Chapter 136

The sudden halt of the business in the eastern wasteland,

And investors relocating to the Dikenter Mountains was an open secret among the people of the east.

The reason was the sudden attack of a super-sized demonic beast from the pit.

However, Duke Hartmann, who happened to be passing by with his knight escort, could not simply stand by and watch the situation.

In the end, the black knight escort called Leandros subdued the demonic beast and rescued those who were staying in the wasteland for business.

Additionally, the knight escort, pitying those who would be deployed to such a dangerous site, pleaded with his master, the Duke.

If it was a business involving demonic beasts, couldn't he be generous and offer a portion of the ducal territory in the Dikenter Mountains?

The young Duke, moved by the plea of his faithful knight escort, accepted the proposal, they said.

This was the rumor spreading in the east.

Then what had become of the eastern business and the royal family, which had suddenly lost all its investors?

"So I bought up all the rights over that land. Isn't it interesting? That I've come to not shy away from troublesome matters because of a mere human."

A soft, gentle tone echoed in the empty room.

The room was dark, with no preparations made, not even candle stands.

The only source of light was the small lamp held by the lone figure standing in the room.

The light, which seemed about to go out at any moment, dimly illuminated platinum hair and a dark uniform.

The man was standing in front of a wall.

In the room without anything, there was just one picture hanging.

The painting, so large that it seemed impossible to move even if several robust men worked together, was not clearly visible due to the darkness,

But the man's eyes traced up the painting, as if familiar.

"Father and my siblings always said this. Things originating from Father's body merely writhe and then fade away. ...Yes, who could have predicted it? That humans would flourish like this."

Humans.

At some point, they underwent changes close to miraculous, creating their own clumsy signals, language, society...

After leaving them alone for a long time, this was what had happened.

Those close to Father's original blood were living in hiding,

While children unlike Father were walking freely under the sun.

"Ah, don't misunderstand. This is not to say I'll eliminate humans for the sake of things named demonic beasts. Whether you like it or not, they're distant cousins, aren't they? Since we're all family, it would be unfair to save some and kill others."

I'm not that altruistic anyway.

The man added this, gazing up at the painting with a faint smile.

How many painters had poured their souls into painting Father's portrait?

Those who were terrified by the horror of the painting, then touched the sketch out of irresistible, disgusting curiosity, feverishly drawing, then crying out that ordinary materials could not reveal the near-blasphemous solemnity of the subject in the painting, and painted with their own blood.

The one and only painting completed after a very, very long time.

A vivid outcry, a single scream for help as if fallen into the deep abyss of hell, melted and emerged in the clear form of his father.

Before this, he seemed to regain himself entirely.

"I only recently realized that I could show favoritism. There's this cute human, but I had no idea how to handle him at all. He crawled into a different family because he disliked me."

All his recent interests were focused there.

The human he liked did not accept his favor as favor, always twisted his thoughts, and only ran away from him.

Of course, that favor wasn't purely favor, but.

...Was he perceptive?

The man tilted his head and then smiled refreshingly again.

"Now he must be busy solving the tasks I've given. It's a pity I can't go see him. What was it, he's gone to Gallo now, they say?"

The territory once owned by Duke Hartmann was extremely vast.

If one were to count the villages belonging to the territory, regardless of size, there would be too many to count even with four hands,

But since Duke Hartmann and Leandros had gone to win back the hearts of the former territory residents, they would obviously visit the larger villages or cities.

The likely candidates were.

"Glico. Gallo, Valentine. Martang, Toro, Concha, Yeager... About seven."

He heard they had finished things in Glico faster than expected.

He thought it would take at least a week, but they left the village sooner than anticipated.

"The first one surprised me too, but the second won't be easy. Because I've played a bit of a prank. ...I wouldn't just leave Hartmann territory alone, right? I have to see what kind of people are there. What if, perhaps, there's a loyal retainer of the former Duchess Hartmann living there."

The man paused briefly, then made a small "hmm" sound.

"No, that's an excuse. The truth is, I needed a place to experiment. I can't just keep hiding and playing house forever."

There were limits to the pranks he could play in the castle.

He couldn't get proper materials,

And there were always many watching eyes, which concerned him.

"I experimented a bit on whether I could give humans immortality. It's something I came up with after seeing an interesting sight in the north."

Do you know the insect called a butterfly? Butterflies have the form of a worm before they grow wings. The worm enters a cocoon to become a butterfly. Inside, the components that make up the body change...

After chattering for a while like a child explaining something new to his mother, the man cleared his throat.

