Chapter 10

Chapter 10 : He Who Wishes to Die Shall Live (5)

My instincts could not overcome my fear, and my hands trembled uncontrollably.

Clasping them together, I lifted my head toward the air above.

The magic circle blazing vividly overhead was swallowing up even the surrounding sounds and shapes.

‘Just to kill me—no, just to pin me here—you people really are going to absurd lengths,’

I found myself thinking.

The magic circle, now so vast it looked ready to swallow the entire sky, came crashing down toward me.

Was this what it felt like when a star fell?

Overwhelmed by the sight of the sky collapsing, I could do nothing but stare upward, unable to move so much as a finger until it drew close.

Who was it that said even flowers hurt when they struck you?

The circle, which had stretched across dozens of meters, came down over my head in a single instant. It looked like red petals, like neon lights, like bloodstained shards of glass.

SCREEEE—

The ringing tore through my ears.

I clenched my teeth, bracing myself for the pain I knew had to follow.

“……?”

One breath passed, then another, then enough time for me to think this was not right. Still unable to open my tightly shut eyes, I thought to myself.

‘Am I already in the afterlife?’

Little by little, sensation returned, beginning at my fingertips, like waking from sleep paralysis.

I slowly opened my eyes and looked around.

I was not dead.

I really was not dead?

Perhaps because no one there had expected it, murmurs began spreading through the crowd.

Only Pan, who still stood lazily atop the platform, wore a deeply satisfied expression as he casually tossed the scrap of paper he had been holding aside.

“As you can see, the execution has been rendered void.”

Pan smiled lazily as he looked at me.

‘And now you are taking credit for it.’

Anyone watching would think he was the one who had risked his life.

“Riwin, who bears no guilt, has, by the authority of me, the ruler of the forest, earned the right to remain here.”

Chime-r-r-r-r-r.

A long sound followed, like tiny bells, like leaves brushing against one another.

It felt as though every part of the forest was resonating with Pan, granting me that right.

Ding!

[You clear the 【Time】 Quest 〈Escape the Execution〉.

The execution was interrupted incompletely. It seems you still have not escaped death completely!

▶Remaining Time ― 00h : 22m : 09s]

[Selecting a reward based on the remaining time.]

[……Processing……]

---

A comfortable, pleasant environment, fantastic food to whet the appetite, a wide-open picture-perfect view, and the perfect healing of a lush green forest full of fresh woodland air!

It was the sort of castle that looked as though it ought to have exactly those words written in a brochure.

To call it a wooden building felt insufficient. Everything within sight was so spacious that it seemed to open outward endlessly, and the arched corridors climbing up around the tree were no different from those of a medieval castle.

The catch was that this castle, too, had been built atop a tree.

It felt as though someone had taken the dream of a tree house and expanded it all the way into the territory of a castle. It was like a maze, charming, and grand all at once.

‘People here probably do not suffer from things like a fear of heights.’

After the execution ended, Pan dragged me here so I could formally receive that qualification, or whatever it was.

Apparently, most of this enormous castle served as the ruler of the forest’s workplace, residence, and, well, all the rest of it too.

‘Hmm. Feels like a waste of space.’

As I looked around, I watched the two figures walking ahead of me.

Pan, the ruler of the forest, seemed to carry the forest itself in his person. Beside him was Pering, the aide I had seen in the Original Work. From his hair to his clothes, he was so yellow that he gave the impression of a forsythia blossom.

Birds of a feather, perhaps.

The two of them had a subtle way of naturally treating me as though I did not matter at all, as though I were invisible.

“What exactly do you think you are doing?”

“He was not guilty. You saw it too, did you not? The execution ground’s magic circle turned into decorative fireworks. Ah…… it was magnificent.”

And yet, if our eyes happened to meet, both of them would smile with all the warmth of the friendliest people in the world.

It gave me goosebumps, and I discreetly widened the distance between us.

“That was unnecessary. You did not even attend the assembly, so what sort of scheme were you plotting from behind the scenes?”

“Ahhh, I do not want to hear the nagging.”

