Chapter 226

Chapter 226: The True Role (1)

“Bastard!!!”

After hurling a curse at Ran with all his strength, Alec ran and ran.

It had been far too long since he had run with all his strength like this.

Thanks to that, his body would not move as he wanted, and his arms and legs, which did not work as quickly as he thought, felt unbearably heavy.

But nothing felt as heavy as the statue he held in his hand.

He was minimizing his movements so the statue would burn down even a little less, but he could not reduce the size of the guilt flooding in.

Alec repeated apologies in his heart, and resolved that if he got out alive, he would do anything to be forgiven for this sin.

The guilt that remained even after a deep confession was taken on by the coercion of the man who had shoved the statue into his hand.

-If your heart really feels uncomfortable, just think that I forced you to hold it.

Even while recalling the man’s words, Alec could not erase his discomfort.

The statue no longer even had a face left, but Alec could not bear to look straight at even that and wanted to shut his eyes. Yet he could not, because he feared the darkness that had drawn close enough to touch his heels.

The darkness that had swallowed the man had quickly swollen its body in search of its next prey and was chasing after him.

At the chill running down the back of his neck, Alec decided to shake off even the small trace of worry he had for the man who had vanished into the darkness.

At this point, if he did not resent the black-haired man who had deceived him, no, that Werewolf bastard, he felt he would be too wronged to endure it.

Damn bastard.

He had thought he was a good person, if a little strange.

The way he calmly spouted nonsense had also been amusing, as if he were someone who enjoyed jokes more than he appeared.

But thinking back now, every word he had brushed off as a joke had been sincere and true.

Without realizing that he was simply an honest bastard.

Thinking of Naria, who had been deceived by him just like himself, made his anger grow even greater.

Alec used his anger as oil and drove himself to run harder.

Whatever the case, the priority right now was escaping this place.

He had to survive before he could think about what came next.

Alec prayed that his legs would maintain their speed just a little longer, but as always, if everything could be solved with one’s heart alone, the word misfortune would not exist.

Alec felt himself gradually slowing down.

Ahead of Alec, whose breath had risen to his throat, the stairs leading upward appeared.

As he had run without thinking, he had somehow already reached the stairs leading to the entrance.

Alec endured the urge to cheer and ran toward the stairs.

“The door!! Open the door!!”

Alec shouted until his throat felt like it would burst.

He knew someone above might hear, but at this point, he did not care about that.

Because if the door did not open, he intended to charge straight ahead and smash it open.

Fortunately, a faint rattling sound entered his ears.

When he stepped onto the stairs, faint light also entered his eyes from above.

Alec felt relieved.

Without knowing that the small relief that he only needed to climb these stairs now would catch his ankle.

He forgot Ran’s words telling him not to look back and run, and could not resist the temptation of the moment. He turned back and checked the darkness’s position.

This action truly did not help Alec’s escape at all.

His body twisted, his center of gravity tilted slightly, and because he was overwhelmed by the darkness that had grown larger, his legs slowed.

Immediately, the darkness lunged toward him.

In that moment, Alec felt a strange sensation where the objects around him appeared excessively clear, and everything moving felt slow.

The problem, if it was a problem, was that Alec himself was included among the things slowing down.

As Alec thought he could bet his own wrist that this was by no means a positive phenomenon, what entered his eyes was the statue of Sierra held in his hand.

In a way that made the care with which he had carried it seem meaningless, a powerful impulse surged inside him.

At the same time, what rose in his mind was the voice of the bastard fanning that impulse.

-If the god you believe in is truly someone who looks down upon people and guides them to Territum, he would not be angry over something like this. He would not be that petty.

Alec lifted the burning piece of wood high and threw it toward the darkness trying to grab his ankle.

The statue of Sierra, which had only felt heavy, fell downward as if infinitely light.

As if avoiding the light, the darkness scattered briefly and retreated from Alec.

Alec stared blankly at it, then shook off the feeling that he might cry for some reason and turned his body again to climb upward.

