Chapter 656: Night

“Dad!”

The child walking with the man through the forest shouted out.

A voice filled with pure innocence.

From that voice alone, one could tell how loved the child was.

To prove it, the child energetically ran ahead and placed one hand horizontally above his eyebrows.

“Dad! Look over there! It’s a village!”

“Really?”

“Of course it is!”

In response to the man’s question, the child put both hands on his hips and snorted.

The man naturally patted the child on the head, then mimicked the same gesture as the child, shading his eyes with his hand.

“That’s not a village; it’s a city.”

“But it’s so tiny!”

“It’s a small city… Your eyesight has really improved.”

“Well, of course… Do you think there will be work?”

“Probably. Where people gather, there’s always work.”

“There’s always work!”

The child eagerly echoed the man’s words, a scene that clearly showed how much the child loved him.

“But if there isn’t, it’s okay.”

“Why?”

“Because we can just rest for a while then.”

“Are we out of money?”

“Why would we be out of money?”

“You always give people discounts when you work!”

“Silly kid. When times are tough, people help each other. We’re not short on money.”

“Then can we buy snacks?”

“Of course. I’ll buy you some.”

“Hooray! Let’s go quickly!”

With their brief conversation over, the child and the man resumed walking toward the distant city.

And Oliver silently watched them.

He was surprised that the Pied Piper had a child, and even more surprised to see him smile.

Although Oliver saw traces of a smile still lingering on his face, he found it hard to imagine the Piper actually smiling.

Like the impossibility of the dead coming back to life.

Yet, in the past, he had smiled more naturally than anyone.

To witness this astonishing sight, Oliver decided to follow the Pied Piper and the child.

The father and son walked for quite some time before finally reaching the city, where they managed to meet the mayor with surprising ease.

“Are you really going to catch all the rats plaguing this city?”

“Yes, without leaving a single one. I promise.”

“I promise too!”

The child interrupted the conversation between the Pied Piper and the mayor, raising his hand.

“…Your son?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve heard the rumors. The rat-catcher who travels with his son.”

“Then you must have heard about my skills as well.”

“I’ve also heard rumors that you’re a Dark Sorcerer.”

“Dark Magic was originally intended to help people. It can cure diseases, deal with corpses, and more.”

“It’s true that its reputation isn’t great. If it gets out that we used Dark Magic, it could be dangerous.”

“If you prefer, you don’t have to hire me.”

“…”

“But if you decide to take the risk, I’m willing to accept the job.”

“Then… could you give us a discount, say, half of the usual fee?”

“Understood.”

“…Are you serious?”

“Yes. During tough times, people should help each other.”

The mayor, who had been prepared for rejection, was taken aback by the Pied Piper’s response. Without wasting any time, the Piper walked out to the square and began playing his pipe.

The melody he played in Randa resonated throughout the entire city.

It was a sound both lively and joyful, yet layered with sorrow, a paradoxical and strange tune that seemed not of this world.

However, the pipe sound heard now lacked the undertones of sadness, producing a much more beautiful and natural melody.

Drawn by the captivating tune, the people of the city began to stick their heads out to watch the Pied Piper, and soon rats hidden all over the city started pouring out.

“Rats! Look, rats!”

The people of the city were horrified as a flood of rats surged forward like a tidal wave.

The Pied Piper continued playing and walked toward the nearby river, where he drowned the rats.

The sight was so extraordinary that the entire city’s focus was on him.

“What kind of magic did you use?!”

“It’s just a simple skill.”

“All the rats are really gone!”

“I promised, didn’t I?”

“The pipe sound was quite beautiful.”

“Thank you.”

The adults were impressed, and naturally, the children were just as curious.

“Wow! Is that your dad?”

“Of course!”

“How did he do that?”

“Because he’s my dad!”

“Do you know how to play the pipe too?”

“Sure! This is my pipe!”

“Do you travel every day?”

“Yes, every day!”

“Do you think your dad would take me as a student?”

“I don’t know!”

“Please take me as a student! I want to learn too!”

“But you have a dad too, don’t you? And a pretty mom?”

The Pied Piper responded to the adults with humility, while his son proudly boasted as a child would.

But it didn’t last long.

“Here’s the money we promised.”

“Thank you, Mayor.”

When the mayor handed over the promised payment, the Pied Piper left without delay.

Even though the mayor tried to stop him.

“Isn’t the wandering life tough? Why don’t you consider settling down here? With your pipe-playing skills and rat-handling abilities, you could live comfortably in this city.”

“I appreciate the offer, but we’ll stick to traveling. I want to keep traveling with my son.”

The Pied Piper patted his son’s head and set off on the road again.

Spring arrived.

“Dad, it’s a butterfly.”

“You shouldn’t touch a butterfly with your bare hands. It’ll go blind.”

“Really?!”

“I was kidding.”

“Dad!”

Summer came.

“Hah… Hah… Why is summer so hot?”

“Because the sun gets closer.”

“Really?!”

“I was kidding.”

