It seemed to be a room made for eating meals or resting during mining, or for storing various supplies. On the walls were carved small dwarves and unidentifiable creatures, and next to them was—
“A corpse.”
The bad smell Taeyon had mentioned was the smell of a corpse. At the sight of the body with dried, shriveled skin that was almost mummified, Kaniel covered his mouth and took a step back.
He almost screamed for a moment. It was his first time seeing a dead person. At least fortunately, it was an intact corpse that wasn’t half-rotted or missing body parts. Though dried and shriveled, the round ears and bushy tail were still there.
On the other hand, there was something horrific—the corpse’s expression was terribly contorted. It was a face of agony, as if they’d been in great pain when they died.
Taeyon began examining the body with an indifferent expression.
“They’re wearing good clothes.”
“They look like they just barely passed twenty years old.”
Before he knew it, Arkan had also approached and responded.
“Could it be a missing person?”
“There was no such missing person in the materials the security captain gave us.”
“Then it must be a missing person the security force didn’t know about.”
“Either they’re not a beastkin living in this city, or they left saying they were going to another village and went missing.”
“Even so, it’s strange that their family didn’t look for them until the body reached this state.”
“That’s… true.”
Beastkin of any kind had deep affection for their families. Of course, the way they expressed it varied, so it didn’t always appear that way on the surface.
Not caring what independent family members were doing or where, but definitely taking revenge if they were killed unjustly; if they went around committing crimes that didn’t fit the family style, rushing over to beat them up—if you called that affection, it was affection.
Wearing such good clothes meant the family had money, and not wearing even a single sword meant they’d been raised preciously at home. They were even young. It was strange that there was no family looking for them even though enough time had passed for the body to reach this state.
“Don’t tell me the entire family was wiped out.”
Taeyon remained silent with a dark expression.
That also meant there was no knowing how many more victims there might be in this case. If they didn’t even know when the kidnappings started, how could they know how many people had been kidnapped?
“I’ll take care of the body for now.”
“Yes. And let’s search this area for now.”
“Since a corpse like this appeared, there probably aren’t any monsters nearby. This demonic energy also seems to be a trace from the past.”
The basis for this judgment was that if there had been monsters nearby, the corpse couldn’t have remained intact. Monsters devoured everything edible. Unless the boss monster beast stayed close by to guard it, they would have certainly forgotten their orders and torn into the corpse.
But the corpse was so clean you could call it pristine, except for being dried up.
“We can’t ignore the one-in-ten-thousand chance.”
However, his words weren’t wrong either. Arkan nodded without much resistance, then unwrapped his cloak, rolled the body up in it, and hoisted it onto his back.
*Cough cough*—it was then that Kaniel made a coughing sound. Though a flustered Kaniel covered his mouth, the cough he’d been holding back the whole time, once it escaped, poured out uncontrollably.
“Kaniel, what’s wrong?”
When Taeyon saw Kaniel trying to go outside but bending at the waist and coughing, he immediately picked him up and carried him outside. Only after breathing in the outside air several times did Kaniel stop coughing.
With his face pale as a sheet, gasping for breath, Kaniel mumbled an apology.
“I’m sorry… I tried to hold it in.”
“What were you trying to hold in?”
“That thick demonic energy. I thought I’d be okay for a short while.”
“Humans… cough when they come in contact with demonic energy?”
“Uh… Do beastkin not do that at all?”
Come to think of it, not only Taeyon but also Arkan, who had followed out late, didn’t seem to have any side effects from the demonic energy.
Taeyon interrogated him with a frowning face.
“Explain that in more detail. What other symptoms are there?”
“You get sick as if you have a fever, or vomit… But I’m on the mild side.”
“If it’s severe?”
“I said I’m not severe.”
“If it’s severe.”
“If it’s severe… you can die, but…”
Taeyon let out a seething sigh, and Kaniel flinched without realizing it. He really was fine though.
“Arkan.”
“Yes, Taeyon-nim!”
“We’ll split up for the search. If you discover monsters, don’t attack them—we’ll rendezvous at this location and decide what to do. You go that way. I’ll go this way.”
“Understood!”
