Chapter 19
So there was nothing to worry about. Still, at the very least, I didn’t want to see her like that. No matter how strong her survival instincts were or how good she was at running away, a child was still a child.
I didn’t want to make her live like a herbivore that fears being eaten by predators every single day.
I’ll protect her.
My deliberation wasn’t long. Holding Lari’s hand, I sprang up from the sofa.
“Is Priestess Melodia here? Where?”
“There’s a carriage over there.”
“I want to go see.”
Indeed, there was a carriage parked in front of the orphanage. Perhaps to show it off to others, men in white armor were standing there openly as well.
When I hurried to the window to look at the carriage, the director stayed seated and pushed some food toward us.
“You’re not going to eat before you go? At least eat one.”
But seeing the director awkwardly smiling as she handed over a sandwich, Lari showed even more discomfort.
“…I don’t want it. I won’t eat.”
“O-oh, well, if that’s the case, then there’s nothing to be done. You should get on quickly then. Be a good child.”
Only after Lari clearly declared that she wouldn’t eat did the director finally stand up and lead the way.
“Sis, then… Lari’s really going?”
“I guess so.”
“I don’t want to…”
No matter how much children resist, it’s usually useless. But if they resist in front of other people, even the director can’t easily force it.
No matter how much she’s the director here and claims to control everyone, the scariest thing in the world is rumors.
And then there are the gazes of the other children.
The words of children—who speak without filtering anything—are something adults can’t stop.
In fact, if you say, “You mustn’t say this,” that’s exactly the part children will blurt out.
That’s probably why the director deliberately prepared a carriage from the temple.
In the end, unable to withstand her urging, we left the room and slowly walked toward the carriage.
Before we knew it, we were standing in front of the pure white carriage. Perhaps because word had spread that a temple carriage had arrived, not only the caretakers but even the children had gathered around it.
Seeing that, the director urged us once more, as if she wanted to send us off quickly.
“Now, get on. Aisha, you can go too if you want.”
“Me too?”
“Yes. You wanted to stay together, didn’t you?”
At my words, Lari looked at me without saying anything. Lari had always listened to me well, but it was as if she was showing that she couldn’t go any further than this.
Of course, I had never intended to get on that carriage in the first place.
The director probably brought this carriage to send either me or Lari away in one go and then make excuses to others—like saying it was something that happened because of the temple. But I’ll use it the other way around.
I’d frame it as the director trying to send us somewhere strange in front of everyone, making her look like a suspicious person among both the children and the teachers.
“Director.”
“Yes?”
Staring intently at the carriage, I pointed at a spot on it.
“There’s no emblem here—the one that’s always on temple carriages.”
“Huh?”
“The carriage Priestess Melodia rode always had an emblem, didn’t it? And the armor the holy knights are wearing looks a bit strange too. Their armor is always spotless, pure white. Ah! Now that I look closely, everything’s strange. Temple carriages are always pulled by white horses, but these are brown.”
Watching me question everything so persistently, the director let out a hollow laugh.
“What are you talking about? I don’t see what’s different. Aisha, don’t bother these busy people. Just get on.”
“Ah, I won’t get on. It’s suspicious. Lari, this carriage is weird. Don’t get on.”
At that, the children and teachers who had rushed over thinking it was a temple carriage looked puzzled.
“W-what do you mean? It is a temple carriage.”
“The priestess isn’t even here.”
“She was busy and couldn’t come. She can’t always come herself. I don’t know about the emblem, and the armor could have changed color. And the horses… maybe the horses were sick and got replaced.”
“But it really is strange. Last time, a knight said that the holy knights of the temple polish their armor every morning, thinking of meeting the god in a clean state. But the armor these people are wearing looks unclean.”
The children, unaware of the director’s intentions, began to run over and agree with me.
“Wow, really. This looks fake.”
“The carriage looks crude.”
“Yeah, yeah. And the knights are weird too. I’ve never seen them before.”
One child who had quickly peeked inside through the open door even came back out holding his nose.
“It smells weird inside. Ugh.”
At times like this, the orphanage troublemakers are truly welcome. The kids who always showed up first whenever something happened did so again, sticking their heads into the carriage first.
