"Little Bu, stop reading and come out, quick! Something huge has happened!!"
Little Bu raised her head in confusion. The door was pushed open, and though the late-autumn sunlight was not particularly intense, it still felt somewhat glaring to her.
She had always lived underground and was still somewhat unaccustomed to such warmth and brightness.
A figure stood in the doorway, obscured by the backlight. Little Bu instinctively raised a hand to shield her eyes from the sun, only to be grabbed and pulled away.
She stumbled a few steps as she was dragged out of the room.
Once outside, everything suddenly became much clearer, and Little Bu finally saw the girl pulling her along.
"W-What's wrong, Rebecca?"
Rebecca was the girl who brought her meals every day. Apparently, she had not been in Castel for very long either, and she was always pulling Little Bu into conversations.
"It's your kin, the Untouchables. Wow, is that name kind of offensive?"
"No, we're people who can't be touched." Little Bu answered instinctively, only then noticing that the girl was holding her hand. "Y-You need to let go! It'll bring you bad luck!"
"There's no time! The speedboat to Blood Port is about to leave. As long as we run fast enough, bad luck won't catch us!" Rebecca shouted.
The guards at the testing grounds had clearly been notified beforehand. Not only did they not stop Little Bu and Rebecca when they came running over, they even opened the gates for them.
"W-We can just leave like this?"
"What else would we do? The lord personally authorized it—you're going to help treat your kin!"
"T-Treat them?" Little Bu was startled. "Did something happen to them?"
"The Holy See dug down underground and started a war with your people. Lord Ash took the