episode_0130

I think I slept a lot when I was young, but now I seem to be quite sleepless. It’s a feeling of disconnection that no one but me can feel.

As I wriggled to my feet, Jules also felt me moving and got up as well.

“Sleep more.”

I must have been tired, so I collapsed.

Compared to the house I lived in 9 months ago, the arrangement of items inside still feels familiar. After writing an essay, I closed the fountain pen’s ink tank and dried out the writing.

‘······I miss you.’

As I lay limply in the chair, I reminisce about the old days.

Is there still a jar of honey that my mother hid? I looked at the low shelf next to the stove and found that it was still there.

I can’t believe I left this behind.

If he had to leave luxury items behind, it means he left in a hurry.

What on earth happened?

“Isn’t that honey?”

Before I knew it, Jules had opened his eyes.

I thought you were asleep.

“It was collected almost a year ago.”

Juul’s relaxed expression turns into a deep frown.

“If you eat it, you might die, so throw it away.”

Ugh, I don’t know why I’m so strict about what I eat.

I feel like I’m seeing someone who cures illness by eating well.

“Honey does not spoil or rot even after a thousand years.”

There actually was a case like that.

When I opened the lid and tried to eat the honey with a wooden spoon, it still smelled like sweet alcohol.

It turned into alcohol because of its high moisture content.

I like honey, but I don’t like drinking alcohol.

“It has become alcohol.”

“They say it won’t spoil even after a thousand years?”

Jules smiled and came towards me.

The deeply frowning face that he first showed instantly relaxed as if it had been ironed.

“Mead is famous for fermenting quickly and being strong. Plus, the fermented honey wine is especially sweet.”

Jules, who was standing behind me, sniffed, and his eyes fell on the honey pot.

It’s not a child…

“Do you like sweets that much?”

“Of course.”

Jules dips his fingers in, scoops up some honey, and begins to giggle.

Eat it with a spoon, it’s dirty… I don’t want to eat honey that has alcohol in it somehow.

For fermentation, it doesn’t matter as long as you add as much water as honey.

I poured out the water in the canteen, stirred it with a spoon, and closed the lid.

And, I realized too late that the water jar was empty.

Now the water is probably rotten or empty…

You will probably have to stay at home for a few days and go explore the surrounding villages. Since I had to go out to wash anyway, I decided to head to the river where my father had placed his fish trap.

“Jul. I think I need to get some water. Can you hold the jar?”

“I will follow you with it, so go out first.”

I’m sorry for making you do chores, but the jar is as tall as I am.

As I left the house, Jules ran after me, holding a jar in one hand.

As Jules looked around while holding the jar with one hand, something strange caught his eye.

“Kobolds have formed a colony around you. There are quite a lot of them.”

Ah, kobolds!

After Terub left, you have completely settled down here!

“You said before that there was a kobold that tore a deer apart with its bare hands, right? Is that kobold the leader of this place?”

“I would like to see it sometime. Kobolds only have strong teeth and have little other strength.”

Come to think of it, the kobold didn’t say a word to me.

Like a race without language.

“Do kobolds have no language?”

“There is no language, replaced by crying. The same goes for harpies.”

“Animals can also communicate by howling. Who on earth draws the boundary between animals and non-humans?”

“Dragon builds it.”

Dragon···?

What is the standard for determining Ain? humanity? Sane? look? Of course, I also found humanity in kobolds, but even dolphins have that kind of personality in the first place.

Stories about dolphins helping people come out quite often. Taking sociability as the standard for Ain cannot explain the closed nature of O or Terup.

“Why did the dragon decide that? It’s not my job.”

“You don’t know. As you said, it’s up to Ajin to decide, but especially when it comes to Ajin, Dragon and Magic Tower are pretty strict.”

Well, I’m going to look at all the weird guys.

Except for the first seven servants who created the world in the first place, there is something strange about the six servants created later.

Servant from nowhere, a spy, Venus, the god of emotions, Prometheus, the prophet, Dragon, the guardian of Ain and Pangea, Dantalian, the judge, and Pluto, the underworld.

It’s all related to Ain.

Should I say it’s too demi-human biased?

As I was washing my face in the river, Jules put the whole jar in water, brought it out, and washed it.

“Is there anywhere around here that smells like humans?”

“It’s not nonexistent, but it’s quite far.”

I held out the towel I had roughly wiped my head with to Jule and drank the river water.

When I first came here, I couldn’t drink the water because I thought it was a parasite or something, but now I can get over it just fine.

Come to think of it, my father always used to leave fish traps in this river.

What is it like now?

When I walked downstairs, the fish trap was still there.

I pulled it out and took it out, but of course there were only bones inside. Oh, there is also a water bug that has built a nest under the bone.

I rescued the fish trap and threw it away.

Juul had just caught a wild boar somewhere.

Sigh!!!! Kkuiik!!!!

Even alive.

“How on earth did you catch it?”

“I wanted some water, so I picked it up.”

So how is that possible?

“Strangely, I don’t want to eat pig blood.”

Suddenly!

Juul cut off the boar’s head with a single sword.

It’s a creature that should be considered headless, but that’s it. The pig, whose head was cut off by a single knife, realized it too late and struggled.

Jules threw him into the river.

with a plop!

Jules, who went into the river together, cut open the pig’s stomach.

When the peritoneum was ruptured, the internal organs poured out, unable to withstand the pressure.

“The pork intestines also seem dirty.”