At that moment, a powerful force snatched the back of his neck.

Immediately after, Alec was pulled upward without even being able to scream.

His vision opened in an instant, and bright light stabbed his eyes.

Alec blinked so his eyes could adjust to the light, then raised his face to thank the benefactor who had saved him with somewhat rough hands.

Because with his oxygen-starved head after running, he had reached the irrational conclusion that the woman who lived in the tent had suddenly gained strength and pulled him up.

But the one waiting for him was the leader of the Werewolves, whose body was twice as large as the woman who had opened the door to the underground passage.

The moment he confirmed Archie’s fierce eyes looking down at him, he was wrapped in the foolish thought that perhaps it would have been better to be eaten by that unidentified darkness after all.

Fortunately, before Alec could make a choice while having lost his judgment, Archie set him down as if throwing him.

Alec retreated from him as if having a fit and watched his reaction.

Hic.

A hiccup came out without reading the room.

What do I do now?

Alec thought he had to come up with some excuse, but his mind had gone white and empty, and no words came out.

Fortunately, Archie did not seem to have the leeway to pay attention to him.

His gaze was fixed on the darkness that had begun filling the pit.

Muttering curses between his teeth, he turned his head and glared at Alec.

“Did that man do this?”

Alec immediately realized that “that man” referred to Ran.

Archie’s force was so fierce that Alec had no time to think any further, and he quickly shook his head up and down.

Archie’s expression grew even fiercer.

“That bastard......!”

This too was undoubtedly a curse aimed at Ran.

It was a moving moment where their opinions aligned for the first time since Alec had met him, but there was no time to be immersed in sentiment.

The sound of murmuring began to come from outside the tent.

Alec realized that it was the sound of humans speaking.

Because a commotion had broken out in the only place where their sins could be forgiven, they had been unable to endure their anxiety and had come out.

Surprisingly, the one who calmed Alec as he floundered in a situation that made the back of his neck prickle was the leader of the Werewolves.

Archie gripped Alec’s shoulder tightly.

When Alec looked up at him because of the aching pain, Archie gestured outside the tent with his eyes.

“Do not stand there stupidly. Go out and stop the humans from coming in. If they see this, there will be chaos.”

After finishing his words, he shoved Alec roughly outside the tent.

Even as he was pushed out in confusion by him, Alec could not shake off one question that had risen in his mind.

For what purpose did Archie save me?

***

Blankly watching the cargo wagon covered with white cloth grow distant, Adol leaned his head against the cold pillar as an oddly gloomy feeling settled over him.

Rather than feeling unsettled inside the house for no reason, he intended to quietly watch daybreak like this instead.

Unfortunately, however, the timing of solitude coming and going was not something a person could decide as they pleased.

Creak.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Adol intuitively realized that solitude had found its place and gone far away.

“Why are you outside when it’s cold?”

Naria, who came out while yawning, sat down beside Adol as she pleased and asked.

Adol answered by glancing at her.

“It’s cold outside. Looking inside, adult humans take better care of young humans. If you mess up, won’t you die too?”

“I won’t die from something like that.”

Hoping Naria would go back inside, Adol answered insincerely.

“What, then you don’t need this?”

As Adol watched out of the corner of his eye to see what Naria was doing now, his eyes widened at the item Naria was rummaging out of her clothes.

It was his blanket, which he had left inside the house along with his outerwear after staying in the village.

“Why are you touching someone else’s things however you want!”

Adol shouted as he snatched the cloth from Naria’s hand.

“You startled me! Ah, I brought it because you looked cold. The humans inside are making such a fuss trying to cover themselves with even one more thing, and you’re out here dressed like that! Why does your mood swing back and forth so much? Be honest. Your mind swings back and forth too, doesn’t it?”

Naria raised her voice against Adol, who had suddenly gotten angry.

“Yeah, my mind swings back and forth a lot! If I get any angrier, I think it might leave entirely, so just go away!”

Adol shouted irritably.