“Dad!”

Fall arrived.

“Dad, look at this acorn! It’s so shiny and big!”

“Why do you collect acorns?”

“Because they’re there.”

Winter came too.

“Dad, it’s cold.”

“How about if I hold you tight like this? Is it warmer?”

“Yeah! It’s warm!”

“…Is it hard for you?”

“No! Traveling with you is fun!”

Relentlessly, they continued their journey.

Along the way, the Pied Piper and his child witnessed countless things.

The beautiful starry skies, rivers shimmering like silver, golden fields of wheat, animals living in the forest, and even a traveling theater they encountered by chance on the road.

Of course, not everything they saw was beautiful or amazing.

“Dad, look over there!”

The child stopped walking and pointed ahead.

It was quite far, so it might’ve been hard for an ordinary person to make out what was there, but both the child, the Pied Piper, and Oliver, who was following them, could see.

“Someone’s lying on the road!”

It was a corpse.

The bodies had been killed by swords and arrows, likely by roadside bandits.

The Pied Piper reflexively covered the child’s eyes.

“Are they dead?”

The child pushed aside the Pied Piper’s hand with his small hands and asked.

Caught off guard by the question, the Pied Piper hesitated but then answered.

“…Yes. Did you hear about death somewhere?”

“In the village. They said someone’s dad had died there—he got sick and… What’s death?”

“…It’s that right there.”

After thinking it over, the Pied Piper led the child forward.

As expected, there were several corpses that appeared to have been victims of roadside bandits.

“Lying down?”

“It’s like falling asleep and never waking up again.”

“Never?”

“Never. It means you won’t get up again. So, no breathing, no movement, no eating, no talking.”

“But I like all those things…”

“That’s why death is sad.”

The Pied Piper finished talking and pulled out a shovel from his cloak.

It was an ordinary shovel with no special features, and he began digging in a suitable spot off the road.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to bury them.”

“Why?”

“Do you like sleeping with a blanket or without one?”

“I like having a blanket.”

“Exactly, that’s why.”

“Ah… Let me help!”

The child, sensing something from the Piper’s words, eagerly started digging with a trowel the Pied Piper handed him.

Perhaps because of this help, several holes large enough to bury the bodies were dug in a short time, and the Pied Piper moved to place the bodies inside.

“Stop, son.”

“Huh?”

The Pied Piper stopped the child from taking a wooden figurine from the corpse’s pocket. It looked like the corpse had a child too.

The normally gentle father had a stern expression, making the child freeze.

The Pied Piper knelt down in front of the child, bringing himself to eye level.

“You shouldn’t touch the belongings of the dead. That’s stealing.”

“But he’s dead, right? He won’t get up again… Doesn’t that mean he doesn’t need it?”

“Just because they’re asleep forever doesn’t mean they aren’t aware. They can’t wake up here, but they’re watching us from somewhere else.”

“Where?”

The child asked with genuine curiosity. The Pied Piper pointed to the sky.

“Up there, in heaven.”

“Heaven…?”

The child looked up at the sky.

“Like Mom?”

“Yes… Mom is also watching us from heaven. So are those who have passed away.”

“…”

“What would it be called if you take something from someone watching over us?”

The child thought deeply.

“Stealing…”

“That’s right. Should we do that?”

“No.”

“Exactly.”

The Pied Piper patted the child’s head and rose to his feet.

He then buried the bodies and offered a brief prayer.

“Heavenly Father, today your child is coming to meet you. Please show mercy and grace for our brother who has gone before us, granting him peace and rest. Mahala.”

“…Mahala.”

The child echoed the prayer.

With that, the Pied Piper and the child continued their journey, and Oliver followed them again.

The name of the Pied Piper became widely known,

and that renown bred jealousy,

jealousy bred rumors,

rumors bred fear and greed,

until fear and greed eventually consumed the Pied Piper.

***

Aside from the Y-District and Z-District, where Randa’s administration didn’t reach, W-District was the worst slum.

Originally, X-District held that title, but after redevelopment, W-District naturally took over as the worst slum. Ironically, it was also home to Randa’s most honest and properly run welfare center.

The center was called the Brotherhood of the Poor. It wasn’t a front for a private business or a tax haven for the rich.

It was a legitimate welfare organization genuinely helping those in need.

Its daily-operated soup kitchen, cheap temporary housing, and job center in collaboration with the Redevelopment Union were proof of its sincerity.

As a result, the welfare center’s budget should have been tight… but it wasn’t.

That was because Randa City provided massive support.

Considering Randa City’s notorious reputation for stinginess, especially in welfare budgets, this was an unusual situation. There were even wild rumors that the center’s chief had connections with a powerful figure who advocated for an 18-hour workday (after all, 6 hours of sleep is enough).

Oh, what a dreadful and terrifying thought!

Thanks to that, even hyenas prowling for scraps dared not touch the welfare center.

It was indeed a solid foundation.

But upon closer examination, one could see things weren’t so simple.

Proof of that was the sound of a frustrated sigh coming from the welfare center’s office.

