Chapter 124
－POV: A Beastfolk Child Who Was a Slave－
I ran into the forest so the scary person lying there wouldn't find me.
I had heard that there were all sorts of scary magical beasts and monsters in the forest.
But I'd been told that, because we were beastfolk slaves, asking any adult for help would only get us killed.
So, even though I was scared, I went into a forest where there were no scary people.
The other child who escaped with me said we should do that too.
The sounds of magical beasts and monsters came from all around us.
We ran through the forest while hiding.
I felt sick from running too much.
I forced my staggering body to keep moving, but... I couldn't go on.
We slipped behind a tree together and held our breath.
The scary person who had brought us here might be chasing us.
Scary, scary, scary.
Tears began to fall, but I held them back so I wouldn't make a sound.
The two of us trembled.
My consciousness suddenly returned.
...I was startled to realize that I had fallen asleep.
I hurriedly looked around, but there were no scary adults.
Were we safe?
The other child seemed to wake up too.
I hurriedly jumped to my feet.
I whispered to the other child that we were okay.
The two of us ate a little of the food we had brought.
I heard the sound of a magical beast nearby.
Let's move quickly from here. We nodded to each other and ran.
I was tired, so my body wouldn't move the way I wanted it to.
But I never stopped my feet.
Not even when the soles of my feet began to bleed.
If we stopped, the scary adult might catch us, so I couldn't stop.
When we could no longer run, we walked instead.
The forest was dark all over, and we couldn't see very far ahead.
We kept walking through the forest, repeatedly finding the shade of a tree to rest in before it became completely dark.
We had no food left, and no water either.
Maybe we really were going to die. I felt sad, and tears threatened to come, but I held them back.
When I squeezed the hand I was holding, the other child squeezed back.
I could still keep going.
...I could hear the sound of water.
My throat tightened; I hadn't had anything to drink since morning.
I started walking toward the sound of the water.
I no longer knew where we were or how we had gotten there.
I was exhausted and staggering.
I thought the sound of water had grown much louder, and then, in the next instant, my hand was yanked hard.
I fell straight into the water.
I frantically flailed my arms and legs, but my consciousness began to fade.
I heard a voice.
Was it crying?
When I opened my eyes slightly, the other child was right in front of me.
Blood was coming from all over their body.
What had happened?
We ran away... We heard the sound of water... and fell.
Are you alive?
At my tiny murmur, the child in front of me nodded emphatically.
...But if we stayed like this...
I stood up, supporting my swaying body.
Where were we?
This place was a little different from the forest we'd been in. That forest was dark, and it was hard to see ahead.
But it wasn't very dark here.
Huh...? A gigantic magical beast suddenly appeared right in front of us.
The moment I saw its eyes, my instincts told me it was different from the magical beasts we'd seen before and warned me of danger.
But my body and consciousness could no longer hold out.
...
When I came to, I was startled to find that we were somewhere else and screamed.
The other child seemed to wake up too, and the two of us screamed and huddled together.
Wouldn't we be attacked if we made a sound?
But this was a Foulmi, one the adult slaves had told us about.
They said to be careful because Foulmi dragged people into holes.
I had heard about lots of other things too, but I didn't remember them.
The adult slaves had told us to judge them by whether or not they had intelligence.
If they didn't, we were to run immediately; if they did, we were to leave the area at once and ask them to forgive us.
Maybe it was instinct, but I knew this was different from the monsters we'd seen before.
...We couldn't move because we didn't know where we were. What would happen to us?
There was a person.
I was surprised.
A person was here, in a part of the forest filled with monsters and magical beasts.
That was different from what the adult slaves and the scary people had told us.
They'd said that intelligent monsters and magical beasts fought humans.
Could this be a human?
I was startled; I was suddenly enveloped in light, and when I realized it, my injuries had healed.
The heaviness in my body disappeared, and the pain that had continued in my back for so long vanished too.
I was so surprised that I instinctively squeezed the person's hand.
Ah, we're going to be killed!
I squeezed my eyes shut, but the person gently patted my head.
I felt relieved.
The person was looking somewhere, so I looked that way too.
I couldn't help screaming.
There were so many golems.
Golems that crushed and killed slaves who were no longer useful!
The two of us cried and screamed.
We had no strength left in our bodies, so we couldn't escape.
My body floated gently into the air.
I was startled.
The person picked us both up and carried us away.
I was too surprised to react at all.
It seemed that the person sat down without putting us down, and I ended up sitting on their lap.
The other child was frozen too.
The shock made my tears stop.
A golem held out a cup.
There were three cups.
It smelled good.
The person took them and handed one to me and one to the other child.
Then, after making a drinking motion, the person began drinking too.
I cautiously put it to my lips.
It was delicious, and tears spilled over.
Warm air seemed to flow from the person in front of me.
It's all right. This person isn't scary.
When a voice finally spilled from my mouth, I cried aloud for the first time.
The other child and I both had tear-streaked faces.