Chapter 4

…In the end, the concern didn’t come to pass.

After a short while, one of the young beastfolk girls brought food and water.

“*********”

“Thank you. That helps.”

Though they couldn’t understand each other’s language, Juuichi expressed his gratitude. It seemed the girl understood, as she responded with a smile.

The food… surely wasn’t poisoned.

However, he was concerned whether he, as an otherworlder and not a beastfolk, could eat it. But refusing the offered food might make him seem wary.

Taking a bite of what appeared to be bread, he found it edible, though it lacked salt.

The girl left, looking satisfied after watching him finish eating.

“This treatment is better than I expected.”

At this rate, though he was technically a prisoner in a shabby cell, Juuichi had a roof over his head and a place to rest. It almost felt too optimistic.

Looking out the window, he saw the children had calmed down and returned to the flower field.

It seemed they weren’t just playing; they appeared to be harvesting something from the flowers.

“Are the flowers food?”

With the peaceful scene in view, Juuichi grew bored and decided to experiment further with his abilities.

He mentally chanted “Inventory,” and a light-blue window appeared.

He found that he didn’t need to say it out loud; thinking about it was enough to open the inventory. He’d guessed as much, considering he’d activated it before with his thoughts, and it worked.

He also tried his “Replay” ability. A vision of something resembling a large raccoon entered through a hole in the brick wall. He realized that he didn’t need to chant for this either—thinking was sufficient.

When he mentally commanded it to stop, the vision disappeared.

“This inventory window… How can I put something larger than the window in it? Oh, it expands. So it can change shape freely.”

By imagining it, he could resize, rotate, and reposition the window. The light-blue window twisted and bent as it moved around him.

He reached out through the barred window, extending the inventory outside.

“The maximum size it expands to… seems to be about 5 meters in width and height. It can shrink indefinitely, though.”

He picked up a stick lying on the ground.

He tried to insert the stick halfway into the inventory window and then shrink the window to cut it, but the edge of the window snagged on the stick, stopping it.

It seemed this inventory window didn’t have the power to cut objects, even a twig. Shaking it didn’t help either. Expanding it outward didn’t exert much force.

“No good. Seems it’s hard to misuse it easily.”

It was, after all, just a storage space; it might not have any other abilities. He grumbled to himself, wishing it could do more.

For fun, he tested whether he could open multiple windows at once.

Surprisingly, he could, as specified, and multiple windows appeared in the air.

“So this works. The total area is still 5 square meters, though. I wonder if there’s any use for this…”

“──**, **********?”

“!”

Before he knew it, the girl from earlier stood in the doorway, watching him.

Startled, Juuichi worried she might’ve seen his magical-like ability and could consider it a weapon.

However,

“?”

“…Can’t she see it?”

She only tilted her head. Juuichi realized this inventory window seemed invisible to others.

The girl was holding a blanket and bedding.

“Is this a futon? Are you sure?”

She smiled warmly as she handed them over, seeming genuinely kind.

Juuichi felt a bit guilty. He was supposed to be an intruder, but he hadn’t expected to be treated so kindly.

“I’m indebted to you now… Sorry I have nothing to give in return.”

“*****, ********?”

“Hm? What is it?”

The girl gestured, trying to communicate something to Juuichi. It seemed like she was explaining or maybe persuading him.

Finally, she even bowed her head.

“Hey, don’t apologize. If anything, I should be the one saying sorry for scaring you…”

The girl took his hand and led him outside the cell.

“Am I released?”

She led him to the flower field. Gesturing toward the field, she motioned with her hands.

“…So, it’s labor. I’m supposed to work alongside the other children?”

The other children who had been working in the flower field glanced up at Juuichi as he stepped out of the cell, looking a bit frightened.

For now, he crouched down to lower his head, a common approach when meeting children for the first time.

With curious gazes fixed on him, Juuichi smiled and spoke.

“Nice to meet you, I’m the new prisoner Ashihara. I’ll do my best to catch up to my seniors.”

Of course, they couldn’t understand his words, but his attitude and smile should convey enough. At the very least, he wanted to make it clear he was no threat to them.

As he watched the children work, it appeared they were gathering a pulp-like substance from the flowers.

With a clear task in mind, Juuichi silently began working.

Though there had been some twists and turns… being able to eat and have a place to stay meant it was only right to repay them through labor.

