With that, Keele took out a small bottle filled with a red liquid.
“This is Halahala. Poison that can kill a noble.”
Nagi was appalled. “Huh? Where’d you get something like—wait, hang on. There’s no way that kind of thing even exists.”
“It does. Even most nobles don’t know about it. I can’t say where it came from, of course.”
“How do you know it’s the real thing?”
“You sure like to worry about some trivial crap. If you’re not gonna do it, I’ll just go ask some other guy and he can have the treasure. I’m getting the same cut no matter what, so it doesn’t really matter to me. You can just stay here shivering over your lifespan.”
Keele stared into Nagi’s eyes. Unable to stand the pressure, Nagi averted his gaze.
The sight of the village seniors from last year’s Blood Offering Festival came to mind. What remaining lifespan they had had been sucked away as an offering, causing their bodies to rapidly shrivel up.
Their deeply wrinkled dry skin.
Their hopeless eyes.
Nagi’s life was already half over. Was he going to look like that in ten years?
If he had money, he could buy blood. He could buy life.
“I’ll do it,” Nagi said upon coming to his senses.
The corners of Keele’s mouth curved into a wicked smile.
The land of Agartha was essentially a large circle with the capital at its center. There were two main roads, which ran through the capital from north to south and east to west. Two other roads that formed concentric circles around the capital were referred to as the ring roads. These were the main avenues to traverse Agartha. Strano Village was located off the second ring road.
Nagi had been taught this by the village chief, but as most villagers lived their lives without ever leaving the village, it was nothing more than simple knowledge for him. Nagi had only ever gone as far away as a one-day round trip. The only one who ever took longer journeys from Strano Village was the chief, who had to go to the royal capital to fulfill his duty for the blood offering.
Just as Keele had said, the Garden lay within the forest a little off the second ring road. A small path led all the way to the mansion in the forest, but it was quite cleverly hidden by trees. Nobody would be able to find it if they didn’t know it was there.
Nagi ran down what was practically an animal trail for a few hours. He was used to running through forests, so he wasn’t bothered by this. Still, it wasn’t an easy trip.
Before long, a mansion suddenly came into view. It looked like it was a condensation of the forest’s darkness. The blackened mansion couldn’t be seen just a few steps back, but upon drawing nearer, its eerie presence became apparent.
According to the rumors, this was the kind of mansion the nobles in the capital resided in. Or so Nagi believed, at least. It was far larger than any building he had seen before. Nagi didn’t know this, but the Garden was a fair bit smaller than the noble mansions of the capital. In truth, this was very similar to a villa a noble would come to on vacation—excluding the fact it was thoroughly hidden deep within a forest, that is.
The door was probably locked. Not that Nagi was going to brashly march up to the front door, of course. He was here to burgle the place. Nagi looked up at the walls of the building as he began circling it. He then found what he was looking for: a protrusion from the wall which was just big enough to reach the rooftop.
The layout of the building was just as Keele had described. Nagi was starting to believe this dubious information his brother had brought him. Just maybe, this Halahala of his was the real deal. It was still hard to accept, though.
He took the rope he’d brought along with him out of his bag. He normally used it for hunting, and although it was thin, it was sturdy. After testing the hoop he made, Nagi threw it up at the protrusion. The hoop caught onto it without a problem. This was simple work for him, skilled with handling a rope as he was.
Nagi wrapped the rope around his hand and put strength into his arms, beginning his ascent of the wall. He spent his days running through hills and fields while hunting, so his willowy body was well trained. He scaled the wall with the agility of a beast climbing a tree. His supple muscles brought him up to the rooftop in no time at all.
Nagi made his way across the roof toward the center of the building. Just as Keele had said, there was a glass ceiling there. Peering into it, he could see the courtyard below.
He went to break the glass to gain entry, but hesitated upon seeing the brilliant workmanship of the gentle arc the ceiling drew. How exactly had it been made? Glass was a valuable resource in Strano Village, so it was only used for the windows of the chief’s house and the assembly hall. The glass used to make this ceiling must’ve cost a fortune.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t take the whole ceiling back with him. Being unable to take something and breaking it wasn’t all that different, so Nagi readied himself as he held his knife in a backward grip to break the glass.
“Who the hell are you?!” came a loud voice from the other side of the roof.
The lone guard had apparently come out onto the roof from within the building. He ran over while taking a detour to avoid the glass, during which time Nagi corrected the grip on his knife and stood at the ready. His blade was already coated with Halahala. It glowed red in the darkness as it reflected the light from within the building. Thus, the battle between Nagi and the guard began.
Nagi’s consciousness was drawn back from memories of the past to the enemy before him. The battle had reached a stalemate. After being dealt a wounding blow, the guard grew wary of Nagi’s knife and kept his distance. He didn’t actively go on the offense.
“What is a mere commoner doing here on the night of the sacred festival? Offer up your blood obediently and die already.”
His speech was typical of a noble, fanning the flames of Nagi’s anger.
“Don’t screw with me!”
He gripped his knife horizontally and charged in, driven by his rage.
“Tch!”
The guard leaped out of the way, and Nagi gave chase. Both of them had lost themselves to their emotions. As a result, they ended up moving in an unexpected direction: right toward the glass ceiling.
The guard was the first to notice. Upon realizing he was about to step on the fragile glass, he hesitated for a brief moment. Nagi didn’t let this opportunity pass by. He kept his knife at the ready and charged in for a ramming attack, not worrying about the consequences.
Nagi slammed into the guard, sending the two of them hurtling into the ceiling. Nagi tried to stab him... but couldn’t. As the glass shattered, both of them fell through. For an instant, it felt like he was floating in the air. Immediately following that came the intense crash against the floor.
Pain shot up Nagi’s arm and his knife fell from his hand, clattering against the floor. He had hit the floor right hand first. Nagi stood back up, enduring the pain... and suddenly realized someone was there. He couldn’t see them from the rooftop, but there was a person inside the courtyard.
He found himself staring unintentionally, his gaze fixed on the stranger. While he wasn’t aware of it, this very moment would change his life forever.
It was a girl in white.
She was beautiful. So beautiful that Nagi thought he was hallucinating. She had fine silver hair cut evenly at shoulder length. Her snow-white clothes were tailored from modestly woven cloth. Her porcelain skin rivaled the shade of her clothes, and her large eyes shone like gems. Just as she opened those eyes wide in surprise at the two men who had just crashed through the ceiling, Nagi saw that her eyes were... a faint red.
The color was lovelier than every beautiful thing Nagi had seen in his entire life put together. He felt fascinated by those eyes, drawn into them, but before he could lose himself in them, he realized something else. There were several transparent tubes coming from the girl’s white arms. They were filled with a liquid a far deeper red than that of her eyes. Nagi immediately understood what this implied.
A blood offering.