Chapter 91: The Children Beneath Kieve

Rin fell. He had expected pain.

After all, he had just fallen through a mysterious hole that had suddenly appeared beneath his feet. Anyone would have expected to hit the ground hard enough to regret every decision that had led them there.

But instead—

Plop.

Rin landed on something soft.

He blinked several times, trying to understand what had happened. The darkness around him was almost absolute. He reached down and touched the ground beneath him, trying to figure out what he had landed on.

Grass? Or maybe forest moss?

Then another sensation reached him. A strange smell.

"What is this smell...?" Rin muttered.

He slowly pushed himself to his feet and looked around. Nothing.

The darkness swallowed everything. Above him, the circus arena was completely out of sight.

Rin took a cautious step forward. Then another. He followed the strange scent, walking carefully through the darkness for several minutes.

And then—

A tiny light appeared in the distance. It flickered gently. Like someone had made a fire.

"A fire?"

Rin stared at it in confusion.

"Under the circus stage?"

He had absolutely no idea where he was anymore.

----------------------------------

Above the stage, an eerie silence had fallen. It wasn’t because Rin had disappeared.

It was because the beautiful blond circus master was now hanging from the stage, held up by one hand.

Blood covered his face. Kaelith’s crimson eyes were cold.

"Tell me where he is."

His voice was frighteningly calm. The blond man struggled to breathe.

"You’d better answer quickly, my patience has limits, and you’ve almost completely exhausted them." Sol said from nearby. His voice had lost every trace of his previous amusement.

The circus master coughed.

"Blegh..."

Blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

"Oh? You don’t want to talk?" Kaelith asked, his expression becoming even colder.

The man tried to laugh.

"It... it was just a joke..."

"A joke?"

Sol’s voice became colder than ice.

"That is why you dared to mention forbidden magic? Do you really think I don’t know people like you?"

The circus master remained silent. Kaelith looked toward the hole where Rin had disappeared.

"It seems we’ll have to search for him ourselves."

Sol nodded.

"Then will you do it?"

He paused.

"Or should I?"

Kaelith glanced at him.

"What is there to do?"

His expression was completely indifferent.

"He’s already dead."

A sudden crack echoed through the arena. Kaelith’s hand moved.

The circus master went limp. He had been killed almost instantly. Kaelith released him, allowing the body to fall onto the stage.

Sol looked toward the strange hole.

"It seems this passage leads beneath the stage."

He paused.

"Let’s go. Rin is waiting for us."

Kaelith stepped over the body without another glance.

Meanwhile, the audience had finally realized what had happened. Screams erupted throughout the circus.

People pushed against one another as panic spread through the crowd. Within only a few hours, the entire city would know.

A mysterious man had killed the master of the greatest circus in Kieve. And all because the man had dared to make a joke involving a young man.

----------------

Rin continued walking toward the fire.

The closer he got, the clearer the sounds became.

Quiet voices. Whispers. Then he finally saw them.

Rin stopped. His eyes widened. Several children were gathered around the fire.

They looked to be around seven or eight years old.

Their clothes were torn. Their feet were bare. And on every child’s chest was a strange mark.

It looked as though the mark had been burned into their skin with a heated iron. Rin’s expression changed immediately.

"Who...?"

A small boy looked toward him, his voice trembling.

"Who are you?"

Rin raised both hands slightly.

"Ah... I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you."

The children remained tense. Every single one of them looked frightened. Rin slowly crouched down so that he wouldn’t seem threatening.

"What are you children doing here?"

One boy who appeared slightly older—perhaps nine years old—looked at him with hatred.

"We don’t have to answer you."

His voice was filled with bitterness.

"We’re never going back there."

Rin frowned.

Never going back? What are they talking about?

Before he could ask another question, a familiar voice came from behind him.

"Young master?"

Rin immediately turned around.

"Kaan?"

It was the boy who had guided them to the inn.

"What are you doing here?"

Kaan looked just as confused.

"I could ask you the same thing, young master."

He looked around cautiously.

"What are you doing at the border of the slums?"

"The slums?"

Rin froze.

Wasn’t that where Kaan lived? Then why was there a border here?

Rin looked around. He had been inside the circus only moments ago.

"This is going to sound strange, but I went to a circus show, and I think their final act sent me here." Rin said awkwardly,

He gave a nervous laugh. The moment those words left his mouth, the atmosphere changed.

The children became terrified. Some began trembling. Others started crying.

Kaan’s face went pale.

"Young master..."

His voice shook.

"Was forbidden magic used on you?"

Rin blinked.

"Ah... I don’t think so. Wasn’t that just part of the show?"

"Absolutely not!"

Kaan’s eyes widened.

"Their final act is forbidden magic!"

He stared at Rin as though he were looking at something impossible.

"You should have been reduced to our age..."

His voice trembled.

"How are you still an adult?"

"What?"

Rin stared at him.

"What do you mean?"

He looked at the children around the fire.

"You’re saying..."

His voice became quieter.

"You aren’t actually children?"

Silence descended upon the slums. Rin looked around more carefully.

