Having been driven by narcissistic desires, I remained in my human form and helped put on all the gloves of the children, stuffing each one so that they would not ring even if they tried. The gloves were supported by garter belts that ran and lay hidden beneath the dirty sleeves of their uniform clothing, and after fastening the last of them, I felt a little ashamed for having new clothes made for myself alone.
Then Mercy explained that her enchanted hair clip had several differently sized clothes for emergencies and that there would be no space for their current clothes to be stored if she made everyone new ones. Their current clothes, although blood-stained and filthy, were still wearable and only needed a bit of cleaning, which could be done at the next body of water.
I mulled over her words and soon realized that it was also a lot of work for Mercy and Michael to make a bunch of garments, even if they had the aid of magic. Having some new underwear would probably be enough, but I felt too embarrassed to suggest this to Mercy.
Actually, did this world have underwear? I don’t know if it’s true, but I feel like in my previous world, people in the dark ages didn’t have underwear. It’s good for personal hygiene, you know. You should change and wash your underwear every day if you have access to clean water.
Sweat and miscellaneous dirt collects in cloth over time. That’s why they start to smell. The living body excretes certain wastes through the skin and orifices. Although the clothes are inner, they become quite dirty very quickly.
Underwear should be changed regularly.
Ah, but I was a beast, and I could be naked. My biological wastes would disperse the more I immersed myself in the natural world and rolled around in the grass.
Although there was no grass here, only dirt and stone and mold and mushrooms. I think if I rolled around, I would feel even more dirty, especially since my consciousness as a human had recently reawakened.
“–ko? Ako? What do you think?” Mercy called out.
“What were you saying?”
“Ah, well, it was a lot…” Mercy cringed.
“I’ll follow you.”
“What’s that?”
“Make your own decisions. I’ll follow you all.”
“Oh.” Mercy and the rest of the children looked at each other like tennis rackets twirling in the air. What, was my response not responsible enough?
“Well, based on the scenery and the proximity to the Duke’s mansion, I think we are somewhere in the Kapre’s Tampi. It’s not a well-documented place, but I’ve read stories that go through it to get to Gintongipin, which is not far from Khindimalapit. It’s only two fingers! Ah, but I don’t remember what the scale of the map I saw this on was. Surely, two fingers can’t be that far.” Mercy’s eyebrows lowered as she spoke more and more quietly.
“Do you know which direction to take?”
“We will walk in the direction that the wind blows. That’s how it went in the book.”
If wind only blows in one direction, doesn’t that mean that there was only one opening to this chasm? Then, theoretically, it should be fine to walk in any direction and cling to the walls to get out.
Wait, no, wind that blows within a chasm is rather dangerous, isn’t it? The pressure of having great walls of rock sandwiching a little corner of the world should surely cause strong, prevalent winds to ravage the inner plains. How was it possible for such large trees to exist in a place such as this? Thick or thin, trees that only grow on dirt could not possibly withstand the rapids of wind within such a chasm.
…But listen. There are no winds at this time.
There haven’t been any winds ever since I landed here.
Was this a chasm?
What will happen when the wind blows?
Leaves continued to fall one by one onto the forest floor. Despite the great volume of blue and green in the air, there were never enough leaves on the ground to cover up the black dirt itself. They were either caught upon the knots and chapped bark of the trees themselves before they reached the floor, or had piled in several predictable spots.
Once more, I was reminded of the strangeness of this chasm and its lack of wind.
Mercy and the rest had insisted that I sleep until the wind blew. Before they launched into their explanations, I turned back and returned to my half-carved tree trunk and settled in with a sigh.
I wouldn’t fall asleep this time, for I was distinctly aware of how difficult it would be for ten children to wake me up from true slumber. Maybe I was too confident as a beast to be constantly on the alert for danger. In any case, this place was weird and I wanted out as soon as possible. Sleeping wouldn’t make me feel better.
The children slept in shifts, whispering to each other words that I couldn’t make out. Mercy was among the first to sleep, accompanied by Michael. The sight of their gloves sagging in slumber made me realize that they had not stuffed their gloves and were instead constantly controlling their bells so that they would not ring.
That was no good. That was a safety hazard. But if there were more things besides a glove and some bells, would it be more difficult to control them with magic?
I had to know for myself. Forget going to Khindimalapit for the children, my goal was to force an academic to explain to me how I, a beast, could learn to use magic.
There was no telling of time in the chasm besides the falling of leaves and the imperceptible pulse of color within the aquamarine glow that enveloped the landscape. Although such a mysterious glow allowed myself and the children to see the delicate details of the surrounding trees and dirt, the vast majority of the chasm still appeared as a black and featureless realm. Past a stone’s throw, the reflective glow ended with only a bare outline of trees catching onto the wisps to prove their existence.
Come to think of it, didn’t that mean that only this area was illuminated? I didn’t seek it out as I fell, though, I just happened to land where there was light. Well, I wonder if coincidences exist in this world.
I had the half-hearted intention to get closer to the darkness and find out on my own what was going on with the lighting situation, but then I thought that I would have that opportunity later anyway and stayed put.
The silence that overtook the whisperings of the children was interrupted by the sound of hooves.
Slowly plodding hooves of a wide circumference. Each step was faint, deep, and seemingly calculated to play a distinct and enduring rhythm. There was a faint, musky smell, very similar to the mildew of mold. It came from behind my tree trunk.
I looked towards the children who were settled in a circle. They continued to whisper and laugh without any notice of the sound of hooves, and I was reminded once more of my superior senses.
Whatever those hooves belonged to, they were still a good distance away.
Now, what kind of creature exists in an empty land of dirt, mold, mushroom, and trees? What kind of creature would have hooves? And would it be alone?
Ah, I don’t know. Should I wait and find out?
…Hah, it’s better not to.
I rolled onto my feet and made my way to Mercy and the others.
“What’s wrong?” Mercy muttered as Michael rubbed his eyes heavily.
Before I could warn them of the hooves, a cold wind blew, driving away the scent of musk.