Arkan, who answered while even saluting, quickly left the spot. In his view, this youth named Kaniel had aspects that made people’s insides burst. If there was such a problem, he should have said something before entering the room—holding it in, going inside, having a physical problem, and then saying it’s nothing, who would accept that?
The young master detested this kind of thing causing problems in operations. You could tell just by recalling what happened to a knight who got excited during a subjugation battle in the past and went deep into a monster horde alone.
He’d definitely get scolded until his tears dried up. He clicked his tongue and entered the cave search.
“……”
“…Are you okay now?”
“Yes. Demonic energy at this level is nothing. Really.”
It was true. It only felt like breathing slightly bad air; there were no problems with his body at all. Kaniel earnestly explained such things.
And when he looked up, Taeyon was looking at him with a cold expression. At the expression he was seeing for the first time, Kaniel rapidly shrank.
“I-it’s true though…”
When he mumbled excuses to the end, Taeyon suddenly let out a sigh. A hand swiftly approached and checked his forehead for fever.
“Ah.”
“Ah… ah?”
When Kaniel inadvertently opened his mouth, Taeyon checked whether the inside of his throat was swollen. Belatedly, shame rushed over him and Kaniel hastily stepped back.
No, if he wanted to know if it hurt or was swollen, he could just ask—why look directly into his mouth? Was this kind of thing normal among beastkin?
“It’s not swollen. That’s a relief.”
However, he couldn’t bring himself to reproach the man who was worried and relieved. Next time if he does this again, he’d say something then. That humans don’t look into others’ mouths unless they’re doctors.
“Kaniel. From now on, if you’re hurting or feel like you might hurt, tell me right away.”
“Mm… If it seems like it’ll hurt enough for you to worry, I’ll tell you.”
Taeyon furrowed his brow.
Humans are weak. That was the conclusion Taeyon had reached while traveling with Kaniel so far. His sense of balance wasn’t good, he tired easily, and his pace wasn’t fast.
He first became conscious of this on the road from the forest where they first met to the village. If Taeyon had been alone, a distance that would have taken a day took three days to walk. At first, he suspected Kaniel was being lazy. He soon learned that wasn’t the case, but he was inwardly shocked.
That such a weak life form was within the boundary of ‘people’ like himself.
How on earth had humans managed to survive until now? He even thought that perhaps that was why they fled to the Floating Island.
As he stared silently, Kaniel fidgeted by himself and finally revealed his thoughts.
“We can’t not look for the child just because my condition is a bit bad.”
“That’s right. We need to find the child.”
“Right? So…”
“But I’m going to look for the child while also worrying about you.”
At those words, he felt something moist inside his chest. Kaniel looked up at Taeyon in bewilderment. He couldn’t see any falsehood in his face.
How can he say such ticklish things so nonchalantly?
As he stared up in a daze, Taeyon spoke again.
“So from now on, report everything. Understand?”
“Y-yes!”
The ticklish feeling flew away at the word ‘report.’ Perhaps this was also one of Taeyon’s ways of handling subordinates. Like how he deliberately showed the people saved by the protective barrier last time to boost his pride.
A mischievous impulse welled up in Kaniel.
“Actually, my legs really hurt. We kept walking.”
Then Taeyon immediately bent his knees and massaged Kaniel’s calves. Kaniel was startled and tried to step back, but he didn’t budge.
“Your calves are definitely swollen. I understand.”
“What? What do you under— No, I’m fine! Really!”
Kaniel was horrified at the hands that lifted him up in one swoop. Despite shouting several times, the next moment he was in Taeyon’s arms. Beastkin really had fast hands too.
“This much is nothing. I was just curious how you’d react if I mentioned even these trivial things, so I was teasing. I can walk. I can even run. Should I show you?”
“……”
Taeyon was dumbfounded by the words that poured out as soon as he was picked up. He didn’t like the startled reaction as if something terrible had happened.
“It’s true though… Really…”
Only then did Taeyon put Kaniel back down. Kaniel, finally standing on his own feet, let out a sigh of relief.
“I’m sorry. I won’t tease again…”
“Why?”
“What do you mean?”
“Teasing. Keep doing it.”
Taeyon said curtly and moved his steps toward the cave in the opposite direction from where Arkan had gone earlier.