······Hosot is said to stink, so boars are always ignored.

This one is probably a female.

“I guess I should just eat the heart.”

Juul cut open the yellow dura mater, took out the heart, chewed it, and began to prepare the meat. I’ve been seeing that type of behavior for quite some time, so I’m used to it now, but at the same time, I’m not used to it.

“After eating, let’s head north. If you see kobolds living in the south, it’s clear that humans don’t live there.”

“Yes.”

*

I was thinking about grilling pork belly for Jules, but I don’t have any plants to wrap it with.

I had no choice but to make bacon.

We grilled meat and smoked sliced barbecue.

The horribly torn pig was torn off only enough to eat and then thrown away. I got up, chatted with Jules, and wondered how far north we had traveled.

“It’s a private house just a few more minutes away. I’ll wait here, so come back when you’re done.”

“I’ll be back soon.”

How many minutes did I walk, leaving Juul behind?

As Juul said, a private house where people live has appeared. Rather than a village, it should be called a hamlet.

There were only eight houses gathered together.

People are squinting and looking this way. It’s really rare to see people traveling to the South.

“Honey. What brings you here?”

A dark-skinned man approached me.

Judging by his aging skin, which is worse than his appearance, he looks to be in his forties. Since they are people walking under the sunlight, it is natural. Maybe he was actually over forty.

“Hello. I stopped by to ask you something.”

The man smiles.

“What are you curious about?”

“I think my uncle worked as a hunter around a village in the south and then moved, but I can’t figure out where he went. Has any hunter stopped by this village recently?”

“There wasn’t one? I’ve never heard of any hunters moving here. Speaking of the south… isn’t it a place that used to be a bandit village?”

It was a difficult question to say, so I said it back and he asked me the same question.

“Yes. They said they always sold meat there.”

The man clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“Tsk tsk. How could they be so hard-hearted? I don’t know because I’ve never dealt with those guys.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Watch carefully.”

I visited several places, but everyone had similar reactions.

I have no interest in the bandit village. It would be correct to say that most people were reluctant to even mention it.

I was able to find out only after visiting several villages and exploring for several days. Hunters have their own territory, and there haven’t been any new faces around here for half a year.

In the end, there is only one place to stop by.

───Great Wall.

My father must have reported me missing.

I receive my father’s information from the wall and trace it back.

“Jul.”

Jules ears tremble.

It’s body language that shows you’re listening.

“I think I should go to the Great Wall.”

“Okay. Then.”

I’d rather complain, why are they following me so obediently?

I’m sorry.

“No. Since I may have to go for quite a while, it’s okay to go back to Juul.”

“It’s not okay. What will you do if you go to the Great Wall and can’t meet your family?”

“Humans are adults when they turn 16.”

“You’re still fifteen years old.”

“Fifteen or sixteen is the same.”

“Hosot is an adult at 19.”

As Jules said, there is nothing we can do.

Jules sighed deeply at my silence.

“If you know, don’t be stupid.”

“Yes.”

I organized my luggage and my essay and stuffed them into my bag.

Jules was sitting on the bed eating smoked bacon.

No matter how much you smoke it, it remains at room temperature.

It spoils quickly, so it’s best to eat it all. It was ready by the time Jules finished eating the bacon.

The inside of the demarcation line is human territory.

Even though the road has been cleared to that extent, this means that the probability of encountering people at the same time is very high.

“I think it would be better to go into the forest and walk. If I run into someone, there might be a bunch of vigilantes like the day they first saw me.”

Jules, who has come to appreciate the true taste of reclaimed roads, doesn’t seem to like walking on other roads. Just pretending not to hear anything and looking the other way.

“I’ll take care of it.”

No, my hair is pure white, so how can I hide? No.

I too am a very biased person. Are you still attaching the frame of common sense to this monster?

“You can never get caught. Got it?”

He said he would handle it on his own and he would take care of it.

And so the journey to the Great Wall with Jules began.

*

“······You say it won’t get caught?”

“I never knew something like that existed.”

I thought there were no dogs in this world, but that wasn’t true.

This is because the hunter’s dog was frightened by Juul’s scent and started whining in all directions.

It is rare for large, trained species to make such sounds.

The hunter, who came running at the sound of the hunting dog’s screams, found Jool and was so frightened that he ran away screaming along with his hunting dog.

“It’s a wolf!” He said.

Jules just giggles and laughs.

Even if I encountered a hunter, I think I would have just walked away. It’s the level of confidence that a tiger sees its subordinates.

So, a mischievous feeling arose.

“Shall we play a prank?”

Jules glanced at my face and shook his head.

“What kind of absurd thing are you going to do this time?”

What does this person not know?

All theories and inventions start from a vain place!

“Well, listen to it thinking it’s nonsense.”

It looks like he will listen.

“If I tie Jule up and put my bracelet on his arm, won’t he think you’re my slave?”

Soon, Juul chuckles and looks down at me with displeased eyes.

“Do you want to get hit?”

The eyes and voice are half sincere.

······If you do something wrong, you might get hit.

I slightly avoided Jules gaze.

“Ah, just like Jules said, it’s nonsense, right? I’m not the kind of person who should be arrested for something like that.”

Maybe it will work.

“The person who just ran away is now going to drag the villagers in?”

Jules sighed and looked away.

“Jules, it’s over when you go back, but I have to live here, right?”

“Yes! Try it!”

Jules gave me the bracelet keys.