Picus – Part 02
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Translator: Kell
The headless corpse was still moving, and there were four others. One of the corpses swung a knife, plunging it deeply into the priest’s shoulder. When he winced, the corpses swarmed him. Corruption’s large shovel then knocked him down.
“Gaah!” The priest collapsed to his knees and dropped to the floor.
Corruption grabbed him by the hair and lifted his face up. “Too bad, Secrecy. Did you really think you had me beat? That you were better than me at games of deception? Unfortunately, it seems I’m better than you. You probably never expected me to team up with a witch.”
“So Sanare cajoled you,” Zero uttered. “I thought I felt the presence of a rotting corpse in this temple.”
Corruption looked up. But it wasn’t her that answered.
“Now that’s just rude,” said a head, laughing. Its voice and manner of speaking belonged to Sanare. “She simply empathized with us. That adjudicator is sick of the Church and the world it ruled. So we agreed to work together to destroy it.”
“The Bishop doubts me?” Corruption spat. “He’ll strip me of my title? You’re a fool, Secrecy! I’ve survived this long with the power of money and connections. The Church won’t kill me if I just give a little money to the bigshots.”
“The Church is corrupted, and I love it. With Cestum’s help, the Church will become an even lovelier hunting ground for me. I’ll just hunt witches as I always have, witches who are not needed by Cestum.” Her voice dropped to a gentle whisper. “But first, I’ll deal with you, Secrecy. I’ve been wanting to add you to my collection for a long time, and now my wish is finally coming true. I will make you the first inhabitant of this paradise.”
The priest spat on Corruption’s cheek. “I thought I told you the other day. I’d rather burn my own body than become a part of your collection.”
Corruption smirked. “We’ll see how long you can keep the tough-guy act. It’ll be quite the spectacle. I won’t ask you to whisper words of love to my ears, but you will apologize for spitting in my face.”
“Take him to the basement!” she yelled.
Jangling her chains, Zero exchanged a glance with the priest. Only Secrecy noticed the tiny smile dancing on her lips.
Her expression suggested she didn’t feel any danger. Her smile of confidence said she believed that her friend would come save her.
We raced through the wilderness from dusk to night and reached a river in the early morning. All day we continued upstream, and by the time the sun was setting, we happened on a huge cliff, looming like a wall, blocking our way.
The cliff stretched far to both sides, and there seemed to be no way to go around or climb it. Water was gushing out from the middle, creating a little waterfall.
“Huh. So this is where the river begins. Where’s the witch’s lair?”
“In there.” Lily pointed at the waterfall.
Wondering what she was pointing at, I walked around behind the waterfall to find the entrance to a hidden cave.
The cave branched off several times. I had the impression that if we chose the wrong path once, we’d never get out again. Bats and rats lurked in huge numbers. Insects feeding on their droppings covered the ground. Moss that had taken root in the rocks sucked up groundwater, making it slippery.
But Lily’s directions were spot on, and we made it through the cave without getting lost once.
As we exited the cave, we came upon a flower garden that seemed straight out of a fairy tale. No. Since the place was surrounded by cliffs, “exiting” wasn’t exactly the right word. It was more like we’d arrived at a dead-end, except one a little too big.
My jaw dropped at the sight of the huge temple towering in the middle.
“Wow… It’s so big,” Lily said.
“It’s as big as a cathedral.”
There were no obstructions in sight. A field of flowers. A temple in the middle. A few carriages, and a river running through the cliff.
Lily was about to start running, when I grabbed her by the collar and turned back into the cave.
“Calm down,” I said. “We’ll wait until the sun goes down.”
“But…”
“Unlike you, I’m big and conspicuous. Plus I have only one arm, and I haven’t slept much the past two days. You should get some rest too.”
With a squeal of discontent, Lily quietly dangled down my arm. We entered a side alley with no traces of human touch. I pulled down my black hood and waited for nighttime.
Lily paced back and forth for a while, but when she finally realized that I wasn’t going to move until nightfall, she sat down a little farther away from me.
“Hey,” I called.
Lily jumped in surprise.
“Stay close,” I said. “Otherwise I can’t carry you if something goes wrong.”
After a bit of hesitation, Lily moved just a little bit closer.
“Is this some kind of a joke?”
