Gil's eyes continued to stay at the entrails and mangled flesh of the 3 Locals that were just squashed to death by Solomon. If he wasn't sober before, he sure was now. In just a single night, he witnessed 5 people dying and could not do anything about it.

"Why… why did you do that!?" Eugene, the leader of the Local Scouts, repeated his question. Howling it over and over again with his voice almost cracking.

​​

"!!!"

"Sshh…" Boss quickly approached the kneeling Eugene and inserted 3 of her fingers inside his mouth. Reed, who was quietly standing behind the 5 Locals also stepped forward, spinning the two daggers in his hand.

"It's my turn to ask the questions, okay?"

Eugene could not help but gag as Boss slowly removed her fingers from his mouth and then licked it afterward.

"Why did you come here? We will kill one of you if you don't answer truthfully."

"...We came here to rescue a little boy."

"..."

"A little boy? We don't--"

Before Boss could finish her words, her eyes widened as she realized who the Locals were referring to. And as soon as she did, she could not stop herself from bursting out in laughter.

"Did… did you come here…. 'Coz you thought that someone needed rescuing?" Boss' laughter almost completely drowned her words, almost making them indistinguishable. "You risk your life to rescue a Prisoner!? A cold-blooded murderer!?"

Boss' laughter continued to travel throughout the Encampment, also garnering the laughs of the other Prisoners. But after a few seconds, she stopped, completely silencing everyone almost instantly.

"...Pathetic," Boss whispered, "Now here's our demand."

"W… what?"

"We will let one of you go. Whoever that is, you can decide amongst yourselves. Except you, of course, you would be staying here until the end." Boss giggled coquettishly as she tapped Eugene's nose.

"And tell your chief that we want food. Food for the whole month in exchange for one of you. Dried meat, fresh meat, frozen meat. We're not that picky."

"But… there will be four of us left here." Eugene stuttered as he looked at his comrades.

"Oh wow, how perceptive of you, boy. 4 months worth of food supply for the four of--"

"If you just wanted food, then you should have kept my friends alive! You savages could have gotten more!"

Eugene quickly stood up from the ground as he waved his hand. Reed immediately appeared in front of him, his knife less than an inch away from cutting Eugene's throat.

"...He is fast," Nisha, who prided on her speed, could not help but let out a whisper as she saw Reed moved.

"He's alright," Van added.

"..."

"More food?" Boss scoffed as soon as she heard Eugene's words, "Do we look like fat pigs to you? And don't look at Solomon, those are muscles!"

"Gruh…"

"We're not that greedy, right men!?"

"Yeah!"

The Prisoners all raised their hands in the air as their roars pierced the ears of the Local Scouts.

"So…" Boss once again stepped closer towards Eugene, lightly pushing Reed to the side, "What's it going to be?"

"E… Eugene, we can't seriously be considering thi--"

"Shut your mouth!"

Before one of his men could finish his words, Eugene interrupted him. "We… accept this deal. But I do not know if the chief is the same. Rene, you go back to the stronghold and tell them everything that has happened here."

"S… sir?" Rene, who seemed to be the youngest-looking among the group, blinked a couple of times as he looked at his other companions, "But don't we need to decide who will go first?"

"You're the lowest one in the hierarchy so you should go!"

"But--"

"Go, Rene. And please also tell my wife that I love her."

"Mine as well, tell her to take care of our daughter."

"You… you guys." Rene's stuttered breaths whispered into the air, his eye almost turning red from the tears that wanted to burst out from him.

"...Too much drama. Just go," Boss waved her hand as she gestured for Rene to leave. She also beckoned the Prisoners to make a path for the Local, breaking their circle.

"I… I will return for you guys, I promise!"

"Just go!"

Rene could only bite his lip as his feet started moving on their own. Before he could completely leave the crowd, he looked at Boss straight in the eye.

"I… will kill every last one of you if you kill sir Eugene and the others!" He screamed before quickly running away.

"..."

