I Picked Up an Abandoned Villain in the Polar Region

Episode 78

 

“Who said I was running away?”

Kyle, flustered, didn’t even realize what he was saying.

Brody, looking incredulous, replied.

“Aren’t you running away right now?”

“When did I ever?”

Kyle denied, feigning ignorance with an awkward expression.

Brody’s face twisted into a curious frown as she watched him. What’s wrong with him all of a sudden?

But Kyle’s odd behavior didn’t stop there.

Whenever Brody approached him, he subtly stepped aside. And if she tried to walk right next to him as usual, he would inconspicuously widen the gap between them.

Watching Kyle act unusually distant, Brody couldn’t help but wonder what was going on. Finally, with a “Whatever, here goes nothing!” she pounced on his leg to cling to him.

Startled, Kyle fled from Brody, the leech-like attachment sending him into a panic.

“See! You are running away! What’s wrong with you all of a sudden!”

Brody, feeling hurt, glared at him and yelled. Alarmed, Kyle tried to explain himself as he awkwardly returned to her side.

“I wasn’t running away… It’s just… because it’s hot!”

“Don’t be ridiculous! You’ve grown tired of me again, haven’t you?”

“I have not!”¹Why do they sound married 😂?

Kyle jumped up in protest at her misunderstanding. But after last night’s events, Brody couldn’t take his denial at face value, not knowing what was truly going through his mind.

Feeling suspicious, she still wore a doubtful expression.

Feeling bad about snapping at her, Kyle softened his voice to console her.

“Seriously, it’s just because it’s hot. Don’t say nonsense like that.”

He motioned for her to follow him.

Even as she hurried after him, Brody’s eyes still held a trace of hurt. Then a sudden thought struck her.

Is he pushing me away because we’re getting closer to his house and Zelda might see us? 

If Kyle was distancing himself because of that, Brody would despair at failing to pull him away from his lingering obsession with Zelda.

Yet she also found herself feeling an inexplicable pang of sadness, as though she loved him for real.

Not that she realized these feelings about herself yet.

 

***

 

The two continued their journey southward, with the plateau to the west and the Elos River to the east.

By midday, they paused to rest. Brody was eating grass to fill her stomach. Meanwhile, Kyle went off to hunt quail near the Elos River.

He was originally tracking signs of a wild boar, but he abandoned the trail when it led toward the plateau and instead spotted some quail hiding in the bushes to avoid predators.

He deftly caught a few quail to satisfy his hunger. And after eating three or four, he returned to Brody, carrying the last quail in his mouth.

But Brody, who had been happily snacking on berries under the hawthorn tree from a branch Kyle had given her, was nowhere to be seen.

“Brody?”

Kyle dropped the quail onto the ground and quickly scanned the area.

He soon spotted her standing a short distance away, facing a bush with her ears perked and her nose twitching.

“What are you doing over there?”

Kyle asked as he approached.

Brody turned her head, covering her berry-stained snout with her paw in a ‘shush’ gesture.

Holding his breath, Kyle followed her lead.

From beyond the bush, faint whimpering and labored breathing could be heard.

“There’s something there,” Brody whispered.

It wasn’t the quail or any other animal Kyle had been hunting earlier.

Both instinctively realized it was another beastman, like them, on the other side of the bushes.

The scent wasn’t herbivorous, but the sounds were too weak to suggest danger.

They cautiously pushed through the dense foliage and soon found a young wolf lying on the ground.

“What the…”

It was immediately clear the child wasn’t even ten years old in human terms. His face was gaunt from starvation, and his ankle was caught in a rusty steel trap, which explained his whimpering.

“Oh my goodness! Kyle, look at this!”

Brody gasped, horrified by the blood-soaked ankle.

Kyle crouched to inspect it as well. The sharp metal jaws clung to the wolf’s delicate leg, but they seemed old and blunt, not fully piercing through the flesh.

Hearing their voices, the boy opened his eyes weakly and began mumbling between shallow breaths.

“Father… Brother… Help me…”

Hearing the child’s pitiful pleas, Brody looked up at Kyle with pleading eyes. “What should we do, Kyle…?”

Kyle hesitated.

There was an inexplicable unease in him as he looked at the child, keeping him from immediately helping. But seeing Brody growing increasingly distressed, his resolve wavered.

Sighing, he turned his attention back to the steel trap around the boy’s ankle.

