Chapter 71
Chapter 71
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Butchering Pigeons
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Lianus stared at the pit with trembling eyes before cautiously rubbing his lower belly. Fortunately, there was no signal. Thinking he might end up constipated if he lived here, he stepped back a little.
Nihil watched Lianus back away hesitantly from the makeshift toilet, then gave him a meaningful smile and shoved his back before pulling him back.
"Eek!"
Lianus yelped in fright and clung to Nihil. Nihil, enjoying the teasing, just grinned cheekily even as Lianus scolded him not to play around.
With no firm promise not to do it again, Lianus's voice grew a little teary.
"N-Nil, big brother... don't push."
Worried about another shove, he could just run far away, but it seemed the seaweed-like head of his didn't even consider fleeing as an option.
Nihil scooped up Lianus, who was hanging on him like a koala, and headed to the backyard. He tossed heat stones into the prepared water and pots, then chucked a matchbox to Evan, who was struggling to start a fire with soot smeared all over his face.
As the curious seaweed asked question after question and Nihil answered patiently while waiting for the water to boil, Dave emerged from the shed and spoke up cautiously.
"Nil, do you have any more of that medicine you gave to little Bree from the guards? N-not that she absolutely needs it or anything, just... wondering if you have extras."
"......"
Nihil didn't reply to Dave and carefully stood up.
"Ner, wait here with Meow."
"Okay!"
"Meow~"
Inside the shed, he saw Jane fidgeting anxiously and a blanket in the corner rising and falling.
Nihil approached the pile of blankets. Despite the noisy chatter from the excited kids over the pigeons, the boy and the little one slept soundly, breathing quietly. The sleeping boy was the one whose nose Nihil had made bleed earlier that day.
Nihil gently lifted the blanket, grasped the children's wrists to check their pulses, then rummaged through his bag.
"I-I p-put Dan to s-sleep b-because he h-had a f-fever, b-but it s-seems like the f-fever's r-rising m-more. P-Pan was w-watching h-him b-but m-must've f-fallen asleep."
Jane watched Nihil's expression nervously from the side. The tall guy's fidgeting was distracting.
"W-What d-do you th-think it is?"
"You're distracting. Stay quiet."
"S-Sorry. B-Because I st-stutter..."
Nihil checked a few glass vials from his bag before speaking.
"The stuttering doesn't matter. And the little one's fine—just a cold. Bring the fever down and feed him well, no problem."
"Th-The l-little one? D-Does that m-mean Pan's s-sick too?"
"Who knows."
Nihil trailed off meaningfully and carefully lifted little Dan, still wrapped in the blanket.
Then, suddenly, the smell of blood wafted strongly.
"......"
Nihil, who had rushed out to the backyard, momentarily forgot what to say. Lianus, his hands drenched in blood, asked,
"Big brother, you're here? Is this right?"
"......"
Wondering what the situation was, Nihil looked around. He'd come out in a hurry while holding the child.
Meow stood on hind legs watching him, while the kids eyed warily from a distance as Lianus beamed innocently, holding a beheaded pigeon in one hand and a knife in the other.
Nihil grasped the scene upon seeing the pigeon heads rolling separately from their bodies, then slowly opened his mouth.
"...You did it yourself?"
"Yeah. They all looked scared."
He'd told Lianus how to prepare wood pigeons when asked—cut off the heads first and drain the blood—but he hadn't expected him to actually do it in that short time.
The pigeon's neck was severed a bit... cruelly, but otherwise no issues, so Nihil let out a quiet sigh of relief. He handed the still-sleeping child to Jane, who had followed hurriedly, telling her it was nothing and to wake the other kid and bring him out too.
Nihil rolled up his sleeves.
"Good job, Ner. You didn't get hurt?"
"Nope!"
"Still, knives are dangerous, so let's do it only when an adult can assist."
"Is it okay when I'm with big brother?"
"Yeah. Come here. Let's wash your hands first."
"Okay!"
Nihil scooped some of the water with heat stones already in it and washed Lianus's blood-soaked hands. Lianus wriggled his fingers in the warm water, giggling happily.
"Ner, weren't you scared or grossed out?"
"A little grossed out... but it's food anyway, so someone had to do it. Hesitating on what must be done is foolish, I think."
"Right."
"And if I didn't, you'd have probably done it with high probability, Nil."
"Probably."
"I don't want to be a little brother who leaves everything to big brother and does nothing."
"Good. You did well. Next time, I'll teach you how to drain the blood cleanly."
"Okay!"
The kids, who had been watching warily from afar, started approaching hesitantly one by one.
They had just stood there disgusted while a much younger kid wielded a knife to sever a pigeon's neck—no comeback if called cowards.
Dave saw Ner in a new light. He'd thought he was just a greenhouse flower spoiled by his brother, but he was no ordinary kid either. Unlike himself, who had lived cluelessly in his sister's arms.
Nihil placed the pigeons, now somewhat drained of blood, one by one into the boiling water heated by the stones.
