Chapter 54

Chapter 54

“……Zen!”

Royle drew in a ragged breath and opened his eyes. Tinnitus briefly swirled around before disappearing.

Where is this?

It was when he put his hand on the ground to lift his body. His hand sank straight down.

Startled, he looked below.

The ground was far below. What was supporting his body were tree branches tangled together in a mess.

His body stiffened once he realized he was high up. Why am I in a place like this?

“Z-Zen! Zen!”

It was when he was calling for his sibling with a trembling voice. Thunk—something flew over and hit his head.

He looked back. About 3 meters away, his sibling was there. The moment he confirmed they were alive, a sigh of relief escaped.

His sibling wore a subtle smile and threw another broken twig.

“Don’t.”

It was the first time in a while his sibling had played a prank.

Creak, creak.

A sound came from overhead. Royle carefully raised his head. The monster was up there.

Wearing clothes no different from rags, he lay on a hammock-like bed woven from branches.

The tension came back to life. Had he saved them, or captured them as emergency rations?

Just then, his eyes met with the monster’s.

Early twenties? No, late teens? Maybe mid to late twenties?

He couldn’t tell the age because of the hair and beard grown thick and wild.

The man lying in the hammock bent his waist sharply. Performing what seemed like acrobatics, the man who escaped from the hammock dropped vertically and landed in front of Royle.

Royle swallowed dryly.

“P-please spare my sibling. Just eat me and spare them……”

“Sheela! Did you catch a lot of fish today?”

“What?”

“Why are you so out of it? You said the net had a hole last time and all the fish got away—are you still distracted by that?”

The monster said something strange.

Who’s Sheela, and what’s this about fish?

“Sheela?”

“M-me?”

“Yeah, Sheela! Where else would Sheela be besides you? Wait…… you’re not Sheela?”

The monster narrowed the space between his eyes and thrust his head forward. As the pitch-black eyes drew close, Royle answered as if screaming.

“No! I’m Sheela, yes. I’m Sheela!”

“I know, Sheela. You’re pranking me again, right? Haha, this guy.”

The monster laughed while whacking his shoulder. His hand was so rough that tears nearly sprang to Royle’s eyes.

“Anyway, Brinky’s quiet again today.”

The monster looked at his sibling. I’m Sheela, my sibling is Brinky. Royle repeated it so he wouldn’t forget the names.

“I used to be like that too. When everything in the world felt hateful. But still, a man shouldn’t be like that! Moping around like the world’s ended can only last a day or two. Anyway, groveling because you got dumped by a woman—right, Sheela?”

“R-right.”

“Hey, friend. Why are you using formal speech? Still pranking me?”

Their eyes met—those black eyes. His mind snapped to attention.

“R-right! My friend. I was just pulling a prank.”

“You love pranks too much. Anyway Sheela, try to cheer up Brinky. He can’t keep his mouth shut forever, right?”

With words to keep up the good work, the monster climbed back up to the hammock.

Royle crawled across the branch toward his sibling.

“Zen, are you okay?”

Zen nodded. There didn’t seem to be any injuries.

“I’ll figure something out somehow. Don’t worry too much and……”

“Sheela!”

The monster shouted from above.

“Y-yeah! I’m here.”

“Aren’t you going to catch fish?”

Really going on about fish in the middle of the forest. Royle hid his rotting heart and smiled.

“I’m about to go.”

“You’re going?”

“Y-yeah. I should go.”

“Then tell me when you leave. I’ll come too. I’ll lend you a hand, so just give me a couple of the good ones.”

“Sure! I’ll set aside big ones for you.”

“We really are friends.”

Is he not a bad person?

Or is he toying with us before eating us?

He couldn’t tell at all. Royle exhaled briefly before looking down.

It was a dizzying height. If he misstepped and fell……

Royle turned his head. His sibling was gripping his arm and pulling. He was grinning happily about something.

“Sheela!”

The monster made a booming sound and dropped onto the branch where Royle was. He landed after spinning twice in mid-air, his movements as light as a falling feather.

It reminded him of the traveling acrobats he’d occasionally seen in the city. People who used their bodies with amazing skill.

Royle forced a smile.

“Let’s set out now.”

“What?”

Right after that puzzled answer left his mouth, Royle’s body was lifted. The monster tucked Royle under his arm and leaped toward the ground.

“Kyaaaah!”

The ground drew close in an instant.

I’m going to die falling headfirst. It was when that dizzying imagination filled his head completely.

The monster kicked hard off a tree on the opposite side. The direction changed and the speed decreased slightly.

Soon—thud—they touched the ground.

His stomach lurched, but nothing was broken.

“This guy and his dramatics.”

His trembling legs touched the ground. He tried to stand properly, but his knees gave out and he collapsed.

“Want to rest?”

The monster tilted his head and looked down. Royle shook his head vigorously and stood up.

“N-no. I should go. To catch fish.”

“Cheer up! With my help, catching fish will be quick.”

The monster walked with light steps, yet somehow he was faster than Royle running.

Royle barely swallowed his gasping breaths as he followed the monster.

Running away was never an option from the start. Not only was his sibling alone up in the tree, but even if he ran until his heart burst, that monster would catch up with a single stride.

“Shh, there’s a fish.”

There was a goblin in the direction the monster pointed.

It was one he’d never seen before.

Royle feared Big Mouth, but he hadn’t left Big Mouth’s activity range. Other goblins rarely came to the area where Big Mouth was active.

Of course, they’d managed well for over two months before getting caught once and ending up like this.

“What are you going to do?”