It was likely meant to catch wild boars, placed carelessly by beastmen who used such traps to hunt.

The trap was old, its teeth worn out and unable to fully clamp shut.

If the boy had been an adult male like Kyle, he probably would have been able to move despite his condition. But being a young child, fear had kept him collapsed in place.

Kyle sighed, annoyed, before prying open the rusty steel trap and freeing the boy’s injured ankle.

Once the pressure on his ankle was gone, the boy relaxed completely, slumping over rather than running away.

Then he looked up at Kyle and muttered.

“Big brother…?”

It seemed he’d mistaken Kyle for his older brother.

Hearing the boy’s words, Kyle suddenly thought of Abel, who used to call him ‘big brother’ and follow him around when they were younger.

The memory of his younger brother soured Kyle’s mood. He coldly responded to the dazed child.

“I’m not your brother.”

“Then… who are you?”

“You don’t need to know.”

The boy drooped his head, clearly dejected, and slumped back down.

Watching the pale, pitiful child, Brody studied him with concern.

“He looks like he hasn’t eaten anything this whole time.”

Kyle glanced at Brody, who was clearly distressed, and suddenly remembered the quail he’d left beyond the bushes earlier.

Normally, Kyle wasn’t the type to share his food with anyone, even if the person next to him starved to death.

But things were different now.

Ever since he’d started traveling with Brody and her boundless empathy, he’d found himself infected by her sense of responsibility.

Unable to ignore the starving boy, Kyle turned and walked back to the bushes.

Moments later, he returned with the quail and tossed it in front of the child.

“Kyle…?”

Brody’s wide eyes darted to him, stunned.

It was the first time she’d seen him share food with a stranger, let alone someone he’d just met.

Kyle, however, ignored her astonished gaze and simply stepped back.

Brody quickly pushed the quail closer to the boy.

“Hey, kid. Open your eyes and eat this.”

Perhaps it was the scent of fresh blood that roused him.

The boy weakly opened his eyes, then slowly raised his head at the sight of the quail.

Tentatively, he began eating, nibbling at first. Gradually, he swallowed chunks of meat, and a bit of color returned to his face.

His jaws gained strength as he gnawed on the bones, and life began returning to his small frame.

As the boy recovered, Brody couldn’t help but ask.

“How long have you been out here alone?”

Chewing the quail, the boy answered.

“I don’t know… Maybe four days?”

“Four days?! Oh my goodness, your parents must be worried sick.”

But the boy shook his head sadly.

“No, I don’t think my dad even knows I’m hurt. I told him before I left that I’d be playing in the lower village for a few days…”

“Oh… I see.”

Brody’s expression turned sympathetic. No wonder his parents hadn’t come looking for him—clearly, they had no idea he’d been injured.

The thought that this boy might have died from starvation or been eaten by wild animals if they hadn’t found him sent a shiver down her spine.

After finishing the quail, the boy mustered his strength and slowly stood up.

Though he couldn’t use his injured foot, he managed to limp along on his good leg.

Looking up at Kyle and Brody with his bright blue eyes, he bowed deeply.

“Thank you so much. I’ll never forget your kindness.”

Kyle, uninterested, turned away without responding. Brody, on the other hand, waved her paw warmly.

“Be careful on your way back. And stay close to home from now on, okay?”

“Okay!”

The boy replied energetically before limping off into the forest.

Kyle and Brody watched him disappear into the trees for a moment before resuming their journey, their path delayed but their spirits lighter.

As they walked through the woods, Brody glanced up at Kyle and spoke.

“You know, that kid kind of looked like you.”

“Like hell he did.”

Kyle dismissed her with a sharp retort, but Brody wasn’t deterred.

“I’m serious. His eyes were the same blue as yours.”

It wasn’t just the eyes. While wolves might appear similar at a glance, subtle differences in features—like the shape of the eyes, snout, ears, and overall demeanor—could distinguish families or breeds. That boy, with his faintly dark blue fur, undeniably bore a resemblance to Kyle.

Kyle ignored Brody at first, as he rarely paid attention to such details. But as she kept talking, his expression hardened.

“Wait.”

Suddenly, Kyle stopped in his tracks, his tone tense.

Brody, who had begun to sense something strange as she spoke, looked up at him curiously.

After a moment of silence, Kyle turned to her and asked.

“Did that kid say the word ‘lower village’ when he was talking about this place?”