Chapter 369: You Disgust Me

"Do you know that this place is..." Arthur"s voice trailed, but his meaning was obvious.

"Inside a spirit?" The man nodded. "We know about this already, but there"s nothing that we can do." He shook his head with regret. "However, we are trapped here without the ability to do anything!"

"What have you tried, exactly?" Arthur probed, but the man simply waved off his hand.

"It"s inappropriate to talk here. Let"s go inside first!" The giant man grinned and turned to walk in. "Please, come inside!"

Li looked at Arthur, and the latter shrugged and walked into the house. They were taken to a grand guest room lined with many spiritual plants.

Arthur felt better the moment he walked in. He looked at his hand, as golden as the sun, and noticed that an aura grew around it. The man sat on a chair and gestured for Arthur and Li to do the same.

"Please, seekers!"

"This room has a lot of spiritual energy..." Arthur looked around in amazement.

"Of course, we have specifically arranged it to welcome the great wandering souls." The man said and then introduced himself. "My humble name is Romba. I lead the people here."

"My name is Romeo, and my friend is called Ren," Arthur said, lying without batting an eye. Romba nodded with a warm smile. "Can I know the history of Ligan?"

Arthur knew that Ligan directly translated to "pig"s guts" in Alvan Language. He was intrigued by the existence of civilization inside a spirit in the Spirits Realm.

He, however, didn"t plan on staying here for long.

"The Eater"s Spirit swallowed us before its contractor died. The spirit, however, returned to the Spirits Realm. So we were left here, unable to leave this place forever." Romba explained as if he had the lines memorized.

"The Eater?" Arthur was confused, but Romba seemed to be acting a play of his own and answered straight away.

"The man who wanted to create a separate world inside his spirit by eating away Alva," Romba explained. "It happened years ago, and it"s no wonder that it"s unknown for most people."

"People tend to forget tragedies easily," Arthur consoled. "And how long have you stayed here?"

"Six years," Romba sighed, shocking Arthur. Li, who didn"t understand what was going on, stared around the room leisurely. "We have been trapped with no way to leave this cursed land."

"And do you know of a method to leave?"

"We do," Romba nodded. "However, the spirit is stronger than any of us. It seems a portion of The Eater"s soul merged with it, strengthening it greatly."

"We found the spirit in the Earthen World, so it shouldn"t be that strong." Arthur pondered. "Unless there are exceptions."

"There are many spirits of the Skyey tier but refuse to ascend to a higher world. Gluttony"s reason for staying here is simple: to devour things." Romba said with a frown.

"I understand. Can you tell me the method?" Arthur pleaded, and Romba nodded thoughtfully.

"Follow me,"

***

Romba was a giant man with a heavy build. He had tattoos covering his barrel-sized arms, and they looked to be recent. His long hair covered his back, even though it was dreadlocked.

The leader of Ligan led the two seekers away from the city, toward the center of the island. As he did, he kept telling Arthur and Li about the many aspects of Ligan, even though they didn"t ask.

"There are many species of edible creatures, and we made sure that we didn"t drive them to extinction. The trees seemed to absorb the spirit"s energy, taking only a month to grow fully. That"s how we managed to live until now."

"I see," Arthur nodded. "And about this method..."

"You can say that it"s the manifestation of Gluttony"s ability to expand s.p.a.ce. If we can undo it, then we can successfully leave the spirit and return to the outside world."

"Gluttony is in the Spirits Realm," Arthur knew the name of the spirit from Romba. "If you leave this s.p.a.ce, then you are going to end up there, I think."

"I realize that fact," Romba stopped moving and grumbled. "But it"s better than living here for the rest of our lives."

"Are you sure?" Arthur said with a smile. "You are safe from the outside world here, and you have food and shelter. But, if you return to Alva now, can you guarantee that the Calamities won"t shred you to pieces?"

The words made Romba"s body tremble, and the man turned to Arthur with shock. His eyes were shaking, and he looked at Arthur with a pale face.

"That"s indeed correct, but..." Romba tried to explain his motives, but Arthur interrupted him without hesitation.

"Do you think Gluttony will allow you to live here like parasites, feeding off its powers without a price?" Arthur stared at the man, grinning even though he had no form. "No. I think you already know that."

"Gluttony can"t do anything about us..." Romba retreated in a fl.u.s.ter.

"I think it can. What if it took all edible things out of its s.p.a.ce? Then, we would have found nothing but bones." Arthur said as he took a step forward.

"We..."

"You lure seekers somewhere, and it brings you benefits. You have no desire to leave this s.p.a.ce, even if you can. Why are there no seekers, even though you know of their existence? You built a guests room for seekers without meeting any?"

"All of them returned to their world after their spiritual energy diminished!" Romba said with a defensive tone. "As Seekers, we can"t do anything to harm you."

"And seekers can"t do anything to harm you," Arthur nodded. "That seems to be the restriction placed because of our spiritual presence here. So I think you have a way to feed seekers to Gluttony, and it serves you well in return. Hence, the greed."

Romba was quiet, clenching his fists hard. Arthur, however, wasn"t interested in punishing or exposing him further. He only wanted to find a way out of this place.

"I don"t care if you are leading me to Gluttony itself or a trap. Just get me there." He told the giant man, who looked at him with confusion.

"You will follow me...?" Romba"s eyes turned wide with surprise, not understanding Arthur"s reasons to follow him into a trap.

"I want to leave this place, and it seems whatever you are leading me to has the answers to my questions. So as long as you don"t try anything funny yourself, you are free to go."

"Really?" Romba asked with doubt. "You know that following me might not end well for you."

"Are you trying to deter me away from the trap you were leading me to?" Arthur asked with amus.e.m.e.nt. "I also know that I lack information about this place. I"m also confident that this spirit isn"t stronger than me, but simply a trickster."

Romba looked at him, then at his chains, and seemed to buy it. He nodded and kept leading them, taking them all the way to climb a mountain.

At the summit was a platform lined with many runic lines. The lines glowed subtly in the light of day, and Arthur could sense runes in it. However, the existence of runes here was outside of his expectations.

"This is the place," Romba pointed at the platform. "All you have to do is go up there, and the spirit will try to absorb your powers."

"Is that how you sacrificed the seekers before?" Arthur asked with curiosity. "And what do you get in return?"

For the first time, he saw a hint of guilt in the man"s face. However, it was soon replaced with self-conviction. Romba narrated without hesitation what he did before.

"I was the only one to talk to Gluttony, and it offered us shelter here in return for our help. We needed to guide seekers here without telling them that this is how Gluttony devours their powers." Romba explained. "In return, we live another day."

"Why didn"t you try to leave?" Arthur asked. "You might have had a chance of doing so with the help of seekers."

"It"s as you said. Alva was full of dangers. Before the spirit ate us, most of us lost our families to either war or calamities." Romba explained. "Even if the world is a better place now, we don"t know how to live differently anymore."

"What about people who are waiting for you outside?" Arthur asked, relating to the man.

"They can move on without me." Romba shook his head with a pained expression. Arthur looked at him and saw a shadow of a man torn by life. He understood that some things needed to be done, but...

"You disgust me."

Arthur said and walked toward the platform. This man allowed himself to indulge in a momentary peace at the expense of his morals. However, the lack of morals wasn"t what bugged Arthur.

The man could abandon his past life and the people who cared for him just to stay here. But that was something he would never do.