🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 59
The sound was so pitiful that I couldn’t possibly ignore it and go back to sleep.
I slipped quietly out of my nanny’s arms and carefully walked toward where the sound was coming from.
It was coming from a small wagon surrounded by the troupe’s baggage carts.
This one alone was completely wrapped in cloth, so the inside couldn’t be seen at all.
‘Come to think of it, I wondered what they put inside to have it wrapped up so tightly.’
Feeling a bit puzzled, I moved closer and leaned in to listen.
“Grrrnnngh—.”
An even more pitiful sound rang out, as if something were on the verge of dying.
‘What is it? Did they capture some kind of rare beast?’
It was common for traveling troupes to capture unusual animals or take people with disabilities along as members to display them for money.
But from what I’d heard in the village, this troupe had never exhibited any strange animals.
There were several holes drilled into the lower part, seemingly to serve as air vents.
I moved closer and pressed my eye tightly against one of the holes.
Could I see something?
At that moment—
“!!”
I met the yellow, gleaming eyes of a beast shining in the darkness.
In the pitch-black void, it was as if those eyes alone existed.
I almost screamed. I barely managed to stop myself by biting down on my lips.
A growling sound, like that of a beast, echoed out.
“W-who…?”
It was clumsy, but it was clearly speaking.
It was still a young child, so even through the hole I could see about half of its face.
Thick golden hair—only the tips looked red, as if soaked in blood. And ears of a different shape than a human’s jutted up between the hair.
Unusually long fangs, and yellow beast-like eyes.
‘A beastkin?’
They had been mentioned a few times in the original story.
Beastkin possessed physical abilities far superior to humans, along with unique and beautiful appearances.
Because of that, there were people who kidnapped beastkin children and sold them as slaves to the Empire.
‘Don’t tell me… this traveling troupe isn’t just a troupe, but slave traders?’
A series of shocking realizations struck my head one after another.
‘And with that unusual hair color and eye color…?’
I asked in a small voice so no one around could hear.
“Juto?”
At that, the beastkin child’s eyes went wide.
“How… do you know? My… name?”
I swallowed down another scream with all my might.
Juto, the prince of the beastkin.
He was a fairly important supporting character in the original work, The Reconstruction of the Kingdom of Palts.
‘Why is he appearing here?’
Crouching beneath the wagon, I took a moment to digest the shock.
‘Right. I’ve possessed the original villainess anyway, and Edmund is the final boss of the original story. Willis is a supporting character whose name appears, too. One more supporting character showing up isn’t that strange.’
If I remembered correctly, his background story involved being sold into slavery as a child, suffering through it, then meeting the female lead, receiving her help, and becoming her trusted subordinate.
Since the original story hadn’t even begun yet, the related characters were all still in the middle of their hardships.
Just like Edmund had been.
‘Yeah. There’s no need to be surprised just because I met an original character now. This is a book possession, right? It’s only natural.’
If I were going to be surprised, it should be after meeting the original protagonists.
While I was calming myself down, Juto whimpered above my head.
“I… don’t like it. Suffocating. Want… outside.”
It was awkward common speech, but the meaning was obvious.
‘He wants to escape.’
Of course he would—he was a child being dragged away as a slave.
A creaking, scraping sound echoed as if he were clawing at the floor of the wagon.
I let out a sigh and asked,
“Aren’t you hungry?”
There was no way they’d properly fed a child they’d captured as a slave.
At my question, the child’s large eyes curved sorrowfully.
Instead of answering, a small growling sound came from his stomach.
I took out one of the spare pieces of dried rations I had tucked in my clothes and slipped it through the gap in the wagon.
“Here. Eat.”
“……!”
The child brightened and devoured the ration in the blink of an eye.
Then, licking his hand regretfully, he asked,
“No more? More?”
I shook my head.
“That’s all.”
At that, the child’s beast ears drooped.
He really looked like a puppy.
I couldn’t help but lament again.
‘But still… what do I do with him?’
Even our group was in the middle of escaping while hiding our identities.
We didn’t have the leeway to take care of someone else.
And the number of people in the traveling troupe holding this child far outnumbered our party.
‘The four of us can’t possibly fight a troupe of dozens.’
Even now, we were riding along only because we’d paid them.
It was troublesome in every way.
‘But I can’t just stand by and watch a child get dragged off as a slave.’
That was when it happened.
The surroundings, which had been deathly quiet until then, suddenly changed.
The sound of footsteps—two of them—was approaching.
“What is it?”
“I thought I heard something strange.”
I flattened myself desperately against the ground. If I got caught, it’d be a disaster!
But they came right up to the area around me and Juto.
“Ah, so this bastard was here. Looks like he caused a ruckus again, huh?”
They kicked the wagon holding Juto with dull thuds.
From inside, Juto let out a fierce growl full of hostility.
“Still full of energy, huh.”
“Didn’t we starve him for two days? Impressive.”
“Well, he is a beast, after all.”
They snickered as they taunted Juto, tapping the wagon and tossing out a few insults.
I worried that Juto might get too agitated and say something about me to them.
Thankfully, that didn’t happen.
Juto only made sounds closer to an animal’s howl than to human speech.
“By the way, what’s the boss thinking, taking in those four? We’re not really heading north anyway.”
What?
I clapped both hands over my mouth to keep from letting out even a whimper.
“What do you think? He’s planning to sell those humans too.”
“But there’s no young woman, is there?”
On the surface, our group looked like a family traveling together: a middle-aged mother and three sons.
“The boss said the two younger sons should fetch a decent price. Especially the youngest. There are plenty of nobles in the Empire with… special tastes.”
“True. It’s a shame he’s not a girl.”
They were talking about me and Edmund. Especially Edmund.
‘They’re planning to sell us as slaves too!’
The particularly rough-looking face of the troupe leader flashed through my mind.
My bad feeling about him hadn’t been wrong after all.
‘You bastards!’
Just then, even though I was sure I’d stayed quiet, a sound like a branch snapping came from nearby.
Crack!
I felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest.
The men, who had been snickering over their nasty talk, stiffened and drew their swords from their waists.
“What was that? That noise just now?”
“Is something there?”
They began scanning their surroundings.
Being men who did rough work, their vigilance was sharp.
They searched the area thoroughly. Even though nothing was visible nearby.
One of them pointed beneath the wagon holding the beastkin.
“Hey. Check under there.”
“Ugh.”
The younger one complained, but did as told.
He lay flat on the ground, lowered his head, and checked beneath the wagon…
“…There’s nothing.”
There was nothing but grass swaying gently, damp with morning dew.
Grumbling, he stood back up.
“What the hell, my clothes are all wet now.”
At that moment, the man who’d first heard the strange sound saw something move.
“Ah! There!”
A squirrel quickly climbed up a tree.
“…….”
“Tch. Made me check under there for nothing.”
After venting their irritation by kicking Juto’s wagon a few more times,
they shuffled back toward their sleeping area.
After they’d completely disappeared—
“…Haa!”
Only then could Cassia finally breathe out, having kept her mouth covered the whole time.
Behind the trunk of a tree in the forest, a short distance from the wagons, Edmund was hiding while holding Cassia tightly in his arms.
