Chapter 27
The fear and terror that had haunted Pia just moments ago felt like a distant dream. She stared at Lian with a blank expression.
“What’s wrong? Did you see something scary? A ghost, maybe?”
As Pia nodded, Lian started recounting some ludicrous tale with a serious face. Maybe because she had just gone from scared stiff to totally chill, Pia couldn’t manage her usual poker face.
“Don’t forget, geospatial coordinates and handstanding -…”
“Pffhahaha! Stop it, I’m gonna die from laughing…”
When was the last time she laughed this much?
It felt like a dam had burst, and all her pent-up emotions flowed out, triggering waves of laughter.
“Why aren’t you coming in?”
“Oh, we were having a super important discussion.”
“Pffhahaha…”
Normally, their conversation would have irked Pia, but it now sounded utterly amusing. Despite feeling a bit flustered by her reaction, she found herself enjoying the lighthearted mood without a hint of resistance.
“If you’re having fun, come inside and share! I want to hear it!”
After Lian and Noah went into the dining hall, Pia, left by herself, stifled her laughter and attempted to step inside.
“Sis, are you having fun?”
“…?!”
If her sister’s voice hadn’t echoed back, she would’ve been totally relaxed. The smile on her lips vanished in an instant, replaced by an icy grip of fear.
“How can you be having fun? You killed me, you know?”
“No, that’s not true…”
“If you had just tried a little harder, I could’ve lived. But you left me to die. You ran away. So it’s no different from killing me.”
A dread like being thrown into a dark pit began to gnaw at Pia again. Instinctively, she grabbed the handle of the dining hall door.
“Sis? Where are you going? Are you leaving me behind again?”
That voice sent a surge of terror through Pia. Her mind filled with only thoughts of fear and the urge to flee.
She frantically burst through the dining hall door, causing the hallucinations to fade away. Pia’s gaze fell upon Lily, who seemed to have just started her meal.
‘Ah, my sister.’
Half in a daze, Pia grabbed her food and trudged over to where Lily was seated.
“…Is it good, Lily?”
“Are you hurt somewhere, Sis?”
“No?”
How could I dare to be hurt? Shouldn’t it be you who’s hurting?
The hallucinations had stopped, but the whispered words lingered like painful scars, endlessly tormenting Pia.
“It’s all because of that ghost.”
It was Lian who, once again, pulled her out of the murky depths and into the light. As Lian solemnly discussed ghost-busting techniques, the fear that had been gnawing at Pia disappeared like magic.
“Oh! Jess, you’re amazing!”
“Amazing!”
Watching the ruckus around her made Pia burst into laughter. For the first time since becoming a slave, she allowed herself to laugh out loud.
But not everyone found the situation amusing.
“Damn it! Why does this magic keep failing? Did someone put on a protective spell or something?”
It was all because of Lian’s comedy routine, but Dovan had no clue about that.
“If this keeps up, I’ll have to cast an even nastier spell.”
With a gleam in his eyes, Dovan gathered magic and unleashed a terrifying dark spell on Pia’s bed. He chuckled a disturbing laugh, like a deflated balloon.
Rustle -.
“..!”
Startled by the sudden noise, Dovan shrank back like a scared little mouse, scanning his surroundings frantically.
Caw -.
“Tch…”
A crow cawed, flitting around some trash piles. Dovan, having thought it was Jiso, clicked his tongue in relief.
“I’ll snag that slave and get out of here ASAP!”
With a creepy grin, Dovan shoved more magic energy onto Pia’s bed. His sneaky, unsettling movements slipped by Mia unnoticed, like insects crawling between heaps of rubbish.
However, someone else spotted him.
“Hah, I thought you’d be running for your life, but look at you, sulking here?”
With brownish skin, bright hair that danced between yellow and orange, and half-lidded eyes that made it hard to tell if they were open or closed, Jiso, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, glanced down at Dovan from a distant rooftop. Behind her stood a stunning woman with feline features, dressed in a sharp suit, who spoke in a blunt manner.
“It seems he has some other motive.”
“Is there something more important than his life? How intriguing.”
“Should we capture him?”
“Nah, let’s watch what kind of treasure he’s after.”
