Since Aoko had come to Bonny Village from Ensis Castle, she could use teleportation magic at any time to return to the room that Rellana had left for her in Bonny Castle. She had informed Rellana about this arrangement in advance.
Unlike the in-game mechanic of teleporting via blessings, those who retain Runes within themselves can consume a portion of their Runes to teleport using blessings they have previously encountered. However, teleporting to a blessing point within a guarded city requires the consent of that city's ruler. In other words, the internal blessing points of a city are ultimately controlled by its ruler.
Moreover, even though Aoko and Touko could use blessing points for teleportation and Rellana had allowed it, they could not bring the rescued young girl with them. This was because she had never touched a blessing point in Ensis Castle (nor even in Boni Village, for that matter).
The young girl was somewhat afraid of Aoko's blue eyes but was highly dependent on Touko, who had golden-colored eyes and had healed her. She spoke to Touko intermittently about her previous village and her experiences after arriving in Bonny Village.
The girl's village had no name; it was a small, hidden settlement not far from Bonny Village.
As villagers who had no horns on their heads and who had embraced the faith of the Golden Tree, they naturally received the protection of the Golden Tree and became its blessed people.
They had once heard that there was a hornless people known as the Witchfolk who were often captured by the horned ones and taken away, never to be seen again. However, as residents of an obscure village, they always believed that such misfortunes would never befall them—after all, they had lived peacefully up until then.
Subsequent events seemed to confirm their assumptions. After Queen Marika ascended to godhood, she sent her offspring, Messmer, to carry out a large-scale massacre of the horned people. Yet, their village remained untouched, as Messmer never came to conscript troops from them, and the horned people never discovered their existence.
However, when Queen Marika sealed and concealed the Land of Shadows, everything changed.
Messmer's army ceased their efforts to exterminate the remaining horned people in the Land of Shadows, allowing many horned survivors who harbored a deep hatred for the Golden Tree's forces to persist. Among these survivors were former villagers of Bonny Village who had returned.
Some of the old horned jar-makers resumed their craft, using the charred remains of Bonny Village's residents to create living jars. In the past, they had crafted these jars using the flesh of sinners and the Witchfolk as their cores. However, due to their excessive slaughter of the Witchfolk, the last of them had gone extinct long ago, forcing them to seek alternative materials.
Thus, the girl's village was discovered by the remnants of the horned people. As hornless believers of the Golden Tree, they became targets for the jar-makers of Bonny Village. All the villagers, along with many other Golden Tree followers from similar villages, were captured and taken back to Bonny Village, where they were gradually transformed into living jars—what the horned people called better people.
Though a so-called jar-maker within Bonny Village secretly released a few Golden Tree followers, these acts of mercy were fleeting. This jar-maker eventually found themselves unable to endure the village's atrocities and chose to flee.
The girl was the last survivor of her village, and the Aozaki sisters had saved her from her cruel fate.
...
"So, remnants still linger in Bonny Village..."
Rellana murmured coldly. "This is a failure on my part as a commander of the expeditionary forces. This girl can stay in Ensis Castle and serve as my attendant."
"When I first heard that the Golden Tree had dispatched an expeditionary army to attack the horned people's cities, I thought it was just a standard military campaign," Aoko said. "But now, it seems like there were much deeper reasons behind it."
"I initially thought the same as you," Rellana nodded. "But as the war progressed, my perspective changed—I witnessed the arrogance and crimes of the horned people. This girl's tragic fate is merely a glimpse of their atrocities."
"By the way, the girl also mentioned that the horned people have an underground workshop where they create living jars. It also seems to function as a prison," Touko added. "Many of her villagers were taken there and never returned."
"Does she know its exact location?" Rellana asked. "I can dispatch a unit to assist you in eliminating the horned remnants hiding there. Any valuables found inside will be yours to keep."
"The girl described the entrance to the prison," Touko nodded. "It's located south of Bonny Village, at the base of a mountain beyond the suspension bridge."
Upon learning the prison's location, Rellana immediately assembled a squad of ten Messmer expeditionary soldiers to accompany Aoko and Touko to Bonny Village.
In truth, Aoko and Touko could handle the enemies inside the prison on their own, but the task of clearing out the area would be tedious, so they decided it would be best to leave that to the professional soldiers while they focused on dealing with high-level threats.
Since the group was too large, Aoko couldn't use standard teleportation magic to return to Bony Village quickly. Instead, she expanded the range of her Wind Sky Realm with her immense magical power, carrying the squad through the air.
The Messmer soldiers were highly disciplined and exceptionally skilled in combat, though they were not particularly talkative.
After receiving authorization from Rellana, the soldiers followed Aoko and Touko's orders without hesitation and executed them with great efficiency.
After making their preparations, the twelve-member strike team crossed the wooden suspension bridge south of Bonny Village and arrived at the entrance of the Bonny Prison.
Aoko and Touko, as the leaders, were the first to step into the cold, eerie-smelling prison.
The prison had been constructed within a natural cave, which the horned people had further excavated, using the terrain to build massive structures.
After passing through a pitch-black tunnel (illuminated by a Light spell), the true form of Bonny Prison revealed itself before them.
The prison was incredibly deep, with numerous chains affixed to the ceiling, suspending countless large jars below.
Some of the jars remained intact, while others were broken, their contents long since vanished.
For some unknown reason, the temperature inside the prison was below freezing, with icicles forming along the walls from moisture that had seeped out and solidified.
As Aoko and Touko led the squad deeper inside, the first enemy they encountered startled them—it was something that looked like a walking mass of flesh.
Upon closer inspection, they realized it was a young woman who had been sewn together with decayed, rotting flesh.
Her mind had long been shattered by the torment she had endured, and she had even lost the ability to speak. This must have been the inevitable fate of those placed inside the living jars.
"Her soul has also been severely damaged by the suffering she's endured, beyond even my ability to repair," Touko shook her head. "Kill her and end her misery. That way, at least, she'll be free."