Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen, Vol. 1

by Keishi Ayasato

  “Man…this really is another world, huh?”

  “Oh, and the fruit samples aren’t free, so do avoid taking them carelessly.”

  Flustered, Kaito drew back from the honey-pickled grape an old lady was offering to him. Elisabeth, on the other hand, plucked a juicy-looking berry and popped it in her mouth. She flipped a copper coin to the vendor.

  She then continued making her way through the crowd. Amid the throng of hawkers calling out to passersby, customers haggling like their lives depended on it, and scraggly dogs and rats scurrying about underfoot, her luxurious snow-white dress stood out like the lone star against a midnight sky. But she seemed to pay that fact little mind. The crowd, too, passed her by.

  “Hey, Elisabeth, where are you going?”

  “You need not worry about it. Just keep quiet and follow me.”

  Kaito continued after her obediently. Just as he began worrying that she was wandering aimlessly, the nature of the buildings around them began to change.

  There were no more shops, nor were there stand-up food carts or large-roofed stalls. What surrounded them now were shabby little huts. The nature of the products being sold became more illicit. It seemed that this area, far off from the main stretch, was where you could buy spoiled goods, illegal drugs, and weapons of various sorts.

  Upon seeing a group of people slurping up some soup of dubious make between stone warehouses, Elisabeth stopped. When she did, Kaito overheard their comments.

  “They say the Bloody Marquis is looking for employees again.”

  With a start, Kaito turned to look at the old gray-haired woman. She was talking with a group of friends, a box of medicinal herbs she’d no doubt been hawking sitting beside her.

  “There isn’t anyone who’d sell him kids anymore, right? They say a cannibal owns that castle.”

  “I hear Anna over from the corner did. Sold her fourth son for a silver coin, they say.”

  “Sounds like she drove a hard bargain, but even so, to sell your own child like that… Well, that’s a whore for you. Betcha she gets a gold coin for her fifth.”

  “Better than tossing them in the brothel, I say. Word is that Marquis fella is even buying up the kids of bankrupt aristocrats to use as servants. I’ll pass on being eaten, but if it’s just changing bedpans, I could get behind that if it meant getting to drink warm soup for a change.”

  “The lady in charge of collecting people is supposed to come around in her carriage today. Heh, if only I were a bit younger…”

  “You’ve got the looks of a monster, and you probably taste like one, too. Who’d pay any kind of coin for you?”

  The younger of the two women laughed raucously, her long ears swaying and her yellowed teeth on full display.

  Elisabeth nodded, then set off again. Hearing the sound of her high heels, the women looked her way with a start. Their gazes pierced Elisabeth like they were looking at something monstrous. Sensing their hostility, Kaito quickly chased after her white form.

  “Wait up, Elisabeth. I wanna know where you’re going.”

  “The corpses have been piling up, yet the town is not in a panic. In short, the poor must comprise the bulk of the victims. After all, they have a tendency to drop dead on their own, be it from freezing, drowning, starving, or sickness. A few dozen of them going missing would hardly be grounds for a panic.”

  “You don’t mince words, do you…?”

  “Ha. Whether I mince them or spit them out, it changes nothing. I came to this district in search of information, and just as I suspected, a rather juicy tidbit came and landed on my plate. Though it would be convenient to have something more substantial… Ah.”

  Elisabeth stopped at the corner of the road. In front of the row of brick houses stood a black carriage. A well-dressed old woman who appeared to be its owner was grabbing the arm of another woman accompanied by a young girl and fervently arguing with her. The second woman wrenched her arm free, climbed a short set of stairs, and took refuge past the door at the top. The old woman clicked her tongue and walked back toward the carriage.

  Before Kaito could stop Elisabeth, she dashed out in front of the old woman. Kaito had no idea what she was thinking.

  “This is Lord Marquis’s carriage, right? Oh, thank goodness! My name is Flora. I came from the main road because I heard you were looking for maids. I got into a fight with my father, who’s a wealthy landowner, so I’m here in secret for a bit of fun. But I never thought I’d get this lucky! I want to live like a real lady. Would you be so kind as to take me and my servant to see the lord marquis?”

