Chapter 23.1：The Despair of Lightly Salted Flavor or A Miniature Garden on Sand
Just taking a deep breath makes it feel like your blood sugar level would spike.
Everything in sight is painted in such high saturation that it induces dizziness. The “Forest of Slumber” spreading near the royal capital. What should have been lush‚ vibrant green was now transformed into a grotesque “candy nursery bed” by the unconscious divinity leaked by that silver-haired “idiot god.”
Every time a foot stepped forward‚ the wafer stone pavement‚ soaked in wet syrup‚ sank with a disgusting “squish” sound.
Spreading overhead was an unnatural tree canopy of overlapping pale pink and light blue cotton candy. The sticky honey dripping from it stirred up a physiological disgust‚ as if walking inside a living creature’s stomach.
「……It’s so humid. This place is sickeningly sweet‚ enough to make me puke.」
Cursing‚ I glanced at “it” flying beside me.
A small dragon like a dried-up lizard covered entirely in salt crystals—Nigari—landed on my shoulder‚ flapping his cracked wings busily.
「You’re damn right‚ Shio. That idiot god’s divine aura is way too thick; my scales are all sticky.
Hey‚ hand over the ‘salt (reality)’ quick. At this rate‚ I’ll end up as a sugar-preserved specimen.」
「I know. …Here.」
I took out the only “clean reality” from my pocket and tossed a piece of potato chip generated by my ability. Nigari crunched it with a “crisp!” in mid-air.
A dry sound that sliced through the forest’s humidity.
The merciless heat and the cotton candy spores clinging to my skin. I pulled the zipper of my thick hoodie‚ which I had worn deep over my head‚ all the way down to my throat and roughly opened up my neckline.
「……Haa‚ fuh.」
When I forcefully peeled off the fabric that was clinging damply to my skin with sweat‚ there was a “rip” sound as my skin was released from its sealed state.
What appeared was astonishingly “dry” white skin that could never exist in this high-saturation pastel world.
The slender‚ delicate collarbone line characteristic of a girl‚ revealed as I flipped the hoodie.
The thin tendons on my exposed neck. The moment the sweat touched the air and evaporated‚ stealing body heat‚ only the area within a few dozen centimeters around me was physically severed from the gaudy‚ artificial colors.
That spot alone became a low-saturation‚ cold “shadow of reality.”
The “dryness” I emitted sharply rejected the space dominated by wet sweetness‚ like cracked glass.
「Hey‚ don’t stare. I’ll turn you into jerky.」
「As if I’d be enchanted by such a shabby bone structure. More importantly‚ Shio‚ your nose for the ‘stench of information death’ is getting less and less funny.
…Look‚ it’s drifting over here again.」
Nigari snorted in displeasure.
At the same time‚ the wind changed direction.
From behind the nauseating vanilla fragrance came the heavy‚ terribly painful “burning smell of souls” like bitter chocolate boiled down to a sludge.
「……Ah. Here it comes again.」
Suddenly‚ the sensation transmitted from the soles of my feet roughly gouged an old wound in my memory.
The wafer stone pavement sank with a “squish‚” absorbing the wet syrup. That sticky weight forcibly dragged my consciousness back to that “orange hell.”
「What’s wrong‚ Shio? You suddenly went quiet… Your sanpaku eyes are starting to look like a dead man’s.」
On my shoulder‚ Nigari snorted mockingly. But even his voice felt distant now.
That day.
The day the sky folded up like a giant sheet of paper with dry cracking sounds.
In the midst of the world losing its outlines and everything becoming as vague as pencil writing erased by a rubber‚ what stood before us wasn’t a blue sea.
「……It wasn’t salty.」
「Huh? What wasn’t?」
「The waves. The orange waves that swallowed me…」
The back of my throat convulsed violently‚ as if a hot iron had been forced in.
A normal tsunami should taste of mud and salt. But what burned my lungs and filled my trachea was a sickeningly dense “honey mud water.”
Golden light like melted sunset that filled my vision.
It was beautiful. So unbearably beautiful that it was insane.
