C51- Inside the Nest (1)

"Are you okay now?"

"Yeah... Thank you all, really."

"Don't mind it. Just don't pass out from apologizing again."

"Ugh... I will keep that in mind."

"Yup. By the way, are you going to tell us what happened?"

"I-I told Clair, but I am sorry, I can't tell you two right now. Maybe some day else?"

"No no, you don't have to force yourself. It is comlpetely normal for married couples to have secrets that they don't tell others about, I get that."

When Corvin said that, Clair and Noah blushed deeply, but didn't retort or deny.

'Eh~, they became boring... I can't make fun of them anymore.'

Feeling like a kid who lost his toy, Corvin walked away from the group and towards a hole in the ground. He stopped in front of the cave, and called the others.

"Now, let's forget about that and talk about these holes here. Do any of you have an idea about what these may be?"

Noah walked towards the cave, and after staring at it for a couple of seconds with a bitter gaze, he turned to Corvin.

"I think I have an idea. I don't want it to be true, but I just can't get rid of that thought..."

"What is it?"

"Colossus."

"..."

"..."

"Oh my fu- Are you sure? You aren't digging for attention, are you?"

"I am not making it up!"

"Why do you think like that?"

"The bugs from before..."

"What about those?"

"I saw them before."

"Huh?"

"About nine years ago..."

"Ten years ago?"

"It was at Asmil City, a horde of bugs attacked the city, with a long giant bug behind them. The minions were all similar to the ones I saw before. Even the colour."

"Colour..? Wait, is this a duplicate colossus?"

"What?"

"Maybe, it's like a coincidence that the two colossus appeared around the same area with similar looks..."

"What if it's the same one from nine years ago?"

"Didn't Master defeat it back then?"

"No, that's the point... My father could only damage it severly, and that was only possible thanks to help from his usual team."

"What shoud we do then?"

"I think we should investigate... Why are the girls not here yet by the way?"

Noah and Corvin turned towards the girls. They both were standing away from the cave.

"Hey! Why aren't you two coming here?"

Amy and Clair both looked at the two, and then Amy opened her mouth.

"We aren't going to enter that cave, right?"

Corvin looked at Noah. Noah nodded.

""We will.""

This time, Clair talked.

"Are you two idiots? We aren't here to go cavi- We may be here to find caves, but that doesn't mean we should jump into a monster nest!"

Noah answered.

"You two can stay behind if you want."

""No way!""

"Why not? You don't want to put your lives in danger, do you?"

""If you two leave us, we will be in more danger!""

"Then it's decided!"

"No, why don't you guys leave the ladies to a safe place like your home?", asked Clair.

"It wouldn't be appropriate for me to take Noah's fiancee to my house."

"It wouldn't be appropriate for me to take a girl other than my fiancee to my house."

""Can't you just do it the other way?!""

Corvin grinned after making eye contact with Noah, who was also grinning.

"Right... Since we are going to do it the other way, we are entering the cave then."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Aaah! Enough, I get it. I will come with you!"

"And you Amy?"

"Sigh~, Alright..."

"Great.", said Noah and Corvin with a businessman smile.

As the girls were feeling like they were deceived, the group entered the cave. It was a steep slope for a while. As the light from the sun stopped reaching down, Clair gave everyone alchemically made lamps.

After a while, it started to smell faintly sweet. As they got out of a tight descent, they arrived at a wide and level part of the cave. The stone walls were covered in a type of moss that gave of bluish light, making it just bright enough to read a book. The moss was especially concentrated as a line in the ceiling, where scratch marks indicated that the shining moss was scraped towards the middle from the sides to form a line.

The end of the corridor lead to another downwards slope, and at one side of the corridor, was the entrance to another room.

"Should we go inside that room?"

"Let's check it out."

The group entered the room, which didn't have a door. The room was dark and the air inside was moist. It smelled like rotten fruits. They brought out their lights again, after closing it since encountering the shining moss.

The room was filled with a bunch of black gooey material.

"It looks like rotten food... Do monsters eat food?"

"Who knows? Maybe these ones do?"

"That would be weird..."

After looking around for a minute more, they got outside of the room.

"There is absolutely nothing in there except rotten food, some small parts from those monsters and trash."

"Yeah... Wait. If there are parts from the monsters, doesn't that mean something killed them?"

"...N-No way... Are there humans inside?"

Corvin suddenly froze after hearing what Clair said.

"Corvin?"

"Wait... Noah."

"Yeah?"

"You said there were unsolved kidnappings for years around the mountains, didn't you?"

"Right. For about...nine years... No way..."

Clair gasped in shock.

"What do you think Noah?", asked Corvin.

"What are you two talking about?", asked Amy.

Corvin told about the colossus that appeared aroun nine years ago near the mountains.

"N-No way! Does that mean that colossus was here for that long? But these mountains are far away from humans mostly! Don't monsters disappear when there are no humans around for long?"

"...You are right.", said Noah.

After a while of silence, Corvin came up with an idea.

"Oh no... What if...the minions were ordered to kidnap humans and hide with the colossus after it was damaged badly. And what it those kidnapped people are the ones that cause the minions to keep existing?"

Everyone froze after hearing that.

"A-And... we know humans who turned into monsters don't disappear even after death right... What if..."

"N-No way..."

Noah started hyperventilating as his hands started to shake.

"Hey, Noah! Why did it trigger again!?"

"Noah, take this!"

Amy quickly gave Noah a red coloured pill.

"What is that?"

"Oh, this? The emotion suppressor drug."

"Are you still taking it? Why do you have it around?"

"I am not, but it is still useful, so I keep a bit of it with me just in case."

Noah took the pill and started to wait for it's effects. Clair sat down and gave Noah a lap pillow until he was fine. Corvin sat down at the opposite side of the corridor and laid down, using his backpack as a pillow.

"Let's just rest for a bit. It seems the trash in the room hiding our scent, so monsters won't find out we are here easily."

Amy agreed, and gathered a small sample of the shining moss to inspect while resting.