The Unraveling (1)
The incident involving the children who had been mobilized to gather herbs spread through Demz Village in no time.
The adults whispered among themselves, but they didn't seem to think it was anything particularly extraordinary. To them, born as Exiles, fighting for one's own safety was a fundamental part of their upbringing.
It was a moral code that didn't differ much, even in a village with a relatively more moderate atmosphere.
Because of this, what rained down upon Asdin was a reprimand born from deeply emotional motives.
In a place where many had gathered, Horch, Toby's father, interrogated Pinol.
"What were you doing while my son was being treated like that, Pinol?"
Pinol, who had been in charge of the children at the time, lowered his head as if he had nothing to say. Toby's father was older than him, and regardless, this incident had clearly occurred under his jurisdiction. Even with ten mouths, he would have no excuse. And beside him, Asdin was casting his gaze elsewhere. Toby, his body covered in dirt, sat on a chair behind Horch with his mother, Mure.
Pinol spoke.
"I am sorry."
"Your words don't match your actions. Why did my son fight with that brat?"
"I don't know that myself."
"What on earth were you doing while you were in charge of the children?"
"I am sorry."
Pinol only said that, refusing to lift his head. Lukedi, the village chief, was watching the scene from the back. Toby's father turned his head toward Asdin this time.
"Well, fine. If the person in charge doesn't know, I'll just have to ask the person involved. You, you said your name was Asdin, right?"
Asdin lifted his face and met the gaze of Toby's father.
"Yes."
"Why did you hit my son?"
"I didn't hit him; we fought."
It was a brazen retort. Horch looked at him with an expression of disbelief.
"You fought?"
"Toby didn't just take hits. We fought each other."
His father asked with a look of utter bewilderment.
"Fine. Let's ask then. Why did you fight with Toby?"
"Because Toby wanted to fight."
This was an even harder answer to understand. Mure glared at Asdin from behind with eyes that seemed ready to pierce him.
"To beat someone else's child and then spout such glib nonsense!"
"Explain yourself."
Following Mure's words, Horch interrogated him with a terrifying expression. Most children would tremble in fear. But Asdin did not. His expression was incredibly calm. Asdin did not answer immediately. Instead, he tilted his head slightly and looked at Toby, who was sitting behind his father.
"Instead of just asking me, why don't you ask Toby as well?"
"...What?"
"I'm not the one who did something wrong here. He asked to fight, so I fought him, and as a result, Toby just happened to get hurt more. To be precise, I'm the victim. Why am I the only one being interrogated here while Toby just sits there?"
The next moment, white sparks exploded in Asdin's vision. Asdin's head snapped to the side. Asdin laughed in disbelief. A red handprint was left on his cheek, but Asdin didn't fly sideways.
It was because he had been using Firmo.
Urnil said in a voice filled with rage. Asdin let out a dry laugh. With someone like that always by his side, there was no way his heart would be weakened by such pathetic violence.
Instead, Horch, who had struck him, was flustered by the unexpected resistance.
"Stop that at once! Horch!"
Someone shouted and appeared on the scene. It was Lukedi.
He intervened while shouting in anger. He had heard the news from another adult and had come running in a hurry, only to witness this sight. Asdin looked to see who had come running with him. It was Higni, who made his living as a leatherworker in the village.
"Let me see."
Lukedi bent down and turned Asdin's face to look at it. Then, after carefully examining his body here and there, Lukedi met Asdin's eyes with a clear gaze and asked.
"Asdin, child. Are you alright? You weren't hit anywhere else, were you?"
"That was the first time I was hit, just now."
His voice was surprisingly calm. However, the red handprint moving along his cheek every time he spoke was etched into Lukedi's eyes.
"Step aside, Chief. I am in the middle of holding this child accountable for fighting with my son."
Lukedi jumped up and shoved Horch's chest hard.
"You fool! You wicked man!"
Horch frowned and took a few steps back. Lukedi considered himself quite healthy, even if others didn't see it that way, and in reality, he was.
"You're finally causing trouble! You wretched man!"
Horch growled and asked.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"What do I think I'm doing?"
Lukedi's beard was trembling with rage. However, the words that came out of his mouth implied that he was giving the other party a chance until the very end. But Horch spat on that goodwill.
"The child brought here by the accomplice of a murderer fought with my son. As a father, how can I just stand by?"
"Didn't I tell you clearly! This is a child I decided to accept!"
"He's a child brought by Srem. How can we trust him and keep him here? Let's be honest. No matter how much authority the chief has, I absolutely cannot accept this!"
As both of their voices rose, Lukedi glared at him.
"You fool, until the end! Are you saying it's right to take out your anger over your child being murdered on another child!"
"If it weren't for that guy, would my second son have died? It's all his fault! Everything!"
"Who are you shifting the sins of a murderer I couldn't kill onto!"
Everyone was shocked just by Horch's words, but the chief's words were even more so. It was not something to say to someone who had experienced the loss of a child.
However, Lukedi was the village's greatest elder, and he had a duty to set things right. Lukedi bellowed.
"To put it bluntly, fine! I won't say anything about you hating Srem. But is it enough to hurt another child on top of that? Are you saying everyone your anger is directed at must accept it? You want your own narrow-mindedness to be licked clean like a dog's rear end, yet you think it's possible to cast out a child who came here without sin, seeking a life?"
