“B-But what about the adults? If they come back and find us gone, they’ll think it’s the adults’ fault and get angry… and some of the other kids’ parents are there too.”
Tirkan hesitated but finally expressed his thoughts while watching me carefully.
‘Do those other kids… think of the ones who sold them as their parents?’
I thought of the children still being forced into labor. Did they really feel no resentment toward their parents? Moreover, Tirkan had said he was an orphan. Even though he was the first to be sold off because of this, he was still worried about the villagers.
The people of Odlo Island were victims, but the adults who handed over their children were also perpetrators.
‘Of course, they weren’t in their right minds when they made those decisions because of the drugs.’
It was an utterly vile tactic—making them incapable of rational thought, coercing them into choices, and then ensuring they couldn’t report their actions anywhere, forcing them into mental submission as slaves.
“You think I didn’t plan for that? Don’t worry. Ethan saved a bit of the tea for them.”
I patted my chest and smiled as if to say, ‘Trust me.’
“Polaris, no matter what, I still don’t think it’s a good idea for you to get involved in something like this.”
But now, Ethan was the problem. Perhaps because my body was that of a six-year-old, he couldn’t help but worry too much.
‘But mentally, I’m twenty-six.’
Even if I told him that, he’d just think I was crazy, so it was better to keep quiet.
“Ethan, it’s not like you can disguise yourself as a child and sneak in.”
“T-That’s true, but…”
“If we left it to one of the other kids and they mishandled it, it could be a disaster.”
While it was just a laxative, if used incorrectly, it could lead to severe dehydration, especially in children. As I looked at him with drooping eyebrows, Ethan let out a deep sigh.
“Just make sure you don’t expose yourself to too much danger.”
“This place already doesn’t feel very safe to me.”
“What am I supposed to say to that when I’m the one letting you do it?”
“Hehe.”
I decided to laugh it off.
“If you think you’re in real danger, don’t worry about cleaning up—just run away, alright?”
“Okay, I got it.”
Ethan let out another long sigh and muttered under his breath.
“Oh, Deira….”
***
The small hole was just barely large enough for small children to squeeze through.
‘Bigger kids might have trouble getting through.’
Tirkan switched places with his twin, who had been waiting there. As expected, the child I’d seen during the day was indeed this one.
The boy looked at me with an arrogant expression.
“What? Hey, Titi, didn’t I tell you to keep her out of this?”
“Y-Yeah, but it’s too late now… A-And, Tete, she said she’d help us!”
“What? This little kid?”
The one called ‘Tete’ scoffed in disbelief.
“You’re a kid too. It’s not right to mock someone who’s offering to help.”
“What could you possibly do?”
“Probably more than you.”
Even though I was offering to help, it still caused an uproar. Then again, given their situation, trusting anyone must have been difficult.
‘But we don’t have time for this nonsense.’
Understanding their reaction was one thing, but I was in a hurry. While I tried to stay calm, the thought of not knowing where my family had been taken weighed heavily on me.
If the people of Odlo Island planned to use Caelum as leverage to demand more Angel or improve their circumstances, Caelum was probably still asleep somewhere, captured.
‘And soon, they’ll be sold off.’
Likely in a severely compromised state….
I shivered at the thought.
We needed to act quickly before anyone ended up in serious danger. I didn’t have time for any more pointless arguments. I kicked Tete hard in the shin and gestured toward the small hole.
“If we fail, I’ll die too! I’m here to save my family, so if you’re not going to help, get lost!”
“Y-You little…!”
“What! If we get caught, they’ll seal off this hole, and we’ll all be finished! Now move it!”
When I glared at him with wide eyes and threatened him, Tete looked dumbfounded but eventually crawled outside.
‘What a pushover.’
He was wasting my time.
“L-Let’s go. Hurry, break time has just started….”
Break time, or in other words, lunchtime. Apparently, the overseers made sure the kids got breakfast, lunch, and dinner, possibly to prevent them from collapsing from hunger, which would make things more troublesome for them.
And during those meals, they would ramble on about how merciful they were and how slaves in other places had it far worse. Disgusting scum.
This time, I’d prepared a stronger concentration of the serum. Once applied to the trees, it would start showing results in as little as 30 minutes, throwing everyone into chaos.
There were quite a few trees, but it wasn’t a problem. I only needed to target the most visible ones currently being worked on and those nearby.
