On the wilderness where the edge was finally in sight.
“Sister Alicia.”
The young girl Bemis woke from her deep slumber. She looked at Big Alicia, who was sitting on the ground resting, and called out softly.
She couldn’t remember what had happened, nor could she recall why she had suddenly fallen asleep, but seeing Big Alicia still by her side quickly put her mind at ease.
“Awake? Wake... them... up. Let’s... keep... going,” Big Alicia said, glancing at Bemis.
Bemis then woke the other sleeping companions and followed Big Alicia once more.
Leon, in his incorporeal state, followed behind them. Looking at Big Alicia leading the way, he suddenly understood something.
“Drinking poison to slake a thirst...”
With Leon’s own level of willpower, he had been nearly consumed by a single portion of the power of 【Hunger】.
Yet at this moment, Big Alicia carried within her more than a dozen portions of that power, all extracted from the souls of these children.
Leon could not imagine what kind of willpower it took to endure such a bone-deep, heart-devouring hunger.
“Hungry... so hungry...”
Suddenly, a voice surfaced in Leon’s ears.
Leon was startled and quickly suppressed the sensation of hunger, only to realize that the voice did not come from his own heart, but from Big Alicia ahead of him.
Big Alicia had not opened her mouth, but Leon could clearly hear her inner thoughts.
“Hungry... so hungry... so hungry... Can... they... be eaten...?”
Big Alicia stared at the children beside her, a terrifying green light flashing in her eyes.
But in the next instant, she forcibly averted her gaze. She broke off a piece of bark from a withered tree and shoved it into her mouth.
“Bitter. Poisonous,” she thought.
Despite the thought, Big Alicia did not stop. She continued to stuff the rotting, blackened bark into her mouth.
“Delicious... Yes... very... delicious.”
“But... why... does it... taste... so bad?”
“So bitter... so sour... so... awful.”
“So fragrant... the smell... of meat...”
“No. Meat... is not... good. This... is... delicious.”
Leon followed silently behind Big Alicia, watching as she swallowed the blackened bark, the leaves oozing dark green sap, and the withered yellow stalks bite by bite.
As she swallowed, she repeated in her mind, “This is delicious,” and “This is very sweet.”
When the hunger became truly unbearable, Big Alicia would grab handfuls of the yellow soil beneath her feet, cramming them into her mouth and straining her neck to swallow.
“Sister Alicia, Valentine... he’s fallen asleep.”
Bemis’s voice rang out. Leon and Big Alicia turned at the same time.
They saw the boy who had accidentally scraped his knee earlier; his face was now deathly pale as he lay collapsed on the wilderness.
Not a breath of life remained.
Big Alicia remained silent for a long time. Afterward, she erected a simple earthen mound in the wilderness for the boy named “Valentine.”
“Do... not... bleed... here. Or... you... will... sleep,” Big Alicia said.
The group of children nodded solemnly and continued to follow her forward.
Leon remained silent. Suddenly, he found himself unwilling to stay in this dream-like place any longer.
But... having been mysteriously dragged into this dream, how could he leave before it ended?
He could only follow Big Alicia as they pressed on toward the distant sea.
...
In this wilderness, the days were long while the nights were brief, lasting only a single hour.
That one hour was their time for rest.
“Hungry... so hungry...”
As night fell, the hunger rooted deep within her soul surged forth once more, frantically trying to seize Big Alicia’s rational thoughts.
“Eat... meat...”
“They... smell... so... good... Meat... so... good...”
The hunger was voraciously eating away at Big Alicia’s willpower, and the light of reason in her eyes was gradually being submerged.
Her right hand seemed to move beyond her control, trembling as it reached toward the sleeping Bemis.
“Meat... is... NOT... good!”
Just as her fingertips were about to touch Bemis, her reason suddenly jolted awake, reclaiming dominance.
Her right hand abruptly changed direction, plunging into the dirt. She grabbed a clod of earth mixed with gravel and sand, desperately forcing it into her mouth.
But such things could not possibly satisfy the hunger that was screaming for food.
Big Alicia began to salivate uncontrollably again, her gaze shifting back to the other sleeping children—
“Dirt... is... what’s... delicious!”
Big Alicia grabbed another handful of hard sand and soil. Before she could be completely consumed by the hunger, she ran away from the place that reeked of the scent of flesh.
She ran and ran, aimlessly. Whenever she felt hungry, she would shove a handful of sand into her mouth and swallow, until she had run an unknown distance.
“So... so fragrant.”
Suddenly, the scent of meat reached Big Alicia’s nose. She lunged toward a small mound nearby.
Beneath the mound, she smelled meat—meat that could fill her stomach, meat that could make the hunger stop.
So, she crouched on top of the mound and began to dig.
The deeper she dug into the mound, the more intense the scent of meat became, and the more frantically she clawed at the earth.
“Ali... Ali... Alicia...”
As she dug, rustling whispers echoed in her ears.
“ALICIA!!!!”
It wasn't until a roar like a thunderclap exploded in her ear that Big Alicia’s consumed reason was finally jolted awake.
The hunger faded from her eyes. She froze in place, staring at the pit beneath her.
At the bottom of the pit was a child’s corpse.
Beside the pit lay a small, overturned earthen marker. On it were written the words: “Grave of Valentine.”
Big Alicia looked down at her trembling hands, covered in sand and dirt. An inescapable terror filled her heart.
“What... have I... done?”
...
Daylight returned to the wilderness.
Big Alicia returned to the children, but this time, she did not let them come near her. Instead, she led the way from three hundred meters ahead.
Along the way, monsters, dragons, alchemical golems, and even sentient beings appeared again to block their path.
Big Alicia dealt with them one by one. Though she struggled, she overcame them all.
However, by the time the group finally crossed the wasteland and reached the boundless, deep blue sea where fish leaped and birds flew—
Of the children who had followed Big Alicia, only two remained: a boy and a girl.
“Go. Once... you... walk... out... you... will... be... free,” Big Alicia told them.
“Sister Alicia, aren't you coming?” Bemis asked, turning back to look at her.
Big Alicia forced a smile. “I... still... have... things... to do... here.”
Bemis nodded obediently. Holding the boy’s hand, she stepped across the boundary that felt like a natural chasm, moving from the wilderness into the sea.
In the wilderness, only Big Alicia and Leon, who had been following silently, remained.
Leon stared at Big Alicia. Hearing the frantic hunger deep within her heart, he knew it wasn't that she didn't want to leave.
It was that she could no longer leave.
Her soul had been polluted by the power of 【Hunger】, and there was no way to purify it.
Big Alicia watched the two children depart, then turned to walk back into the wilderness.
Suddenly, a weary look of surprise crossed her face, and her gaze fixed directly on the spot where Leon stood.
“That... voice... so... it was... you?”
Then, before the stunned Leon could speak, a look of realization dawned on Big Alicia’s face, as if she understood everything.
She squeezed out a smile and gave a slight, elegant curtsy.
“Hello.”
“My... reincarnated self’s... partner.”
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