chapter4

 There was no longer any sound to be heard beneath the cellar, and the teenager, who was a head shorter than he was, was bland as power traveled down the barrel of the gun and into his hand.

　　Gregorio sighed in relief, relaxing violently as if he were relieved, before realizing just how much pain he was in all over his body right now.

　　The wound that he had previously wrapped in a bandage had reopened and was oozing blood from the fight and flight with the zombies.

　　Gregorio didn't bother to take care of himself, he gave a small nod and a "thank you" to Sylver, who had arrived just in time, and immediately went to check on Marvin, who had collapsed to the side.

　　The teenager was still lying on his back in the same position, making a horrific sound like a broken bellows between his labored gasps. The bruise of horrible fingerprints surfaced on his neck, swollen out in a circle, just like the one on the ranger's body inside the house.

　　"How does it feel?" Gregorio asked in a hushed voice as he half crouched down beside him. Marvin couldn't answer, his vocal cords and windpipe were damaged, and all he could do was struggle to blink at Gregorio, his eyes unable to stop the physiological tears from the pain, which could be described as miserable.

　　What should we do?

　　Seeing his brother in such pain, Gregorio naturally did not feel good either. He didn't have the professional medical knowledge to move Marvin easily, but it wasn't a good idea to let him just lie on the ground like this.

　　Sylver, on the other hand, took the opportunity to rummage around on Marvin's body and managed to pull out a box of medicine from the teenager's pants pocket - according to the parameter settings of the Junior Box, it was easy to swipe out medicines and other supplies in the plot point.

　　He unpacks it, plucks out a pill straight away, and shoves it into Marvin's mouth.

　　Gregorio couldn't stop it in time and could only say, "He can't swallow."

　　"It's okay, just keep it in your mouth." Sylver said as he plucked out another capsule and handed it to Gregorio, "You eat it too, this injury is causing me pain all over."

　　With the bond of the blood contract, Gregorio's injuries were naturally shared half of Sylver's, despite not being injured since he entered this place, thanks to Gregorio's blessing, Sylver's clean white top was already stained with flecks of blood.

　　His blood.

　　Gregorio took the capsule and the box of pills in Sylver's hand and went to read the instructions.

　　Sylver gave an irritated cut.

　　It did seem like a good character trait to have a minimum of vigilance at all times, though; at least you wouldn't die horizontally in the box for some inexplicable reason as most newcomers did.

　　The instructions were a very perfunctory "eat me."

　　Gregorio didn't hesitate any longer and just swallowed the pill.

　　While he waited for it to kick in, he took the cartridge case out of Marvin's possession, loaded two into the shotgun, and asked, "Did that thing come after you?"

　　Sylver knew he was referring to Henry, the teenager stood to the side with his hands in his pants pockets, kicking the weeds lightly with his toes in boredom, and said, "Shouldn't be here for a while, what did you take that kept it chasing you?"

　　"Just after entering here not long after our group hadn't gotten separated, we saw an unfilled coffin in the graveyard, there was a hint before that the gold beads on it were a key prop, so everyone took it."

　　Gregorio showed Sylver the two marble-sized gold beads from his coat pocket, "After that, the thing crawled out of the coffin and started chasing us, probably because I had two in my hand and was a bigger target at it, Marvin and I escaped from it once but were seriously injured before Marvin had no choice but to try to use a prisoner Card Summon to see if he could save me ... Sorry."

　　"Are you guys clear on what the blood pact is?" Sylver asked rhetorically, he was annoyed that he had only seen two pilgrims make a blood pact in a desperate situation in the three years or so he had been in the Pure White World.

　　Gregorio shook his head, "After obtaining the Prisoner Card in the Novice Box, the Joker only mentioned that the Prisoner could share the master's injuries after the Blood Pact, and be able to save his life in critical moments, we don't know the rest."

　　Gotta.

　　Sylver began to have a headache, he took a deep breath and patiently explained, "Blood contract, a form of contract that can be signed at any time disregarding the will of the prisoner, does allow the prisoner to help share the injuries well, but the person who signs the blood contract can only have one prisoner in his lifetime.

　　"The master has three opportunities to force commands on the blood contract prisoner, but when using the commands, he or she needs to pay a certain price."

　　"A certain price?"

　　"For example, if you use a forced command for me to kill someone, you may lose an arm accordingly, depending on the strength of the command."

　　Gregorio fell silent, this was the first time he knew about these things as well. The restriction of only being able to have one prisoner in a lifetime was a bit unexpected, but not so much, a blood contract could have such a counter-intuitive effect as sharing injuries, so naturally it couldn't be without limitations.

　　Sylver asked again, "How did you obtain the Prisoner card?"

