Chapter 215

Chapter 215: A Clue

After walking for a short while by relying on the small flame, Alec’s guidance stopped in the middle of the path.

Wondering why he had suddenly stopped where there was nothing, I shifted my gaze over his shoulder, and only then did the small statue he must have used as a landmark enter my eyes.

A wooden statue about the size of a handspan, made with clumsy skill, sat alone in the middle of the path.

Since I had seen a similar shape at the Temple before, I could tell at once what it was modeled after.

Even if not, I could not have failed to know from Alec’s attitude as he knelt as if facing some holy being.

“It is a carving of God Abalan. It is sinful that we can only offer prayers in this way, but......”

Alec, who raised his head, stepped aside as if yielding the spot to me.

Having not the slightest intention of kneeling before a wooden carving, I ignored him and pointed with my chin beyond the statue.

“Are we not going any farther than this? Seeing as you placed such a precious carving in the middle of the path, it seems there’s something more important beyond it.”

“I do not know, because I have never gone all the way to the end.”

Alec answered as if it were nothing much.

“You have never gone to the end? Not even once?”

“No. If we go too far, we might miss the signal from above. If we are discovered, that would be a serious matter. If even the time to ask forgiveness before god is taken away, people will not be able to endure it.”

As if even thinking of it was horrible, Alec trembled slightly.

Even though the first holy object had lost its function, it seemed the faith directed at someone long dead, and a swindler at that, was still great.

Enough that they found it hard to endure without coming here with some strange excuse and offering prayers away from others’ eyes.

“Doesn’t that person from earlier find it bothersome? It would be natural to be annoyed by humans who look like they’re about to die coming by every time to offer one prayer.”

When I asked while recalling the woman who had readily left the spot for us, Alec’s eyes rounded as if he had heard something absurd.

“There is no way. Rather, she said it was fortunate that we could ask god for forgiveness even in this way. She said that made her heart more at ease.”

For something like that, she had looked as if it would not be strange for her to collapse at any moment.

“Well, it would be better not to come too often. It could make you stand out instead.”

“I am being careful too. Naria does not really like me coming here either.”

At the voice mixed with laughter, I withdrew my gaze from the statue and passage and looked at Alec.

“Does Naria dislike you going out with food packed?”

“Yes. Perhaps she mistook it for some other purpose, because she seemed hurt.”

Perhaps recalling the memory of that time, a faint smile appeared on Alec’s face.

“At first, I did not know why she acted that way, but I found out later. She thought I was offering food to a woman, so she was jealous......”

Alec’s voice, which had been continuing pleasantly with things I had not even asked, slowly faded.

His quiet appearance overlapped with his face when he had told me not to tell Naria even while being tormented by the Werewolves.

“Do you endure the Werewolves’ torment because living with Naria is so enjoyable? Because you’re afraid you might end up abandoning god and everything else?”

At my question, Alec’s hand holding the candle fell, and his smile also disappeared into the darkness.

A silence that was long if one wanted to call it long continued, and what came out of the darkness was a small confession.

“If I do not do that, I feel as if I will forget. The fact that Naria is a monster just like them.”

***

After revealing a small truth, Alec knelt again before the small statue and began a meaningless prayer.

I had no intention of wasting time with him, so I left Alec praying and moved forward.

As Alec had explained, the path continued quite far.

It seemed I would need enough time if I wanted to go all the way to the end without being interrupted.

As I wondered what bait there might be that could buy me time, I felt someone’s presence behind me.

“Are you finished?”

“I told you that you must not go too far. Let us go back.”

Alec answered in a voice that was clearly tired.

This time too, I obediently followed him.

As we passed the statue of Sierra and returned, he said nothing.

It seemed the fact that he had confessed with his own mouth that he had neglected prayer because of Naria’s words had been quite a shock.

Even though the true nature of the god he clung to so desperately was nothing but a swindler.

Well, even if I said that now, there was no way he would be able to accept it.

Aside from the uncomfortable truth, there were plenty of things to talk about with him.

“Have you never thought that you want to leave this place?”

