episode_0003

“What are you looking at? Can’t even finish the soup?”

Seeing her appetite return, could it be that she wanted to eat something delicious?

As I wiped my thick lips with my tongue, her gaze made me shudder so much that I immediately averted my eyes.

“Heh heh. Still, it’s somewhat of a success, isn’t it?”

An out-of-place humming.

Stroking the overflowing flesh with sausage-like hands, the majestic chin that rumbled as if caressing it – two of them?

Fortunately, whether she lost interest in me or not, the enormous figure disappeared with a rumble.

The direction her body faced was towards where the basement was located.

However.

As we headed towards the bedroom, the guest we had been searching for did not appear, and the nuns who were making a fuss seemed to ignore us as if nothing had happened.

Swearing and moving slowly, almost as if to strike the children.

If there was anything to worry about, it would be not seeing Lena who had been dragged into the basement.

I should think of her as just another child who died, but did I perhaps grow attached to her in that short time?

The heroic tales hidden under the bed kept flashing in my mind.

The sparkling golden eyes that were diligently reading a book, holding me slightly and the eye-catching Lena who was missing.

Eventually, due to staying up all night, I lay down on the bed feeling exhausted.

It was the next day when I got to see Lena.

While eating, our eyes met by chance, and the blonde girl subtly gestured to me.

In a dangerous manner.

After confirming that everything was fine, somehow both my heart and eyes felt at ease.

If there was something bothering me, it was probably her blushing cheeks.

It seemed like I needed to see her again tonight.

“…Ouch.”

“Just endure a little bit.”

In the darkened bedroom, Lena, who inevitably came to me, was seated on the bed.

Applying crushed herbs gently to her bruised skin, her eyelids twitched less.

Perhaps as the pain gradually subsided, her eyes became noticeably calmer.

“Hey, how old is Lian?”

Throwing a question without caring about her injuries.

Seemingly forgetting what happened yesterday morning, Lena murmured with a bit more strength in her voice.

And she seemed to have already gotten used to tidying up the bedding. She had five bugs in her hand already.

“I came here last birthday, so probably twelve.”

“Wow… You’re three years older than me.”

Three years?

But she seems quite small for that age.

Her petite body, almost doll-like, could easily pass for an eleven-year-old –

Is it because she’s a girl?

“Then can I call you ‘big brother’?”

“Oh, big brother?”

“Yeah. Big brother. You’re older than me. Lian, big brother.”

Even though there was no blood relation, why was she saying this to me?

Because she patched up a few wounds? Read her stories?

“She said families help each other. Since Lian big brother helped me a lot.”

Helping and living together, huh.

It was just something that kept bothering me.

Was Lena already considering me closer than a friend?

Not someone who could disappear at any moment.

“How about it? I’ll help Lian big brother tidy up the bedding every day.”

“There’s really no need for that…”

It started as a trade-off for reading her heroic tales.

Of course, I was always at a loss sleeping on the floor every time…

“And today, I know. I’m good at lying on the floor.”

“I should have gotten you a bed instead.”

“They’re all stronger and faster than me.”

Sleeping on the floor with wounds, surely bugs or mice would come near.

…I ended up becoming the one who always took care of her.

Maybe I’ve gained a real younger sister.

“Got it. I’ll read you the heroic tales. You know you have to be quiet today too, right?”

“Yeah. I know.”

Murmuring, Lena leaned close to me, and I could feel her starting to fidget under the covers.

Despite her small frame, she brought a certain weight with her – a weight that was distinctly felt for some reason.

Breathing in and out, shoulders twitching with each exhale.

With every turn of the page, rolling eyes were visible and audible.

“Today… seems like a story about a thief-turned-hero who hunted down a winged monster.”

“A winged monster?”

A heroic tale passed down by a deceased friend.

Thus began the storytelling time between Lena and me.

Initially, due to Lena’s loud voice, we had to be cautious, but as we read on, we grew more comfortable.

Rather than raising our voices, we leaned in closer, moving from the bed near the door that might give us away to a deeper corner.

After each hero’s tale ended, we leaned on each other as if lost.

Then, covering ourselves with a blanket and closing our eyes, we could sleep warmly.

Truly feeling like siblings.

“Who is it today?”

The pitiful story I read had no end.

The tale of soldier Jenkinson who brought down a tyrant.

Bandit Hawkins who killed the dragon disturbing the mountains and fields.

And the hunter Keshper who felled the monstrous beast from the sky with just one arrow.

As thick books introduced new characters endlessly, Lena and I continued to meet.

