Chapter 11

"Is this really the right place? We're not mistaken, are we?"

Leandros said nothing, but his face was filled with bewilderment.

His expression suggested that even he hadn't expected things to turn out this way.

They were lost.

There was no signpost that Leandros claimed existed, nor did anyone come out to greet them.

Not even guards protecting the town entrance were visible.

Literally, the town didn't appear.

What was even more peculiar was that there was only one path.

A path so well-trodden that no grass grew on it.

Yet they were wandering on that very path.

"Can't you tell the exact distance or something? I feel like we've been going around the same place since earlier."

"Since the map is so crude, let me check once more."

Arndt meaninglessly flipped through the map. In truth, he knew that the map wasn't of much use.

In this world, maps were divided into high-quality and low-quality based on how detailed they were.

People with money were said to use good maps that marked signposts and side paths, but there was no way a second-hand map would have such features.

It only had a mark indicating the cardinal directions and vague explanations about which direction to go.

Plus, it was covered with messy scribbles...

'At this rate, we're in trouble.'

Until now, Leandros had comfortably played the role of guide, but in this situation, there wasn't much to expect from him.

After all, when there's only one path, what path is there to find?

Thinking that it would be useless for Arndt to look at the map, he just took it down.

"No. I don't think it will be of use right now."

"I'm sorry. No matter how I look at it, I can't tell where we are."

"But we were heading east, right? Since we didn't feel anything strange until now, we must be near the town."

"Yet it's normal for there to be at least one signpost near a town."

Arndt glared at Leandros.

To an outsider, this might have seemed like the guide's fault.

He scratched his head and then, with a sudden thought, extended his hand.

"Give me that."

"Your Grace, this is the box containing the teeth. You've already eaten all the food..."

"I know that, you know?"

What do you take me for?

He took the rattling box from Leandros.

Inside, there were piles of teeth as white as moonlight.

Looking closely, they resembled large puffed rice. Makes my mouth water.

"Let's go."

"Pardon? Like this?"

"Yes. Lead the way. We have to keep going anyway."

Arndt and Leandros exchanged anxious glances before resuming their walk.

Their expressions showed no expectation of finding a town entrance or signpost.

He followed them leisurely, lost in thought.

What else was there in the east besides the pit?

He tried to recall the content of the novel that hadn't even reached 100 chapters before it stopped.

After walking for some time like that.

He almost bumped his nose into Leandros's back, who had suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?"

"Your Grace. On the ground..."

Following Leandros's rigid voice, he looked down.

A white tooth was shining on the path covered with black soil and fallen leaves.

"Your Grace."

Both of them looked at the box he was holding.

He turned the box upside down, and nothing fell out from inside.

He had been walking behind the two, sprinkling Vormi teeth.

And now they encountered them again?

It was like a surprise magic trick from the witch in Hansel and Gretel.

Looking up at the sky, he noticed that the sun was already setting.

In just a little while, the mountains would be engulfed in night.

But those teeth wouldn't guide them to a candy house.

"I've had a few thoughts. Anyone want to hear them?"

"What thoughts are you referring to, Your Grace?"

"Logically, a path can't be circular. Well, it could be, but I don't think we're stupid enough not to notice."

If the path were circular, unless it was an exceptionally large circle, everyone would notice.

But subjectively, they hadn't walked that far, and they hadn't felt the path curve.

Yet if they encountered the teeth they had sprinkled...

"If we're not mistaken...?"

"We must be under some kind of spell. Or not in our right minds."

Arndt's mouth fell open.

It couldn't be pleasant to hear him lump himself together with them and say they're all crazy.

But in this world, was there anything that could be explained logically besides madness?

Magic, sorcery, or fraud couldn't become as grand and magnificent a setting as madness.

Madness that one faces with open eyes.

Aberrant behavior that one cannot escape from, no matter how much one claims to be sane.

A sigh escaped involuntarily.

"Wh-wh-what are you saying!"

"I didn't say it was true."

"Not everything can be smoothed over just by saying that."

"Don't you start nagging too."

But what to do about this?

He couldn't even remember how many times they had circled this place.

By now, they should have reached the eastern plains and beyond.

"There must have been some misunderstanding. I'll go check the path ahead once more."

"Really? Then we'll wait here. While you're at it, please collect the teeth too."

Leandros nodded.

Watching his back as he walked, picking up teeth and putting them in the empty box, as soon as he disappeared from sight, he said to Arndt.

"Let's make a fire."

"Pardon?"

"Let's make a fire and prepare to camp. Fortunately, there are many trees nearby. Let's gather twigs and lay out our cloaks."

"Here, you mean?"

"Yes."

"Your Grace, are you serious?"

"I'm not joking."

Arndt looked like he wanted to run and find Sir Leandros, but he still followed his instructions.

After Arndt had made a fire and prepared for the night, he spread out the map on his cloak.

It was to confirm exactly which section we had been wandering around.

Perhaps from the entrance of the low mountains crossing to the east to the town marked on the map?

As he stared at the section that was less than half a span in length, Leandros approached with heavy footsteps from the opposite direction from which he had departed.

"As expected?"

"......"

Seeing them lying down with a fire lit, he seemed to want to say something, but soon, perhaps thinking it was better than wasting energy, he came to the fire.

And so the mountain night deepened.

* * *

He dreamed an old dream.

It wasn't his dream but Arenheit's, yet it felt sufficiently like his own experience just by dreaming it.

