TMBIPYMEN Chapter 39

When Marnak, the branch chief of Adiak, was listening to the man's desperate cries, Layla and Yustar were walking steadily in the direction the Seeker indicated.

Yustar said, "I don't quite understand what Marnak means by 'influence.'"

Layla, who had been keeping her gaze fixed on the Seeker's needle the entire time, glanced up at him.

"Don't you think he was talking about that man from earlier?"

"Most likely. But it seems odd to call it 'exerting influence' based on just one case. I'm not sure if the members haven't grasped the exact situation yet, or if there's something they're not telling me."

"Are there people who would hide things from you?"

When Layla asked, Yustar smiled with that expression that gave nothing away.

"Everyone does. Don't you have anything you're hiding from me, Layla?"

Layla's eyebrows drew together. She lowered her gaze slightly without slowing her pace, then glanced up at his face again.

"I don't think so."

"How honored I am."

It was a strange thing to say. What reason would she have to hide anything from him? There probably wouldn't be such occasions in the future either. Her life had nothing worth hiding, and it was a life that couldn't hide things anyway.

"Now that I think about it..."

Layla, who had been looking around, suddenly lowered her voice to almost a whisper.

"People aren't staring at me."

"It's because of the clothes you're wearing."

Layla looked down at her uniform. Yustar continued, "Tentinella's uniform explains many things. It exerts even greater influence in places like this village where a branch is located. Layla, as long as you're wearing that uniform, no one will pick a fight with you. They wouldn't dare."

"Because it proves I belong to the knight order?"

Yustar nodded and added, "Not just any knight order. As I said, Tentinella is a special organization. In places like Ridgecarse with little interaction with the outside world, it might be a group without much meaning, but elsewhere it's different."

Ridgecarse. Layla repeated the name to herself. She suddenly felt as if decades had passed since leaving that place. It was a strange sensation. She'd been in that village just a few days ago.

"Yustar, may I ask you something?"

"As much as you like."

Layla narrowed her eyes slightly, considering what to say. In truth, she'd wanted to ask him this for a while, but each time something had happened and she'd lost the opportunity.

"You see, the entire time I lived in Ridgecarse... I thought there was something strange about that village."

An amused smile rose to Yustar's lips. When he looked like that, he sometimes resembled a merchant about to begin a pleasant negotiation.

"In what way?"

Layla bit her lower lip lightly and fell into thought again.

"I've mentioned it briefly before. I couldn't explain it precisely, but... Ridgecarse was, how should I put it... The village itself felt like it was hiding from the world. It felt like I was constantly living inside an enormous pit."

Layla, who had been piecing her words together haltingly, glanced at him with a slightly embarrassed expression.

"I'm sorry. I'm not explaining this well."

"No, I understand."

His response was instantaneous, almost cheerful.

"Really?"

Layla said in a slightly bewildered voice. Could he feel it too—that sensation, that strange isolation that had kept her uneasy the entire time she lived in Ridgecarse? In less than a full day?

Yustar lightly touched his chin with his long fingers.

"I've told you before, haven't I? It's rather surprising that a sink has never formed in Ridgecarse."

Layla nodded. When discussing how isolated Ridgecarse was, Yustar had definitely told her something like that.

Yustar continued, "Now that you understand to some degree why sinks occur, you'll know why I said that. Layla, that strange sense of isolation you felt in Ridgecarse, that feeling of living trapped in an enormous pit—it's because of a problem with the village itself. That village... has been stagnant too long, too narrow and too deep. It's been sinking into itself like a swamp no one looks at. That's exactly the kind of place where sinks form easily."

"Are you saying it's a problem with the people?"

"Most problems are caused by people. The particular closed-mindedness of people living gathered in a small village has changed the energy of the atmosphere itself. Hmm, perhaps this will be easier to understand. Imagine putting clean air into a small box, then slowly releasing toxic gas into it. Eventually..."

"The box would be filled only with gas."

When Layla finished his sentence, Yustar blinked as if to say exactly.

"Ridgecarse had already become like that. There was almost no clean air left. In fact, I was surprised when I first set foot there."

That was the truth. Honestly, if he hadn't been searching for Layla, Yustar wouldn't have particularly thought to stop in that village. If he'd known a sink had formed, he couldn't have ignored it indefinitely, but...

