Chapter 133

Annie and Irene

Olivia keenly noticed the change in Lucy’s expression and lowered her voice to ask:

“What did you find?”

Lucy didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she sank her consciousness into the Abyss of Nightmares and yanked out Fenrir, who was dozing off with a bone in his mouth.

Only in the Primary Plane could he enjoy meat bones.

“What, what! I was dreaming of gnawing on bones!” the dog grumbled sleepily.

“Come out and take a look at this thing.”

Lucy pointed to the remnants of black mist at the back of the woman’s neck.

“Do I even need to look?” Fenrir’s nose twitched twice as he replied lazily, “I could smell the stench of the Nightmare World's Dream-Eating Black Worm from way over there.”

“Dream-Eating Black Worm?” Lucy frowned.

“It’s just a parasite that feeds on life force. Almost every sub-plane has them.”

Fenrir pawed at his nose and grumbled, “This place stinks…” Then he continued his analysis, “That level of purity is definitely the work of something quasi-divine.”

“Among the three gods of the Nightmare World, the Lord of Dreams is far more powerful than this. It’s probably the work of the Lord of Nightmares or the Lord of Desires.”

Lucy and Olivia both turned to look at the mother and daughter huddled together on the grass mat.

Annie was carefully tucking the worn-out blanket around her mother, then curled herself up at the foot of the bed, softly humming a tune that trailed off.

“…Sleep now, sleep now…”

That tender, childlike voice made Olivia’s heart clench tightly. “Lucy, help her!”

“There’s nothing I can do,” Fenrir interrupted first. “These parasites may be weak—crushable with just a pinch—”

“But they involve the laws themselves. Once they’ve latched onto a human, it’s impossible to remove them completely unless you sever this area’s connection to those Outer Gods.”

“Don’t Outer Gods need worshippers? Why would they…”

Without enough faith, one couldn’t even qualify as a sacrifice in the summoning rituals for Outer Gods.

“It’s simple,” Fenrir continued, an uncharacteristically serious expression forming on his canine face. “Because those infected were never the real target.”

He glanced at the little girl who had already fallen into deep sleep at the foot of the bed.

Only when a person fell into utter despair, having lost all forms of support, could a ‘god’ take their place as a new spiritual anchor—giving rise to a fanatic capable of channeling divine power.

“Why do you think both we ‘Old Gods’ and the wizards call them evil gods?”

“Slow, methodical slaughter has always been how these lunatics collect faith.”

…

Throughout the night of meditation, the woman’s gut-wrenching coughing and the sounds of Annie waking up to care for her echoed repeatedly in Olivia’s ears.

The next morning.

Faint rays of sunlight streamed through the cracks in the thatched hut.

Annie had already awoken. She was gently wiping her mother’s pale forehead with a damp cloth.

The woman had coughed all night, but now, rare clarity returned to her eyes. She looked at her daughter’s busy little hands, and a soft sheen of affection welled up in her eyes.

Suddenly, the grass curtain was lifted. Aunt Susan stepped in with a bowl of steaming wild vegetable porridge.

Seeing the woman awake, delight flashed across her round face. “Irene! You can finally eat something.”

As she spoke, she shoved the wooden bowl into Annie’s hands. “Quick, feed your mother breakfast.”

As Annie carefully blew on the porridge in the wooden spoon to cool it, the woman suddenly grasped her daughter’s wrist. Her thin, branch-like fingers were fragile as twigs. “Annie, do you remember the wild strawberry we found by the stream two years ago?”

“I remember!” Annie’s eyes lit up. “There was only one plant, but it was so sweet!”

“What did Mama teach you then?”

The little girl tilted her head, trying to recall. “Mama said… said wild strawberries won’t jump into your mouth on their own, you have to find them yourself… drink your porridge.”

The woman swallowed the spoonful of vegetable porridge with difficulty. Her trembling fingers brushed over her daughter’s knotted hair.