  Kaito’s eyes widened at the stupidity of it all. But Elisabeth just tilted her head to the side, her expression so pure that it made him want to ask who the hell she was and what she’d done with Elisabeth. The old woman responded with a hard, skeptical gaze. Elisabeth then gave a beautiful smile and continued without a care.

  “Oh, I almost forgot. Back on the main road, Miss Anna told me to tell you that she was the one who sent me. She’s awfully nice.”

  Upon hearing this, the old woman smiled broadly and nodded. After asking Elisabeth the landowner’s full name and whether or not her absence had gone noted, she cast open the carriage’s door eagerly.

  As she stood beside the sneering old lady, an even wickeder sneer found Elisabeth’s face.

  After leaving the town, the carriage passed a wheat field on its right before making its way along a riverside road. As it continued on, a castle came into view beside the narrow shore.

  The castle was built out of an uneven mixture of gray stone and yellow sandstone and enclosed by black ramparts. The thick, heavy walls were supported by cylindrical steeples and stretched out far from east to west. The shadow it cast on the water was the very image of a massive crow, gazing into the river with its wings spread wide.

  The carriage traversed the deep moat with the aid of a drawbridge, then it arrived at the castle proper.

  And so Kaito and Elisabeth reached the Bloody Marquis’s castle.

  Perhaps corresponding to the tastes of its current lord, the castle’s resplendent interior stood in stark contrast to its simple, ominous exterior. Chandeliers sparkled over the main hall’s grand stairwell, and vast carpets of gold and silver thread lay across its floor. It was clear that each of the etched handrails on the stairs and plaster grapevines on the walls took no small amount of artistic prowess to create.

  Every element of the house looked both elaborate and expensive.

  Rich-people houses really are something else, thought Kaito with a squint. Following Elisabeth, he made his way across the hall and tried to cut through to the passage on his right. When he did, a large man forcefully grabbed his shoulder.

  “You don’t look like a noble. Servants go this way.”

  “Wait, hold up, Elisa— Mistress Flora!”

  Kaito shouted as he was being dragged off. Elisabeth turned and gave him a thumbs-up. In other words, Figure it out yourself. You’re immortal, so do your best and don’t lose. You’re a clever boy, after all, or something along those lines. Though he hated to admit it, Kaito was used to her attitude by now.

  At this point, he didn’t have much choice. His expression stiffened as he gave up and followed the man. Upon reaching the end of the passage on the left, the man raised a large flag with a coat of arms on it. The hidden door behind it opened, and the man prodded Kaito down a set of stairs leading underground. A sense of foreboding welled up within him. The feeling only got worse as he continued down the flame-lit stone corridor.

  Finally, the man stopped before what was most definitely a prison.

  “Get in.”

  “What, you’re just gonna treat me like a prisoner out of nowhere?”

  Kaito had been hoping for the ruse to last a bit longer. Unfortunately, his complaints were in vain as the man kicked him into the cell. A small scream could be heard coming from deeper inside. As he looked around the surprisingly spacious prison, he saw a crowd of young boys and girls, human an
d demi-human and beastfolk alike.

  Their ages, genders, and races were varied, but the fear on each of their faces was evident. The scene was one of bitter nostalgia for Kaito, and he wasn’t sure how to react. After agonizing over his options for a moment, he waved a hand to try to calm them down.

  “H-hey, guys.”

  “Eep!”

  Suddenly, a new prisoner was kicked into the prison. A young girl wearing a poppy-red dress bumped into Kaito and fell over. His quick reflexes allowed him to catch her before she hit the ground. Her chestnut eyes paired well with her curly brown hair, and they gazed up at Kaito in fear. Hers was a modest beauty, her plain features standing out against the diversity of the demi-human and beastfolk captives. Her cheeks reddened when she realized that Kaito was holding her, and she straightened herself out.

  “My… My deepest apologies. My name is Melanie Eskrow, daughter of Earl Eskrow. Where…is this? My aunt sent me here to become a proper lady.”

