Chapter 203 – Everyone is kind.
It did not take Adol long to realize that Mona had screwed him over badly.
That also meant realizing how damn awful it was to dodge the fruit, garbage, and other things being thrown into the cage.
There were even stones mixed in among them.
“You lunatics! Archi told him to starve me!”
Adol shouted as he dodged rock-hard bread that was indistinguishable from the stones flying toward him.
“Would you look at this brat lying? Why would Mona tell a lie like that?”
But all he received in response was ridicule.
Apparently amused by how Adol refused to be intimidated, more and more werewolves began gathering around the cage.
“Maybe there’s something wrong with him?”
“How could there be when he’s jumping around so energetically? He’s simply lying. What an insolent brat, lying even after coming all the way here.”
“Still, this new one is lively, so he’s entertaining to watch. Everyone else looked ready to piss themselves after we surrounded them.”
Adol ground his teeth at their conversation.
They had claimed they would not kill him, but it was obvious that they had captured him merely to treat him worse than an animal.
“Hey, stop it! Don’t you care that you’re wasting food?!”
Unable to endure it any longer, Adol shouted again.
Another burst of irritated laughter erupted among them.
“What is that idiot talking about?”
“Why would we eat anything like this? This is food for you humans!”
“So make sure you catch it and eat it!”
Humiliation rose from the depths of Adol’s heart at being treated worse than a pet dog.
When the emotion reached the top of his head, his head lowered of its own accord.
“He’s quiet now. Looks like he’s already exhausted.”
“No, energetic ones like him start jumping around again if you hit them in the head at times like this.”
Adol’s eyes widened at the mocking mutters that reached him once more.
Acting exactly as his opponents wanted was the path to defeat.
If he wished to gain the upper hand, he had to look down upon them from above.
“I can’t move exactly as they want me to.”
Muttering to himself, Adol raised his head.
He saw a stone flying directly toward his head. It traveled quickly enough to whistle through the air.
Smack.
Adol snatched it out of the air.
“Oh? Would you look at that?”
“Pretty fast for a human, isn’t he?”
“You idiots, controlling your strength is what matters. You can’t just throw everything gently.”
As if Adol’s action had awakened their competitive spirit, the most mischievous-looking male werewolf among the monsters stepped forward.
He held a small throwing knife about the length of an index finger.
Despite the weapon’s small size, the sight of him repeatedly tossing it into the air and catching it was quite threatening.
“Hey, what are you going to do if you kill him?”
Apparently thinking matters were getting out of hand, the werewolf beside him offered a warning.
However, many of their companions had already gathered around the cage, and he had already boasted loudly enough for everyone else to hear.
“It’s fine as long as I don’t kill him, isn’t it? I’ll try this time, so watch closely.”
Eager to torment the small human, he hurled the object in his hand at Adol.
Someone sighed at the blade, which flew at a speed completely different from the objects the werewolves had been throwing as a joke.
Thud!
The noise was unusually dull for the sound of a blade striking its target.
The monsters turned their gazes toward the injured party. They looked not inside the cage but outside it.
“Urgh...!”
The werewolf who had thrown the knife glared at Adol while clutching his nose.
Having narrowly evaded the attack, Adol grinned as he watched the stone he had thrown roll across the ground.
The blade had grazed his cheek and drawn blood, but he was far less ridiculous than the beast glaring at him.
A drop of blood from the werewolf’s nose ran down over his philtrum.
Laughter and mockery erupted all around at the pathetic sight of the one who had boasted so much.
“What happened? You couldn’t even block one attack from a mere human?”
The face of the werewolf, who had instantly become the object of ridicule in place of the small human, turned red.
“You insolent brat!”
Adol took a step back, avoiding the werewolf as he charged toward the cage with terrifying momentum.
The werewolf reached through the bars but succeeded only in grasping at empty air.
Realizing that the cage in which he had been imprisoned was now protecting him, Adol looked at the werewolf who was once again trying to seize him as though intent on killing him.
“Why don’t you wipe your bloody nose instead? You’re no different from a snot-nosed brat.”
“Don’t get arrogant merely because Archi allows you humans to live. You are insignificant creatures whom we can kill whenever we please.”
Adol raised the corners of his mouth as high as possible to mock the werewolf, who spat out each word like a growl.
When he tried to imagine the most obnoxious expression possible, the first face to surface in his mind was Ran’s, so he imitated it as closely as possible.
Surprisingly, it was tremendously effective.
The werewolf began huffing angrily and seized the bars, shaking them as though he intended to destroy the cage.
“Hey, calm down!”
Someone tried to restrain him when his behavior began to look dangerous.
