When thinking about Harrison's wife, Isabella, it was clear that Harrison’s preferences and I were worlds apart.
Isabella was pure, graceful, and strikingly beautiful, as if painted with delicate strokes—everything I wasn’t.
Harrison adjusted his glasses and sighed again, muttering under his breath, “How much effort I’ve put into raising you...”
Honestly, Harrison often talked about "raising me." Strictly speaking, he wasn’t wrong, but it still felt odd to hear it.
“Are you coming or not?”
Ethan, who had gone ahead, turned around and called out to us. Only then did Harrison and I start moving again.
“Do you think the villagers will be okay?”
My question made Harrison look at me with a puzzled expression. He wasn’t aware of the scuffle with the villagers during the rescue of Emma and Victor.
I briefly explained to Harrison what had happened back then, and his face contorted into an uncharacteristically harsh expression.
“How dare they try such a thing against you...”
Muttering darkly, Harrison expressed that even eating those people alive wouldn’t be enough to satisfy his anger. It was uncharacteristic of him to say something so violent, but I found it oddly reassuring. Harrison was the only senior figure left whom I could truly rely on.
Harrison always carried a composed and serene demeanor, but given the circumstances, I had seen a surprising array of emotions from him in a short time.
‘Then again, in times like these, how many people can remain in their place without faltering?’
Meanwhile, Ethan, noticing Harrison’s anger, glanced at him before addressing me.
“If someone like that shows up again, there’s no choice but to drive them out of the village.”
“Are you serious?”
I narrowed my eyes at Ethan.
“I understand what you think of me, Cherry, but being righteous doesn’t mean being a pushover.”
“I did think you were a pushover.”
Ethan had nearly died running around trying to save as many people as he could immediately after the world had ended, hadn’t he?
“Cherry, I’m not as soft as you think. My nickname is Benton’s Mad Dog, after all.”
I nodded reluctantly, my expression skeptical.
“Are you proud of being called Benton’s Mad Dog?”
“There’s no reason to hate it. People shake in their boots just hearing the name.”
“Then should I start taking pride in being called the ‘Madwoman of the Haunted House’?”
“That one actually sounds genuinely insane, so I’d be worried.”
“Better than being compared to a dog, wouldn’t you say?”
“Wow...”
Ethan kept letting out small exclamations, as if amazed by something. I didn’t know what he found so impressive, but I decided not to ask, fearing his answer would be bizarre.
“What are you two doing?”
“...Sorry, Harrison. Let’s hurry.”
Embarrassed, I shut my mouth and started walking quietly. Ethan, on the other hand, remained unfazed and moved at his own leisurely pace.
“By the way, who dared to call you a madwoman?”
Harrison, whose affection for me was often exaggerated (Amy’s words, not mine), asked in a voice tinged with quiet fury.
I couldn’t tell him the truth—that most of the villagers in Brunel called me that—because I had a feeling Harrison might burn down the village elder’s house in retaliation.
“Not everyone called me that. Many people also called me... uh... uh... miss.”
I mumbled the word “Sugar Star” under my breath, embarrassed to say it out loud. Harrison frowned.
“Sugar... miss?”
Next to us, Ethan burst out laughing. I chose silence as my defense.
Anyway, we continued toward the elder’s house, exchanging light, meaningless chatter along the way.
Come to think of it, when did Ethan and I start talking so casually?
‘Oh, right. It was then.’
When he told me that whatever I had done before the end didn’t matter anymore.
It was clear that Ethan’s attitude toward me had shifted after that moment.
‘Isn’t that a positive sign, no matter how you look at it?’
Ethan and I got along surprisingly well.
Maybe his constant insistence that we were partners had worked on me. Besides, he was the only one who humored my nonsense.
‘Ignore the trash talk, Cherry. It’ll just dirty your soul,’ he used to say.
When my emotions were spiraling out of control, Ethan was the one who helped me center myself.
Anyway, after releasing the villagers being held captive, Ethan’s work here would be done.
“Until the day Cherry doesn’t need me anymore...”
I remembered him saying that.
At this point, I wished Ethan would stay at Happy House longer, but I couldn’t predict his intentions.
‘Should I just lie down and declare that I still need him?’
But for some reason, I felt like that approach would backfire, and Ethan might leave out of annoyance. His thought process was so peculiar that I couldn’t guess what he’d do.
“This way.”
