“Who do you think you are...!”
As he was about to shout, Mine put on a kind face. Still holding Ren, he bent his knees and sat, looking at the girl.
“What’s your name?”
When Mine, with his gentle impression, smiled and asked, the girl hesitated.
“You don’t have to answer!”
“You can take your time.”
“...Be-Beta...”
Beta’s face flushed a little. A faint glimpse of hope appeared in the girl’s eyes. Mine, who looked clean-cut enough to stand out among the burly men around them, seemed different from the ones who had captured them.
Maybe he would let them out of here.
“Yes, Beta. Even your name is pretty. Oh dear, your arms look painful from being tied so tightly. I think I could loosen them a little.”
“R-really?”
Beta stared at Mine with trembling eyes. The girl’s chapped lips twitched. Beta wanted to beg him to let her out of here. She would be a good girl, she would not make trouble, she would eat only a little, so please, just let her out of this place. The farther they traveled, the more anxious the girl’s heart became. She hoped they would never reach their destination, then prayed that wherever they were going would be better than what she imagined. Then the girl began hoping she would be sold to a good owner, and then she imagined escaping. But whenever she opened her eyes, she was always inside the shaking cargo wagon, and all she had to eat was sour rice no one would even feed a dog.
Looking into the child’s tearful eyes, Mine made a sorrowful face.
“You’re so young. It must be hard to endure this place.”
“Bullshit...!”
“And what is your name?”
“Kenta!”
The girl suddenly cut in and answered. Her voice was desperate. Kenta, who had been about to hurl curses, shut his mouth.
“Kenta. It would be better not to defy me. I have less patience than I seem. Mm, what I’d like to ask you, as I said, is about this boy. He seems to be feeling unwell, so I’d like you to look after him and give him medicine. Can you take care of him?”
“That kind of care is your job!”
“That is why I told you, didn’t I? Surely you don’t think you’re going to some kind of camp right now. The people gathered here have no tomorrow. So unfortunate things sometimes happen before they can even be sold to a good owner. I’m saying I’ll help you avoid suffering something like that. Is feeding this boy medicine such a difficult task?”
Mine’s eyes were cold. Beta, who had nodded as if bewitched by his gentle voice, opened her eyes wide. That was exactly what Beta had feared. And ironically, from his words, Beta felt both despair and hope.
‘A good owner.’
Now that it had come to this, Beta had no choice but to pray that she would be sold to a “good owner” and make that her hope.
“Kenta, please... I can take good care of him. I’ll feed him the medicine properly too! Please! Help me go to a good owner!”
Beta cried out in a shrill voice.
At the pitifully cracking sound of it, Mine nodded.
“Beta understands quickly. Then, Kenta? I’ll leave him to you. Handle him carefully so he doesn’t get hurt.”
Without hesitation, Mine loosened the ropes binding Kenta’s arms and legs. In exchange, however, he tied a red handkerchief around his neck.
“What the hell is this...!”
“It means this child is under my management. Now, Beta, come here.”
Beta hesitated, then stood right in front of Mine. Seeing her face reddened with excitement and tension, Mine smiled. He tied a red handkerchief around Beta’s neck too. Mine’s nickname was embroidered in initials at the end of the handkerchief. In this merchant group, that mark meant they were being directly used by someone with rank, a sort of territorial claim telling others not to touch them unless they had a good reason.
“You’ll get something more edible than what you have now too. So please take good care of him. If he gets seriously ill, point to the handkerchief and ask them to call me. Ah, my name is Mine.”
Mine smiled sweetly, handed Ren to Kenta, then stroked Beta’s head.
After looking at Ren, whose breathing came in pitiful wheezes, Mine turned away.
It could not help weighing on him. The people gathered here only chased money or flesh. A place filled with people who had no plans for life, only desires. Even if they turned away for ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ a moment and lusted after the merchandise, the higher-ups did not impose much restraint. And Ren was a boy. There was no way to determine a boy’s first time, so even if someone did it in secret, there was no way to know, and no one who would bother questioning it.
So this was the bare minimum of conscience for his own statement that he hoped Ren would find a good owner.
Mine rattled off excuses to himself for doing something troublesome.
He smiled as he looked at Kenta, who was glaring at him with a resentful face. Then he pointed at Beta beside him. No matter how hot-tempered Kenta was, surely he would not act however he pleased when the safety of a girl he treated like family was on the line.
He had considered leaving Ren to someone else, but there was no one suitable. It was a task that required at least that much temper.
Just look at them. What good was being tall? Seeing them walk with their heads bowed low, staggering without confidence, they were the kind of people who would hand anything over the moment someone demanded it.