　　Joker had said that any black and gold cards currently capable of summoning him should be in the hands of senior pilgrims.

　　"The box at the end of the Novice level gave one away, and then a fellow Novice said he'd trade me his card for it, so I did."

　　Sylver scowled and immediately asked, "What kind of person?"

　　Gregorio thought for a moment, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper as his face went blank for a few seconds, "... I forgot?"

　　He tried to recall the events of that time, but he couldn't remember anything, even why he agreed to the exchange in the first place, obviously with his character, he wouldn't easily ...

　　"Don't think if you can't remember, someone used a memory wipe on you, he doesn't want you to remember." Sylver's heart had completely sunk, there was a good chance that his return this time wasn't what he thought it was at all.

　　Someone was doing something about it.

　　Seconds later Gregorio hissed softly, presumably from the medicine taking effect, the wounds on his body continued to itch and he could feel the flesh gradually healing.

　　He immediately looked down at Marvin, the teenager's bloodied and reddened face didn't look so bad anymore, the rattling when he breathed was much more normal, and the finger marks on his neck were fading at a speed visible to the naked eye.

　　Within a mere ten seconds or so, Marvin was able to speak, though his voice was still abnormally hoarse:

　　"Am I not dead?"

　　Sylver: "I'm sorry it didn't work out, do you feel kinda sorry for yourself?"

　　"Not going to die." Gregorio pulls Marvin to his feet, puts his arm over his shoulder, and assists the still-dazed Marvin into the house.

　　The teenager's legs were still weak from the violent shock, and his whole body was practically hanging on to his brother.

　　The fog was thick, and the distant cawing of the crows in the trees was distracting, Sylver frowned in annoyance as a stone was thrown from his hand and disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

　　The world was quiet.

　　Sylver glanced at the tightly shut cellar again and followed the brothers, the injuries from the blood pact were nowhere to be seen, making his mood, which had been irritating since he returned here, finally a little better.

　　But only a little.

　　Gregorio had removed all the bandages from his body and was getting Marvin a drink of water, and the tall teenager was settled into a chair, palpitating as he touched his thoroughly de-swollen neck, the horrific choking sensation still lingering in his head.

　　Hunkering down in the massive shadows, he looked at Gregorio's figure and said, "Brother, I left my lamp down there."

　　"It's okay." Gregorio brought him water, and the kettle on the stovetop was still half full of water; he didn't know how long it had been sitting, but it looked clear and had no odor.

　　Sylver leaned against the door and coldly watched the scene of brotherly friendship, suddenly asking coldly, "You two aren't blood brothers, are you?"

　　Both of them looked at him in unison, Marvin opened his mouth and was about to speak when Gregorio beat him to it and said, "They are brothers."

　　Marvin swallowed his "half-brother" and kept his mouth shut.

　　--Was the brother guarding against the prisoner?

　　"They don't look alike." How could Sylver not see that Gregorio didn't want to talk to him about such a private topic, there was no point in forcing him to talk about it if he didn't want to since he would find out sooner or later anyway.

　　His excess curiosity had already worn off during his last trip to the Pure White World, and in this world, the less one knows, the more likely one is to live in a state of confusion.

　　The group sort of settles down for the time being and takes a short break. marvin is resting plus rejuvenating, occasionally touching his intact neck in disbelief.

　　Sylver wanders around the cabin while Gregorio begins to take stock of their current supplies.

　　Currently, they had a shotgun that Marvin had retrieved from the cellar, a total of four bullets in two boxes, and one of the medicines left over after they'd consumed two of them, which, based on the effects shown, was a life-saving card.

　　There are also two gold balls Gregorio snapped from under the coffin, known to be plot props to be used later, the only weapon dagger in hand is now stuck in the mouth of the zombie in the cellar mouth, and the horse lamp is also dropped.

　　But Gregorio found another flashlight from the ranger's bedroom, although the light was not too bright like the battery was running out, at least it could be illuminated.

　　With that done, he read the ranger's notes once more, mulling over any clues that might be in them.

　　The ranger's death was clear, the monster from the cellar had strangled him alive, but the source of the blood was still unknown.

　　The cellar looked like it had held something that had later ripped through the bars and escaped, and since the cellar had suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the yard one night, it should have nothing to do with the ranger.

　　Gregorio tells Sylver and Marvin about these speculations, and Marvin, still confused, says "Oh" and asks, "And?"

　　Gregorio: "The repeated references to the southeast are probably a hint as to the next direction of travel, and the pendant the bard gave the ranger is likely a key clue as well, but I haven't found it."

　　Sylver lifts his chin in the direction of the ranger's body, "There's one more place we haven't searched yet."

　　Gregorio immediately recognizes this and frowns, "You mean ..."

