I forced the corners of my mouth upward into a smile. If I did not say something like this, it felt like Varen would storm in immediately and kill every human here.
That urge was not his alone. I wanted the same thing—to overturn the stage and rescue the pitiful monsters.
But now was not the time. Our purpose was to confirm the Rebels’ strength, because it was their plan that would ultimately save the monsters here.
If, by some chance, the Rebels failed their operation, then Varen and I could join forces and save the monsters ourselves.
While calming Varen down, I bit my lip hard and tried to steady myself as well.
“...Yeah. I understand.”
Varen, realizing my intent, muttered weakly. Suppressing our simmering fury, we turned away from the curtains and headed toward Noance instead.
Once again, he stood in front of an old side door, arms crossed as he observed Varen and me. His suspicious gaze was fixed on a single point.
I hesitated, then followed his line of sight—and a moment too late, I realized what he was looking at.
“Ah, no—no, this is—.”
I hurriedly let go of Varen’s hand, which I had been unconsciously clasping. Heat rushed all the way up to my ears.
It would have been embarrassing enough to be caught holding hands in Varen’s original form, but being seen creating such an intimate atmosphere with that scruffy man’s appearance was downright humiliating.
As I stood there red-faced and speechless, Noance gave a light shrug.
“You two seem close.”
Varen, as if regretting the sudden emptiness, clenched and unclenched his hand. Pressing a hand to my burning forehead, I followed after Noance.
When the final side door opened, we at last arrived at his true destination.
And an overwhelming sight I had never imagined unfolded before me. This time, not even anger surged.
“I expected a few dozen. I was wrong. There are three hundred seventeen in total.”
A hollow laugh escaped me. Inside the warehouse—wide as a training field—metal cages filled the space completely.
The Fifth Monster Management Facility had also imprisoned countless monsters, but at least there they had maintained a passable environment under the pretense of care.
Here, every monster without exception was locked inside a tiny cage. They were so precisely sized that the creatures could not even turn their bodies once.
Perhaps because the scene was too horrific to accept, a strange sense of dissonance crept over me. I shuddered without meaning to, and Varen muttered in a low growl.
“They are barely clinging to life.”
Only then did I understand the source of that unease. Hundreds of monsters occupied the same space, yet the warehouse was unnaturally silent.
I approached the nearest cage and checked the monster trapped inside. With its eyes closed, it lay collapsed as if asleep. Just as Varen said, it was breathing only faintly.
The interior was dim to begin with, and the cages were stacked in layers, making it hard to see inside. Frustrated, I leaned closer and strained my eyes—until the monster’s lower body, hidden in shadow, came into view.
“...Ha, you fucking bastards....”
A curse spilled through my teeth before I could stop it. I thought there could be no further shock, but the cruelty of humans who were worse than beasts had no end.
Iron chains were fastened around the monster’s hind legs. From the moment we entered, I had felt this place resembled the underground prison where Varen had once been held—and even the chains on the monster were similar to the ones Varen had worn.
The only difference was that the ends of these chains were connected not to a cavern wall, but to the cages themselves.
How could this be undone? Without realizing it, I reached toward the chain binding the monster—when Noance’s voice struck like lightning.
“What are you doing! Don’t touch anything carelessly!”
Startled, I jumped back a step from the cage. Clicking his tongue sharply, he strode over and glared at me.
“Where exactly are you from, that you never even learned the basics?”
At Noance’s interrogation, I swallowed hard.
Where I was from? I had no such detailed backstory prepared. I had run out of excuses to offer him.
I looked to Varen for help, but he only stared at his imprisoned kin with a rigid expression.
Then I noticed it—within his blue eyes, a faint glimmer of light had begun to stir. He was focusing, as if intending to melt the chains with mana.
I hurriedly grabbed his wrist. Varen, broken from his concentration, turned his gaze to me.
“Don’t.”
I silently shaped the word with my lips. Varen frowned deeply, irritation clear between his brows.
Having witnessed our covert exchange up close, Noance tilted his head. Arms crossed, he hummed low, his presence pressing heavily into the space.
I had only moved in panic, afraid Varen might act rashly—but under Noance’s suspicion-laden stare, cold sweat streamed down my back.
“Ceryl, why are you so frightened?”
Varen’s voice echoed in my head, even snorting as if he truly could not understand.
I could only twitch my stiff mouth. From his perspective, it likely made no sense that I would shrink back from a single human—especially a smaller man.
That was because Varen had never read the novel. Noance was the character who, after Varen himself, had killed the greatest number of humans in the original story.
Every time Noance slaughtered those who tormented monsters, I had felt vicarious satisfaction and applauded him. Yet now that I stood before him in person, my legs trembled uncontrollably.
Worse still, instead of demanding answers, Noance simply stared at me in silence. My heart pounded violently as I racked my brain.
Should I strike first? At least for now, we could still hide the fact that Varen was a dragon. Even if exposed, he wore Margon’s face—at minimum, his identity as a member of the Dravergh Clan would remain concealed.
Of course, I still could not be certain whether the Rebels were truly trustworthy.
Knock. Knock.
At that moment, a knocking sound echoed from the warehouse door. As we turned, a man entered and bowed politely.
“Conductor, it will begin shortly.”
Since he addressed Noance by that peculiar title rather than his name, he did not seem to be a core figure within the Rebels.
After receiving the report, Noance looked between the man and me. Then, without dispelling his suspicion, he spoke.
“Don’t touch anything. We’re moving everything as is.”
With that, Noance turned away. And just as when he had appeared, he left the warehouse without the slightest sound of movement.
Only then did I release the breath I had been holding. Wiping the cold sweat from my forehead, I mulled over his final words.
“Moving everything... what exactly are they planning?”
There were more than three hundred cages inside the warehouse. To move all of them intact would require dozens of wagons—and even with a full day of labor from strong workers, it might not be enough.
Above all, they would have to move without drawing human attention. The image of wagons lining up to enter did not come easily to mind.
Unable to grasp the plan at all, I grew grim on my own. What we needed was not a single exceptional assassin, but a dependable army.
And for an army, strength was everything. Was joining hands with the Rebels truly the right choice?
I wanted to share these doubts, but Varen still could not take his eyes off the monsters in their cages.
Margon’s face was buried beneath a thick beard, making his expression hard to read. But the blue eyes that always revealed his emotions too clearly were clouded with faint despair.
Setting my tangled thoughts aside, I rubbed his back in comfort. He spoke in a heavy, subdued voice.
“The same kind of magic that bound me is at work here. Their mana is being drained.”
The chains that once bound Varen had been connected to the cavern wall. Looking bitterly at the monster in the cage, I asked,
“Where does the stolen mana go?”
“It flows into the bars. The monster weakens, and the cage grows stronger with that mana. Simple—but vicious magic.”
At his words, I examined the cage again. It certainly was not made of ordinary material. I could not see mana flow the way a dragon could, but when I brought my hand close, I felt a faint vibration.
Still, the bars were only as thick as a finger, and the chains binding the monsters were of similar width. Clinging to my last hope, I asked him,
“Then... what happens if we break the cage?”
“Breaking it isn’t the problem. But if the magic is forcibly severed, I cannot guarantee my kin will survive.”
Varen answered as if grinding his teeth together, and I rubbed my dry eyes.
Now I understood why Noance had issued such a strict warning not to touch anything.
“...How pathetic. Unable to break even this kind of magic, unable to save my own kin.”
Varen’s voice sank even deeper.
A dragon could reduce an entire city to ash without effort—yet ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) human-made traps this vile left him powerless, filling him with self-loathing.