People shouldn’t feel “sweetness” in the moment they drown. Death should be something rougher‚ painful‚ and coldly real.
At the center of it.
In the middle of the folding world‚ the silver-haired girl crying while shining alone—Serina.
The tears she shed became the very “principle” of the world.
Because that “selfish” girl wished it‚ our tomorrow was forcibly sealed inside candy.
「That guy… that silver-haired idiot god arbitrarily folded up our daily lives and forced this candy hell (miniature garden) onto us. He stole the salt (reality) and even rewrote death itself to be sickeningly sweet.」
Only the pain of my nails digging deep into my palm inside my clenched fist kept me anchored as “me.”
「……Well‚ I can’t blame you for being angry. Thanks to that‚ I’m also on the verge of becoming jerky. Seriously‚ calling salt ‘taboo.’ The people of this world don’t know true death‚ so they can happily eat Rui’s scraps and laugh.」
Nigari dropped a cold yet somewhat sympathetic voice near my ear.
In this world‚ salt is “poison.”
An error that the god‚ fearing the memory of the sea they drowned in‚ completely ejected from the laws of reality.
But that very error (salt) is the only proof that we lived in that sea and were unreasonably killed.
「Rui… I wonder what that savior wished for next to her that day. …Is maintaining a world by selling off his own ‘original’ really that comfortable?」
Through the gaps in the forest‚ a golden cider lake began to come into view.
The ominous chocolate scent drifting by the lakeshore.
The aroma of confections baked using souls as fuel rode the wind and defiled my “dry” nasal cavity.
Grind.
A faint taste of blood seeped from my back teeth‚ unconsciously clenched in anger.
The silver package I gripped tightly in my pocket made a dry “crinkle” sound.
I held my breath‚ suppressing the rising nausea‚ and quickened my steps toward the lakeshore filled with the stench of death.
The view opened up‚ and the unbearably sweet forest trees came to an end.
「……We’re here‚ Shio. Look‚ there he is.」
At Nigari’s short words‚ I stopped.
Spreading before my eyes was an amber cider lake bubbling golden and fizzy. What the wind carried from it was no longer vanilla sweetness. It was heavier‚ stickier‚ yet a “scorched” fragrance that felt like it was scraping the back of my nose with a knife.
The chest-burning scent of bitter chocolate from burning the one and only “real thing” as a human being black was being slammed directly from the source.
「Yeah‚ no mistake. He threw his ‘real self’ into the oven again in a big way.」
I stomped hard on the dried wafer ground and looked down coldly at the shattered fragments.
I had heard the rumors carried by the wind so many times my ears were calloused.
The ridiculous fairy tale that the crimson Dragon King‚ who turned the kingdom’s strongest knight order to ash‚ was now wearing an apron and baking her breakfast.
「He turned the Dragon King into a toaster‚ right? What a masterpiece. In exchange for his ‘elementary school song’ or whatever‚ he got the strongest toast.」
「It’s not funny‚ Shio. He’s trading the ‘tomorrow’ of the people who died drinking mud water next to us that day for such cheap bread browning. …They’re all insane.」
Nigari spat venom while scattering salt crystals.
That’s right. The people of this world praise the “sweet miracles” she causes and worship her as a hero.
But the true nature of those miracles is just burning “Japan” that remained inside her page by page and spitting it out.
「Fueling his own soul to please that idiot god‚ huh… He’s not cut out to be a savior. He’s just a ‘nameless vessel’ with its contents hollowed out.」
A few steps ahead of where I walked‚ the pastel-colored plants by the lakeshore lost their moisture‚ turned white‚ and crumbled with a dry rustle.
My magic power rejected this candy-like physical law and stripped away all the “moisture (illusion)” there.
I glared at the opposite shore through a gap in the bushes.
In a picture-perfect beautiful light‚ he was laughing with the silver-haired girl.
「……Found you.」
I thrust my hand into my hoodie pocket and gripped a bag of potato chips tightly.
The silver package made a hard “crinkle” sound in response to my killing intent.
What kind of face is he making while laughing right now?
A pitiful device‚ forgetting even what he burned‚ just dancing on the strings hung by the administrator (system).
