novelraw Chapter 70 : Chapter 70
Chapter 70 : Chapter 70
Chapter 70: The Tunnel-Digger (2)
"Pl-please, kill me."
It seemed as if Ellen's call had not reached the Tunnel-Digger.
He was like a person who could not hear.
He looked that desperate and wretched.
"Pl-please!"
Rick's voice sounded like a rough breath.
It was the voice of an old man with a damaged lung.
'Is it a side effect of the mask?'
It seemed to be because he had worn the mask of an old woman for a long time.
'The reason Isotta is fine is probably because the mask is her Origin.'
Perhaps Rick was younger than he looked.
“Who do you want me to kill?”
I asked.
Rick's fingers trembled like an old man's.
However, their tips were clearly pointing at Isotta.
"Rick! You dare...!"
Isotta cried out in a fit of anger.
'Are they on bad terms?'
It was an unexpected situation, but I couldn't focus.
"It really is Rick."
Elaine was nodding to herself.
'How did she know?'
Elaine knew the Tunnel-Digger's name.
I glanced at Arika for a moment, but she also had a surprised face.
It meant that only Elaine knew.
'A dream?'
That was the only thing that came to mind.
'The Tunnel-Digger appeared in the dream she had on the way?'
I furrowed my brows.
There was no way the Elaine of the past life would have known the Tunnel-Digger.
Harad and Elaine were not the type to have such secrets from each other.
“How did you know?”
“……At the Snow Leopard’s Footprint.”
Elaine muttered as if possessed.
"You're in better shape than in the dream."
Soon, she blinked as if she had come to her senses. She punched herself in the cheek.
"Forget it. I must not be fully awake yet."
I noticed that Elaine was talking about the dream.
'So she met him by chance while drinking.'
She probably didn't even know that Rick was the Tunnel-Digger.
It meant that it was a simple coincidence.
There was no reason not to believe it.
The only secret that Elaine had kept from Harad must have been her gender. That was their relationship.
"First, I think we need to sort things out."
It was just as Elaine had said.
The leather shop was a mess.
"Please kill me..."
"Rick! You son of a bitch...!"
Rick was prostrate and begging, while Isotta, bound in chains, was fuming at him.
"I'll spare only one of you. The one with the lighter crime."
"The one who dug the tunnels is him!"
As soon as I finished speaking, Isotta shouted.
I struck Isotta on the head. She collapsed, unconscious.
"I'll hear your story first. Your name and origin."
"Rick, Rick. I'm from Tourem."
Tourem was a city located to the west of Serzila. It meant he was a Northerner. Rick. Elaine stroked her chin with a stiff face.
"Would it be easier to write it down?"
"I-I'll say it."
Rick's voice became even hoarser.
Every time he spoke, his coughing worsened, making it seem difficult for him to even breathe.
"I was a vagrant."
Perhaps he couldn't write.
It was a common case for those born as Mages to wander as vagrants.
"You don't seem to have good control."
"I was like that when I was young."
He said that if he let his guard down for a moment, the earth would often crawl up his feet.
Rick showed me directly. Earth rose between the wooden floorboards like worms.
Indeed, Rick's Origin was earth.
“What Rank are you?”
“I heard I’m a 2nd Rank.”
Rick answered, looking at the unconscious Isotta.
He was a Mage from the continent who was ignorant of magic.
'So she's not.'
Isotta knew about Ranks.
"2nd Rank. You did well to dig the tunnels. It must have taken a long time. How many did you dig?"
"Thir-thirteen."
"You've dug quite a lot."
It must have taken several months just to dig one.
"Why did you dig them?"
The tunnels were an excellent business.
It was bound to succeed in that Serzila was indifferent. Because there were always Mages from the continent who wanted to live.
But Rick's objective was not asylum.
He had dug thirteen tunnels, but he still remained in Serzila.
"To earn money? Did you want to escape the life of a vagrant?"
"..."
Rick did not answer.
I thought about hitting him, but then clicked my tongue.
Rick looked like he would die from a single blow.
In fact, the reason didn't matter.
What was important were the tunnels.
“Thirteen tunnels. Their locations?”
