By the time Kano made her way out of the citadel, she was surprised to find that the energy had already spread all the way to where Sherp was waiting, oblivious to the encroaching threat.

“Sherp,” Kano called out, “move back.”

Recognizing the concern in her voice, or perhaps due to her timid nature, Sherp took several steps backward.

She probably would’ve been fine standing there for a little longer, but Kano preferred not to take the risk. Especially when she needed Sherp functional. She walked over to the ghoul and said, “The orb works fine, but things have changed. Tell Himin to forget about the reactor for now. Even if she could destroy it, she’d only make things worse for everyone. Instead, what she needs to do is start moving everyone away from the citadel.”

“Why? Is there something wrong with the citadel?”

“The energy leaking from it is spreading, and any ghoul it touches will die. Understand?”

Sherp’s eyes widened, and she looked toward the invisible tide of energy emanating from the citadel. “Got it. Is that everything?” she asked, already backing away.

“Yeah.”

Sherp ran off, pausing only for one last look back at the citadel before turning a

corner and disappearing. Hopefully with the help of Himin’s ghouls, they’d be able to handle it.

Seeing how quickly the energy was spreading had made Kano rethink her priorities. It might very well grow enough to cover the whole of Shorinstown within a day or two, so she needed to make sure the people important to her were safe before she worried about everyone else.

She considered bringing Nove and the children to the edge of Shorinstown or beyond, but that was only a temporary measure. Eventually they’d run out food or water, and there was no telling how far the energy would reach. Why not bring them to where they would truly be safe instead? The energy was perfectly harmless within the citadel, where it was properly harnessed, and now was probably the best opportunity that Kano was going to get to bring them through.

“Come on,” Kano said to Ren before starting off toward the barracks.

“Where are we going now?”

“We’re going to get Nove and the children and bring them back here. Do you remember them?”

“Of course.” The blob fidgeted, shifting her bulk. “Are you sure it’s a good idea for me to go back there?”

“Sure, just let me know if you’re feeling tired. But there shouldn’t be any problems now that you have the orb. You don’t feel tired, right?”

“Nope. I feel fine.”

“Good.” That was one less thing she had to worry about. Once everyone was safely back in the citadel, she’d feel a lot more at ease. Warning and shooing away any ghouls she met along the way, Kano reached the bright-red building where the Red Company made their home. She explained the gist of the situation to the guard at the door, who repeated it sub-vocally to his superior while Kano and Ren moved past him, albeit with some squeezing on Ren’s part.

“Nove?” Kano called, and the towering creature lumbered out a few moments later.

“Oh, welcome back.” She glanced at Ren. “What’s happening?”

“You and all the children need to come with me to the citadel.”

Nove’s lips peeled back in an expression of confusion, exposing her mismatched teeth. “The citadel? Why?”

“Necromantic energy is leaking out into Shorinstown and transforming whatever it touches into horrible things. The citadel is the only place safe from it.”

“Where’s this energy coming from?”

“The citadel.”

Nove blinked. “So we’re going right to the source?”

“It might sound strange, but the citadel is the only place that can protect from something like that. It was probably the only structure in Shorinstown designed with necromantic energy in mind.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“So, we’re going to be living with the necromancers?” For the first time in their conversation, Nove sounded a little worried.

“It’s mostly just An now, and she should be fine. Definitely not someone you or the children need to worry about.”

The abomination’s bone-plated head bounced up and down. “Good. Is Ren coming with us?”

“Yeah, why?” Kano glanced back at the blob, but she looked indifferent.

“Is that safe?”

“I understand why you might be concerned, but she’s all fixed now.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yep.”

Nove took one last look at Ren. “Then that’s good enough for me. I’ll start getting the children’s things ready. Why don’t you go collect the ones at the factory? They should be finished soon.”

“All right.” If they weren’t finished by the time she got there, then they’d be cutting their shift short.

Nove headed back into the room she shared with the children while Kano left the barracks with Ren.

“It’s good that Nove was willing to look past what happened,” Kano said once they were outside.

“Is it?”

“I mean, it’s not like you did it on purpose or anything, so I imagine you wouldn’t want them to hold it against you.”

“I don’t care either way.”