“N-No!” Lily shook her head, fidgeting with her necklace. “I killed them,” she said out of the blue. Her voice was soft.
Not knowing what she was talking about, I looked around dramatically. “Doesn’t look like there’s any bodies lying around, though.”
“That’s not it.”
“Then what is it?”
“My mom and dad. My dead mom and dad.”
Oh, the ones that died in the epidemic. I heaved a sigh.
“It’s true,” she said. “Mom and dad tell me it’s not my fault, but it is. Really.”
“Do we really have to talk about that now?”
Lily nodded. Okay, then.
“Well, go ahead and talk. I’ll listen.”
“I really wanted to play with other kids on my sixth birthday, like tag or treasure hunting. Mom told me no… But I couldn’t help it. I told them I wanted to join. Then they made fun of me for being a rat and pushed me away. They said I was disgusting.” Her voice was shaky, her red, wide-open eyes peering at memories buried in darkness.
“They threw rocks at me. I was so scared and sad. I wanted to run away. But then they said a lot of bad things about mom, too. They said she gave birth to a monster like me because she was a bad woman. I got angry and bit one kid. Then they got sick and died the next day. Their fever wouldn’t go down!”
“Probably just a coinci—”
“Then the disease spread from the child’s house… to children, to grown-ups, then my mom and dad. They all died of the same disease. When the doctor came, he asked if a rat bit them!” She held her knees, desperately trying to stop her body from shaking.
I asked Zero a while ago about the usefulness of rat Beastfallen. Now I knew. Spreading diseases.
This little, weak-looking Beastfallen could sneak in somewhere, bite someone, and retreat. If things went smoothly, she could kill a lot of people with little effort.
Liza said Lily would never touch anyone else’s tableware, and she would not let others touch hers.
I tried to take a bite of her half-eaten fruit, and she got so mad she cried.
It made sense. If Lily’s saliva got into Liza’s body, she would get sick and die. If she cared about her parents, she wouldn’t even want to be at the same table with them.
“Is that why you don’t want to get close to me?” I asked.
“I can’t save mom and dad if you die.”
“So if you could save your parents on your own, you wouldn’t mind me dying?”
“No, no… That’s not… I…”
Grinning, I watched her desperately trying to come up with an excuse. Lily, realizing that she was being teased, puffed up her cheeks and threw a pebble at me.
Ouch. It hurt, but the swarm of rats behind Lily, their eyes glaring, was more frightening than the pebbles.
“So, did you tell Liza about that?” I asked.
Lily’s ears perked up, and she shook her head. “I tried to. I tried, but I couldn’t. I was afraid they’d hate me. But after we save them, I’ll tell them everything. I’m not a child anymore. Even if they don’t like me, I’ll be fine on my own. I’ll tell them I’m sorry.” She looked at me, determination in her eyes. It seemed like she would go save her parents all by herself even if I died.
“I get it. Now come here.”
“What?! But I just told you…”
“Do I look like a normal human to you? I’ve been bitten by rats many times, I’ve even been hit by poisoned arrows, but I never got a fever. I’m a monster, you know.”
“B-But…”
“What is it?”
“You’re a guy…”
“…And?”
What? Since when did we start talking about gender? What kind of things is running in this kid’s mind?
My thoughts must’ve shown on my face, because Lily threw a rock harder than before.
“Stupid! I hate you!”
“Ow! Stop making a racket!”
“I’m seventeen! I’m a grown-up!”
“Oh… Wait, seventeen?! But you’re so small!”
“My body can’t get any bigger.”
Hmm, yes. Rats are tiny. Still, seventeen years old, huh? I guess she’s already mature. That explains why she doesn’t want to come close to me.
She might not like it, but there was no other choice.
“If you’re seventeen, you’re still a child,” I said. I decided to lie a little. “Seventeen year olds are out of my range.”
Size-wise, Lily didn’t even qualify as a woman in my opinion. Still she wouldn’t stop eyeing me suspiciously, so I decided to lay on my side with my back to her.
“Just stay within reach,” I said.
She gave an anxious squeak. After a while, I felt soft fur on my back, and the kind of warmth characteristic of animals.
She was shivering, perhaps from the cold. I shared my cloak a little. After a bit of hesitation, she crawled inside.
“So warm,” she muttered. She began breathing softly.
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