<Chapter 148>
#16. Hidden Purpose (12)
“What’s going on?”
Calix frowned deeply. Having somehow completed clearing the surroundings, several people who approached him had perfectly subdued Johaim. While glancing sideways at Johaim, who was submitting docilely to them without even opening his mouth, the elite guard who had called Calix spoke as soon as he turned his gaze.
“Melty-nim is nowhere to be seen.”
“What do you mean nowhere to be seen…? He should be in the building inside…?”
Johaim mumbled with a face even more bewildered than Calix’s. Giving a sidelong glance at his seemingly soulless appearance, Calix hurriedly moved with a brief word to guide him.
The first things that came into view were chains strewn carelessly on the floor and a crumpled blanket stuck in the entrance of the barred door. This was the only building that matched Johaim’s mumbled words about an “inside building.” That alone made Calix realize Melty had been here.
Moving slowly, Calix placed his hand on the blanket. The blanket undoubtedly still had warmth.
“…He couldn’t have gone far. Spread out around the area immediately and find Melty Crosel. Don’t forget that his safety is the most important thing.”
“Yes.”
Following his command, the elite unit dispersed quickly and efficiently. Maintaining the heavily sunk silence, Calix stared intently at the inside of the cell where Melty had been.
He should have come earlier.
“Damn it.”
With a low curse, Calix bit his lip and looked for signs of someone being dragged away. Then he quickly moved.
***
Keeping his mouth firmly shut and staying obediently still, Melty rolled his eyes to look up at the person holding him. The man with the hardened face showed slight impatience in his expression as he directed his gaze up into the trees. Following his movement, Melty blankly stared at the figure who had climbed up the tree a moment ago.
“What’s going on?!”
“Tsk. Don’t raise your voice, it’s annoying.”
Responding in an irritated voice, the man came down easily stepping on the tree. With a face full of annoyance, he swept back his hair and said with a serious expression.
“We’re under attack.”
“Attack? What nonsense! This is the Illusion Flower area!”
“Shut up. If you don’t believe me, climb up and see for yourself, fatty.”
“What did you just say?”
As the atmosphere quickly grew serious as if they were about to fight, Melty quietly crouched down. The man who had approached the iron bars with a fierce face was the fat man named Cowen. And the man who had just come down from the tree, “Aldora,” was the one who had thrown hard bread at him when Melty first woke up after being kidnapped.
It was because of Aldora’s words about a “perfect crime” that Melty had been dragged out here with his hands tied. Though he resisted, saying he didn’t want to go, it was impossible for Melty to overcome them by force, even if it wasn’t these two.
Melty quickly gave up resistance for his safety. But that didn’t mean he was simply dragged along. He tried to slow down their pace without them noticing. Shortly after leaving the place where he had been confined, the sound of metal objects colliding rang out from the place they had just escaped.
“Are you deaf now too?”
“You bastard!”
Quietly watching the two men who seemed to have forgotten his existence and were about to fight, Melty swallowed dryly. Someone had definitely come. The only person that came to mind was, of course, Calix.
‘Does Calix-ssi know I’m here?’
Suppressing his anxious feelings, Melty prayed earnestly to the Beast God. As a member of the Crosel family, a family of hunters, it was frustrating to have to wait for someone’s help, but it seemed better to wait than to move rashly in a situation without weapons.
Belatedly noticing the burning gaze on his face, Melty slowly moved his stiffly frozen neck. The gazes of the two men who had been fighting until just now were on Melty.
“It’s obvious who it is without looking. It’s the Padrian family. Little one, you’re quite cherished, aren’t you?”
“…The Padrian family? How could that bastard come here?”
Aldora burst into giggles at Cowen’s question with a deeply furrowed brow.
“Are you stupid? Can’t you even remember what you said yourself? Besides the Sarvie family, who else could safely enter this place full of Illusion Flowers other than the Padrian family?”
“Well…, that’s true.”
“I have no intention of dying here. I only participated to make a hefty profit in the first place.”
“What?”
Melty’s eyes, which had been quietly watching the two men’s verbal battle, suddenly lit up. In the triangular flask with a sealed entrance at Aldora’s waist was Naru. Although half-submerged in pink liquid, there was no doubt.
Could he save him?
His mouth became dry with tension. As if recognizing Melty, Naru pushed the triangular flask with his nose. It was a subtle movement, but Melty clearly confirmed that he was conscious.
“Of course, I also wanted to make the Padrian family eat dirt.”
Despite joking and shrugging his shoulders, his eyes dangerously flashed. Feeling goosebumps all over his body in an instant, Melty huddled and cautiously opened his mouth.
“Why do you… hate the Padrian family?”
Aldora’s mouth twisted into a smile at the sight of Melty asking questions resolutely despite trembling.
“They’re just annoying.”
“Pardon? Ugh! N-no, let me go!”