  “I’m Kaito Sena… This is gonna sound kinda rude, but by any chance did your dad pass away and leave you in your aunt’s care recently?”

  “My, how did you know? Might you be an acquaintance of my aunt’s, Sir Kaito?”

  “Um, well, that’s— Okay, y’know what? It feels mean to tell you this, but you’re better off knowing. The situation we’re in right now is super dangerous. I think you should prepare yourself to make a run for it if you see an opening. There’s no telling what kind of horrible stuff is about to happen.”

  “Whatever do you—? Might I ask what’s going on? What’s going to happen to us and these children?”

  “Beats me. I really don’t know, but when people go into shock, they tend to freeze up. You should emotionally brace—”

  “Get out there. You’re being called.”

  Someone cut Kaito off, and the door swung open. A group of men led Kaito and the scared, sobbing children out of the prison. In order to keep them from resisting, they held a blade to Kaito’s neck. A red-haired boy about his age and one of the younger kids received the same treatment. Kaito himself was immortal, but if he wasn’t careful, the other two might wind up becoming victims. He clicked his tongue in frustration, then continued on without putting up a fight.

  Eventually, the door at the end of the underground hallway came into view. It was made of wood marked with carved images of spiders and crows and lit on each side by a flaming brazier. The wood design featured the crows circling overhead as the spiders weaved webs to catch them underneath. It was in rather poor taste. The men threw open the double doors and kicked Kaito and the rest inside. Kaito expected the men to follow them in, but they simply stayed put and closed the door.

  “Good luck.”

  Why do we need luck? As Kaito contemplated the ominous words of encouragement, he heard the click of the door locking.

  When he turned around, his heart stopped in his throat.

  Within the room, a bizarre spectacle spread out before him.

  The ceiling was extremely high and domed like a cathedral. Its center was decorated with a floral piece of stained glass. But the intricate, kaleidoscopic light it cast was marred by the barbed wire lining the ceiling. The unsettling effect was exacerbated by the murder of crows perched on the wire. The crows watched over Kaito and the others in silent vigil.

  What’s the deal with all these crows? …I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

  Disgust and anxiety welling up within him, Kaito looked at the ground. The marble floor was cracked and missing pieces. Soil peeked out from the holes, and from the soil, massive trees grew.

  Among other things, the room appeared to house a miniature forest. This, too, was an enigma.

  Suppressing his unease, Kaito directed his attention to the middle of the room.

  Atop a circular stage lay a rotund, snoring man dressed in a tailcoat. He awoke with a start, gradually rising to his feet as he scratched his plump behind. He looked at Kaito and the children. When he saw the man’s face, Kaito was startled.

  Covering the man’s face was a bone-like white crow mask.

  “Weeeeeeeeeeeelcome, boys and girls, to your very own Grand Guignol!”

  The man’s grating voice cracked as he shouted with over-the-top enthusiasm. Kaito broke out in a cold sweat. The man was cheerful, eerie, and revolting. Every instinct in Kaito’s body screamed in fear, calling to his attention one fact.

  This man was probably a demon.

  There was no way Kaito could deal with him alone. But unfortunately, Elisabeth wasn’t here.

  “Whoa, hold up… You didn’t tell me I’d get stuck with the real deal, Elisabeth.”

  “You all are the audience, you all are the scriptwriters, and you all are the actors. So I imploooore you: Enjoy yourselves to your heart’s content. You may try to escape this annex, if you so desire. But only the last one standing will be saved, you seeEEeeeEee. Until then, I don’t even mind if you all thin out the numbers on your owwwWwwwWWwn.”

  His voice cracked even more. Once he finished speaking, he fell back and collapsed. But before they’d had time to think about the meaning of his words, a single crow descended from the wire.

  Kaito’s eyes widened. The crow spread its wings as it swooped down, revealing a wingspan about the length of an adult man. It flew down to meet them. The wind pressure created by its wings was considerable, and, unable to endure it, Kaito had to close his eyes. When he did, he heard a scream from close by.