　　Marvin looks blankly at the two of them and then at the ranger, "Isn't the body already searched?"

　　"Who said the search was over." Sylver smiled at Marvin, a smile that was anything but wistful, "You know the best place to hide something on a person?"

　　Marvin: ............... ...

　　Doesn't want to know.

　　But that's not all, it seems it's the look on Marvin's face that amuses Sylver, as he smirks and gestures to the ranger, saying, "Would you like to come and search? Don't you want to contribute something when you've been hiding behind your brother and letting people protect you?"

　　"I'll do it," Gregorio said and crouched down, wrapping the bloodstained bandages he'd removed earlier around his hands, unwrapping the ranger's tattered blouse, taking a deep breath, and about to do it.

　　"Let him get it." Sylver stopped Gregorio from doing it by standing in front of the body, and with his hands in his pockets, he looked at Marvin and laughed, "You're such a big man, but you only hide behind others when things go wrong... unweaned children won't survive here."

　　The agitation method works, before the words fall Marvin rubs his head and stands up, he was raised very well, less than eighteen years old he is already more than one meter eight, a head taller than Sylver.

　　The teenager defiantly wrapped the bandage from Gregorio's hand around his own, muttering "I'll do it, I'll do it, and you're talking about me when you're younger than me, okay?"

　　Sylver "kindly" reminded him, "But I'm not dragging my feet, I saved both your lives."

　　"I won't drag my feet either." Marvin crouched down next to the body and couldn't help the tickle in his throat at the sight of the ghastly pinch marks on the ranger's neck and the memory of what he'd experienced minutes before.

　　He coughed a few times and dawdled for a few moments before he finally prepared himself mentally for everything, and with a heartbeat and gnashing of teeth, he reached out his hand.

　　The ranger's body had been rotting for a long time, the skin and flesh rotting at the touch, Marvin couldn't help but dry-heave at the first touch of the cold, slimy insides, and he resisted the urge to run away, continuing to probe inward, touching what looked like his stomach.

　　Hand Torn Chicken Hand Torn Beef Hand Torn Lamb Shank Hand Torn Marinated Pork Feet ...

　　Marvin used the ultimate self-hypnosis on himself as he craned his head to stare at his feet, and after half a day of messing around in the poor ranger's stomach, he finally felt a hard object.

　　"Found it!" Marvin immediately pulled his hand out and the object to the floor, relented, and yanked the bandage from his hand that was whirling with blood, rubbed the crumbs off his arm against the wall, took several steps back away from the body he had gutted, held his breath for two seconds, and then bowed his head into the corner and vomited violently.

　　Gregorio had been watching silently from the sidelines, the teenager was right, Marvin couldn't just rely on someone else's protection in a place where he couldn't even protect himself, the faster he grew up the better for him.

　　That's why, he didn't stop Sylver from irritating Marvin.

　　Gregorio picked up the object on the ground and wiped the blood off of it with the ranger's shirt, it was a small object in the shape of a "soldier" in chess, about the thickness of a small thumb, with a thin cord that also indicated that it had been a pendant.

　　"This would be the amulet, but it's not clear what it does, the ranger swallowed it right into his stomach so he wouldn't lose it or have it taken from him." He said putting the thing away.

　　On the other side, Marvin had pretty much thrown up and was rinsing his mouth out with water, his whole body looking sickly.

　　Gregorio: "This isn't a good place to be, rest a little longer and we'll be ready to go."

　　After resting for four or five minutes, Sylver, who is resting with his eyes closed, suddenly opens them.

　　Something was coming.

　　Thunk--thunk--.

　　This time both brothers also felt the tremor of the earth, the neighing of the war horse penetrated the night, as if something huge was coming like them, each step was incomparably heavy, so much so that a lot of dust rustled down on the roof.

　　"No way, still coming?" Marvin wailed.

　　Gregorio made a snap decision to put the ranger's notepad in his pocket, and with a wave of his hand, whispered, "Go! Get out over the wall."

　　"You guys go first." Sylver said instead, staring thoughtfully out the window where two spots of scarlet were approaching, "I'll clean it up and follow."

　　Gregorio nodded without further ado, the strength of this accidentally summoned prisoner was no longer something he needed to question, at least not yet, "Renato" was even stronger than the Zombie Knights, and leaving him behind would only slow things down.

　　They need to worry more about themselves.

　　The two brothers quickly disappeared into the back courtyard, Marvin taking one of the kerosene lamps with him, and Sylver went into the kitchen to grab chopsticks, spoons, and the only knife he had, arming himself.

　　"Time to get it over with." He muttered, gently kicking away the ranger's tattered body, pushing open the bloodstained door, and strolling confidently out of the cabin.