Saul followed the Mountain Crosser along the main path, entering a nearby grove of survivor trees.

However, the Mountain Crosser took a slightly roundabout route, deliberately avoiding the area where those seven blindfolded commoners had previously appeared.

Saul trailed him into the woods and up a slope.

Eventually, the donkey cart came to a stop. The Mountain Crosser driving the cart stood on the frame, lifted the black leather cover, and tossed the topmost boy down beneath the roots of a large tree.

The donkey cart started up again, leaving the motionless boy behind as it continued deeper into the grove.

But Saul didn’t follow. His steps halted beside the boy.

He crouched down, checking the boy’s nose and mouth, then lifted his eyelids. Finally, he found a half-finger-length wooden spike lodged at the back of the boy’s neck.

The spike was embedded just beneath the skin, dangling there.

Saul pulled it out, sniffed the tip, and showed a faint, almost imperceptible smile.

“A sort of underground transaction, huh? If they’re caught, it’s easy enough to turn the fake death into a real one.”

Saul examined the boy’s hands and feet.

Although the child appeared to be around eleven or twelve, his hands were covered in calluses—clearly the result of frequent labor.

As he looked, Saul let out a quiet “Hmm?”

He reached out and pinched the boy’s skull and spine. “This kid has been forcibly matured.”

Though the boy looked around ten or so, his actual age was likely only seven or eight.

Just like wheat in the fields, he’d been artificially helped to grow faster!

Even after Saul’s brief examination, the boy still didn’t wake up.

If this kept up, he’d go from fake death to real death.

“Looks like the people running this business don’t really care about the survival rate of their merchandise.”

That bearded man must’ve used some connections to smuggle the boy out of the settlement using this fake death method. The Mountain Crosser and the potted-plant old man guarding the gate probably knew too.

They turned a blind eye—most likely because they profited from it.

From how little they cared about the boy now, it was clear they’d already been paid. Whether the delivery survived or not didn’t matter.

Let fate decide.

Or perhaps it was better if he died.

No loose ends.

Seeing the boy’s life slipping away, Saul suddenly snapped his fingers. A healing spell descended, pulling the child back from the brink of death. His eyes flew open.

“Cough cough cough cough cough… cough cough…”

The moment the boy woke up, he burst into violent coughs. Brushing so close to death had left his body severely weakened.

When he finally caught his breath, the edge of his vision caught sight of a man in a wizard’s robe crouching beside him.

Faced with Saul, the man who’d just saved his life, the boy’s eyes filled with fear.

He instinctively tried to crawl away, but smacked hard into the tree behind him.

Dry twigs and dead leaves fell from above, brushing past his head.

“No need to be afraid. Being afraid won’t help. I ask, you answer—got it?”

The boy’s back pressed tightly against the tree trunk. He swallowed with difficulty; his mouth was so dry it felt like fire.

After a moment, he calmed slightly and nodded.

He stared at Saul like a baby rabbit just out of the nest.

“That bearded man—is he your father?”

The boy hesitated.

“If you lie, I’ll kill you,” Saul said, his voice utterly flat.

Faced with the threat of death, the boy didn’t show the same fear and panic as when he first realized Saul was standing beside him.

“…Yes.”

“When I arrived, I saw you trying to escape. But you were pinned down and had two holes punched into your feet. What were they doing?”

“They said I’d grown up and could be used to make a meat nest. I saw… I saw the boy ahead of me get holes punched in his feet, and they put two ants inside. He screamed in pain. I… I was so scared, I ran.”

“What about this wooden spike?”

Saul held up the spike he’d pulled from the back of the boy’s neck.

The boy stared at it blankly and shook his head.

“Then how did you end up being dumped here?”

The boy thought for a moment.

“After they caught me, they put an ant in my foot too. But as soon as it crawled in, the pain knocked me out. I don’t know what happened after that.”

“Oh? Your father secretly arranged to have you sent out of the settlement, but he didn’t give you any instructions on how to survive once you were outside?”

The boy still wore a blank look, but Saul could clearly hear the sudden acceleration of his heartbeat.

“As I thought—any truly naïve fool would’ve long died in a place like this,” Saul shook his head inwardly.

He didn’t continue pressing the issue. That line had only been to signal to the boy: I’ve got your secret now. Next comes the real questioning.

“What is the meat nest?”

“Are ordinary people not allowed to leave this settlement?”

“Do many of the wizards who come here actually leave?”

Some of the questions, the boy answered. For others, he simply shook his head, indicating he didn’t know.

After more or less digging out everything useful in the boy’s mind, Saul stood up again.

He looked at the boy, weakly leaning against the tree, and pulled out some food from his storage vessel, tossing it onto him.

The small bundle the boy’s father had handed to the corpse-hauler was probably meant to be food for the boy.

But since the hauler had never intended for the boy to survive, he had, of course, kept the food for himself.

“This is your payment for answering my questions. Of course, if you were telling the full truth, you could have gotten even more.”

With that, Saul turned to head deeper into the forest.

He was planning to look for some humpback termites.

If their acid really could be used to create a miraculous drug—one with no side effects—that allowed a wizard’s brain to operate at high speed, then it was bound to become a rare and coveted magical ingredient, fought over by countless wizards.

Better that he start researching it now.

Still, since the humpback termites were so miraculous, there was no doubt someone would be guarding them. Saul would have to move carefully and stay hidden, lest he draw the attention of a Second Rank wizard in the settlement.

But he had barely taken two steps when he heard the boy call out behind him.

“Wizard sir, please—wait a moment!”

Saul paused and looked back.

“Sir, could I—may I…”

“No.” Saul already knew what the boy was going to ask, and refused without the slightest hesitation.

When he’d checked the boy’s body earlier, he had discovered that this prematurely forced-grown child’s soul body and physical form were both already severely damaged.

Forget becoming an apprentice—surviving healthily to the age of twenty would be a stretch.

Unless he had the kind of luck protagonists in novels did—stumbling upon some miraculous elixir or treasure, reshaping his soul body, awakening magical aptitude, amplifying his elemental perception—he had no chance of learning anything.

The boy wanted to plead further, but when he looked up and met Saul’s gaze—calm as the depths of the ocean—he found himself unable to say a word.

“He’s smart enough. A shame, really,” Saul thought as the boy, knowing his place, fell silent. Saul turned and walked away.

In the forest, he released Little Algae.

“Be careful not to alert anyone—or anything—around here.”

Little Algae leapt to the ground and burrowed into the soil, vanishing from sight.

Roughly half an hour later, it suddenly emerged again, its black tendrils coiling around Saul’s ankle.

Saul followed the pull of Little Algae’s guidance, moving forward without making a sound.

Before long, he saw several familiar figures in the forested hills ahead.

They were thin, emaciated people, blindfolded with black cloth and shackled at the ankles.

The one in the lead also held a lantern, moving forward silently.

According to the boy’s description, these people were the meat nests—used for harvesting termite acid.

Saul quickly circled ahead of the seven, but found they weren’t the same ones he’d seen earlier.

“Looks like most of the ordinary people in this tiny settlement are just backup ingredients for making meat nests.”

(End of chapter)

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