Everyone was asleep, and Ryder, who was pressed under Tristan, looked like he was in pain, but he did not forget to snore.
Torvir slowly got up, feeling exhausted all over, and at the same time, the smell of strangers in the room stimulated his nose.
"Gulu." His stomach roared.
"Are you hungry? Come and eat." Arthur, who was responsible for the night watch, was waiting in front of the door and motioned for Toviel to come over.
Although he was still full of fear, hunger made the young leopard man unable to care about anything else. He got out of bed and slowly walked out. Suddenly, his feet became sore that he almost fell to the ground.
"Be careful, don't wake up the others." Arthur supported Torvir to prevent him from falling.
"Come on, eat quickly to replenish your strength." He almost dragged Tovel to the dining room.
The hot and steaming stew slid down the leopard man boy's throat, making him suddenly feel alive again. After he took a breath, he started to eat hungrily.
Arthur sat quietly aside, watching the leopard boy eat.
"Ugh!" Torvir was in pain after swallowing the food.
"Idiot, I told you to eat slowly." Arthur patted the leopard man boy's back. After a few times, Tovir finally swallowed the food stuck in his throat smoothly.
"Woo------" The Leopard Man boy paused for a moment, seemingly recovering his anger.
But then he made a move that Arthur had never thought of: Torvill picked up the knife in his right hand and cut his wrist!
"What are you doing?!" In desperation, Arthur stretched out his hand to block it, but the knife cut Arthur's hand deeply!
"You..." Arthur endured the pain and slapped the knife away from Torvill's hand.
Arthur realized that the force of cutting his wrist was serious. Fortunately, it was not a particularly sharp knife, otherwise even the bones of Arthur's hand would have been cut open.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"
"You won't die even if you cut your wrists. The vitality of orcs is so tenacious, so what's the point of losing a little blood?" Arthur said while bandaging his hand, "What's the big deal that needs to be solved by suicide? You idiot."
."
"Don't..." Tovel said indistinctly as he cried, "Don't preach to me like that, meow------"
"I'm really sorry. If possible, I don't want to worry about you." Arthur said coldly.
"Don't...don't be so nice to me, meow..."
At this point, Arthur suddenly grabbed Torvill's face: "Boy, look at me."
"Pah!" Before Tovel could react, he was immediately slapped by Arthur.
"This slap is for you. You were crying and talking about meow meow, which made me very angry." Arthur said, "Either you stop talking and just cry. Or you finish your words and then cry."
Or just don’t cry. Do you understand?"
Tovel was stunned by this sudden slap, and then he stopped crying.
"Oh, aren't you going to cry?"
"...Kill, kill me, meow." The leopard man boy whispered, "I, I am not qualified to be with you anymore, meow... I will only... here."
.It will only bring you danger, meow."
"Are you finally willing to talk properly?" Arthur stroked Tovel's head, as if comforting an injured kitten, but his words were completely inconsistent with his actions: "It's not impossible to kill you."
, but I don’t want to kill you without knowing anything. What I hate the most is settling a matter while being kept in the dark. If you want me to help you get rid of it, it’s best to spit out all the secrets in your belly first. In this case
I can also let you die a good death."
Tovel avoided Arthur's gaze and said nothing again.
"You think you won't cause us trouble if you die? Don't be stupid. Those fox people will think that you have told us the secret a long time ago. Even if you die, they will not let us go so easily.
"
"So------" Arthur grabbed the leopard boy's face and twisted it so that he had to face him: "Speak to me, hurry up. Even if you don't want to live, you have to show up first."
Spit out the information to me!"
"...You don't want to know, meow." The leopard boy muttered in a low voice.
"That's up to me," Arthur said, "but I have to at least listen before I can make up my mind, right?"
Tovel closed his eyes and said nothing, but his attitude had obviously calmed down a lot.
"Okay, you can't tell me now, can you? It's up to you." Arthur patted the leopard boy's head, "Go take a bath and go to bed. We'll talk about anything later."
Tovel nodded and wiped his tears.
"...Arthur..." he suddenly asked in a low voice, "...is there anyone in this world who was born to die?"
"No." Arthur said, "People can't choose how they are born, but they can choose how they live."
"The behavior you just did was also a choice, but it was the most stupid one. Promise me not to do it again."
"You'd better get rid of the word 'meow' quickly. If you say 'meow' in everything, the seriousness in your words will be lost," Arthur said.
Tovel scratched his head in embarrassment and prepared to walk towards the bathroom, but before he could take a few steps, his feet began to weaken and he fell awkwardly to the ground.
