Chapter 23

Sailor ran for her life.

She clenched her teeth to suppress the surging emotions, rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, and sniffled repeatedly.

She ran tirelessly down a path she had never taken before, with no particular destination in mind.

Someone close to her had died.

No—had become something even worse than death.

Was it her fault? Because she had asked that question?

Surely not, she wanted to believe.

But the timing made it hard to shake the suspicion that it was her fault.

Moreover, Sailor felt as if she knew those eyes for some reason.

The crisis at the research facility she had escaped with Flamm, the orb with the spiral on its face she had seen then—she sensed a similar atmosphere.

If that was the case, if what she had seen was really the result of that research—

『There’s a secret facility under the church in the West District, where they conduct experiments on orphans.』

『They apparently implant the power of God into their bodies.』

It was all hearsay, lacking credibility, but it might be true.

Even so, it didn’t explain why Ink and the other children’s names were not on the orphanage’s list.

But to honor their sacrifice, she had to tell Flamm about this.

First, she would head to the road along the wall.

From there, she should find a wider street.

It was a notoriously dangerous area, but if things got too bad, she could use her magic to get out of most situations.

From there, she would move towards the West Gate, get onto the main road, and head to Flamm’s house.

As she ran down the slope, she mapped out her route in her mind.

Plop.

At that moment, Sailor reacted to a faint sound behind her and stopped involuntarily.

When she turned around—eyes rolling on the ground, crawling on the walls, peering down from the rooftops—countless eyes were staring at her.

“…After taking two, is it still not enough?”

She said this through gritted teeth, tears in her eyes.

Can eyes hear?

No, if they were triggered by the rumors about Ed, they must be able to hear.

So, they must be saying, “It’s still not enough,” as they slowly closed the distance without reacting to Sailor’s anguished words.

“AAAAAAAAAAH!”

She screamed, turning her pent-up anger and fear into a shout, and ran again.

The eyes multiplied.

From the rooftops, from inside houses, from the sewers.

They swarmed like insects, filling the road.

There was no one around—almost as if they had known from the start.

Sailor no longer looked back.

All she would see was a hopeless scene.

So, she whipped her trembling thighs, blocked out the sound of her lungs gasping for air, and forced her heart, on the verge of breaking, to keep going, swinging her arms wildly as she moved forward.

As she approached the streets along the West District’s city wall, where the poorest lived, the air around her changed.

The unpleasant smell of rotting garbage, however, gave her a sense of relief.

There were people there, and they wouldn’t be attacked in a place where people could see, she thought.

When she reached the wide street, she didn’t slow down but turned right in a wide arc.

Dressed in a clean white robe, she stood out quite a bit, but she didn’t care about the people’s gazes.

Just to be safe, after walking a bit, she slowed down and looked back.

“Haa… haa… a, a… s-such… this can’t be…”

Perhaps because she had been running so hard, she hadn’t heard the voices around her.

What Sailor saw there was a scene that could only be described as hell, a gruesome sight.

“What the hell is this…? Hey, hey, don’t come… don’t come, ughhhhhh!”

The arms of a passerby, who had just happened to be nearby, multiplied, two, three, and more.

When he stopped in shock, more eyes swarmed his body, and he quickly lost his human form.

“Hiiiiii! God, protect me… please, please, God… ugh, ugh, ugh…”

A woman, sitting on the ground and clutching the symbol of the Origin Church, was invaded, her body swelling.

At first, she screamed in terror, but gradually her voice faded, and foam-like saliva dripped from the corners of her mouth.

As more eyes invaded, pink insides that couldn’t fit overflowed.

“No, noooooo! Don’t come, just this child, please, just this child!”

“Mom! Mom, sa… sa…”

“Go away, go awayyyyyy!”

“Mom, save… save me… mom, save, s, save!”

“S, s, s, please, g, g, g…!”

“Hiiiiii!?”

The child, held in the mother’s arms, resisted desperately, but an eye entered its neck, and its head multiplied into three.

The mother, whose face was contorted with fear, accidentally let go of the child, but when she saw the eyes swarming, she quickly covered it, and they both transformed into a monstrous form.

It was merciless.

There was no attempt to hide it.

If this was a cover-up by the church, it was far too brutal.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry—!”

She had done nothing wrong.

But unable to bear the guilt, Sailor ran, apologizing all the while.

The number of victims increased, but the enemy’s goal was to capture the person with the information.

They had only eliminated obstacles in their pursuit, and their eyes were undoubtedly still on her.

Sailor turned right again, entering a narrow street.

She heard more screams from behind, but there was nothing she could do.

Perhaps if she stopped running, she could stop it, but to ask a 10-year-old to accept that and give up on living as a human was too cruel.

Now, all she could do was grip her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms and move forward with a tear-streaked vision.

Run, run, run—

Wandering through deserted streets, seeking a place where no one else was.

She didn’t know how long she had been running.

Her body was already past its limits, screaming in pain, but she moved her numb legs driven by a sense of duty alone.

With each dry breath, her chest ached.

The true limit, beyond the limits, was fast approaching.

But they had no limits.

Just when she thought she had shaken them off, they appeared from nowhere, surrounding her before she knew it.

How far would she have to go to escape? No—was there even an end to this flight?

From the moment she had obtained the information about the church’s underground facility, her fate had been sealed.

“Haa… haa… a… aaaa…”

A weak voice escaped Sailor’s throat.

Yes, there was an end.