It was the moment when Melty, not understanding Aldora’s words, asked back. Thanks to Cowen grabbing Melty’s collar and lifting him up, he was choked. Melty struggled with both hands to push away his grip, but it had no effect.
“Why would you kill him! With this bastard, we can teach the Padrian family a lesson!”
“Ugh, kek!”
“Really? It seems useless if you turn him into a corpse already.”
“What?”
At Aldora’s words, Cowen looked at Melty whom he was holding. Melty’s complexion was already turning pale as his body was floating in the air due to the size difference.
“Fucking weakling.”
With a deep frown, he threw Melty carelessly. Hitting the ground directly, Melty coughed and desperately inhaled oxygen. Aldora clicked his tongue at the sight of Melty trembling and huddling while panting.
“He’ll really kill the child. Since even the Sarvie bastard treated him carefully, we could get a proper ransom if we just keep him alive.”
“Ransom? For that, he just needs to be alive, right?”
Cowen giggled while rolling up his sleeves. Frowning at the unpleasant laughter, Melty hid a small stone that first caught his eye in his hand. Aldora, who had been engaging in meaningless chitchat with Cowen, frowned at the sight of Melty curling up without moving.
“What the hell. Why isn’t he moving at all? Has he already lost consciousness?”
“If he’s lost consciousness, we can just wake him up.”
Melty regulated his breath, frozen with tension, listening to the approaching footsteps. He had a stone in his hand, and there were two opponents. Various parts that had been hit when thrown to the ground were throbbing, but he had no mind to figure out where it hurt.
‘I am a Crosel too.’
Now there was life in his belly. So he could no longer show a naive appearance of just sniffling tears without knowing how to do anything.
The Crosel family were hunters, predators. They did not yield to danger, overcame crises, and were a family that hunted rather than being hunted. He gripped the stone in his hand tightly.
With narrowed eyes, he moved only his eyeballs to determine the positions of his opponents. And when he felt they were close enough, he threw the stone with all his might. Along with Aldora’s startled scream, the sound of breaking glass was heard.
“Ugh! W-what?”
“Fuck! That bastard…!”
Ssss-
“A snake? It’s a snake!”
As Naru’s body landed weakly on the ground, several snakes appeared, shaking the grass. Along with the characteristic sound of snakes parting the grass, the two began to move noisily.
Naru slowly flicked his tongue to gain a clearer vision. Unlike the hesitating Aldora, Cowen, with a hardened expression, moved his feet toward where Melty was lying. Despite his dizziness, Naru found traces of Melty and, squeezing out his strength, opened his mouth wide.
Hiss!
Starting with Naru at the front biting Cowen’s leg hard, the snakes went wild. There were screams and sounds of suffocation, followed by the sound of two figures falling in succession.
Melty, who had been holding his breath while curled up, cautiously rose as the surroundings grew quiet. Seeing the two people lying face down not far away, all strength seemed to leave his body, perhaps out of relief. With a rustling sound, Melty belatedly discovered snakes coming toward him.
What sudden snakes?
While blankly blinking, the voice of someone he had been longing for rang out.
“Melty! Are you there?!”
Tears welled up at the voice that confidently knew he was there. Calix had come. And he was nearby. The sound of footsteps parting the underbrush, which had been faint, was getting faster and closer.
“Calix-ssi! I’m here!!”
Melty raised his voice toward Calix with all his might and got up.
“Ugh.”
Melty frowned deeply at the pain felt in his ankle and exhaled a deep breath. It seemed he had sprained it when he was thrown earlier. Though his ankle was stinging and painful, Melty moved, limping, wanting to see Calix as quickly as possible.
He also didn’t forget to retrieve Naru, who was near where Cowen and Aldora were lying. Carefully cradling Naru, who was limp and not moving at all, in both hands, Melty saw Calix running toward this place from far away.
The moment he faced him, all sorts of sorrow rushed in. Wiping away the moisture that clouded his vision with all his might, Melty ran toward Calix. No, he tried to run.
Startled by the grip that seized his ankle tightly, Melty lowered his head, and simultaneously felt a stinging pain near his calf. And strangely, he could clearly sense some unknown liquid spreading throughout his body.
‘Huh…?’
The world was dizzy.
“Melty!!”
Calix called Melty’s name in a voice close to a scream. And Melty saw Aldora’s face, full of madness, blood dripping from his mouth. In the other hand that wasn’t holding Melty’s ankle, he was gripping a syringe that had injected some unknown liquid into Melty’s calf. With a face that was clearly dying, Aldora wheezed and spat out words.
“I… said… I’d… make… him… eat… dirt… cough… didn’t… I…?”
Cough, Aldora spat out a handful of red blood. After seeing him, Melty could feel his vision slowly turning black. His heart, pounding as if broken, was loud. The last thing that remained in Melty’s memory was that Calix’s hands, which caught his falling body, were shaking severely.
