Chapter 2: Saving the captured (Ch-2)

I got up feeling disgusted because I had given them potentially some false hopes. I hate those who give false hopes. I was raised to be honest and blunt but for now- just for now I want to be someone’s hope.

I peaked out of the window and saw no one. I closed my eyes and tried to listen to everything and not a single sound was heard. Just like last time. Maybe I can only hear them when I’m at a certain range from them. That makes things much easier. I walked out and looked at the sky. The sun was setting and I could make out the moon in the sky. I started walking towards the direction making sure I didn’t run into anyone. I hope the two stayed safe.

 

The houses were all abandoned and it all looked sad and depressing. These houses at some point were homes for people to return to. Families resided there. So much…

 

Those who have died and for those who are alive, I have to do something.

 

After about 15 minutes, I could hear the tides. I could also hear footsteps. I hid in the bushes and used my phone’s camera to zoom in. My phone wasn’t something you could just buy. It was custom made especially for me. It ended up costing me a lot but this was the best one they could produce. The technology used was not public yet. It was meant to go public in about 4 years. Given how good phones currently are, just imagine how good a high end phone in 4 years would be. In short, it was one hell of a phone but nothing sci-fi. I wish I had

those…

 

Anyways, I could make out everything. There were at least a dozen people. All men. At least the ones who were patrolling were men. They were buff and old. If I were to get in a fight with them, I would get murdered in about 5 minutes. There has to be a blind spot. Maybe I can distract them or something. All the men walked into a hut. It was quite big. I crawled towards it and peeped in. There were kids and women tied up to pillars. 37 kids and 12 women. They were all in miserable conditions. Even from far away I could easily tell they were all abused. Not just the women but kids too. Their clothes were tattered, their bodies were bruised and dirty and they weren’t making a single sound. I had come up with a plan of poisoning them with carbon monoxide but I quickly scrapped that idea after seeing the captured people.

I played an erotic video on full volume and hid with a bunch of big rocks and tightly held the knife that I had snatched from Lyla during our confrontation.

 

2 of the 13 men came out and I hit their occipital bone with a massive rock causing them to faint instantly. It should not do any lasting damage. I grabbed one guy’s shirt and tied it between 2 trees and placed a couple rocks about 180cm away from the shirt. A guy tripped over it and fell face first into the rock. That would definitely break his nose but it still isn’t bad enough to kill him. Another guy walked outside to check on the three guys who never came back. He suffered the same faith as the first two. Now I have 5 weapons. A knife I got from Lyla, three swords and one club wrapped in barbed wire. 2 more men walked out. I hit one with a rock and another with the club in his mouth to make sure he doesn’t scream. My motive was to subdue the men without killing them. I don’t have the guts to murder a human being.

 

It was quite obvious that they deserved the death sentence given the condition of the women and children they had kept tied up. I had subdued half of their team.

 

I placed a bunch of rocks on a shirt and tied them up and then tied it to a rope made out of 4 shirts. I got on the roof of the hut and played an audio of men shouting for help. 6 out of 7 men came out and I dropped the bag on the group which ended up fainting 4 out of 6 men. I played another audio of bushes rustling making them believe I was escaping. They took the bait and started searching around. I jumped down and punched one of the two remaining as hard as I could in the occipital region knocking him out and another in the back of his head with a thick branch. The last one would be the boss. I’m not the type to confront. Who knows how strong the boss is. The only reason I won was because I specifically targeted the most vulnerable parts of the human body. I made a small hole in the wall of the hut to peek inside. The hut was made of wood so it was easy. The potential boss was with a woman. She wasn’t making any noise whatsoever. My guts are telling me that she isn’t really fully consenting to the act but has given up on life to a point where she isn’t even bothering with protecting herself. They were all silent. What has become of this world? My heart hurts.

Should I kill the boss?

 

I’m 17… of course I’ve never killed anyone. I’ve never even thought of killing anyone but right now it seems important.

 

Machiavelli once said to use cruelty when necessary and to never do minor injury to the enemy. I firmly believe in it but now that I’m put in the position, it’s hard.

 

One criminal life or 50 innocent lives. The answer is obvious. But I’ll be painting my hands red. Those women in there might attack me even if I save them. Who knows what a person without morality can do.

 

It’s necessary. I never once thought I’d be put in such a situation but I have to do it. Mom-Dad… please don’t hate me.

 

I know there must be a better option that doesn’t include murder but I can’t think of it. If I don’t end the leader now, he might come back even stronger.

