I stepped aside and my father went inside the house, followed by me and closed the front door.
They were already wearing hats and backpacks. They trusted me and got ready. I had to convince my father no matter what.
But if I were to turn from a human into a monster, what would I do if I was told that I would be no different from a normal human? I could only hope that my father would tell me that they hadn’t turned into monsters yet.
“Can you get me your hat?”
The children looked at me with concern at what my father said, but I nodded. If we are going to help them, we can’t hide it.
“Those are the symptoms of a werewolf. But you understand language and still have some rationality… Hmm. Did the mushrooms just grow a little while ago?”
“No.”
“No, that’s not it. I noticed it growing there this morning.”
Was it growing by morning?
If so, then it’s not the spore I released earlier.
“What about food and water?”
“Mum told me to hide so I held back. But Rosie said she was thirsty too, so we snuck out at night to have a drink.”
Perhaps at that time they were infected with the mushroom spores that were planted yesterday.
“Don’t you want to eat humans?”
“I don’t think so! I’m really hungry though.”
The reason he’s hungry is because he hasn’t eaten. If he doesn’t feel like eating anything, it can’t be because he’s been transformed into a monster. Monsters have a strong appetite, and they don’t care if it’s human or whatever they can put in their mouths.
“It seems that your monster transformation has been barely suppressed by the mushroom infection. Since a lot of time has passed since you were infected, it looks like you will be able to maintain your human consciousness. However, if your monster transformation has progressed this far, your body may break down even with holy water.”
My father seemed to feel the same way.
Normally, one would not be infected by mushrooms during the monster transformation process, so if it gets to this point, the heart will quickly become monster-like as well, and the person will be defeated as a monster.
But does being able to act like a human mean that there is still a little bit of humanity left in them?
“It’s a tough treatment, but will you accept it?”
“…What if it doesn’t go over well?”
“I have no choice but to kill you.”
The older brother flinched at my father’s words and hugged his younger sister.
“How painful is it?”
“I have to keep taking this awful, awful medicine”
I understood what my father was talking about.
It’s a drug treatment from my grandfather. It takes about five days from the time you start taking it, and it tastes like poison, so even adults squirm. I’m not sure if a young child would be able to take it properly.
But if that helps them return to their human form, then we can switch to holy water treatment halfway through. I don’t know if it will work. But there’s still a chance.
“I’ll do it. I’ll do it, so help Rosie. Mom asked me to.”
“What happened to your mother?”
“I don’t know. She told us to stay in the closet and she went away.”
I gritted my teeth, knowing that their mother was probably no longer alive. I felt like I would cry if I sympathized with their lonely feelings.
“That’s decided, Amelia. Take them to the carriage and you will wait there for today.”
“but……”
There may be others waiting, or dangerous undead. I wasn’t even allowed to guard the carriage yesterday because they needed my help.
Could this mean I’ve been cut from the team?
At the moment, I realize that I am constantly holding things back, and it makes me feel depressed.
“If these children start attacking others, kill them without hesitation. That is the condition for sparing them.”
My heart skips a beat when my father whispers in my ear.
“If you absolutely can’t do that, I’ll do it, so just restrain them and call me. Amelia doesn’t need to see.”
I see.
If I wasn’t there to kill them without fail when they turned into monsters, we wouldn’t be able to get the two of them into the carriage.
And my father would become the bad guy to protect me. I’m sure he wouldn’t blame me if I said I couldn’t kill them, and would probably justify my actions so that I wouldn’t feel so bad about it.
“No, it’s okay. If anything happens, I’ll take care of it, so don’t worry, Dad.”
Since I found them and decided to protect them, I have no intention of leaving the cleanup to someone else. Being responsible means seeing things through from start to finish. It’s wrong to leave only the unpleasant things to others.
There is no mercy for monsters.
If they couldn’t be cured and they were to be sent to the mountains out of pity, it could disrupt the ecosystem and cause monsters to appear in the village. What’s worse, the two of them might attack the villagers.
So if they don’t get better, I’ll be there to see them through to the end.
When I nodded with that determination, my father patted me on the head with a sad look on his face.
“Amelia is a little too good.”
“You must be proud as a parent, right?”
“Yes. But at the same time, I’m worried because I’m your parent. When you’re in trouble, you have to rely on someone. It doesn’t have to be me.”
Who else can I rely on but my father?
Is it my grandfather? I thought, but Theo’s face suddenly appeared in my mind and I shook my head. No, no, no. Theo is no good. He said he would help me, though.
My father, grinning a little at my strange behavior, may have also known that I was thinking of Theo.
His grin made me a little angry, but being annoyed made me feel less anxious.
“The rest… is true. It’s important to think things through, but if it’s causing you too much stress, it’s okay to stop thinking sometimes. You can probably manage by just taking things as they come.”
“No. Surely it’s no good stopping a magician from thinking?”
“I’ve used magic to dig up maga from the earth before. I didn’t think too hard about it then, but I’m still alive now, you know?”
Is being alive the bare minimum?
Well, when I think of the mess he made in his anger, turning the place into a wasteland, it does seem like a small thing.
As I was returning to the wagon with the children after saying goodbye to my father, I remembered that my father had said that story was a dark history. I felt that it was dangerous not to think about it at all.
However, I felt that it would be okay to just throw away the future that I couldn’t think about for now. If they couldn’t be cured, if they turned into monsters, I would do the same thing. I don’t think I would lose even if it was a werewolf. So now is the time to focus on how to cure it.
When we arrived at the wagon, the man looked shocked when he saw the two of them. So, after moving away from them for a bit, we explained the situation and changed the guards.
“For now, there haven’t been any monsters around here, but you should still be careful.”
“Yeah. It’s okay.”
When he told me to be careful, his eyes were directed at the children. I knew he was worried about me, so I gave him a wry smile and pushed his back. I understand, but I don’t want to scare the children too much.
“Yes. I have some food. Let’s share it in half.”
“Wow!”
The sister Rosie’s face lit up and her eyes sparkled.
“What about older sister?”
“I’ve had a good breakfast so I’ll be fine. Also, I can make water with magic so I’ll have plenty of drinking water.”
Drinking fluids will help you to endure hunger for the time being.
The boy felt guilty about taking something from me, so I used a spell to create water. When I poured it into the three cups, he looked surprised.
“Amazing. It’s magic.”
“That was a simple one, so as long as you have the right attributes you can use it even if you’re not a magician.”
This spell has been known to people for a long time.
I think someone probably spread the word because clean water is very rare but necessary. I wish the method of suppressing monsterization was more widely known, since it is necessary. If that had happened, the symptoms of these two could have been stopped before they progressed this far.
“Do you think I have the ability to produce that water?”
“Me too.”
“We can look into it in the village, why don’t you try it when you’re better?”
The two of them had sparkling eyes when they heard those words.
Ah. I wish the future I want would continue. No. I’ll make it continue.
I didn’t think about the times when I failed and spent the time talking with the children about their bright future.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading!
