“What should we do?”

Brote asked while staring in the direction of the sound. While Derien gathered his thoughts and hesitated to answer, she turned her head toward him.

“Shall we go see?”

Honestly, it wasn’t a particularly appealing suggestion, but Derien found himself nodding without thinking. Brote’s eyes, looking back at him, sparkled like stars filled with pure curiosity without a trace of fear.

Perhaps her innate nature simply felt curiosity more strongly than fear, but Derien interpreted that look as trust directed at him.

So he slowly uttered words that didn’t match his true feelings.

“Yes… I think we should go check.”

“It’s that way, right? Where the sound came from.”

“Yes…”

Before he could finish his response, Brote strode forward in that direction. Following behind her, Derien tensed every muscle in his body, ready to spring into action at any unexpected situation.

Though he had never properly protected her at the mansion where they spent winter together, circumstances were different now.

Unlike then, Derien now had only Brote. She was his sole person to protect. If he focused all his efforts, there was no reason he couldn’t keep her safe.

Maintaining this heightened tension, they headed toward the center of the commotion.

“…bit!”

“…please, listen to me—”

“Don’t try to make excuses! It was bitten!”

Pushing aside the dense branches blocking their view, they discovered the source of the disturbance. The scene before them was somewhat strange.

A man holding a weapon faced another man cradling a child. The situation itself wasn’t unusual, but their expressions were completely opposite.

It was the armed man, not the one holding the child, whose face was contorted with fear. Despite brandishing his weapon threateningly, his hands trembled violently.

Derien soon understood why.

“Kyaaaak!”

Behind the man holding the frightened child, a bound creature that was clearly not human in form was struggling desperately. At the creature’s feet lay a blood-soaked blanket that had presumably been covering it.

Leaning forward to survey the surroundings, Derien spotted what appeared to be a cart that had transported the creature.

The moment he confirmed this, the situation began to take shape in his mind: a man traveling through the mountains with a child while concealing the creature’s existence, and another man who had unknowingly approached them to cross the mountain path together.

In the brightening morning, when the presumed father briefly stepped away to relieve himself, curiosity had overwhelmed the other man.

‘What’s he hiding under that large blanket that he’s so protective of?’

Unable to resist his curiosity, the other man had lifted the blanket, and chaos erupted.

“We must k*ll it.”

Indeed, people who had known each other for a long time wouldn’t so easily speak of killing a child.

“Both those monsters must, must be killed!”

The metal tool swung up toward the man and child came down swiftly. In that split second, before Derien could intervene, Brote pushed aside the branches blocking her path and sprang forward like an arrow.

Derien, who had maintained his tension since they first moved toward the sound, immediately noticed this and rushed toward the armed man even faster than Brote.

He blocked the initial attack with his scabbard and twisted, sharply pulling the curved pickaxe toward himself.

Naturally, Derien’s grip proved stronger than the stranger’s, and the metal tool clattered to the ground with a loud clang.

“What, who are you people?!”

The bewildered man looked at Brote and Derien in shock.

“Who do you think you are, ruining everything important! Do you all want to die? Are you crazy? Don’t you know what happens when you let monsters like that live?”

The man’s face grew increasingly red yet simultaneously pale as he shouted more words, pointing accusingly. He heaved his shoulders, breathing heavily with bloodshot eyes, seemingly hyperventilating.

“Oh, you don’t know, do you? Then let me tell you clearly! See that monster? That monster’s bite marks are clearly imprinted on this kid’s arm! Let me tell you what that means, listen carefully, understand?”

Derien moved slowly and cautiously to hide Brote behind him, then positioned himself between the armed man and the pair with the child.

It was only natural that the man, who was smaller and lighter than Derien, and now disarmed, would perceive Derien’s approach as a significant threat, especially given the continental war and resulting food shortages.

Thanks to the man backing away as much as Derien advanced, Derien successfully brought Brote, the child, and the unnamed man within his safety perimeter.

“That d*mn kid will soon turn into a monster just like that one! That’s how our entire village was wiped out! Because of one monster! Do you understand? Do you?! Do you realize what you’ve done? If we leave those monsters alone, we’ll all die. All of us!”

With only his voice remaining as a weapon, the man raised it even higher toward Derien and Brote hidden behind him, growing increasingly agitated. He desperately tried to convince them.

The standoff was gradually lengthening when suddenly:

“No! I won’t change! I was bitten a long time ago…!”

A child’s sharp voice burst from behind Derien.

“Mia! If you say that—”

“But he keeps saying bad things about Mom! Hic—my mom isn’t a bad person… She never hurt anyone… hic.”

The sharp outcry quickly transformed into tearful indignation, then evolved into full-blown childish sobbing.

“My mom is not a monster! She’s not! Apologize right now! Waaah!”

“You’re right. You’re absolutely right, little one. This isn’t something that infects you through bites.”

Brote’s gentle voice resonated softly through the air, comforting the child. Even without turning around, Derien could picture the scene clearly.

Just like she had done with him once before. He could easily imagine her cupping the child’s tear-stained cheeks, gently wiping wet eyelashes with her thumb, and soothing the child with a tender smile.

Despite appearances, Brote was a person full of compassion.

“Nonsense!”

But the peaceful moment was brief. Perhaps completely consumed by his fear of manaha, the unarmed man suddenly charged at Derien.

As expected, he was quickly subdued and pinned to the ground by Derien.

While restraining the struggling man’s arms behind his back, Derien looked up to find Brote. When their eyes met, she gave a small nod.

Was it praise for a job well done? Pleased by this unexpected gain they wouldn’t have had if they hadn’t come this way, Derien swiftly struck the back of the man’s neck.

The man’s eyes rolled back immediately, and he stopped moving. He wouldn’t be dead, but he wouldn’t wake up for quite some time either.

Having made this judgment, Derien rose from the man’s back.

‘A dagger?’

That’s when Derien noticed it. A thin, pointed, gleaming dagger about the length of a finger positioned on the inside of the arm of the man holding the child.

Of course, traveling alone through bandit-infested mountain paths with a half-manaha wife and young daughter meant the man must have considerable confidence in his abilities, something Derien realized a bit late.

Thinking that perhaps their intervention might have been unnecessary, Derien promptly introduced himself to the man, showing his empty palms to indicate he meant no harm.

“We’re travelers passing by. We heard screaming and came this way. I apologize for interfering without knowing the details, but it seemed that gentleman was misunderstanding something, so we felt compelled to step in to clarify the facts.”

“Misunderstanding?”

“Yes. To inform him that manaha infection doesn’t occur through bites—”

“Wait, wait… Manaha? That’s the name of this disease? I already knew it wasn’t transmitted through bites…”

The man, his eyes trembling in confusion, closed them tightly before opening them again. Then he extended his hand to introduce himself. The dagger was no longer there.

“I’m Tom. This child is Mia, and my wife… well, as you can see, she’s become like this.”

Then he began to tell his story.