Hearts Underground

Nir and Rain pass by a suspicious figure in the main hall after talking to the empress.

They return to their room.

-”Was that the spy she was talking about?” - Nir asks.

-”He didn’t seem to dress the way I imagined a spy would…” - Rain answers. “Anyway, should we take our weapons and head towards Grandpa?”

-”Hmm… We said we would give him a day… It’s not impossible that he went to sleep early… You know… Like a grandpa”. - Nir replies. “We can give him some more time, I think. Let’s at least grab something to eat at the market”.

-”Sure, although I think grandpas usually wake up early too… Then again, he isn’t exactly a normal grandpa”.

As they decide to head to the market, they pass by the main hall again, seeing that the suspicious man isn’t there and must have already left.

The empress calls them out: “Yo! You two are heading to the market right? I’m starving! Let me join you!”

-”Empress, you have a kitchen here”. - Says Ranmei. “Why don’t you ever use it?”

-”Why aren’t they using it?!” - She says, pointing at Nir and Rain. “I want to breathe some fresh air, see my beautiful town…”

-”But you are the empress! Professional chefs cook in your kitchen!” - Ranmei replies.

-”If I’m the empress, can’t I EVEN eat a normal meal at the market???” - She answers, seemingly cute all of a sudden. “Wait up, you two!” - She says, then jumps off of her throne and walks quickly towards them. She is dressed in a much more casual fashion than usual.

The three of them go to the market together.

They reach the market and head straight to the rabbit-roo curry stand. People don’t seem to notice them. They are not getting any special attention.

“Can I get 3 of the special, please?” - The empress asks.

-”Sure, no problem”. - The merchant replies. He then prepares 3 bowls for them.

Nir and Rain look at each other without saying anything. Each of them knows what the other one is thinking.

-”’Why are we not attracting attention?’ - Is what you’re thinking, isn’t it?” - The empress asks. She then explains: “When my people see me dressed like this, they know I’m not here to get any special attention… Not that I’m ever here specifically for the attention, but what I mean is - they know I’m now here for the opposite”.

Nir and Rain are surprised to hear that.

The merchant hands them the bowls. “Eat up, my treat!” - The empress tells them.

The empress looks at the people as they are moving around town. Then, she stares in a specific direction.

They dispose of the bowls after they finish eating quickly.

“Follow me”. - She says.

Nir and Rain follow the empress, not knowing where she is going to take them.

They go to the tree Nir and Rain were leaning against as they laid on the ground next to each other, on their date the other day.

“Do you know this place?” - The empress asks.

-”Yea, we spent some time here”. - Rain answers. “I love that spot”.

-”It’s a nice spot isn’t it? Me and Ranmei…” - She decided to stop oversharing. “Anyway if you already know this spot, follow me”.

They now walk towards the castle and turn to the direction of the turret that the empress likes to stand on top of and observe everything.

They go up the stairs and reach the top. As the empress looks to the distance, seeing some of the villages that are surrounding the empire, Nir and Rain just stand next to her being quiet. They stay like that for a while.

The empress then turns around, grabs their heads, and lowers herself so their heads will fit on her shoulders.

Nir and Rain stand on the tip of their toes, as the empress is quite tall. They are surprised to be hugged so suddenly.

“We don’t need you at all… But when you’re gone… There’s nothing”. - The empress tells them. “Please, stay safe”.

Nir and Rain can’t help but start tearing.

The empress lets them go as she stands straight again and goes in between them. She leaves, as if running away, trying to show nothing but her back. She uses the palm of her hand to cover her face the entire time, making sure they can’t see her expression.

After a few seconds Nir says: “It’s if she adopted us”.

-”Yea, it does feel like that”. - Rain replies.

-”Do you think we gave Grandpa enough time?”

Rain nods twice. -”Let’s go meet him”.

They make their way to the house of worship. Inside, they find Grandpa on top of the stage, with a bunch of papers spread all over. He looks like a little baby trying to draw. As they get closer, they see he really is drawing.

-”Good, you made it just in time”. - He says. “Here is the map of the underground…”

-”Underground of where?” - Nir asks.

-”Underground of the nursing home”. - Grandpa answers. “That’s where we’re heading”.

-”A nursing home?” - Rain asks in surprise.

-”I will explain”. - Says Grandpa. “On the surface, this place looks like a normal nursing home. Technically, it is. In fact, the elderly who live there are being treated very nicely… Until… They are being killed…”

-”What do you mean?” - Nir asks.

-”Vermond, is the name of the guy who’s in charge… He’s always making sure they are being treated well, and that the place is always clean… Anything you’d expect from someone who does a good job managing the nursing home. However… This is all a guise for harvesting their hearts”.

Nir and Rain look at each other. It reminds them somewhat of what happens to children out of marriage in the villages.

-”It’s almost like…” - Rain says quietly, not sure if to open up the subject.

-”Yea…” - Nir confirms.

-”It started as a normal nursing home, but as he saw old people dying one after another, I guess, he started thinking their hearts were going to waste. A lot of the people who end up there don’t have any family relatives to give those hearts to.

Some do have relatives, of course, but it’s not uncommon that family members wouldn’t want to inherit hearts and prefer to age normally instead, not wanting their age to freeze, or the horrifying experience of ending the life of their precious family member, even with their consent in old age.

Some have relatives that are too old to be a soldier. Although they can probably receive permission from the empress to inherit hearts and keep working normally in the town, in case there isn’t any other relative who is younger and would like to serve as a soldier. The point is - it’s still generally frowned upon to transfer your hearts without the person inheriting them becoming a soldier. And so… In a sense, one could claim the hearts of those who age normally and do not bequeath them to a relative who shall become a soldier - are generally going to waste once they die.

If one of the elderly is sick, they are being taken care of… But, if they are reaching a very old age, or seem to be in a really bad condition… Vermond kills them. Since he is treating them so well otherwise, some would have probably even consented to it.

From Vermond’s perspective, he can’t ask them for their hearts since that would corrupt the image of the place and make them feel uncomfortable, which would lead to the place losing customers. On the other hand, if he doesn’t ask, waiting for them to die of old age without intervening, the hearts wouldn’t be inherited by him. So he chose not to ask, but also not to wait for them to die either.

If he just reached the empress, perhaps the entirety of the empire might have been able to adopt some policies with consent of the town’s people. But instead, he chose not to risk it and prioritized himself. So he kept his business growing, and even recruited criminals to work for him as he expanded his control, slowly. All of this while keeping up with the facade. As rumors still spread, people started calling him ‘Empe Vampa’, which means: ‘The vampire of the empire’”.

-”This is… Unbelieveable…” - Says Rain.

-”And yet, I’m not surprised someone tried something like that…” - Nir responds.

-”Nir… Remember when I suggested there may be people who are up to no good, yet still like the empress?” - Rain reminds him. “I bet this guy has normalized himself so much, his immoral acts are not attracting enough attention and investigating him becomes low priority, and so he would probably never want to get on the empress’s bad side”.

-”You have no idea how much you’re correct…” - Says Grandpa. “As some of the elderly even heard the rumors, he owned it instead and started going by that nickname, making it seem as if the rumors are just childish and he is being playful. While I, on the other hand, have seen him commit the murders with my own eyes”.

-”So what’s the plan, boss?” - Nir asks him.

-”The plan is… To get you some hearts”.