Chapter 92: Vanessa’s Body
Kestrel was crouching in the corner, watching the intense fight between Ren and the huge ’mosquito.’ This creature had a pointy mouth that could easily stab through the thick roof tiles.
Kestrel copied the stabbing motion with her finger. Suddenly, the flying monster felt a sharp pain in its head, like a needle, and fell from the sky, screeching. It tried to fly again, but Ren wouldn’t let it. Using his special gun, Ren fired shots, each one leaving a long white trail, and kept the creature from getting back in the air.
The creature’s legs, wings, head, and eyes were repeatedly torn open by the bullets. The injuries healed quickly, but another bullet would find a weak spot. Each shot seemed to know where the monster was going, and the monster was hit so much it rolled around on the ground, unable to fly.
Ren stepped back and kept shooting from the rooftop, without needing to get close.
Kestrel played with her fingers and made a tapping motion again as the giant "mosquito" struggled. The monster screamed and fell to the ground again, full of bullet holes.
Kestrel discovered that focusing strength into a small point made the attack much stronger. She moved her pale fingers, copying the tapping motion, feeling she had learned something new from the mosquito.
"beta! You’re a beta, why is there a beta here?" the monster yelled, its voice shaking. It was scared, as if the normally weak beta was something terrifying.
Kestrel was drawn to the heart-wrenching cry.
On the rooftop, Ren suddenly turned and fired a phosphorus shell toward Kestrel. These bullets were expensive and hard to find. Ren had gotten three of them with Royal Guard permission, specifically to attack the Erdtree’s Polluted Zone’s weak spot.
This special bullet would burn very hot when it hit something and wouldn’t stop until it burned all the way out. It was a very strong and scary weapon.
Ren had used one the night before, and this was the second one. He pulled the gun and fired without thinking twice. The phosphorus shell landed near Kestrel, making a burning fireball, and a sharp cry was heard.
The other part of the mutated alpha, covered in flames, rolled out.
It turned out that, the giant "mosquito" was shouting on the ground, trying to get Kestrel’s attention. Its other half had been quietly getting close to Kestrel without her seeing, maybe just a few steps from attacking her. It even knew how to hide its emotional feelings, so Kestrel wouldn’t notice it.
Kestrel stepped back. In front of her, the half-human, half-monster enemy squirmed, struggled, and yelled in the fire.
The half body, both human-like and monster-like, screamed and twisted in the burning flames until it stopped moving, turning completely to ashes. The thick yellow smoke from the fire slowly went away.
Kestrel realized that this time, the monster had died, but next time, it could be her.
Even though both were living things and her life wasn’t any more valuable than the monster’s, she now felt a strong desire to live as long as she could.
She looked up at Ren on the rooftop.
Ren, after firing in her direction, quickly turned and switched guns, shooting several accurate shots at the ground. Even though he changed guns back and forth, his shooting was amazingly steady and clever, not letting the desperate enemy get away.
With just a little help from Kestrel, Ren had taken control and turned the fight to his advantage. He was a tough and experienced fighter, having been in many risky battles.
Kestrel understood that she had a lot to learn from him.
Ren stood on the roof in his black military boots, looking cool and a little wild, filled with the confidence of a powerful warrior. In Kestrel’s eyes, he looked more impressive than ever.
Suddenly, Kestrel felt that having someone like Ren to fight with was way better than fighting alone.
Ren on the rooftop put away his gun, looking at the dead mutant on the ground. Its twisted body had been broken apart by bullet after bullet, and finally, it lost the power to heal itself. It slowly melted into the ground, with a gold, root-like liquid going into the cracks, vanishing without a trace.
"Stingy guy, not even leaving a drop of blood for me," Ren’s sword muttered. "Is it because you’re too shy to take off your gloves in front of her, right?"
"Quiet," Ren said, his eyes moving towards Kestrel under the roof’s edge.
Kestrel saw him looking and gave a thumbs-up, the sign for "all clear"—a hand signal often used by the alphas in battle. Kestrel had been in the East Shore for a while and knew it well.
Ren remembered the first time he fought in the North outpost when he saw that same gesture. They had had trouble because they weren’t working well together but finally finished the mission. His captain had happily explained the meaning of that sign.
"That means all clear," the captain had said, laughing.
Since then, Ren had used that gesture many times in battle, meaning the end of the fight, mission done, everyone safe. Many comrades of his had made the same sign to him.
But now, those friends were gone, leaving Ren alone—but it seemed like he had a new partner now.
He looked at Kestrel below, who pinched her fingers together to show the fight was over. So he squeezed his fingers back, signaling "understood."
This was how two warriors talked, trusting each other with their lives.
Ren felt like he might be smiling a little.
"Hmph. I get it," his sword grumbled unhappily. "With that Kraken, you’ve started caring about yourself again, not willing to feed me blood freely."
"People are so annoying," the hungry sword complained, missing its chance for blood.