 

I tried to reason my way out of it but I just don’t know. If I were to stab his eyes instead of killing him, I would end up committing an unnecessary cruelty. Huh? I looked at my hands. I’m shaking in fear and guilt. I can’t even turn him in. There is no justice system here. He already has almost 50 people captive. God knows how many lives he would’ve tortured plus the woman who was in bed with him who was probably not even consenting to the act. Am I just justifying myself? Am I really so above him that I can give him justice? If I leave, guilt would eat me alive. If I act then the trauma of killing someone would eat me alive. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t. What is this dilemma?

 

It’s now or never. I got up and held the knife as tightly as I could. For my own consolation, I’ll put him down without pain. I shouted in a deeper voice.

 

“Boss!! There is a demon!!”

The guy quickly stood up and started getting dressed. I could see fear in his eyes. He was shaking. The captured people on the other hand were relieved. Do they want death this bad?

I stood by the door with a knife and the moment the boss rushed out I stabbed him in the occipital bone killing him instantly. I could feel the thrust, the resistance that his skull bone provided and the softness of his brain. The blood was leaking out of his skull. His lifeless body was laying on the ground. I kept staring at it for what felt like five minutes. I just couldn’t calm down.

 

I’m a murderer now.

 

No matter how I looked at it, the fact remained that I’ve killed someone. I then stared at my hands that were still shaking. So, they’re done with. It had been an hour since I left Lyla and Roxy by themselves. I walked in and untied everyone.

 

“Adults, there are 12 men outside fainted. Tie them up as tightly as you can. I’ll be back in about 30 minutes and I will make sure you all stay safe.”

 

“Why? What’s there to live for? We’ve lost everything.” One of the women said. She was amongst the oldest.

 

“It’s okay. It’ll be okay. I’m here.” I smiled at them. On the inside, I was dying from the cringe but I heard this line in an anime so I tried using it.

 

“Who are you?” A kid asked and I kneeled down to his height.

 

“Kara.” I patted his head.

 

“Anyways, I have taken care of everyone and tomorrow we will go hunting for food. For now we will eat whatever is present in this hut. Stand in line.” I ordered and for now they were obeying me without problem. I looked around the hut for food and found a bunch of bread. Bread has carbohydrates so for now it can give them enough energy to pass the night.

 

I distributed the bread and let all of them eat.

 

“Anyways… Where are men? I only see women and children.”

“They took them away one year ago for the army. Men’s population in the country is at its lowest of all time because of that. Most of them are criminals now. Either for their own personal benefits or to provide for their families. Demons killed all the soldiers.” One of the

women said. She was more on the younger side. Maybe in her 20s.

 

Her crimson eyes stood out the most about her. Her silver hair went along fairly well.

Come to think of it, no one here had black hair for some reason.

“I see.” Well that removes a huge man power. I have to make use of women. “So you.” I pointed to the woman who had just answered me. “Your name?”

 

“Keshi Eliezach.” She replied and I beckoned to her. I walked to the bed that the boss was using and sat on it.

 

The bed was nasty. It smelled rotten and slightly moist for whatever reason, honestly, I was happy not knowing it either.

 

I had a few questions. I thought people would have different knowledge depending on where they were. There is no social media here so news wouldn’t travel as efficiently especially given the circumstances. Right now, the best course of action was to take care of food shortages for these 51 people and me. I have no plans on defeating the enemy but I have to start collecting some vassals who have greater knowledge of this world.

 

“So, what kind of food do you used to eat before demons took over?”

 

“Our staple foods were potatoes and fish. But since demons took over we lost our freedom to farm and hunt. Bandits took away the remaining freedom we had.” Keshi replied. She was

trying to keep a distance between us. Maybe she was suspicious of me. I wonder.

 

Potatoes and fish are good enough I guess.

 

“What about chicken or eggs? You must have farms right?”

 

“Why would we raise chickens? They are tiny and of no worth.”

 

I see. Even in my world, poultry became commercial around the 1800s and currently my guess is that this world is in the 1300s. I can’t expect them to know about macronutrients and micronutrients either.

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“I see. Do you happen to have a map of the continent?”

 

“No. We have maps in the castle, churches or guilds. One is nearby.”

Now that I notice Keshi better. She is pretty. Her voice is soothing too. She is totally my type but I’m still a minor. It’s really hard to have a thing for older women when you’re a kid yourself. I’ll be 18 soon so I guess I just have to endure it. I don’t want someone to go to jail because of me but I’m a bit sensible. If someone were to date me, they kind of deserved jail. I’m in a tough situation.

 

“How old are you?”

 

“You shouldn’t ask a woman her age… but since you saved all of us… I’m 27.”

 

“I’m 17… too young. Anyways, I will be leaving. I have stripped all the men of their weapons but still stay safe.” I got up and announced my departure before leaving.

