I thought that the dwarf man was a powerful mage, but maybe he only heals life threatening injuries?

What did they call him, ‘Dedication’?

Strange name.

Grizzly man took me to see a proper healer, one with magic so powerful that all of my injuries, infections, and scars were erased.

The only downside is that my calluses were erased as well, but it shouldn’t be too hard to regain those in the future.

Unless, the kind of work I’m forced to do, does not want callused hands and feet.

The process of healing was warm and soothing. It felt like a lazy sunny morning, lying in a grassy field with a gentle breeze.

I could fall asleep to something like that.

Though, after it was all over, I saw Wyrrm Bait giving me a weird look and I quickly remembered the situation we were currently in.

Why does Daedalus go through so much effort to make sure their captives are in perfect health? Do they intend to show us off like sparkling prizes?

I have too many questions and not enough answers.

Next time they probe my brain, I have to get some answers.

Speaking of which, my head does feel a lot better than before.

Wyrrm Bait came along with, he was forced to talk for Grizzly man, who does nothing but fight monsters and tear things limb from limb.

I can still remember the tattered cage.

Thankfully I don’t have to be in his powerful arms anymore, I can walk on my own two feet.

I keep my head low to the floor, not wanting to draw attention to myself or look at anyone.

Grizzly and Wyrrm Bait were talking for a bit, then the human squeezed my hand tightly.

‘Ouch…! Did I do something wrong? Was it because I unintentionally smiled back there? Is that a bad thing?’

I can’t believe Grizzly had Wyrrm Bait punish me in his stead.

It only makes sense, if Grizzly tried the same thing to me, he might break my hand.

I’ll try to keep my emotions in check more.

***

After a while of walking, we entered a really good smelling restaurant.

My stomach growls and groans.

Guess that’s what happens after you’ve had one filling meal for the day, your stomach wants more.

I know Grizzly only brought us here to eat in front of us, just another tactic to crush our spirits.

Jokes on him, I’ve had more food this morning, than I’ve had for days! I’ll survive.

While Grizzly man orders his food, I try to distract my mind with possible questions to ask the bounty hunters next time they use that spell on me.

After a while of waiting and a lot of noise from all of the peoples around, a waiter brings food to the table we’re sitting at.

There’s so much of it, he intends to eat it all in front of us.

What a pig.

My stoic expression is broken when I watch the human act out.

Despite being a prisoner of Daedalus, he moves the plates of food around like a guest.

Grizzly man is watching me, oblivious to Wyrrm Bait’s disobedience, I have to distract him somehow.

‘What should I do?’

He’s turning his head towards the human; I have no other choice.

I leap up from my chair and run.

Daedalus does not want me harmed, they went through so much work to make their newest pet monster look perfect, but I have no clue what they’ll do to Wyrrm Bait.

Maybe if I can distract Grizzly man long enough, the human can eat as much as he wants.

This is all I can do to thank Wyrrm Bait for his previous sacrifices.

----------------------------------------

“H-hey!”

Alice bolts away from the table on all fours, as if something suddenly spooked her.

“Red Mountain!”

“Got it!”

They both give chase, struggling to catch up with Alice’s nimble speed as she weaves and dodges around people in the busy streets.

She looks upset, like someone had just wronged her.

Alice quickly scales up a tree and hides in the top branches.

As they reach the tree, Red Mountain and Karth look at one another, then back up at her.

She makes a shooing motion at Karth, insisting that he leaves.

He’s taken aback, surprised by her change of heart towards him.

‘This must be because I squeezed her hand earlier. I didn’t know she was that upset about it, I should have been more thoughtful.’

Alice makes a motion that looks like eating food, and points at Karth again.

‘She’s concerned about the food going to waste? I should leave this to Red Mountain.’

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

The human looks to his companion and nudges him for attention.

“Hey, I’m going to make sure our food isn’t cleared away. Do you think you can get Alice and bring her back?”

“Go. I’ll be back with her in just a moment.”

“Thanks.”

The human leaves the large beastborn with the girl.

She forces herself to keep her excitement hidden.

‘Yes! Wyrrm Bait understood! Now I just have to distract Grizzly man long enough for the human to eat.’

People gather around to watch the beastborn man struggle to get the girl down the tree.

His sensitive ears pick up hushed conversations around.

“Poor guy, he’s just trying to help the girl.”

“Is she a feline-type beastborn? I guess even they can act like cats and get stuck up trees.”

“She looks scared, is anyone going to help her?”

Red Mountain couldn’t help but feel embarrassed with all of the unwanted attention.

‘I’m doing my best.’

He climbs up the tree to reach Alice, but as he gets about halfway up, she leaps to an adjacent building and pinballs off a few solid surfaces until she’s back on the ground.

Her agility and quick movements are astonishing, yet the crowd just watches as she escapes again.

“No! Wait!”

He shouts and drops from the tree to chase after her.

The crowd parts for him and talks amongst one another excitedly after he leaves.

“That was a Montimo member, right?”

“Yeah, that guild is usually good with beastborn kids.”

“I wonder what spooked the girl.”

***

‘Escape is impossible… I know that much. So long as this collar remains around my neck, I can’t break free, and I don’t dare try to damage the collar, I could end up dead again.’

Alice continues to lead the beastborn man on a wild chase through the city.