「The smell is too strong. …At this level of scorched stench‚ it actually makes me nauseous. …Hey‚ Nigari. How much of his insides do you think is left?」
「Who knows. But he’s spreading such a thick ‘scorched smell.’ …There probably isn’t even a single dessert plate’s worth of ‘soul’ as a human left.」
Nigari narrowed his sanpaku eyes and let them gleam as if measuring the “best-before date” of his prey.
I twisted my lips and took one step into the sunlit area.
The “dryness” I emitted sliced through the wet vanilla wind like cracked glass.
「Alright‚ let’s begin. …I’ll peel off the plating and expose the true nature of that empty shell.」
「……Hey Shio‚ look at that. The sparkle level of that ‘savior.’ It’s blinding.」
On my shoulder‚ Nigari covered his face with a gesture using his cracked foreleg.
The lakeshore visible through the gap in the bushes was an unnaturally “beautiful” scene.
With the golden cider lake behind her‚ Serina innocently clung to Rui’s arm‚ her silver hair fluttering. The surrounding air was sickeningly sweet to the eyes‚ and the two figures were outlined in unnatural backlighting like stage props. It was like a cheap fairy tale scene slathered in excessive sugar coating.
「……Yeah. High-resolution ‘lies.’ Just looking at it gives me heartburn.」
I narrowed my eyes‚ still gripping the silver package in my hoodie pocket‚ while focusing salt magic power that crackled at my other fingertips.
Unique Skill‚ “Taste of Reality (Salt Reality).”
A poison to strip away the “sugar content (illusion)” maintaining this sickeningly sweet miniature garden and expose the naked truth beneath it.
「Nigari‚ appraise him. Accurately expose his ‘contents.’」
「Roger. …Alright‚ time to peel the plating.」
The moment I snapped my fingers.
An invisible “dry wave” sliced through the wet vanilla wind and shot toward Rui.
In that instant.
Rui’s “texture” caused a fatal bug in my field of vision.
「……What the hell is that?」
My throat let out a sound of shock.
The salt magic power touched Rui’s cheek. What cracked with a “crack crack” wasn’t fresh‚ vibrant skin.
Beneath the peeled “perfect prince” texture‚ what was exposed was not flesh and blood.
It was strings of inorganic pale blue “server logs” and a terribly brittle “wireframe” merely mimicking a skeleton.
――Beeeeeep! Crackle crackle!
Immediately after‚ a grating system error scream that clawed directly at the eardrums echoed through the space.
The space around Rui distorted unnaturally‚ countless blood-like red ‘WARNING’ signs burst in the void and began flashing at insane speeds.
The administrator (system) nesting inside him detected the invasion of the unexpected deadly poison called ‘salt (reality)’ I released and was panicking‚ struggling to deploy barriers.
「This is awful… He’s not even maintaining the structure of life anymore.」
Nigari let out a stunned yet bone-chilling voice.
Every time the salt eroded Rui‚ his “savior” graphic mercilessly peeled away.
Instead of muscles‚ a red waterfall of ‘404 Not Found’ flowed.
Deep in his chest‚ ‘Unauthorized Access’ warnings flashed red like a heartbeat.
But the most horrifying thing wasn’t that.
He was laughing.
He was gently nodding at Serina’s innocent words with perfect timing.
Even as red warning windows piled up and burst overhead‚ and the management system screamed while scattering blood-like error logs trying to eliminate the ‘unauthorized interference (hacking).’ Without moving a single facial muscle‚ he continued outputting only the programmed “smile.”
What I saw was the miserable figure of a “humanoid device” being puppeted by the management system (OS) called Ciel‚ with its contents hollowed out.
「……Selling off even his own ‘name’ just to please that god (bug).」
The “dryness” I emitted sucked away the beautiful light around Rui‚ turning that area alone into a monochrome defective zone.
Rui’s shadow‚ stripped of color‚ no longer held a human shape. It writhed like sentient mud‚ a starving monster that continued to slurp the surrounding “sweetness.”
「He’s using his own soul as fuel to ‘weave’ this world. …It’s insane. It wouldn’t be strange if his life burned out and turned to sand at any moment.」
Nigari laughed coldly through his nose.
