By Zephyria =======
Silver squinted and took a step back.
Why did they prepare so much food? There were more than a hundred chairs at the dining table. This is definitely suspicious…
Huh?
Before he knew it, Silver was perched on a dining chair, munching away on a leg of lamb. Black Weasel and the Eyepatch Woman were also stuffing meat into their mouths. Even the Prince and the Attendant, who had vowed to eat only bread, were frantically alternating between glasses of milk in one hand and salmon in the other.
Silver gestured to a fairy fluttering nearby.
“Want to sit on my shoulder?”
〔Yes!〕
The fairy landed on one of Silver’s shoulders. Silver stroked the fairy.
“My name is Silver. Do you have a name?”
〔No! Silver!〕
Up close, the fairy’s large eyes and twitching mouth were incredibly adorable. Silver felt the urge to kidnap it again. If he just grabbed it right now and stuffed it into his belt pouch, it would be seamless, wouldn’t it? No one would even notice if one went missing…
Just as he was stealthily scanning the surroundings, Black Weasel flicked Silver’s forehead.
“You were trying to steal this pretty bug, weren’t you? Give it a rest, kid! Anyway, it looks like we’re the only survivors, right?”
“I guess so.”
Silver replied, taking a bite of the lamb leg.
“Stohl people are predictable. They probably all beat each other up and self-destructed. Unless something unusual happened, it’s just us…”
「That’s it! That’s the one!」
Wolf suddenly shouted and slammed his milk glass down. The shock caused Silver to swallow the unchewed lamb whole. Wolf looked at Silver urgently.
「Silver! A thought just occurred to me. The sky cries? The sky rages? Anyway, that golden taboo—how long has it been around? I mean the origin, the origin!」
Silver couldn’t answer. He felt as if he had been caught off guard.
This guy, why is he thinking about that instead of just drinking his milk… how does a thought like that ‘suddenly’ pop up? I couldn’t have thought of that even if I used a dragon.
「20 years ago? 30 years ago? Uncle, you know, right? Hurry!」
「…I’m not sure either.」
Black Weasel spoke up.
「In the tribe I lived in as a snot-nosed kid, there was an old slave grandma over seventy. She couldn’t move and spent all her time in bed telling the tribe’s kids all sorts of old tales, legends, and myths. The grandma said she encountered the golden taboo when she was very young. That would make it at least 100 years.」
「How could that be… if massacres kept happening over 100 years… did the country do nothing?」
Red Eagle murmured. The Eyepatch Woman curled her lip with a ‘tche’.
「This isn’t Atania, you little prince. Country? What the hell is that?」
「Ah, right! Stohl is a confederation of tribes.」
Wolf replied quickly, poking Red Eagle in the ribs. Silver sank into thought. In short, the skeleton wraith had been killing countless people for a long time for the purpose of supplying the ‘observation subject group.’ But what was the purpose of the observation?
Because it was bored?
In many legends and myths, wraiths tormented people for trivial reasons like being ‘bored’ or ‘jealous.’ The skeleton wraith likely wasn’t any different. Perhaps its goal was to enjoy watching people conflict and fight while performing the tasks. But…
〔Ah, let me explain one thing. Currently, you are not non-material entities known as ‘souls.’ You are human individuals whose biological functions have been restored through my master’s technology.〕
〔You have been mobilized here after being selected as my master’s observation subject group. Please respond sincerely to the tasks so that meaningful results can be achieved.〕
The way it talked sounded exactly like the bullshit the Ice Armor Warrior used to spout about simple and compound interest. Was it trying to scare people? It did make me shrink a bit, damn it.
Just as his thoughts were advancing further, a commotion broke out at one side of the dining hall.
“Food!”
With cheers, people came rushing in.
* * *
At a glance, there were easily over 50 people. They were all warriors.
“Food! Food!”
“Booze—!”
The food, piled high like a mountain, turned into a small hill in an instant. Red Eagle wiped his lips and looked at Wolf. His face was pale.
「Wolf, the chest problem… it seems guessing was the right answer.」
「Yes. I think I overthought the problem.」
Wolf replied softly and shut his mouth. Black Weasel and the Eyepatch Woman also looked hollow. From the start, the chest task had been an ‘easy problem’ cleverly designed to make people choose number 2. Amidst the loudly shouting warriors, only two adults and three boys silently lowered their gaze.
