Two Starving People

Iefuda the scoundrel.

A former priest of the Church of the Sun God who made his living through villainy.

Yohane had encountered him several times, and I remembered each occasion being a tremendous ordeal.

The girl beside him was Jill, who served as Iefuda's bodyguard.

Her strength rivaled Azu's, and she fought by swinging around a sword far too large for her.

The dragging sound had apparently been Jill's sword scraping against the ground.

Normally I wouldn't want to see him, but in this horrific place, maybe he was better than meeting monsters.

Jill was staring at the pot's contents while sucking on her finger, occasionally glancing my way.

"Go ahead and eat."

Jill immediately grabbed a fork and started eating.

"Hey Jill. I'm hungry too, so share some with me."

"First come, first served."

"Don't be like that. Come on?"

In the end, that wasn't enough, and Yohane had to share his food supplies with the two of them.

Good thing I brought portable rations.

The two were happily munching on hardtack.

After eating, Iefuda longingly licked the crumbs from his fingers.

They must have been quite hungry.

"That was good. Thanks for the meal."

"Thanks for the meal."

"Glad you liked it."

"So, why are you here? This isn't some gentle place a merchant should be wandering into alone."

"I didn't come here by choice."

It wasn't a relationship where we'd have friendly chats, but I was starved for human conversation, so I told him what happened.

Besides, he might know something.

"Sleeping in the Imperial castle, huh. Haha. You've got bad luck. Got yourself caught up in this."

"Where is this place? What are those monsters?"

"Calm down. Panicking won't do any good."

I leaned forward to listen, but he stopped me.

If anything, these two seemed too calm.

"Where this is… that's hard to explain, but simply put, it's the reverse side."

"The reverse side?"

"It's more of a miracle than magic, but it shifted phase from the original location to create a separate space. So, the reverse side."

That made no sense to Yohane.

Still, this apparently wasn't the Imperial castle after all.

Some power had created an identical place.

Hard to believe, but since I was seeing it with my own eyes, I had no choice but to accept it.

"Those monsters are minions of this world's master, I suppose. There are also humans brought from the surface world, but staying here too long drives them mad."

I remembered the one who tried to bite me.

He was anything but sane. So staying here too long makes you end up like that.

Terrifying.

Then I realized something.

"The red moon and the disappearances… don't tell me…"

"Oh, you know about that? Correct. This is the scene of that incident. Normal humans either get eaten by monsters or go mad while hiding and waiting."

"The reason no one knew the details was because no one ever escaped from here."

"Exactly. This place is like a stomach that uses humans as food. Not much different from the Sun God."

Iefuda smiled sardonically.

I already knew the Sun God was wicked, but for Iefuda, a former priest even if he'd left, to say so.

Maybe he learned something during his time in the Church of the Sun God and quit being a priest.

"I understand where this is for now. So why are you two here? Do you know a way out?"

"… Tch. Talked too much."

"Iefuda. This guy gave us food before too. You should pay him back."

"Geez, you're too easily won over by food. But well, I guess we can cooperate for the meal."

I was pretty sure last time was a dine-and-dash, but it would be tactless to bring that up.

I absolutely needed their cooperation to get out of here alive.

"I told you, right? I came to the Empire for work. The master of this place has been kidnapping and feeding on humans for years. In the process, they've accumulated treasure."

"Treasure galore."

"I doubt that…"

From what I'd explored, there didn't seem to be anything valuable here.

"Those monsters gather it and bring it to their master whenever they find it. By the way, the only way out of here is to defeat that master. There's no exit, after all."

"Looked but couldn't find one. Only thing left to try is defeating the master. We've been so hungry."

"This is a small-scale world, but it's still a world being maintained. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve, but none of them work well."

"So that's why you were starving. If you two are cooperating, I'll provide my food supplies. But I can't believe something that can do this exists… well, if someone like Ent exists, maybe it's not so strange."

Ent Weihenstephan, Apostle of Oscar.

If it was the Rose Witch, she might be capable of something similar.

"Scary. You met that rose woman and lived? The master here is just as nasty. After all, it used to be a god."

"A god? A real one?"

Could a god like the Creator King, Oscar, or the Sun God have created such a place?

"Though the main body was burned by the Sun God's invasion. It was a god that opposed the Creator King too, so that was one good thing the Sun God did. But being a god, it clung to life stubbornly. The remnants survived and have been causing trouble ever since. Hiding among humans, eating humans, spawning monsters, and expanding this world."

Iefuda's expression was unusually serious.

And he was remarkably well-informed.

Were all priests knowledgeable about ancient history, like Elza?

"Well, it's a good test for Jill. She lost to that little girl last time, but she's gotten even stronger now."

"Our Azu has gotten stronger too."

Iefuda snorted derisively.

In any case, I would be traveling with them.

They weren't trustworthy, but I had no choice but to follow.