episode_0020

The sound of moaning coming from the second floor was so common that Cantaloupe paid it no mind. Considering the exorbitant rent extracted from the prostitutes working at the inn, she could bear the nightly echoes of moans spreading through the air.

Even when the moans emanated from Eliza’s resting room on the second floor, Cantaloupe remained unfazed. She was only slightly surprised by the fact that the moans sounded quite similar to Merayu’s.

It didn’t bother Cantaloupe in the least that Eliza was being devoured like a dog by that unfortunate fairy. Eliza had the right to choose her own sex partner, and she wasn’t particularly interested in the pleasure derived from the physical body on display.

What truly aroused Cantaloupe’s pleasure lay deeper within.

So, without waiting for a formal knock and response, she impulsively opened the door halfway and entered.

Reflecting on how Morianne had entered without knocking earlier that morning and scolded her, Cantaloupe’s behavior seemed hypocritical. Normally, she would have waited for a response before entering the room.

Perhaps the mischievousness she had only shown Merayu was resurfacing. The mischievousness that had died when they parted ways.

“Uh… I… this is… haaaah! Please, Vyne, stop!”

When Vyne freed Eliza’s chest from her mouth, a single stream of white milk sprayed from the pink nipple drenched in saliva, causing even the composed Cantaloupe to feel slightly uneasy.

“Miss Elsa, Miss Vyne. I have brought some pre-dinner snacks as a gesture of goodwill before our evening meal. It includes sandwiches made with purebred beef patties untouched by mutation, cream soup discovered in the food storage warehouse from days of hardship past, and orange juice brewed from powder.

In commemoration of Miss Elsa’s visit to this humble inn, I am currently preparing a grand dinner, but due to the time constraints, I have brought a modest meal. Please enjoy.”

Delicately, Cantaloupe placed the tray containing the snacks on the table, intentionally speaking more politely than usual.

Before Eliza could respond, Vyne interjected.

“A sandwich? Looks similar to Bocadillo.

Sorry, there was no need to bring my share. This is sufficient for me.”

Vyne said triumphantly as she squeezed Eliza’s right breast. As white milk sprayed from the nipple, sending a thrilling sensation up the ducts to her brain, Eliza desperately suppressed her moans.

“Nevertheless, I believe you will find it to your liking. Initially, I intended to make tuna sandwiches, but somehow I thought you might prefer meat more. Specifically, I slightly undercooked the patty for your portion to preserve the texture of raw meat.”

Cantaloupe paid no attention to Vyne’s provocations.

“…A rat-themed dish, indeed.”

With her amusement fading, Vyne released Eliza and rose from the bed. Eliza, now freed, hastily put on her bra and top. Struggling with the clasp of the bra added to the chaos.

Watching Eliza rush around, Cantaloupe spoke.

“It’s alright, Miss Eliza. Even if you were to streak through town spraying milk while running, I wouldn’t bat an eye.”

“I’m sorry…”

Eliza, now fully dressed, knelt on the bed and spoke to Cantaloupe.

“No need to apologize. Moans echoing from the second floor due to the comings and goings of the inn’s ladies are commonplace. Some peculiar individuals even come seeking to hear them. However…”

Cantaloupe smiled faintly and addressed Eliza.

“It’s a bit disconcerting to hear moans spreading all the way to the hallway before sunset; it’s a first even for me.”

Of course, it was a joke. When a lascivious woman who can’t control her belongings and is obsessed with money meets, it’s common for her cries to echo even at the height of her power at noon.

“Hyaaaaaah!”

To witness Eliza’s reaction, Cantaloupe deliberately lied.

“Aaaah! Please kill me! I don’t want to live anymore!”

Eliza flipped over as if trying to crawl into a blanket and screamed.

“Elsa shouldn’t die yet. At least… until I let her go.”

Vine casually identified her sandwich’s square bread to figure out what kind of sandwich she had, then spoke calmly, concealing the subject in consideration of Cantaloupe.

“Sexual desire is a natural human instinct. Don’t be ashamed; accept it.”

The crowd said, “There is no shame in sexual desire in the world.” She viewed any sexual preference as a unique personality trait. Even distorted desires for child molestation, incest, rape, or domination through violence.