I held out a map and a pen that I had prepared in advance.
It was a map of the Serzila domain.
"If you tell me, I'll let you live."
Rick held the map and pen and looked up at me with vacant eyes.
It was when I felt something was strange.
Elaine asked.
"Rick. Do you perhaps need help?"
"..."
"I can help you."
Rick's eyes trembled slightly.
Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes.
* * *
It was ten years ago.
I don't remember the exact date.
It was just a particularly cold night in the already cold North.
On that day, I just dug a hole.
Because it was so cold. Because it felt like I would really die if I didn't at least escape the wind.
It wasn't a big decision. Rick had often done so.
He was a vagrant, and Tourem was a small city. There were many deserted back alleys.
...On that day, he was just a little unlucky.
At the time, he thought it was just a little.
'I'm a Mage too.'
The woman who had seen Rick manipulating the earth had said so.
The woman Rick had spoken of was Isotta.
He was glaring at Isotta as if he wanted to kill her.
"...You got caught by the wrong person."
I, who had heard Rick's past, clicked my tongue.
For ten years, Rick had been an old woman.
The old woman, that mask, was not a disguise, but a shackle.
A shackle that made it impossible for Rick to escape.
'He wasn't a person, but a tool.'
Isotta had dug the tunnels through the tool named Rick.
Normally, she kept him as an old woman, and when something came up, she would take him to the basement and make him dig holes.
"She said she'd return your original form when you dig the tunnels."
But there was nothing Rick could do.
Rick was a Mage who couldn't cause a commotion.
Moreover, Isotta was a Mage of a higher Rank than Rick.
When he dug the tunnels, Isotta was always behind Rick. If he had decided to do something else, he would have died.
That was why Rick could only dig tunnels. He just wanted to live.
"So that's why you asked to be killed."
As soon as the mask came off, Rick had begged for Isotta to be killed.
How much he must have hated Isotta, who had been acting the part of a dutiful son all this time.
'I didn't expect this.'
Suddenly, Kubel came to mind.
There was dust on my perspective.
The name of that dust was prejudice.
Prejudice was blinding me again.
In my past life, the Tunnel-Digger and the Masker had stuck together.
So I had naturally thought they were a team.
'To think the Masker was exploiting the Tunnel-Digger.'
The Tunnel-Digger defects to the Otherworld.
I realized why Isotta was not in that sentence I had heard in my past life.
Perhaps Ios had not made contact with Rick, but had saved him.
'Either kill him. Or take him in.'
But looking at Elaine's expression, it seemed that Rick should be spared.
"We need to find out the locations of the tunnels and the people involved."
"...I know."
Elaine, who was about to stomp on Isotta's head, let out a sigh.
Rick only knew that he had dug 13 tunnels, but he did not know their locations or the brokers connected to them.
"I'll trust that there are no lies in your words."
Instead of answering, Rick coughed up a mixture of blood.
His throat was damaged from just talking for a short while. It was because his body was following the nature of an old woman after having been one for so long.
'A more dangerous Origin than I thought.'
The mask was a useful Origin.
If only Isotta wasn't a criminal.
Elaine kicked Isotta in the stomach. Thump. A heavy sound echoed in the leather shop.
"Cough."
Isotta coughed and regained consciousness.
That cough contained more blood than Rick's cough earlier.
"Se-Serzila..."
Isotta couldn't even complain about the pain.
Elaine was looking down at her with icy eyes.
"Th-that one dug the tunnels."
Isotta immediately pointed at Rick.
She also shed tears. Perhaps because it was a mask, her acting was quite excellent.
So much so that it made one suspect that Rick might be lying.
"I know. He confessed. But no matter how much I press him, he won't talk about the locations and the brokers."
"..."
"Now it's your turn."
Isotta took a deep breath.
It took quite a while to exhale. The time it took to realize and accept reality.
As befitting a Mage, her thinking speed seemed to be fast.
"You're going to kill me anyway."
Isotta was reluctant to speak even with death at her doorstep.
The reason was obvious.
"The person behind you must be a very scary person. No, a group."
"..."
"But they're only scary to you. This is Serzila."
