Side Story 2: The World Which He Left Behind (1/2)

At the site of where the sudden battle with the swarm of lesser demons had taken place the other day, the plant life was in full bloom, as it would be in springtime, despite winter being so near. This was due to all the holy energy that four archangels had released. And in the midst of the lush greenery, I had found only one, huge tree that remained withered.

There had to something going on here. With this withered tree as the center, the scenery of the entire one meter radius around it remained distinctly that of fall. In other words, it had not been affected by the holy energy. There was something unusual about this. Crouching down by the hollow in the tree and thinking for a moment, I noticed that the surrounding wind had suddenly changed.

Something was coming—

As I stood up, something long and narrow suddenly came flying at me from behind. Dodging with a graceful turn, I rushed over to where the object had been thrown from, and without allowing the offender time to even make a sound, I bound both of his arms and legs with a holy chain. No matter how strong the demon was, once they were bound by their chain, they would not be able to exert any dark energy. The more they struggled, the more of their dark energy would be consumed, and their physical strength would only be sapped, as well. My captive was covered completely with a black robe, his face hidden from sight. All I could see was that he was putting up a desperate resistance.

“You’re only wasting your strength by doing that. Give it up,”

As I said this, I pulled the robe away from the figure. I was caught up in a moment of surprise, and found myself speechless.

“Damn it! Let go of me, bastard……!”

The one that continued to struggle while screaming profanities was a small child. And in his hand, the same as what had been thrown at me earlier, he held a baguette.

At the altar of this desolate church, before me was a small boy. He had red hair, and almond-shaped eyes of the same color. He glared hard with me with eyes that gave off a rough, strong-willed impression, and somewhere behind all of that, some kind of sorrow. Everything he wore on his body, both his clothes and shoes, looked tattered.

“Now then…. I have a few questions to ask you.”

“Let go! Let go of me, you perverted bastard!”

“…. Well, I can’t just let you go after you’ve said something like that. And who would that statement be directed at, exactly?”

“You, who else! Who goes and ties up someone with this weird chain all of a sudden!”

“Ahh… Those are called handcuffs. They’re excellent tools for when you need to restrain someone efficiently.”

“Like I care about that! Who d’you think you are, anyway!? Just barging into my hideout without permission……!”

Upon hearing the word “hideout,” it came to me. Did he mean the hollow of that tree? It didn’t seem like a space very worthy of being considered a hideout, though.

“Is that where you live? But it looked like just an old, withered tree to me……”

“…….! I…. Is there a problem with it just being an old tree……!?”

The boy turned his face away as if offended. Was that really the boy’s home? It was hard to imagine. And even if it were, no matter which way you looked at it, it was strange that only that area was unaffected by the holy energy.

“…… If that really is your home, then where’s your family? Do they live with you in that tiny place?”

“….. I don’t have a family.”

“Eh?”

“…… I don’t have a father or a mother!! Is there a problem with me being alone!?”

He was alone. Did this small child really mean to say that he lived alone in that withered tree in the grass? But, how……? Suddenly, one possible answer came to mind.

“…… Are you an orphan? You have nowhere to live, and you sleep in the hollow of that tree?”

“That’s what I’ve been saying this whole time!!”

“…… And what about food?”

“tch!!”

“That bread you had earlier… Did you steal that from a nearby house?”

“……”

“If you keep silent, I’ll take that as an affirmative, you know?”

“Kids like us can’t survive without resorting to stealing.”

“‘Us’?”

“…. On this island, there’s a ton of other kids out there that’re just like me.”

Did he mean to say that there were many orphans in this region? Even in the human world, they were in a period of war. I had known from the reports that as a result of the wars that were constantly taking place in each region, orphans just like this boy had increased. Still, it was a very different thing to see a real orphan in front of me now, and hear things in his own words.

“I see…. That seems rough, for you and the other orphans. If it’s alright with you…. Do you mind showing me where your friends are right now?”

* * *

After passing through the crowded main streets, we entered a back alley into the slums. The humans that walked through the streets all seemed in a hurry to get somewhere. The blatant noise of the beggars and other vulgar people said a lot about the well-being of the place. And everywhere, there were orphans that put on airs of being like adults. Barefooted orphans wearing tattered clothing.

