YM778.TV Chapter 46 - Anne’s Diary (2)
Chapter 46 - Anne’s Diary (2)
Swaaah—
The sound of gentle waves rippled along with the soft breeze.
Catching the familiar salty scent of the sea, the fox opened her eyes.
Warm air brushed against her cheeks.
“...”
Her vision filled with the endless expanse of the open sea.
It was a nightmare she had grown all too familiar with.
The setting was always the same—a prison built upon the sea.
“Haa…”
A sigh escaped her lips, born of weary frustration.
The girl, her crimson hair fluttering in the wind, soon sat down, leaning her back against the rusty iron bars.
The creaking of the old metal let out a low groan.
Creeeak.
But the fox paid no mind, simply pulling her knees to her chest.
The water lapped at her ankles.
Because of it, the lower half of her body was submerged in the sea.
Of course, since this was a dream, her clothes didn’t get wet, but still, the girl always wore a complicated expression.
It was a feeling of loss.
‘It’s... too quiet.’
Being aware that it was just a dream made her want to wake up all the more.
It was a profoundly lonely world.
The warmth of the sun felt almost alien.
Maybe it was a form of deception.
—Irene.
—You can no longer stay by master’s side… nor should you.
—So this is goodbye.
—Please, seek out your shining star.
As always.
The voice she missed the most reached her ears during the loneliest of moments.
The fox reflected on the faint memories, trying to shake off the lingering bitterness.
It was a form of adaptation to the darkness.
The waves, drowning in silence, rolled on.
Once more, the fox quietly waited.
Waited to wake from this nightmare.
Hoping that the suffocating sense of loss would finally be filled.
***
It seemed she had briefly fallen asleep.
Perhaps it was the lingering effect of the sleep magic. Her consciousness had abruptly cut off.
Irene groaned, feeling the headache wash over her.
“...”
What she saw above her was an unfamiliar ceiling.
A cell, steeped in deep darkness.
Whether her eyes were open or closed, it made no difference—she was still trapped inside the same iron bars.
The cold seeped up from the hard floor.
Her shoulders trembled from the chill.
She hadn’t realized it because of the overwhelming tension, but her body had already grown cold.
The fox suppressed a groan that threatened to escape.
In hindsight, it might have been better to remain in the dream.
At least there, it had been warm, and the wind had blown.
Those trivial thoughts flitted through her mind.
As she sat there in helpless stillness, passing time—
“Hey... Fox Sis!”
“...?”
“Over here! Over here!”
Someone called out to the fox.
She looked around, confused by the sudden voice, and noticed a small hole in the wall.
It seemed to be someone from the adjacent cell.
A hand was waving between the tightly packed iron bars.
“You finally woke up?”
A young girl’s face.
Even if one were to guess generously, she couldn’t have been more than fifteen.
The girl smiled bashfully when their eyes met.
“I was worried because you hadn’t woken up, but I’m glad you’re awake now!”
“You…”
It was her.
The one who had warned her to pretend to be asleep earlier.
The fox stared blankly at the girl.
“Nice to meet you! It’s been so long since someone new was put in the next cell!”
The girl smiled as if in wonder.
Then, without warning, she reached out her hand through the bars.
“My name’s Anne! We’re both test subjects, so let’s get along.”
“T-Test subjects…?”
“Yep!”
The girl nodded energetically.
Faced with such an unusual scene, the fox once again found herself speechless.
***
Kidnapped by an unknown group.
At first, Irene had been overwhelmed with confusion, her mind filled with darkness, but little by little, she began to gather information.
Thanks to the voice speaking to her from the neighboring cell.
“Sis! Got any more questions?”
The girl who called herself Anne.
The bright, cheerful child chattered endlessly.
Perhaps she was worried about the new test subject, as most of what she said was an explanation of the facility they were trapped in.
Sometimes, she answered the fox’s questions as well.
“Hehe... but there’s still a lot I don’t know.”
Of course, her answers weren’t always very clear.
It made sense, since the girl was also locked behind bars.
She scratched her cheek awkwardly.
“I’ve just picked up what I could.”
“Picked up…?”
“Things I overheard or experienced myself… when you’re locked up for a long time, you figure some things out.”
“How long have you been here?”
“About seven months?”
Though the information wasn’t particularly deep, it was enough for the fox to start piecing things together.
Here’s what she figured out:
‘The largest black magic organization on the continent, Baob.’
That was the group that had kidnapped Irene.
This facility was one of the places they had prepared for their black magic experiments.
The cell Irene was in now was where they kept the materials they planned to use for experiments.
It was, essentially, a den of evil.
‘From slave traders… to cultists.’
A bitter laugh slipped out.
She had barely escaped being sold into slavery, only to now face the possibility of becoming a monster.
It felt like fate was toying with her.
Sitting slumped against the wall, the fox bit her lip.
“Just so you know… it’s best to go along with the experiments.”
“Why’s that?”
“...There’s a demon here.”
From what she heard, escaping was almost impossible.
Every person overseeing the place was a black magician.
And the head of the lab was someone who had reached the peak of their powers.
With just a gesture, they could tear apart countless test subjects. Every previous attempt to rebel had ended the same way.
Anne called the head of the lab a ‘demon.’
“The demon kills the test subjects for fun.”
If the experiments didn’t go as planned, they died.
Even if it wasn’t related to the experiments, they died.
If they acted arrogantly, they died.
If they made eye contact, they died.
If the demon was in a bad mood, they died.
The demon enjoyed killing, as though they were entertained by the screams of the test subjects.
“That’s why I told you to lie down earlier… If you pretend to be asleep, sometimes they leave you alone.”
It seemed the head of the lab was more interested in slaughter than research.
Their faith in whatever deity they claimed to follow was just an excuse for the carnage. In essence, they were a bloodthirsty monster.
