Chapter 13 - Come To Think Of It

In the city, those who couldn't create value were called insects.

This meant the homeless, vagrants, and those who were physically impaired.

She was a worthless insect born among such insects.

Unable to do anything properly, she was an insect... clinging to life through others' kindness and goodwill, who could disappear at any time.

Just as no one noticed when an ant was stepped on because its existence was meaningless, even when she was kidnapped by a mage and imprisoned in a large cavity, no one noticed her disappearance.

— If you survive this experiment, I'll let you live.

In a cavity reminiscent of a huge jar, black mages instilled hope in those trapped in the cavity and then carried out torture.

The reason was unknown.

They just kept extracting pain from many people without any explanation.

Therefore, this place was like a gu poison made by gathering all sorts of insects that couldn't live in the world.

And it was also the only place where all insects could prove their worth.

***

Siren was lucky enough to survive in such a place.

It was questionable whether enduring for a long time in such a hellish place could really be called luck.

...Nevertheless, she survived.

The reason was unknown.

Judging by how the black mages occasionally repeated the words “perfect vessel” towards her, she could only guess that she had luckily met some condition they had set.

— The number of sacrifices is insufficient... To create more sacrifices, we need to act directly, but if we do that, we might get caught by the Carsaril family, it's troublesome.

— Then perhaps we should set up a situation where the Carsaril family cooperates with black magic...

While hearing such conversations and enduring pain while listening to the pain-filled groans of countless people, a voice desperately calling for family echoed in her ears within the huge cavity.

It would have been a cry she wouldn't have paid attention to normally.

Perhaps because she had been lying on the floor with no warmth at all for so long, she suddenly became curious about what a normal family was like, and kept thinking about it.

They said family members hug each other. And they support each other.

Recalling stories about family she had heard while begging on the streets, she imagined an ideal family form in her mind.

A somewhat patriarchal but caring father who rushed to help first when problems arose.

A kind mother who always comforted her.

A brother who always played pranks but still helped her.

Just as she was smiling gently while dreaming of an ideal family form she could never have, the black mage told her it was time to start the experiment again.

And so she came to eat the despair of many people.

In fact, rather than eating, it was more correct to say it was injected into her mind.

But because nausea kept rising as if food was being forcibly pushed in every time these things entered, it was similar to eating.

For a long time, she kept eating negativity while imagining a family form that could never be realized.

There was no big reason.

There was nothing else to do after the pain of eating negativity ended, and it was the only way to escape the pain for a moment.

So by the time she had created an ideal family form and completed it by attaching settings to each one, she came to feel loneliness more clearly than she would have originally felt and felt a terrible chill.

Thus, she became trapped in loneliness reminiscent of gu poison and trapped in despair.

The next day, and the day after that, and the day after that...

Not knowing what had happened or how much time had passed, while just being injected with despair using the deaths of countless people as material, she felt warmth from far away.

For some unknown reason, just his approach scattered warmth everywhere and warmed her whole body.

This sensation was so unfamiliar that she froze while looking at him.

The man who approached her looked at her silently, then slowly reached out his hand and said, "Want to come with me?"

For some reason, an intense intuition struck her that she shouldn't miss this, so she urgently grasped his hand with both of hers as if grabbing a lifeline, and he easily lifted her up and said, "Is this a cat or a person?"

"...?"

For some unknown reason, he sighed while dangling her up,

Then he embraced her and brought her out of the terribly cold and dark loneliness.

***

I awkwardly smiled while looking at Siren who was clinging to me.

The original plan was to find out the background of Sister Lilia's assassination, but instead of the background, I ended up picking up just one strange girl.

I wasn’t sure, but since she'd become an archmage later, I thought it would be better to take her along for now, so I was moving while holding her.

Seeing this, Loraine spoke to me with a bewildered expression, "...Young Master, are you going like that?"

I wanted to put Siren down on the floor and tell her to follow on her own, but she was clinging so tightly as if she would never let go, so it was quite awkward to detach her, and I was moving while giving up.

Anyway, it might be good to build a relationship with Siren, the future archmage.

Deciding to leave her be for now to build up goodwill, I arrived at the mansion.

Noticing many maids' gazes gathering on me, I sighed and asked the nearest maid, "Could you wash her, feed her, and then let her rest in the guest room?"

"Ah, yes, Young Master."

The maid was so terrified just talking to me that she lowered her eyes to the floor and trembled.

Deciding to quickly leave for the maid's sake, I said to Loraine, "Please detach her."

"Yes."

Loraine easily lifted Siren, and despite her struggling, carried her off to the maid.

I massaged my shoulders, sighed, and walked to the park inside the mansion to take a short rest.

Well, it seems certain that black magic is involved in Sister Lilia's assassination case, but...

It was somewhat puzzling that there was no significant connection between the assassination case and the sewer we just discovered.

Just as I was wondering if I was missing something, a question suddenly popped into my mind.

Come to think of it, that black mage acted friendly towards Damian.

Not only did he pretend to know me, but even when I blatantly ignored him, he kept talking as if it was natural.

There was a high probability that they knew each other, so I thought it wouldn't be bad to focus on investigating this.

I'd need to investigate more, but I thought the black mages might be more deeply infiltrated into the city than expected.

For now, I decided to report this incident to the family head.

***

All I knew about Dominic Carsaril, the head of the Carsaril family, was that he was a Sword Master who could cut everything with just his mind, and that he was the head of the Carsaril family with strong political influence.

I didn't know exactly what kind of person he was, or furthermore, what thoughts he had towards Damian, so I decided to determine my attitude by reading the situation appropriately and knocked on the family head's office door.

"Come in."

An impassive and dignified voice came from the other side.

As I carefully opened the door and entered, I saw the family head working at an antique desk that looked like it had been crafted by a master artisan over a long time.

I greeted him, and the family head looked at me and briefly said, "So, what's the matter?"

I wanted to tell him that Sister Lilia would be assassinated, but there was a high probability that issues regarding the “source of information” would arise if I did so, so rather than saying it directly, it would be better to drop some hints based on what I had just discovered.

So, I calmed myself as much as possible and briefly explained what had happened earlier.

The traces of human experiments found there and traces of many people being sacrificed.

And as I added that these experiments had been going on for longer than expected and looked at the family head, the family head seemed surprised that I had brought such information, silently looked at me, then nodded and said, "I'll send investigators and knights to check immediately."

"Yes."

I felt tense because there was no evidence, so he could have dismissed it as a groundless report or an unimportant element.

Contrary to my expectations, I felt relieved when he said he would take it seriously and check it out.

Just as I was about to express my gratitude to the family head…

"You've done well. You've made a great achievement."

Unexpected praise reached my ears.

I thought he would be stingy with praise since he gave such an authoritative impression, so it was surprising that he gave it so easily.

The family head seemed uncomfortable praising me, so he suddenly fell silent and looked down at the report.

"..."

Feeling a bit flustered by this situation, I was smiling awkwardly and thinking it might be good to leave soon.

When the family head, who had been looking at the report, seemed to remember something and calmly raised his face, speaking to me impassively, "Come to think of it, I forgot to mention. Negotiations with the Wintreaven family have ended, and the engagement cancellation date has been set. It's scheduled to take place in the central city ten days from now."