Lena’s prayers for a hero.

“He won’t come. It was the same last time.”

“No, he will come. You pray with Father every day, right?”

Even though the brightest girl at the orphanage’s wish remained unfulfilled, not even heroes descended from the heavens.

Not heroes, not even passing hunters.

Despite knowing better, Lena persistently begged me to pray together.

“They say fervent wishes come true. So let’s pray together, okay?”

Knowing it wouldn’t happen, I reluctantly held her hand and closed my eyes.

And perhaps, spoke to the god above.

Please, send a hero to vanquish these nuns.

Reading every night, praying earnestly, did it help?

“I kept hearing squeaking noises in the room, thought it was a mouse.”

The answer to that prayer wasn’t from a god.

Just heavy, noisy voices akin to pigs grunting.

Startled, I turned my head to find only ‘friends’ with gleaming eyes in the darkened room.

Each draped in a flipped blanket, staring at Lena and me.

“Ah…!”

The moonlight that once illuminated the golden girl was no more.

Their massive forms had eclipsed Lena’s light.

“These bastards.”

Repeatedly, painstakingly covered wounds with poultices made them bearable.

Faces that now showed smiles instead of grimaces.

Though Lena helped them heal, her hand flew towards a cheek once again.

– Smack.

The sound of tearing flesh heard ad nauseam since arriving at the orphanage.

But this time, it sounded louder than ever.

“Oh, Brother?”

With wavering, blurry eyes, I saw the golden eyes directed at me.

No scars on her cheeks.

Thank goodness.

***

“Let go! Brother! Brother! Get up!”

“Not even real family, yet calling me brother. Can’t you shut up?!”

The faint wall shook violently, the floor coming dangerously close.

…My nose hurt.

“Thought I heard mice squeaking every night. Tsk, that brat managed to do this even after seeing him dead. Avoiding my gaze.”

The blood-stained book jabbed Lena with a cook, cook, piercing sensation.

Her small body tried to block it somehow, but the wounds only grew.

“Stop! Please stop!”

“Sure, keep squeaking a bit more. That’s how despair finds its way to you.”

How could a nun serving God say such things?

Is God truly watching over us?

If so, He would have saved Lena.

“God will punish evil people like you! A hero will come and punish you!”

“Oh, scary. But have I already forgotten who I am?”

The flesh quivering to the point where the nun’s habit might burst open.

Simultaneously, a fist clenched like a hammer.

It was clear that being hit by it wouldn’t just result in bruises.

“Gah…”

“This is the punishment that befalls children like you.”

With a gradually shifting body, she groped the floor.

As Lena struggled, the wind split, and she kicked the desk hard.

Rushing forth, stationery items spilled out.

Pens and inkwells fell to the ground and rolled towards me.

“Let go! Let go!”

Before the clenched fist could strike Lena, she grabbed a pen with a sharp tip.

Then, with a forceful kick, possibly thicker than a pig’s back, she struck her foot.

“Agh!”

“Lena!”

The hand that had gripped her collar suddenly opened wide, and the small body fell limply to the ground.

But instead of getting up, Lena, with tear-filled eyes, stared blankly at me.

“Pull yourself together, we need to get out quickly!”

“Ah, uh…”

Seemingly shocked, Lena couldn’t even look at me properly and fumbled around.

I had no choice but to grab her delicate wrist and pull her towards the door.

“You little rat!”

Her neck was seized, lifting her up.

A strength stronger than my father’s, holding me with both hands.

That was why Lena couldn’t come down, no matter how she struggled.

“Gah.”

Flesh and stature so unbelievable for a nun.

A form and strength that couldn’t possibly be called feminine.

Understanding those things was happening right before my eyes.

“I was going to leave you alone since it wasn’t the right time yet. How dare you cause harm to this body?!”

There was no blood flowing from the kick.

Instead, black tentacles writhed within the wound, tossing away the pen and sealing the hole.

Was it because of what she did to make the wound heal?

Something resembling a worm squirmed beneath the skin, gradually disfiguring the face.

“An impudent sacrifice dares to…!”

Lena was right.

This person was not a nun.

She was a monster.

“If only a few more mature males were added, it would have been over. You’ve ruined everything…!”

In the contorted face, a familiar figure appeared.

The nun who had visited the orphanage with the man a few days ago.

Could it be that she is a monster that devours people to gain strength?

“Now that it’s come to this, I must fill the void left behind. It may be filled with kids like you.”

With a snap, her mouth opened wide.

Teeth too sharp and dense to be human.

Did that man get devoured in this manner?

