Chapter 9
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Chapter 9
While I was at it, I decided to ask why they had sneaked into the House of Basilian in the first place.
So I made my way to where they were being held....
"So this is where they've been stashed."
I had arrived at the Underground Dungeon.
I had secretly marked Morgan with a hunter's mark, but the mark had been damaged by then, so I couldn't pinpoint his exact location.
It seemed I had gotten close enough that I would need to search on foot.
The dim dungeon had sparse lanterns hanging about, but visibility was poor.
Chesa, glancing around nervously, wrinkled her nose at the acrid stench of blood.
She pulled out a butterfly and placed it on her head, then held a flower blossom between her lips.
The butterfly concealed Chesa's appearance, while the flower purified the air around her.
Breathing in the fragrant floral scent made it much easier to breathe.
With the flower in her mouth, Chesa toddled along in search of Morgan and the One-Eyed Man.
"Ugh."
As Chesa trudged forward diligently, she let out a small sound of displeasure.
The deeper she ventured, the more pungent the odor became.
It wasn't merely the reek of blood, but also the stench of rotting flesh that permeated the air.
Grrrr....
From somewhere came a faint moan, like wind through a crevice.
It was the sound of those imprisoned in the Underground Dungeon.
The moans, saturated with agony and despair, instilled primal dread in anyone who heard them.
An ordinary person would have felt the hell etched into those cries, trembled violently, abandoned walking, and crawled away on all fours.
Of course, Chesa was a brave fairy, so such things hardly concerned her.
After walking diligently for some time, I finally located my targets.
Upon spotting the targets beyond the bars, Chesa's mouth fell open wide.
The flower blossom she had been holding dropped to the floor with a soft thud.
"No! My prey!"
I had come all this way with the intention of disciplining them, but my targets had already been reduced to chunks of meat.
Chesa surveyed Morgan and the One-Eyed Man with a deeply furrowed brow.
They were damaged to the point where not a single intact spot was visible.
Blood from wounds that still hadn't stopped bleeding pooled across the floor.
I couldn't say who had interrogated them, but whoever it was possessed a remarkably cruel disposition.
I briefly wondered if the One-Eyed Man's remaining eye was still intact, but there was no way to confirm without forcibly waking him.
"They're even worse off than I would have left them."
Cursing someone more vile than myself, Chesa pouted her lips.
I briefly considered creating a fairy's illusion realm but decided against it.
They were already out of their minds, so even if I created an illusion to interrogate them, there would be nothing to extract.
'I should have come sooner.'
Chesa let out a heavy sigh at having arrived too late.
It was just as I was thinking I should give up and head back.
"...!"
A chill ran down my spine.
A whisper came from right beside my ear.
"Flower scent."
Startled beyond measure, I jumped straight up from where I stood.
Chesa, her hair standing on end in fright, quickly spun around.
There crouched a boy with his legs bent beneath him.
His hair was a tangled mess of red and gold, disheveled and coarse.
From eyes that tilted upward like a cat's, crimson irises gleamed.
Those distinctive eyes immediately revealed the boy's identity.
Karha Basilian, the second son of House Basilian.
'But when did he get so close?'
I hadn't sensed his approach at all.
While Chesa stared at Karha with bewildered eyes, he continued sniffing.
His fangs were particularly sharp, visible between his slightly parted lips as he inhaled.
Karha's nose twitched as he muttered again.
"What is this? It really does smell like flowers."
While sniffing, he suddenly reached out his hand.
His fumbling fingers swept through empty air.
Each time the boy's hand came close, Chesa dodged with a soft sound, her eyes widening.
Surely he couldn't see anything.
Yet he pinpointed exactly where Chesa was.
Acting as if he could see everything made my heart race.
It was pure, bestial instinct.
The boy, who had been groping about, suddenly stopped.
"...Oh."
Karha picked up something that had fallen to the ground.
It was a yellow gerbera flower.
The bloom, utterly out of place in the Underground Dungeon, was not merely fresh but vibrantly green.
Holding the gerbera, Karha tilted his head and sniffed it.
'No!'
Chesa screamed silently inside.
I had dropped the flower I'd been holding in my mouth, and he had picked it up.
Fortunately, he didn't seem to suspect an intruder was present.
