Goldy Pond

''This article is about the Manga version of Goldy Pond. For alternate pages referred to by this name, please click any of the icons above.''

Goldy Pond (ゴールディ・ポンド), or just simply called A08-63, was a secret reserve for hunting humans located in the Demon World and owned by Bayon. It was originally William Minerva's base for human escapees, but in 2031, it was discovered by a group of demons who came to be known as the "Poachers" when Minerva was betrayed by Peter Ratri. After discovering it, and with Minerva gone, the Poachers proceeded to turn the the place into a secret reserve for hunting humans with help from Peter Ratri.

Goldy Pond consisted of three layers, each located directly beneath the previous. The first layer was a regular lake in the middle of the demon forest, hiding the "real" Goldy Pond underneath. The second layer was located underground, beneath the lake and consists of a village, farm fields, a forest, and a large mansion. This whole layer was inhabited by the children and the Poachers who hunt children for fun. The third and final layer was located underground beneath the second layer and could only be accessed by a door that was made by William Minerva, hidden in the big windmill inside the village. This door could only be opened with the Promised Pen and served as the entrance to the third layer: a big monitor room and a Golden Lake with a little island and house on top of it.

The hunting ground was located underground so that nobody could escape it nor notice it from the outside. Bayon bought children from the Premium Farms (mainly Grand Valley), but also sometimes poached humans from the outside world, and dumped them into the second layer to become prey in the Poacher's hunting game. There are an average of fifty children residing at Goldy Pond at any given time. When a group of new children arrived once a month, an older, more experienced child explained the rules to them: (1) Music, (2) Monsters, and (3) Survive. When the music played, a hunt began. During a hunt, monsters would come in and hunt the children and they would need to survive until the music stopped. A hunt occurs every three days, and a minimum of four children are killed during each hunt and numerous are injured. Once the music stops, the hunt is over and the surviving children receive medical treatment from the Goldy Pond Resistance and get three days of rest before the next hunt starts. After each hunt, the Poachers return to their homes and eat the meat of the children they just killed.

With the exception Emma, Lucas, and Adam, all children who lived in Goldy Pond were shipped out from the Grand Valley orphanage where Leuvis has significant influence, managing the plantation as a purveyor.

History
Goldy Pond was constructed by James Ratri aka William Minerva to provide amusement, shelter, and a path to the Human World to escapees from the Premium Farms. Prior to the creation of Goldy Pond, Lord Bayon, who is the investor of twenty-four farms, supervisor of twelve farms, and in charge of six farms, had been secretly hunting humans in his private garden for hundreds of years. He did this because he was sick of eating cold, jarred, pre-killed orphans from the farms and that killing his food himself makes the meat tastes better because he feels like he is actually devouring a piece of life. However, he had to remind himself that his "secret pastime" must stay a secret in order to avoid getting in trouble for breaking the "Promise" and causing another war between humans and demons. In 2031, William Minerva was betrayed and executed by Peter Ratri. Later that same year, Peter meets with Bayon and tells him that he knows about Bayon's "secret pastime". Deciding it best to keep it on the down low, but also not tell him to stop to avoid angering him, Peter also tells Bayon about Goldy Pond and offers it to him as a place where he can go and hunt humans in secret without risk of getting caught. As a result, Bayon along with his friends, Leuvis, Nous, Nouma and Luce as well as their servants overran the village in the second layer of Goldy Pond, which they soon turned into a hunting ground with the help of Peter Ratri, as orphans who had either been bought or had stumbled in by accident were thrown into the second layer for Leuvis and his team to "amuse themselves with."

In 2033, Yugo, Lucas, Dina, and sixteen other children escaped from Glory Bell. They then took refuge at Shelter B06-32 where they started a new life. They later found a letter in the shelter, that stated the children need to go to Goldy Pond where the writer of the letter, William Minerva, left something "more than just living in the shelter" behind for them. The children went on a long journeys going through big forests were they encountered Wild Demons and other dangerous threats. Eventually, the children arrived at Goldy Pond where they encountered the Poachers, who hunt children for fun. There, Leuvis murdered all of the children, with the exception of Yugo and Lucas who barely managed to escape alive. Yugo returned to the shelter where he began to live as a hermit, all alone, for the next thirteen years. Meanwhile, Lucas formed a resistance organization located in Goldy Pond of which he is the leader.

On January 29, 2046, Goldy Pond was destroyed via the self-destruct button located in monitor room in the third layer, after the Goldy Pond Resistance emerged victorious in the Battle in Goldy Pond.

The Game
The rules of "the game" are displayed on a sign at the entrance to the village in the second layer: (1) Music, (2) Monsters, and (3) Survive. There are five demons (excluding their servants) whom hunt fifty human orphans. The demons hunt every three days. The Poachers buy children from the Premium Farms, but sometimes poach for humans from the outside. When the music starts, the hunt begins, and the demons start hunting the children, resulting in a minimum of four deaths and countless injuries each hunt.

After the music stops, the hunt ends, and the surviving children receive medical treatment from the Goldy Pond Resistance and get three days of rest before the hunt starts again.

After each hunt, the Poachers return to their homes and eat the meat of the children they just killed, with the meat nicely chopped into pieces shaped like steak.