Is that why he grew in size?

“Let go of her!”

Her arms, much thicker than a butcher’s, didn’t budge no matter how hard I struck them.

Clutching her fist, scratching with nails sharpened on stones and dirt, not a single scratch on the… monster.

However…

“Agh!”

Thrown off, the nun’s habit began to tear apart as the monstrous headmistress moved rapidly away from me –

“Ah! Let go of my brother!”

It seemed like Lena, just like I did, was about to stomp on the fallen pen.

Once again, tentacles wriggled from the wound, spat out the pen, and sealed the hole, but…

“These… bastards… wuuugh -!”

The now much more agitated and heavier monster’s eyes sank into my flesh.

It started feeling around the ground with its huge hands, whether to see properly or not.

– Thud.

Just placing it down made a sound like a heavy book hitting the ground.

“I cannot forgive. Both of you, no, all of you in this state will be devoured…!”

“Uh, uhh -”

Why can’t you move after using the pen so much, Lena?

We need to run…!

– Thump.

“Sister Headmistress, there’s a problem – Eek?!”

Accompanied by the sound of the door opening, a nun wielding a club appeared.

However, the head nun seemed to be taken aback as if she didn’t know that this creature was like this, and she sat down on the floor in surprise.

“Come here!”

A mass of flesh that one might not even call a hand lunged at Lena and the nun.

If they were caught under that, it would surely end in injury.

“Lena!”

She put strength into her legs, kicked off the ground, and grabbed Lena by the shoulder.

As light as it was, she could easily lift her body when she bit down and exerted force.

Before her arm hit the ground, she managed to pull Lena out from the growing shadow.

“Sis, Sister Lian.”

The nun, trapped under the mass of flesh, disappeared leaving only blood behind.

A sound of something breaking could be heard from the writhing arms.

“I have to eat… more…! How is this a familiar body? How is this a close body…!”

The monster, muttering with a twisted mouth, twitched where its eyes should have been.

Then, it looked at Lena in my embrace.

“That child, come to me, my offering, my sacrifice…!”

The once human-like head nun swung what used to be her arm again.

There was no way to avoid the mass of flesh approaching from the door, and the nun was trying to grab Lena.

If I give myself up?

Then, the sound of a thud will surely be heard.

The girl who called me “brother” will die like that.

“Hero…”

Even at this moment, does she still want a hero, a savior?

That no one will come to save us,

That even though a monster appears to kill us, the gods in the sky do not even listen to our prayers…

Does she still not know?

Suddenly, a story passed through my mind.

The tale of the hero Northchild, the first paladin I ever read.

A simple farmer who fought alone to protect his village and family.

If a hero for Lena really doesn’t appear…

– Thud.

My head hit the wall.

It felt like my arm had been struck hard with a club… it swelled up and hurt fiercely.

“Ah… Oh, sister?”

Lena, whom I had embraced, seemed to be okay.

Thank goodness.

“Run… away, Lena. The hero – probably won’t come.”

“No, no. The hero will come. To save me and my brother -”

The arm that had struck me writhed and turned back into a fleshy mass.

The still swelling body of the head nun was truly grotesque.

“S-stop, ugh, stop…”

A scream that seemed to express pain.

Saliva flowing from the mouth that couldn’t close.

Eyes covered by flesh again, thickened arms and legs trembled.

“Now, ugh, now I can go, Lena. Run away.”

“No! I won’t leave Brother alone!”

A wish that had never been fulfilled.

A day without mishap had never happened, a life inside the orphanage.

“God, please send a hero to save Brother Lian, make a hero appear who can kill that monster…!”

“A hero? Huh, haha! A hero won’t come, this little – this little one…! Even if he comes, he’ll probably be buried in the graveyard!”

Raising the flesh that covered her eyes, the monster looked at me and Lena with writhing eyes.

The head nun, swinging her remaining arm, was trying to strike.

Is there really no hero at this moment?

Will none of them, who sacrificed their lives to save people and brighten the world, come in the end?

God, I am willing to sacrifice my life, please.

Protect Lena, give me the strength to defeat that monster.

– Crash.

The sound of something breaking was heard.

Probably my head.

“Aaahhh!!!”

A scream was heard.

And it was too brutal to call it human.

Someone other than Lena or me was in pain.

“Oh, Brother, Brother!”

She opened her eyes tightly closed due to the shaking body.

Coughing erupted from the acrid smoke felt in her nose.

“That thing…!”

Something that broke the ceiling, charred wood.

A blackened object emitting white light was stuck in the flesh, piercing the floor.