Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. - Chapter 3

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

Episode 3: E-rank Labyrinth – Headquarters of the Hidden Ghouls (2)
“…….”
Marlin, who had been approaching me, suddenly recoiled.
Her face twisted in disgust.
“Where are you going?”
“…I’ll stay here.”
“I’ll miss you.”
“Please don’t say things like that without changing your expression. It’s frightening.”
What could I possibly look like for her to react that way?
Come to think of it, I had no idea what I looked like now, or what form I was wearing.
The moment I escaped the Labyrinth, I’d need to find a mirror first.
“Don’t wander too far. It’s dangerous.”
I warned Marlin, who was creeping cautiously forward, while examining the explorers’ corpses one by one.
Just as the young expert had assessed, they were indeed moderately decomposed.
A bit unsettling, but not enough to make me retch.
The problem was that I needed fresh corpses, ones that hadn’t been dead long, and these were all unsuitable as Sacrificial Offerings.
‘It won’t let me off that easily, then.’
I’d hoped reality might differ from the game, but it seemed I would have to take risks to progress.
“Marlin.”
“Yes?”
The girl, who had kept her distance from me, drew near again.
“Do we need more corpses?”
“We do, but we’ll have to move. There won’t be any suitable bodies in this Plains.”
“Suitable bodies….”
Marlin, momentarily at a loss for words, flicked her tail against the ground.
“Then where should we find them?”
“The ghouls’ dwelling. Deep in the forest.”
“…We’ll be killed if we’re caught.”
“Obviously. Which is why we go in secret.”
Ghouls excel at physical prowess and possess considerable intellect, but they are monsters all the same.
I could easily devise ways to minimize the chance of discovery.
“I’m back.”
Abel returned just then.
His hands and pockets were stuffed with smooth, round Stones.
“Will this be enough?”
“More than enough. Thank you.”
Now that we had everything prepared, it was time to move.
“You two, put these on.”
I stripped the clothes from the dead explorers and handed them to the siblings.
Despite taking care to provide garments that fit each of them, their faces turned ashen for some reason.
Perhaps the design was too shabby.
《Filthy, worn-out clothing of various kinds. Discarded refuse reeking of decomposing corpses. Surely you don’t intend to wear this?》
I certainly did.
“The sun is already beginning to rise, so hurry.”
As I rushed to change clothes, my eyes met Marlin’s, who stood motionless, staring intently.
“What are you looking at? Pervert.”
“…….”
Marlin glanced back and forth between me and the worn clothes in her hands, then finally moved behind a thick tree and emerged after changing.
Abel furrowed his brow and draped the garments loosely around himself like a cloak.
“Are you both dressed?”
“Yes….”
“Let’s go. Follow me.”
I gathered all my previous clothes in one spot and immediately entered the forest.
The siblings flinched in surprise and hesitated, so I reassured them while reeking of that putrid stench.
“You’ll be fine in these. Ghouls only react sensitively to the scent of the living.”
“Ah, so you’re masking our scent so they can’t detect us?”
“Exactly.”
Young Abel accepted this and relaxed, but Marlin, two years his senior, was not so easily convinced.
“…What do we do if they spot us with their eyes?”
There was no real reason to answer that.
I patted Marlin’s back reassuringly as she fretted, walking in silence.
“Wait, sir! What if the ghouls find us?”
“Shh. Make too much noise and they’ll come swarming. Their hearing isn’t exceptional, but we should be careful anyway.”
“…Are you really sure about this?”
“Keep moving. If the ones on patrol catch us loitering, it’s finished.”
…….
Marlin, who’d been chattering nervously until now, finally fell silent.
Soft, careful steps.
Three people moving, yet their footfalls barely made a sound.
I was tense too, not just the siblings.
If we were caught by the ghouls, I wouldn’t have moonlight’s aid this time.
《There are ghouls nearby.》
I quickly dropped flat into the thick brush alongside the children.
Within moments, a pack of five or so ghouls came lumbering out and headed toward the Plains, where they’d left their clothes.
“They definitely went this way….”
“I smell it too, faintly!”
“Kee-hee-hee….”
Only after they’d moved well away did we emerge from the brush and continue forward.
Avoiding every patrol route I could remember, moving as quietly as possible.
With no means to overwhelm them if we met, avoidance was our only lifeline.
“Intruders, come out….”
“Where are you hiding?”
“We know you’re there—!”
Every Hidden Ghoul was searching for us.
With such a reek vibrating through the entire forest, my nose had long since ceased to function.
Detecting a monster’s approach by scent had become impossible, and the trees blocking out sunlight left the surroundings dim, vision severely compromised.
A Cultist of Twisted Truth serving Lidni truly shines in circumstances where part of the five senses are thus sealed off.
《Something’s coming from behind.》
I didn’t hesitate when my Eye that Pierces Truth warned me—my body moved first.
I hid behind thick trunks, concealed myself in thickets, and sometimes climbed into the trees entirely.
I sustained that deadly game of breath-holding, where discovery meant becoming food.
My back was drenched in cold sweat, but fortunately we arrived at our destination without serious incident.
“We’re here.”
Northeast of the ghouls’ settlement.
A small structure built in a distinctive style, nestled where forest met clearing.
A Storage House the ghouls had built to confine the intruders they captured.
《The Hidden Ghouls’ pantry. In other words, a space where corpses are stacked. A high-grade facility equipped with sorcerous devices maintaining appropriate temperature.》
“There could be more around here, so don’t let your guard down.”
I spoke in a lowered voice as I approached the Storage House’s rear door.
Marlin, pressed nearly flat to the ground, followed me holding her breath.
Her tail, rigid with tension, spoke volumes of her state of mind.
