"You sure you're gonna be alright on your own?" I asked Cecily as we left the transport wagon, "We'll be just a kilometer away from the clinic, so if anything were to happen over there..."
"Oh come on, Ed. Do you even know who you're talking to?" She reassured me, "I can take care of myself. Besides, Marina's parents are the kindest old couple I know. If something did happen, I'm sure they'd let me lodge at their place until it blows over."
Well, that's not exactly what I was talking about, but sure. Right now, we're in Montes on a mission to deliver Bamb back to her owner, but since Cecily wanted to visit Marina's parents (Grim's in-laws) with Cene, she agreed to come with just until we made it to the clinic. After that, we would go our separate ways and, hopefully, get this over with in a reasonable amount of time. Then again, it's not as simple as just handing Bamb to a slaughter house, we need to go over there and change this Navi's parents' minds on the whole killing animals for a living thing, and that's precisely where Adam comes in.
"You think they'll be amicable?" Issei pondered out loud as Othelia kept snuggling up to him on his seat.
"Oh, they have to be." Adam sounded a tad ominous, "After what I have in store for them, there isn't a chance they'll refuse. I'll make sure of it."
"Once again, thanks to everyone for helping me on this." Bamb rested on my lap, "I just hope Navi remembers me, ha-ha..."
"Of course he will, don't worry about it!" Eleanor replied to her once I vocalized Bamb's thoughts.
"Right, that reminds me..." I then raised an eyebrow at her, "Why are you with us?"
"Why not?" She shrugged, "Besides, if you had any qualms about it, why did you ask AFTER we got to Montes?"
"Edward, it's alright." Adam calmed me down, "There's nothing wrong with having your sister tag along. We have space anyways, and the more people come with us, the easier it'll be to convince those guys to stop and properly turn their slaughter house into an animal sanctuary."
Yeah, but then why didn't we just convince Anna if that was the case? She can speak to Bamb just fine, and we've established previously that no one considers her a nuisance, so what's the deal here?
"Stigli smo." The wagon driver stopped and let us off right in front of the place, "Prijatno, čuvajte se."
"Naravno." Adam nodded back, "Hvala puno."
The place looked a lot... friendlier than I expected. If I'm gonna be completely honest, I had expected the entire yard to be filled with animal squeals and groans, but nah, it was pretty quiet all things considered. We didn't bring Aru along with us this time, so we can't exactly ask her to use her omniscience and see what's wrong, so we really don't know what to expect. It didn't help that we arrived pretty late into the evening, so maybe everyone's just asleep? Much like a lot of other businesses, I doubt this one is the type to work around the clock.
"Uhh, what do we do?" I hesitated to knock on the door as we awkwardly stood in front of it.
"Don't look at me!" Eleanor shivered right next to me, "Issei, what do we do?"
"Knock on the door, maybe?" He teased, "Just an idea though."
"Obviously we're gonna knock on the door, stupid." Othelia told him off whilst still affectionately grappling his arm, "They're asking because they're unsure if it's safe to do so or not."
"Your words and actions don't match at all." He sighed, "Pick a personality! Do you wanna be the clingy girlfriend or the kuudere type, it's either one or the other!"
"I'm the clingy kuudere." She tightened her grip on his arm, "Next question."
Sigh, these two... Ever since they got back together, they've been doing nothing but flirt day in and day out! It also seems Issei's developed a habit of coming to me when asking for help around maintaining a healthy relationship. I'd say he got pretty annoying real quick, but surprisingly having someone to chat about this is quite refreshing, and makes me feel proud that I've managed to stay on such good terms with Anna for all these years. Obviously, the first thing I told him is to use protection, the second was to book a hotel or inn whenever they wanna do it so they can go at it without restraint, and the third was to try anal at least once. Yep, those are the three unbreakable rules of Edward Saint's love advice! Do that, and you should be on your way to a healthy and long lasting relationship! Though, he was mostly asking me if it was okay to hold hands before marriage and other innocent stuff like that. Like geez, dude, are you two kids or something?
"Alright then, who's gonna do the honors?" I asked as I backed away from the door.