I said, pointing at Elaine.
If the person behind her was truly great, they would have managed the tunnels themselves instead of leaving them to brokers.
'Not the Otherworld.'
The activities of the Magic Towers are separate, but they do not interfere with the work of other towers.
Moreover, Ios was a member of the Ivory Tower.
'Ios had been in contact with the Tunnel-Digger. In my past life, the Ivory Tower was neutral. They would not have interfered with the work of other towers.'
Isotta's backer is on the continent.
A group to which a Mage belongs on the continent is, after all, just that.
Nowhere was greater than Serzila.
"There's a way for your crime to be lightened. I think you would know."
"..."
"Think wisely. This is the North."
Isotta's eyes rolled around.
After a short while, they stopped. On the floor. At the end of it were the map and pen that Rick had dropped.
"The locations and the brokers..."
"For your information, we will verify."
"...I know."
Isotta muttered.
Arika, who was standing behind her, pulled out Isotta's right arm, which was bound in chains.
That hand held the pen and pulled the map to the side of her face. And so, lying prostrate, she drew circles here and there on the map.
Those locations, I naturally recognized.
The same went for Elaine and Arika.
There were a total of thirteen circles.
The same as the number of tunnels Rick had mentioned.
Among the circles were the 3 tunnels that Harad and Ellen had used.
Isotta did not seem to have any intention of lying.
"Write down the names of the people who bought the tunnels as well."
"...Yes."
Isotta gripped the pen again. She wrote several names under each circle.
There were names Elaine knew, and names she didn't.
"There are nobles. And nobles who are not from the North."
Elaine's face hardened icily.
Isotta's body trembled once. Elaine's anger was as cold as ice.
She had been like that in her past life as well.
When Elaine was angry, her expressions became fewer.
'Is that how she gets angry when she's the Grand Heir.'
Ellen had been so blatant with her emotional expressions.
"What should we do."
Arika asked.
"We need to verify the truth first. If it's true, deal with it as you always have."
"Yes."
At Elaine's words, Arika took the paper and left the leather shop.
As always.
I knew very well what that meant.
Since ancient times, the North has never forgiven its enemies.
"I trust you haven't lied."
"I-I haven't. ...Is it over now?"
Isotta asked cautiously.
She was surprisingly compliant. It must be because that was the only hope she had left.
'She must want to live badly.'
She was the type to prioritize her own life above all else.
My eyes, looking at Isotta, narrowed. A group with any sense wouldn't just let someone like this go.
'Is there someone else planted?'
I didn't feel anything in particular.
The sun. I, who had it as an Origin, had a keen sense.
And beside me was Elaine, who was even more keen.
If there was someone, Elaine would surely react first.
"The exits of the tunnels were strange. Some were close to the Otherworld, and some were far. What is the reason for that?"
"That one was clumsy."
Because Rick was a klutz.
Indeed, it was not an easy task to figure out the direction underground.
That was the reason the tunnel exits were spread out in the First and Second Stage Boundaries.
"That's why he dug thirteen."
"Trial and error."
Since he dug them anyway, he probably sold them because it was a waste.
"What was the purpose of making the tunnels? Did the Otherworld order it? Or was it money?"
Isotta bit her lip.
But her hesitation was short.
"The Otherworld didn't order it. Actually, I don't know much. I just did as I was told from above."
"What were you told to do?"
"To make a connection with the Otherworld. And then I was lucky enough to find that one."
It seemed that the tunnels were Isotta's idea.
"You have a talent for business, you."
"Huh? Yes, yes."
"The money you earned?"
"I offered it to the higher-ups."
Isotta was smart, and her loyalty was excellent.
However, she was not devoted enough to offer her own life.
"I-is it over now?"
"I'll ask one last thing. Where is 'above'?"
"..."
Isotta bit her lip again.
This hesitation was quite long. The silence stretched on for a while. But eventually, she opened her mouth.
"I-I'm..."
Thud. A small popping sound was heard.
At the same time, Isotta went limp. She collapsed to the floor. Elaine, her eyes wide, turned her gaze to me.
"What are you doing, killing her."
"...It wasn't me."