Before I realize it, they start living not too far away from the village, and show no intention of leaving.
Freinet is back with the information she gathered.
She says they lost the place where they lived and ran into the forest. My carelessness led to them living around here. It’s because of my actions that they’re trying to get involved with us.
I wish we could all work together, but apparently there are people among them that want to take what we have. This is difficult.
Freinet agrees when I say that they’re probably not bad, it’s just the situation itself. They were chased away from their homes, had to walk around a forest full of monsters, and finally found someone that didn’t treat them like an enemy.
I’m sure they have their hands full too.
“We made it here without being attacked too much probably because you’re with us, but I’m sure they were attacked a lot more. They probably even lost some people.
Aren’t they just feeling cornered?”
Freinet tells me how she felt as she watched them.
They have been living without seeing a light at the end of the tunnel as their numbers shrunk. That’s why they’re desperate. I want to help, no, I’m sure everyone wants to help, but… It’s hard to do anything when we don’t know how it will affect the village.
I’m happy when everyone is happy, and I don’t like it when someone is sad. I want everyone to smile together. But I get that it’s hard to help everyone that’s sad or hurting.
I think the vow I made with Gaius is lovely, and I want to see it come true. That objective is wonderful, and I do want to make it happen, but I also understand it’s very hard.
As everyone in the village struggles with what to do with them and how to approach this issue, a new problem comes up.
A beast person from our village is captured by them.
When I hear the news, I can only wonder how. Mister Dongu told everyone not to leave the village because they’re lurking around. Beast people are physically stronger than humans, so he said there shouldn’t be a problem if no one acts on their own. So why? My mind is white.
“…How, did that, happen?”
“…Someone tried to talk to them without telling anyone else. Roma was very interested in these humans we’ve never seen before.”
The beast person that was captured, mister Roma, is much older than me, but still a young man. His main job in the village is to hunt.
I’m told he tried to talk to them because he was very curious, but I’m surprised, because he’s never gone against mister Dongu’s instructions before.
“…This is our fault too. Roma was always the kind of person to do unexpected things. But after Athos passed away, we had to run away, met the elves, defeated the monster, and then finally settled here. We became careless because we relaxed too much.”
Mister Dongu looks very serious. We haven’t had any contact because we didn’t initiate it, but now mister Roma tried to talk to them, and was captured.
“…What, now?”
We decided not to get involved with them, and thought it would be best for everyone if they left, but now they have mister Roma.
“…They are going to try to use Roma to get in contact with us. If we are strictly talking about what is best for the village, the best option would be to abandon Roma.”
Says mister Dongu, and he continues.
“Still, maybe I’m also too naive, because I don’t consider abandoning him to be an option. I’m sure everyone here agrees.
Our number one goal is to create a place where we can all smile together, so that goal fails by default if we abandon our people.”
“…Yes.”
In order to make our dream come true, it would probably be easier to abandon mister Roma, but I don’t want to do that. Even if we did that and later made our dream come true, I’m sure I’d regret it. I’m sure everyone feels the same way.
As we discuss how to rescue mister Roma, the people keeping him captive negotiate by saying they want a place where we can talk. One of their conditions is ‘you have to bring the first girl we met’. That means they want me to go too.
—Girl and people – Part three
(A beast person from the village of the girl that is probably the miko falls into the hands of the people that recently arrived, and she starts working towards rescuing him.)
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As expected, they know.