The problem was that others found the commotion entertaining.
Those attempting to stop the werewolf clinging to the bars became entangled with those helping him break the cage, creating complete chaos.
Excited by the faint scent of blood, their movements only grew rougher.
Creak.
Another problem was the ominous noise coming from the cage as it struggled to withstand their weight.
* * *
“Archi, what brings you here?”
The female werewolf watched Archi’s expression while hiding the smaller human behind her.
It was as though she intended to protect the human concealed behind her.
“You appear to have grown rather close.”
The female werewolf’s expression stiffened at Archi’s murmur.
“He has only just begun accepting the food I give him.”
“S-she threatened me frighteningly whenever I refused to eat….”
When the female werewolf answered, the human standing behind her quickly chimed in.
Archi stared emotionlessly at the human man.
“Are you complaining?”
The human man’s face turned pale at his words.
“N-no. I am satisfied with my life here.”
He hurriedly spoke while cautiously watching the female werewolf’s reaction.
It was merely an answer intended to dispel Archi’s suspicions.
Yet the corners of Archi’s mouth tightened as though he had heard something unpleasant.
It happened too quickly for me to observe it closely.
“Satisfied….”
Archi repeated the pair’s clumsy lie as though contemplating it, then turned his gaze toward me.
It was as if he were asking whether that had sufficiently answered my question.
I nodded and gestured for us to go outside.
If we continued lingering there, the human man looked liable to suffer a heart attack.
Archi and I said nothing after leaving the tent.
Part of the reason was that too many people could overhear us, but I also strongly felt that I should refrain from speaking rashly until I understood his intentions.
Archi must also have noticed it after seeing those two.
Affection could develop between a monster and a human.
The problem was that I could not tell how he intended to use that fact.
* * *
‘How long has it been since the wagon departed?’
Lia shifted inside the quiet wagon as she thought.
She was in the situation that most accurately embodied the expression “physically comfortable but emotionally uncomfortable”.
She was physically more comfortable than Ratel and Jing, who would be walking outside, but the silence was difficult to endure.
Careful not to turn her head, she shifted her eyes and studied the people sitting quietly on either side of her.
There was only one person who appeared older than her—the woman sitting directly beside her.
The woman looked thirty at most.
The others consisted of five children who appeared to be around fifteen and two youths whose ages seemed somewhere between fifteen and thirty.
They all had one thing in common: their heads were bowed so deeply that they might as well have been trying to burrow underground.
These were people who had only recently been separated from their families.
It might have been natural for the atmosphere to be gloomy.
But had they not ultimately been given an opportunity to remain close to God?
It was a cruel thought, but to people who did not know the truth, this situation could have been regarded as a blessing.
Unable to understand why emotions heavier than mere regret weighed upon the freight wagon, Lia racked her brain.
Wondering whether she could learn anything else, Lia looked around again and accidentally met the eyes of the woman sitting beside her.
“......”
The woman silently stared into Lia’s eyes without looking away, even as Lia stiffened in embarrassment.
“....Hello?”
In the end, Lia spoke first.
“Why have you been looking around like that?”
The woman asked stiffly.
“Oh, well…. I was wondering why everyone looked so grim. In the end, we’ve been given an opportunity to work for the imperial family, haven’t we?”
Lia answered slowly, trying to determine whether her response properly addressed the woman’s question.
The woman frowned at Lia’s behavior.
“Have you ever worked at the temple?”
“No. I was only dragged here today, so….”
As Lia trailed off, the corners of the woman’s mouth rose.
However, no matter how one looked at it, the smile did not appear friendly.
“You’re fortunate. Knowing nothing can be a good thing.”
Lia furrowed her brow slightly at the cynical response.
“What don’t I know?”
The woman stared at Lia’s clueless expression, sighed, and lowered her voice.
“We’re bait.”
“Bait?”
When Lia raised her voice in surprise, the woman hurriedly covered her mouth.
Lia could have shaken her off, but she allowed the woman to do as she wished.
“Keep your voice down. Do you want the inside of this wagon to become a sea of tears for the rest of the journey?”
She waited until the children’s attention had shifted away from her and Lia.
Once the woman was certain Lia would not raise her voice again, she slowly lowered her hand.
“What do you mean, ‘we’re bait’?”
This time, Lia asked quietly enough that only the woman could hear her.
The woman looked at Lia with an expression filled with regret for having spoken to her, then sighed and opened her mouth.
“We’re going to be used as bait to capture monsters. I’ll tell you in advance that this is God’s will, so there’s no need to despair so much.”
Lia’s eyes lit up as she thought that, although she had no intention of crying, she had many questions to ask.
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