Chapter 2

“Ahhh!”

Something grabbed my ankle.

At the same time, I dropped the bundle of branches I had been carrying.

The branches scattered across the ground with a loud crash.

Only after hearing them fall did my mind finally return, as if my senses had run away without me noticing.

A… a demon…?

I wanted to deny it, but my situation was already so unbelievable that I couldn’t think of a single reason to convince myself otherwise.

Gathering my courage, I slowly turned around.

The moment I did, our eyes met.

The demon had apparently been watching me the entire time.

For some reason…

He looked thoroughly displeased.

“You really are exactly like her.”

“…Pardon?”

“So why did you run?”

“W-Well…”

Wasn’t running the obvious thing to do?

A half-naked man suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

On top of that, he claimed to be a demon who granted wishes.

Stories like this always ended the same way.

You got your wish…

…and paid with your soul.

“I… I was scared.”

Instead of telling him my real thoughts, I gave the kind of simple answer a child would.

The demon let out a small, mocking laugh.

Then, instead of getting angry, he tempted me with an offer.

“Don’t you want to leave this place?”

His deep, smooth voice sounded almost hypnotic.

“If that’s your wish, I can let you leave right now.”

“…Leave?”

“That’s right.”

It was an offer that would make anyone’s eyes light up.

But to me…

It was only painful confirmation.

If he really wanted to tempt me, he should’ve offered to send me back to my original world.

Not just outside the exile camp.

If he couldn’t do that…

…then there was no reason for me to leave this place, which was far happier than the life I’d lived before.

Besides… what would happen to everyone else if I disappeared?

I might have been imprisoned because of collective punishment…

…but officially, I was still a criminal who had almost helped assassinate the Imperial Princess.

If someone like me suddenly vanished, the remaining prisoners would surely become targets of even more suspicion and mistreatment.

Especially with how the guards have been acting lately…

Over the past few days, the guards’ behavior had changed.

Before, they had ignored the prisoners completely.

Now they picked fights over the smallest things.

Yesterday, things finally escalated.

One guard had tried to force himself on a female prisoner.

She had been sentenced to life imprisonment for killing her husband.

Her mind was no longer stable, so she couldn’t even resist properly.

Ian stepped in to stop him.

For that…

He was brutally beaten.

As a prisoner, he couldn’t even fight back.

He simply endured it.

Maybe… we should all escape together…

But the words that came out of my mouth were different.

“Please give me some ointment that’s good for bruises.”

The instant I finished speaking…

Thunk.

A small jar landed at my feet.

I crouched down and opened it.

Inside was a sticky white paste with an awful smell.

…I’m such a terrible person.

I stayed silent.

Because…

I was afraid that if everyone escaped this place…

…they might stop caring about me.

“Mix it with water and apply it to the injury.”

The demon brushed his wet hair back with one hand as he spoke.

The scent of soap drifted through the warm steam.

Suddenly…

I felt ashamed.

Ashamed of my filthy appearance.

Ashamed that my morals were worse than a demon’s.

“…What’s the price?”

“My life?”

“Your saliva.”

“…”

“…Don’t look so disgusted.”

He sounded completely uninterested as he explained.

“It’s simply how the system works.”

Then, as if it were nothing important, he casually dropped a bombshell.

“Anyway…”

“They’re all going to die.”

“…What?”

“Everyone.”

“You.”

“And the prisoners.”

“They’re all going to die.”

* * *

The ointment the demon gave me really was incredible.

As soon as I mixed it with water and spread it over Ian’s bruises, he looked amazed.

“The pain’s already gone.”

I divided the rest of the ointment among the older prisoners whose joints constantly ached from hard labor.

“Where did you even get this?”

“I found it.”

“…You didn’t steal it, did you?”

Ian looked suspiciously at me.

He seemed convinced I’d stolen it from the guards’ quarters.

“Ian Oppa.”

“I’m not that capable.”

“…True.”

“Don’t give up on suspecting me that quickly.”

When I complained, Ian grinned despite his swollen face.

The medicine worked so well that the swelling noticeably decreased after only a short while.

The other adults happily said their joint pain had disappeared too.

The happier they looked…

The heavier my guilt became.

This ointment had been obtained…

…instead of helping everyone escape.

Because of that decision…

They were all going to die here.

They thanked me without knowing the truth.

Their kindness made it impossible for me to smile back.

But… are they really going to die?

Honestly…

The demon’s warning had come so suddenly that it was hard to believe.

But as if mocking my refusal to accept it…

The atmosphere in the exile camp gradually became darker.

The guards grew more violent every day.

Eventually…

Every adult except me had been beaten at least once.

The demon’s ointment quickly ran out.

After that, all the adults repeatedly warned me.

“Never go near the guards.”

“If they ever try to hit you…”

“Run straight to us.”

“Ahhh!”

But I ignored every warning.

I threw myself at a guard who was about to punch Ribi.

Without hesitation…

I bit his arm.

“AAAH!!”

“Mmmph!”

I clenched my jaw with all my strength, determined to tear away a chunk of flesh.

“Y-You crazy little…!”

The guard’s eyes rolled back in rage.

He swung his fist directly into my face.

I was knocked away and rolled across the ground.

“Hebenia!”

Ribi, who had been lying on the ground after being beaten herself, rushed over and helped me up.

