We drove two ATVs to the hot spring facility. There was a lot of luggage, so I asked Suzuka to drive as well.
After arriving, I met with them. There’s a lot to talk about, but first….
“Take a bath. And here’s a change of clothes.”
But I didn’t know their sizes, so I gave them bathrobes.
“ “ Bath?” “
Both tilted their heads together…. Well, you don’t usually them to take a bath out of the blue
But, you know what I mean, but it’s hard to find a part of them that isn’t brown. It smells bad even though we’re a good distance away, and the little girl has just peed herself.
I don’t want her to sit on a chair or something in that state and get it dirty. Even if they do, it’s up to Masaru to clean it up.
“You see, it’s not good for hygiene if the body is still dirty, right? So, we should clean the body once.”
“Haa…..”
I don’t know why. I don’t think I said anything so strange, but both of them looked puzzled and didn’t even try to hide their feelings. Hmm?….. Could it be?
“Do you know what a bath is, by any chance?”
“No. I don’t know.”
“Excuse me…..”
The level of civilization is…. fucked up from there.
◇◆◇◆◇
We bathed them both and had them shampoo their fur. I took care of Eiga and Suzuka took care of Junee. As I expected, there were no fur washing machines in the hot spring facilities. The loincloth-like piece of cloth they were wearing was so dirty and smelled so bad that I convinced them to throw it away, saying I would replace it tomorrow.
In case you were wondering, they didn’t even know how to use the bathroom. It was quite a challenge.
Once they are clean, I look at them again.
Their silver hair shines against their brown skin. Both of them have a neutral face, and it looks like they will be handsome and beautiful in the future, but for now they are cute.
Junee made a cute little noise in her stomach and her face turned bright red, so we decided to talk about it over dinner and got ready to go. However, while the two of them walked uphill to the hot spring facilities, I took the ATV downhill.
To make the best use of the time, I ordered food from the shelter’s cafeteria and put it in a pot, so all I had to do was heat it up.
We have a refrigerator and an electric stove so that we can eat cold milk after the bath, cup noodles after the sauna, and whatever else we feel like eating here, so it’s easy enough to heat up.
Both of us were a little tired, so I prepared salty chanko(hotpot) with a lot of yuzu (Japanese citrus fruit), thinking that something with too much flavor and oil would not be good for us.
Ojiya(rice-based vegetable soup) would be a great way to end the meal.
“There you go. It’s ready. Don’t hesitate to eat it.”
Suzuka served the chanko to the two of them. We thought they might be shy if we didn’t eat, so we shared the first cup with them and asked them about their situation.
To be honest, I don’t really care about what happens to the two of them.
I was more concerned about the soldiers. Will they just back off or will they come back here?
I’ve got Torrie and the others tracking where they’re going, but it’s better to get what information we can.
“So, what are you guys doing here?”
“That’s ….Ugh, u, u”
“Sniffle”
I asked her and both cried….. Is this my fault?….
◇◆◇◆◇
With her tear glands slackening and her nose twitching, she ate well and tried her best to understand the inane conversation that was spoken. So, here’s a bullet list of the contents in Q&A: ……
Q. Who are you?
A. I am a tiger hunter. I am the Chief’s child.
Q. What are tiger hunters?
A. We are a people who make a living as hunters and live in harmony with nature. The strongest hunters show their strength by hunting tigers and are recognized as full-fledged hunters.
Q. Why were you being chased?
A. I don’t know. Suddenly, the place where we were living was set on fire and attacked.
Q. Where did you live?
A. I was running for my life, so I don’t know the direction or distance.
Q. When did this happen?
A. It was about ten days ago.
Q. How many other people lived in your place?
A. I have lost count, but there were many. And many were killed.
Q. Are there any other people still alive?
A. They should be there. But we got separated while we were running away.
Q. Why did you come here?
A. I was hiding and running away, and then I was found, and it just happened to be there. I was out of breath and couldn’t run anymore, so I thought I had no choice but to seek shelter here.
Q. Who were the people who came after you?
A. I don’t know. My father said they were from the city.
Q. Why do you have long ears?
A. Because we are tiger hunters.
Q. How old are you?
A. Eiga, 10 years old. Junee 16 years old.
That is all.
I didn’t think I understood, but if those soldiers suddenly attacked their place of residence, how could the kids know why they were attacked?
What we need to think about is what to do after this…..
To be clear, I have no intention of taking care of them forever. It may sound cold, but just because you pick up a child from somewhere else doesn’t mean you can just go ahead and raise it.
It’s not cats and dogs, and even cats and dogs are dangerous nowadays.
So, if you’re asking me if I’m going to throw them outside the wall tomorrow, what about it? That’s what I’m talking about.
This is quite a messy situation.
Hmm, well what the heck…
“On hold for now.”
What else do you want me to say?
I’ll allow them to stay here for a while, reassure them and put them to bed.
The best thing to do is to return them to their parents. But we don’t know where they are.
“Let’s track it.”
Well, that’s the answer. So what’s the clue?
If we could find out where they lived, we might be able to track them from there, but we don’t know that either.
If you’re saying a burned forest, then maybe we should look for a burnt area, but isn’t that a bit too far-fetched?
“We’ll just have to run one squadron of E’s and go through them, right?”
I don’t want to put my cute roommates at risk too much.
Torrie and the others are not an invincible army. The real strength of the group is that they have the advantage of being equipped with heat ray guns, and there is no chance that one of them will be taken by surprise.
There is one more solution.
If the problem is that you’re being chased, then you can “Doran” the root of the problem, namely the city where the knights currently being chased live.
But even if the knight was a prick, the one who ordered it may have had a good reason. Hmmm…
[Master.]
“What’s wrong?”
When I was lost, I was called by Singh.
[Video transmission from Torrie’s team.]
If the image was transmitted, it means that Torrie and the others are within transmitting distance. That means the chase is over and they are back.
“Isn’t it early?”
[I’m afraid the trace failed.]
“Eh—?”
Torrie also failed at the speed of surveillance from the air. Moreover, the opponent was partially injured. What’s going on?
[Would you like to review the footage?]
“Oh”
As I replied, I saw the image on the monitor. The knights were moving westward with their captain on horseback. Suddenly, a large number of arrows attacked the knights.
[ [ [ [U o ~ooo~oooo] ] ] ]
A group of marauders appeared, loud enough to be picked up by Torrie’s microphone, which was reasonably high in the sky. The weapons in their hands were different, but the attackers had four things in common.
Long ears, brown skin, tiger fur, overly muscular.
I don’t care about the last one, but that’s what this is about.
They charged at the knights and laid waste to them.
“I found it, which is great, but a bunch of killers, seriously?”
[Some E-series are tracking the assailant. What do you suggest? Shall we continue?]
“Yeah, keep going.”
[Understood.]
I was shown an unpleasant thing before I went to bed…..
Is this something I should be showing to children?