"Quite a feisty kid you've recruited there," Boss let out a tiny chuckle as she looked at Rene's back, "Now. The four of you make yourself comfortable. It might be a little while before our deal pushes through. As for me, I am going back to bed. The four of you will be accompanied by Mr. Solomon here."

Solomon once again grunted as Boss patted his huge leg.

"Reed, what are you still doing there!?" Boss then clapped her hands as she looked at Reed, who still had his knife pointed towards the Locals. "Solomon is enough for that, you have other nightly duties to attend to with me."

"Ah, yes. Of course, boss." The bloodlust on Reed's face immediately disappeared as he returned to his usual smiling expression. The two knives that he was just holding disappeared from his hands out of nowhere.

He then followed Boss, but not before threatening the Locals again.

"You are welcome to try and escape, we won't even tie you up. But… considering the looks that the other Prisoners are giving you, and as well as Solomon's fidgeting hands, I would be careful if I were you."

With Reed and Boss going back to their quarters, the other Prisoners also started dispersing one by one, their eyes, however, were still planted towards the Locals.

"What… what do we do now?" One of the Locals whispered.

"We just have to wait for news."

"Think the chief will give in to their demands, Eugene?"

"...I don't know. All we can do is wait. I am sure they--"

"Wait, Eugene! Isn't that… the kid!?"

Eugene could not finish his words as one of his men pointed towards someone. And there, they saw Van hiding behind Nisha.

"Could she actually be her mother?"

They have already seen Van with Nisha earlier but they weren't sure of their relationship. But now that he was clearly hiding behind her, the truth has revealed itself in front of them.

"He… he looks so scared hiding behind her mother like that!"

"Damn this! This is not the right place to raise a child!"

"Look how thin he is! We… we have failed!"

"It's all up to the chief now."

Van saw the Locals aggressively looking at him. They seemed to be whispering to each other, but he was too far to be able to hear them. However, this just proved what Nisha told him earlier-- the Locals were here for him.

"So… they are here to rescue me? But why?"

"Whatever the reason may be, no good will come with talking to the Locals. The other Prisoners might see us as an enemy," Nisha could only shake her head as she turned around, "Let's go, you and your… friend can sleep in my house for now."

"Hm… thanks," Van nodded after taking one last look towards the Locals. Gil, on the other hand, still remained looking at the pool of blood on the ground.

"Look… look at all these deaths," his jaw trembled as he whispered.

"You will get used to it, mister Gil," Van let out a small sigh as he patted Gil's shoulders.

"What!?" Gil, however, quickly slapped Van's hand out of the way, "Are you saying you're already used to something like this!? But how!?"

"..."

Gil's screams immediately attracted the attention of the other Prisoners who were already leaving for their homes. The ones that first noticed this, however, were the Local Scouts.

"L...look, he is being mistreated here!"

"Tch. That's it, let's try to find a chance so we can rescue him from this abomination of a place! No matter what it takes!"

"..."

Van once again let out a sigh as stared Gil straight in the eyes, "Look around you, mister Gil. No one even cares about these men, or even for the men that I killed earlier. Life is meaningless in this kind of place."

"That--"

"You are not outside anymore… This is your new life. You should start accepting it." Van said as he started to walk away, "Let's go. But if you plan to sleep here with all the guts and blood on the ground, you're free to do so… I am sleeping in a bed."

"...Tch," Gil could only click his tongue as he followed Van.

Nisha, who watched the whole conversation unfold, didn't know whether to laugh or be in awe. With their interaction, Nisha could not help but wonder who the true adult was.

As the three were walking back to her house, Van was lost in thought.

Are lives… really worth that much for Gil to care so much for people he doesn't even know? If it was his family or a friend, then Van would understand. But for strangers?

That… is kind of weird, is it not? Well, they are worth the experience. Van could not help but make himself chuckle with the thought. Speaking of experience, he should probably check his System Window and the Souls he has collected tonight.

...Wait.

Van quickly looked back towards the corpses of the men that just died. He didn't realize it before as he was too focused at watching the other Locals… but those who died…

...Why didn't they have souls for him to collect?