 

I rushed back to the place where Lyla and Roxy were staying. The full moon was on full display in the night sky, so everything was illuminated. I somehow managed to come back to the place where I met Lyla and Roxy while avoiding bandits who had become active during night time. I knocked on the door.

 

“Roxy… Lyla it’s me, Kara.”

Roxy opened the door and I walked in. I patted her head and handed her the bread and cooked fish I had gotten.

 

“Eat it and don’t waste any, ok?”

 

“Lyla, he got us fish.”

 

“Roxy, we should keep it for some other time. Fish is really rare now.” Lyla explained to her.

 

“Don’t worry. Roxy, eat it.” I smiled in reassurance.

 

“I saved around 50 people on the beach. We will leave now and then, tomorrow, we will start hunting.” I explained to Lyla.

 

I walked into a different room and closed the door.

 

I needed to be alone for now. I had been in this world for barely 2 hours and I’ve already committed a murder and 12 attempted murders. I kept thinking of the moment I stabbed that man. I still feel that pressure I felt when the knife pierced through his skin. I couldn’t stop shaking either, even my heart rate was so high I could feel my heart beating loudly. My brain kept repeating that moment over and over again. Even if I tried to forget it, I couldn’t. I just can’t forget something so heinous. Justifying or rationalizing that murder wouldn’t help me in the slightest.

 

I have to keep pushing forward. For the sake of these people and for myself, I don’t have an option. No. I was only pushing for the sake of myself. Who am I even kidding? I don’t care if they die. If I live through it all, that’s all that matters.

 

I got up and walked out of the room. Roxy was sleeping on the floor wrapped in the blanket I had gotten her while Lyla was sitting by her side.

 

“Kara… why? You are going to such extreme lengths for people you don’t even know.”

“I was raised this way. My mom always told me to create my happiness off of others. For her, safety of those around her meant the most. It is ingrained in me too. Seeing those relieved and happy faces was everything I needed.” I replied and sat next to her.

 

I never doubted my mom’s words. For her, it was true. She did worry about others but I never understood that. Obviously I’m not going to go out of my way to hurt people but helping them

for the sake of helping them is not exactly something I’d do. But one can lie.

 

“I see. I’m glad we met you. I had lost all hope.”

 

“It’s going to be ok. Don’t worry.” I replied and smiled at her.

 

Lyla got up holding Roxy close to her.

 

Now we have to run back.

 

We somehow managed to make a way back. The women had tied up all the men to pillars. How the turntables. They all bowed to me. I was somewhat shocked because I thought they would attack me, but maybe they weren’t as desperate as I’d thought or maybe it was something totally different.

 

“Why are you bowing to me?”

 

“Because you protected us. We were talking while you were gone and we all came to a conclusion that being by your side is the safest. Even if some of the women don’t agree with trusting a man, neither could provide any logical reason to not stay by your side. It’s still a fact that you saved us all for no real personal benefit.” Keshi said and everyone agreed.

 

“All? With no logical counter arguments? I can come up with a lot.” I replied but she shook her head.

 

“You can because you know yourself. For us, you’re our savior.” One of the women said as a counterargument.

 

They are latching on to any hope they can get. I have manpower though.

 

“Fine. But under my command you have to do as I say.”

 

They all collectively agreed.

 

“So for now, go to sleep. At the break of dawn, we will start hunting for seafood.” I ordered.

 

“So Lord Kara, what do you plan to do?” Keshi asked and I thought for a bit.

“Get to safety. I’m not a superhuman so, I can’t fight demons but I have knowledge that can help with winning this war against demons if we manage to make it to a country that’s still not overtaken. I’m still a minor though so I’m not sure if countries would even take me seriously.” I replied.

 

“17 is an adult though…?” Keshi replied but now I was starting to get irritated.

Especially because of the murder, but me being thrown into this hell without my consent also played a role in my irritation.

 

“I see…” I replied.

Kara, you still can’t date her just because the morals of this world are a bit different.

I have to keep reminding myself that I can’t let my personal stuff sway me into doing regretful things.

 

Am I their leader now? Well, I did assume the position I guess. Considering the relative time period, maybe they see me as their king and hold me in high regard. They didn’t expect a man to save them. I do remember reading about a similar situation. Helping your enemies is better than helping your friends. They weren’t expecting a man let alone a teenager to protect them. I took a completely hopeless situation and gave them some hope. I don’t think I can even comprehend the fear they must be feeling. For a whole year they were being ruled over by demons.

 

“I see. Well anyways, I’m your leader from here on.”

Everyone accepted it and bowed again. Centralizing power is great for now.

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