Silver’s mind became complicated. Contrary to expectations, a significant number of groups had cooperated to overcome the obstacle. They might not have solved the problem logically like his group, but they had progressed to the stage of writing down the chests’ words and guessing number 2.
I underestimated the Stohl people too much. But that wraith bastard, what was he plotting by giving an easy problem?
Anyway, this made it certain. Another task would be given soon. There was no way the skeleton wraith would let this many people go home peacefully. Then, perhaps the first task was a malicious setup? To give them a taste of hope first, only to plunge them into deep despair?
The question didn’t last long. The Eyepatch Woman’s cheerful remark suddenly cut in.
“If it ends well, it’s all good! Eat, eat! Consider it the last supper.”
The Eyepatch Woman hummed a tune while tearing into a grilled lamb leg. She looked as nonchalant as a noblewoman prisoner adjusting the folds of her skirt in front of an executioner holding an axe. Black Weasel glared at her.
“Last supper? Is that a hunch too?”
“Yep.”
“Actually, my hunches are shit too.”
“I’ll say it again, in a situation like this, you don’t even need hunches. Damn it, we should have all just died under those plate lids.”
Meanwhile, Wolf was glancing between Black Weasel and the Eyepatch Woman. His anxious state looked like a stray dog peering in front of a bakery. The restless puppy suddenly looked at Silver.
What. Why. Translation?
Silver silently raised his middle finger. Wolf’s head slumped. He had noticed too. The adults whining that ‘we’re fucked.’
Let’s ignore him. He’s a guy who’s about to die anyway.
「Just eat.」
However, the words came out of his mouth of their own accord. Wolf hesitated, his eyes darting toward him. Silver lightly tapped the table with his wine glass.
「Are you a puppy being scolded by its owner? Lift your head.」
「Silver. Um…」
Wolf trailed off. Silver replied without turning.
「What else could it be. Right now, we’re having our last meal while we’re still alive. So eat a lot.」
At those words, Red Eagle buried his face in Wolf’s shoulder and sobbed. Unexpectedly, Wolf didn’t waver and asked back.
「Silver, you know Stohl myths well, right? You also know what kind of harm wraiths here usually do to people?」
「I’m not unaware. But Stohl has a massive amount of folklore. What I know is just a tiny bit?」
After saying that, Silver shut his mouth. His brow furrowed. Normally, he would have brushed it off with a ‘I don’t know, kid,’ but he was being kind to Wolf again. He kept looking at him… and it seemed like light was still flashing from the guy’s face… Is Glamaugh, who’s clung to this guy, controlling me even here?
Ignore it. Ignore!
「A common prank is to cast a curse that lets you understand the thoughts or words of animals. It’s one thing if it’s a dog or cat, but you end up hearing the thoughts of cows, pigs, and even fish. Weak-hearted people either end up eating only grass or starve to death.」
Silver explained in detail.
「There are also many stories about people who went out for a moment and returned to find that decades had passed. Or pranks where a human footprint appears in front of them first. It’s a joke to the wraith, but a bolt from the blue to the human. But I’ve never heard of a story like the dog-shit one we experienced here.」
「I see… Silver, could you explain more about the wraith’s pranks? It’s very interesting.」
「There are many things. Like making someone fight their own shadow, or trapping them in a dream and giving them a bizarre test. Oh, and…」
Only after rambling for a while did Silver stop. His mind went blank. What did I just do… I entertained Wolf again… and so meticulously, like a gentle caregiver…
Further resistance seemed meaningless. This was a space dominated by a powerful wraith. Perhaps Glamaugh’s power had been amplified. Struggling not to be controlled was a waste of effort. Once he framed it this way, Silver’s heart felt lighter. Done! I don’t have to ignore Wolf anymore.
Unaware of Silver’s inner state, Wolf only rubbed his temples with his fingertips. He seemed to be rolling his brain again, though it was unclear what he was thinking. Silver sneered inwardly. Idiot, what is he trying to overcomplicate this time.
「It’s very different from Atania myths. They’re nasty, but they’re definitely pranks. A disaster for humans, but for a wraith, it’s like catching a cat’s tail because they’re bored?」
Yeah…
Silver flinched.
48 – Hell Execution Order