## Chapter 116 – Regression (1)
How many days has it been, remaining in this same spot?
The sky her red eyes gazed upon was, as ever, heartlessly blue.
Several days had already passed since she began watching this scene.
Just as the blue sky of day passed, the dark sky of night would come, and the night sky, which she used to hate for its loneliness, now made her feel like she wasn’t alone, surrounded by countless stars.
Perhaps that feeling meant she would soon be able to see her precious friend again.
“Rea… I…
I brought you something to eat…
Please, have a little…”
And at that small whisper directed towards her, she listlessly turned her head to look at the opposite sky.
“You’ll die if you keep this up…
You know that, Rea…”
A creature weaker than herself was worrying about her.
Thanks to her rabbit-person characteristics, Fina quietly left the tunnel and secretly returned with food from somewhere.
Of course, it was mostly scraps or leftovers, but she wrapped herself in a hooded cloak, seemingly stolen from somewhere, and brought the food, which even the children welcomed.
The amount wasn’t much, barely enough for the children to share, yet she was offering it to her, someone who could devour her at any moment.
For some reason, a faint smile appeared on her face, and she slowly closed her eyes with a faint smile.
Remembering the moment she finally decided on her end upon seeing the towering castle walls blocking her path.
“Now, you all can go your own way.
My journey has already ended…”
“No… I don’t know anything about that…!!
We didn’t come all this way to… end like this!!”
“If you make too much noise, the humans will come.
Just leave now and go somewhere.
With your skills, you can make a living doing something.”
Seeing Fina manage to find food while wandering around, it was clear that she could survive in the back alleys somehow, even if she left now.
But that was only in the back alleys.
The Kingdom of Groden was particularly sensitive to illegal activities, especially those occurring in the royal capital.
Including the public security police department, which commonly performed the duties of a general police force, the combat mage special task force, the defense knight order, and so on, the regular army also performed public security duties concurrently.
Therefore, not only was the scope of the underworld very narrow, but the characteristics of the back alleys, which had to become more closed off and vicious to survive, made the difficulty of survival almost hellish.
Thus, in order for illegal activities to proceed secretly, one had to join hands with the high-ranking powers, like Vivian, and bury the matter through the influence of their family.
If not, there were few criminals who could survive unless the intensity of the crime became so heinous that not even witnesses were left behind.
In other words, a criminal organization that was caught could no longer sustain its life from that point on.
In that situation, no matter how skilled Fina was, it was difficult to live her whole life without revealing her identity.
The repetition of daily life as a runaway beast-person slave being chased and the burden of protecting the two children alone was not only difficult but nearly impossible.
Fina, who knew this from her long life as a slave, shook her head and looked up at Rea with desperate eyes.
But despite those eyes, Rea remained silently gazing at the high walls, as if she already knew that she couldn’t respond to them.
“I… I can’t live alone in a place like this with the children…
I’m putting my hope in you, Rea…”
“I can’t cross the walls…
I can’t take you with me…
So go… Leave now and don’t come back…”
“If that’s the case… you should have stayed in his den…
What’s the point of freedom with nothing left…”
“I’ve already obtained what I wanted…”
“But…!!”
“I’m going to see Yoonmei now…”
“Rea…!!”
“I don’t want to be caught by anyone anymore…
I… I… finally… just now…
I’ve escaped from everything…
Now I can finally go see Yoonmei…”
“I… I realized…”
In the end, Fina, looking at Rea who only repeated the same words, wore a look of despair, and soon sat down quietly, leaning against the wall of the tunnel.
As if she had come to a conclusion about what she had been thinking about, a determined tone lingered in her voice.
“This city… Once you’re sold as a slave in the royal capital…
You can never get out without going through human hands…
But… there’s no way there’s a human who will let us out…”
“……”
“I knew it all along… There’s no hope for us anymore…
I wanted to be free… I just wanted to live without worry…
But… there’s no way that’s possible… We’re runaway slaves…
All the beast-people in Groden are just slaves…
If we’re found out to be beast-people, even for the slightest reason…
Even before that, we’ll keep trembling in anxiety… and spend every day like that…
And at some point, there will come a day when even that day is gone…”
At Fina’s voice, muttering with her head bowed, Rea’s red eyes were slightly shaking.
She wasn’t completely unaware that the burden she carried couldn’t be anything but heavy.
“That means…”
“I… for the sake of these children…
I’m going back to that place…
If Rea has given up…
We have no other choice…
At least in that place… our lives…”
At Fina’s words that she would risk her life to make a deal with Enic again, Rea’s head finally moved and began to turn towards Fina, who was crouching down.
After briefly glancing sideways at the children playing house among themselves inside the tunnel, Rea shouted softly at Fina again.
“How can you believe that?
He let you go this time, promising it was a deal…
You’re prey who came back on your own two feet…!!
Didn’t you see what happened to your comrades!!”
She had seen it enough to be sick of it.
What happened to the comrades who tried to escape.
Their baby rooms were violated in front of their partners, and sometimes the males were eaten and became nutrients.
But as for that, Fina had nothing more to say.
Unlike her, who trusted Enic and helped him, the others had simply chosen not to trust Enic.
As a result, it was only natural that Enic would be in danger as well, and it was difficult to think that the choices he could make would always be merciful.
But at least from that, she could see that he kept his promises.
Wasn’t the fact that she was here proof of that?
“I’ll… offer myself instead…
Surely, since you made a deal once…
There’s no reason why you can’t do it twice…!!
Maybe… you won’t kill me…
So… these children…
At least the innocent children…”
“Now there’s nothing but that…
Is there no other way…
Then… it can’t be helped…”
In the end, Rea closed her eyes with a gloomy expression.
Unlike herself in the old days, who couldn’t protect and help her friend, Fina was willing to risk her own life and return to the jaws of death for the sake of children who weren’t even her own.
Looking at that figure, Rea felt that her former self was gradually becoming more and more pathetic.
“If so, I hope your choice is right…
Wait… something’s wrong…!!”
At the subtle vibration felt from the ends of her legs, Rea’s voice was cut off urgently.
It had already been several days since she arrived at this place.
The moment Rea, who had never felt such an ominous vibration until now, looked up at her head, she discovered that dirt was scattering like dust and falling on her hair.
“It’s… it’s collapsing…!!”
The tunnel made of Kernel Worms was basically a rush job where the Kernel Worms dug the tunnel and solidified the surroundings with mucus from their skin.
So, as it only provided simple processing, the larger the scale, the more unstable the structure was bound to be.
If it had been a tunnel made of giant Kernel Worms, it would have been solidified with a lot of mucus, but this place, which was divided into several small Kernel Worms due to the noise problem, couldn’t have used much mucus compared to its size.
That meant that there was not enough support to withstand the large cavity.
“Get out… we have to get out of here…!! Ahh…!!”
Rea’s gaze, which was shouting at Fina, momentarily turned to the children inside the tunnel.
“Sister?”
“Kids!! Come here quickly!!
Ah… no…!! Kyaaaaaaaa!!”
But before Fina’s words calling the girls could finish, the tunnel began to collapse, and seeing that, Fina could only scream helplessly, unable to do anything.
But with a heavy touch snatching her away, the presence completely disappeared into the thick dust of the collapsing tunnel.