She couldn’t go out onto the main road, so she wandered through narrow, deserted streets.

At the end of it all, she found a dead end.

She placed her hand on the wall, feeling the rough texture, and collapsed to her knees.

There was no more to go.

The thought that she no longer needed to run made her feel strangely relieved.

“Ed, Johnny… I’ll be with you soon.”

She sat on the ground, leaning against the wall.

Her robe was dirty from the sand, but it didn’t matter since it would all be over soon.

She sprawled out, staring blankly at the road—then the eyes began to appear one by one.

Some rolled normally, some fell from above, some crawled out of the gutters, quite the performers.

Before she knew it, the ground was covered with white spheres, and the black pupils in the center all faced her.

“I’m sorry, everyone…”

The faces of the people she had lived with like family at the Central District Church, Ed, Johnny, Flamm, and those who had been caught up and become victims, flashed through her mind.

She apologized to everyone, looked up at the sky, and closed her eyes.

A gentle breeze brushed her cheeks, and the world fell silent—

◇◇◇

Flamm was heading to the guild as usual to look for a job.

She expected the usual noisy, alcohol-soaked space when she entered, but the introduction office was empty and unusually quiet.

Eira, the receptionist, was leaning on her elbow with an unhappy look on her face.

“What’s going on? Did Dane and the others quit?”

Flamm asked casually as she approached.

Eira snorted and answered without meeting her eyes.

“They’re at the church.”

“Church? You mean they’re praying to God for the success of their requests?”

“That’s right. They’re all at the church for a service.”

“…Huh?”

It was meant to be a joke, but she didn’t expect it to be true.

What had gotten into them?

Flamm looked around the nearly empty introduction office, frowning.

“They were all so cool when they were talking about taking over the church for us!”

“Why aren’t you going, Eira?”

“Hmph, why should I go to a service? I don’t believe in God, I only believe in money and men, you know.”

It was true, but not something to be proud of.

“Imagine it, a bunch of smelly men filling the church and praying piously! It’s just disgusting, isn’t it?”

“That’s true, it would be creepy and I wouldn’t want to go near it.”

Unusually, they agreed.

It was that strange and abnormal a situation.

If they were going to a service, it would be at the church in the West District, and Flamm hoped Sailor wouldn’t get caught up in it.

Surely, they wouldn’t dare to do anything to a nun on church property.

“So, is there a good job today?”

“Not today, you’re not motivated. Come back tomorrow.”

“No, no, no, the guild can’t allow that.”

“Well, there’s no master to supervise, so it’s my call.”

“…The master isn’t here?”

“There’s a master in name, but I’ve never seen him. The West District guild master is a troublesome job, so no one wants it. They just give the title to a high-ranking adventurer and leave it at that.”

That explained why Eira and Dane could do as they pleased.

The Central District guild headquarters probably appointed the guild master, but their work was sloppy.

It showed how low the West District guild was treated.

“So, I can’t get a job?”

“You’ve been making money lately, so take a day off. Or, you could sell your body like a slave.”

“I’ve heard that joke so many times, I’m tired of it.”

“Well, I’ll keep saying it. You’d look better as a prostitute than an adventurer, you know.”

“I don’t want to hear that from a woman who wears a low-cut top.”

“Huh? Are you saying my outfit looks like a prostitute’s?”

Their argument heated up.

With no other adventurers to intervene, it went on and on.

“Actually, isn’t that true? Dane and the others make you spread your legs every night—”

“Shut up, you’re saying whatever you want.”

Eira glared at Flamm.

But as just a receptionist, her glare lacked power.

Flamm smiled and taunted her further.

“My body isn’t that cheap!”

“Really? I thought it was on sale for half price.”

“Let me tell you, I only let the man I truly love touch me!”

“So, that man is Dane. Ha, you have no eye for men or bad taste.”

“It’s not Dane!”

“…Really?”

“Yes! I just use my guild authority to help him out, that’s all. I don’t give him my body!”

Hearing this unexpected fact, Flamm suddenly regained her composure.

She had assumed Eira was being toyed with by Dane and his group, but thinking about it, she had never seen any of the men from his group approach Eira.

“…What’s that look for?”

“Well, I thought you were lonely.”

“Mind your own business!”

Hit a nerve, perhaps, Eira’s cheeks flushed slightly as she barked.

“Honestly, I’m out of sorts without Dane and the others. Here, there are some jobs, so pick one.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“Even without a master to scold you, the clients will complain if you take too long.”

“Then you should have given them to me in the first place.”

“Shut up, just pick one.”

Maybe—she was just bored and wanted to argue to pass the time.

Flamm sighed, exasperated by the troublesome receptionist, and looked for a job she could finish today.

As she scanned the list, the guild’s entrance opened, and a breathless man approached the counter.

“Hey, Eira, where are Dane and the others? Where did they go!?”

The man’s eyes were bloodshot, and his face was pale.

“They’re at the church. What’s wrong?”

“…It’s that, it’s back! The same thing that appeared before!”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s Phil! The Phil that was found in a monster-like form before! They found several bodies like that along the streets by the West District wall!”

Flamm reacted to the word “monster.”

Of course, she thought of the orga she had seen at the research facility.

The power to turn humans into monsters—there was a good chance the church was involved.

But this man was probably part of Dane’s group.

She didn’t want to owe them a favor, but to get a lead on the research, she had no choice.

Flamm turned to him and said,

“Can you tell me more about this?”

She called out to him.