“Why would you... why would you hit someone...!”
The one who had grabbed the man’s hood began shouting through tears.
“Why! Why did you hit me! Why...!”
“I am so sick of humans.”
The man muttered and, with an easy flick of his hand, shoved away the boy rushing at him. The boy’s crying tangled messily with screams begging him to please be quiet.
At the commotion, the men finally came inside. As if this had worked out perfectly, they said their hands had been itching anyway and started beating the children at random. They avoided faces, hands, and feet, punching only places that could be reasonably hidden under clothing. The especially pretty ones, or the girls, they only frightened.
Thanks to the handkerchiefs tied around their necks, Beta and Kenta avoided the beating. Kenta, who had so boldly shouted that they were going to escape, could do nothing but hold Ren in place.
After a long round of thrashing, the men tossed them food, saying it was their meal, and left. But the children did not eat. They only cried.
The sound of cargo being hauled around outside came through vividly. Even if they tried to run, security had gotten so tight because of the commotion just now that it seemed impossible.
It’s all your fault, all because of you, damn you, just die—their resentful voices swarmed like insects.
“You not eating!?”
Bang!
A man opened the door and came in, forcing the children lying on the floor to sit up and eat. After using brute strength to make them swallow, he looked at Kenta and said,
“There’s no bread or anything today. If you don’t want to starve to death, you’d better shut up and eat!”
“Why would—mmph!”
Kenta sensed something was wrong and clamped a hand over Beta’s mouth when she tried to argue. Then he shoved the food into his own mouth first, grabbed Beta’s arm, and forced her to eat too. She shook her head, sobbing and trying to scream that she didn’t want it, and Kenta barely managed to stop her.
“Hey. You...”
Kenta, who had been swallowing the food without even chewing it properly, shook Ren by the shoulder. Judging by those bastards’ mood, it seemed like they would not be giving them food anymore. So he had meant to tell Ren to eat at least a little of the filthy meal.
But his words came out slurred and muddled.
Kenta blinked.
Then he fell asleep.
Everything was quiet.
The silence was so extreme it made the fine hairs on Ren’s body stand on end.
Ren was not asleep.
He simply had so little strength that he could not speak.
He heard no sniffling. No sound of anyone chewing.
He barely managed to open his eyes.
Ren blinked slowly, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark, and realized everyone inside had fallen asleep.
They were tied up and trapped in this cramped space, so the only thing they could do here was sleep.
But something felt strange.
‘What is this? Something’s weird.’
“Are they all asleep?”
“Heh heh. Out cold, all of them. Even if they come to, they won’t be able to move. This really is a useful drug, isn’t it?”
‘Drug?’
Ren pricked up his ears at the voices coming from outside the wagon.
Drug! Then they had put something in the food? That was why everyone fell asleep?
“We can move them now.”
“This pain-in-the-ass job’s finally almost over!”
“What are you going to do once you get paid?”
“What else? Hand it all over to my wife.”
“Hahahaha! What a devoted husband!”
What the hell... A man who kidnapped other people and sold them off was a devoted husband...? Was that allowed? Was he insane?
Thud!
The cargo wagon door opened, followed by the sound of the curtain being drawn back. Ren squeezed his eyes shut. His heart pounded. They had definitely put them to sleep on purpose. Were they going to sell everyone off during the night?
Wake up! Everyone, wake up!
Ren almost screamed, then shut his mouth.
There were many guards outside. There was no way people drugged out of their minds could break through and run!
Better to wait for a chance. Watch the path they took when they left. Then what should he do? Would stealing glances be enough?
Ren narrowed his eyes.
He could not focus properly, so the men looked like vague blots. As he listened to the sounds of the children being carried out, Ren thought.
If he was moved like this, he would probably be locked up somewhere else again.
‘The ship’s horn...’
Maybe they were going to be taken out on the first ship at dawn. No, they might even be put on a ship leaving right now.
Screw it. Who cares!
Ren opened his eyes wide.
Why should I use my own body(?) to do something good for someone else? For trash bastards who kidnap people, no less! These were the filthiest men Ren had ever seen. Ren was not afraid of people who did bad things. People like that were dirty, unreasonable, and stupid. They were not scary.
It was not as if he had some grand plan.
But Ren decided to cause a scene.
If he became a person of interest, wouldn’t they lock him in solitary confinement, or let him meet someone higher up?
He would gather information first... and no matter how many years it took, he would get revenge!
‘Ah, a few years might be too much. Right.’
“Aaaaaaah!”
“What’s wrong?!”