Royle asked cautiously. The monster snorted as if asking why he’d ask such a thing, then charged right out.

“It’s a big one!”

The monster cheered while raising both arms.

*

“Good work.”

“Y-yeah.”

He was completely out of it.

Going down from the tree had been dizzying, but coming back up was no easier. He’d nearly vomited while hanging.

He clutched his spinning head and closed his eyes. It felt like he’d dreamed. All day running around watching goblins die.

The monster never got tired. By the time he said “huh,” he was already running far in the distance. When he gasped trying to catch up, the monster had already killed the goblin and was moving on searching for other prey.

Sometimes he fought using fist-sized stones as weapons, other times he swung tough vines like whips.

Everything that came to hand became a weapon.

But the monster was most frightening when fighting barehanded. Especially the sight of him tearing off chunks of goblin flesh with his teeth made the back of his knees tingle no matter how many times he saw it.

Royle looked at the monster lying in the hammock.

Was he human or goblin?

Or something entirely different?

He should have run when the monster called him ‘Sheela.’ Because at some point he might come to his senses and ask “What are you?” before biting their throats.

“Zen. Zen, wake up.”

He gently woke his sibling who was sleeping peacefully. The sun was setting. The monster above had also been quiet since earlier.

He gathered up his sibling who woke rubbing their eyes and looked below.

We have to go down.

We have to run when there’s a chance.

“We’re going down. You have to hold on tight. Understand?”

He peeled off the tree bark. Tough, resilient bark. He gathered several long strips of peeled bark and twisted them together like rope.

He put his sibling on his back and wrapped his whole body with the makeshift rope. He shook his body and looked up.

The monster still showed no movement.

Good.

Looking down still made his head spin, but strength hadn’t left his hands and feet.

He gripped the rough tree bark. Unlike the branches, the thick trunk’s bark wouldn’t peel off.

It seemed he could hold on and climb down.

“It’ll be scary, but endure it. Keep your eyes shut tight.”

His sibling listened well. After confirming his sibling clinging tightly, he carefully stepped down.

He lowered his foot slightly down and released his hand.

He was confident in his grip strength. He was good at climbing trees too. Of course, he’d never climbed a tree this high before.

The ground gradually drew closer. About halfway down, he could jump.

It was when he thought everything was perfect.

Royle’s eyes caught something that shouldn’t be there. The undergrowth receiving the faint remaining light. There was a frog with protruding eyes at the spot he’d thought of as his landing point.

Its size was that of a large dog.

Frogs couldn’t be that big. That’s a goblin.

He pondered while hanging from the trunk.

If he went down, the frog would attack. He’d very occasionally seen goblins that didn’t attack, but that frog……

The frog’s pupils changed to triangular shapes. It stood up abruptly on its thick hind legs and started rushing toward the tree, wildly swinging its front legs.

“Damn it!”

It’s coming to get me, that monster.

He hurried to climb back up the tree.

The moment he released his left hand to grab higher up, a slightly protruding piece of bark dug under his fingernail.

He’d been hasty. He should have been careful.

Ah—in that instant, his body tilted backward.

I’m falling from the tree. The image of the frog opening its mouth below came to mind.

Royle squeezed out all his strength and shouted.

“Help!”

Something seemed to flash from up above.

Crash!

A roar came from beneath the tree.

Royle’s body, which had been plummeting with his sibling, was caught firmly in mid-air.

It was the monster. The monster who’d instantly crushed the frog snatched Royle with his left hand and leaped back up the tree.

The scenery passed swiftly before his eyes.

When he came to his senses, he was on the branch.

Royle first removed the bark wrapped around his body and checked his sibling’s condition.

Zen was trembling with their neck pulled in tight.

“Zen, are you okay?”

His sibling’s eyes slowly opened. Blue pupils swept left and right once, then nodded as if to say they were fine.

Royle hugged his sibling.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

How frightened must they have been, how scared. It was when he was patting the back of his sibling who couldn’t even cry.

“What’s your name?”

The monster asked. It wasn’t the excited voice he always had. A calm voice that somehow seemed pained.

“Sh-Sheela.”

“Damn it. Are you really Sheela?”

The monster raised his hand high. He looked ready to strike.

Royle flinched and answered.

“Royle. I’m Royle.”

“Royle. Right, you’re not Sheela?”

“No, I’m Royle.”

“That one?”

The monster looked at his sibling. Royle turned his body to block his sibling’s face with his upper body.

“It’s Zen.”

“Zen?”

“Jeyhalin. I call them Zen.”^[1]

“Your real sibling?”

“Yes.”

“You could’ve run away alone, so why did you bring them along?”

“……How could I abandon my sibling?”

“Really? Others seemed to abandon theirs just fine.”

The monster approached.

Is he going to eat us now? It was when his body trembled violently from the fear he couldn’t resist.

The monster’s hand landed on his head.

Pat, pat. He tapped his head with gentle touches.

“You did well, you did well. You must have suffered taking care of your sibling.”

“What?”

“Rest today. Ah, and even if I act crazy up there, just ignore me. I’m not normal. But I won’t hurt you two, so don’t worry. Even if I’m insane, I don’t kill humans.”

The monster whipped his head up.

And he shouted toward the empty hammock.

“Yeah, Drich! I’ll be right there! Wait.”

The monster’s eyes filled only with black pupils turned toward Royle.

“Sleep. You have to sleep when you can. Otherwise you go crazy.”

The monster grinned, showing all his teeth.

It was clearly a bright smile, yet strangely, to Royle that smile looked like crying.