"Don't look at me!" Eleanor did the same, "Issei, you do it!"
"Hah, no." He proudly hid behind his girlfriend, "Othelia?"
"Wuss." She scolded him, "I'm definitely not knocking on that door. This place is so empty it's giving me the creeps."
"Sigh, move." Adam pushed everyone aside, albeit gently, as he knocked on the door, "Hello? Anyone there? This is Adam Grys of the Royal Family, we've come to-"
"What do you want?" A scared and anxious youth peeked his face out of the door just enough to see us, "I'm the only one here, s-so please leave."
"You're Navi, aren't you?" Adam glanced back at a stunned Bamb as he continued interrogating, "Where are your parents? I need to have a word with them. Don't worry, we come in peace."
"M-Mom... killed dad." He gulped as he revealed a dark truth, "S-She caught him sleeping around with some harlot, a-and... p-pushed him into the meat grinder."
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"What the fuck!?" The girls visibly recoiled, "She killed him!?"
"Everyone, calm down." Adam deescalated the situation, "Navi, I am sorry to hear this. My sincerest condolences. We didn't come here knowing this, but now that we know, it is important for us to detain your mother and get her to properly take responsibility for her actions. Where is she?"
"M-Mom... killed herself right after." He started sobbing, "S-She... She originally wanted to shoot him with the shotgun he had kept over the fireplace... B-But when she realized what she had turned her husband into, s-she... turned the gun to her face a-and...!"
"Stop! We've heard enough." I felt sick just listening to this poor teen's situation, "And where were you when it happened?"
"I was running errands." He explained, "They told me to go talk to the client about the prices, but when I came back, I saw the aftermath. If only I had been quicker, maybe..."
"Navi..." Bamb approached the door, reaching her head through the crevice to rub her head on his hip.
"Huh...?" The boy stood there frozen before slamming the door wide open, "B-Bamb!? It's you, isn't it!? You're really here, in the flesh!"
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"You remembered me!" She cried out, "Even after all this time, you still remember me! I'm so happy!"
"Hold on, Bamb." Eleanor approached carefully, "Something's not right, this kid changed tunes way too quickly."
"How could I not!? It's Bamb, my first ever friend is in front of my very Eyes again!" He rubbed his tears away as he smiled honestly, "But mom and dad tried to put you in the grinder, and I helped you escape, remember Bamb?!"
"Yes, yes, I remember it like it was yesterday!" Bamb snuggled up to him even more.
"Yeah, yeah, good girl!" He rubbed her all over, "We ran and ran for what felt like hours through the forest. We eventually made it to a river, and I tried getting us across, only for the tides to separate us halfway."
"Whoa, that's what happened?" The rest of us were left bewildered, "But then, how did you survive?"
"Heh, a farm boy at heart, am I right?" He joked a bit, "I've swam in rivers countless times before, I just didn't expect the storm to make the tides so strong is all. When I came to, I was floating in a lake that the river took me to, and Bamb was nowhere to be found. When dad eventually found me, he gave me 10 belt whippings for a whole year on the daily."
"Holy crap, that's rough..." Issei checked his back, "Speaking from experience, I'm more surprised you lived through that than the actual river taking you away."
"Haha, yeah, you get it, feller." He lightly giggled, "But now that everything's said and done, I can once again be reunited with Bamb! Thank you so much for taking her back here. Please, I'm sure you must be weary from your travels, so at least sit down while I brew everyone a nice cuppa' coffee."
"Ha-ha, no, we really should get going..." Eleanor chuckled awkwardly as she pointed behind us.
"What are you saying?" Adam guffawed, "If one is invited, it'd be rude to decline the offer! Besides, I'm sure Navi is dying to hear the details of our doe friend's story."
"Yeah, yeah, come on in!" Navi ushered us all inside, though Eleanor forced me to go in last with her so she could tell me something.
"Did you see his Eyes?" She whispered, "I don't trust that guy. I say we take Bamb and run."
