Chapter 2 : Corpse Hill (2)

“My name is Alje.”

Even though Hans knew that the other party meant him no harm, it still took him quite some time to calm down.

After all, he was also a resident of the Labyrinth City-one who made a living hunting monsters.

While he wasn’t quite like the explorers who wandered in search of the labyrinth’s yet-undiscovered depths, the amount of monster blood staining his body was by no means insignificant.

Perhaps that was why he felt even more confused.

“Alje…?”

“Yeah, it’s a pretty name, right?”

The girl smiled innocently as she spoke.

Even the scent of blood clinging to her body was unmistakably human.

And yet, there was a gaping hole in her chest, utterly defying every assumption Hans had made.

It was so large and open that the grotesque insides were fully exposed.

Even without a heart to pump it, fresh blood still coursed through her veins, surging and spilling out of the empty cavity with a sickening squelch.

Wherever the girl went, the ground was inevitably drenched in blood.

Blood that never rotted or decayed.

Blood that, in the stale air of the labyrinth, smelled almost… fresh.

“You… that…”

Unable to hold back any longer, Hans pointed to the girl’s chest.

Under normal circumstances, such a gesture would have been quite rude.

But his mind was so overheated, so close to bursting, that he didn’t even consider that.

“A wound.”

Alje pointed at the swollen mound on her chest without the slightest hint of shame.

“Bad people did it.”

“Bad people?”

“Yeah. Friends of a friend.But they got really mad at me. Stabbed me. So I ran away.”

Her speech was clumsy, childlike.

Yet even when she frowned slightly, it was an expression so endearing, so lovely.

“It hurt.”

Seeing that doll-like beauty, tinged with something eerily unsettling, Hans was once again reminded of the truth.

That she was not human.

Of course, anyone could tell just from the fact that she was walking around with a hole in her chest.

But Alje carried with her something ever are disturbing than that.

A discomforting sense of something being completely out of place-like an ill-fitting mask worn over the wrong face.

“That must have hurt…”

Hans muttered absentmindedly.

Alje took a step closer, her expression unreadable.

“Mister, are you going to hurt me too?”

Hans was perceptive.

The moment he sensed something sinister in the air, his mouth moved faster than his mind.

“Of course not. I’m already hurting enough as it is.”

“…You’re hurting too?”

“Yeah, a lot.”

Step.

The girl moved without hesitation, closing the distance between them.

His heart gave an uneasy jolt.

“But you’re not bleeding.”

“I broke a bone.”

Now that he thought about it, it was lucky he hadn’t even gotten a scratch despite falling from such a height.

No, his entire situation had been a string of improbable luck-he hadn’t been seriously injured, and he had survived an encounter with a monster.

But Hans suddenly scoffed at himself.

Luck?

Yeah, right.

If he had been truly lucky, none of this would have happened in the first place.

If he hadn’t run into that damn pack of three-eyed hounds, he wouldn’t have had to fall, get injured, or even be in this situation now.

Most importantly, he was still stranded here-on a hill of corpses, face to face with a dangerous monster.

He could only call himself lucky if he made it out alive.

Lost in thought, Hans barely registered the pressure on his shoulder until it was too late.

“AAAGH!”

“You really are hurt.”

The girl had pressed down on his shoulder.

Not directly on the broken bone, but hard enough for the impact to send a jolt of pain through him.

Hans instinctively swatted her hand away and glared at her.

“What the hell-?!”

Hans barely had time to process that thought before Alje did something completely unexpected.

“Sorry.”

An apology.

Then, she reached out and gently placed her hand over his injured shoulder.

Even though she applied no pressure, a dull ache spread from the spot she touched.

Just as Hans was about to protest, her lips parted.

“[Ah.]”

The moment the single note escaped her lips, even the faintest trace of hostility in Hans’ heart vanished.

“He had already thought her voice was pleasant, but this was something else entirely.”

[A lonely star without friends, cradled in the valley lily’s bloom.]

“[It chimes softly with each falling star,]”

[Yet no traveler looks down to see, and so it drifts away alone.]

“A delicate melody hummed through the air as warmth spread from where her hand rested.Then, Alje pulled away and smiled.”

“It doesn’t hurt anymore, right?”

“…Huh?”

“It doesn’t hurt anymore, right?”

“…Huh?”

It was true.

Hans hesitantly moved his body.

The pain was gone.

Not just in his shoulder, but the lingering aches and bruises all over his body.

It was as if they had been completely erased-like a miracle had occurred.

“What… what did you just do?”

Hans already knew the answer.

It was literally a miracle.

This world was ruled by women called Witches and Saints, individuals blessed with extraordinary powers.

The very labyrinth he stood in was said to be the work of a Witch.

And what Hans had just experienced… was the power of a Saint.

“Who taught you that?”

Monsters, often called Witches’ Stillborn, were strictly separate from humans.

And Saints and Witches were human.

Humans died when their hearts were pierced.

No exceptions.

Which meant this girl-no matter how she looked-was a monster.

“A friend.”

Alje still wore that innocent, unclouded smile.

“It didn’t work when I tried it on myself. It only made things worse. But it worked on you.”

Of course it did.

A Saint could never heal themselves.

And their power outright rejected monsters.

“I’m glad.”

Even with the gaping hole in her chest still wide open, she smiled with pure relief.

Hans felt an inexplicable sense of unease.

This girl confused him too much.

Was she human?

A monster?

Was she just an innocent, kind-hearted child?

Or was she a creature like those young monsters-ones that acted tame in their infancy, only to eventually turn on and devour their masters?

Hans had seen how much effort had gone into attempting to tame monsters.

He also knew what price those fools had paid for it.

A monster wielding the power of a Saint…If such a thing became known, the entire Labyrinth City would be thrown into chaos.

Hans’ hand twitched toward his empty waist, but before he could move, Alje returned with something in her hands.

“Is this what you were looking for?”

“…Oh.”

She held out a long, sharp object.

For a moment, Hans thought she was about to attack.

But no-her gaze was still innocent, untainted.

She simply lacked the awareness to understand the danger, holding the blade out towards him without a second thought.

“Here.”

“…Thanks.”

Hans carefully took the sword by its dull edge.

The weight of the weapon in his hands brought a sense of relief.

Shapeshifting monsters stole everything from their victims-faces, voices, memories.

They could not be killed once they had consumed enough people.

But right now?

This girl was still incomplete.

Too young.

Too small.

She had, at most, taken one or two victims.

She had no knights to protect her.

Right now, she could still be killed.

The seed of disaster, before it could take root.

No grand justification was needed.

Hans was a hunter, and a hunter killed his prey.

He had personally slain hundreds of monsters.

But…No prey had ever spoken to him like this.

No prey had ever approached him without fear.

No prey had ever smiled at him like this.

Hans hesitated.