‘Even if it only spreads in one area, the effects will soon become apparent everywhere.’
After that, I just had to watch and wait for things to unfold….
“D-Do you want to eat this?”
“……….”
Tirkan offered me some unidentifiable root vegetables and Kacho leaf as lunch.
‘They probably didn’t know at the time that the leaf could be used as medicine, which is why they just gave them out like this.’
As for the root vegetable, I wasn’t sure if it was sweet potato, potato, yam, or lotus root, but it was edible.
However, the expressions on the other kids’ faces were grim. Some were nibbling half-heartedly, while others were forcing themselves to chew and swallow.
‘Why is that?’
Wasn’t this edible enough? I thought back to my days in the Navy. Back then, I took on all kinds of missions to prove myself.
As an irregular case who had suddenly gained recognition and entered the Navy with a high rank as my adoptive father’s daughter, I wasn’t exactly welcomed. But during missions, the crew would sometimes share their scarce rations with me.
‘It really tasted like dirt.’
It was so awful that even eating it while my taste buds were numbed from the Pralet felt like torture. I later learned that it was due to mold from improper storage. Still, it was a carefully crafted ‘nutritional meal’ by the Navy.
Having endured such miserable conditions, this meal seemed like a feast in comparison. Although… I did miss Gilbert’s cooking—just a little, no, maybe a lot.
‘But getting used to such luxuries won’t do me any good.’
You never know when you’ll be eating something like that again. In that sense, these root vegetables weren’t bad at all. They even bothered to cook them—how great was that?
‘But it might not be suitable for children in their growth phase.’
Even the Navy wouldn’t starve kids during their growth phase, right? Sure, they’d numb your taste buds for a while, but they’d always claim it was for our own good.
‘More importantly, the effects should start showing soon.’
At that moment, the rough leaf began to drop with a thud, thud.
The evergreen Kacho trees never shed their leaf like this, so the sudden downpour of foliage was highly unusual. People began to notice and stared up at the trees.
“W-What is this?”
Those with sharp eyes would realize it soon enough. The trees were gradually dying.
‘This drug works particularly well because its effects are very visible.’
It wasn’t actually a big deal, but the symptoms appeared dramatically. Since it had no actual healing properties, it was never presented or published anywhere.
‘Who would’ve thought this would actually come in handy?’
I felt a little strange about it.
Even though it was a coincidental byproduct, the fact that a drug I created from start to finish was proving useful made me feel a mix of emotions.
The overseers, panicked, left only two people behind and rushed off somewhere.
‘Ethan will handle things on that end just fine.’
While he sometimes acted absentmindedly, when it came to matters involving me, he always acted decisively. There was no way he’d fumble now.
‘As for the two who stayed behind….’
They wouldn’t be a problem. I signaled Tirkan with a glance and headed toward the small bonfire that was crackling nearby.
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
Tirkan, following my instructions, began gathering the children, while the two adults finally realized that something was off.
‘But usually, by the time they notice, it’s too late.’
I pinched my nose shut and sprinkled the powder I’d split with Ethan into the fire.
It was just a small amount, but it was enough. As the powder hit the flames, it crackled and burned, releasing a greenish smoke.
The two adults standing close to the fire collapsed almost immediately.
The instant-effect sleeping agent didn’t necessarily have to be ingested to work. Who said it was only effective when consumed? This was one of the components commonly used in sleep-inducing aromatics. However, when inhaled as smoke, it tended to burn off quickly, meaning people would wake up not long after.
‘But for now, this is more than enough.’
After all, the small hole wasn’t something that could be spotted easily at a glance. When people panic, their field of vision narrows. And the ones left here were likely the lowest of the low in terms of rank.
‘They’re probably wondering what’s going on and feeling scared.’
Instead of immediately following Tirkan and the children, I headed toward the hut where the overseers had stayed.
‘It should be somewhere in here.’
Found it.
They probably didn’t even think to hide it.
I smiled in satisfaction as I picked up an openly displayed report.
‘It seems they’ve managed to control all the islanders here.’
This could come in handy.
As I exited, I quickly skimmed through the documents. Sure enough, they were meticulously organized, as if they were meant to be presented to someone.
‘But there’s no mention of who’s at the top.’
I had a guess.
A group so outrageous that even thinking about them seemed absurd.
‘The Sixth Family?’
It could only be them.