Sure enough, the director snapped irritably and strode toward the gathered children.
“Y-you kids, back off!”
At her shout, the children scattered in a hurry—but not very far.
“See? Everyone says it’s strange. Right, teacher? You think it’s strange too, don’t you?”
Even the teachers, who always had to wait whenever a temple carriage arrived, tilted their heads.
“W-well…”
“It does seem a bit odd…”
“The director wouldn’t bring a fake one, would she?”
They sounded skeptical, but all their reactions were similar.
Something was off.
“Everyone stop saying nonsense and step back. If I say it’s real, then it’s real.”
“But I won’t get on. I’ll get on when the priestess comes. When Priestess Melodia comes.”
“Aisha!”
“That carriage is weird, the knights are weird—everything’s weird!”
“I said get on already!”
Watching the director shout angrily even though we said we didn’t want to, my lips trembled.
“S-surely you’re not trying to kidnap us? You’re not planning to sell us to those strange people, are you?!”
The director finally began acting forcefully, and I shouted loudly while scanning my surroundings with a tearful voice. Only then did El and a few other orphanage kids come closer to us.
“Please don’t do this, Director.”
“Y-you do hit us sometimes, but you’ve never sold us before, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Y-you kids, seriously…!”
There was payoff to having taken good care of the weaker children in the orphanage all this time.
Children who would normally never stand up against the director stepped in front of me. I had raised my voice to provoke the caretakers, but I gained something else too. Teachers who worked here for money and were always scolded by the director also added their voices.
“Director, even to us this seems a bit suspicious.”
Most of them were good people. The reason they couldn’t leave despite being treated that way was because of the orphanage children. They knew that if they left, the children would be treated even worse.
“Are you doubting me now?”
“No. It’s just that there are so many eyes on us, and we think it would be better to ask Priestess Melodia to come in person.”
“……”
“That’s right! We’ll go when Priestess Melodia comes! But if you drag us away like this, everyone in the market will know. I’ve already spread the rumors!”
Only then did the director let out a deep sigh.
“You’re really annoying, Aisha.”
“But it can’t be helped.”
“Do as you like. But if you don’t go today, you’ll regret it eventually.”
“Yes! I like it here. So I’ll just regret it!”
Regardless of whether the director’s face stiffened, I firmly held Lari’s hand and stepped back.
“Then let’s go!”
“Yeah!”
“Everyone, thank you. Thank you, teachers too!”
Afraid she might change her mind and force us into the carriage, I said my thanks and quickly ran off. Once we withdrew, the other children hurried away as well and came up beside us.
“Hehe. No, it’s nothing. Aisha always helps us.”
“You’ve protected us from bad kids a lot, too.”
“Yeah, yeah. You even did our chores for us.”
Seeing their kind, innocent smiles, I resolved once more to protect Lari—and to protect all the children of this orphanage too.
Leaving them behind, I quickly returned to the room.
Just in case, I gathered the snacks I’d hidden and some wearable clothes, wrapping them tightly in a large blanket. Then I took out the thickest cardigan I owned.
As soon as we entered the room and I let go of her hand to pack, Lari came closer to me, looking surprised.
“What are you doing?”
“Lari.”
“Yeah.”
“I think we need to be careful for a while. They’ll probably keep trying to make you leave this place.”
What else should I bring? If I’d known this would happen, I should have made a hideout. And if I’d known Lari would kindly send the doll to her brother, I would’ve bought two.
“So what are you doing now?”
“We’ll take the blanket and food and leave here.”
“Where are we going?”
“We’ll stay in the storage room or somewhere. That place will be safer than here.”
This time we got through it, but if they came looking for us while we were asleep, it would be a disaster.
“So you want me to stay there?”
“Yes. I know it’ll be scary since you’ll be alone… but I’ll come every night. So just for a while…”
My heart pounded.
I felt guilty and worried at the thought of leaving her alone.
“What else should I pack… If I’d known, I would’ve made a hideout. Besides this, what else….”
At that moment, a small hand rested on top of my head as I sat on the floor packing things into the blanket.
“Idiot.”
