Chapter 139

Roadside, the bedroom of an unfamiliar house, backyard, window, basement, then back to the alley.

Despite moving through all sorts of places, they didn't see a single person.

It began to feel increasingly like a dummy set.

It was impossible to gauge how far they had gone from the center of the village.

After passing through more than ten doors like this, as he began to wonder if his rat had taken a wrong turn,

When they moved to the next location through the fourteenth door, a window.

For the first time, they came upon a bustling street.

"What is this place? Why are there so many people? Did we return to the center again?"

Verde, who had precariously climbed down from the window, asked while dusting off his clothes.

At first, he thought so too.

After not seeing a single person until now, suddenly coming out to a busy area was surprising.

But Leandros slowly shook his head.

"There are too many differences for that."

"Different? What's different?"

"The people."

All the passing people looked bright and happy.

While the people in the center's square and pathways had seemed leisurely and relaxed, the people here were quickly passing by with energetic steps.

Everyone had faces that couldn't be more satisfied.

But after carefully observing for a while, it felt strangely awkward.

Rather than smiling out of satisfaction from living each day diligently, it was more like...

"Why is everyone smiling in such an unpleasant way? Why do they all have that expression like, 'Oh, there's an epidemic, but the neighbor's house caught it, thank goodness it's not our house'?"

"Verde, you felt that too? I also feel something unpleasant about it."

It was like a smile that came from relief after avoiding a great calamity.

Everyone walking around with such smiles created a bizarre scene.

As they all hesitated to step forward, they caught someone passing by.

"Excuse me. May I ask you something?"

"Are you talking to me?"

The woman turned toward them.

She had a gentle impression, but upon seeing her face, they all froze.

"I'm sorry, but that face..."

"This? I only recently got a bud. Luckily, a neighbor successfully hatched, and they shared a bud with me."

"Hatching? Bud?"

Near the cheekbone on the opposite side of her face hung a gray lump the size of an egg.

But the woman proudly stroked the lump, then widened her eyes in surprise.

"You don't know about buds? Where did you come from? Aren't you from inside? I thought you had come here because you were tired of those people living miserably."

No, who are you?

As he fidgeted, Amelia pulled him back.

"W-we haven't settled in the v-village for long. S-so it would be n-nice if you could t-tell us the story."

"Is that so? So people are still immigrating. Where should I start... Ah, you asked what a bud is."

She pointed to her gray lump.

"This is what we call a bud. Once you integrate it with your body like this, the bud gradually grows and hatches."

"Wh-when you say h-hatching?"

"It means when what's inside the bud can move. When that happens, our mind and self transfer to what has hatched. If you experience hatching, you can discard this empty shell and be reborn."

Empty shell?

Leandros asked.

"By empty shell, do you mean the body?"

"That's right. Isn't this body too weak? If there's a body that's stronger and can live longer, it's only natural to transfer to it."

"But the people outside, in the center, weren't wearing such lumps."

"That's the truly regrettable part."

The woman sighed.

"The village hasn't been divided like this for long. When these buds appeared in the village, and people who hatched buds began to emerge one by one, controversy arose about transferring bodies."

"You're on the side that advocates for buds, I presume."

"That's right. Foolish people. They drove us out because they were afraid of transferring buds to their bodies without knowing anything. They said living like that wasn't human."

Verde's and his eyes met.

Verde was looking at the woman as if she were a complete lunatic.

Leandros asked again.

"How did you know we came from the village?"

"Occasionally, people who have changed their minds somehow cross over to here. Then they stop people on the street and ask if they can receive a bud. Seeing this, I find it regrettable that the people outside seem to think too negatively about hatching."

Her words were saturated with lingering regret, pity, and sympathy.

She spoke as if hatching was so good, but what exactly was this hatching?

Just as he was about to open his mouth, the woman brightened, clapped her hands, and pointed to a spot.

"Look at that, someone's hatching over there! It might be a bit difficult doing it on the street, but it's good to have many people to congratulate."

At the end of her pointed finger, a person could be seen collapsed on the roadside.

Not far away, a person who was trembling all over and making choking sounds had a huge lump on their back that couldn't be fully covered by their shirt or vest.

Passersby quickly gathered around the man, patting his shoulders.

He thought they might be checking his consciousness before taking him to a physician, but the voices he faintly heard were completely different.

"Hang in there! Just hold on a bit more. Hatching is just a moment!"