“Is this because you found it amusing again? Because of that whim of yours, Riwin went through things he should never have had to endure. To think he withstood that magic circle with his bare body. You do know what you have done, do you not?”

“Iwon.”

“Pardon?”

“I said Iwon. That is his name.”

That unexpected correction made me widen my eyes a little in surprise.

While I had been suffering under Hwipone, I had stopped bothering to correct it, and the name had simply stuck. Had I ever even told Pan that?

In any case, it had been a long time since I had heard my name spoken properly, so I nodded to myself.

But despite Pan’s correction, Pering only tilted his head as though he did not understand, then belatedly accepted it.

“Yes, of course. Riwin.”

At Pering’s merciless assessment, Pan’s shoulders shook with laughter.

At this rate even the last intact part of my name was going to be changed, yet I still could not understand what Pan found so amusing since yesterday that he kept smiling to himself like that.

“See? You should take this chance to change your name.”

What exactly was the problem?

If it were only a matter of pronunciation, Pan was saying my name far too accurately for that to make sense.

I stared at the back of his head as he chuckled lightly a few more times, then let out a sigh. Whether I had any intention of changing my name or not, I had apparently already been renamed.

‘Fine. Riwin, Iwon, call me whatever you like.’

I shook my head, half resigned, when Pering, who had quietly slowed his pace, approached me.

“Allow me to apologize in his stead.”

“……?”

“My lord, I mean. He undoubtedly left out the beginning and end and demanded things however he pleased, while half-threatening you in the process.”

“Oh…….”

Exactly right.

I revised my assessment of Pering’s capabilities as an aide upward.

“Come to think of it, if you had properly explained yourself when you were first restrained, matters would not have escalated that far. Why did you not do so?”

Because of certain people who started with torture instead of explanation.

“As a result of that incident, my lord is now once again in an awkward position with the other rulers.”

And that is my fault?

Pering apologized, pressed me, and grumbled all in the same breath, so I offered him only a single reply.

“I do not like lectures either.”

Leaving the stunned Pering frozen where he stood, I followed after Pan, who burst out laughing.

The moment I stepped through the large door carved with engraved tree motifs, I found myself in a room that would not have looked out of place being called an office.

Pan casually swept aside the papers sprawled across the desk and perched himself on the front edge of it.

“So, how does it feel to return alive?”

“It feels incredible.”

“You have not forgotten that it is thanks to me, have you? If you had not recovered enough, you might really have died, so I worked quite hard to drag things out…… the medicine worked well.”

“Are you taking credit?”

Considering that he had restored a corpse that had practically been half-dead to perfect health, it was true that gratitude was due.

The effects of the medicine had also been far too strong to write off as merely a sleeping draught. If anything, that medicine had been the very reason I decided I could trust Pan’s words at all.

“Yes, I am.”

“There was still a chance I could have died. That is not something the person who shoved me toward death should be saying.”

“Leeeet us skip over that. What matters is that you are fine.”

I let out a hollow laugh as I looked at Pan smiling.

No matter how I thought about it, it was not simply to pin me down here.

Up until the final stage of the execution, Pan had been cold, serious, and unmistakably willing to let me die.

If the conclusion he wanted had not come out, I might well have died just as I was. It had been a gamble, and it had been my life on the line.

What had he been trying to confirm?

“To begin with, because I presided over your execution, I have become your sponsor of identity. You agree?”

“My opinion was never important from the start. It was a one-sided plan I had no ability to refuse.”

“Then let us say you agreed.”

Then why ask?

“I gave it some thought, because it seemed a waste to leave you as you are.”

“Did you buy yourself a slave or something, that all you can think about is how to make me work?”

“……Did I do something wrong? I heard you were not like this at the assembly, so why are your words so sharp with me? Have you forgotten that I am the one who saved you?”

I stared blankly at Pan, who narrowed his eyes slightly and folded his arms, then shrugged.

“I can at least tell the difference between someone who would really cut off my head and someone who would not.”

“So you pick and choose who gets your gratitude?”

“Is discrimination not more your people’s style? Enough to talk about killing someone over a color.”

