episode_0016

Fruits spread their seeds in various ways. The fruit that Lian split was one of those kinds. However, this fruit did not have a sweet smell, but rather a scent similar to raw meat, which lured animals.

This fruit had seeds embedded deeply within the flesh, much like strawberries, making it advantageous for even a single bite to enter an animal’s mouth. As a result, it evolved to resemble raw meat in order to entice more animals.

No one in the kitchen knew this.

“What on earth… what happened?”

Noah looked at Lian, whose eyes were trembling and darting around.

Though she had abandoned her sacrifice and fled to live a comfortable life, he couldn’t ignore Lian, who had become a mess and was cleaning with swollen, bruised hands.

“Look at me and tell me straight. Is it really the work of insects? If there are such insects, we need to find them immediately. Otherwise, the children will be in danger.”

“Uh, well, actually…”

Caught off guard by Noah’s serious gaze, Lian began to explain what had happened.

The problem was that Lian was so flustered that she started rambling from the moment she arrived in the kitchen.

“Oh, this isn’t it!”

Lian stopped her story, looking distressed, after mentioning dropping a glass jar in the kitchen.

“Let’s just get to the point.”

In the world of comedy, if you talk too much, most people will ignore and leave. That’s why Lian decided to habitually keep her words brief and stick to the main points.

“Phew… long story short, when I arrived in the kitchen, it was messy. While cleaning, Rania came and found the intruder hiding in the kitchen, and then…”

“What?! Wait, intruder?”

“Yeah. A person with arms this big and a skinny body… Oh, right, their cheekbones were extremely prominent.”

At these words, Noah’s face turned pale.

A man with absurdly thick arms and protruding cheekbones, Noah had seen that man before.

The pouring rain, the sound of laughter amidst the rain, someone’s scream seeped into his ears like an echo unable to escape the forest.

Due to the significantly low temperature, Noah clenched his hands, feeling the pain as if frozen. Sharing body heat with Nero, he somehow continued his tough life.

“Tsk, it’s always disgusting and dirty here.”

While huddling to maintain body warmth, a sharp voice was heard. Noah pulled Nero closer and cautiously turned his gaze outside the narrow cage.

Enormously swollen arms and a disproportionately thin body, the protruding cheekbones caught his attention at a glance from below.

“Please come in. Do you have something you’re looking for?”

Doban was wearing a robe that only high-level dark mages could use, so the slave trader rushed over with a servile face, fluttering his hands like a fly.

“Hmph, don’t you recognize me?”

“Oh? Ah… Doban!”

The slave trader glanced at the absurdly protruding cheekbones with cold sweat dripping, feeling ridiculous.

“So now you know what I’m looking for.”

The slave trader felt sweat trickling down his back. A mad dark mage who showed no mercy and enjoyed cruel experiments.

The slave trader desperately rummaged through his memory more than ever. Whether his efforts paid off or not, Doban could remember what kind of taste he had.

“Oh! Then, of course, you know! Come this way. I will show you the highest grade of slaves.”

Bowing deeply as if to fold his waist, the slave trader pointed with both arms. Doban, without a word, followed the slave trader, whose abject attitude didn’t seem to bother him.

As Doban was about to take a step, a slave, being dragged like livestock with a rope around his neck, collapsed in front of Doban.

The tendon was cut, and I couldn’t walk properly, and I fell because the ground was slippery.

Thud.

A dry slave collapsed on the muddy puddle on the ground. The slave struggled to breathe heavily like a fish pulled out of water and looked up at the master.

“….”

The master silently looked at his shoes and pants. When the slave fell into the mud, the splashed water had dirtied the front of the shoes and the lower part of the pants.

“How dare you…”

The master flashed a fierce look and pointed at the slave with the small stick he held in his hand.

As he opened his mouth to recite a spell, a magic circle emitting an ominous aura appeared in the air.

Whoosh!

A fiery lump flew towards the slave.

Boom!

“Aaargh!”

The slave was engulfed in flames and burned in an instant. It was as if well-dried firewood was burning.