Everywhere they go, people stop and watch curiously.

It isn’t until Alice bumps into an unexpected wall, that she is finally stopped.

That wall happens to be another large beastborn that resembles a werewolf.

He catches her and fights to keep a good hold on her.

“Whoa! Where are you going so fast, little missy?”

“Grey Line!”

“Hey, Red Mountain! This yours?”

The werewolf of a man holds up the girl to get a better look at her face.

“Don’t think I’ve seen her around before.”

“Yeah, a friend of mine found her yesterday and has been trying to help her.”

“What’s your name?”

Alice shuts her eyes closed, not wanting to look at the man.

“Her name is Alice, she’s… she’s kind of been through a lot, not really the talkative type.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Grey Line looks disappointed but knows not to push any further.

“Here you go.”

He says, as he hands the girl over to Red Mountain.

“Thanks, I’ve got to get back to the Marvin’s, her food is probably cold by now.”

“Oh? Treating her to something nice, huh?”

“Tried to, but something scared her, and she ran off. I’ll tell you more about it later though.”

“Alright, good seeing you buddy.”

The bear-like beastborn is torn between feeling worried for the girl and annoyed with himself for failing to keep a better eye on her.

He was supposed to be back with Karth a long while ago, but he did not expect the small girl to be as quick and agile as she was.

‘She’s still a monster, no matter how much we’ve changed her, and she spent her whole life running from everything. It’s no wonder I couldn’t catch her on my own.’

He knew if she escaped again, he would not be able to catch her without help.

‘I shouldn’t have told Karth to leave, I was overconfident just because she looks like a little girl.’

Though the beastborn was beating himself up mentally, Alice’s thoughts were more positive for once.

‘Yes! I’ve succeeded in distracting Grizzly man for a while. Hopefully Wyrrm Bait was able to eat the food and hide the evidence. I can’t stand to imagine what horrible things might have happened to him if he was caught.’

----------------------------------------

Relief washes over me as I watch Red Mountain return with Alice in his arms.

“Thank goodness, you got Alice, I was beginning to worry when you didn’t come back.”

“That was my mistake, I forgot she spent her whole life running from people and monsters.”

“Well, I boxed up the food.”

“Thanks.”

“I’ll give you yours when we get back to my apartment. At least Alice was able to stretch her legs a little.”

“Yeah…”

***

Red Mountain continued to carry the girl all the way to my apartment.

She didn’t squirm or struggle, and she didn’t seem too unhappy. Maybe she was starting to get used to us.

Once I close the door behind us, Red Mountain releases the girl and she scurries away on all fours, into a corner of the living room.

“Sorry you didn’t get to eat anything yet.”

“No, that’s alright. The most important thing is that Alice is safe.”

“Thanks for going through all of that trouble.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t faster.”

“… Hey, here’s your meal. It probably won’t taste as good, now that it’s no longer fresh.”

“That’s fine, I’ll just warm it up when I get to work. Take care of yourselves.”

“You too.”

After the pleasantries were over, I made my way to the kitchen and placed down the small paper boxes containing our food.

I chose not to eat anything without Alice or Red Mountain, so we’ll both be warming up our leftovers.

Leina comes out from her room after she hears the front door close, and she watches the girl from a distance with cold, calculating eyes.

“Red Mountain dropped by again, but he was in a hurry to get to work.”

My sister doesn’t respond, she’s locked in a staring contest with the wary beastborn girl.

Alice hugs her legs to her chest, looking like she wants to be left alone.

“Leina?”

She shakes her head as if woken from a stupor.

“Huh?”

“Are you alright?”

“Sorry, I was just thinking about the conversation I had with Eliza.”

“About what?”

“Apologizing for destroying the kennel we borrowed.”

“How did that go?”

“Poorly. She wanted us to buy her a new one, and when I agreed to that, she demanded to know why it was destroyed.”

“What did you tell her?”

“About the supposed ‘dog’ we were sitting; I made up a story about how its collar got caught in the cage, and how our beastborn ‘friend’ tore it apart to rescue the dog.”

“That’s kind of close to what happened.”

My sister doesn’t respond for a few moments, staring back at Alice again.

“I know you want to help the girl, but look at her. She’s scared and clearly needs professional help, maybe from a doctor or something.”

“No one would be able to communicate with her.”

“What about that thing Silver Lining spoke about?”

“You mean drilling an entire language into her head? We can’t do that; you heard her scream when she was only in that spell for a bit. Drilling an entire language is like that, but hundreds of times worse. I’ve heard stories of some people losing memories or a part of themself, because of it.”

Leina looks visibly upset now.

“I don’t want this. I don’t want to have to care for some… traumatized child, let alone a monster. I know you want to repay her for saving your life, but haven’t you done enough already?”

I pull up a chair, sit down and bury my face in my hands.

“I saw her smile.”

“So? I’ve seen and heard her cry and bleed all over the place! This is not the right place for her.”

“Leina, I want to continue to support her. I want to see her smile again.”

“Doesn’t my happiness matter?”

“Leina–“

“If you’re stuck at home for long, you’ll run out of money. I can’t quit my job and watch her all the time. I like doing something meaningful! We’re in debt because of her, and I don’t want to become homeless.”

“..... I know.”

“Please, just… do SOMETHING about all of this. I don’t want her to become our life’s problem.”