"You useless guy, don't you even have the strength to walk?" Arthur came over to help Toviel up, "Come on, I'll help you wash it."
"No, no need to, meow..." Tovel said awkwardly.
"It's so noisy!" Arthur dragged the leopard boy into the bathroom.
"Meow meow..." Tovel shuddered when the bath water poured down on his head.
"Okay, go take a dip in the bathtub, don't faint." Arthur said.
Torvir shyly climbed into the bathtub. He relaxed a little as he soaked in the hot water.
"Then ------" Arthur grabbed Torvill's hand, "Sure enough, your nails have grown so much all of a sudden. It's time to trim them for you."
He picked up the knife and prepared to trim Tovel's nails: "Don't move, I won't be responsible if you cut your finger."
Tovel said nothing.
Time passed quietly like this, minute by minute. The leopard man boy soaked in the hot water and looked at the knight in front of him without saying a word, doing a job that only a servant would do for him. Who is it?
Who is the master of a slave? Is this position reversed?
"Don't..." Torvir, who couldn't bear it anymore, muttered in a low voice, "Don't be so nice to me, meow... I'm just a monster, meow."
Monster...?
Where had he heard the same words before? Arthur was stunned for a moment, his head hurt, and the memories of the past came out like a tide.
------At first, I was just one person.
Then, I met him.
"Arthur," the red-haired boy looked at the pale boy and said, "I am Kai, and we will be brothers from now on."
------Originally, everything is no longer important.
"Hmph, you dirty kitten." The red-haired boy scrubbed his brother's hair and washed away the foam on the boy's body with water.
The pale boy was indifferent to everything, as if he was not here at all, but at the end of another world.
The red-haired boy knew very well. The other person's empty eyes were proof that he was indifferent to the world. He no longer cared about anything, was indifferent to everything, gave up thinking, and even gave up hope of living.
Those are the eyes of the dead.
"You will get better one day." The red-haired boy sighed in a low voice, "I was once like you, so I know. You will come back here one day."
The knight who once saved the red-haired boy has long become a pillar of support in the boy's heart. For the first time, he understood that the world is not so cold and heartless, and for the first time he had a longing for the human world. This was only three years,
It was just four years ago.
This time, it's my turn to save you. The red-haired boy looked at his unrelated brother.
Another day, the red-haired boy was wandering around the slums with a note.
"To ask a child to buy him a drink... Such a 'dad' is really terrible." He sighed, then turned to the pale boy and said, "Come on, Arthur.
Walking outside will be good for your condition. Just remember to follow me closely."
Thinking about it now, that was really a stupid idea of a child.
How could it be possible to follow closely?
When the red-haired boy bought the wine and turned around to look at his younger brother, his younger brother had already wandered for a long distance, and unfortunately, he bumped into a gangster.
"Hey, boy, what's the matter with you?!" The gangsters began to surround the pale boy, "Why don't you have eyes when you walk?! You suddenly bumped into me and stained my clothes. How should you compensate me?"
How good?!＂
It's really bad.
"Hey, why don't you speak? You little brat, don't you even know how to be polite?!" Seeing that the pale boy remained silent, the gangsters became even more arrogant.
"Wait a minute!" The red-haired boy rushed over and stood in front of his younger brother, "Everyone, I'm sorry! This is my younger brother. He is an idiot, and he is mute. He cannot speak. He is just a little kid.
That's all, uncle, can't you spare him if you have a lot of money?"
"Spare him?!" the leading gangster sneered, "Boy, are you an idiot? How could I spare you so easily?!"
He kicked the red-haired boy to the ground.
"Come on, kid, kowtow to the uncle! Maybe I will spare you after you kowtow!"
"Is this like this? Okay." The red-haired boy didn't bother to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth. He knelt in front of the gangster and kowtowed several times.
"Is this okay, sir?"
"Well, it's not bad." The gangster said with a satisfied look. However, just when the red-haired boy thought he was fine and could breathe a sigh of relief, the gangster sneered: "I lied to you."
After the leading gangster winked, a group of gangsters rushed up and beat and kicked the red-haired boy. After a violent beating, they rummaged through the red-haired boy's pockets and found a few pitiful copper coins.
Even more annoyed.
"Damn boy, you're really broke, right?" the gangster said viciously, "You've wasted so much of our time, you're dead!"
The gangsters beat him more violently, and their fists and kicks rained down on the red-haired boy, beating him to pieces within a short time.
"Ugh!" The red-haired boy vomited a mouthful of blood and became motionless.
"Tsk, isn't this going to work? It's really boring." The leading gangster kicked him again. Seeing that the red-haired boy was still motionless, he began to turn his attention to the other child.