Ch.113Then the Devil Came Through the Front Door (7)

The guard post commander said that “the Mine” was a natural cave that had been expanded and refined into a fortress and exile monastery by an unnamed king and his subordinates. It was said to be as spacious and complex as a decent fortress inside, as it needed to accommodate nobles, soldiers, and serfs alike.

After the king’s era ended and the emperor’s age arrived, the Mine was hidden among the trees of the Black Forest. Until Roberta discovered it by chance about ten years ago.

And now, the Mine was enjoying an even greater heyday than back then.

Finding one’s way wasn’t difficult. The complex internal structure was equally challenging for both visitors and residents, which is why brief maps and current locations were carved next to the torches.

The problem was, as expected, the people. The inside was chaotic with people crying, laughing, shouting, yelling, and beating others.

The Count’s soldiers were busy moving sacks and wooden boxes from place to place. Carts with missing wheels frequently blocked the corridors, and cursing and fistfights were commonplace.

To avoid getting caught in the chaos, Maria lifted a wooden barrel about the size of a person’s body, while Kain picked up a wooden box. Both were empty so they weren’t heavy, but their bulkiness made them somewhat awkward to carry.

Thanks to this, Kain’s group didn’t attract much attention. They looked like nothing more than soldiers carrying cargo.

The entrance to the Mine seemed to be used as a kind of warehouse. It was where the Count’s soldiers and thieves stored goods extorted from various parts of Bördem County.

Along the way, Kain clearly saw a fat man who didn’t look like a soldier exchanging Imperial currency with a soldier who had a booklet tucked under his arm. Judging by the sullen-looking workers carrying sacks from the warehouse, they seemed to be making money through this kind of black market trade.

But this wasn’t the place the guard post commander had mentioned. The group moved deeper inside.

As they entered a wide, dry corridor, they could see white dye markings on the floor. It seemed to indicate different zones. The area beyond was just as crowded with people, and since there were also people carrying cargo, Kain’s group entered in the same manner they had been moving.

After entering the corridor, they saw a wide, high hall. It was as massive as the entrance hall, but being deeper inside the cave, it was somewhat darker.

This made it feel even more damp and gloomy. Food was cooking in hearths set up throughout, and bare-chested soldiers were rolling oak barrels around. At round tables, the Count’s soldiers burst into laughter as they exchanged barbaric jokes.

“Look at that,” Maria whispered, pointing to tables in a deeper, dimmer area. There, male and female soldiers were embracing men and women dressed in rags. Terrified expressions. Sunken cheeks. Clothes that were more like rags. And iron chains on their ankles.

They were playthings. The soldiers laughed lewdly as they freely groped and taunted their playthings. Vidocq had called them “the Scapegoats.” Not in a good sense.

“Sometimes entire villages fall into debt. Then, they sell off someone with no connections or someone unpopular from the village. Why would they do such a thing?… Is there any toy more fun than a human?”

Those with crazed eyes dragged their playthings to more secluded areas. There were rows of closets just large enough for a person, seemingly made for such purposes. All that could be heard from there were screams and moans, pain crushed under vile desires.

Resistance only made the soldiers more delighted. “Yes, this is more fun!” Some threw a sausage among the playthings and made them fight for it, others made them slap each other’s faces and gave the last one standing a sip of alcohol…

But this wasn’t the place the guard post commander had mentioned.

Kain and Maria set down their loads in a suitable spot. The soldiers there were too busy with their own activities to pay any attention to comrades carrying loads back and forth.

Deeper inside, they could see a corridor lined with silk. If the outer area was cheap comfort for soldiers, this silk path was said to be operated for specially honored guests.

It was said to only open for special occasions, so it was usually locked, but on days when it properly opened, “literally, you couldn’t escape from there.”

But for some reason, it was open now. Exchanging glances, the group pulled up their towels to cover their faces and entered.

Inside, the scene resembled the back streets of a decent-sized city. High ceilings, long corridors, and doors built on both sides of the corridors.

These places might have been used as personal quarters for soldiers in the old king’s time, but now they were spaces for high-class entertainment.