"Then..."

Just as Layla was about to say something, the two of them stopped walking at the sound of footsteps behind them. One person, no, two? No, about five or six people were running toward Layla and Yustar.

"Layla."

Yustar carefully took hold of Layla's wrist and pulled her to the side of the road. In case they might attack, one of his hands moved to his sword hilt.

The people kept running... drawing closer and closer. When the distance narrowed enough to make out their features, Layla realized their ages and genders varied. Women, men, elderly, young. They seemed to be villagers.

And all of them were smiling broadly as they looked at Layla and Yustar.

The moment they passed right in front of her, Layla held her breath without realizing it. Those bizarrely distorted faces seemed to be screaming and smiling at the same time. It was as if someone had forcibly pulled their lips wide.

"The Seeker is coming," whispered the man who ran past Layla.

"The Seeker is coming," whispered the old woman running after him. Looking closely, one of her feet was a wooden prosthetic. Yet the old woman kept running, tilting unsteadily. Smiling.

Only after they disappeared beyond the road could Layla release the breath she'd been holding. Yustar stared with a hardened expression at where they'd vanished, then gathered his long, loose hair and tied it up.

"We should follow them."

The two began walking faster than before. There were no more people running from behind, but it was hard to stop the hairs on the back of their necks from bristling.

Layla said, "Those people said 'the Seeker is coming.'"

"I heard that too. They're saying the exact same thing as that man."

"Could the Seeker be something that came out of the sink?"

The probability was high... Yustar recalled what Marnak had said. That 'when members approach beyond a certain range, the sink conceals itself.' He was so absorbed in thinking about this that he almost forgot to answer Layla's question.

A sink that conceals itself—he'd never seen such a thing before. Even for Yustar, who had seen all manner of bizarre things since sinks began appearing and Tentinella was established to deal with them, a sink that disappeared and reappeared was a first.

Sinks have will, Yustar thought.

But the desire they possessed... if he had to make a comparison, it most closely resembled an insatiable 'appetite.' Setting traps to lure in prey and continuously devouring them—that was the entirety of the will sinks displayed.

But what if it wasn't just that?

What if there was something more cunning?

'What a headache.'

They walked for quite a while, but there was no trace of the people who had run ahead. When Layla began to pant for breath, Yustar slowed his pace slightly.

"Look at the Seeker, Layla. Is the direction correct?"

Layla pulled the Seeker from her pocket and nodded, breathing hard.

"And the needle? What color is it?"

At his question, Layla looked at the Seeker once more. The needle's color had changed slightly.

"It looks... yellowish-green."

"Good. We've gotten closer to the sink. The closer we get, the more it takes on a greenish tint. But..."

Yustar let out a long breath and looked around. The fishing village scenery with its sound of waves and smell of the sea was nowhere to be found. Where they stood was the middle of a forest, half filled with dead trees. And...

"It's ruins," Layla murmured.

"The houses..."

Between the dead trees were houses—no, traces of what had once been houses. It was as if something enormous had poured from the sky and swept away all the houses on this hill. In a single day.

Yustar moved toward the nearest house foundation. Stinging nettles with potent poison grew thick, but he paid no mind.

Half the house had been blown away, and the foundation was almost entirely rotted. The things lodged here and there were probably furniture, but they'd blackened and deteriorated so much their original forms were unrecognizable.

"What happened here?"

At Layla's question, Yustar shook his head.

"I don't know either, Layla. This... seems like a matter we'll need to investigate after returning to the branch. It's certain there's a sink somewhere near here, so let's just confirm that and return for today."

"But... what about those people from before?"

Yustar's lips pressed firmly inward. No matter how much he strained his senses, he couldn't hear even the slightest human presence, let alone the sound of a mouse passing by.

Though there had been no forks in the road, there was no sign of that bizarre group. It was as clean as if they'd evaporated somewhere.

"Once we find the sink, we might be able to track their trail. Let's find the sink first."

Layla nodded and cleared her throat. Whether from dust or the unfamiliar seaside air, her throat felt itchy and her breathing constricted.

The moment she coughed with a few small hacks, a rustling sound came from behind the rotting house foundation.

Layla and Yustar's gazes turned in unison toward the source of the sound.