“Why not?”

“Why would I? These people mean nothing to me. Aren’t they just a bunch of ghouls? What could they possibly matter? If anything, I don’t understand why you care about them. We’re supposed to be similar, but I don’t get it at all.”

“They’re not really like other ghouls. Besides, they need someone to look after them.”

“So? Can’t Nove do that? I don’t see how that’s a reason for you to care about them either.”

Maybe she was right. It wasn’t really much of a reason to be attached to them. Most ghouls were relatively helpless in one way or another. What made them different? “I guess the real reason is partly the same reason why I want to help you.”

Ren let out a derisive laugh. “And how’s that? How am I anything like those stupid little ghouls?”

“I feel like you both have a lot of potential to grow and experience the world around you.”

“That reason seems even worse than the other one. Why would you want to help someone just for that? What do you get out of it?”

Thinking back, Kano tried to recall when she’d gotten anything out of it. The most recent example, which would serve as well as any, was when she’d first brought Ren outside. “You all get a certain amount of joy from experiencing new things and such, like when you left the citadel for the first time. And when that happens, I feel a bit of that joy myself.” She felt a little bewildered by her own words. Though she agreed with what she was saying, this was the first time she’d ever really thought about it and put it all together. It was exhilarating in a way, even if it didn’t seem to be getting through to Ren.

“Wasn’t it a lot of work to free me?”

“Not really. An did most of it. Though keeping you alive afterwards took a fair bit more work.”

“And it was worth it? Just for that little bit of joy?” Ren stopped to stare intently at Kano.

“I don’t know if you can really compare things that way, but yes. I’d say it was worth it.”

“Maybe we aren’t as similar as I assumed. I still can’t understand why you think that way. Did Karen deliberately make us different or something?”

“She might have.” Though Kano suspected it had much more to do with her actions than their creator’s. “But does it really matter? It’s not like you have anything else to do.”

“I guess. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

Kano smiled, though inwardly she was wincing. Had she been this petulant before?

Kano heard the factory’s machinery long before it was within sight. When they finally reached it, there was already a group of children beside the building, arrayed in a rough line. One of the children stood at the head of the line, looking the others over. She turned to see what the others were looking at and waved at Kano. “Hello, Savior.”

Kano hesitated for a moment. It had been a while since anyone had called her that. In fact, if she remembered correctly, it had mostly just been herself who had used that title. “Who are you?” This one seemed considerably more controlled than the others, who had already abandoned their formation to crowd around Kano and Ren.

“Forty.” She pointed past Kano to Ren. “Is that the thing that tried to eat Fifty-Seven?”

“Well, yes. But it was an accident. She didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”

Forty cocked her head. “How do you eat something by accident?”

“It’s complicated, but don’t worry, she’s no danger now.”

Crossing her arms, Forty glared at Ren. “Even if you’re willing to vouch for her, I don’t want her anywhere near us.”

For a second, Kano wasn’t sure she’d heard the little ghoul correctly. Were they really defying her? “And why not?”

“Because what if you’re wrong? She might still be dangerous.”

“Are you that afraid of her?” The children had always seemed relatively fearless to Kano.

“What? Who said anything about being afraid? We just don’t want any more people like that around us.”

“People like what?”

“People who might hurt us.”

“And why is that?”

“We decided it after we came to the surface.”

And yet they’d wanted to stay with Kano? There was something slightly pleasing

about the idea, but mostly it just seemed like they were poor judges of character. “Look, I promise nothing bad will happen. Ren promises as well.” She looked back at the blob. “Don’t you, Ren?”

“Sure, whatever. I won’t hurt anyone.” She suddenly shot toward the closest ghoul, who was almost within arm’s reach, stopping just short of actually touching them. “Unless I feel like it,” she added with a nasty smirk as the children drew back.

If Kano wasn’t worried about getting her hand stuck in the blob’s body, she would’ve hit Ren for that. “Don’t scare them.”

“I thought they weren’t afraid.”

“We’re not,” Forty said, stepping toward Ren.

“Then what’s the problem?”

Kano sighed. This was pointless at the best of times, and they couldn’t afford to waste time on it now. “Enough. No more arguing. We’re going back to the barracks right now.”