I Alone Regress in a Hero Party That Was Annihilated - Chapter 43

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#43. Raw Night (4)

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The boiling setting sun.

The decline of light means the rampant spread of darkness.

Night was settling over Beauvoir Mine, a place where humanity cannot survive.

A prisoner standing guard at the mine entrance shouted.

“Prince Featherback has returned—!”

Then the sound of pattering footsteps could be heard from inside the mine.

Sancho was running over with the most fawning expression he could manage.

“Prince Featherback! Where did you go, returning only now… Gack!?”

He tumbled backward while running.

Because Featherback had kicked Sancho in the chest.

“A rebellion? An ambush?”

“N-no! I-I-I was just happy to see you and came running, but why! This is too much! Sob sob sob—”

“…So it wasn’t a rebellion.”

Featherback slowly removed his hand from the sword handle.

For some reason he looked disappointed, so Sancho gulped down his dry saliva.

‘Why does he seem regretful? Don’t tell me he’s waiting for a rebellion?’

There was no way to know what kind of mindset made him wait for the prisoners’ uprising.

The delicate-framed young man before his eyes felt like an infinitely large and terrifying monster.

“A-ahem!”

Sancho cleared his throat and got to the main point.

“Um… Lord Featherback. There’s a matter I must report to you.”

“What is it?”

“Please take a look at this.”

When Sancho gestured, the prisoners brought over large iron stakes.

The condition of the iron stakes was clearly not good at first glance.

Bumpy surfaces, colors mixed with various things, cracks spread throughout, and so on.

But this was the only result they could present.

Sancho pointed to the iron stakes and said.

“Please conduct a quality inspection. Right now the quality is embarrassingly low, but if you could give us just a little more time with a heart as vast as the ocean…”

“This level is roughly sufficient. Continue mass-producing them.”

“R-really? This level of cheap goods… no, this level of supply-grade quality is sufficient?”

“Don’t make me say it twice. Unless you have two necks.”

“Hieek!?”

At Featherback’s words, spoken with a frown as if annoyed, Sancho buried his neck between his shoulders.

Then, Featherback asked.

“You properly followed the precautions I mentioned before, right?”

“How could there be any doubt! Of course!”

Sancho quickly nodded his head.

There was one thing Featherback had specifically instructed during the iron stakes manufacturing process.

‘Cut a handful of hair and put it in the boiling molten metal, then spit three times.’

The prisoners did as they were told without understanding why.

Though some old prisoners trembled, saying it was related to Forbidden Sorcery.

Meanwhile, Sancho opened his mouth with a determined expression.

“Prince Featherback! I, Sancho, dare to speak as a middle manager! Due to the current poor working conditions, efficient work is not being accomplished! For the prisoners to exert their strength, they need food first… Kyah!?”

Sancho rolled around clutching his nose with a pained expression.

Featherback’s small, delicate fist was as hard as a stone.

“Your tongue is too long.”

“Sob sob sob— The children say they can’t work because they’re hungry.”

“Hmm.”

Featherback finally nodded.

And then.

Thud—!

He brought a giant lizard corpse from outside the cave and threw it down.

A gray lizard sprawled with its neck severed.

Pink muscle and yellowish fat were clearly visible at the cut surface.

Featherback waved his hand dismissively.

“Divide it among yourselves and eat.”

“Thank you so much—!”

The prisoners who had been starving rushed over and began tearing at the lizard corpse to eat it.

Seeing this, Featherback spoke as if it were nothing.

“Oh, I almost forgot. The entrails contain deadly poison, so make sure to remove them separately.”

“…!”

Several prisoners flinched.

Among them.

Thud— Thud— Thud—

A few collapsed, foaming at the mouth.

Featherback gestured with his finger toward the other prisoners who were still unharmed.

“Scrape out the poisonous parts separately and bring them over here.”

“?”

The prisoners tilted their heads in confusion.

Why would he ask them to bring something that couldn’t even be eaten?

But that was only momentary, as the prisoners put on thick gloves and began scraping out the entrails from inside the lizard’s belly.

Long intestines, lungs, liver, gallbladder, and poisonous entrails piled up in layers.

Since the lizard corpse was so large, there was also a great amount of entrails.

Featherback gazed at the prisoners beside him with his characteristic expressionless face.

“…From now on, we’re making a special meal.”

A special meal for whom?

The prisoners didn’t dare to ask.

They could only hope that thing wouldn’t end up going into their own mouths.

* * *

About two more days passed after that.

Besides casting iron stakes, Featherback began other work as well.

It was the task of catching monsters in this area, pulling out their entrails, and gathering them in one place to roll them into round shapes.

Meat balls made from monster entrails.

Several prisoners selected by Featherback were absorbed in the work of kneading and rolling them into round shapes.

“Ugh… there’s hair in here.”