Belatedly, the thought passed through my mind that this too might only be an uncomfortable subject for him.

As expected, I felt Alec glare at me.

But the light that had illuminated the darkness had already been extinguished by him, so I did not need to see his angry expression.

“We cannot leave. I do not want to indulge in useless delusions.”

“It wouldn’t be a delusion, but hope. If you could leave and live with Naria, there would be nothing happier than that.”

After looking at me with an absurd face, the reaction he finally chose was a hollow laugh.

“Haha. Those thuglike monsters were right. I understand very well why everyone treats you as insane.”

“I cannot deny it.”

When I pointed out his attitude of avoiding an answer, a brief silence followed.

“......There is no need to listen to a madman. Besides, even if your mind is gone, you do not seem like someone who would make a deal at a loss, so I cannot trust you.”

Judging from the way he said that, it seemed he was keeping in mind that I had forced him to guide me all the way here.

“Naria seemed not to care even if I was a madman. She did not seem to care much about taking a loss herself either.”

When I casually let that slip, I felt him take a deep breath, as expected, caught on the hook.

“Come to think of it, you said Naria asked you to watch over me.”

Alec’s voice carried faint worry and anger.

Swallowing the fact that, in truth, there had been a deal more complicated than a simple request, and that she had treated me as more insane than he did, I nodded.

“Then what did Naria offer in return? Surely you did not make her do something absurd.”

Alec questioned me with a fierce force.

“That depends on how Naria acts, does it not?”

This time too, I could read a rather rough air directed at me from Alec’s gaze.

“So that means......”

“If she is good at watching children, it is free profit, and if not, she will suffer a bit.”

Is that not what child care originally is?

I felt Alec’s angry breathing approach me.

What broke the tension that seemed as if he might grab me by the collar at any moment was a small sound from above.

Tap, tap.

It was a small but clear signal that we should now stop fighting in the dark and come up to the surface.

***

A human child is too difficult.

Naria thought as she glanced at Adol, who was turned away from her and sniffling.

Alec and the other humans in the village had many parts that were hard to understand, but Naria was in the middle of learning that young humans were far worse.

“Hey, stop crying already. Mona will be back soon. If you’re swollen up like bread soaked in water, won’t he think it’s strange?”

“Whether that bastard thinks I’m strange or not, what do I care?”

“This one is hopeless. If Mona or the others find out you resisted, do you think they’ll leave you alone? They’ll try to punish you one way or another.”

“Tell them to do whatever they want. I don’t plan to just sit there and get hit either.”

Naria looked down at the reckless young human and soon let out a sigh.

Because the black-haired human bastard’s face, telling her to be careful not to hurt so much as the tip of her hair, came to mind.

And so did the face of one weak human who would be quietly waiting for her in the village.

Naria clicked her tongue softly and turned Adol around.

“What are you doing!”

“Shut up. I have a promise too, so I can’t just leave you to be dealt with by Mona.”

Naria tried roughly wiping Adol’s face, but with a face already swollen to bursting, it did not seem like the lie that nothing had happened would work.

After thinking for a moment, Naria eventually tore a little from the front of Adol’s outerwear.

“What are you doing!”

“Ah, be quiet! If Mona comes and asks what happened, say I suddenly hit you. I’ll say I did it because I didn’t like the sullen look on your face.”

“Why do I have to say I got beaten up by you when I didn’t even get hit?”

“Right? That is a little strange, isn’t it? Then should we just say you suddenly cried all by yourself?”

Adol wanted to argue who was crying, but it was true that he had sobbed in front of Naria, so he had nothing to say.

“If you do not like that, then just say I hit you. Before I change my mind.”

Naria grumbled while roughly wiping Adol’s face.

Adol’s face stung from the rough hand movements, but he could do nothing about Naria’s forceful strength and had no choice but to stay still.

Just when Adol was thinking that if he endured any longer, the skin of his face might peel off, and was about to shake off Naria’s hand again.

Suddenly, Naria put strength into her hand and pulled Adol’s face closer to her.