Covering her mouth with a cloth that was no better than a rag, Noah also covered her younger brother’s mouth to shield them from the terrible smell of a human burning.

Thud, thud!

“How dare you! How dare you dirty my clothes!”

Kicking the charred corpse, the master spat out curses.

Thud.

Hearing dreadful sounds she didn’t want to know, Noah tightly closed her eyes. She couldn’t breathe. She wanted to scream, but she couldn’t.

If she cried out, she could be sold off more quickly or even beaten to death for being noisy. For that reason, Noah had seen several children die.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

“What? What?”

“Do you want to die?”

“Screaaam!”

Whoosh!

Terrified, the master unleashed magic at the slave trader who couldn’t even meet his eyes due to fear, venting his anger once again.

Fearing that his anger might turn towards herself, Noah hid Nero, who was trembling in fear, in her embrace.

“He intruded into the kitchen?”

Noah’s face turned pale.

“But nothing much… Wait, where are you hurt!”

“Where are you hurt!”

Noah lifted the red-stained clothes of Lian and shivered, seeing familiar graffiti-like wounds.

“Are you really not hurt?”

Lian shouted as she forcibly pulled down the lifted clothes.

“But there’s blood…!”

“What blood are you talking about since earlier? Oh, this?”

Only then did Lian realize that Noah had misunderstood the juice stains on the clothes as blood.

“It does look like blood. Even the smell.”

As the land was ruled by the demon king, the scent of blood and fruits pulsating like hearts were common.

There were fruits that, when eaten by humans, caused intoxication, but there were also many with unpleasant appearances.

“This is not blood, it’s juice. I was making that juice.”

Lian pointed to the juice carefully poured into a cup. The juice in the cup looked like blood reserved for a vampire to drink.

“That’s… juice?”

“Yeah, it’s not bad. Just a moment.”

She had left some fruit aside to eat while working. When she brought over the fruit she had set aside, Noah’s pupils trembled aimlessly.

“Try it.”

“This…?”

“It’s really delicious.”

At her words, Noah swallowed dryly and picked up the fruit with trembling hands. For some reason, the fruit felt slightly soft.

When he raised the fruit, juice – no, rather, the nectar – flowed down. After swallowing dryly once more, Noah pushed the fruit into his mouth.

“…!”

“Tasty, right?”

Noah nodded silently. As he unknowingly took another piece of fruit, Lian, with a proud expression, put a plate in front of her, urging her to eat to her heart’s content.

“I’ll bring the juice, so finish eating.”

“Wait…!”

Realizing belatedly, Noah tried to grab Lian, but she ran away quickly, making it impossible to catch her.

“…Then why is your hand like that?”

Only then did Noah notice that Lian had hidden another wound.

“When I come back.. I should ask properly.”

​

The wound that appeared out of nowhere, when did it appear?

​

Terrifying thoughts mixed with ridicule came to mind.

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“What can you do about it? Even if you know?”

​

Noah silently looked down at his hands stained red with juice. The hands, red like blood, felt like traces of someone being hurt.

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Splash, swish!

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Noah hurriedly reached for the sink and turned on the water. Then he roughly washed the hands stained red.

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“It’s just fruit. Yeah, it’s nothing special.”

​

Obsessively washing his hands, but the red-stained hands didn’t easily go away. No, it felt that way.

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Swish -..

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Hearing the sound of pouring water, Noah thought of Dovan’s face. He remembered wiping away tears secretly while huddling up.

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“…”

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Noah silently gazed at the stream of water flowing into the drain. A miserable feeling engulfed her.

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While Noah was struggling with trauma, Lian arrived at the reception room.

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“Ugh, guwaaah!”

“Hmm, huh?”

“Teacher, finish your cookie and speak.”

​

Upon opening the door, she saw Dovan tied up in chains, rolling on the floor, and Rania casting spells at him with a cookie in her mouth.

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Mia was sitting on the sofa, flipping through a thick book.

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“Hmm.”

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Lian closed the door she had opened.