Cantaloupe’s internal sexual desire was no exception.

“Uuuh….”

To Eliza, who was embarrassed to death, the advice was useless.

“She seems willing enough to eat. Seems like she tried hard on the mouse theme.”

Due to Vine speaking while eating the sandwich, her pronunciation slightly muddled.

“I wish you had just grilled it next time. Grilled meat is better than raw meat. It would be better if you lightly toasted the bread too.”

The expressions of the other two were filled with surprise upon hearing this.

“Don’t you like raw meat the best?”

Vine’s expression turned cold upon Eliza’s words.

“Just because they’re fairies doesn’t mean they don’t appreciate the appeal of grilled or boiled meat. Did you think only humans cook and eat meat?”

“…Then why did you consume it raw?”

“Because grilling is a hassle.”

It was a simple and clear answer.

Ignoring the stunned Eliza and Cantaloupe, Vine finished her sandwich and quickly drank the soup from the tin can.

“Pwah!”

Vine spewed hot cream soup from her mouth. Thanks to her adjusting the direction, the others didn’t have a mishap of spilling the hot soup.

“It’s hot! It’s hot!”

Vine set down the tin can and drank cool orange juice from a glass to soothe her almost-burned mouth.

“…Don’t you know how to use a spoon? They’re placed visibly on the tray for you.”

As Cantaloupe pointed out, there were two clean metal spoons on the tray to safely scoop up the hot soup.

“….”

Without saying a word, Vine held the glass but trembled in her hand.

“…Vine? Are you okay?”

Eliza worried about the silent Vine.

“…Guh!”

Holding the glass in her hand, Vine dashed out of the room.

“You’re not going to chase after her?”

“If I say something like ‘She didn’t commit suicide while I was gone,’ she’ll be back soon. Just wait here.”

Eliza answered Cantaloupe’s question while taking a bite of her sandwich.

“It’s delicious. Thank you. I was already quite hungry…”

“…Miss Vine, you may seem cold and cruel, but you have some tender corners.”

“Your usual actions are so wicked that you’re not particularly cute.”

Said Eliza as she sipped her orange juice.

“…Oh! The gas merchant is coming. I’ll go down now. Please make yourself comfortable.”

With a headache, Cantaloupe made an excuse and fled alone.

“…Thank you for your hard work.”

Eliza bid farewell to Cantaloupe as she closed the door behind her.

…!

As soon as Cantaloupe left, she lowered her pants and underwear to her thighs and took off her top. A clean, unused pink crack was revealed.

The crack was sticky and moist.

“…Huek….”

Eliza caressed the crevice with her fingers. A sweet pleasure spread throughout her body.

“Ahh…♥….”

Due to being on the brink of climax from Vyne’s skilled fingers and teasing tongue, Eliza was driven to the edge but left hanging, driving her to the brink of madness. Eliza vaguely knew that Vyne and Cantaloupe were individuals who wouldn’t be surprised if she masturbated in front of them, but a remnant of her humanity prevented Eliza from openly indulging in self-pleasure.

Not content with just teasing the crevice, Eliza inserted her fingers.

“Eeeek!”

Her fingers immediately found the source of pleasure buried within the flesh of the vaginal wall.

“Eeek eeeek….”

Lost in the exhilarating pleasure from that spot, Eliza frantically stimulated it with her middle finger.

Initially, she masturbated while thinking of an image often fantasized about when she was a man

(Her mother dressed in an evening gown with a plunging neckline).

However, Vyne’s image, sucking on nipples like a baby, with white milk smeared around her lips, licking it off with her tongue, gradually began to replace that mental picture.

“Ah! Ohhh!”

Before long, sticky fluid sprayed from the crevice, and Eliza succumbed to climax.

“Eeek….”

Regaining her senses from the endless pleasure, Eliza realized her current state.

She lay on the bed in a lewd position, legs spread wide, covered in various secretions like breast milk and fluids, her bra soaked stickily around the nipples.

The worst part was the lingering pleasure emanating from her throbbing vagina.

In fact, there was something even worse: the realization that Eliza had experienced her first female orgasm.

