Chapter 195 – What to Leave Behind
Thud, thud.
Thud, thud.
The sound of feet striking the ground frozen by the cold seemed unusually loud.
Perhaps it only sounded that way because there were so few people nearby.
Thud, thud.
Thud, thud.
“Hey! Why are you sneaking after me?”
The brat walking ahead of me seemed to feel the same way.
However, I had not intended to follow him secretly, so I had no reason to feel guilty.
It was true that I had followed him after he quietly rose from among the people who had gone to bed early in preparation for our departure at dawn.
“I’m not sneaking after you. I’m following you openly.”
“Does that matter? Why are you following me?”
“Because I have nothing to do. I also happen to have nowhere else to go.”
The brat’s face immediately crumpled at my shameless answer.
“Are you a beggar? Is that why you dress like that?”
He spoke while looking at my oversized, thin outer garment.
I did not know how he had reached that conclusion, but this particular accusation was somewhat unfair.
The outer garment I had purchased on the way here from Lucha Village was oversized and thin because I needed to prepare for using my ability to transform parts of my body into those of animals.
Since I never knew when the fur covering my body might suddenly bristle, wearing loose clothing was more comfortable.
Besides, when I practiced by transforming my body into various forms to master the ability quickly, I hardly had time to feel the cold.
“My hide is thicker than it looks.”
It was a reasonably honest answer, but he seemed to think I was making an excuse.
A small measure of sympathy appeared on his youthful face.
If he wished to soften toward me, I had no reason to stop him.
Pretending not to notice his sympathy, I opened my mouth.
“Are you going home?”
“How did you know?”
Judging solely by the path he was taking, which led farther and farther away from the residential area, that would have been a difficult answer to deduce.
“Where else would a child go at this hour besides home?”
Perhaps finding my words reasonable, he sharply turned his head away and resumed walking.
“I’m not a child.”
His sullen reply somehow sounded like permission for me to follow, so I walked after him.
Not that I would have stopped following him without permission.
We eventually arrived, without exchanging any other meaningful conversation, at a small and dilapidated cabin, just as expected.
The ease with which he had led me to his home made me notice another discrepancy between him and the original novel.
I remembered him being more cautious in the book.
“You stay outside.”
Fortunately, his foul personality remained unchanged.
I slipped my foot through the doorway before he could close the door.
The chill that accumulated inside a house left unoccupied for a long time permeated the interior.
However, what attracted more of my attention were the traces still scattered throughout the cabin.
They were small signs left behind when a child lived alone without an adult.
For example, there was a chair that looked as though it had been scavenged from a rubbish heap, with its backrest missing and footprints covering it.
It looked out of place in a house without even a table, but it had probably compensated for the insufficient height of a child unable to reach high places.
As evidence, the chair had been positioned beneath a tall cupboard.
The cupboard’s handle was partially broken, perhaps because the child had tried and failed to reach it several times before acquiring the chair.
There were other traces everywhere: dust on the windows that had not been wiped away above a certain height, a torn blanket folded clumsily and left untidy, and scraps of cloth showing desperate attempts to stitch their ripped sections together.
Judging by their condition, these appeared to be objects he had used when he was even smaller than he was now.
By the time Ratel and his other companions visited this place in the novel, everything had already been removed. It felt as though I were reading a sequel that had never appeared in the book.
Usually, situations like that came with a guaranteed threat to my life, so it was rare for me to inspect my surroundings as leisurely as I could now.
That did not mean I felt good about it.
“Why are you staring at that?”
The brat walked past me and roughly picked up the rag I had been examining.
A backless chair and a blanket were already draped over his shoulders.
Despite speaking harshly, his eyes trembled uneasily as he studied my reaction.
He seemed frightened that I might have noticed something.
If that concerned him, he should never have let me enter in the first place.
Feeling uncomfortable at his naïveté, I raised my hand and pointed toward the floor.
Several crookedly carved letters were inscribed there.
[Amy, Adol]
“……Those are names.”
His voice was quiet after a brief hesitation.
“Your name was Amy?”
His face immediately crumpled at my question.
“What are you talking about? I’m obviously Adol.”
“Why is that obvious? There could be a boy named Amy or a girl named Adol. Narrow-minded thinking will make you hesitate when a flexible response is required.”
“……”
Having instantly become someone who lived with a narrow-minded view of the world, he glared at me.
It had been my attempt at a joke, but apparently it had failed completely.
“Fine, Adol. What are you planning to do with those things?”
When I indicated the objects filling his arms with my chin, Adol silently walked out of the cabin.
After choosing a spot in one corner of the front yard, the child crouched and removed a piece of flint from his clothes.
When I stood behind the strangely forlorn-looking boy, Adol slowly began speaking.
“Amy was my mother’s name. These are the things she left behind before she died. She said I would need them while I lived here alone. I might never return, so I’m burning them all. I don’t want them falling into someone else’s hands.”
“Is that why you’re going to hunt the Werewolves?”
The boy, who had been striking the pieces of flint together, raised his head at my question.
