Chapter 676: Debt Paid

The Tallykeeper halted its movements upon hearing Thoren’s question.

Its long, bony fingers stopped turning the pages of the ledger, leaving one yellowed sheet half exposed beneath its skeletal fingertips.

For the first time since Thoren had arrived at the Well of Grief, the strange figure had ceased its endless counting, and the sudden stillness made the atmosphere feel even more oppressive than before.

For a couple of seconds, the chamber was deadly quiet. Even the cold wind seemed to have vanished, leaving behind an unsettling silence that pressed against Thoren’s ears.

The Tallykeeper did not raise its head from the ledger, while Thoren stared at it intently, waiting patiently for its response.

Although he maintained a composed expression, his nerves remained stretched to their limits. He could feel his heart pounding against his chest as countless possibilities raced through his mind.

What if the Tallykeeper refused to answer?

What if it allowed him to choose his memory but demanded something else in return?

And what if the rules of the Weeping Ossuary were designed to make every possible choice lead to the same miserable ending?

In the end, he could only wait.

After what seemed like forever, a voice finally came from the Tallykeeper.

"Yes, you can."

Thoren’s eyes widened slightly.

For a brief moment, he simply stared at the creature, as though he needed to hear those words a second time before he could believe them.

Then, a wave of relief washed over him, loosening the tension that had been gripping his body since the debt repayment information entered his mind.

He could choose.

The simple answer brought him more joy than he had expected.

During the wait, his nerves had been on edge, and his heart had raced with the fear that he might be forced to surrender a memory he could never recover.

Now, at least, he had a chance to protect those precious memories.

Thoren slowly released the breath he had been holding, allowing his racing heart to settle.

"Have you decided?"

Before Thoren could speak, the Tallykeeper’s voice sounded once again, dragging his attention back to the matter at hand.

Thoren raised his head and looked directly at the strange figure.

The relief in his heart gradually gave way to determination as he recalled the unwanted memory of the young boy that had been forced into his mind.

"Yes," Thoren responded with a firm nod.

//

"I want to sacrifice the memory of the boy," Thoren added softly.

The Tallykeeper did not react to his words.

The strange figure merely stretched its ledger toward him, holding the ordinary-looking book open as though it were waiting for something to be recorded.

"Hmm?"

Thoren stared at the figure with a puzzled expression, unsure of what he was supposed to do next.

However, the Tallykeeper remained silent, its skeletal fingers gripping the edges of the ledger while its featureless face remained directed toward him.

Was he supposed to touch the book?

Did he need to repeat his decision?

Or was there another condition he had overlooked?

Thoren creased his brow as he examined the ledger.

Before Thoren could understand what was happening, a mysterious force suddenly descended upon his body, and something was violently yanked out of him.

"Hmm?"

A soft groan escaped Thoren’s lips as he felt something being pulled out from somewhere deep within his mind.

The sensation was difficult to describe, unlike the pain of having his flesh torn or his bones broken, yet it left him feeling strangely uncomfortable.

His eyes widened as he instinctively reached for his head, but there was nothing he could touch, and no visible wound appeared on his body.

Nevertheless, he could feel that something had changed.

Just then, the ordinary-looking ledger in the Tallykeeper’s hands glowed faintly before returning to normal.

’What just happened?!’ Thoren wondered, his confusion deepening as he stared at the book.

He had not seen the Tallykeeper perform any complicated ritual, nor had he felt any obvious connection between himself and the ledger.

Everything had happened so quickly that he could barely understand what had been taken from him.

"Debt paid."

The Tallykeeper’s voice finally brought Thoren out of his confusion, causing him to raise his head and stare directly at the strange figure.

"Debt paid?" he repeated inwardly, still struggling to understand the meaning behind those two words.

The Tallykeeper did not offer any further explanation.

It simply closed its ledger with a soft sound, turned around, and began walking toward the darkness beyond the well.

Thoren watched the strange figure leave, his expression growing increasingly bewildered as he wondered whether the transaction had truly ended.

"Wait a moment!"

He almost called out, but the words never left his mouth.

Seeing that the figure had disappeared completely, Thoren creased his brow and quickly closed his eyes, attempting to recall the memory of the young boy.

When he tried to bring up the boy’s memory, he discovered that there was nothing left.

The memory was gone.

Thoren’s eyes snapped open, and he stared ahead in disbelief.

He tried once more, desperately searching through his thoughts for even a small fragment of the scene, but his efforts yielded nothing.

It was as though the boy’s memory had never existed inside his mind in the first place.

There was no image of the boy’s frightened face, no recollection of the armored men, and no lingering impression of the terrible moment when the child had fallen into darkness.

Everything had vanished without leaving a trace.

Now, it dawned on him.

The mysterious force had taken the memory he had chosen as payment, and the Tallykeeper had accepted the transaction without asking him to do anything else.

Looking around the empty chamber, Thoren shook his head and could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.

He had finally paid the debt demanded by the Weeping Ossuary, and more importantly, he had managed to do so without sacrificing any part of his body or losing a memory that truly belonged to him.

Although he still had no idea why the Ossuary had forced the boy’s memory into his mind in the first place, he was unwilling to remain there to find out.

’I had better leave this godforsaken place,’ he thought, turning away from the Well of Grief as he prepared to depart.

However, just as he began to leave the chamber, a strange sound suddenly came from behind the well.