The kids, amazed at water boiling without fire, gathered around to watch.
Lianus still found the heat stones fascinating but, wanting to seem mature in front of the others, casually explained them while pretending to know all about it.
A few dozen seconds later, Nihil fished out a pigeon and yanked out a handful of feathers. Seeing it scalded enough, he pulled them all out and handed one to each kid.
"Pluck."
At the short command, Evan and Dave started plucking first. The cat that had joined soon began tearing at the feathers too.
Dave eyed the cat with feathers in its mouth and muttered awkwardly.
"This one's really smart..."
"Meow?"
"I'll give one to Meow too, so share with the doggy."
"Meeooow~"
Excited at Nihil's words of sharing one, the cat plucked even more vigorously. Thanks to that, the pigeon rolled a bit on the dirt floor—not sure if the dog would like it.
"Nil bro, can I try too?"
The curious kitten peered over too.
Impressed by Lianus's stronger stomach than expected, Nihil handed him a pigeon without hesitation.
"Ner, grab quick against the grain. No, not too much at once. Might tear the skin off whole. Here, like this."
"Like this?"
"Yeah. Good job."
Lianus beamed at the praise. The other kids, who had been plucking messily, watched Nihil intently and mimicked him.
By the time Jane dragged the barely awake Pan out to the backyard, most pigeons were plucked bald and on display.
Pan, still half-asleep and groggy, spotted Nihil and Lianus and pointed accusingly.
"Wh-Why are they here!?"
Nihil, finishing the feathers on a pigeon the cat hadn't fully plucked, replied indifferently.
"Gotta prep the pigeons, so bring the knife."
"No, why are you here! Evan bro? You picked them up again?! I hate them!"
"Haha, n-not picked up... um, Pan, we should get along...? Ah, I'll get the knife."
Evan glanced at Nihil, then slipped back into the shed saying he'd fetch the knife.
Pan threw a tantrum throughout, chanting "I hate them!" while Nihil explained how to prep the pigeons, but no one sided with him.
Nihil was the meat provider, after all.
After prepping his share of wood pigeons, Nihil left the kids to their messy knife work and set up a bit apart to start a bonfire.
Lianus sat on a log Nihil had fetched from somewhere, hugging the cat and watching.
"Rian."
"Huh?"
Lianus's eyes widened at the nickname he hadn't heard in a while as he looked at Nihil.
"If one of those kids suddenly died, what do you think would happen?"
"Wh-Why? Why would they die suddenly?"
"Hm, probably beaten to dea—cough."
Nihil coughed a few times after inhaling irritating smoke while blowing on embers, then continued.
"Probably beaten to death."
"Beaten to death, suddenly?"
"Yeah. What do you think?"
"What do I think..."
Lianus felt a bit bewildered as he watched his dear friend skewering pigeon meat on a thin branch. He'd even sprinkled salt and spices generously from who-knows-where.
What was the intent behind such a question? Maybe his friend was testing him.
Even if they were unfamiliar kids, the idea of someone he'd shared food and talk with dying didn't sit right.
Beaten to death, no less.
Lianus glanced at Pan, who had collapsed earlier from a beating by that guy called father but quickly rejoined the group. It must've hurt.
"Nil, I don't know your intent... but I think deaths caused by people should be prevented as much as possible. Can't stop all from disasters or illness—that's greed, I know. But preventable deaths should be prevented. That's right."
"Hmm..."
Nihil seemed to ponder, then pulled potatoes from his bag and tossed them into the fire.
"So, you'd save them if you could? Even kids who bullied you?"
"Yeah. Gotta save them. And... I've been thinking about that homework."
"What?"
"Today, Dave said the royals dispose of bodies but don't question their deaths. I thought about it a ton."
To Lianus, Dave's words were a shock. The royals saw them as mere trash that might spread disease. Simple relief efforts wouldn't save people treated that way.
"...Nil, you were right. Relief without knowledge is just deception. Coming here, I've realized how ignorant I was. We need more fundamental solutions, not just supplies."
"Hm, I see. Like what?"
"First, something to change perceptions."
"What perceptions?"
"Murder's a crime, right? No law says commoners deserve death."
In empires with slavery, slaves were property, but Harpen Kingdom had no slavery—killing people was a clear crime.
Yet they weren't protected because they themselves believed they didn't deserve it, and most accepted it as normal.
They'd unconsciously discarded duties and rights.
"First, they need something to make them aware they're proper subjects of the kingdom."
"Like an ID card?"
"Exactly, like an ID card! But... why don't Sharton Street people get them? Fear of being monitored? Uncertain status makes crime easier, sure. But no ID brings restrictions too..."
Nihil smiled faintly at Lianus, who was now pondering aloud and finding direction.
"Can anyone get an ID card?"
"Yeah. Any human or similar race over 15 residing in the kingdom. Similar races only if living in human society, though..."
"Then let's ask."
"Huh?"
"That's why we came, right?"
"Wh-What? Nil, wait a sec!"