"That's right. It's nothing! Once you endure this, you can live forever. Just hang in there a little more!"

Amidst the murmuring encouragement, the man was painfully twisting his entire body, drooling.

The man, who was scratching the ground on all fours like a dog trying to crawl somehow, suddenly collapsed with a face as white as if all blood had drained from his body.

Soon, his swollen back began to move, bulging.

"Hang in there! Just endure a little more!"

"Now! Now!"

Clamorous noise.

Simultaneously, a ripping sound could be heard even from where they stood.

With a sound like moist, thin skin tearing weakly, something surged through the vest.

It was a pale, glistening bundle of muscles wet with suspicious fluid.

After whipping around in all directions, it slowly emerged from the collapsed man, pressing against the rough ground.

Pale muscles and tentacles endlessly emerged from the back where they had been parasitizing.

All the while, the man continued to writhe, continuing the parasite's birth.

A mass that seemed too large to have been contained entirely in that small lump sprawled on the street.

From the tip of the tentacle that looked like a giant roundworm, cracks formed, and red and yellow eyes wet with mucus opened here and there among the muscles and tentacles.

After the monster's last tentacle emerged, the final nerve bundle that connected to the split lump on the man's back broke off with a horrific sound.

The people watching this spectacle cheered.

"See, I told you you could do it!"

"Well done. Truly well done! Even at such a young age!"

"To hatch already like this. You must have received a really good bud."

"You did great! Now nothing will be difficult, so don't worry."

"Yeah, hatching on the street. It was a special experience!"

Among the noisy people was a monster much taller than them.

The monster, twisting its sticky tentacles and making bizarre wind-like sounds, had a large, drooling hole in its head.

The monster, which had been gagging through that hole, squeezed through the crowd and departed, slowly walking away.

The people who had been watching the monster's departing figure with satisfaction suddenly said, as if remembering.

"Ah, right. We should collect the buds."

"Let me see. I wonder if any are broken."

"Be careful when you pick up the shell too. Sometimes they roll underneath."

They rummaged through the limp body, collecting something from various parts.

Every one of them was a round egg soaked in red blood.

After collecting all the eggs, the residents dispersed.

Having witnessed all of this, the woman said admiringly.

"It's not easy to see hatching like that. And look, they left many buds. Those will save other people. Isn't it wonderful?"

He couldn't say a word.

The man's body seemed completely empty, with nothing left.

The stream of blood flowing along the cracks of the pavement looked particularly red.

But all the people were ignoring that 'shell' and going about their way.

Leandros spoke first.

"...Thank you for the good information."

"It's nothing. If you're curious, everyone here will tell you. It's fun to make friends. I wish the people outside would willingly accept it too."

She smiled slightly for a moment.

"That day is not far off."

After saying this, the woman lightly bowed and left.

Amelia stammered.

"Wh-what does she m-mean by that d-day not being f-far off? Could it be, could it be that..."

"Don't speak, Miss Amelia. There are still many listening ears."

Somewhere on the bodies of passing people, there were either strangely swollen parts or grayish-white eggs attached.

This back alley wasn't meant to prevent intruders from coming in.

It was to prevent the outside and inside from communicating with each other.

A maze that twisted space so that no one could enter, nor could they leave.

Since some people who lived in the center had reached here after persistent attempts, it wasn't completely perfect.

Was that it?

The reason they wouldn't say anything to outsiders,

The reason they seemed to be living so peacefully in their daily lives, even though the villagers must have sensed something was strange.

They must have already known.

That blocking these two areas, the center and the outskirts, was the best option.

But if they were to send those eggs out...

"...Let's go back."

"G-go back? But, w-we can't just leave th-this..."

"I'm not saying we just leave it be. We need to find out what those monsters are."

He needed to bring the grimoire Pnakotic.

After reading information about the monsters in that book, he needed to make a plan for what to do.

He picked up the rat that was hunched on the floor, licking its lips while looking at the dead man's body.

The black eyes on the wrinkled face rolled around.

-Go. Take your friends and always watch around this area. Report to me. Without fail. And when you return, I'll give you something good.

The human-faced rat tilted its head this way and that.

It seemed curious about what the "something good" was.

When he put the rat back down, it quickly hid between buildings.

"We'll be able to keep track of what's happening here. Let's go quickly before these people do something to the village."

"Your Grace."

"What?"

As he was turning to leave, Leandros called from behind.

He spoke as if he had firmly decided.

"I will stay here."