Having finished disposing of the dead bodies, the exhausted Tethel and the others returned to the courtyard. There they found Rick, a thin young man who was always by the lord’s side.
The children’s eyes shone. That Rick had come out here meant that he might just show it.
As they expected, Rick smiled and announced, “Good job, everyone. I have a reward for you from the lord.”
The children raised a joyful cheer and followed him into the castle.
They walked down a dark corridor and went up the central stairs of the main hall.
The master was indifferent to the castle’s maintenance, and it had fallen into ruin, with broken things and piles of dust everywhere. There were cobwebs on the ceilings, and several of the portraits hung on the wall were so filthy with soot, their faces were indiscernible. The armor on display was all rusted.
But upon climbing to the top of the stairs and reaching the top floor of the tallest tower, the surroundings were completely transformed.
They were greeted with a properly polished hallway and a red carpet. The dignified wooden door in the far back was embossed with a beautiful rose design.
“All right, line up, everyone.”
Enthusiastically, everyone fell into two rows. Tethel took advantage of his small frame and succeeded in taking a position in line in front.
Rick looked around them with a self-important air—and then, offhandedly, he spoke as if he had just remembered:
“That’s right, I almost forgot. The lord told me it was about time to cut down on the numbers of rag pickers as well.”
As he said so, from behind the rows, three kids who had still been standing on the stairs suddenly collapsed with a thud.
“…Huh?”
Tethel, who was out in front, didn’t understand what had happened.
One of the kids screamed.
Without their noticing, their caretaker, the red-faced Chad, stood behind them.
In his hand, he grasped a bloody blade.
There was a puddle of blood at his feet. And three children fallen on the ground.
Tethel gasped, but he didn’t scream. The child who’d cried out had gotten killed, too, as an afterthought.
I don’t want to die—if I die here, I won’t get to touch it.
Tethel ground his teeth and hung his head.
“Well, I guess that’s enough. All right, the rest of you head inside.”
Rick slowly opened the door.
The six children left passed through it without looking back.
A month had gone by since they last entered this room.
Covering the floor was a carpet so thick your feet sank into it. From the ceiling, an extravagant chandelier with innumerable bright candles illuminated the room.
There was a window on the back wall, but it was blocked off by thick curtains. In the center of the room was a large, richly ornamented sofa where a man lay stretched out.
He had almost no hair and was very overweight. His age was difficult to determine.
He probably couldn’t even stand by himself anymore. Whenever he left this room, he was always carried in a litter.
This man was none other than Lord Irving, the master of the castle.
“Lord Irving, you seem to be doing well,” the children chorused just as they had been taught.
“Such dirty brats,” the lord said in a voice hoarse from alcohol. “All right…Here’s your reward for completing a month’s work.”
“Thank you very much!”
The lord sluggishly raised his plump hand, with rings bedecking each of its fingers, and the scrawny Rick proceeded to the back of the room.
Rick tore off the black cloth covering it by the wall.
Aaahh.
A sigh leaked out from the children’s mouths.
Like the rest, Tethel also stretched out his neck as if drawn toward it.
By the wall was a life-sized statue of a woman carved from marble, looking as though she were alive.
A crystal pendant about the size of Tethel’s thumb hung around her neck.
The crystal glittered like a rainbow from the light peeking in through the window.
With a pompous air, Rick removed the pendant from the figure’s neck and, holding the chain with both hands, came back to the children.
Tethel and his peers almost didn’t breathe. They stared at the crystal, transfixed.
“All right…so then, you’re first.” Rick slowly approached the boy standing next to Tethel, leaned over, and placed the pendant around his neck.
“Thank you very much…” The boy spoke in a feeble voice, gripping the crystal tightly in his hand. Tethel let out a sigh.
I’m so jealous. I want to push him over and steal it right now.
But if I do that, I’ll definitely be killed.
No. I don’t want to die without touching it.
He ground his teeth again and stoically waited his turn.
“Okay, your time is up.” Rick forced the boy, who’d closed his eyes in absorption, to open his hand and grabbed the pendant.
“Ah…”
Moaning once more, the boy momentarily attempted to resist, but he gave up right away and crouched down on the spot.
“Next. Your turn.” Rick turned around to Tethel.
“Yes. Please.” His heart fluttering, Tethel stuck out his neck.
“Hmm, seems likes it’s rather noisy outside,” Lord Irving’s hoarse voice remarked, displeased.
Chad, who had been standing at the door leading to the exit, bowed and left. Rick, still clutching the pendant, also began walking over to the window.
“Aahhh…”
But it was my turn. Without thinking, Tethel had stretched his hand out in front of his chest. He withdrew it in a hurry.
At the window, Rick pulled back the thick, scarlet curtains slightly and tried to see the situation outside.
Then.
“—?!”
The glass and wooden frame of the window burst into pieces, and Rick toppled, face-up, convulsing with spasms.