C53- Inside the Nest (3)

Corvin opened his eyes, and he was inside a red tent.

'Huh? Wasn't mine green..?'

Right then, a small blonde girl suddenly entered his vision.

"Daddy!"

'Huh?'

"Yes, Alice?"

His body was speaking on it's own.

'Ah, this dream... It's been a while huh?'

"Wake up! Mum said you should light the fire again so she can cook!"

"Okay, okay. Get off on me, so I can get up."

"Hehe~"

Alice gave a toothy childish smile and kissed her father's forehead.

"Good morning, daddy!"

"Good morning Alice."

After patting her head, he got out of the red tent with a smile and walked towards the extinguished campfire.

"Alice, you go help your mother while I do this, okay?"

"Yes sir!", said Alice with a salute.

He quickly lit up a campfire and went to help Lily, who was preparing food. The three cooked the food and sat down on chairs around the campfire. They started to eat while chatting.

'That meat smells so good... Also, what are these chairs made of? It doesn't look like silk or wool...'

"It really is cold here, isn't it?", asked Lily who was sitting next to him. She was wearing a thick and shiny white clothing Corvin has never seen in his life, and she had black beanie on her head that contrasted with her blonde hair.

"Well, this nation is all mountains, but it's also our fault for going camping mid autumn."

"But... You needed a break from all that work, didn't you?", asked Lily with a sweet smile.

He looked at Alice, who was playing with a big and fluffy dog with a golden fur. He smiled, turned back to Lily and said.

"Well, you needed it too... Aren't we working on the same thing together?"

Lily smiled and held his hand.

"Yeah, but it is hard to find time to rest for a while, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I sometimes miss my university days, but those weren't that great either, since you aren't there."

Lily smiled at his words and held his hand tighter.

"Well, it's your fault for finding these crazy thing to work on. I can still remember the nervous guy who presented us a crazy idea that can push the world into complete chaos while sweating with a smile. Now, somehow that man is my husband and we are working on an even more crazier project."

"What do you mean somehow? And... was I sweating back then?"

"Hehehe... You looked like an overworked corporate slave back then."

"Ugh... My image..."

"But-"

Lily raised her hand and held his face close to hers, with a wide and cute smile. He held her face the same way.

"-you were always an amazing person, dear~."

Her eyes slowly closed as their faces got closer.

*****

Ching! Ching! Ching!

"Hmm.... Huh."

Corvin got up after hearing a small bell noise. He got up and got out of his tent slowly because of dizziness.

"Guh! I forgot we were in this place."

The stench of animal blood rushed inside his nose the moment he stepped out of the tent and into the spacious room. After the strong smell got rid of his dizziness, he woke the rest of the group up.

"Hey! Wake up! Noah!"

"Hmm... Five minute..."

Corvin opened the tent and let the stench get inside. Noah suddenly woke up after the smell reached his nose.

"Ugh! I hate you man. Why did you do that?"

"You didn't wake up!"

"You tried only once!"

"That's more than enough. Our lives may be in danger here."

"Gh-! I can't say anything to that... You are rig- Are you okay Corvin?!"

"Huh? What?"

"...You are crying, did you see a nightmare?"

"I don't think I saw a dream... Hm?"

Corvin touched his cheek and felt a wetness on his fingers. He wiped the tears and said.

"Oh, it's nothing, it's probably because I yawned too hard. I see, your emotions also returned huh? Well, never mind that and go wake up your wife. I will also wake up min- Cough! Amy."

'What... Why did I almost call Amy my wife? Am I that delusional?'

Corvin walked towards the tent Amy was sleeping in, and just before opening the tent, froze.

'...Can I open this? No, I probably can't.'

He scratched the tent awkwardly in order to make some noise and called Amy.

He glanced at Noah, who was barging in Clair's tent without permission.

'...I looked at him to see what he was doing but... I can't do that!'

"Hey, Amy! Wake up!"

*****

After getting up and packing their bags back, the four walked towards Noah's illusion. Noah poured a bit of water on the dried animal blood and then wiped a portion of the drawing off. The boulder at the entrance disappeared and they exited the room.

"...Huh? Were there scratch marks on the walls before?"

"Where?"

"Here."

Noah found a couple of scars on the walls. Corvin looked at the marks and said.

"Hm... These aren't scratch marks. They are too thin. This was made by a weapon most likely..."

"So... That means, the monsters kidnapped a soldier?"

"No... there were probably two people here."

"Huh? Why?"

"Look at this... This scar is wider and deeper, probably left by a big sword. And at the edges of the scar, you can see the material the sword is made out of scraped here."

Corvin pointed at the slightly shiny spot on the edge of the scar.

"But, if you look at this scar, it is shorter, narrower and shallower. This was probably made by a dagger or a shortsword. The material is also black this time."

"S-so that means, while we were asleep, at least two people were kidnapped by the monsters... And people strong enough to leave marks like this here..."

"...Yeah."

"A-Are we walking into our deaths..?"

Corvin looked at Amy who asked that question.

"...No, think of it like this... There are strong people who can help us down there! I can't see any weapon around here, so they probably still have those weapons."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't be scared now. My dad can't come here, and the army probably can't as well. We need to solve this case by ourselves..."

'Really...Tch...Nobles are so useless...', thought Noah.

"As you heard! So, now let's continue without being disheartened!"

They started walking towards the other side of the corridor and began descending down again. From time to time, they could see weapon scars on the walls. They followed the scars whenever they faced a crossroad, and decsended down the nest.

Amy prepared pills using the mushrooms and the shining moss to lower their body temperatures when Corvin's winds weren't enough to cool them down.

"Wait... Now that I think about it... That room we camped in was cooler than normal..."

"...You are right! Hmm... Why is that I wonder?"

"Well, it's not like it has a ventilation system. It was probably the drying blood or something that cooled it down."

"Maybe... Wait, are you guys also smelling this?"

"Yeah, I am."

Amy and Noah nodded as well.

"It smells kind of like... honey?"

"Look, there is a room there."

They walked towards the room they saw at the end of the wide corridor.