"Purple Eyes... I agree it's odd, but given his situation, it's obvious why he has them. Both of dude's parents died horrible deaths, and now he's left to deal with life on his own." I whispered back, "Sis, if you're so scared, then you shouldn't have come in the first place. Besides, do you see how happy he and Bamb are now? We can't just take that away from them."
"That's exactly the problem!" She sounded serious, "He went from extremely sad to extremely happy at the snap of a finger. We can't just leave Bamb in the hands of someone as dangerous as that. Besides, I have a sneaking suspicion that..."
"That he was the man behind the slaughter?" I finished her sentence quietly enough so that he wouldn't hear us, "Yeah, I Analyzed his mind. Dude's lying through his teeth, since he killed them both and made it look like the story he was giving us."
"Huh!?" Eleanor yelped, making everyone turn back.
"What's wrong?" Navi asked, "Why did you scream?"
"S-Silly me!" She awkwardly laughed it off for now, "I saw a shadow and thought it was a rat or something. I'm... deathly scared of rats, ha-ha."
"Oh, yeah, maybe it really was a rat." He sighed, "We don't own cats, and due to the nature of our previous business, it'd attract a lot of the buggers, so sorry about that."
"N-No worries." She smiled before immediately continuing our whisper conversation the moment everyone continued walking, "Bro, don't tell me you agree with him on this? If you know for a fact he's a homicidal maniac, then why...?"
"Hold on, did you just say previous business?" Adam noticed something in the teen's words.
"Oh, right." He smiled, "You may not know this about me, but I rather despised working in a slaughter house. When both of my parents died, I felt like ending it all as well, but something kept me from doing so."
"Navi?" Bamb tilted her head naively.
"It was you, Bamb." He giggled, "Remember the promise I made all those years ago, girl? I said when I eventually got ahold of the family business, I'd turn it into an animal sanctuary where we could live out our days in peace."
"Sis, I'd like to make it clear I don't condone murder." I whispered over to her, "But I've seen inside that boy's head, and can honestly say he's the only person in the world who I'd give a pass to on this one. He's been battered, bruised and beaten since he was a child. Born into a family with an adulterous, drunkard father and a crazy mother, that boy only wanted to make friends with the animals that were destined to be slaughtered in front of his very Eyes."
"Bro...?" She turned to me.
"This guy's innocent in my Eyes. I can see it in his soul, he tried every possible way to somehow win without doing this, and he truly does feel remorseful for doing it. His Eyes are Purple now, but I believe they can heal with time. They're not the Eyes of someone who will kill again, they value and nurture life way too much to do that. I know for a fact that Bamb and the other animals are safest with him."
"So then, you turned the family business into your dream job?" Issei asked Navi as the boy pointed to the window next to him, prompting all of us to look through it.
"They're sleeping now, but they can finally live their lives the way they were supposed to." Navi proudly showcased the makings of his animal haven, "I used up the leftover money from the family fortune to turn this land into a fenced up safe haven for the animals. People come on by occasionally to ask for some meat, but after a cup of coffee and an hour of getting to know the animals they were previously eating, they understood what I was doing all too well."
"How noble of you." Adam saluted to him and him only, "I am glad that Bamb now has a place to call home again with you. From the bottom of my heart, you have earned the king's respect."
"Your Highness...!" His Eyes flickered Brown for a second as he eagerly nodded, "Thank you, I'll do my best to bring a whole lot more animals in need of rescue to here!"
"So, uhmm..." Othelia looked on at one of the ponies over yonder, "They're sleeping, but would it be alright to pet them? Just a bit?"
"Haha, of course!" He smiled, "But first I need to whip y'all up the coffee I promised!"
"Eleanor." I whispered as we were all seated in the living room, "Let this man be. We don't need Aru to know for a fact he's gonna do good in the world. It might take his whole life to atone fully, or he might never accept what he's done, but as long as he's got the animals' wellbeing in mind, I'd wager he's alright."
"You... better be right about this." She finally settled down as Issei piped up.
"Hey dude, we totally forgot to tell you! Did you know Bamb can speak Entropic?"
"Hwat!?" He shouted back, the kettle he was brewing the coffee in comically getting tossed into the air, doing a full 720 flip before landing back in his hands without a drop spilt.