  “No, no, noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

  The boy in front of Kaito had been snatched up. Clutching the boy in its talons, the crow carried him up toward the roof. It then approached the arches at the sides of the ceiling. Focusing on the arches, Kaito could see spears sticking out of the wall.

  But…why?

  As if to answer Kaito’s question, the crow impaled the boy on a spike.

  Like a shrike skewering its prey, the bird gored the boy through the stomach and left him to hang from the ceiling. After letting out a gut-wrenching shriek, his body bent backward at a sharp angle and resembled a curled shrimp. He then started convulsing and coughing up a huge amount of foamy blood. All the while, his chest continued heaving.

  Kaito lost his voice in shock.

  He hadn’t noticed them at first due to being distracted by the crows, but a number of children decorated the ceiling like lab specimens. They’d long since lost the will to scream. They simply writhed in agony, skewered alive in ceaseless torment.

  Kaito felt a bead of sweat travel across his forehead. My immortality means nothing here. If he got trapped up there, he was done for.

  A mass of crows took flight. The children froze in terror. Kaito screamed.

  “Everyone! Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!”

  As if his voice had broken a spell, the children all began moving at once.

  Kaito knew that, like it or not, the curtain had risen on a fresh hell.

  Some of the children were wrestling with the door to the underground passage. But it was locked firmly.

  “That’s not going to work; just give it up and run!”

  Kaito called out to the boy who was pounding on the door and sobbing, then he took off running with the rest of the children. Someone pushed Melanie, and she fell over. Amid the chaos, Kaito grabbed her pale hand.

  “Melanie, this way!”

  “Sir Kaito!”

  “No, help! I want my mommy. I want my mooooooooooommy!”

  A crow had seized the demi-human girl in front of Kaito by the shoulder. Acting fast, Kaito grabbed her leg as it dangled in midair. Her body stretched, and she waved her arms helplessly as snot and tears streamed from her face.

  “Help, help, get it off me, it hurts, get it off me, don’t let go, I want my mommy, I want my mommy!”

  “Just hang in there!”

  Kaito swung the girl’s leg from side to side as hard as he could. The crow dug its talons in deep, and the girl let out a high-pitched scream. Then the crow collided with one of its neighbors
, and just as Kaito had hoped, it released its hold on her.

  “Rgh—”

  Kaito barely managed to catch the falling demi-human girl, then he took off at a run alongside Melanie. His shoulder grew wet with the girl’s tears. Around them, children were being snatched up one by one.

  Fluttering black feathers filled his vision, and heartrending wails assaulted his ears. Droplets of blood rained from the ceiling to add to the chaos.

  No matter how hard the children cried and screamed, nobody came to save them. They were left to drown in their hopelessness. His stomach churned, and Kaito felt like he was going to vomit. He spat a single word from the bottom of his heart.

  “FUCK!”

  With Melanie and the demi-human in tow, Kaito slipped into the forest’s shade. Beneath the patchwork of trees, the branches afforded them temporary reprieve from the crows’ line of sight.

  It seemed the demon had placed the trees there to prolong the game. Revolting as it was, Kaito was thankful for that particular gimmick. After inspecting the wound on the sobbing demi-human girl’s shoulder, Kaito turned to Melanie, who was sitting beside him, and ripped the hem of her dress with as much force as he could muster.

  “I’m sorry, Melanie, but I’m going to need this!”

  “S-sir Kaito, what exactly are you doing?”

  “Bind her arm, would you? From here to here. I’m counting on you!”

  “Ah, I—I see. I understand. I can do it!”

  Clenching her fist, Melanie clumsily stopped the girl’s bleeding. As she worked, Kaito peered among the gaps in the tree line to check on the crows. It seemed they hadn’t noticed them yet. However, a group of crows grabbed another boy who was cutting through the middle of the room and carried him up to the spikes.

  “Dammit…”

  Averting his eyes from the horrifying spectacle, Kaito noticed something odd. Stuck in the trees were an ax and a sword, each with a cutesy ribbon tied around them. After a moment, he understood why they were there, and he felt the blood drain from his face.