Chapter 138

In the early dawn, Amelia and Verde had to go to Arenheit's bedroom without knowing why.

Arenheit was sitting on the bed, somehow looking fatigued.

Moreover, the aura surrounding him had changed strangely.

Leandros was standing beside him.

Unlike his usual self, he had turned his head away from Arenheit with a grim expression.

It seemed as if he was turning away from his master.

Verde signaled with his eyes to Amelia standing next to him, asking what was going on, but Amelia had no way of figuring out what had happened either.

Arenheit rubbed his eyelids and began to speak.

"Sorry for calling you when you were resting. But there's something I want to discuss. About going to the outskirts of the village that we couldn't break through."

"I've already told you. It would be better to give up on this village and leave as it is."

"Leandros, I've heard that several times."

Arenheit's words, filled with pressed-down patience, were almost a warning.

Leandros closed his mouth again, and Verde felt suffocated by the increasingly hostile atmosphere.

Arenheit paused for a moment, then continued as if nothing had happened.

"I suspected that an artifact's influence is preventing us from reaching the village outskirts. But no one knows what it is or exactly what kind of thing it might be."

Amelia and Verde slowly nodded.

Wasn't that obvious?

"T-to get to the o-outskirts of the v-village, wouldn't we n-need to d-destroy the artifact? The p-problem is we d-don't know its exact l-location or what it l-looks like."

"That's right. But strictly speaking, destroying the artifact is just one of the ways to leave the center."

"What? You're not saying you've figured out another method, are you? In just one night?"

When Verde questioned him, Arenheit shrugged.

"That's right."

"What kind of method?"

"No matter how powerful an artifact is, it can't deceive every living being like that. Since this is a place where people live, wouldn't other life forms like insects or rats live here too?"

"Are you saying we should use... insects or rats to get to the outskirts?"

"Something like that."

"Oh geez, Miss Amelia. I may have treated His Grace's body, but I can't cure pathological lying. This is quite a high-level disorder. I won't treat it even if asked."

Amelia's gaze grew cold at Verde's outrageous statement.

It was a look that seemed to be anticipating when this outrageous mouth would close.

Arenheit slightly frowned.

"Why do you say that..."

"No, Your Grace. Think about it. Let's say rats or insects can leave the center. Are you going to catch a cockroach, tie a string around its neck, and make it run? Or are you going to find a rat trained in a circus? Say something that makes sense."

"If it's a trained rat, we have one."

"What are you, some eccentric inventor- Wait, what?"

"I said we have a rat."

"What?"

While Verde was reconsidering the answer he had just heard, Leandros covered his face with one hand and heaved a deep sigh.

Arenheit sought agreement.

"If we have one, it's okay to use it, right?"

"I don't understand a word of what you're saying."

Did the Duke have a hobby of taming rats?

Verde looked around the room, but there was no basket for keeping rats, no small cage, not even a box.

Arenheit, sitting on the bed, stretched his head all the way to the left.

It looked as if he was trying to see something behind Verde.

Verde instinctively moved aside and turned his head, but there was nothing there either.

Only the faint sound of many small claws and feet hitting the wooden floor, along with squeaking cries.

Verde quickly climbed onto a chair and looked down at Arenheit.

"A rat, is it really a rat?"

"It is a rat, but."

"It is a rat... but?"

Arenheit now lowered his posture, bending his waist toward the shadow that had rolled under the bed.

When he placed one arm on the floor, the squeaking sound stopped.

-Come here. That's a good boy.

A heavy weight climbed onto his arm.

As he slowly lifted his arm, the flickering lamplight revealed its form.

Verde let out a short scream, and Amelia also stood up in surprise, causing her chair to tumble to the floor.

The creature was a rat.

A long pink tail, lusterless gray fur, four legs with finger-like toes and claws.

Its neck, wrinkled from tilting its head back, was creased all over, and it was slightly larger than an ordinary rat, making its wheezing breaths entirely visible.

However, the rat's head was not that of a rodent, but rather had the head of an elderly human attached.

The skin of its cheeks and forehead was sagging, and small, round black eyes without whites gleamed maliciously.