That’s right. Every time he is praised as a savior‚ the high-resolution happiness of this world is maintained. But in exchange‚ the one and only “real thing” recorded in the boy named Rui is continuously thrown into the trash box.
「……I’ll save you‚ Rui. I’ll drag you back to the ‘salty hell’ you’re pretending to have forgotten.」
While putting enough force into my grip to crush the hard package in my pocket‚ I quietly stepped onto the shining stage of madness.
The system first detected my presence as I stepped onto the shining stage of madness.
The moment Serina clung to Rui’s arm and pressed her silver hair against his chest—
In my vision through the unique skill ‘Taste of Reality (Salt Reality)‚’ Rui’s texture began flickering with unpleasant noise.
It was a scene that should originally be recorded as a bittersweet moment of youth.
But the deeper the contact‚ the wider the cracks spread‚ and red ‘Unauthorized Access’ warnings danced wildly in the void.
The wireframe pupils‚ having lost the coordinates they should gaze at‚ continued outputting the “perfect savior’s” smile without focus.
「……Disgusting. Makes me wanna puke.」
What rose from the depths of my chest was not reasoned rejection‚ but pure revulsion.
He was no longer human.
On that day‚ he had willingly become part of the “honey mud water” that folded up our daily lives.
「Shio‚ why are you so angry? Your sanpaku eyes have gone beyond jerky and look like a deep-sea fish now.」
On my shoulder‚ Nigari yawned while scattering crystals.
「……I’m not angry. It’s just that seeing him called a savior and selling off his real contents to maintain this ‘candy prison’ is so stupid I can’t stand watching.」
I slowly took out the silver package I had been gripping tightly in my pocket.
The hard‚ metallic feel of aluminum transmitted to my fingertips.
This wasn’t just a snack. It was raw “reality” to slam into this unnaturally sweet sterile room.
「Hey‚ you doing it?」
Nigari’s eyes changed into those of a reptile aiming at prey.
「……Yeah. I’ll remind him. How heavy and how—salty that orange wave was.」
The surrounding air began to tremble.
The dryness I emitted burned away the sweet wind like desert heat.
And then.
A decisive noise echoed through the silent forest.
――Crisp.
A dry yet violent “sound of opening a snack bag.”
Its high-frequency vibration physically shattered the wet syrup air.
The next moment.
What overflowed from the bag’s opening was the miasma most abhorred by this world ruled by “sugar content”—.
「……Ugh‚ what a horrible smell. It’s burning the back of my nose.」
Nigari writhed.
Carried by the wind was the oxidized‚ junky‚ and violent “smell of oil and salt.”
To this world accustomed to the sweet scent of cotton candy‚ it was equivalent to a fatal biological terror.
「――What is this smell…!?」
Rui‚ who had been smiling at Serina by the lakeshore‚ froze completely.
His ‘wireframe’ pupils shook unnaturally and violently left and right‚ with bright red warning logs cascading down like a waterfall on his retinas.
「……Rui? What’s wrong? Your face is so pale…?」
Even Serina’s anxious voice no longer reached Rui.
The moment the oily smell reached the lakeshore on the wind‚ the anomaly appeared in the environment itself.
The cotton candy trees around them that had been glowing in pastel colors.
The instant they touched the oxidized oil miasma‚ they underwent a horrifying transformation.
With a “squish” sound like rotten fruit‚ the cute pink and light blue leaves melted and dripped into black sludge.
The sweet “salvation” was rapidly rewritten into naked “decay.”
「……Alright‚ let’s begin. You empty ‘candy savior.’」
I pinched one lightly salted chip from the bag with my fingertips.
I slowly bit into it with my back teeth as if in prayer.
The intense saltiness that burned my throat spread.
The cruel taste of reality that completely dried and burned away the “honey mud water” that had filled my lungs that day.
Crushing the salt in the back of my throat‚ I walked toward the center of the shining stage.
「I’ll drag you back to the ‘salty hell’ you’re pretending to have forgotten.」
【Chapter 13.1 Complete】
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