Obsession... What's That? I Just Wish Someone Would Help Me Escape - Chapter 48
Did I really have to bow and scrape to people who were rude to me or treated me poorly?
Even if the best survival strategy here was to play weak before the strong, I couldn’t bring myself to like those who disliked or mistreated me.
If I were a powerful ability user, I wouldn’t be treated like a nuisance.
I wouldn’t be the one people used as a source of comfort with their ‘At least I’m better than her’ attitude.
If I had any power, I’d be raiding everyone’s supplies and resources like a squirrel preparing for winter, and then casually ask, ‘You’ve got no complaints, right?’ as I walked away.
I took the warmest spot at the very back of the cave for my bed and, of course, got more curses and complaints from the other prisoners, but I didn’t care.
It’s cold, what do they expect?
Sure enough, as soon as I lay down, my body burned up with fever again, and the aches returned.
I popped a few painkillers and finally managed to fall asleep.
Damn it, I’m so tired of being sick. It’s exhausting.
***
“Hey, 49! Get up! We need to go gather food!”
The angry voice of a prisoner and the feeling of someone lightly kicking me woke me up.
My body felt like it weighed a ton, and my vision spun wildly.
It felt like I had a raging fever.
Groaning, I barely managed to sit up.
Leah came over and pressed her hand to my forehead, her eyes widening.
“Did you finally awaken as a fire ability user? You’re burning up!”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Looks like everyone’s lost their minds after being in prison for so long.
“Hey, if you’re sick, just rest.”
Deneb, who looked ready for battle in her chieftain outfit, spoke in a detached tone, but I still had some sense of responsibility.
“No, I can move.”
I tossed back a few more painkillers from the large stash I’d brought with me.
Leah’s eyes went wide as she watched me.
“Is it safe to take that many? Are you that hungry?”
“Have you never seen someone fill up on medicine?”
I was definitely losing it too.
I was paired up with prisoner 27 to check the traps, while Leah, Deneb, and the others up to prisoner 25 would scout and eliminate any monsters in the area.
“Take good care of her. Try to tolerate her bad attitude.”
Leah repeatedly emphasized this to prisoner 27 before leaving.
Had I fought with 27 too?
Now that I think about it, I hadn’t gotten along with anyone, and there wasn’t a single person who looked at me favorably.
If a monster or dangerous beast showed up, we were supposed to blow our whistles, and 27 and I headed off to check the traps.
I carefully watched out for any traps as I moved forward.
“Hey, 49. How did you end up getting caught?”
Number 27, who was helping me search for traps, called out to me.
Now that I thought about it, he hadn’t really shown any hostility or made any condescending remarks toward me, so it didn’t seem like he was asking out of malice.
“Well, I was captured just before I could flee the country.”
“I see. Do you know why we, the Inma tribe, are locked up here?”
“To use us for hunting monsters, right? If it was just because we were dangerous, they would’ve wiped us all out. But since the saint awakened her powers, that became possible.”
He nodded, brushing away branches with a stick as he spoke.
“That’s true. But what do you think will happen after the saint dies?”
It felt like I’d been struck over the head.
The only person capable of controlling ability users, Justina Marzenta, would eventually die, and once that happened, everything would be thrown into chaos.
They were probably keeping us locked up to prepare for a potential assassination.
In the original story, that’s why they brought Johann and Enrique into the fold, seeking powerful ability users to protect themselves.
And somehow, she made herself the only one capable of purifying Johann and Enrique’s powers—a leash to keep them under control.
How did she do it? I want to leash those handsome men and make them my slaves too.
He looked at me silently as I became lost in thought.
“The Order and the churches plan to perform a forbidden ritual to make Saint Justina immortal. To secure their rule forever.”
“Immortal? Forbidden ritual?”
I responded incredulously.
“They sacrifice human lives for it. About 100,000 souls are needed to make one person immortal. The ancients who succeeded in this experiment became immortal, and some say they even became the gods who now rule the world. It’s no legend—it’s fact.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
Human experimentation? Immortality? Gods?
Is something like that even possible? 27 slowly continued speaking.
“They’re currently waging conquest wars, expanding their territories like mad. They plan to use the colonized humans as sacrifices. And we, the Inma tribe, make for excellent experimental subjects.”
Suddenly, a sense of unease crept over me.
Who exactly is this guy? Why is he telling me all this incredible information?
Frowning, I asked him directly.
“Is this some kind of common knowledge?”
“No.”
“Then why are you telling me this? Why someone like me, at the bottom of the hierarchy?”
At my sharp question, he smiled warmly and looked at me.
“You’re wondering why I’m telling you this, right?”
Before I could react, he stepped forward and grabbed my wrist, pulling me somewhere.
I didn’t even have time to be shocked by his immense strength before we reached the edge of a cliff. He turned to face me.
“Because you’re a sacrifice too.”