“…. Hey. This is enough, right? I’ve brought you here as promised, so take these off.”

He was referring to the handcuffs restraining him. I had released the ones on his feet, but I realized that the boy’s hands were still bound. The moment they were removed, the boy immediately darted away from me. He still seemed rather cautious, and well, I couldn’t blame him.

As we’d been walking, the surrounding orphans had all began gathering around us—or more specifically, around the boy.

I adjusted the concentration on my holy energy, and made it so that my form would be visible to human eyes.

“Hey, hey, Leader, who’s this~? A friend?”

“Grown-ups… are scary.”

“I got a whole bunch today! Well, not as much as Leader, though.”

One after another, the orphans surrounded the boy and began talking. It seemed that the redhead boy was called their “leader” around here.

“Ah, I… kind of got caught up with some things, so…. I haven’t gone to the job yet.”

By “job,” he probably meant stealing, and because it wasn’t only for himself, he must not have stolen enough for today’s portion.

“I see~ But, we’re always relying on Leader, so…… Today, I’ll go!”

“No, wait! I’m gonna go today~”

The gathered orphans began fighting amongst themselves over who would be the one to go stealing.

“H-hey, you guys, calm down! Listen, alright? It’s not so easy to steal! Amateurs like you would be caught in no time, and thrown straight in jail.”

“J-jail……”

“Noo…. I’m scared……”

“So that’s why, don’t even think about it, got it? Just like usual, I’ll be the one to go, and the rest of you will wait here like you’re s’sposed to!”

“B-but Leader…… There’s a grown-up right there.”

The young girl in the center of the group said this and pointed at me with a nervous face. For them, “grown-ups” didn’t seem to be good people.

“Ah…… You’re right….”

The redhead boy looked over at me with a somewhat embarrassed expression. He still looked cautious, perhaps because of the fear of being cuffed earlier was still fresh in his mind.

“It’s alright. I’m not your enemy. I’m your leader’s assistant!”

“Assistant~?” A chorus of voices all questioned at once.

“Eh…. Hey, wait a minute! What do you mean by that!?”

“It’ll be fine, just go along with it… Now then, Leader! Shall we get to the job at the usual bakery?”

As I started to walk by pushing his—the leader’s shoulders, he stared back at me with both doubt and caution.

So…… stealing, huh? It was something that I had never had the experience of doing before, so right now, my heart was pounding.

* * *

The job had been a success. A huge success. Maybe because I’d been there to help too, or maybe it was just luck, but either way, when we’d brought back the haul that was seemingly much more than usual, all the orphans who’d been waiting started to praise us.

“Uwah—! This is the new item from Maniela! I’ve been wanting to eat this~”

“Hey, hey! Was the big bro assistant able to keep up with Leader~?”

“…… Well, I guess he was pretty good with matching my speed.”

The children were all happily stuffing their mouths with food. They must have always been so hungry, seeing as how they even ate all of the scraps that we’d picked up on the streets.

“Hey, why don’t you eat something too?”

The boy still hadn’t had a single bite of the food that he’d stolen.

“Eh? ….. I’m fine. I can eat anytime…… And anyway—”

“‘I’ve never had the need to eat,’ right?”

I finished his thought in a quiet voice, and the boy jumped back a step in surprise. He was staring at me with fearful eyes.

“…… I noticed it, you know. Right from the beginning.”

“!!”

I had known if from the time that he’d first thrown that bread at me. He had been able to see me, an angel. And feeling an instinctual hostility, he had attacked me. At that place, his dark energy had been rejecting my own holy energy.

I told the other children that I had to leave for today, and taking the boy with me, went somewhere else. I turned the corner of a dimly-lit alleyway, and took him to the very back of the alley, where there were no other people around. He was trembling, his face pale.

“By the looks of it, you might still be too young to understand, but….. Angels can’t be seen by ordinary humans.”

“kh……!”

“Your friends were only able to see me because I’d intentionally made myself visible to them.”

One step at a time, the boy backed away while shaking.