"Anyway, I did some experiments on human pupation, wondering if I could try that on the human I like. I used pig-humans in Glico, but it doesn't seem to have been a good method. They ended up eating people too because they ate too much."

Since pig-humans and humans are similar, I thought the method of transformation to extend lifespan would be effective.

The man heaved a deep sigh.

"I took a somewhat different approach in Glico. It seems it was a mistake to make people immortal without saying anything."

I've reflected on it.

And this time, I decided to take the opposite approach to greed.

That method being.

"People need to become a bit more generous. They should share the good things. Maybe someone will voluntarily want immortality."

The man, having finished his day's story, blew out the lamp with a "whoof."

* * *

"Excuse me, do you happen to know a way to get to the outskirts?"

After sending Leandros off, they returned to the inn.

But since they couldn't rely on Leandros forever, he intended to do what he could.

That was to inquire around.

In Glico, it had somehow ended up with only Leandros handling things, but here, he needed to help as much as possible.

When he casually asked the innkeeper while ordering dinner for the day, the innkeeper asked back with a benevolent and puzzled expression.

"The outskirts? What would you do there? If you need a certain shop, I can find it for you."

"It's not that. I'm just curious."

"It's a place with nothing, so it won't meet your expectations. I'll prepare your meal right away. Let's see, today we have vegetable stew and watered-down fruit wine."

[The innkeeper thought nonchalantly. Was there enough stew left in the pot for the amount just ordered?

If not, well, he would just slip in some other ingredients.]

The innkeeper guided him kindly and immediately went into the kitchen.

The narrative written behind his back was also the same, strangely not giving an answer.

Returning to his seat, he was greeted by the waiting Amelia and the exhausted Verde.

"Wh-what did th-they say?"

"They didn't answer. Just something like, 'There's nothing there.' But people who have lived here for a long time must have gone there at some point."

How else could they definitively say there was nothing there?

Besides, they must be doing some farming here.

He sat in a chair and pulled on his loosened bandages to keep them from coming undone.

Amelia glanced at Verde and whispered softly.

"I-I also h-heard what p-people were saying around. It s-seemed like n-nothing special. Th-they were all just t-talking about apple prices or r-road repairs."

"Are they hiding something, or do they really not know?"

"I th-think the f-former is m-more likely."

Their whispering was interrupted when the meal arrived.

After the meal, Verde complained, saying his legs felt like they had disappeared from walking too much.

"Oh my, my bones. Oh my, my knee cartilage. Oh my, dragging a weak person like me around all day, do you have any conscience at all?"

"Then go up first and rest."

"I've been waiting for those words."

After Verde's figure disappeared, Amelia asked if he would like to walk outside for a bit while waiting for Leandros.

Outside, it was completely night.

Against the background of the murmuring sounds coming from inside the inn, she lowered her voice and asked.

"Do we need to be careful enough to send Verde away?"

"J-just in c-case."

"You must have a reason for coming out here. Tell me now. Did you notice anything?"

Amelia looked around once, then grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.

Suddenly finding himself with his back to the inn and facing the buildings, he could only blink.

"Amelia?"

"L-look, Your Grace. It's d-dinner time. W-we just had d-dinner."

"That's right."

"B-but other houses d-don't seem to be d-doing the same. H-houses with lights on, and th-those without. Look up."

Following her words, he raised his head and realized.

There was something he had been thinking was strange all along, but he didn't know what it was.

No smoke was coming from the chimneys.

Naturally, this world didn't have devices like microwaves or air fryers.

Whether for heating on a cold night or for cooking, they had to light fires.

Then surely smoke would leak out from chimneys or somewhere else,

But this village particularly lacked such a scene.

Even where there was smoke, it rose only from every other house. Very sporadically.

Watching this, he recalled when they had walked around the streets during the day.

Amelia nodded as if reading his thoughts.

"Th-there were s-strangely few p-people. ...If th-they have e-everything they need h-here, shouldn't this a-area be m-more bustling? Isn't it a-about to be p-promoted to a city?"

"Now that I think about it."

"I-if you think about it th-this way, it m-means that while th-there might be m-many people in the v-village, there aren't m-many in this 'c-center.'"

"Are all the remaining people outside?"

"P-probably. If n-not there, there's n-nowhere else to th-think of."

In the end, there was only one conclusion.

How could they escape this center?

For now, all they could do was hope that Leandros would return with the answer.

Meanwhile, Leandros was on the rooftop, looking down at the countless layers of walls and house blocks.