Naria also bared her teeth and opened her mouth to say something to Adol.

But for some reason, Naria closed her mouth again as if she had no will to fight.

When Adol glared at her because he could not understand the sudden change, Naria rolled her eyes and watched Adol’s reaction as if she had something to say.

Of course, she got curious about something again.

Adol no longer even felt like getting angrier at her, whose thoughts were so obvious.

As if it did not matter what she said, Adol turned his body again and turned his head toward where the sun was rising.

Perhaps taking that as silent permission, Naria slipped the conversation in the direction she wanted.

“......That human woman Archie killed, is she perhaps your family who died at our hands?”

But Naria lacked consideration far, far too much.

The conversation she turned direction on charged straight ahead and slapped Adol across the cheek.

Killing intent entered Adol’s eyes as he had been watching the sun rise weakly in the distance.

“Yeah. She was kidnapped by Archie and killed by Archie. Do you understand now why I want to kill you all so badly?”

Adol spat it out as if chewing the words and tried to calm his excitement.

The reason he did not become angry enough for his eyes to roll back, like when Mona had gotten him, was thanks to that stupid-looking expression on Naria’s face.

Though it had been a short time, inside Adol, Naria had already settled as something like a simple and short-thinking oddity.

At the very least, she did not manipulate the deepest parts of a person’s heart like Mona did.

“Is Archie your dad?”

That did not mean it was not unpleasant.

Adol glared at Naria, blaming her tact, which infuriatingly only displayed exactly half the necessary amount, but as expected, Naria did not notice this and poured out questions.

“So you really aren’t human, right? Right? When you ran away from Mona, you weren’t in human form either, were you?”

Right, at this point, it would be strange not to suspect it.

It was already the second time he had shown a strange form in front of Naria.

Though it had only been an instant, there was no way someone with vision superior to humans would have missed the moment, however brief, when he had turned into a monster.

The thought that perhaps Naria had held back her curiosity until now also occurred to him.

“Don’t call him my dad. I was just born between Archie and Amy, I mean, my mom. That’s all.”

“Isn’t that a dad?”

When he glared at Naria, who muttered without consideration, she nodded obediently despite wearing an expression that said she did not understand.

“So a bastard like you can be born into the world too.”

“Why? Do you want to have a child with that human Alec too?”

At the insensitive words, thorns grew in Adol’s tone.

“I’ve never thought that far.”

Naria answered lightly, as if she truly had never thought about it.

For some reason, seeing that made his strength drain away, and Adol wordlessly turned his gaze toward the forest where the wagon had now completely disappeared.

But Naria still seemed to have many things she wanted to ask Adol.

“Then you must be a little sturdier than humans, right? Then can you live without god?”

At the somewhat sudden question, Adol furrowed his brow.

“What are you talking about? Why would god be absent?”

“No, what I mean is, you humans die if you cannot believe in god.”

Naria muttered as if frustrated.

“To say we cannot live without it...... it’s not that much.”

He had occasionally seen the people of the village he went down to pray at the Temple, but wasn’t that not quite enough to say they were staking their lives on it?

Amy also seemed to go down to the village and stop by the Temple sometimes, but she had never once forced him to go with her.

To Adol, the Temple was a place to stop by along with shopping on market days. It was exactly that light.

But Naria took the meaning God had to humans more heavily than Adol himself.

Naria looked down at Adol with a serious face.

When Naria’s endlessly light mouth closed, the one who grew flustered instead was Adol.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You really are not human, are you?”

By now, Adol knew too.

That there was no malice in Naria’s insensitive remarks meant to scrape at his nerves.

But such understanding only made him less angry. It did not mean he did not get angry.

It was the moment Adol was about to burst out with anger that had barely dropped one step lower.

Crack.

At the small sound of something breaking from behind the plank house, the two turned their heads at the same time.

Crack.

“U-uaaaah!!”

Before they could deeply think about the identity of the sound, this time, at the sound of wood breaking and a child crying, Adol and Naria immediately ran toward the source of the sound.