Tears streamed from Eliza’s eyes as she acknowledged this cruel reality, a eulogy to her former self, now completely dead.

This wasn’t Eliza’s final tear, of course; she had countless tears left to shed in the future.

The theme of the grand banquet called life (where the ingredients for the snacks served are invariably human flesh and blood) was hell, and no one could defy it—not humans, not even fairies already trapped in hell, nor the all-powerful “Wings” and their adversary, the “Snake.”

“Elsa? You didn’t commit suicide while I was away, did you? I got worried and came back.”

Vyne, who had disappeared somewhere, opened the door and entered. She still held a glass in her hand, covered in a sticky, transparent substance.

Eliza was dressed neatly, spooning the last of the soup from the tin can on the table.

“I’m not planning to die yet, so don’t worry.”

Eliza put the spoonful of soup into her mouth and sucked on it. It tasted sweet, similar to the soup that occasionally served as an appetizer in Amehain.

“That’s a good attitude. Take care of your body.”

“Vyne.”

Eliza called out to Vyne.

“…?”

Vyne looked at Eliza with a cold yet curious expression.

“Do you find my breast milk tasty?”

Upon hearing the question, Vyne answered Eliza with the same cold expression.

“It’s not unbearable, but it doesn’t taste good. However…”

Vyne raised the tin can, still containing a significant portion of her share.

“If you steadily consume more nutrients, it might improve in taste.”

Eliza quietly accepted the tin offered by Vyne and scooped some of its contents with the spoon.

“Instead of that, we should eat meat. I’ll bring a human tonight for us to feast on together. I’ll show you how to eat. Would you like to join me?”

In a secluded corner of the inn, using even a glass to secretly engage in self-pleasure (even though she was considered sexually liberated, Vina didn’t feel inclined to publicly masturbate in front of humans), Vina felt quite content.

“I’m fine. I’ll eat what Cantaloupe prepared.”

Eliza thought Vina would retort with a curse after rejecting her kindness, but Vina, in good spirits, didn’t do so.

“Alright. Still, it’s good to learn. You might need the skill of separating human flesh and bone bare-handed someday. Later on.”

Eliza brushed this off as Vina’s sarcastic remark, but little did she know that Vina urgently needed to learn the skill of consuming humans.

*

There wasn’t much excitement at night. The dinner Cantaloupe personally made (baguette bread, steak with gravy sauce, salad with cabbage and cherry tomatoes drizzled with fresh dressing, savory corn soup, large sausages found in the food warehouse, etc…. They ate together in their room with a table and chairs, not in the noisy hall. It was a humble meal, but diverse and delicious) was excellent except for Vina’s occasional mild insults. Nothing out of the ordinary happened before they fell asleep in the same bed.

Eliza slept soundly without any nightmares.

The specter of nightmares visited Vina.

In the nightmare, Vina stood at the top of a lookout tower with a missing roof, gazing down at the black earth below. Thanks to the tower being atop a mountain, she could oversee the land at a glance.

Downstream of the rocky river leading to the sea flowed a viscous black river of holy blood, trees twisted grotesquely like knights in black armor through roots sucking in the blood, beasts with extra limbs or organs hanging from them wandered, emitting chilling cries, and the Black Blood Aelenis, favored by Prada, conducted their noble rites within the crumbling buildings.

Once a small village known as Canterbury, now a sanctuary blessed by Prada, Aelena.

“Vina, look over there.”

Standing right beside Vina on her left, Elza pointed somewhere with her finger. Though Elza smiled brightly, her smile was nothing but a mockery on a decaying flesh-covered skull.

Clad in a decayed black suit Vina had never seen before, taller than her, and with a refined voice, Elza almost went unrecognized.

A large hole pierced the skull’s forehead, a mark left by a large-caliber bullet used in Amehain for executing sinners.

“Behold the cross proudly displaying itself in the guise of sacred blood. Behold the relic standing on the sacred ground!”

Elza pointed to the large church at the heart of Aelena with her decaying flesh-covered fingers. At the top of the church’s roof stood a large cross, much like the one in the Church of Libra.

The center of sanctity. The origin of corruption.

