Something’s Not Right About This Transmigration - Chapter 17
Cold.
No, it hurt.
Or was he cold……?
He didn’t know. His body sagged like waterlogged cotton, and even opening his eyes was too difficult. He couldn’t do anything.
……He wanted to sleep a little longer.
It was somewhat cold, but surely he would be alright if he slept a little longer…….
Frey’s head dropped again. His mind was too hazy to think.
Clunk.
The sound of a heavy door opening was followed by light footsteps.
“What? He still hasn’t regained consciousness. I didn’t even use that much sedative.”
The boy murmured indifferently, approached Frey, and lifted his limp arm.
Then, without hesitation, he inserted a needle and began drawing blood.
“Ugh, nnngh…….”
Was he that clumsy, or simply unskilled? When Frey twisted against the pain that felt as though his arm were being torn off, the other person reached out and seized his hair.
“Don’t tense up. Your veins are already hard to find.”
“Ugh, nnnngh…….”
The throbbing, stinging pain kept Frey from gathering his thoughts. He blinked slowly.
‘Where…… am I?’
When he barely managed to lift his head, the white-haired boy stood before him with an expressionless face.
“You…….”
The impostor who had introduced himself as ‘Frey Rubellia’ stood there.
“Don’t move. The inflammation is already making it hard to draw blood.”
“……Why…… blood……?”
“Why else? Your ability can cure Rosifer, so I want to see whether the secret lies in your blood. I did not sense any magic in the blood I drew before, so it does not appear related to magic.”
Then how did Frey heal people?
There had to be something special capable of defeating Rosifer.
The boy muttered the same words several times as he quietly examined Frey’s face.
“Staring at you won’t tell me anything……. I’ll use the blood I just drew to see whether your ability is connected to divine power.”
“…….”
“There’s no way the long-lost divine power resides in you, but one never knows……. If you were healing people with divine power……. That would be entertaining, wouldn’t it?”
He smiled grotesquely and slowly stood.
Frey could not even summon the strength to speak. He only panted, then barely raised his head.
“Divine power……? What do you mean, entertaining……?”
“Oh, you don’t know……? There was that incident long ago. The one where people ate a priest alive.”
“…….”
“They tried to steal the power he received from a god. There are even records stating that the power truly passed to them.”
Frey swallowed as the boy sneered.
Divine power.
A special power that once appeared in those who served the gods, but had vanished in the present day.
At the time, people believed that the power to save even the dying resided within a priest’s body.
A priest once plucked a strand of hair and sent it to a sick person far away. The rumor began when the patient recovered.
People said a god’s power dwelled in the bodies of priests.
Some praised the extraordinary power that could save someone near death with a single strand of hair……. Others wanted to steal it.
What followed became known as the priest-cannibalism incident.
People committed the horrific act in an attempt to consume a priest who carried divine power and steal that ability.
Afterward, those who served the gods disappeared one by one. Distrust spread as people said that not even the gods could protect their servants, and the temples gradually vanished as well.
In the present day, neither divine power nor believers in the gods remained.
But…….
“If this is divine power……. Do you intend to eat me?”
“Of course.”
“…….”
“This is my chance to become the real one. The Count will probably prefer me to someone as feeble as you.”
The boy smiled vacantly, like someone who had lost his mind, put away the blood he’d drawn, and placed the used syringe on the desk.
“Rest. I’ll work hard to discover the true nature of that power.”
Click.
The door closed, followed by a long silence inside the room.
Frey exhaled and tried to move. The ropes restraining him made it difficult to move.
Swindling Leo was bad enough. Frey couldn’t simply pretend not to know and move on after this.
‘There may be nothing I can do……. But I can’t just sit here without acting.’
Frey gritted his teeth and twisted his bound body.
“Ah! Ugh, nnngh…….”
The bones in his hand seemed to have broken when the impostor stepped on it. Moving his fingers even slightly sent pain surging through him, intense enough to make his consciousness swim.
Frey didn’t stop twisting his wrist. The rough rope scraped his skin until it bled, and only then did he finally pull one hand free.
“Damn, that bastard.”
In a surge of irritation, Frey hurled the rope to the floor and looked around first.
The room held a bed and desk covered in a thick layer of dust, as well as the chair where Frey had been tied. They had clearly thrown him into an unused room.
Frey approached the desk and frowned fiercely at the syringe the boy left behind.
The needle was rusty, and dried blood clung to the tip. He had plainly reused the syringe many times.
“Ah, damn it. That insane bastard…….”
No wonder the place where the boy drew blood had been so itchy and painful.
When Frey glanced at his burning arm, he saw three or four punctures, as though this had not been the first draw.
The surrounding skin was badly swollen, and even the slightest brush made the flesh throb.
“I’ll get my revenge.”
Evil bastard.
Grinding his teeth, Frey immediately approached the window.
The ground was about two stories below.
If he were lucky, he might be able to jump down and escape. That was assuming no one was standing guard.
‘It’s dark outside, so Leo must have realized I’m gone…….’
Frey had only meant to deal with the creditors and heal Leo’s parents. In his current condition, he might die before treating anyone.
“No.”
In the novel, Frey wasn’t supposed to die until the middle of the original story. If he died here, the novel would probably be unable to continue properly.
‘Frey’ was not the protagonist, but he still played an important role.
“I won’t die.”
It bothered him slightly that Leo was connected to Regulus unlike in the original story……. Even so, perhaps that was part of the later material Frey had not read.
‘Think positively.’
If he didn’t tell himself that, he felt he’d never find the courage to escape.
“Let’s see…….”
He could see no one outside the window. If he kept himself hidden as he climbed down, escape seemed possible…….
“……The window won’t open.”
Damn it.
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