Chapter 54

"Ah, what's this?"

At that moment, a voice came from the other side of the door.

Probably, the guard had sensed something suspicious.

He seemed about to enter the room.

"Everyone, gather over there."

"Understood."

The children nodded at my words.

As I watched the children run to the wall, I hopped over to the side of the door and stood next to the hinge. Since this was a sliding door, I wouldn't be in the line of sight if it opened.

The moment the children and I finished moving, the doorknob turned with a click, and the door opened.

"Huh...? What's this, what's going on..."

The man who entered muttered.

He must have noticed the fossil A embedded in the wall.

With the door in front of me, I couldn't see the guard's expression, but I imagined he was stunned. His voice was filled with confusion.

A chuckle escaped at his dumbfounded voice—

"Damn! Who's there!? Who laughed!?"

—The guard's angry voice echoed.

It seemed my laughter had been heard.

Yeah, since I was asked, I should answer properly.

"It's Reni."

I, the strongest four-year-old.

"Oh!? There!?"

The guard seemed to have figured out the source of my voice and slammed the door shut.

Now we could see each other's faces.

Yeah, he's angry.

"You brat, you know what this means, right?"

The guard deliberately clenched his right fist in front of his chest and slammed it into his left hand.

A nasty thud. It's a threat.

"Ugh... Ah..."

Suddenly, the children huddled against the wall started to tremble.

"Is that a punch?"

I tilted my head in confusion, and a vein popped on the man's temple.

"You, cut it out! I won't go easy on you just because you're a kid!"

"Okay."

The man reached out to grab me.

I sidestepped to avoid him.

"I'll show you."

Then, I clenched my fist tightly.

"Cat punch!"

I pulled back my right hand and spread my feet.

Then, I slammed my fist into the man's lower abdomen with my weight.

"Turn to stone!"

"GAH!?"

The man screamed and crashed into the wall.

"Good."

This is a punch.

"Amazing!"

"Sure enough, she's strong!"

"Cool!"

The children who had taken refuge against the wall gathered around me just like before.

So, I looked up at them and nodded.

"There are still more. I'll go take them down."

It seemed the next room was where the men were waiting.

It would be safer to take them all down before escaping.

"Stay here."

Fossils A and B were lined up on the wall.

Leaving the children in the room, I stepped into the hallway.

"This room."

There were only three doors on the way here. One was the priest's room where Sammie was taken. Another was the cell where I was taken. The last one was where the men had lined up and entered. So, there must be many of them in there.

To check the situation inside, I pressed my ear to the door.

"It seems this place is also being abandoned."

"Really? So this is our last job?"

"What should we do next? We won't find a job this easy and well-paying again."

"Just threatening the children who were brought in made us a lot of money."

"If we're leaving, should we raid this village?"

"Yeah. This village is an accomplice anyway. We can threaten them for their wealth or take the children as hostages."

"If there's no other use, we can take them all out."

"True."

From the conversation, it seemed the basement and the village's roles were over.

And they intended to take everything from the village before leaving.

The children who were threatened and the trembling parents.

The stew with sleeping pills was delicious.

Now, the village is quiet, but I can tell there was a daily life here.

The one who destroyed it—

"Here I come."

I opened the door and entered.

The room was about 20 tatami mats, quite spacious. There was a large table and many chairs in the center, and beds lined the walls.

"What? Who's there?"

The men inside looked at me all at once. There were about ten of them.

They were probably surprised to see me, who was supposed to be locked up with the children.

"Hey, what happened to the guy who carried them and the guard?"

"They must have escaped."

"Those guys couldn't even protect the kids?"

The men looked at each other and shrugged.

Then, the man closest to me reached out.

"Hey, you, come over here—"

"Cat punch!"

—Thud!

"Good."

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Huh?"

The man who had crashed into the wall and I pointed at each other.

After a moment, the men in the room seemed to finally understand the situation.

The men who had been sitting in the chairs stood up with a thud.

"A kid!"

"How dare you!!"

"Damn!"

"Go from that side!!"

"Wait, wait! Beastmen are strong, you saw that, right!?"

The men, who had been about to charge at me, were stopped by one of them.

"Don't rush in immediately!"

Then, he whispered to the others around him.

"Try to lure her over here. She's still a child, even if she's strong."

"Right..."

"Exploit her conscience."

—I can hear everything, you know.

"Did you come to take us down?"

"No, we were forced to—"

"This one has a hurt leg."

The men's desperate voices.

Then, one of the men beckoned me over.

He was sitting at the central table, touching his right leg, which seemed to be in pain.

"Because of this leg, I can't get a proper job. You understand, right?"

I followed his beckoning and approached.

I knew the men were gauging the distance between us, but I walked straight ahead without hesitation.

"Right, isn't it? Come over here—"

"Jump!"

The man who said he had a hurt leg leaned forward to grab me.

I quickly jumped to avoid him.

"Land, good."

I landed on the large table in the center of the room.

Right in the middle.

"Haha! You made it easier for us to catch you!"

"Brat, you're easier to catch when you're on a platform!"

The tall adults had to bend down to catch the short me.

This would throw off their balance, and it would be harder to catch me if I moved my feet.

The men laughed all at once when they saw me on the table.

They thought they could catch me just by reaching out while standing.

"Idiot!!"

"Good, catch her!!"

"Pin her down!!"

Hands reached out from all sides to catch me.

Before they could grab me, I spun around on the table.

"Cat tail, whirlwind!"

My tail spun with me, hitting the faces of the men who had leaned over the table to reach for me.

—Smack, smack, smack!

I hit five men in one spin. The men I hit with my tail flew toward the walls.

The wind from my spin then blew the other men away—

"Ugh!"

"Ah!?"

"Ah!"

All of them at once!

"Turn to stone!"

—Crash!

"Good."

The men were firmly embedded in the walls.

After confirming this, I left the room and went to the room where the children were waiting to take them home.

"Go straight. Do you know the stairs?"

"Yes! I use them every morning."

The children knew the way from the basement to the church, which they used for morning prayers.

There were eight children. I watched from the hallway as they all climbed the stairs.

Suddenly, the building shook with a thud.

"An earthquake?"

Then, it started to rattle, and something began to break. The shaking grew stronger.

The stairs the children had climbed started to collapse.

"Ah!!"

"Are you okay?"

"We're fine! But you need to hurry—!"

The oldest child, protecting the others, called out to me from the floor above.

I went to where the stairs had fallen and looked up.

The floor of the church seemed to be closing, but there was still a gap. I could probably escape with [Flight]...

"Miss Reni! I'm sorry, but the human men have activated the trap!"

"Trap?"

"Yes, the same mechanism the mayor used to destroy the underground structure."

"Understood."

"I'll come to rescue you immediately!"

"No, I'm fine. How about Sammie?"

"She's fine. It seems this room won't be destroyed."

"Stay there. I'll come soon."

Sammie's [Telepathy] helped me understand the situation.

Shurtem, the mayor of Slanita, had a similar trap in his mansion's basement. The red crystal. It seems this basement could also be destroyed.

I muttered, "I see."

Then, a worried voice came from above—

"Be careful!!"

"Hurry!!"

It was the children I had saved. They were reaching out their hands through the gap in the floor.

But I shook my head.

"I'm fine. It's dangerous, so pull your hands back."

If they got caught, it would be bad.

I still had something to do.

"Everyone, go home."

The closing floor, the falling stairs, and the collapsing hallway.

I waved and smiled in the midst of it all.