The sigh belonged to none other than Kent, the man who had established and was now running the center.

“Hmm… So you haven’t found anything either?”

“No, I’m sorry.”

A shabby-looking man responded. At a glance, he appeared to be a beggar, and in fact, he was one. But he wasn’t just any beggar.

He was one of the beggars in charge of a branch of the Brotherhood of the Poor’s underworld intelligence network built by Kent.

All the information in an entire district funneled into his ears.

“If even you couldn’t find anything… then it must be a serious matter.”

The issue Kent was referring to was the ongoing district lockdowns in Randa City.

The Pied Piper’s intrusion had caused unprecedented damage across Randa, and despite the passage of time, the city still hadn’t fully recovered.

The reason was Randa’s vast size; even if the entire city focused its efforts on recovery, remote and dangerous areas inevitably fell to lower priority.

Now, even those areas were being sealed off by Randa City and the Tower of Magic—and the reason was unclear.

“What other reason could there be? At most, it’s probably a plague, right? With the Dark Magic, rats, and abandoned corpses, what else could it be?”

“But the Pater Church has also joined in.”

“Maybe it’s because they’re worried about something like zombies appearing?”

“Isn’t dealing with things like that within the capabilities of the Randa Defense Force and Tower mages? Randa City, which avoids external involvement, wouldn’t rely on the Pater Church for just that. More importantly…”

Kent paused for a moment. This was the key point.

“Do you really think they’d go to such lengths to suppress information on something like that?”

The beggar, perhaps resonating with Kent’s thoughts, didn’t object. Instead, he took a different approach.

“But would digging into this really help?”

“…What?”

“I mean, pursuing something the city wants to keep hidden so badly. Haven’t you been gradually pulling out from the information business after setting up the welfare center? It’s dangerous.”

That was true. After establishing the welfare center with the price of his arm, Kent had been methodically dismantling the intelligence network he had built with the beggar gang.

It was a form of choosing and focusing efforts.

Continuing the information business would allow Kent to exert influence and power in the underworld, but on the flip side, it meant exposure to challenges and risks.

The loss of Kent’s arm was proof of that.

When he only had the beggar gang, the risk was something he could endure. But now, running the welfare center, he could no longer afford it—that was Kent’s decision.

The information gathering was initially meant to help the beggars and the poor. But with the establishment of the welfare center, a better means had emerged, and the risks outweighed the benefits.

There was even the possibility that the welfare center could get destroyed because of it. So Kent had been gradually allowing the beggar information network to go independent, ensuring it wouldn’t cause disorder.

Aware of this, the beggar spoke softly.

“I don’t understand why you’re so obsessed with this issue.”

“…You’re right. Cease the investigation.”

“Oh, no! I didn’t mean it like that…”

The beggar was flustered by Kent’s sudden decision.

“I’m not doing this just because I’m in a bad mood. You’re right. This was something I pursued out of my own selfishness. I was confused between personal and public matters. End the investigation.”

Kent was sincere.

The reason he had started the investigation was none other than Oliver.

The Pied Piper and the sealed districts were first discovered by a woman named Marie from the Redevelopment Union.

Naturally, Kent had thought of Oliver, and that concern led him to push forward with the investigation.

To ensure that no harm would come to the boy.

However, after listening to his subordinate’s advice, Kent immediately reversed his decision.

As he himself had said, personal and public matters should be separated, and after all, the boy likely wouldn’t want this kind of action either.

This was the right decision.

“It’s truly fine. You may leave now.”

“Ah… Yes.”

The beggar, although thinking he had made a pointless comment, left feeling it might have actually been for the best.

After all, probing into something Randa City was desperately trying to keep secret entailed significant risks. Stopping here was the correct move.

After the beggar left, Kent resumed his work at the welfare center.

Helping others was indeed overwhelming, endless, and even tedious, but Kent continued silently.

Thinking that it was atonement for the sins he had committed in the past, it wasn’t so bad.

However, ever since learning that Oliver had left Randa to assist the Dark Priest, things had changed.

It felt like a thorn was lodged under his fingernail, making it difficult to concentrate on his work. What made it more unbearable was knowing there was nothing he could do to help.

It was quite laughable. Despite being busier with meetings than ever since the Pied Piper’s rampage.

Speak of the devil, someone else was here to meet with Kent.

Beep—

[Director.]

“What’s the matter?”

[You have a guest.]

“I thought I mentioned I couldn’t meet anyone today?”

[But… this isn’t just any guest.]

Kent tilted his head in confusion.

It’s true that non-ordinary visitors sometimes came to the welfare center, but they always made appointments. The rest of the visitors, well, couldn’t really be considered special.

So, an unexpected visit from a ‘non-ordinary’ guest?

Kent was curious to know who it was but didn’t want to pressure the poor office worker. He instructed them to let the visitor in.

The staff member complied, and soon after, Kent understood what they meant.

“Greetings. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

It was Merlin, the Archmage of the Tower of Magic.