I always expect something within common sense. For example, following the town rules.”
“And becoming a new resident?”
“……”
Instead of answering, Adelaide shifted slightly to the side. Fiore took this as a signal to pass through. As he quickened his pace, the distance between them quickly widened.
‘We both end up expecting useless things from each other.’
There’s no way a decent human would enter this land.
A place where prisoners and plague victims gather—people without decent jobs or skills, friends or family, and sometimes lacking even morality.
Alice seemed somewhat normal at first glance but surely had her issues…
‘If I had known she was a doctor, I wouldn’t have helped her.’
Instead of wasting energy on snatching her wallet, he would have just let her go to Reki.
Well, in the end, she crawled into town without realizing his ‘kindness’ and met her companions along the way.
‘A fate perfectly suited for those like doctors.’
Those who regard immobile lives as their teaching materials—holding scalpels with an air of great mission while grinning…
An unpleasant memory surfaced. It felt as if the pain from past wounds was being revived; Fiore began to run away from that memory.
As he sprinted, the late summer sunlight slanted down upon him. Once he escaped the desolate village site, the increasingly green scenery made him feel somewhat like he was returning to the sea.
Ah, should I just run all the way to the sea? I don’t even know where I am, but there’s no land that doesn’t touch the sea…
At that moment, an unpleasant sensation approaching from afar pulled Fiore back to the present.
Regaining his senses and looking around revealed he was deep in a forest far from the village. Somewhere nearby was an unpleasant smell only humans could produce mingling with rough footsteps disturbing the dirt path.
He heard a nervous voice:
“Jack, hurry up and find it! Do you think it went far?”
The subsequent sniffing sound indicated that this ‘Jack’ companion was not human.
The man cursed under his breath:
“Damn it! It must have run this way.”
Fiore focused all his senses in the direction of the voice. Although the muttering stopped, he could easily identify what kind of creature it was through the sharp smell of gunpowder and rusted metal clashing around him.
A hunter.
A poacher using traps.
He had already completed his harvest—dirt mixed with dried blood, the unique stench of small predators, and that sickly sweet smell of saliva that clings to the mouth as life slowly fades away with each labored breath…
A fox that lost its leg in a trap would probably be hanging off his belt by two tails.
That might have been something he could overlook.
“I can’t hang a fox’s head by the fireplace… that’s ridiculous.”
Perhaps imagining hunting trophies of deer made him restless; he heard him hiss and urge his dog forward.
But the dog sensed something more important than its owner’s desires. Suddenly stopping on four legs and whining restlessly, it turned sharply away.
“Hmm? Hey Jack! Not that way! Where are you… Ow!”
The man trying to control his dog panicked; his subsequent curses didn’t reach the fleeing hunting dog.
Fiore almost laughed at him.
It would have been so if there hadn’t been a smell that couldn’t be covered by any stimulus.
The smell of blood.
The scent of fresh flesh being dug up made Fiore’s stomach churn.
Suddenly realizing this made him laugh.
‘Now that I think about it, I haven’t had dinner yet.’
***
Before the sun set, Alice arrived at the clinic just in time. Hearing her panting voice, Nathan poked his head out from the second floor.
“Did you have dinner? Did it even make it into your stomach?”
“It was definitely better than the meal I prepared… No, I filled my stomach.”
Alice decided not to complain about the food she had received. Out of a sense of basic courtesy, she swallowed her curses regarding the dinner menu.
“It seems like they minimize the cooking steps. The other residents hardly eat anything properly. By the way, while Madam Adelaide was away for a moment, I checked the first floor of the management office.”
“Ha, I didn’t know you had a knack for espionage. Did you find something?”
“I was hoping to find an altar or ritual tools, but all I found in the storage was bottles of alcohol. Do they use them for rituals?”
“What kind of alcohol? Homemade liquor?”
“They were ordinary commercial products—wines and rums. They could be used to manage the residents by adding hallucinogens, right?”
For a brief moment, the sparkle in Nathan’s eyes faded.
“You might have seen it during meals, but the residents here are very picky eaters. They refuse to eat anything other than what they usually consume.”
“Do they only serve external guests?”
“I’ve never had a drink here.”
“……”
The forced hypotheses began to dissolve one by one. That left only one natural conclusion:
‘Is it Madam Adelaide’s personal collection?’
Kept separate so that no one could touch it, enjoyed alone on pleasant days.
“It could be alcohol for solitary drinking… but I can’t imagine that.” Nathan sighed.
“I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. Anyway, you’ve heard about the rule not to light fires at night? Hurry up and unpack and get some sleep. Water is in the kitchen.”
“Professor, why is it that we shouldn’t light fires—”
“Ask me tomorrow if you’re curious. The sky is overcast; tonight, the moonlight won’t last long.”
Nathan pointed nervously at the window. Gray clouds were gathering toward the sea.
Just before the only door on the second floor closed at the end of the stairs, Alice shouted toward it as she hurried down.
“Professor! Which room should I use?”
The door halted its movement. Nathan spat out irritably without showing his face.
“There’s only one room in this clinic. Use any bed on the first floor.”
“……”
The door closed.
Right, he was that kind of person.
Though he was rarely described as a kind professor at Canery University, that demeanor stemmed from his nonchalance and indecisiveness.
When pressed by urgent circumstances, he often became ruthless toward those he secretly looked down upon.
‘I thought he would at least show some gratitude for coming to help… what a foolish expectation.’
Alice surveyed the first-floor clinic room. There were two beds placed in an open space; if she set up a medical screen well enough, it could serve as a makeshift lodging.
‘Water is… damn.’
When she pushed on the large water container in the kitchen as a test, it tilted easily. There might be enough water left for about one bucket’s worth.
After a brief contemplation, Alice decided to wash her face and save the rest as drinking water since her throat felt parched from forcing down dry food.
‘Tomorrow will be busy.’
She needed to find out where to get more water; Nathan couldn’t last until tomorrow with what he had left.
‘By the way, there were many white stains left on the dishes I checked in the management office. Is there salt in the water? But the water I drank from the kitchen earlier was fine; there’s a lot to figure out.’
Ah, she also needed to find a way to procure food. While she had politely accepted what was offered today, she wasn’t confident about managing her expression next time.
‘No… why am I even thinking about adapting… More importantly, I need to check on the professor’s unfounded beliefs first. Let’s assume it’s an endemic disease for now…’
Her thoughts flickered and faded; this long journey she was experiencing for the first time weighed heavily on Alice’s eyelids.
‘I want to read Auber’s will…’
But mere thoughts couldn’t chase away her drowsiness. The presence of her wallet tucked in her arms provided some comfort.
I’m sorry, Auber. I just want to rest easy today…
Tap.
‘……?’
Tap.
Tap…
A strange sound quickly snatched away Alice’s drowsiness.
It must be just some country bug noise, she thought at first.
Tap, tap…
Thud.
A collision sound with a clear weight echoed continuously from outside the clinic.
TLN: I changed Aubert to Auber. Thank you for reading!