“Elza, let’s go back quickly.” Vina’s voice remained calm. The creeping fear had not yet engulfed her.

“There are many things more beautiful in this world than that. Life is too short to waste it on such monstrosities.”

Elza retorted as if mocking.

“Monstrosities? Seems like Vina, not chosen by the Almighty, fails to appreciate beauty and holiness.”

“…I don’t care about that.”

Vina’s voice trembled as she lost her composure upon hearing Elza’s mockery.

“No! If Vina were born as a human under the protection of the Almighty instead of a fairy, everything would have been fine.”

The skeleton continued to sneer at Vine.

“The fairy princess must have been freed from her shackles.”

“Quiet.”

“There wouldn’t have been evil humans throwing their compatriots into the depths of hell for failing to fulfill their duties.”

“Shut up.”

“There wouldn’t have been sinking into disgraceful sleep while hearing the condemnation of compatriots.”

“Stop it.”

“You didn’t need to betray that child.”

“Stop stop stop stop!”

Vine struck the skeleton with a fist. Struck in the chest, the skeleton turned into dust, leaving only scattered clothes on the ground.

Canterbury Elena also concealed herself.

The void was filled by a massive reservoir.

The reservoir, containing holy blood, was dark and damp. Stone bridges in a checkerboard pattern were installed 3 meters above the reservoir, their ends unseen.

Vine stood on the dark-stained stone bridges, looking down into the reservoir.

“Fairies can only be defeated by humans,” echoed the skeleton’s voice in the reservoir.

“Under the protection of ‘Wings,’ humans have cleared obstacles blocking their path! Just like that, fairies were thrown into hell and all traces of them were erased! Though a few survivors remain, they are powerless! They’ve surrendered to humans like dogs!”

The holy blood in the reservoir began to ripple.

“Vine, creatures without a caring god can only be defeated by gods! That’s an unchanging truth dominating the universe. Don’t you understand yet?”

A giant right hand, with rotten bones exposed in places, emerged from the reservoir and grabbed Vine’s left leg. Holy blood splattered over Vine’s body.

Terrified, Vine did not scream.

“Even knowing the truth, are you going to strive to save your compatriots? Will you torment Elza, a helpless victim?”

The owner of the right hand leaned out from the reservoir, glaring at Vine with narrowed, blackened eyes. As blood flowed, it left dark marks on its pale, corpse-like skin.

While its facial features were intact, the face was split down the middle, revealing dark, decaying flesh pulsating within the gap.

Where a normal nose should have been, a red eyeball embedded in decaying flesh stared at Vine.

Vine nodded.

“Really? It’s not a bad choice to give up obligations and live happily with Elza.”

It raised its right hand.

“If that’s Vine’s choice, I’ll respect it. But I can’t support you like a stranger.”

It flattened Vine with its palm.

There was no room for screams.

Slowly, it lifted its hand. Vine’s blood and entrails clung to its palm before falling onto Vine’s flattened body, unrecognizably mangled.

Silently observing Vine’s remains stuck to its palm, it then sank them beneath the reservoir where they belonged.

*

Vine woke up from the dream.

“…It was a dream.”

Vine removed the blanket covering their body and slowly got up, looking down at Elza sleeping soundly.

Whether due to a habit or something else, the blanket they had covered themselves with until just before had fallen to the floor, and Elza lay sprawled out, arms and legs spread awkwardly.

“….”

Elza was wearing different clothes than during the day. Exposing her belly button and bra strap, she wore a slightly provocative tank top and shorts.

Vine lifted the tank top and the bra underneath, starting to suckle on Elza’s right breast.

“Mmm….”

Moans escaped Elza’s lips, but she remained asleep. The accumulated amount of breast milk wasn’t much. She nursed from the other side as well, but the milk storage seemed similar on both sides.

However, that was enough for now. The familiar and nostalgic taste engraved in the fairy’s genes infused vitality into Vina.

Vina left Elsa alone and lay back on the bed.

This time, she prayed not to have a nightmare.

“Hermoso… Verano. Hermoso… Verano.”

Reciting the magic spell, Vina fell asleep again, dreaming a dream where her precious friend appeared.