The girl who had brought him seemed pleased with Juuichi’s attitude, handing him a wooden bowl where he was to place the collected pulp. He followed her instructions.

She smiled and began working alongside Juuichi.

“The bread we ate earlier may have been made by baking this pulp…”

Perhaps these children lived a life of hunting and gathering. It might seem a bit presumptuous, but they didn’t give the impression of a people handling advanced technology.

While he continued working, Juuichi allowed the boy among them to occasionally tap the back of his head with a stick, idly wondering about their lifestyle.

Before long, once they had nearly gathered all the pulp in the flower field, the girl stood up.

Raising a staff from her waist, she began chanting.

“──.*****──”

Light emanated from the staff.

As the light fell like rain, the flowers, stripped of their pulp, began to stir, their vines extending and producing new pulp from within.

The girl, chest puffed with pride, was praised by the other children. Then, once again, they began collecting the pulp.

“Magic…! They’re using magic to make the flowers grow and harvest them repeatedly.”

Juuichi had thought the amount they’d gather wouldn’t be substantial, but with this method, it seemed they could collect as much as they wanted. He also noticed nearby fields with what seemed to be seedlings of the same flowers.

“It looks like we’ll have plenty. Right, let’s keep at it.”

Rolling up his sleeves, Juuichi resumed his work.

––Just then, a flustered figure burst out from the weathered door leading to the abandoned castle.

It was the other beastman girl who had been there when Juuichi was captured.

“Hsssss!”

Letting out a wary sound like an angry cat, she charged at Juuichi.

She held a stick in her hand.

“Whoa…!”

She came at him head-on.

Should I dodge…?

No, maybe I don’t need to.

In a split-second decision, Juuichi crouched down, covering his head.

The other girl shouted angrily and struck him multiple times with the stick.

It hurt, but as he had suspected, it wasn’t unbearable.

After all, she wasn’t that strong.

Despite her long limbs, her body was slender, and she might even have less physical strength than a human girl of her age. Though it was hard to gauge beastman ages.

So, there was no need to panic here. All he had to do was endure a little…

“***!!”

The girl who had been working alongside Juuichi stepped in to protect him, putting a stop to the assault.

See, it worked out. He felt relieved.

He had guessed from the argument earlier outside his cell, and the difference in their attitudes, that they’d had differing opinions on how to treat him. It seemed he was right.

One of them was considerate and conciliatory toward him. For Juuichi, maintaining his image as a well-behaved prisoner and letting her stop the violence was ideal.

It felt a bit underhanded, using her kindness against a child, but he was determined to avoid scaring the other, younger kids around.

If Juuichi resisted inappropriately, he might frighten them, especially given his size. Even if it were self-defense, seeing a large figure thrashing around would likely terrify the children.

He’d decided not to do anything that might harm them.

“**!　********！？”

“****、*****！！”

The two girls argued as they had earlier. Their faces were similar, suggesting they might be sisters.

The girl who had been rough pulled out a staff from her waist.

From its tip, fire suddenly flared up. She pointed the staff toward Juuichi.

“Wait, that’s dangerous! I didn’t see that coming!”

Just as he prepared to escape, the girl who had been protecting him forcibly restrained the aggressive girl. The other children helped to take the staff away from her.

“Phew. That was close… so this girl can use magic like that.”

Unlike with a stick, fire was something Juuichi certainly couldn’t withstand.

The girl who had attacked him became upset and shed a few tears. They brought a rope and tied her up.

“*、**！　*************……！！”

“****”

One of the girls tied up the other, sighing, and said something to Juuichi. He understood her intent clearly.

Smiling, Juuichi waved it off to show he was fine.

“No problem. I’m not angry; given my circumstances, I understand their caution. So, you’re the older sister, right?”

Seeing her taller, more mature demeanor, he assumed as much. She looked relieved after checking to see he hadn’t been seriously hurt.

Due to the commotion, Juuichi was later returned to his shabby cell, and the younger sister was also led away, still bound.

That evening, the older sister visited Juuichi, bringing flowers as an apology.

She truly seemed like a kind-hearted girl. Juuichi responded warmly, expressing his gratitude.

He slept peacefully through the night, with no incidents, though he knew he’d have to think about what to do next in the quiet hours ahead.