Ethan, acting like he knew the elder’s house inside out, led us confidently.
The elder’s house was in a residential alley a block behind Brunel’s main street. It was a modest two-story house with a spacious yard.
When we opened the door and stepped inside, we found a group of people tied up with ropes, huddled together against a living room column. There were about ten of them.
They looked at us with faces full of fear, trembling violently. They probably thought we were with the Kint faction.
For a moment, I regretted not bringing Amy, whose face might have been familiar to them.
But soon, a few of them seemed to recognize Ethan and me.
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Their bodies convulsed as they twisted and pointed at us with their bound hands. They couldn’t speak because of the gags in their mouths, but their frantic gestures made their emotions clear.
Ethan, Harrison, and I calmly began untying the captives. Still, tension hung heavy in the air.
Maybe it was because of the prejudice I’d developed after the villagers tried to kill Victor and Emma.
I couldn’t shake the thought that freeing them might lead to them turning on us, or worse, trying to harm us.
If they displayed any hostility, I was fully prepared to carry out Ethan’s suggestion and expel them from the village without hesitation.
This village belonged to us now. Any claims of ownership from before the apocalypse were meaningless.
We were the ones who had driven out the monsters and eliminated the intruders.
In a world where society had collapsed and everyone lived under the constant threat of monsters, this was the harsh reality. Survival was all that mattered.
To my surprise, none of the villagers tied up in the elder’s house showed any hostility or aggression toward us.
It seemed their fear outweighed everything else.
“H-how did this happen...?”
The first to speak was the village elder, who had mentioned earlier that he was turning sixty this year.
I turned to him and asked, “The Kint survivors tried to abduct you, didn’t they?”
“Yes... they said they were going to take us as slaves. They claimed they needed workers to develop the mountains behind Brunel Village...”
The one who answered was a woman sitting beside the elder.
“Workers to develop the mountains behind Brunel Village...”
I had assumed the Kint survivors came to steal food and supplies, but it seemed their plans were far more ambitious.
It made sense, though. The mountains behind Brunel were a valuable resource. It was one of the main reasons I had ultimately decided to purchase Happy House.
Looking at the exhausted and disheveled villagers, I said, “Those people are dead. Bitten by monsters. The monsters are gone too.”
A heavy silence fell over the room after my words. The villagers exchanged nervous glances, struggling to process what they’d just heard.
Then the woman who had spoken earlier asked me again, “T-then who killed the monsters?”
“We did.”
“The three of you?”
“We have others in our group.”
This time, it was Harrison who answered.
Harrison’s calm and steady voice carried authority, making it easy for people to trust him.
“The village is safe now. The intruders and monsters have been dealt with. However, if you want it to remain safe, we’ll need to build barricades at the village entrances. We’ll need your help to rebuild the village. Will you help us?”
The villagers hesitated, glancing at one another before slowly standing up, one by one.
“What do we need to do?”
“You saved us. Of course, we’ll help.”
Their responses were earnest and filled with determination.
Ah, Harrison. He truly was different. There was something about him—a persuasive tone that could soothe and inspire trust. Harrison’s voice had that effect.
I made a mental note to have him give speeches in the future.
Just then, one of the women approached me and clasped my hands tightly. Her action drew everyone’s attention to us.
“I saw you a few days ago,” she began hesitantly.
“Carrying the doctor on your back. And using that axe to take down monsters.”
Her words caused a stir among the villagers. One by one, they stepped forward to add their own observations.
“I-I saw it too! I was hiding on the second floor of the weapon shop. You cleared all the monsters outside, didn’t you?”
“Oh, I saw it as well. You’re incredibly strong. Thank you so much.”
Expressions of gratitude came flooding in, leaving me scratching my cheek in embarrassment as I accepted their thanks.
To think so many people had seen me carrying Nox! He’d hate it if he found out.
“It wasn’t just me. My whole group worked together. From now on, we all need to combine our efforts if we want to survive.”
I held the villagers’ hands as I spoke, and they nodded fervently, faces filled with gratitude and hope.
“You saved our lives. Our lives are yours now.”
“No, that’s a bit too dramatic...”
My awkward response drew laughter from the group, and I couldn’t help but smile along with them.
Thankfully, these villagers were different from those who had tried to kill Victor and Emma.
Yes, people like this reminded me that even in a world that had collapsed, there was still hope.