His dark-blue eyes glared at me, overflowing with rage.
They contained the same venomous determination with which he had confronted two grown men without fear.
“Yes. My mother died because of the Werewolves. That’s why I have to finish them with my own hands.”
Speaking as though making a vow, he continued striking the pieces of flint together.
A tiny spark finally appeared between Adol’s hands.
Without hesitation, Adol lowered the spark onto the dry blanket.
I silently watched the flames spread across it.
I had yet to decide whether I should change this moment, which was unfolding exactly as it had in the original story.
Eventually, I reached out and picked up the burning blanket.
“What are you doing?!”
The startled Adol grabbed my arm, but I did not stop until I had completely extinguished the flames consuming the blanket.
Although a small hole had formed in the middle of the broad piece of cloth, most of it remained intact.
“Take this with you. You’ll need protection against the cold to cross the rocky mountain.”
“What are you talking about? It’s barely large enough to cover my shoulders now. How am I supposed to take something like this?”
Apparently displeased by my suggestion, he raised his voice.
“Really? Then I’ll take it.”
The boy, who had been pretending that he could coldly burn this worthless piece of rubbish, widened his eyes.
“What? I suspected it for a while, but are you genuinely insane?”
To show the incredulous boy that my insane proposal was sincere, I tried to drape his blanket over my outer garment.
“Aaargh!!! Stop! Give it back!”
Horrified, Adol snatched his blanket from my hands.
Apparently, he had decided that keeping it himself was preferable to letting some strange man take it.
That was only natural for someone who had tried to burn it because he hated the idea of it falling into someone else’s hands.
“Damn it. I thought you were merely a beggar, but you’re completely insane.”
Without lowering his guard around me, Adol cautiously placed the cloth inside his bag.
“I’m coveting it precisely because I’m not insane. I’m a beggar, so isn’t that only natural? Take good care of it. There are plenty of people willing to steal and use a child’s belongings.”
He looked at me as though something were caught in his throat, then silently began burning the remaining objects.
“……What’s your name?”
The child had apparently become curious about the name of this meddlesome man.
“Ran.”
“Why are you going to kill monsters? Not many people succeed.”
“Mona isn’t incompetent. He will probably guide us properly.”
“I know that too. He has participated in several monster-subjugation missions and succeeded. He has even returned alive by himself.”
That was right. In the original story, he also returned to the village alive after this subjugation.
The problem was that he returned alone.
In the original story, Adol was not supposed to meet Ratel until somewhat later.
“That won’t happen this time.”
“What does that mean? Are you saying we’ll fail this time?”
Adol asked in a voice mingling displeasure with anxiety.
“No, the opposite. This subjugation will succeed—more perfectly than ever before.”
Apparently deciding that I was spouting madness again, the child merely nodded.
* * *
The area where the Werewolves were believed to live was the rocky mountain between Haire, where Ratel’s group was located, and this small village.
The mountain terrain was treacherous, and the environment was utterly uninhabitable. Even subjugation forces assembled by the village could not endure there for more than a few days.
Consequently, those who entered the rocky mountain to hunt monsters generally met one of three endings.
They either escaped with their lives without encountering the monsters, were hunted by them, or barely returned alive after losing their minds.
Mona had surpassed all those ordinary outcomes.
He was a man who had survived three Werewolf-subjugation missions.
His band of suicide volunteers, which had begun with only a few applicants, had now grown into a sizable subjugation force.
However, that did not mean their nickname, the Suicide Volunteers, had disappeared completely.
“Pant, pant…… Damn it. Are we sure we’re going the right way?”
The complaints of the burly man at the head of the group reached all the way to the middle of the formation.
It was understandable.
Several hours had already passed since we departed before dawn and began climbing the steep rocky mountain behind Mona and Enil.
“If it’s too difficult, he should move to the rear or keep his mouth shut. Why stand at the front and destroy everyone’s morale like that?”
Equally out of breath, Adol muttered resentfully.
I laughed softly at the boy, who had already learned how to navigate group dynamics at such a young age.
Those noisy complaints would end soon enough.
“Adol, whatever happens from now on, remember one thing.”
“W-What? What is it?”
When I lowered my voice, he became tense and lowered his voice as well.
“If I collapse, save me first. Take me with you no matter what.”
“……”
Adol glared at me after hearing my ridiculous words.
“Is that really what you should be saying to me? I’m barely holding on myself.”
“This isn’t a request. It’s advice—and a transaction. If you save me, I’ll save you too.”
Apparently pleased by my words, Adol’s expression softened slightly.
“Why would you trust a child like me enough to make that offer?”
“You’re entirely capable of doing it.”
His expression changed strangely once again at my confident answer.
“……Do you know something?”
Just as the belated spark of suspicion began to grow within him—
“Everyone, stop.”
Mona’s clear voice came from the front.
Adol craned his neck past the side of the formation to see what lay ahead.
“……What is that?”
“A cave. One we have to pass through.”
I answered without looking forward.
I had no need to look to know that the object blocking our path was the greatest obstacle to destroying the second holy relic.
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