Lukedi was a great orator. Asdin looked at the chief with a surprised face at the sight of him pouring out such a long speech without a single stutter.
"How is what you're doing now any different from Kizzel!"
In the silence where even the gentle breeze had died down, everyone held their breath. As everyone stood frozen stiff, Horch's face turned deathly pale.
"Chief, you... how dare you say such a thing to me..."
In the midst of that, Asdin shifted his gaze slightly. Toby's mother, Mure, was watching the war of words between Horch and the chief with an anxious face, her two hands covering her child's ears while holding him in her arms.
"Shall I say it again? I asked how you, who interrogate and shun a child who came seeking life for absurd reasons, are any different from Kizzel!"
Horch gasped and glared at the chief with bloodshot eyes. Asdin noticed that those eyes contained emotions on the verge of exploding.
He didn't know if this was something his eyes, which had improved to their limit due to the aftermath of the resurrection, could do. But Asdin had no choice but to step in. Surprisingly, the timing coincided with the split second Horch moved his hand.
The moment Horch's hand swung toward the chief. Asdin clenched his right hand like a hammer and leaped in from Horch's left side.
Asdin's fist drew a sharp trajectory. The edge of his fist, hardened and reinforced by Essence, struck Horch's chin with force in a surprise attack.
With a dull thud that would be hard to imagine coming from a child's hand, Horch collapsed on the spot, his legs giving way before he could even let out a proper sound.
"Honey!"
Mure shouted while holding Toby.
"What, what just happened?"
"Did Horch just collapse?"
"From a single punch thrown by a child?"
Horch, who had collapsed without even being able to react and was struggling to steady himself, and Asdin, who was looking down at him expressionlessly.
Lukedi looked back and forth between them, and Asdin slowly took a deep breath. The adults. The children. All the villagers were watching.
While everyone seemed to be adjusting to the situation as if they were dazed, Horch staggered to his feet. In his eyes, a fierce hostility that he no longer hid was burning.
"You, you... Srem, that damn guy's... brat...!"
"You, still-!"
"Wait a moment. Grandfather Lukedi."
Lukedi, who was about to shout, hesitated and stopped. Asdin was looking up at him and shaking his head.
"Please let me speak."
"Asdin, child. You don't need to face an adult. This is an adult's mistake."
"I am the victim. Toby's family is too. Even though I was hurt, this is ultimately a story between victims and victims. That's why I have to be the one to speak. Please."
Asdin said that and bowed his head. Lukedi looked at Asdin with a bewildered expression. It was a sight he had never seen in any child he had watched until now.
At the same time, Lukedi could understand why Srem had tried to bring this boy into the village. If one had spent a season with a boy like this, it was entirely plausible.
"There is one condition. If the situation becomes heated, this meeting will be adjourned. Are you alright with that?"
"Yes."
"Good."
Lukedi stepped back with a satisfied face. The atmosphere around them changed.
At first, the people had stood blankly, unable to do anything about those who were persecuting a child who was adapting well to the village. But now, an adult and a child were respecting each other, and the child was speaking to the adult at eye level. The villagers who saw that sight couldn't take their eyes off them.
Asdin spoke.
"You've regained your senses a bit now, haven't you, sir?"
Horch staggered and sat up. His wife, Mure, who had approached his side, supported him.
"Are you alright? Honey?"
"I'm fine, let go."
Horch glared at Asdin, his eyes burning.
"You must be pleased, child. Since you returned the hit you took in kind."
Asdin shook his head.
"I think you're mistaken about something, but I only stopped you because you were trying to hit the grandfather. Did you think that just because I was hit once, I, a child, would feel some kind of thrilling satisfaction from that?"
"Are you saying that's not it?"
"Yes. Wake up from your dream."
The villagers' mouths fell open. Asdin's words were that unconventional. It was absolutely not something a peer of that age would say. Asdin continued.
"I laughed when I was hit earlier, right? Yes. I laughed because it was absurd. The chief is right. The actual murderer is someone else, but since you couldn't catch him, I became the target of your grudge. But I understand. I think it's entirely possible for you to feel that way."
"You understand?"
"Yes. You, your wife, and Toby must have been sad. You lost family, not just strangers, so how could you not be sad?"
"Ha, spouting whatever comes to mind. Are you saying a kid who just happened to roll into the village knows how someone who lost their family feels?"
"Living in this village means everyone is an Exile. I'm the same. From that point of view, you and I are the same. Why are you so sure I wouldn't have such an experience?"
"You're the child that guy who employs a murderer brought back after seven years, Asdin! That reason is enough! Don't compare yourself to me and my family! You don't know what the sorrow of losing family is!"
It was a very emotional statement, and there was no systematic reason behind it. However, Asdin spoke calmly.
"Just because a jeweler holds a stone in his hand doesn't mean it becomes a jewel. You keep saying you're the victim, a parent who lost a child, but that's not true. I'm a victim too."
"No, you're not a victim. Just by having a connection to that murderer and the person who brought the murderer here, you are-."
"Stop it already!"
Among the villagers, someone shouted loudly.
The gazes of everyone, including Asdin and Horch, turned toward where the sound had come from. Higni, the leatherworker, whose face was flushed red, was angry with a look that said he couldn't listen to this anymore.