No sliver of hope remained.
“...”
In this desperate situation.
Though Irene’s face remained expressionless, the trembling in her pupils betrayed her emotions.
The crushing weight of despair bore down on her shoulders.
Her head pounded with an intense, splitting pain.
As she rubbed her temples, trying to ease the ache—
Suddenly, a hand appeared from between the bars.
“Sis, take this.”
“...What is it?”
“A blanket!”
The girl handed her a tattered piece of cloth.
It was worn out and torn, a ragged mess, yet the girl insisted it was a blanket.
Her eyes met the fox’s, and she smiled brightly.
“You’ve been shivering for a while now. It’s all torn up, so it might not be very warm, but still, you should cover yourself.”
“You’re lending this… to me?”
“I’m always warm, so I don’t need it!”
“...Thank you.”
“Hehe.”
Anne reacted as though overjoyed.
It might have been a bit rude to think this, but the fox wondered if the girl was entirely sane.
Had she lost her mind after becoming a test subject at such a young age?
‘How can she smile like that in a place like this…?’
Pushing those thoughts aside, the fox draped the blanket over herself.
The rough texture of the tattered cloth, handed to her by the girl’s grubby hands, settled on her shoulders.
And yet.
She still felt cold.
***
How much time had passed?
By her own estimate, around three days had gone by.
During the days spent in the den of black magicians, the fox had witnessed scenes from hell.
What she saw beyond the iron bars—
—Ah, glrk, hrg, hrk—!
—N-No…! No!! D-Don’t do it!!!
—S-Spare me, please…! P-Please, I beg you!!!
—Aaaagh!!!
—Something’s growing, growing inside me!!! Something’s eating through my belly!!!
The constant shrieks.
The frequent wails and cries echoed from the end of the corridor, painting vivid pictures of the horrors happening there.
Every now and then, the screams weren’t even human.
Whether they belonged to something that was never human, or to something that ‘used’ to be human, was impossible to know.
—Aaaagh! Stoooop!!!
The desperate shouts reached her faintly.
Many test subjects were taken to the laboratory, but only a few ever returned to the cells.
In the past three days, 47 had been taken, and only 2 had returned.
And even then, they could barely walk.
One of them had a body that had been grotesquely transformed.
—Krrk! Kriiik!!
The twisted, spider-like face was horrifying.
Although Irene’s cell was far from the lab, the raw noise still reached her ears, faint but clear.
She had to stifle her nausea multiple times.
“...”
The fox was still alive.
The black magicians hadn’t touched Irene.
Or rather, they couldn’t.
The demon had declared that he would deal with her personally in a week.
—This one I’ll experiment on myself.
—A fox beastfolk… what a perfect specimen.
The demon had spoken with a sickening glint in his eyes.
In the end, the other magicians could only retreat, licking their lips in frustration.
Her life had been narrowed down to a span of a week.
All Irene could do now was wait as time crept by.
There was no hope.
At first, she thought about resisting, but after coming face-to-face with the head of the lab, her mind had changed.
The demon’s power was overwhelming.
At least at the level of a Galimard professor.
With a single incantation, every test subject in the lab would be slaughtered.
“...”
In the end, she could do nothing but lose herself in despair.
The fox remained silent.
Sitting quietly with her back against the wall, lost in thought.
“Sis.”
“...”
“Did you know? It’s super strange.”
“...?”
Anne peered at her through the bars.
As if concerned for the fox’s pale complexion, the girl was trying to shift her attention elsewhere.
“Time flows differently here compared to outside.”
“What do you mean…?”
“It’s exactly what I said.”
The girl lightly shrugged her shoulders.
“Once, the demon got really drunk. He was wandering the hallways, bragging about it….”
Apparently, this was some kind of special place.
Something about the corpse of a dragon being buried here… though she didn\'t remember the details too well.
What she did remember is that the flow of time is distorted around here.
“One week here is only a day outside.”
“A week… is a day?”
“It’s been three days since you came here, but outside, only a few hours have passed.”
“...”
The fox stared blankly.
As she continued to explain, Anne scratched her cheek awkwardly.
“Of course, you can believe it or not. Honestly, it sounds way too ridiculous, right? I’ve never heard of a place like this existing anywhere. Maybe somewhere outside the Empire’s borders, but….”
“...”
“I’m sure it was just the demon talking nonsense because he was drunk.”
Anne muttered quietly.
Though she furrowed her brow briefly, in the end, she broke into a bashful smile.
A transparent smile.
“Still, thinking like that gives me a bit of hope.”
“Hope…?”
“Yes, hope.”
If only a few hours have passed, that means someone’s probably out there searching for you right now.
Maybe it’s okay to hold out for a little miracle?
“Who knows! Maybe someone will show up like a prince on a white horse and save us.”
“...”
“Don’t you have anyone like that?”
“...I don’t know.”
The fox averted her eyes.
She answered indifferently, but in truth, a face immediately came to mind.
Golden hair and thin, narrow eyes.
Why was she thinking of him now?
Unconsciously, Irene bit her lip.
‘…Relying on him would be foolish.’
After all, to him, she was nothing more than a toy.
Even if she disappeared, he’d likely brush it off without a second thought.
He’d just find a new plaything.
The fox reminded herself not to trust him.
As she always had before.
‘I’m just… meant to be alone like this.’
The fox silently repeated that painful thought to herself.
But…
“She’d better be safe.”
The fox didn’t know.
That a force, one capable of wiping out an entire nation, was already moving to find her.
White eyes gleamed in the darkness.
“If she’s not safe… I can’t guarantee what I’ll do.”
The white banners fluttered in the wind.
A group steeped in murderous intent cut through the night sky.
All to retrieve the fox.