Chapter 84 – Her Paradise

Her Paradise

Chloe had disappeared.
It began to dawn on her around the time Flan was searching inside Chloe’s house.

Her friend, who should always be in the same spot, was nowhere to be seen.
For anyone else, it might have been an event to simply shrug off with a thought like, ‘Well, that can happen.’
Maybe she had her reasons for not showing up. Human affairs are unpredictable, so it wouldn’t be strange if she were somewhere else.

But Chloe wasn’t that kind of person. She was someone with nothing to do.

She had a history of insubordination to her superiors and had been demoted from her position managing the World Tree to a mere forest keeper.
She was a woman who only did what she wanted, and now she wasn’t showing up to meet her friend?

There was definitely a problem.

Chloe had many connections, so news about her started to spread at a rapid pace.

That’s how the search party was formed.
About 70 people in total.
All of them were Chloe’s friends.

However, even after a considerable amount of time had passed, there was no trace of her to be found.
They investigated based on her last known destination, but it was impossible to obtain any substantial information. If someone had threatened her safety, there should naturally be eyewitness accounts, or at the very least, some evidence left behind, but there was nothing.
The only thing that could hardly be called evidence was the fact that she had been seen running towards somewhere, and behind her, there appeared to be a man in a mask.
Other than that, there was nothing.

It was clear to everyone that she must have been kidnapped.

But upon reflection, the idea of her being kidnapped seemed impossible. Was there anyone capable of threatening Chloe in the first place?
She was a forest keeper, even if a fallen one.
Moreover, she had been chosen by the hero’s party.

Yet, the possibility of kidnapping couldn’t be dismissed. Take, for example, the hero’s fanatics.
It’s possible that a few individuals who fanatically worship the hero could have kidnapped her. Even the strongest can be cornered if they’re caught off guard or in a vulnerable state. So if we dig into those bastards…

But there’s no concrete evidence that they committed the crime.

Despite the dozens of her friends searching, the forest keepers who could be called the world’s best in tracking and gathering information, there was no yield.
Even as the forest keepers, sometimes referred to as the best in the world at tracking and intelligence, threw themselves into the search, they couldn’t produce results.

As the situation dragged on, baseless rumors began to circulate.

The hero, angered by her revealing his truth, must have kidnapped her.
Could she have encountered the demons that invaded Myluman?
It must be related to that suspicious man in the mask.

Although there were many hitches, the search that had been progressing smoothly began to slow down at a certain point.

Because the vile presence of the demons had vanished.
That’s why the forest keepers, who had been summoned due to the threat of demons, were dismissed.
The forest keepers had to return to their original posts. As the personnel responsible for tracking were withdrawn, the search faced increasing difficulties, and eventually, the search party, which had been in the double digits, dwindled to single digits.

After a blood-spilling effort, all they had to show for it were the testimonies of witnesses.
Apart from uncertain information like bloodstains found in the underground of Myluman, that was all there was.

One by one.
Two by two.
Three by three.

Members of the search party started to drop out, each for their own reasons.

And before long, Myluman returned to its former state.

As if nothing had ever happened.

* * *

In the room, there is a girl.

She is tied to a chair, a rusted chair with dried, red remnants. Ropes of pure white contrast starkly with the dark grey hues of the room. Only the foreign color of the ropes, tightly binding her arms and legs, shines brightly, creating an eerie atmosphere.

The girl is unconscious.
The blood-soaked bandages wrapped around her head seem to tell the reason why she cannot rise.

There is no sound. Yet, an unmistakable, subtle stench seeps through the air.
Its source lies in the blood and filth scattered across the floor… and the sharp, metallic skewers. Skewers that could easily pierce through steel plates are embedded in the walls. Occasionally, one could see skewers with blood clotted firmly on them.
Whatever happened here, it was clear that it was far from normal.

What purpose does this room serve?
Why is the girl alone in this room?
What are these skewers for?

Even if someone were to ask these questions, no answers would come.

Because everyone who could answer has disappeared.
Or, they are in a situation where they could not answer.

Then, what could be the reason for the girl’s presence in this room?
This place is a paradise where a girl, after running and running and running, can finally reach—a place where she can escape the consequences of her actions, the only paradise where she can be free from responsibility.

Once, the girl had prayed to the heavens to reach this place.

And now, she has arrived in paradise.

Without knowing what end awaits her.

-Clop, clop.

And the real paradise begins now.

With a hefty sound, the door opens.
The steel door warps easily. The excitement of the person opening it is clearly visible.

Stepping into the ashen space is an elf with sky-blue hair.
An elf who has sworn allegiance to the Demon King.
A vile woman appears, one who betrayed her kin and, with the power gained from that betrayal, massacred her own people.

“…The time has finally come.”

Slowly, with graceful steps, she moves toward the center of the room. Before long, she is holding two sharp skewers. Normally, she would have held one in each hand, but she was in a state of unhealed injury caused by a certain man.