-You will do something very important later. When that time comes, you must make a wise choice.

-Yes.

-You are a child chosen by the universe. Everything might seem clumsy now, but someday the world will revolve around you.

-Wooow...

-All the studies you're doing now are for your future. Understand? Astronomy, astrology, ancient languages, herbology, and even how to welcome guests. Study and train in everything, without missing a single thing. Ah, there's one more thing to learn.

-Something to learn?

-Yes. My child, are you good at finding your way in a maze?

* * *

He woke up because it was hard to move his feet.

The Milky Way was shining in the sky, and the open view was clearly visible all the way to the other side.

A place dominated by darkness except for sparsely rising rocks.

Instead of the familiar smell of trees or grass, an unfamiliar and cold air slapped his cheeks.

Finally out.

He inwardly thanked Arenheit's body.

In the story, Arenheit had suffered from minor illnesses since childhood, one of which was mild sleepwalking.

This path was one that couldn't be escaped while conscious.

When assuming that a person who thinks they are sane is actually insane, that person will stubbornly cling to their "common sense" until the end.

For instance, thinking that the path is strange rather than acknowledging that they themselves are going in circles.

Even he found it impossible not to think that way.

Then there was only one action possible.

To eliminate the self that claims to be sane.

Sleep is said to be the only entrance to the unconscious that a person can enter in a healthy state.

So, thinking that there was nothing to lose, he had quickly fallen asleep.

'This seems like a better method than I thought.'

Arenheit's sleepwalking symptoms didn't occur every day.

In other words, they were random.

It was fortunate that he got lucky on the first try.

Otherwise, he would have had to dig up roots to eat and sleep all the time until he confirmed the sleepwalking symptoms.

He turned his body, struggling to pull his legs out of the sticky mud, wondering where he had walked to.

Leandros and Arndt would still be asleep, under the influence of madness.

Now was the perfect time to investigate the surroundings.

What had made us go mad while wide awake?

Whether it was a demonic beast or if there was another influencing factor.

But before he could properly formulate an investigation plan, he saw something moving in the distance.

That's...

"Excuse me! Just a moment!"

A person was walking sluggishly.

They were moving quite far away, and despite it being night and everything being dark, he could clearly see the dark silhouette.

He shouted, but the person continued straight ahead as if they hadn't heard.

"Excuse me! Excuse...?!"

He was surprised when he tried to step forward through the squelching ground.

The part he thought was dry land was sinking with a gurgling sound.

He had thought he was just unlucky and had fallen into a deep puddle.

But it was the same no matter where he stepped.

It seemed like he had entered the middle of a vast swamp.

Why?

"Just a moment!"

He struggled to move his legs, wading through the puddle.

The swamp, which had reached his ankles, gradually deepened to his shins, then his knees.

But the person walking over there never floundered, as if none of that mattered.

Where is this?

Where have I come to?

While he barely advanced a few meters at a time, that person was already far away.

Watching him grope through the darkness and gradually move upward, he felt a sense of déjà vu.

There was something there.

Being night, everything looked completely black, so he couldn't tell well. But after seeing the faintly visible body slowly ascending, he realized that there was a massive hill-like structure ahead.

The person, climbing like ascending an elephant's back, finally seemed to reach the summit and stood tall against the sky.

Even the twinkling starlight and moonlight couldn't fully illuminate that figure.

He was standing with his arms wide open, looking up at the sky.

And then,

With a short sound, he threw himself backward.

The body that disappeared beyond the black hill never came up again.

His mind went blank.

What did I just...?

His fingertips turned cold, and he stood there for a long time.

The swamp, now reaching his thighs, sucked at his body with a gurgling sound.

No, to be precise, the gurgling sound wasn't made by him.

Small, sticky noises were heard from all around.

Squelching, splashing, unpleasant.

People were wading through the swamp and climbing the hill.

Not just the person he had seen.

They were gathering from everywhere.

They crawled up, slipped, and crawled up again as if it were their life's mission.

And upon reaching the top, they collapsed without any warning.

They didn't feel like people.

Rather, it felt like watching insects like ants or bees.

A massive colony organism.

Moving only as programmed and fulfilling their mission.

Run away.

Someone whispered.

But regardless of that, his body moved forward on its own.

Setting aside Leandros, Arndt, and the investigation of the suspicious path.

He too climbed the slippery hill, just like them.

Something was constantly overflowing from the slope of the hill, hindering progress, but he clawed his way up until his nails broke.

Finally, at the top.

Beyond it, a vast cavity was revealed.

Nothing could be seen at the bottom of the deeply dug sinkhole.

Only after witnessing it did he realize where he was.

The eastern pit.

The demon's throat.

The evil lair where demonic beasts overflow.

It was impossible to gauge how deep it was. It was clear that falling would mean death.

A person who had just crawled up beside him swayed precariously.

He barely managed to grab the arm that was about to fall into the cavity, but someone else jumped in from the side.

His head spun.

He couldn't stop everyone.

He couldn't keep holding onto just this person either.

Looking down, numerous thoughts crossed his mind.

Going down there means only death. But would he be okay? That's a blank in the setting. What could he do by going there? Catch the falling people? It's too filthy and terrible here. It stinks. But if there's even one person alive down there...

"Ah."

The arm slipped from his loosened grip.

His hand, which had instinctively followed the person who had thrown themselves, lost its center of gravity, and

He was sucked into the chilling pit.