Chapter Nine: The Children
Looking at the two figures fleeing in a panic, I couldn’t help but pout in boredom.
Is that all you’ve got?
Why not be a bit more foolish and shout “I don’t believe you’re a Pope Knight!” at the top of your lungs, then proceed to do all sorts of ridiculous things? Now that would be entertaining!
Or just get a little too curious and strike a wolfish pose with your hands like claws, saying, “No one’s coming to save you no matter how loud you scream!” while pulling out a weapon the size of a millimeter, drooling as you creep toward me.
Isn’t that how the villains in novels are written? Otherwise, how can the hero show off and smack them down? This plot needs work!
But these two little thieves, despite their lack of brains, had a surprising amount of patience. Their actions were obviously well-organized and premeditated, unlike those street thugs who only know how to shout and make noise.
Given the circumstances, I figured there must be more to this. Maybe something about the biggest crime gang in Emerald City or some underground organization that robs the rich to feed the poor. Overall, maybe I could follow the clues and find something. If it really is a theft organization, I’ll just smash them to pieces with my fist as big as a sandbag, doing a good deed for the citizens of Emerald City.
After all, the food here is really delicious.
I looked up at the sky and then grabbed the food bag at my feet, quietly following along.
…………
Abe was dragging his younger brother, running like the wind, not daring to look back.
What a bad stroke of luck—running into a Pope Knight! …Even though he was still half convinced this was all some bizarre misunderstanding.
If it were someone else, he might have believed it, but that girl, regardless of her age, looks, or the overall feeling she gave off, was too cute to even begin to match the imposing, heroic presence of a true Pope Knight!
How could you equate someone who looks delicate and fragile—someone whose every glance and smile could drive a man crazy—with those powerful heroes? That’s just asking for trouble; it’s utterly unbelievable, it’s a joke!
But he didn’t dare take the chance.
For whatever reason, that pendant around the girl’s neck, with the flower on it, was indeed the genuine symbol of the Pope Knight. He could still tell that much.
Aside from the Pope Knight themselves, nobody else would dare wear something engraved with an iris! That’s the kind of thing worth losing your head over!
So, with no further hesitation, he took off running without looking back, weaving through several alleys with his brother in tow.
“…Abe, I… huff, huff, can’t… keep up.”
The younger brother was too small and lacked the stamina to match Abe’s speed. After running so far, he was panting heavily.
Hearing this, Abe was forced to stop, turning to look back. It was pitch black, and he couldn’t even see a flicker of light; there didn’t seem to be anyone around. He yanked the black cloth off his face, revealing a slightly immature boyish face.
“Is nobody following us? Then let’s catch our breath for a moment.”
They walked slowly to the side of some stone steps and plopped down on the icy stones. Meanwhile, I hid above them under the eaves, crouching low and straining to hear their conversation.
“Abe, are we… huff, just running away like this?”
The younger brother asked, panting, his voice tinged with that childish defiance.
“Run or d*e?! Did you not see what that girl was wearing? My goodness, it was the Pope Knight’s medal!”
Abe seemed to still be shaken up.
“That girl… she’s toying with you, isn’t she? So cruel. That kind of noble lady is used to being spoiled; she obviously hasn’t seen hardship. If it were up to me, I’d just kidnap her and starve her for a day; she’d spill everything for sure! We could just ask her family for… huff, money.”
Looks like they completely mistook me for some naive noble lady.
“Stop right there! Just stick to the petty scuffles for some pocket change. If we make it a big deal, what do you think will happen if it backfires? Folks like us, scraping by to survive, can’t possibly take on those noble lords! If we’re lucky, we’d be leaving here in one piece! Plus… that medal is the real deal.”
“How do you know?”
“…Because I’ve seen it. Remember when I told you about the time our village was slaughtered by monsters? The Pope Knight who saved me? He wore the exact same medal on his chest—couldn’t be mistaken. If it hadn’t been for that Pope Knight, I would’ve been dead by now.”
“…But that girl didn’t look heroic at all! She even… cried!”
“…Either way, that girl is at least connected to The Holy Church… We can’t mess with someone like that.”
“But… we didn’t get anything tonight…”
“It’s fine; the bread we saved can last a few more days. We’ll just eat a little less tonight and find a chance to make a big score tomorrow!”
“Okay, I’ll listen to you, Abe.”
“…Let’s rest a bit, then head back, okay?”
“Mhm.”
…………
It seemed they were just two half-grown kids whose lives had been ruined—perhaps the younger brother was even younger than me.