“What happened?!”
“Aah! Agh...! Aaaah...? A—a ghost fire...?”
“What, are you crazy? Huh? He’s awake?”
“Well, look at that.”
The “ghost fire” the man trembling and hopping in place had mentioned was none other than Ren’s eyes. In the dark, his gaze shone so brightly that it looked like a ghostly flame.
“You idiot. You can’t tell the difference between a person’s eyes and ghost fire?”
“What’s all this noise!”
“N-nothing! Sorry! Looks like one of them didn’t eat. His eyes are wide open and sparkling!”
“Knock him out and move him.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Damn it. I’m going to get nagged for this. Little shit, scaring people like that. Fucking...”
Ptooey!
The man spat into his own palm, rubbed his hands together, and approached Ren.
‘A scene. How do I make a scene? My voice won’t even come out right.’
Ren glared stubbornly at the man coming toward him while turning over one idea after another.
“Hey. Be gentle.”
Judging by the figure approaching him while cursing, it did not seem like he intended to knock Ren out nicely. The man seemed to bend at the waist, but his hand came first.
‘Now!’
Ren’s eyes flashed.
As the hand reached for ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) him as though to grab his hair, Ren quickly snapped his head to the side and then...
“U-uh... uaaaaaaagh—!”
“What? More ghost fire bullsh—fuck! Get him off! Let go! Let go! You crazy little—!”
“I said let go! Let go!”
“Aaaagh! Aaaaaaagh—! My h-hand—! Aagh!”
He opened his mouth wiiide and bit down on the man’s hand with all his strength.
He bit the way he had bitten cloth to endure the pain of a seizure!
There was a crunch of breaking bone and the taste of blood. The taste of blood was disgusting, but the bad bastard’s screams were not bad.
When the men dragged Ren out by force, the man whose hand had been bitten shrieked and foamed at the mouth. Even while he was beaten and had his hair yanked out, Ren absolutely refused to let go. The man begged him to let go, then eventually fainted. They pulled so hard his clothes nearly stretched out of shape, and they even slapped him across the face, but Ren only twisted his face in pain. Like a Bevelto, a breed of dog famous for guarding houses well, once he bit something, he did not let go.
“Let go! Wow. This one’s vicious. Even when I was rolling around the back alleys, I never saw a bastard this nasty!”
“What do you want? Huh?”
The men looked sickened.
Because in the dark, Ren, who would not let go even after drawing blood, looked exactly like a devil hound from myth. Unable to touch him anymore, they held out their palms and gestured for him to calm down, but then a heavy voice rang out behind them.
“You still haven’t moved them?”
“L-Lord Aaron. Sorry... This slave bastard bit his hand and won’t let go.”
The one called Aaron glanced inside, then bent down and entered the wagon. He checked the man’s hand, now in rags and pouring blood, and the boy biting him, then opened his mouth.
“Kill him.”
“What?”
“If you can’t settle it in ten minutes, kill him. We don’t have time to be delayed because of one slave.”
“Yes, sir!”
“It’ll be better for you if you behave.”
After Aaron gave that warning and left, the men once again began roughly prying Ren off. They pulled knives hidden in their clothes and pressed one to Ren’s throat in threat.
In the end, Ren had no choice but to release the hand he had bitten. He stared stubbornly at the back of the man named Aaron as he walked away.
The men looked at Ren’s blood-covered face with revulsion and considered simply killing him, but in the end, they dragged him down.
When they saw Ren in the moonlight, they lost their words.
“...Hey. Hey. Isn’t this one totally... Master’s type?”
“If we bring him in, maybe we’ll get an even bigger bonus.”
“Damn. No wonder he bit.”
By then, only their team remained nearby. While they had been struggling with Ren, the others had finished sorting out the rest and withdrawn. After exchanging glances, they decided to pull Ren aside separately.
For a moment, Ren had been in danger of dying, but in the end, things had gone the way he wanted.
Ren went kaaack, ptooey! and imitated the old men he had seen spitting, spitting out the nasty, filthy saliva pooled in his mouth. But since Ren had never actually spat phlegm before, the spit ended up hanging messily from the corner of his mouth. Wiping it roughly with his bound hands, Ren tried hard to memorize the lower halves of the faces exposed beneath the masks of the men babbling at him.
After thoroughly scanning his surroundings, Ren’s eyes were covered a moment later, and he was dragged somewhere.
Probably to this “Master.”
How should he get revenge?
Ren’s creed was to pay back anything done to him threefold.
Whatever it was.