Suddenly, she pressed her daughter’s small hand against her chest. “You must remember this: strawberries will never run into your mouth by themselves.”

Little Annie didn’t fully understand, but she still nodded with solemn seriousness.

“Good girl. Mama’s already full, the rest is for little Annie to eat.”

Aunt Susan abruptly turned toward the door, wiping at her eyes hard with the corner of her apron.

Annie didn’t notice any of this. She remained immersed in the rare warmth of her mother’s affection.

…

“Big sisters! Aunt Susan made oatmeal porridge!”

As Lucy and the bloodshot-eyed Olivia stepped out from the side room, Annie immediately ran up to greet them.

Irene also looked their way, her face showing a weak yet immeasurably gentle smile.

If she were still healthy, she would surely have been a beautiful mother.

“You weren’t disturbed last night, were you?”

“No,” Lucy shook her head. Long years of traveling had made her accustomed to meditating in any environment.

Watching her daughter trot out to wash the dishes, Irene slowly sat up.

“You two ladies aren’t from the Kingdom of Atley, are you?”

“We’re from the Principality of Kolo.”

They made no effort to hide it.

The Principality of Kolo bordered the Kingdom of Atley, and citizens from both countries often traveled between them.

“Kolo, huh… I heard they produce a lot of fine crafts over there. It must be a beautiful place.”

As if recalling something pleasant, a brief brightness flashed through Irene’s eyes—only to fade again in the next instant.

“May I ask the two of you for a favor?”

Irene reached under the grass mat and pulled out a yellowed letter. Her thin fingers made a soft rustling as they traced the envelope.

“My younger brother is a blacksmith in Steel City. I had planned to take little Annie there myself… but now it seems I won’t get the chance. Please… deliver this letter to him, and ask him to come and take Annie…”

There was a hint of pleading in Irene’s voice.

She had tried asking others in the camp for help, but most here were fugitives or runaway slaves. None dared go near Steel City.

Olivia accepted the envelope. “I’ll make sure it gets to him.”

“Thank you.”

“Sis!” At that moment, Annie came running in from outside. “Aunt Susan made oatmeal porridge! She asked me to bring you two over for breakfast… What’s that?”

“It’s nothing.”

Olivia quietly tucked the envelope away.

As the two followed Annie out of the thatched hut, they finally got a clear view of the camp.

Between two towering mountains, hundreds of thatched huts and caves carved into the rock wall served as the only shelters.

They hadn’t gone far when a pungent mixture of rot and medicinal herbs hit them in the face.

“Watch your step,” Annie warned. “Below is the Brotherhood’s hospital. Martha is the best healer here.”

Deep inside the cave that served as the so-called hospital, dozens of injured miners with severed limbs lay on grass mats.

A woman in a white apron was pressing a red-hot iron rod onto one of the wounded. The miner’s wooden bite stick had already splintered in half.

Deeper inside, several mentally unstable women were chained. The exposed skin on their bodies was covered in scars of every kind.

Lucy’s gaze swept over the crowd. As an anatomist, she could discern their physical conditions with painful clarity.

Their internal organs had shriveled from long-term starvation, while their bones had thickened grotesquely from hard labor. Their skin was ulcerated from prolonged exposure to water. Teeth had fallen out, and their hair had become dry and withered...

She could clearly hear Olivia’s breathing growing increasingly rapid beside her.

“I… we have to do something.”

“You want to help them?” As a semi-trained potionologist, treating these wounds wouldn’t be difficult for her. “All it takes is diluting this Life Potion and…”

“It’s not just about healing them!” A stubborn fire ignited in Olivia’s eyes, one only a princess of Kolo could have. “I want to change all of this—I need your help!”

Lucy tilted her head slightly, unsurprised.

“I figured you’d ask me that last night. I’m impressed you held back this long.”

“What should I do?”

“This isn’t the place for that conversation,” Lucy said, nodding toward the confused Annie.