“The stench is terrible. They really are storing corpses here….”
“That’s right.”
A ghoul’s staple diet is flesh.
Yet for undead creatures, they had a surprisingly developed food culture—they preferred corpses aged to just the right degree of decay.
“This Storage House is what they built for that.”
“…So they constructed it to eat well, then.”
“Exactly. They understand how delicious fermented foods are.”
One might call it a sort of corpse-kimchi refrigerator.
They don’t just bring any cadaver here either—they carefully select only premium specimens for storage.
Despite their grotesque appearance suggesting they’d eat anything, they were surprisingly refined in such matters.
“Can you open this for me?”
“Of course.”
Active locksmith Marlin, fourteen years old, withdrew her Lock Picking tools from her pocket and set about opening the lock.
Click.
“Done.”
The massive lock was disengaged cleanly in barely five seconds—quite the skill.
Truly a child with a bright future ahead.
“Abel, you keep watch.”
Abel answered with only a nod, his ears perked up as he lay near the door.
“Follow me, Marlin.”
“Yes….”
As I entered the interior where cool air hung heavy, the corpses of explorers piled high immediately caught my eye.
There must have been ten, give or take.
Since the Labyrinth had only existed for a week, the numbers were still sparse.
I approached carefully and examined each body one by one.
It would be pointless to use just any corpse out of laziness; I needed to choose carefully.
Fortunately, I had an assistant whose talents shone brightest in moments like these.
*The corpse of Wildhorne, a guild member of the Haeil Guild (bovine-kin, twenty-eight years old). In life, he was a coward who trembled while other expedition members fought. His state is not good enough to offer to the divine.*
*The corpse of Lonpo, a impoverished alchemist (human, thirty-seven years old). He participated in the Labyrinth expedition to earn money for alchemy, but met a miserable end. He was vulgar; never offer him.*
Neither this one nor that one would do.
As I read through the various descriptions, a faint headache bloomed.
I pressed my thumb against my temples and continued searching.
*The corpse of Bold, a talentless hunter (human, twenty-six years old). A hunter whose Soul Grade has barely reached the second stage despite training from childhood due to meager talent. Still, not a bad offering.*
Found him.
He was a gaunt hunter in light clothing, and the expression of terror frozen on his face at the moment of death remained etched there still.
“I apologize.”
Forgive me, but there’s no helping it.
I must survive, after all.
“Drag him to the center for me.”
As Marlin laid the talentless hunter’s body in the empty space at the center of the Storage House, I carefully withdrew the ceremonial items from my robes.
First, the Raven Idol with its deeply sunken eye sockets.
It had been among my possessions since I first opened my eyes in this world.
Next, I positioned the Stones that Abel had gathered around the corpse.
Finally, I lit the candles placed at the head and foot, and the rough shape of a makeshift shrine and altar took form.
Humble as it was, I had done my best to assemble it.
“…Does that mean we’re starting ‘that’ now?”
I nodded lightly.
“Beginning the Sacrificial Offering ceremony. If it disturbs you, turn away.”
I needed to prepare the tribute for the evil god.
Taking up the Ceremonial Dagger, a basic cultist’s tool honed to a razor edge, I began moving my hands in silence.
Scritch. Scritch.
Sharp sounds rang through the quiet Storage House.
With each movement of my hand, a metallic stench spread wide, and the dull-colored floor was steadily turning red.
‘This is exhausting.’
The cheap dagger wouldn’t cut properly.
The limitation of a basic-tier item.
What should have been a simple task—severing the head from the body—left me drenched in sweat.
“Why are you cutting off the head?”
Marlin, covering her eyes with her tail while peering nervously at my work, spoke softly.
She trembled in fear that a Ghouls might descend upon us at any moment, yet her curiosity proved irrepressible.
“My master Lidni has particular tastes.”
“Tastes?”
“Like shrimp dishes, she prefers the head removed entirely. If the head remains attached, inferior knowledge seeps in, which displeases her. So I must remove it.”
“…….”
Thunk.
Before long, the work was complete.
I straightened at last and stretched, easing the stiffness from my body, then grasped the fruits of my labor in both hands.
The head of the hunter, contorted in agony.
“Hah….”
I wiped the sweat trickling down my brow with my sleeve and set the head on the ground.
Above the severed head now parted from its body, strange black script shimmered into view.
*This human once relieved his anger at his insufficient talent by secretly shooting an innocent goblin to death with his bow. It contains no wisdom worthy of satisfying a wise one; separation was indeed wise.*
True to form, the offering chosen by the Eye that Pierces Truth proved to be a murderer of the innocent.
I felt no guilt offering such a creature to the evil god—quite the opposite.
I then extracted the teeth from the severed head and carefully placed them atop the body.
Materials for that satisfying crunch.
I even had the sense to sort out the cavities and discard them.
I wished to add more ingredients, but this was my limit for now.
With regret, I scattered the teeth densely and placed my hands upon the corpse, all that remained of the body.
And he began to recite softly.
“A daily offering is hereby prepared for the One who grasps infinite truth, governing all arcane knowledge and inscrutable sorcery in this world.”
From the next verse onward, the words grow needlessly long and don’t come back to me properly.
When this was a game, I only had to time my choices right to pick the correct options.
“You’ll know the rest, so I’ll spare the remainder.”
With that, only one word of the prayer remains.
I withdrew my hand from the corpse and stepped back, speaking in a hushed voice.
“Lidni, your meal is prepared.”

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