These two children ended up in Emerald City, leading a life of hunger. What had happened to their village and their families… it was easy to guess.
Monsters… there’s really nothing else that could be called that besides the Abyss.
I had initially come here just for some fun, but at that moment, I wasn’t sure how to express my feelings anymore.
After resting for just a moment, the two kids soon got up and started to leave.
I hesitated for a second, then quietly followed behind them, all the way to the southern corner of the city, far from the city center—an area that seemed completely out of place amid Emerald City’s prosperity.
The streets here were narrow, bumpy, and filled with mud, with piles of rotting garbage everywhere, polluting the air with a stench that made my nose wrinkle.
In this grim environment stood a few dilapidated buildings, most of which merely had black, hollow frameworks, with only a couple that looked slightly better still showing signs of life.
To call it a slum wouldn’t be accurate; it felt more like a massive garbage dump for Nalanda—not even a proper place to step down, with the foul air making me grimace.
Humanity’s history in this world has only spanned a little over a thousand years—many things are still far too backward.
Abe and his brother expertly navigated their way past various piles of junk, arriving in front of a house with flickering candlelight. They gently knocked on the door.
After a moment, a little girl who couldn’t be more than seven or eight years old opened the door and let them inside.
Once the door closed, I switched the bag I had in my hands to my right, lifted my skirt, and tiptoed over.
The windows of the house were boarded up haphazardly, so I stretched my head over and peeked through the gaps between the boards to see what was going on inside.
The room was very dim, but I could faintly see that, aside from Abe and his brother, there were three other little girls, all under ten, crowded around, gnawing on dry, hard bread.
“Abe, why aren’t you eating?” one little girl asked innocently when she noticed Abe hadn’t joined them.
“Go ahead and eat; I’m not hungry.”
“You’re lying; you haven’t eaten anything all day!”
“I really’m not hungry.”
“If you don’t eat, then neither will we!” another little girl pouted, putting down her piece of bread, sulking a bit.
“Abe isn’t lying; we both ate outside,” the brother chimed in, “It’s that festival night, after all! There’s lots of food in the streets! We snuck a bunch of meat skewers when no one was looking, so we can’t eat anymore.”
“Really?”
“Really!” The brother gulped nervously at the same time.
“Were the meat skewers… delicious?”
“Delicious! But we were in such a hurry today—next time I promise I’ll bring back more for you all to try!”
“Okay!”
“…Is the bread too hard?”
“It’s fine.”
“Let me show you a magic trick. Look, like this.” Abe held up a bowl of water and poured it over the piece of bread in the little girl’s hands. “Try it again; doesn’t it taste better now?”
“…Wow, it really does! You’re amazing, Abe!”
“Abe, did you meet the Hero today?”
“Mhm, I did~”
“What does he look like? Is he super cool?”
“Super cool! Dressed in shining silver armor, wrapped in a white cloak, holding a magnificent sword. He looks so heroic, it makes you feel safe just to be around him.”
That comment made my face blush slightly as I eavesdropped from outside the door. The embarrassing way I had behaved during the day was being described so… wait, what did I even do?
I didn’t do anything, forget it.
But why did Abe’s description of the hero feel strangely familiar?
“We even saw the Pope too!”
“Really? What does the Pope look like?”
“The Pope….”
I didn’t need to hear anything more.
I turned and walked to the rotten wooden door. Hesitating for a brief moment, I hesitated again.
After some contemplation, I placed the bag of food on the doorstep, gently knocked twice, and slipped into the darkness.
A moment later, one of the little girls opened the door. Seeing no one around, she looked puzzled, peering around before spotting the bag at her feet.
“What’s this… food! So much!” The little girl exclaimed excitedly, “Abe! Hurry and come see, someone left a ton of food at the door!”
“What food… huh? This bag looks kind of familiar.”
“Abe! This is the same bag that girl was carrying, isn’t it?”
“…We’ve been followed!”
“Abe! There’s so much food in here! There’s goat cheese, fried fish, and sweet fruit! This is so expensive, I’ve never eaten it before!”
“…Don’t mess with it; that’s someone else’s stuff.”
“Hey, but there’s just so much food…”
“Abe, don’t you always say, ‘No matter whose stuff it is, if it’s in our hands, it’s ours?’”
“But…”
“I don’t care, I want some sweet fruit…”
I trudged through the mud, leaving the sound of their chatter fading behind me.
I wish I could help them somehow.
I’ll ask Carlos about it tomorrow.