Puzzled, Karha simply tucked the flower into his pocket.
'What intruder would leave a flower behind, anyway...'
Chesa retreated backward, cold sweat trickling down her skin.
Fairy magic is conspicuous.
Flowers and butterflies, sparkles—they manifested everywhere, making it unsuitable for use while concealed.
I had to escape from Karha's field of awareness first.
My initial plan was to hide my body and then use my power to move directly to the bedroom.
But circumstances refused to cooperate.
Karha Basilian had followed after Chesa, who was sneaking away.
Chesa and Karha Basilian began a peculiar chase.
The Underground Dungeon of House Basilian had an unusual spiral structure.
Shaped like a coiled serpent, it was designed so that escaping from the tail—the furthest point—to the head, which served as the exit, would take considerable time.
Morgan and the One-Eyed Man were imprisoned at a location near the body of the spiral, close to the head.
Since the exit wasn't far, an adult would have escaped quickly.
But with Chesa's short legs, it would take quite a while.
Throughout that time, Karha Basilian followed relentlessly without tiring.
Even after barely escaping the Underground Dungeon and fleeing into the Garden, the pursuit continued.
'Ugh! Why is he so persistent!'
It seemed this would never end.
Chesa, wandering through the midnight Garden, surveyed her surroundings.
The Castle of Serpents' Garden was equally barren.
Unlike typical noble estates that planted various flowers according to the seasons, only weeds that had grown by chance dotted the landscape.
Only blue evergreens and trimmed shrubs barely testified that this place was indeed a Garden.
Chesa picked up a small pebble and tossed it toward the opposite side.
The pebble fell into the distant bushes with a rustling sound.
While Karha Basilian's attention turned away, I quickly hid behind the Fountain.
I hastily wiped away the flower scent and removed the butterfly I'd attached to my head, revealing my true form.
Karha Basilian, who had rummaged through the bushes and found nothing, tilted his head in confusion.
"There's nothing here..."
The boy murmured and approached the Fountain.
Chesa carefully poked her head out.
Upon discovering the baby, Karha Basilian's eyes widened.
The sound of water flowing from the Fountain filled the quiet midnight Garden with a gentle trickle.
Water droplets splashing around the Fountain sparkled like shattered jewels beneath the moonlight.
Beneath the glittering droplets, the tiny Chesa locked eyes with Karha Basilian.
"...."
Karha Basilian stared at Chesa without blinking.
The boy, who had been gazing intently, suddenly approached and snatched Chesa up with one hand.
"Squeak!"
He grabbed her like a prize from a claw machine and brought her close to his face.
"You're my new little sister, aren't you?"
From his very entrance, he seemed unruly—truly a wild beast of a boy.
Chesa attempted to communicate with the young beast.
"Hello. I'm Chesa."
The boy grinned.
His mouth curled upward in a wicked smile, revealing sharp fangs.
"Well, well, can the little thing even speak?"
"Yes. I can talk."
"Then speak."
Like twin siblings, Karha Basilian was doing the exact same thing as Ishuel—asking me to show my tongue to prove I could speak.
Chesa obliged him with the answer he wanted.
"Talk talk talk talk."
Karha Basilian burst into giggles.
Delighted by whatever he found so amusing, he shook Chesa back and forth.
"But what are you doing here?"
"I got lost on the way."
"Babies these days wander around alone in the middle of the night?"
"Yes. I couldn't find my way back to my room."
Chesa swayed in his grasp, brazenly playing the part of a lost child.
Since the excuse was rather flimsy, she added some nonsensical words to it.
"I'm fine."
Karha Basilian hummed and smiled wickedly, his expression saying he understood everything.
He set Chesa down on the floor.
Then he rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a gerbera flower that had already begun to wilt.
He tapped Chesa's head with the bloom as he asked.
"Is this for a baby?"
Chesa stretched out her short arms to cover her head with her hands as she answered.
"It's not."
"Really?"
"Really really."
The two of them were bickering back and forth.
Red eyes suddenly darted toward something in the darkness.
"Ah... what is this."
Karha Basilian's face abruptly went expressionless.
A chilling voice he had never used before murmured softly.
"Where is that dog stench coming from?"
No way.
Chesa's breath caught sharply.
Hata, Chesa's subordinate, was a dog-human hybrid.
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