Jiso shrugged with a lazy smile.
*
“This is part of their education, so you can head out now.”
“But…”
“Lian.”
“Fine…”
I got kicked out just for coming to do the dishes. Apparently, the kids need to learn to clean up after themselves.
Watching kids barely old enough to turn ten doing the dishes might look like child labor, but for them, learning meant survival.
Once outside the kitchen, I found myself with nothing to do. There was no radio, so meditation was my only option in this place.
“Huff… Guess it’s time for a walk to clear my head.”
The problems I had shoved aside for lack of solutions suddenly popped back into my thoughts.
“Haah…”
My sigh could have blown the roof off.
Iris was supposed to be sold to Odil’s lab and live as an experimental subject. Before she could be handed over to the slave trader, Odil fled, and the lab went up in flames.
The original story had been completely twisted from the beginning.
‘Ugh… she’s not really dead, is she?’
A tide of despair washed over me. The original story, which was supposed to be my cheat key, had turned useless because it had deviated from the start.
“I wish I could at least confirm whether she’s alive. But I can’t leave here… should I ask Mia to run an errand in my place? No, no, even if she says yes, I’ll probably be caught by slave traders and sold again.”
Other ideas floated around—“ask Mia if she can take me shopping,” “sneak out of the mansion to find Iris,” “look for useful tools in the mansion to track Iris,” but they were all doomed to fail.
Papabarbat.
I raked my fingers through my hair and silently screamed.
“Ugh! I really need to see Iris, but how can I get out?!”
I was on the brink of a mental meltdown when a bold thought flickered to life.
“Wait, why not just ask Mia?”
Mia was a cold-hearted black warlock, but surprisingly, she had been agreeable with my requests.
“She’s been more open to my requests lately…”
In recent times, Mia had been a bit fragile mentally and had even granted mundane requests easily. I quickly turned my focus toward the lab.
“Maybe she’ll help me?”
The idea of obtaining information about Iris set my mind racing. My feet picked up speed, my breath quickening.
“Haah, ha!”
Thanks to my quick sprint, I arrived in front of Mia’s lab in no time.
“Phew…”
After catching my breath, I knocked cautiously before entering without waiting.
“Hmm…? What’s up?”
Mia was slumped in her chair, looking vacant. She often got overwhelmed while sorting data and would slump like this, so I wasn’t startled and walked in.
“Mia, could you… maybe help me find someone?”
“Ha…”
Mia chuckled dryly and locked eyes with me. A trace of anger and annoyance flickered in her gaze.
Even though Mia usually treated me kindly, it was a massive overstep for a slave like me to see her as a mercenary and ask for favors.
But there was a reason I could make such a bold proposal!
“I’m really worried about my younger sister. She looks just like me.”
“Sister…?”
“My sister, who shares the same ‘bloodline’ as I do.”
“The same bloodline… a new test subject…”
In an instant, Mia’s previously crumpled expression transformed into dreamy wonder. Given her fascination with my body, it was an enticing conversation.
‘As long as she brings her, I can figure something out!’
While Mia might experiment on Iris, I didn’t foresee any significant worries.
Given that Iris also shared the bloodline of a hero, her resilience would far exceed that of an ordinary human, though not quite as formidable as mine.
‘After all, it’s impossible for her to be killed and come back, right?’
Seeing Iris in her relatively normal state would likely lead Mia to cease her experiments right away.
If Mia got angry and threatened to sell Iris or didn’t stop her experimentation, I could just dazzle her with a hilarious gag suited for this comedic world.
‘Maybe I’ll just introduce her to some organs!’
If organs with lips and eyes pop out and go, “Whiz – ! Pretty lady, got time?” while handing her a rose plucked from thin air, that’s bound to be a hit!
And if that fails, I can just bust out the old plot twist about “mental shock making the blood go weak” to spin a tale of how I can’t recover without my sister.
“What’s your sister look like?”
Mia seemed completely entranced by my words, her eyes sparkling as she leaned in. Reflexively, my gaze shifted down before returning to meet Mia’s eyes.
Clearing my throat, I began to tell her about Iris’s slave status and her appearance.
