Chapter 79

Chapter 79: lamplight in the Shabby Alley

Far from the abandoned factory, deep in a shabby alley, a plain old little house suddenly lit up with an oil lamp.

In the flickering light, one could see the room’s simple, worn furniture, the slightly moldy ceiling, the peeling, faded wallpaper, and, in the corner of the room, a black crack that slowly squirmed and shrank.

A terrifying-looking skeletal hound lay beside the crack, motionless like a dead dog drained of all strength. On the other end of a black iron chain, Shirley, in her black dress with white trim, carefully adjusted the oil lamp’s wick, then came to the window to check the sky outside, still worried.

“…The World’s Wound is out…” the girl breathed softly. “Good thing we got home before the veil of night fully fell. Otherwise we might have died in some stinking ditch like a dog.”

The Abyssal Hound lying like a corpse on the floor nearby lifted its head at once. A harsh, cracking sound came from its throat: “Say what you want, but leave dogs out of it.”

“You can still talk? I thought you lost half your life on that Abyssal Deep jump,” Shirley said, turning to glance at Dog. “Can you tell me now? Why did we suddenly have to run, and using the most dangerous Abyssal Deep crossing at that? Didn’t you say there were countless demons waiting in the Abyssal Deep, in the Deep Sea, to chew up your black bones?”

“No matter how many demons there are in the Abyssal Deep and the Deep Sea, I can still dodge them. I might not be able to beat them, but I can outrun them. But just now… if we hadn’t run, we might not have run at all,” the Abyssal Hound said, finally sounding as if it had caught its breath. It lifted its head a little to look at Shirley. “You should be glad I reacted fast and opened the crack the moment that scary fellow looked away. As long as his gaze was still on us, I couldn’t even open an escape path!”

Shirley frowned and slowly walked up to the Abyssal Hound: “So what was it, exactly? Why were you that scared? That man called ‘Duncan’… Dog, have you seen him before? Is he some big shot in the Church of Annihilation, or does he have some Abyssal demon standing behind him?”

The Abyssal Hound seemed to recall some extremely terrible feeling. All its bones clattered once, and then it lowered its voice and muttered: “I have never seen him. I do not know him.”

Shirley’s eyes went wide at once: “You got that scared of someone you’ve never even seen before?!”

“Even if I have never seen him before, as a Abyssal demon I can still ‘see’ shadows worse than death!” The Abyssal Hound suddenly raised its head. Its hollow, red eye sockets stared straight at Shirley. “Inside a human shell, he had a damned whirlpool of light and shadow that made even me feel mentally deranged with just one look. How could I not be afraid?!”

It paused, as if trying to find the right words to describe its feeling to Shirley, who was human. It thought for a long time before slowly speaking: “When he talked, I could hear ten thousand overlapping voices howling at the same time. When he cast his divine gaze, I could feel my entire fate, from birth to death, laid out flat on the ground for someone to view. Let me tell you, the last time I met something that scary was that time I saw the ‘Holy Lord’ from far away in the Abyssal Deep, in the Deep Sea. But the Holy Lord cannot move. Today we met someone who can walk and move.”

Dog’s frightened tone and stare—though his eyes were just two glowing holes—made Shirley’s skin crawl. Even so, she still muttered under her breath: “How come I did not feel anything back then… I even thought he seemed pretty nice…”

“That is why I sometimes envy you humans and your slow, dull senses. That screen of ignorance really is the greatest gift the world gave you. It lets you die with a smile in the middle of mad, twisted doom,” the Abyssal Hound said weakly, flopping back down. “Stay blind and clueless. The world will be a bit nicer that way. Poor little dogs like me are not so lucky. Every few days I get to see something that can scare a dog to death…”

“How in the world can there be a Abyssal demon as cowardly as you, damn it,” Shirley could not help giving Dog a sideways look. Then she seemed to think of something and said hesitantly, “But the way you put it, I feel like maybe we shouldn’t have run. If he really is some super powerful big shot, like you said, maybe we could latch onto him. Look, he was actually quite nice to us just now. He even asked us things. And he seemed to be at odds with those Sun bastards. Isn’t that a chance? I could act cute, play the spoiled girl a little. If he turned out to be a backer…”

Before the girl finished speaking, the black iron chain clattered. Dog, who had been lying there like a corpse a moment ago, suddenly jumped up: “Drop that crazy idea right now! Your level of insanity is already enough to open a Subspace channel!”