“B-Blood…!”

Her trembling hands desperately tried to stop the blood pouring from my nose.

But I barely felt the pain.

I only glared at the guard as though I wanted to kill him.

Strangely…

The guard looked horrified after hitting me.

The other guards hurried over and dragged him away.

“What the hell did you just do?!”

“I told you idiots not to go too far…!”

“Today’s labor is canceled!”

“Everyone return to the village!”

The guards made the announcement…

Then almost fled toward the dormitory at the entrance to the village.

The moment they disappeared…

Ribi shouted at me.

“Did you forget everything we told you?”

“We told you never to go near the guards!”

“Look at your poor little nose! It’s bleeding so much…!”

“I’m fine. It’s really not a big—”

“Not a big deal?”

“And we’re not just worried about you!”

“Because of you, the adults were about to start fighting the guards for real!”

Only then did I notice them.

The adults had been standing behind us the whole time…

Staring fiercely at the guards.

…Wow.

They gripped their old pickaxes tightly.

They looked frightening…

Yet somehow…

As dependable as magical girls.

Of course…

Every single one of them scolded me afterward.

Only then did the pain finally catch up to me.

I winced.

Ian clicked his tongue in disbelief.

“You fearless little brat…”

“What are you smiling about?”

“I nearly lost ten years off my life because of you.”

Still talking, Ian gently pinched my swollen red nose.

The bleeding had already stopped…

But he wanted to make sure.

***

“Don’t look for reasons to help people.”

The people of the exile camp quietly endured it when they themselves were beaten.

But the moment I got hurt…

They immediately stood against the guards.

Even knowing the danger.

The old pickaxes they held…

Looked far more magnificent than the three-million-won magical wand I had once bought.

Maybe…

Maybe I can become like the magical girls…

Like them.

Like the girls I had admired from afar…

The ones I believed I could never become.

That tiny hope slowly began pushing away the darkness and cowardice inside my heart.

“Even if not today… hope will surely save you someday!”

* * *

The full moon rose high in the sky…

As if it intended to witness everything.

There were only humans living in Exilium.

Not horses.

Not oxen.

Not even small birds could survive here.

They all died.

Because of that…

The guards had to pull the supply wagons themselves.

“Why don’t we make the prisoners do this…?”

“And if they escape, are you going to take responsibility?”

The guards were loading black ore onto wagons.

They carefully covered their entire bodies so the ore wouldn’t touch their skin.

It was the ore the prisoners had mined through forced labor.

This…

…was the final shipment.

Starting today…

Exilium would be temporarily closed.

“Why is it being closed?”

“Orders came down from above.”

“We don’t need any more ore.”

“By ‘above,’ you mean…”

“The Emperor, obviously.”

“Don’t bother explaining.”

“That idiot’s only been here two months.”

“Talk about lucky.”

“Unlike this bastard.”

“He’s going to get beaten to death once we leave.”

“Shut the hell up.”

The guard who cursed still had a purple bite mark on his arm.

The captain of the guards looked at him coldly.

“His Majesty has ordered that every prisoner be eliminated.”

“Hebenia Clavis alone is to be brought to the Imperial Palace…”

“…without a single scratch.”

“Remember.”

“There are other exile camps that still need labor.”

The angry guard turned red.

But he couldn’t argue.

There was already a precedent.

Years ago…

A guard had beaten a prisoner.

As punishment for disobeying the Emperor’s will…

That guard had been sentenced as a criminal and sent to another exile camp himself.

The Emperor had even dispatched an Imperial physician to treat the injured prisoner.

“…What a joke.”

One guard muttered while walking toward the prisoners’ village.

“Every single one of them…”

“…was falsely accused under the Emperor’s orders.”

“They’re nothing more than tools to mine ore.”

“…What?”

The youngest guard widened his eyes.

“…Don’t tell me…”

“They framed innocent people…”

“…just to make them mine?”

He couldn’t believe it.

No one answered.

“B-But…”

“If they’re innocent…”

“Can’t we just leave them here?”

“They’ve already suffered enough.”

“If we disappear, they’ll eventually starve anyway…”

“No.”

The guard who had served the second longest answered flatly.

A dagger rested in his hand.

The other guards carried daggers as well.

“We no longer need them to mine.”

“So eliminating them all is the right decision.”

“There’s no reason to leave behind anyone who might cause trouble later.”

A powerful wind swept through the ancient forest.

Branches and leaves crashed together.

The sound weighed heavily over the exile camp.

Leaving the hesitant young guard behind…

The others entered the old cabins according to the plan.

Then…

A short while later…

“The prisoners are gone!”

The guards rushed back outside.

Under the moonlight…

Every face turned deathly pale.

* * *

“The prisoners are gone!”

“Search for them!”

“Turn the entire exile camp upside down!”

“Those bastards kidnapped Clavis…!”

Tap.

A tiny finger poked a winged eyeball.

The guards’ voices vanished.

The eyeball had an upside-down five-pointed star drawn on it.

Flapping its tiny wings…

It quietly slipped into Hebenia’s hair.

“Idiots.”

Hebenia laughed mockingly.

“I’m the one who kidnapped them.”

She turned around.

“Right?”

Standing behind her…

Were the prisoners.

Every one of them wore a grim expression.