Only now did he realize where they were. They were inside a tunnel. And that tunnel connected the circus to the slums. Kaan lowered his head.

"We... were all Divine Knights."

Rin’s eyes widened.

"What?"

Kaan took a deep breath.

"More than one thousand years ago, this city was known as the Oasis of Divinity."

His voice was filled with sorrow.

"Practitioners of magic came here from all over the world to become Divine Knights. They were led by the great commander, Lucien."

Rin listened silently.

"But that commander was killed by his closest friend..."

Kaan paused.

"General Kaelith of the demons."

Rin’s entire body froze.

Kaelith?

He remembered the book. He remembered reading about Lucien. But he had never known the complete story.

Kaelith had also mentioned forbidden magic before. He had said that after using it, his mind had deteriorated. He had killed some of his friends.

Was Lucien one of them?

Kaan continued.

"After the commander fell, a god came here. Everyone had believed they were finally saved. But their happiness didn’t last."

Kaan’s expression became bitter.

"That god was one of the Fallen."

Rin’s expression changed.

"Which means... He was worse than the demons."

Kaan continued speaking.

"He began transforming this holy sanctuary into a city of debauchery."

His fists tightened.

"We tried to fight that god. But we lost. And afterward, we were sent away as experimental subjects."

Rin remained silent. He was horrified. The beautiful city above them had seemed so lively. So peaceful. So full of happiness.

But underneath it—

There was this. Children who had actually lived for centuries.

Kaan continued.

"The first experiment was immortality."

He pointed toward the others.

"There are thirteen of us who survived."

"After that came the amplification of magic. And then the experiments continued. After two hundred years, our bodies began changing. Our bodies became smaller. We became prisoners in these forms..."

His voice cracked.

"Children."

Rin stared at them.

"So you’re telling me... You’ve been alive for more than two hundred years?"

Kaan nodded.

"Yes."

"But how could you not escape? You’ve had so much time. There had to be a solution."

Kaan lowered his eyes.

"There was never a way out. They bound our souls. We were used like pigs for experiments."

Rin’s fists tightened.

"You saw the magic at the circus, didn’t you? The powers you saw... They belonged to my friends. The people here. They are used until they reach the brink of death. We’ve tried to escape countless times. But this place is like a maze. We can’t go beyond this tunnel. That is why we’re here at the border. We’re allowed to work... But we’re not allowed to leave the city."

Kaan looked toward the ground.

"We’re cursed."

Rin’s heart sank. For the first time, he understood something. These people weren’t characters from his favorite book.

They weren’t simply names written on pages. They were real. They had suffered for hundreds of years. And before Rin even realized it, tears had begun falling from his eyes.

"You..."

A cold, dominant voice suddenly came from behind him.

"I leave you alone for a little while... And I find you crying?"

Rin turned around. Kaelith stood there.

Even without looking, Rin knew Sol was there too. Kaelith’s eyes moved toward the children.

"Well..."

His expression became cold.

"That explains why this city felt strange to me from the moment we arrived." Sol’s amused voice followed.

Rin wiped his eyes.

"Tell me, dear wife..."

Kaelith stepped closer.

"Should I burn this city to the ground?"

He leaned slightly toward Rin, looking directly into his eyes. Sol’s voice became angry.

"Even if Rin doesn’t want that, I think we should. After hearing all of this, there’s no way I can remain calm. That idiot really had the courage to kill Lucien?" said Sol cold.

Kaelith remained strangely calm.

"That hopeless romantic isn’t someone who would die that easily. He’s probably imprisoned somewhere."

Kaan stared at Kaelith. He tried to figure out where the second voice was coming from. There was no one else visible.

"You won’t find me if I don’t want you to."

Sol’s voice suddenly whispered beside Kaan’s ear.

"It isn’t possible."

Kaan nearly jumped out of his skin. Rin watched the entire scene.

Strangely, all the terrible information he had just heard didn’t seem quite as overwhelming anymore. Then he looked at Kaan.

"Why don’t you start over?"

Rin smiled.

"I don’t know if I can help you with forbidden magic... But my husband and my brother are extremely powerful."

It almost sounded like Rin was trying to sell the two of them. Kaelith and Sol both fell silent.

Then—

The anger they had felt toward Rin disappeared instantly. Sol spoke proudly.

"If my brother wants to burn this city... We can do it very easily."

Kaelith’s expression became arrogant.

"If my wife wishes it, then that is what shall be done."

Rin stared at the two of them. He couldn’t see Sol but he could swear that if Sol had a tail, it would be wagging happy right now.

Kaan looked at the strange trio before him. For the first time in his life, he lowered himself to his knees.

Tears fell onto the ground.

"Please... Save us."

Rin stared at him. Then he smiled.

"Done."

And while the people above remained unaware that the fate of Kieve had just been decided beneath their feet, rumors continued spreading throughout the city.

A beautiful, mysterious man had committed an unforgivable crime but no one yet knew what would happen next.

No one knew that beneath the beautiful streets of Kieve, the forgotten survivors of a thousand-year-old tragedy had finally found someone willing to fight for them.

And most importantly—

No one knew that Rin had just made a decision that would change the fate of the entire city.