'Bring out firewood.'

  The orb trembled. A white line glowed under its eyes, forming a simple lip. It then gurgled, cheeks expanded each second like stretched dough. Just as it appeared to explode, the orb puked out tens of cards.

  Each card was plastered with images of different firewood. On the bottom left of them were written numbers, starting from tens to as high as hundreds. On the bottom right, however, was a little different. Some cards had symbols, while some had numbers.

  'Matches.'

  The orb gurgled again before spitting out another row of cards. Surely, those cards now showed matchsticks.

  'Expensive.'

  He stared at those cards. The black dagger he had bought earlier cost 20 of those 'Fate' things. He thought it was already expensive enough, but just a piece of the cheapest firewood cost 30 Fate.

  Just a piece of firewood was more expensive than the respective lives of Jring and Grinz.

  It was indeed expensive, but he could not complain. After all, he was aware that trees were more valuable than humans in that world.

  Regardless, he contemplated buying that firewood. Not because of the price. He was just unsure of something.

  "Maria, is it safe to start a fire here?"

  He was not worried about the sky. He knew that they were hidden deep enough to avoid the eyes of the sky. Instead, he was just concerned if it was safe to start a fire in such a tight space. Vision of fire exploding out and engulfing them keep appearing in his mind.

  "...Hm? What is it?" Maria exhaled deeply, rolling turning facing her son.

  Her eyes were in a daze, and she was facing a little away from where her son was actually sitting. Perhaps because she was still lying, Julian barely saw Maria's eyes moving.

  "Fire. Can I start one here?"

  Julian had lived a long life, but it was not one that gave him the pleasure to learn such miscellaneous things.

  "Fire?" Maria asked, her fluttering eyelashes snapped open in surprise.

  "No, you mustn't!" she continued, pushing her tired body up.

  "Woman, you are too noisy," Julian said, tapping his knuckle on his ear.

  Julian looked at Maria's face. She had gone mental just by hearing the word fire. He was taken aback, as she did not react that way prior. It was as if she did not remember he had set that Viceroy-wide fire back in the village.

  He could explain that it would be safe to start a fire under the earth. He could also explain that he just wanted to know if that tight space would explode by making a fire. But, he already concluded that doing so would just be a waste of time.

  "Sigh...Maria," Julian called, his voice tired.

  "Y...yes?" Maria answered, her voice nervous.

  "What was that red stone called?"

  "Red stone?"

  Maria, who looked tensed, visibly eased up. Perhaps she was expecting another question, but she was in a daze for a few seconds before realizing that Julian was waiting for her to answer.

  "What? You don't even know that?" Julian asked with a deep frown.

  "No, no, it's just... what stone are you talking about?"

  "The red stone, the one that dries clothes," Julian said, his voice impatient.

  "The spark stone? Why- " Maria's words were cut short.

  Her eyes laced with tint of guilt, and the easiness vanished as quickly as it came. She dragged her body toward the knapsack lying cold beside her. Weakly rummaged the knapsack on her side, she continued, "Wait, it should be here somewhere."

  However, the minute she spent searching for the stone came to an end with a disappointed face. Frantically, she pulled a piece of clothing before dragging herself toward Julian.

  "Change into this. It's still dry."

  "I don't need that," Julian said, staring at the women's dress. Retracting his hand that had unconsciously reaching for his sword, he muttered, "Keep your hands away from me."

  "Don't be stubborn! You are cold, right?"

  "Huh? Sto-cough... stop speaking nonsense," Julian hissed, immediately stepping away from Maria.

  "And stop acting like that...It's disgusting, " he continued.

  Turning back his attention to Everything, Julian began to skim for the spark stones. Surely, they were also different kinds of spark stone, and surely, he bought the cheapest after a little bit of contemplation.

  ***

  The rumbling above ground had settled down. With the appearance of the red stone, which continuously producing hot breeze, the air in that tight space soon became less suffocating. Some comfort finally descended for the pair in that foreign place.

  "Julian, is everything all right...?"

  "How many times are you going to ask? Just keep looking that way."

  Maria, with the red stone clasped on her chest, had already changed into the new pair of clothes. She was facing the corroded cave wall, while Julian was kneeling before the edge of the footing.

  They were separated by a distance of cold air. Their backs facing each other.

  'It's spreading fast.'

  Julian gazed at his hardened forearm. At that moment, the bulged on that area was comparable to the size of an adult's fist. Comparably, the pain had also gotten much worse.

  It was to the point that even that little bit of pain tolerance his new gift, [Rock], provided became useless after a little while. If it was put into words, he felt as if his flesh was being ground by glass shards.

  "Tch, that happened, eh?"

  Swatting away the uninvited memories of a certain someone, he pulled out a piece of cloth before biting hard into it.

  Holding his breath, he released the hardening.

  SPLURT.

  A mixture of red and black sprayed out from Julian's forearm. His chest went up and down frantically. The piece of cloth in his mouth stained red with blood, and his face contorted in pain.

  However, just like usual, he made no sound.

  Slosh. Slosh.

  He paid close attention to the sound from above. As he expected, there was no ruckus brewing.

  'How ironic.'

  Julian gazed at the black veins that popped out around his wound. Each strain was only as thin as horse hair, only noticeable under great attention. Julian showed no concern about the veins. Instead, he looked especially amused.

  'That tainted, should be that one.'

  He was struck several times on his way to the cave entrance, so he was not weirded out that one or two of those may contain Corruption. However, if he had to guess, he would say the tainted that split his back open was the culprit.

  "Sigh..."

  Shaking his head, Julian looked at the several other bulges around his body. Just that small wound on his forearm had made his consciousness slip. Undoubtedly, what he felt at that moment was none other than fear.

  He cursed himself for welcoming the feeling of pain back when he first returned to the past.

  Spurt.

  Trickle.

  Spurt.

  The river before Julian had darkened. All that blood and clots had found their new home in the river. As painful as it was, he still managed to keep his mind sane and conscious throughout the time.

  He let out a sigh through the shredded cloth in his mouth. The sensation from the blood seeping out of his wounds felt refreshing. He did not know that holding his wound from bleeding would somehow be more uncomfortable than holding his excrement.

  "May peace keep gracing you, O'Water."

  Water. It was, is, and will always be the purifier of evil. It cleanses all the bad and stench of the world. Even when the world had consumed itself, water had never once betrayed the human. No matter what happens in the world, water will always be the ally of humans.

  But water is not capable of cleansing Corruption.

  The black veins under his skin were still visible.