“Just smelling it makes me want to vomit. These don’t seem like meat balls humans could eat.”

The meat dough covered in filth looked like cursed chunks of flesh.

Every time the nauseating stench hit their noses, the prisoners thought it would be better to go to the steel stake casting site instead.

It was that level of hard labor.

“Damn it. Lee Wan bastard took away the steel stake command… and here I am reduced to kneading this disgusting dough. Ah, how I miss the old days.”

Sancho was wiping away tears while handling the meat dough.

Just a few days ago, the steel stake casting site had been under Sancho’s command.

However, Featherback had changed the commander overnight, reasoning that Lee Wan’s skills were better than Sancho’s.

Since then, Sancho had been reduced to making meat balls like this.

“Sigh, I should go take a shit.”

Sancho went outside the cave where the blizzard was raging.

Dig a snow pit, take a shit, then cover it up and it’s done.

Wiping with a firmly packed snowball could still maintain some level of hygiene.

Even while his anus felt like it might freeze, Sancho was still pursuing cleanliness like this.

Just then.

‘Hm?’

Sancho heard murmuring sounds from behind the rock.

The prisoners from the Steel Stake Production Team were plotting something beyond the rock.

“So you’re talking about three days from now?”

“Yeah. At dawn. When that bastard Featherback is sleeping, we’ll pour molten metal on him…”

“Everyone should start setting aside food bit by bit from now. If we’re going to go down the mountain later…”

It was nothing other than a rebellion plot.

Sancho pressed closer behind the rock to hear more details.

At that moment.

“Hey, Sancho. What are you eavesdropping on?”

“Huk—!?”

Someone gripped Sancho’s shoulder firmly.

When he turned his head, he saw Lee Wan’s menacing face.

More than ten gang members led by Lee Wan were standing behind Sancho.

Soon, Lee Wan grinned wickedly.

“Since you heard, there’s no choice. I was planning to share it with you later anyway.”

“Wh-what? I didn’t hear anything?”

“Then listen now.”

Lee Wan stood in front of Sancho holding a sickle and hammer.

Then he continued speaking with his bulging eyes gleaming.

“In three days, we’re going to kill Featherback and go down the mountain. I told you, didn’t I? That I’d get him back.”

“A-are you insane? How can you kill that monster bastard!”

“There are many ways. We could pour molten metal on him while he’s sleeping, or cause a landslide while carrying iron stakes to bury him. The point is whether we do it or not.”

“…”

Sancho was at a loss for words.

But in this situation, there was no choice.

“I’ll do it too.”

“Of course. That’s what makes sense.”

Lee Wan grinned and put his arm around Sancho’s shoulder.

“Just to be safe… if you betray us, you’ll become arm guards right away. You know well since you’ve been making a lot of them lately, right?”

“Am I crazy! What loyalty do I have to that immature brat who’s only beaten and worked me to death!”

“That’s true. You have no reason to betray us. You’ve suffered the worst treatment too.”

Lee Wan patted Sancho’s shoulder several times.

“Let’s do well, friend. For freedom.”

“Well, for freedom.”

Sancho nodded awkwardly with a smile.

* * *

Two more days passed since then.

One day left until the deadline Featherback had commanded.

That also meant the day of rebellion was approaching in just one day.

Dawn when everyone was asleep.

“Hah…”

Sancho tossed and turned his body wrapped tightly in an old blanket.

Sleep wouldn’t come at all due to his worries.

Eventually, Sancho got up from his spot.

Under the torch hanging on the mine wall, he could see the sleeping faces of the prisoners.

Sancho roughly tousled his hair with both hands.

‘What the hell am I supposed to do!’

For the past two days, Sancho had kept his mouth firmly shut.

The prisoners didn’t keep any particular watch on him, trusting Sancho.

From the prisoners’ perspective, there was absolutely no reason for Sancho to oppose the rebellion plan.

Nevertheless, Sancho found it difficult to shake off the uneasiness that had settled in one corner of his heart.

‘Why exactly? What’s making me feel uneasy?’

He couldn’t understand his own feelings.

Sancho wandered through the coal mine, trying to sort out his complicated emotions.

Before he knew it, Sancho had reached the coal mine entrance.

Soon, he discovered a familiar silhouette standing at the coal mine entrance.

‘That’s…’

The back view of a boy quietly gazing at the snowy mountain.

He could clearly picture his front view without even seeing it.

A beautiful demon with white hair and red eyes.

It was Featherback.

‘It’s all the same snow mountain, so what is he looking at? Is there something over there?’

The scenery outside the coal mine was boringly identical.

All that could be seen were ice peaks rising like blades, darkness that seemed ready to swallow everything, and blizzards howling like the cries of ghosts.

Then.

“…What is it.”

Sancho was startled by the voice coming from ahead.