First Layer & Exterior
Goldy Pond lies in the middle of a Wild Demon infested forest. In the middle of the forest was a huge lake, suggesting that 'that' was Goldy Pond. However, it was in fact underground—because of it being a secret hunting ground—so that nobody could notice or find it. There were only two known ways to get inside Goldy Pond. The first way was to be caught and be taken inside by a demon or use the same entrance that the demons used. The demon's entrance is located in some underground tunnels beneath the mansion and behind a giant fan used for ventilation. The second entrance was to use an old, different path that Yugo took years ago to escape from Goldy Pond. Most of the children were unaware these paths existed and thus believed that there was no way to escape. The lake was surrounded by big trees and big, sharp, and rigid rock-like sculptures.

Second Layer & Interior
The second layer lies completely underground, directly beneath the lake and serves as a hunting ground for the Poachers to hunt the children. It is located inside of a giant dome to prevent water from the lake from coming in. It is also the main setting of the Goldy Pond Battle Arc. The second layer contains an old fashioned brightly colored village that seems to be taken out of a fairy tale. There are many different buildings, including windmills and houses surrounded by a big forest. The buildings are adorned with colorful streamers, banner flags, balloons, and stuffed clowns as if to invoke an ironic sense of fun and happiness in an otherwise dreadful and dangerous place. Just outside the village is a vast open land consisting of many farm fields. It also contains various unreachable fake mountains in the distance as well as an artificial sky projected on the underside of the dome. On top of a hill in the distance and on the other side of the farm fields is a large mansion which is where the Poachers and their servants reside.

The big windmill in the middle of the reserve serves as the base for the secret Goldy Pond Resistance movement. The windmill also serves as the living place of the members of the resistance movement as well as Lucas who lived there for almost thirteen years together with an unnamed boy. This boy died eight years ago from sickness. There was an opening hidden inside of a pillar in the windmill leading to a secret passage to forest outside as well as a secret passage to the hallway that led to Minerva's Door. This door can only be opened by the Promised Pen and leads to the third layer.

Third Layer & Interior
The third layer lies underneath the second layer and can only be entered by using one of the Promised Pens to open William Minerva's Door. On the other side of the door is a highly-advanced monitor room that contains a self-destruct button for Goldy Pond and can control the entire hunting ground, including the temperature, ventilation, electricity, sewage, clocks and composite imagery for the sky among other things.

At the other side of the monitor room is a door that leads to a big Golden Lake. This lake is considered the "real" Goldy Pond, from which the entire place gets it's name. When William Minerva invited the escapees to Goldy Pond, he was specifically inviting them to this lake, or more so, to the cabin on this lake to hear his pre-recorded phone call. According to Lucas, the Golden Water in the lake is abnormal, as the person touching it cannot get wet by it. In the middle of the lake is a floating island with a cabin on top. Inside the cabin, there is an old telephone that contained a pre-recorded message from William Minerva and an old elevator that once led to the Human World, but was deactivated when the Poachers took over Goldy Pond. The elevator can only be accessed by using the Promised Pen.

Battle in Goldy Pond

 * Main article: Battle in Goldy Pond



Escapees

 * 28 unnamed Goldy Pond members

Deceased Humans

 * Walter (Deceased)
 * Flore (Deceased)
 * Abel (Deceased)
 * Hilda (Deceased)
 * Pedro (Deceased)
 * Jatte (Deceased)
 * Damian (Deceased)
 * Bess (Deceased)
 * Stacie (Deceased)
 * Sophie (Deceased)
 * Oliver's brother (Deceased)
 * Sonya's brother (Deceased)
 * Sonya's friend (Deceased)
 * Sandy's friend (Deceased)
 * Numerous unnamed children (Deceased)

Others

 * Numerous unnamed people

Trivia

 * The first hunt which was seen in the manga resulted in four deaths, including Monica and Jake.
 * Some children could not stand the reality of the hunting ground and had committed suicide before they could get killed by the Poachers.
 * When a group of new children arrived in Goldy Pond, it was custom for an older, more experienced child explained the rules to them. However, most of the new arrivals did not believe them and did not start to take the danger seriously until the Poachers arrived for the next hunt.
 * Lucas is the oldest known human at Goldy Pond, having survived there for thirteen years. Oliver has survived the second longest, having been there for nine years.
 * Doing the math, if the Poachers killed four children every three days for fifteen years, (from 2031 to January 29, 2046) then that means approximately 6,854+ children were killed at Gold Pond from the time it got turned into a hunting ground until it was destroyed. Although, the death count would be much higher if you also count those who died from injuries, illness, suicide, or natural causes.
 * Most of the children at Goldy Pond were unaware that the place they came from was actually a farm and that they had been bought by demons to be hunted. Most of the children instead believed that they grew up in a happy orphanage and that when they were shipped out they were being sent to live with foster families and at some point on their journey to their new parents, they had been kidnapped by demons and brought to Goldy Pond.
 * The demons provide the children with food, weapons and medical supplies.
 * The children at Goldy Pond are served small portion meals mostly consisting of soup and bread. They also presumably eat any food that they manage to grow themselves in the farm fields.