It paused, then kept warning her, still uneasy: “Listen. Never deal with those things that wear a human shell but are unspeakable inside. They are more cunning than pure demons and more vicious than real humans. Their calm talk with you is always only the appetizer to a feast. Do not be fooled by how friendly he seemed just now. Do you really think that if you told him everything you know, he would let you walk away whole?”

It seemed the Abyssal Hound’s never-before-heard harsh tone had worked. Shirley looked a bit cowed. She finally gave up her bold idea, but still grumbled: “I know, I know. But Dog, you sound like an old nagging mother…”

The Abyssal Hound flopped down on the floor: “Of course I do. I raised you!”

Shirley snorted, then looked out the window at the sky. Seeing that the veil of night had already sunk low, she stepped toward the window.

The black iron chain went taut as the girl walked. The Abyssal Hound, who had wanted to lie and rest, was helplessly dragged along the floor. This huge, heavy Abyssal demon was pulled around in Shirley’s hands as if it weighed nothing. “What are you trying to do now? Can you not let me lie here for a while? We fought such a big battle today. I am exhausted…”

“I did most of the fighting, all right?” Shirley said, still looking outside without turning back. “I am checking the situation out there… It’s completely dark now. The street lamps have only just turned on.”

“This is the Slum Quarter, after all. The authority already does well enough by keeping these street lamps at the most basic level of warding. Do not expect them to light up before the dusk bell like in other districts,” Dog grumbled. He glanced back at the oil lamp on the old dining table. “Turn the lamp off later. Oil is expensive.”

Shirley pressed her lips together: “…We can put it out before we sleep. Otherwise it will be too dark in here.”

Dog’s stomach rumbled, but he said nothing.

Within the city-state, the city’s administrators and builders strictly planned the position and number of “street lamps”, the most basic warding devices. The gas lamps spread across the city could keep the whole district under protection after nightfall. Because of that, surface homes were safe whether they used electric lights or oil lamps. It was even safe to put out the lights inside after the street lamps were lit.

But even the most prosperous city had forgotten corners. In the depths of the Shantytown, which was even older and more run-down than the Lower City, gas lamps were far fewer than in other areas. They barely managed to keep day and night safe, and that kind of “just barely enough” state was clearly not enough to make people feel at ease.

So, in the Slum Quarter, oil lamps and tallow candles that burned with real flame were things every family needed.

If the street lamps were late by a while, the firelight at home could at least hold back the darkness after the Sun went down for a time.

Of course, there was another important reason many poor families used oil lamps and candles. They could not afford the relatively high cost of switching to electric power.

Electric lights were bright, clean, and safe. In the worry-free districts, they had long been the first choice for lighting in every home. But in this little house in the Shantytown…

The only thing that could still give Shirley and Dog a sense of safety was the wavering flame in that old lamp.

In the dim lamplight, the voice of the Abyssal Hound broke the silence: “…Are you still going out for a while longer these days?”

“Mm.”

“Still going after those Sun bastards?”

“I am going to get information out of them.”

“Same thing, more or less… But from the looks of it, they do not seem to know very clearly what happened eleven years ago either. Look at today. Even they were asking the locals.”

“That was because today’s group just happened to all come from Lunsa. Next time we might get something.”

“Fine, as long as you are happy.”

“Just make my disguise a bit more reliable next time, Dog. Do not let it fall apart halfway through again.”

“I just hope we do not run into that scary man again. I suspect our aura leaked early today because there was such a strong ‘interference’ at the scene…”

“All right, all right. If you say so, then so it is…”