The fight was over, and Kestrel and Ren kept going down the old wooden hallway, moving on.
This barracks used to be filled with people. Even the servants’ quarters had turned into a big complex. As Kestrel walked, she looked at each of the narrow and dimly lit room doors. Every door had a small nameplate with the person’s name on it. She didn’t expect to find anything special, but when she came to the last room around the corner, she saw the name "Vanessa" written on it.
"I saw this girl last night," Kestrel said to Ren.
As she said this, she casually pushed the door open.
They had opened many doors in this place all day, walking down long halls, opening one door after another. Every room was empty, with no sign of anyone, so Kestrel had started to think that nobody would be inside.
The old wooden door creaked open, and the rusty hinges made a nasty sound.
A girl with curly hair and a dress was quietly sitting in a chair by the window.
The light in the room was dim, with a few beams of daylight coming through the window, split by the bars. The light fell into the room at an angle, touching the table and chairs that had been there for many years and making a shadow on the body by the window. The girl wore a somewhat old dress, her long curls hanging loosely, her head a bit down, sitting in the dappled light like a blurry shape in the sun.
Kestrel recognized that face. The night before, the girl had sat next to Kestrel, her soft and warm hand on Kestrel’s knee, singing to her all night. Her voice was sweet and calming, helping to ease pain and bring peaceful sleep.
Kestrel didn’t feel anything in this room—no emotions, no life, nothing. In her world, the room was like any other, an empty space with no life, and there was no living person by the window—only a well-kept, long-dead body.
Ren tried to get past Kestrel to look closer, but Kestrel stopped him. She hesitated for a moment, then carefully went up to the girl, as if scared to wake up a friend. She looked at the girl who had laughed and sung with her the night before.
Vanessa was sitting neatly by the window, her hands gently together on her lap, her long eyelashes pointing down. The daylight from outside made her pale skin stand out, as if she might still be breathing, still alive, just thinking. Only when Kestrel looked closer did she see her skin was very pale, with no blood, and her eyes were dull and gray. Dead for a long time, she had turned into a beautiful statue.
The body didn’t have the feelings of a living person. It didn’t know happiness, worry, or the wish to sing.
Kestrel stood next to her, looking for a long time.
"Tonight, I want to go to the room we saw yesterday," she told Ren, pausing before saying, "I’ll go alone first."
’Day’ turned to ’night’ quickly, and the lights in the Rosarium came back on. The shadows of people, the noise, and the busy life began to show up in the dazzling light. It became a lively place again, full of laughter, song, and dance.
Kestrel walked among the crowds of people once more. This time, without monsters after her, she felt much more relaxed. She could look closely at the people, the lights, and everything she had seen the night before.
She understood that every person here was alive, talking, laughing, filled with the feelings of living beings.
A man came over with a big smile, asking if she wanted to buy some drinks and eagerly offering different services.
Kestrel knew him from the night before, but he acted like he had never seen her. He wore the same look, did the same things, and said the same words.
She turned him down and went to the place she remembered.
On the way, a pretty girl with long curly hair stopped Kestrel. Her eyes sparkled, and she smiled as she said, "Miss, my name is Vanessa. Is this your first time here?"
Kestrel stopped and stared at her for a bit. The cheerful Vanessa had rosy cheeks and gave Kestrel a soft and sweet smile. It seemed like she forgot that she had sat by Kestrel the night before, happily singing to her all night long.
Her smile was just right, but it had a hint of being unfamiliar as she politely said hello to Kestrel.
"What’s the matter, miss? Do you like singing? Would you like me to tell you about the best singer here?" Vanessa asked, laughing.
Kestrel looked at her for a while without saying anything. Then she finally moved past her and ran towards the stairs.
This time, without the monsters chasing her, she got to the door much sooner than the night before.
From behind the closed door, she heard the sound of a whip and some nasty swearing.
Kestrel lifted her foot and kicked the door three times, forcing it open. Inside the room, the alpha woman she had run into in the hall last night was whipping a man lying on the ground. His back was all marked up from the whip.
The alpha looked up, her face all twisted in anger, about to yell.
Kestrel stared into her eyes and said just two words, "Get out."
The alpha’s eyes went from shock to anger, then confusion, and finally understanding. She muttered, "Ah, okay, I wanted to leave anyway. This man is very boring."
She picked up the bloody whip and walked out, looking a bit dazed, leaving Vanessa, who had followed Kestrel, to blink in surprise at what was happening.
"Customer, do you want to book room number 8?" Vanessa asked, out of breath and trying to smile like the night before, "But it hasn’t been cleaned yet. Maybe we should pick a cleaner room?"
But Kestrel didn’t move. Vanessa looked at the man on the ground, his body all cut up, and couldn’t help but play with her skirt, saying, "Kaworu... he’s not very good at taking care of people, and his body can’t take much more."
The body on the ground moved a little, and a bloody arm lifted slightly. The silver-haired head turned to look at Kestrel.
"It’s you again," he said, sounding cold.
