MPBAGS Chapter 32

"Ranen, it's time to eat. Wake up."

The child rubbed his eyes and sat up. The room with plain white bedding stretching along both sides instead of the colorful bedding children would use looked a bit eerie.

"Did you eat while I was sleeping?"

"Yeah, twice."

Mary found it odd that Ranen always asked how many meals she'd eaten while he slept whenever he woke up, but there was no reason to hide it, so she answered honestly.

"Thanks, Mary."

Ranen patted the head of the child who didn't even reach his shoulder.

The children of Ainoa Orphanage were trapped in this shadowy basement along with the director. There were no windows so it was hard to tell, but assuming three meals a day, at least ten days had passed. If they were only getting two meals a day, even more time had gone by.

"You missed two meals, so they said you absolutely have to eat this time. Let's hurry."

Ranen headed to eat, led by Mary.

It was ridiculous that they were being fed well while being held captive, but what could he do—their considerate kidnappers kept providing meals. The food even seemed more plentiful than when they'd lived at the orphanage.

He was walking hand-in-hand with Mary when she suddenly stopped and tugged his arm. Sensing she had something to say, Ranen bent down, and the child whispered in his ear.

"Ranen, are we being sold?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Yulma said so. That they feed us well and wash us because they're going to sell us. Is it true?"

What had that kid been saying? Ranen felt annoyed at Yulma but couldn't deny what Mary said. Even to Ranen, it looked like they were being well-maintained to be sold.

"I don't know."

"There's something even Ranen doesn't know!"

That was because no matter how mature Ranen was, he was still only fourteen. The oldest child at the orphanage was sixteen, and those older would leave the orphanage and become independent like Daisy.

"And I heard footsteps upstairs earlier."

"Footsteps?"

"Yeah. The director said it was probably Troy and told us to be quiet."

"I see."

Before long, they arrived at the room used as a dining hall. Everyone gathered to eat looked like the usual scene, but the fact that there wasn't a single laugh despite so many young children present drove home the reality.

"You're here, Ranen."

"...Yes."

The director pushed a meal toward Ranen. It seemed she'd set it aside separately to give him when he arrived. Well, he had missed two meals.

Ranen carefully took the meal the director offered and asked cautiously, watching her reaction.

"Director. Are we going to be sold now?"

"Oh, child...."

The director sighed as if looking at something pitiful but didn't tell him the truth. Ranen was too frightened to press for the facts.

Mealtime ended quickly, and the children followed the director back to the room with the bedding. Having arrived late, Ranen and Mary—who'd eaten slowest—were at the very back.

"Ranen!"

"Hm?"

"Shh."

Mary's steps had been slowing, and then she led Ranen in a different direction. Ranen glanced at the person at the front while quietly following Mary.

Mary dragged Ranen to a narrow room. Inside sat a man wrapped in chains all over his body, his eyes covered with a black veil, sitting in a chair.

"Mary. The director told us not to pay attention to this place."

"But that man keeps not eating."

"They must be taking care of him."

"No. I heard him shouting 'I won't eat!'"

Mary rummaged through her pocket, saying that's why she'd brought some of her food. It was bread still marked with the child's handprints. She'd taken it from the top of the soup, so it was soggy.

If Yulma had seen it, she would have thrown it away in disgust. With bread the man wouldn't eat anyway, Mary marched straight toward him.

"Mister. Aren't you hungry?"

"...I'm hungry, so get lost."

Mary didn't seem hurt by his words—she stuffed the bread into the man's mouth. The man spat out the bread and dry-heaved.

"It tasted like garbage...."

"My bread...."

Mary picked up the bread again and put it back in her pocket. Why was she keeping it? As a weapon, maybe? Ranen briefly thought the bread would make a decent weapon once it hardened in that state.

Now that she'd tried putting bread in his mouth once, they could leave, but Mary settled down right next to the man.

"What's your name, mister? I'm Mary. Ranen is Ranen."

Introducing themselves to a man bound in chains in a dim basement—this child's friendliness was incomprehensible.

Ranen assumed the man naturally wouldn't answer the question. But after a long moment, the man quietly spoke.

"...Melek."