Clicking his tongue, Mine turned away without lingering.
Though it would never happen.
He did idly think that if no suitable owner appeared to take Ren, raising him himself might be amusing.
Kenta stared after Mine’s back, seething with rage. Why were they being treated like this, while this kid got special treatment? This kid was just a cowardly idiot who screamed and bawled, then immediately submitted to reality!
“What the hell is he?”
“Kenta. Please. Please don’t. Let’s quietly protect him.”
When Kenta, in his temper, lifted Ren up as if he were about to throw him away, Beta hurriedly grabbed his arm and pulled it down.
“Please! Honestly, it’s because of you that we were captured in the first place! When we got caught up in that fight, I told you we should just leave. If we had, both of us could have gone home! Your temper is what brought us all the way here...! Are you going to do it again? Can’t you help me go to a good owner... sob...?”
At last, Beta burst into tears.
Kenta’s face filled with shock at the resentment he had never heard from her before. He could not say a single word and bit his lip.
“We won’t ever see each other again once we’re separated anyway. So just this once, just this once, listen to me. Please, Kenta.”
His pride wounded, Kenta clamped his mouth shut. Holding back the turmoil boiling inside him and his tears, he whipped his head away. Fortunately, it seemed he was not going to throw Ren down.
The place where they were dragged down was deep in the woods. Trees surrounded them on every side, making it impossible to tell where they were. Just how far did they mean to drag them around? Since they had traveled day and night for several days, they must already have crossed into another kingdom or reached the very edge of this one.
The men snickered as they looked over the faces trying desperately to hold back tears.
***
On the fourth floor of a proper-looking trading company building, inside a room paneled with luxurious wood, a man who looked to be in his early forties was looking down by the window. His face was darkly tanned, with a pronounced philtrum and cupid’s bow.
He watched the sailors moving busily and the ships repeatedly departing and returning.
Knock, knock.
Just then, there was a knock.
“Come in.”
The one who entered the room was a fairly young woman.
“So. What are my assets doing?”
The man asked with a broad grin. The smile on his relaxed face made him look like a capable, respectable businessman.
“They’re terrified, believing they’ve crossed into another kingdom.”
“Hahaha!”
The man burst into loud laughter, as if he found it terribly amusing. He brushed back the hair that had fallen over his face and sat in his chair.
“What faces will they make when they learn they’ve actually just been circling near Delfona?”
“Won’t they try to run?”
“Haha. The brave ones will. The guards?”
“Thorough.”
“Load the suitable ones onto the ship first. Send the rest once things quiet down a little.”
“Yes.”
After the woman left, the man looked at the map laid on his desk. At a glance, the route drawn in red lines formed a suspicious pattern, enough to look like some kind of symbol.
***
Kenta sat with Ren on his knees, gripping the medicine Mine had given him in passing.
“Food!”
The man who held out a large basin of pig slop with food all mixed together saw the handkerchiefs tied around Kenta and Beta’s necks and clicked his tongue. He threw the basin onto the ground, then seemed to go somewhere else, only to return with two pieces of bread that looked fairly edible and toss them to the two of them.
“Th-thank you...”
Beta accepted the bread with tears in her eyes. Kenta frowned.
“What makes them so special that they get bread...”
“Shut up.”
Kenta growled and urged Beta to eat the bread. He even handed over his own share, then looked down at Ren, who was only lying there sick. What the hell was this kid? Rage and irritation stormed through him, but Beta’s situation, where she had no choice but to be happy over a piece of bread she received thanks to this kid, was so miserable it drove him mad. And the fact that he was the one who had put Beta in that situation was unbearably painful.
Kenta wanted to smash into everything.
He forced down his panting rage.
He glared at the boys and girls who kept sneaking looks at the bread and cursed them viciously.
“Kenta. Let’s give him the medicine.”
Kenta took out the medicine he had been gripping and shoved it recklessly into Ren’s mouth.
“Cough! Cough, hk... cough! Cough! Cough, cough! Ngh... mmph...”
Whether he had swallowed it wrong or choked on it, Ren, who had been lying quietly with his eyes closed, began coughing convulsively, his body shaking.
“Why—why is he doing that!”
“Kenta! How could you feed it to him like that! What do we do? Hey! Hey! Are you okay? Please, come to your senses!”
Beta began screaming.
The warmth of one piece of bread, Beta’s small hope that she would not have to eat dog food, was already about to shatter. As Beta screamed, Kenta shouted too.
“Urk. Uweeegh...”