Just like a real human, there was sparse hair-like growth on its head, though not abundant.

The rat with a human face constantly put its hooked nose here and there, sniffing, and then let out a small wail with a bizarre octave: "skreeeee."

The numbers that had been faintly wavering above Amelia and Verde's heads changed.

[73/75]

[49/50]

"Y-Your Grace, what in the world is that?"

"My rat."

"It has a human face."

"There are some unusual aspects to it, but let's move past that."

"You're going to move past that? Don't talk about such a monster as if it's a small pimple on your back!"

Verde pointed accusingly.

Amelia was also watching it with wary eyes.

"I-is it not d-dangerous?"

"Not at all. You can think of it as being in a kind of alliance with me, Miss Amelia. Since you'll be meeting it often from now on, I would appreciate it if you didn't step on it or try to dissect it. Verde, I'm talking to you. This is meant for you."

"I wouldn't dissect such a thing even if you gave it to me! What kind of bad luck would I catch!"

While Verde was grumbling, the rat kept chattering on his forearm.

After a long time of squeaking in a language incomprehensible to humans, the rat eventually climbed up his arm and settled on his shoulder.

"There is a way in, but it might be difficult for large people like us to go."

"Y-you understand wh-what the rat is s-saying? M-more importantly, is th-there really a w-way?"

"Yes, Miss Amelia. As I expected, it seems only people are prevented from going out. But from what this fellow is saying, it seems like there is a path."

But was it okay to tell them this?

As he hesitated, Leandros, who had been quiet until now, spoke up.

"Either we leave the village, or we follow the path. It must be one of those two, and since Your Grace said you'd rather die than choose the former, there's no choice."

"I didn't say I'd rather die."

"Order that creature. Tell it to show us the way."

The even icier tone pricked his conscience.

Pointing out that he was being stubborn.

He would have to find a time later to make amends.

After tickling the chin of the human-faced rat with his finger and putting it down, the rat went to the doorway and turned to look at him.

They followed the rat out of the inn and headed toward the back alley they had been in and out of numerous times the day before.

Winding paths and houses well-arranged along them.

The rat went around to the back of one house.

Verde asked, watching the rat enter the house through a slightly open back door.

"D-do we have to go? Really?"

"We have no choice."

"What kind of home invasion is this, following a rat! This is a crime!"

"Then stay here. I'm going to go in and check."

"Y-Your Grace, it s-seems dangerous, so I'll c-come too."

"..."

"Hey, Sir Knight. Are you going too? I'm asking if you're going. Don't just ignore me and go! Listen to me! Did you all eat something strange together? Hey! You crazy people!"

After shouting angrily, Verde fidgeted on the spot before finally jumping into the house with them.

Except for Verde, who had entered noisily with a clattering sound, they immediately realized there was no sign of people in the house.

Was this house also uninhabited?

After looking around the house, which resembled an elaborate set, they followed the direction of his rat's squeaking.

In front of a basement storage area common to any house.

When the rat sniffed around and circled in front of the door, Leandros slowly opened the door for it.

What they saw beyond was not a dark, cold staircase or abundant stored food.

It was an unfamiliar path.

"Wh-what is this."

Amelia tried to poke her arm through the door and wave it around, but there was no change.

Moreover, the air beyond the door smelled of fresh early morning.

"It says it's twisted."

"P-pardon?"

"It says the path is twisted. So when you open this door, the place that should originally be there is connected to a different door, and this scenery is connected to this door. The space is completely jumbled."

"S-so, does that m-mean all these b-back alleys are s-set up like this?"

"It seems so. That's why no matter how much we used a compass, we could only go around in circles. A compass shows direction, not what path we're on."

It was just like Dreamland.

He turned to look at the three people.

"I don't know what's ahead, but please prepare yourselves mentally."

"Eh? Why? For what reason?"

"If there's something they're trying to hide by twisting space, it means it's no ordinary matter."

Verde shuddered at his answer.

The rat jumped through the door first, and he followed, taking a step forward.

Into the middle of a maze with mixed-up spaces.