Perhaps doing some cleaning, servants and maids with head towels were busily moving around. Unlike the ordinary playthings outside, they were all handsome and beautiful.

Even as people age, they become like empty dolls.

The servants and maids glanced at Kain’s group. But none dared to ask them, “What are you doing? Where are you going?”

They would quickly bow their heads and scurry away whenever eye contact was about to be made. But they couldn’t help whispering about them behind their backs.

‘Is this a place soldiers shouldn’t enter?’

While Kain was pondering,

“Hey, you there!”

A man with a pheasant feather in his hair approached from the other side. He had a sturdy build and was carrying something like a ledger under his arm, but he was shirtless and wearing only shorts.

Kain prepared for a fight, and Maria slightly twisted her wrist, ready to draw her wrist blade. Lily stood calmly, but judging by her twitching right hand, she was poised to cut the man down in an instant.

But the man was indifferent.

“How much have you had to drink?”

“What?” Kain asked, surprised by the unexpected question. The man nodded and wiggled his finger.

“I see you can understand what I’m saying, so you’re still sober. Come here and help me with this! There’s no one working around here. Hey, what are you waiting for!”

The three walked toward the man. The servants and maids pressed themselves against the walls just at the sight of them. Like nobles making way when imperial family members pass by.

One of the private rooms was open. Kain smelled a familiar scent. The smell of blood congealing. No servant or maid dared to come near that area.

A spacious room large enough for four people to enter. A red candlestick softly illuminated an elegant rosewood table. In the center of the room was a bed wide enough for three people to lie on. But now only one woman was lying there. Completely naked. With eyes wide open. With a dagger stabbed into the side of her neck.

“Crazy bitch, don’t know where she got the knife from.” The man picked up his clothes that had fallen to the floor while stroking his chin.

“Hey, what are you doing? You need to wrap her in the bedsheet and clear this up! Haven’t you been here long?”

Kain nodded.

“Yeah. Just got here.”

That was the signal.

Lily kicked the back of the man’s knee. Maria thrust a dagger between the man’s teeth. The man would no longer be able to move his tongue. Kain closed and locked the door. He drew his Imperial sword and turned toward the man.

“So now it’s my turn to have some fun.”

As soon as the man tried to move, Maria placed her dagger against his mouth. Slowly, gradually, gently picking at it like fingers on a lover’s collar. A disgusting smell filled the room. The man had wet himself.

“Where are the children.”

Maria yanked out the dagger. As the man with his mouth torn tried to grab his mouth, Kain kicked him in the stomach.

“Where! Are! The children!”

“In-inside. Stone st-stairs, be-below… But you can’t. Can’t go in now… ceremony. During ceremony…”

“Why did you kill this woman?”

“This fuck…” the man lamented. “…I just wanted to try a place where the high-ups had been… fuck… I just wanted… just once with someone pretty and fresh…! But she tried to stab me…!”

Kain pulled the dagger from the woman’s neck and stabbed it into the man’s side, where fat jiggled. Not fatal, but painful. The man couldn’t even scream. Kain had struck his Adam’s apple.

“The ledger. Where’s the ledger. A place like this doesn’t operate without records. There must be records!”

“…ah…uh…”

Kain twisted the dagger. The man convulsed and wailed.

“The-the sanctuary! In the sanctuary! Inside… the deepest part…!”

Kain yanked out the dagger. The man curled forward, crying like a pig.

There was a commotion outside the door. Lily flung the door open. The servants and maids pressed themselves against the wall in surprise. They covered their mouths at the sight of Kain’s blood-covered hands and dagger. Their eyes were wet with terror, but their lips… just trembled.

Too long crushed under fear. They couldn’t even scream. Kain grabbed the hand of a somewhat sturdy-looking servant. He placed the blood-sticky dagger in his hand.

“Do as you wish. And escape as quickly as possible. Roberta is dead, and Bördem is coming with his men.”

Kain stepped aside. The trembling servant gripped the dagger firmly. Five servants and maids entered the room. The rest blocked the doorway. From inside came the faint sounds of oppressed humans tearing apart a beast.

But this wasn’t the place the guard post commander had mentioned.

