"Test subjects...?"

When Tie repeated the words, the child across from her froze.

A faint mixture of confusion and curiosity immediately appeared in his eyes.

"You’re not test subjects?"

After thinking for a moment, Tie stepped forward.

Then she turned sideways and showed him the mercenary badge hidden beneath her cloak.

"Yep! We’re mercenaries."

The child’s lips parted slightly.

His dirty brows furrowed before slowly relaxing again.

"Mercenaries?"

"Yep! Agavert!"

"Then you came from outside? Not from the Great Temple of Sercarnos at all?"

"Mhm."

Now that her guard was down, Tie ran straight toward the child.

This time, he became wary instead and stepped back.

But Tie had already started explaining everything.

"We crossed the sea on a ship this biiig and traveled for three whole weeks!"

"...The sea."

The child’s gaze trembled slightly.

"Do you know Tallocium? We came from there to take the magic crystal here, but actually that was just a leopard reason."

"...A surface level reason."

Lucarion corrected her.

Tie casually nodded.

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway..."

Suddenly, Tie grabbed the child’s hand.

"Let’s escape together. Tie knows the exit, and she knows a place where we can hide."

Tie’s eyes turned toward the iron bars outside the pit.

Just moments ago, she had personally seen the child speaking with the Dark Spirit Squad through those bars.

"You dug this pit too, right? So you could escape."

"Escape..."

The child absentmindedly looked down at the hand holding his and quietly laughed.

"Escaping is impossible."

Tie froze.

The child’s face darkened.

"If you came from outside, then you really wouldn’t understand. I only dug this hole because I didn’t want to starve to death."

He lightly tugged on Tie’s hand.

"Just follow me. I’ll show you."

"Huh...?"

Before she realized it, Tie was already following after him.

The child led her to the opening on the other side of the pit.

And the moment Tie saw what lay beyond it, she swallowed hard.

The iron cage she saw was enormous.

The child lived there alone, in a space that was neither cramped nor spacious.

Inside there was only a low wooden bed, a stale-smelling blanket, and a metal water flask.

"Here."

The child pointed beneath the bed.

Hidden out of sight below it was another hole, narrow and deep.

"If you crawl through there, it leads back to the corridor you came from."

The child climbed down first.

"Well? Hurry up. Patrol time already passed."

After hesitating briefly, Tie followed him and squeezed into the hole.

Inside, it was far roomier than it had looked from outside.

Walking hunched over, {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} the child spoke.

"By the way, I didn’t dig this place. I just found it and widened it a little."

"...How?"

"Well, I’ve been trapped here for too long. That’s how it happened. There are more than ten passages like this down here. If you know how they connect, you can even reach the food storage room."

As he spoke, they reached a fork split into three tunnels.

The child immediately headed into the far left one.

"Who would’ve thought there’d be another underground beneath the underground. Even the bastards from the Dark Spirit Squad don’t know about this place, otherwise I wouldn’t still be alive."

In the dark tunnel, only the child’s quiet voice echoed softly.

And then—

"...What’s that?"

Lucarion, who was walking behind them, suddenly asked.

Tie and the child turned around at the same time.

Lucarion was pointing upward toward the corner of the tunnel.

There was a small opening there with faint light filtering through it.

Beyond it stood another set of bars.

And on the other side of those bars...

"Another child..."

Just like before, another child in filthy clothes sat curled against the wall.

Tie asked in confusion,

"You weren’t alone down here?"

"Of course I wasn’t alone."

The child added flatly.

"I’m just the only one whose brain still works."

Tie stared at him in shock as he continued walking forward again.

Then she hurried after him.

How much time passed after that.

By the time they realized it, the three of them were climbing a gentle slope upward.

After passing through the gradually narrowing tunnel and emerging outside, they saw enormous sacks piled against the wall like a mountain.

"This is the food storage room."

Unlike the previous place, lamps hung from the walls here.

Tables stained with traces of food preparation and kitchen utensils could be seen nearby.

The child walked over to the sacks by the wall and pulled something out from inside.

"Bread...?"

It was a rough-looking piece of bread.

"At least there’s stuff like this here."

In the wooden crate beside it were several vegetables that were no longer very fresh.

"I widened the tunnels so I could steal food from here. Those bastards from the Dark Spirit Squad will never figure out how I keep getting in."

The child tore off a large bite of bread.

Tie silently watched him, unable to find the words to say anything.

Meanwhile, Lucarion, who had been inspecting the storage room, suddenly stopped in place.

"Then what’s this? It smells strange."

He was examining a small bottle sitting on the table.

The child immediately stuffed the rest of the bread into his mouth.

"You shouldn’t touch that."

After saying that, he quickly walked over to Lucarion.

"And you shouldn’t smell it either. It does something to your head."

"...What do you mean, it does something to your head?"

The child let out a heavy sigh.

"Remember the child you saw earlier?"

The image of the child they had seen in the corridor resurfaced in Tie’s mind.

He had been sitting motionless against the wall, curled up into himself.

There had been no focus in his dim eyes.

"That’s what happens."

Tie’s heart began pounding.

Only now was she starting to vaguely understand what was happening here.

"If you eat the food they hand out, your mind starts breaking. I figured that out a long time ago."

"......"

"So at first I tried starving myself for as long as I could endure it. But then I realized I’d just die that way."

As he spoke, the child stuffed pieces of bread from the sacks into his clothes one after another.

"This food is fine. The important thing is making sure they don’t smear that stuff from the bottle on it. Anyway, let’s go."

After stuffing himself full of bread, the child turned around.

Then he climbed back down into the hole they had come through.

Tie and Lucarion silently exchanged glances before following after him again.

When the tunnel widened slightly, the child suddenly looked back.

"You asked me earlier if I was trying to escape, right?"

Tie silently closed her mouth without answering.

"You don’t understand, but for a test subject like me, underground is at least safer. Even if I escaped outside, I’d still be trapped inside the Great Temple of Sercarnos, and the priests are watching everywhere."

"......"

"Judging by the route you took, you came in through the fountain side. Smart move. Security is lighter there from the start."

Shrugging his shoulders, the child continued walking forward again.

"The Dark Spirit Squad patrols the tunnels once at midnight, then every two hours after that. It’s been about an hour since the last round."

They were once again standing at the same fork they had passed earlier.

"I’m going back where I came from. You two leave through the middle tunnel."

Tie’s eyes widened.

"But..."

"You shouldn’t come back here again. It’s already hard enough taking care of myself. There’s no way I can afford to look after outsiders too."

The child turned around.

Tie anxiously looked first at Lucarion, then at the child walking away.

Then, as though she had finally made up her mind, she ran after him.

"Hey, my name’s Tie!"

The child stopped.

In the darkness, she could see him turn slightly toward her.

"I’ll come back tomorrow when the Dark Spirit Squad isn’t around. Then can we talk?"

Silence hung in the air.

Tie’s face had already begun to droop sadly.

And then—

"My name is Elloa."

The child answered.

Then, after a moment of hesitation, he quietly added,

"...Just in case, always be careful with the food here."

Tie stood motionless for a long time, watching the child disappear into the darkness.

That night.

Tie and Lucarion safely escaped from the underground tunnels.

The moment they returned to the pilgrims’ quarters, the bone friends brought them new information.

Several priests had moved toward the back of the main building.

It was probably the next patrol Elloa had mentioned.

'I can’t sleep...'

Tie tossed and turned for a long time.

And the next day—

Two priests entered Tie’s room while her eyes were still heavy with sleep.

"His Holiness has invited you and your subordinates to the morning meal. Prepare yourselves and come out."