If he'd gone more than thirty meals without food, he should be starving, yet here he was spitting out bread and introducing himself to people in similar circumstances—he was pretty easygoing too. But Ranen didn't want to bring that up and make Mary realize their situation.

Instead of stopping them, Ranen started keeping watch. They might come looking, realizing they were short on headcount.

"Does Melek know why we're here?"

"Yeah, I know very well."

"Even Ranen didn't know."

Mary gave Melek a thumbs up for being smart, then awkwardly lowered her hand when she realized his vision was blocked.

Mary stared at Melek thoughtfully. Seeing how smart he was, he must be a noble young master like Yulma said, right? Yulma had said Melek was tied up so tightly like this because they couldn't let the person they'd sell for the highest price escape.

"Are we being sold?"

"Something like that."

"Something like? So Yulma was wrong?"

Melek had no intention of answering and jerked his chin as if telling her to leave, but Mary misunderstood and thought he was telling her to come closer. As Mary approached, Melek sighed. It seemed he'd need to scare her to make her stay away.

"That kid Yulma has good instincts but lacks imagination."

"What!"

Mary gasped very quietly, shocked that the smartest and coolest person at the orphanage, Yulma, could be lacking in anything.

"You're all going to be eaten by a monster. That's why they're grooming you to look good. Good-looking pigs taste better too."

"Eaten...? P-pigs...?"

Mary imagined herself as a pig, roasted like bacon and devoured by a monster, then rubbed her arms as if getting chills. Being sold hadn't felt real, but being eaten terrified her—truly a child.

Ranen grabbed the shocked Mary. He could hear faint footsteps from the end of the hallway.

"Mary, I hear footsteps. Let's go!"

"But we're going to be eaten."

"That's nonsense."

Mary, tears welling up, took Ranen's hand. Footsteps? Could it be the monster Melek mentioned coming to eat them? Following quietly while looking only at her feet, Mary soon bumped into Ranen's back.

"Ow. Ranen, why'd you stop? That hurt."

Mary was rubbing her forehead and scolding Ranen when she saw a huge shadow standing right in front of them and buried her face, holding her breath. What Melek said was real. Are Ranen and I going to become bacon now?

Trembling, Mary felt great relief at the familiar voice that followed.

"Ranen, Mary. Why are you here? I've been looking all over for you."

The person who'd come for the children was the director.

As the director scolded them and held out her hand, Mary tried to take it. She would have, if Ranen hadn't pulled Mary back. Mary understood, thinking Ranen must have been very scared too, thinking a monster had appeared, and patted Ranen. Really, Ranen—it's the director, not a monster.

"Let's go back now."

The director glanced at Melek before pulling the children's arms and leaving.

‘Finally, they're gone.’

Melek swallowed as he listened to the children's footsteps fade.

He was truly so hungry. He felt like he'd die from starvation. When the child had stuck her hand in his mouth, he'd nearly bitten down and chewed.

‘Children are off-limits? For a demon? Then I'll make it so you have no choice but to accept children as offerings.’

They'd definitely released the children on purpose. With an existence that aroused curiosity just by looking at him so close by, everyone approached Melek and talked to him while pretending not to.

Melek's chains were only showy in appearance—they had no restraining power at all. They'd blindfolded him so he couldn't recognize the children and left his mouth free so he could devour them anytime. If he got hungry, he could eat anytime. Really, who was the demon here?

Right! Time to start searching!

Would it be faster to find Troy and pinpoint the location rather than searching for the kidnapped kids? In this vast empire, there weren't just one or two human trafficking operations, and since this was a story tied to Daisy, Troy must be the key needed to progress the plot. The problem was how to find Troy.

Should I go to the orphanage first, since criminals leave traces? Ah, find something of Troy's, have Jelly smell it, then track him by scent!

Seeing how well he'd found Daisy, relying on Jelly's sense of smell seemed like a good bet.

"Why are you looking at me?"

"Can you find Troy?"

"Even I can't do that."

I guess not.... A bit disappointing. Well, this was an episode involving Daisy, so it wouldn't look good if Jelly solved the case by sniffing around.

But then how was he supposed to win her favor? Look—even Daisy seemed disappointed.

"You... seem pretty ordinary when I really look at you."