At the end of the corridor was a cool stone staircase. The coldness rising from the floor gave the feeling of descending into a columbarium. It was dry, and there was the sound of wind. That meant there was a path for air to flow through.

The three pressed themselves against the stairwell wall. They descended carefully to avoid making footsteps. The humming sound of wind grew louder.

‘No. It’s not the sound of wind.’

Kain focused on the sound coming to them. It wasn’t wind, but human voices. Not one or two people, but the murmuring of many.

Even after walking down for quite some time, the floor was still not visible. Kain thought this must be as tall as a decent tower.

A dark open space appeared.

Not a wide field under the bright sun. The faint light flowing from the landing and the obsessively installed torches and braziers couldn’t fully illuminate the hopelessly vast open space’s darkness.

Like pouring a cup of water in the desert wouldn’t quench its thirst.

But the open space, contrary to its name, wasn’t completely empty. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness while descending the stairs, Kain saw what appeared to be at least fifty meters away.

In front of a stone altar covered with thick candle wax, small children were continuously offering prayers.

It was a scene often seen during the Great Sacrifice Festival commemorating the sacrifice of the Prophet of Life and Death.

On that day, all citizens of the Empire go to chapels to attend mass.

Because there are so many prayer texts to memorize, people unconsciously sway their bodies back and forth. As if keeping time with their bodies. Prayer texts with rhythm soon become songs with melody. What does it matter if the pitch doesn’t match? At least the rhythm matches.

Then a mysterious thing happens. The experience of my voice mixing with others’ voices.

Though the words clearly come from me, they become completely identical with others’, so that even though ten, a hundred, a thousand people are praying, it sounds as if just one person is murmuring.

Everyone speaks with me. Everyone breathes with me. In this place where there are only voices, breaths, silence, and rhythm, one cannot distinguish between others and oneself. No, one should not be distinguished. This is a place of harmony. Distinctions that break harmony are dissonance…

But.

But that prayer endlessly rises up and up. A prayer that worships God should rightfully do so. However, those children’s prayers were not like that.

The children murmured incessantly. They were so thin that their stomachs and backs were pressed together. One couldn’t even distinguish between boys and girls.

They all had sunken cheeks, protruding eyes, and necks as thin as twigs, with heads that seemed too large for their bodies. Of course, it was because their bodies were so emaciated, but it seemed as if their heads might fall off with a pop if they bowed.

This was it. The place guard post commander Vidocq had mentioned. The place where they captured and imprisoned the children of disobedient serfs. Kain recalled Bördem’s statement.

“They say children who go through here literally lose their minds. They don’t sleep, don’t work, don’t eat or drink, just pray. Even when their parents cry, laugh, and coax them in front, they just repeat ‘I have sinned. I need to go to my parents,’ and starve to death.”

“…What exactly do they tell them?”

“They say a ‘priest’ whispers to the serf children:

‘This is neither heaven nor hell. It’s the in-between. You didn’t obey your parents. So you must be punished. If you become a good child, your parents will come to find you. But if you continue to disobey, you must stay here forever.’

Then the children would naturally ask, ‘How do I become a good child?’ And the priest would say:

‘Pray.’

That’s the power of prayer, they say. Isn’t that funny? Huh? Isn’t it funny? How do Count Bördem and Countess Roberta rule this vast land? It’s the power of faith and prayer…”

Sensing the ominous atmosphere, Vidocq had laughed submissively.

“Ha. But it-it can’t be true, right? Such things couldn’t happen. Th-this is just something I heard.”

“Did you participate too?”

Kain had growled into Vidocq’s ear.

“…I just brought them to the entrance. That’s all! That’s it! I don’t know exactly what happens inside! What do I know about what they do with kidnapped children of disobedient serfs!”

But those words were all true.

“Drrrng…kul…”

From a distance. Of course, shrouded in thick darkness. Priests who had fallen asleep using the children’s lament-filled prayers as lullabies could be seen. Squinting, Kain could see they were priests in black robes.

Kain took a deep breath. As he turned his head, there was a thudding sound. The evidence was there. Evidence to speak of Bördem’s misconduct and Roberta’s vices. After quickly exchanging opinions, the three quietly dispersed into the darkness.