“Hm? But didn’t you say you were hit by Archie yesterday?”

At the innocent question with no malice, Adol’s face grew a little hot.

Because it meant even bastards who had not been there knew he had been beaten like a dog.

“Yeah, I got hit. I got beaten without being able to do anything.”

As Naria looked down at Adol grinding his teeth and muttering, she checked his arms and legs with a puzzled face.

“What are you doing now?”

“No, you’re too fine. Nothing’s broken anywhere. Your face...... seems all right too.”

Naria answered while grabbing Adol’s face full of displeasure and turning it this way and that.

‘That’s because my recovery is better than an ordinary human’s.’

“What is this? Your teeth are fine too? Not a single one fell out?”

Adol, who had swallowed the truth, could no longer endure when Naria started checking even inside his mouth with her rough touch, and fiercely shook her off.

“Stop it!”

Naria did not care about Adol’s irritation.

“How strange. Usually, bastards who get caught by Archie’s hands cannot even walk for a while. Did he go easy on you because you’re human? No, that cannot be right. Archie hates humans.”

After looking Adol up and down while muttering bloody things, Naria shrugged.

“Well, Archie hasn’t killed a human in quite a while.”

“What does that mean?”

Adol, who had been glaring at Naria with wary eyes, urgently leaned his body toward her.

“You said it has been a while since Archie killed a human? Are you saying he doesn’t kill humans now?”

“I don’t really know. Since Archie stopped going to kill people himself after I was born. I was born around the time Archie became leader. Before that, they say he was the best at human hunts.”

Human hunt.

Naria, who casually spat out a word he did not even want to bring out of his mouth, did not notice Adol’s face stiffen and continued speaking.

“They say Archie once wiped out an entire village in the past. So there are many who miss Archie from that time more. But I like it better now. Whatever the case, if Archie had not decided to capture humans, I would not have been able to meet Alec either......”

Naria, who had been chattering, seemed to think she had spoken too long and clamped her mouth shut.

“Anyway, the important thing is that Archie is that strong. Do not defy him too much. Right now, he may be going easy on you because you are a human kid, but who knows when he might change his mind. The human who came with you still seems to have some kind of move, because Archie does not seem to act carelessly with him. If you really want to defy someone, do it while sticking to that human.”

It was an extremely strange conclusion, but Adol’s point of interest was not something so minor.

“By any chance, among the humans Archie killed before......”

“What are you doing?”

What cut off Adol’s question, when he had been about to ask whether she perhaps knew about Amy, was Mona’s emotionless voice.

Naria, startled, hurriedly slammed Adol onto the ground.

“It is nothing. The kid’s gaze really displeased me, so I was fixing his manners.”

Naria answered as if it was nothing much.

Mona looked down at Adol as he raised himself again for only a moment, then reached out and seized a neck.

Not Adol’s, but Naria’s.

“What are you doing now?”

Unlike Adol, who asked in shock at the sudden situation, Naria calmly tried to secure her airway in Mona’s hand as if she had expected this reaction.

“I told you to watch him obediently. Who told you to put scratches on him as you pleased?”

“I was wrong. I did not know young humans were this weak either. I only played a little joke.”

At the toneless voice, Naria exhaled shallowly and answered with difficulty.

Mona set Naria down as if throwing her onto the ground, just as Naria had done to Adol.

“If you disregard my words one more time, you will see a worse sight. If you understand, follow from behind without getting in the way.”

At Mona’s bloody warning, a look of dismay passed over Naria’s face as she hurriedly filled her lacking breath.

But she could no longer resist Mona, who was stronger than her.

Receiving the jeers of several companions mocking her, Naria had no choice but to fall away from Adol and step back.

Adol too could only look at Naria moving away, unable to understand the sudden change in the situation.

Though he had to stop even that because of Mona’s powerful grip snatching the back of his neck.

The Werewolves trailed after Mona, who dragged away Adol like a dog as he was unable to speak because his neck had suddenly been choked.

Behind those who followed him as if Mona had become the new leader, Naria walked while biting down on her lips.