The moment I finished speaking, Pan grinned and nodded.

“A long history of hostility is not easily cast aside. I was thinking it might be nice if that awareness of discrimination could be changed a little.”

“By me?”

“By you. No matter how I think about it, there is no other use for you. Because of that hair.”

Pan directly pointed at my hair.

Had the execution not already settled everything? The question of whether I might be Underfolk or not.

“Even if the rulers have come to their own conclusion, changing an attitude that has seeped clear into the bones takes effort.”

And what, exactly, was I supposed to do about that?

“If you do not want to be shoved back into a corner and returned to prison life, make the effort yourself.”

He had dressed it up at length, but the point was simple.

My hair color, at the very least, was enough to make people scream on sight, which meant that the general perception of it here was rock-bottom.

Pushing back the same hair that still kept getting in the way, I asked,

“Do you not have hair dye here?”

---

A tiny bird, no larger than a palm, with red and blue feathers mixed beautifully together, settled lightly atop Pering’s head as he walked ahead, then fluttered off.

It was astonishingly quick.

I stared at the bird, which vanished beyond the great arched corridor window into the green forest outside, then walked straight into Pering’s shoulder.

“You are not completely free yet, so I would prefer that you remain within the castle.”

“So this is some kind of suspended sentence, then.”

Pering, who had been leading the way to show me where I would stay, let out a long sigh and continued,

“Rumors about Riwin have already spread far and wide. About what happened last time.”

“Ah.”

“……You do not seem to understand the seriousness of the situation at all.”

Pering came to a complete stop and ran a hand over the hair that had been thrown out of place by the bird’s claws, then sighed again.

“If you go outside, the members of the forest become uneasy. Do you understand?”

“Because of my hair?”

“Because of your behavior. If someone is running about brandishing a bloodied knife, everyone is going to be afraid. The matter of your hair, or whether you are Underfolk, is secondary.”

“I did not exactly have much choice if I wanted to stay alive.”

“And that is why my lord also said he would make inquiries about hair dye as quickly as possible.”

Pering gave me a half-lidded look, then when I only shrugged, turned away again.

I shut my mouth and followed him obediently.

The ruler’s castle, built as though it spiraled around a great ancient tree, had a rather complicated structure.

Even without Pering telling me so, it was obvious that it was the perfect place to wander into danger and get struck down by some unseen blade if I roamed around carelessly.

My temporary quarters had apparently been assigned far from the others to avoid contact, which meant they were on a rather high level, since we had to climb for quite a while.

It was neither a particularly good place nor a particularly bad one.

‘No. Pull yourself together, Iwon.’

Ever since arriving here, all I had done was pray day after day for some way to survive, for even the smallest shelter from the rain.

Looking at it again, this was a suite.

“Although my lord said it was all right—”

Pering threw the door wide open himself, then braced one hand against the frame and looked back at me.

“—I still believe you are Underfolk. That said, I do not agree with those who say you should be killed, so rest assured.”

Smile.

That last smile was the finishing blow.

I drew up the corners of my mouth in return and looked right back at him.

Not bothered in the slightest.

“I will assign someone to assist you.”

“Is that surveillance?”

“Yes. Then please rest.”

After Pering left, I began properly looking around the room.

Truthfully, I would have been satisfied with even a corner to sleep in, but the room was better than expected. The view was excellent too, clear enough that the whole forest here could be seen through the large window.

I had seen scenery like this once in a movie, some long time ago.

A forest like a city of buildings packed so tightly that even what lay beyond sight could be imagined, and among it, structures and roads tangled through the branches.

So this was where I had to live.

I had to walk along those paths that looked designed to induce acrophobia.

“Ha, ha…… let us just stay in the room.”

Half leaning against the window frame, I closed my eyes as the breeze drifted softly in.

Since opening my eyes in this place, it was the calmest and most peaceful moment I had had.

The days that had passed, one by one, when I had done nothing but endure and endure again under the obsession that I had to survive, flickered through my mind.

I crossed my arms and patted my own shoulders.

“You did well.”

“Pffft?”