Featherback’s gaze was already fixed on Sancho.

Red eyes gleaming between his painfully white hair.

Even without being covered in blood, his appearance naturally brought to mind the nickname Blood Lily.

Sancho was startled and quickly bowed his head.

“I, I came to give a progress report on the production.”

“At this hour?”

“Yes, yes. We’ve met the quantities you specified for both stakes and arm guards. If we conduct inspections for one day tomorrow, I believe we can meet the delivery deadline.”

“…Hmm. Good work.”

“Don’t mention it. I was just doing what you ordered. So what should I do now?”

At Sancho’s question, Featherback stared at him intently and answered.

“Do as you please. Whether you flee with the other prisoners or stay here. Though I wouldn’t particularly recommend tomorrow’s plan of pointing a sword at me.”

“You, you already knew?”

It felt like being struck in the head with a hammer.

To think he knew about the prisoners’ rebellion plan but took no measures.

Sancho swallowed his dry saliva.

“Aren’t you being too careless? They’re not the slippery scholars of the past. They’ve been forged to their limits in this hellish environment…”

“Hell? Limits? Hahaha—”

Featherback showed laughter for the first time.

Seeing that laughter, Sancho felt something strange stirring in his heart.

Featherback turned his gaze away from Sancho.

Then he continued speaking in his characteristic emotionless tone.

“You don’t know hell. You’ve never experienced true limits.”

“…?”

At those words, Sancho felt somewhat wronged.

If the forced march to Meursault Mountain wasn’t hell, then what was?

If the hard labor experienced at Beauvoir Mines wasn’t the limit, then what was?

Sancho couldn’t understand Featherback’s words at all.

However.

“Then what will you do from now on, Young Master?”

Sancho found himself asking the question without realizing it.

Surprisingly, that question contained the emotion of ‘concern.’

Perhaps finding this unexpected, Featherback looks at Sancho.

Sancho, who misunderstood this as a warning, began to ramble incoherently.

“Th-that’s right! What if all the prisoners just do whatever they want! If I run away too, who will serve the Young Lord when we return? If not me, Sancho, who knows the geography around the territory thoroughly…”

“Not needed. I live well on my own.”

“I-I know that, but that’s… I mean, that…”

Sancho hesitated whether to say what was on his mind or not.

“That’s, I mean, that…”

“Annoying. Get lost.”

Featherback threw a punch at the hesitating Sancho’s face.

Thwack―!

Fire flashed in Sancho’s vision as he was struck in the eye socket.

Right at that moment.

Flash―

For some reason, a vision of his deceased father appeared before his eyes.

‘Huh? Father? Why are you suddenly here?’

Before Sancho could ask anything, his father spoke.

‘Do it, son. Do it!’

The day he had fought bitterly and left home because he didn’t want to inherit the blacksmith shop.

His father, whom he hadn’t seen even once since that day, had appeared.

Desperately shouting something to his pathetic youngest son who couldn’t even be there for his deathbed.

‘You must tell him, son! You must! If not now, it won’t work!’

His father’s vision disappeared quickly.

When Sancho came to his senses, only Featherback was there.

Eventually, Sancho opened his mouth without thinking.

“I-I can’t clearly explain what I want to say or what I’m thinking either.”

“…”

“But listen, Prince Featherback! I don’t know about other things, but this one thing is certain! I, Sancho, want to serve Lord Featherback! I don’t know why! I just… ah, I don’t know! I’ve never been like this in my life! No matter how much you beat me and mistreat me, the Young Lord is the Young Lord! And I am the Young Lord’s attendant! Yes! As I speak, my head becomes a little clearer! I, Sancho, would rather die following Prince Featherback! Yes! I will! I’ve decided!”

As his words grew long, Featherback’s fist inevitably flew toward him.

…Thud!

But Sancho thought that punch somehow wasn’t as harsh as before.

‘Really, why am I like this?’

There was no logic to his words.

A reason for wanting to follow Featherback?

There couldn’t possibly be such a thing.

Who would like serving such a monster of a prince?

But for some reason, Sancho wanted to do just that.

Was it because of the slave mentality he had learned over the years?

Or was it because he had grown fond of him during the expedition?

If not that, then perhaps it was the sense of awe he felt toward a human being who carried something enormous and heavy all alone?

While Sancho was having these various thoughts to himself.

“Tomorrow at noon. Go up to the highest peak on the opposite side.”

Featherback’s voice echoed softly.

“What? Go up to the opposite peak? Why all of a sudden…?”

Sancho raised his head.

But.

“Huh? Young Lord? Prince Featherback?”

There was no one there.

Both his deceased father and Featherback, who had been beside him just moments ago, had vanished.

As if it had all been a dream.

“…”

Left alone, Sancho had to stand there in a daze for a long while.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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