Nerati uses a skewer like a chopstick to trace the girl’s cheek.
The white skin begins to scratch slightly.

But no blood flows.

“To do as you please with your own kind, especially those who sympathized with the hero…!”

How to handle her, how to make her scream.

She could release all the built-up stress in one go. So let’s play with her as long as possible. The idea is to torment her for a long time without breaking her.

Her favorite method is the torture cycle.
Or closer to the breaking cycle.
Well, if we’re being precise, it’s more accurate to say it’s what she’s good at.
Nerati has carried out many public executions, so she’s certainly familiar with it.

Given Nerati’s expertise, she knew exactly how to inflict the maximum amount of pain without causing unconsciousness or death.

The most enjoyable part would be at the end; for now, she would handle her slowly, as if breaking in a new pet.

Her grudge against Chloe wasn’t particularly deep.
At most, Chloe had shot an arrow at her while she was fleeing. She didn’t harbor the same level of hatred as she did for Flan.
Her desire to kill was minimal.

Therefore, instead of tormenting her intensely and then killing her, she wanted to gradually increase the intensity of her treatment.

It’s unfortunate for Chloe, but she was asleep anyway.
To be precise, she was unconscious due to trauma.
By now, enough time had passed that it wouldn’t be strange for her to wake up at any moment.

A red line wavered on Chloe’s cheek.

“That’s enough of a taste.”

A single drop of blood trailed down her neck.

Nerati carelessly set down the skewer she was holding and raised something else in front of Chloe’s eyes.
It was a new skewer, this one with a hook at the end, an odd shape.
She shoved it recklessly into the unresisting Chloe’s mouth. After jabbing it around, she managed to sink the hook deep into the underside of Chloe’s tongue.

And then she applied force.

She was reviving Chloe.

Nerati might be a subordinate of the Demon King, but she possessed some knowledge of healing, albeit limited. When she first started torturing, she often accidentally killed her subjects because she couldn’t control the intensity properly. Regretting this, she taught herself some holy magic.
Of course, using it put a significant strain on her body, but waking someone from unconsciousness wasn’t too severe.

“Hmm. Time to wake up, isn’t it…?”

After a while with the hook in place, Chloe’s body began to twitch slightly.
Then suddenly, the chair shook violently.

Nerati didn’t miss that moment and immediately yanked out the hook. She didn’t care about the resulting wounds and potential aftereffects. After all, she was going to do things much worse; she couldn’t afford to be concerned about such trivial matters from the start.

Flesh and broken pieces of teeth scattered across the floor.

And Chloe’s consciousness returned.

“Cough, cough, hack… Ah, ah? Ah??”

Those were her first words upon regaining her senses.

What was I doing, no, I had jumped off.
Wasn’t I dead?
My head hurts, what’s happening?

And then, the pain that came a little later. The agony rose from the torn flesh and missing tooth fragments as she pulled out the hook. It was a distinctly different kind of pain from what she had felt on the battlefield, something foreign.

It was like swallowing hot food all at once, burning down the throat, while the liquid flowed and stimulated, causing severe intense pain.

“Ah… Ah, wh
Where is this…?”

Even as she regained consciousness and looked around, all she could see were the ashen walls and the glinting skewers.

And the smiling face of an elf looking at her.

She couldn’t understand the current situation.
She was sure she had died, but here she was, alive.
The strange room she found herself in upon regaining consciousness.
Was it someone of her own kind, not a friend, who had saved her…?

The severe headache made any further thought impossible.
So, for now, let’s not worry about it. The important thing is that I’m alive.

I had died once. But by some twist of fate, I had survived.
It was that woman who had saved me.
Why am I alive…?

Could it be, Troka has saved me…

Chloe tried to understand the current situation with her barely functioning brain. She imagined and organized the events that had occurred during her memory lapse in a way that was favorable to her.

The conclusion she came to was to express her gratitude, for now.

“Th-thank you…”

Her pronunciation was off due to her shattered teeth. But there was no time to feel flustered.

“Yeah, I’m really thankful too.”

A skewer that appeared out of nowhere pierced through her fingernail.

Thwack, separating nail and flesh.
Snap, the skewer reaching the root of the nail.

“Uh.. Uh..?”

“Still not fully awake, I see?”

Her mind was hazy, perhaps because she had just woken up. It was impossible for Chloe to feel proper sensations, feeling only something touching her finger. However, it wouldn’t be long before she would vividly experience all the pain. She would get a detailed experience of how her body was being destroyed by Nerati.

It wouldn’t be long before Chloe fully understood her current situation.

In this ashen paradise, there was only the chair, the girl, and countless skewers. And the girl who could no longer run away.

The paradise continued with the girl who had fallen after running away.
Probably until Nerati’s curiosity was satisfied. Or until some special event occurred.

Forever.