Alice laughs eerily as she sits down and looks up at this one.
I saw that laugh and flickered for just a moment, but raised my voice to undo it.
"... are you going to collect kids late this night and even empty nests?
"Hi, Lazareth. If that's how it goes, is it going home to the library?
"Please answer this question. Or I'll call the Knights."
If you hear my threats, one eyebrow, she won't move.
And the children who were sitting to surround her opened their mouths.
"Boss, doesn't this brother want to be one of us?
"Oh, I see. I wish you'd tell me if you did."
"I don't mean to. I'll turn back, depending on the content, if you tell me what you're doing."
"... what if, according to the content?
Also gives me a creepy grin.
I grab the dagger that's hidden in my coat.
"... okay, come on"
"I'm protecting these kids. The children here are not loved by their parents, they have no parents, they are such pitiful children."
"Is that your job? That's what you have to keep in the orphanage."
"An orphanage? Oh, well. You don't know. These kids..."
"You're from Slam Street, aren't you?
That's when I still remember feeling so cold at her words.
Her words were pale and still filled with anger and hatred......
There was so much ugly emotion there that I couldn't put it into words.
"That's why we don't take the orphanage. He doesn't want to put future children at risk."
"... ugh."
I can't say anything because I'm stuck breathing.
I didn't know at first because of this darkness, but if you look closely, everyone and he are all dressed in worn out clothes.
"Then you know as well as I do that this is not a problem Mr. Alice can afford on her own, right? Talk to Sophia..."
"To the king's dog isolating Slam Street?
"It's..."
... she's right.
This country does not recognise the existence of a slum city. On the contrary, soldiers are forbidden from entering this side, like a quarantine facility.
So I guess we got together on this night when the defense gets thin.
"You've talked about us being born in Slam Street before, right?
"... I did hear you were from the same place as Mr. Alba"
"Yes. So I'm sure you have sympathy for these kids"
That said, she hugs the children of Slam Street.
... if you try this, you're just a gentle woman, then what the hell were you wary of me?
That's when I heard multiple footsteps from behind me.
"Oh, welcome back. How'd it go? Today's 'Harvest' is"
... Harvest?
I had to react to that word, which emits so much heterogeneity.
And as I turned around, the children were roping multiple children and forcing them around.
"One, two... right, maybe five. Good job, guys."
"Yes, thank you!
The boy, who was leading the way, bows his head to Alice, who praised him.
And as it was, Alice shifted her gaze to the children brought in from the boy.
Some of the children who were brought here cried out in the atmosphere emanating from her, or desperately pushed to death tears when they understood it.
"... are you scared? Scary, isn't it? 'Cause the poor you guys are always looking down on are so close."
"Shut up! Go home, go home!
"That's right. You wealthy people don't experience this. Kidnapping doesn't happen very often, does it?
Alice just smiles vainly and strokes their cheeks.
They became as quiet as frogs stared at by snakes.
"... Mr. Alice. Let go of those children now."
"You wealthy people can't do anything but be protected. So I can be abused by the wealthy who were so easily looking down"
"Oh no...! Let go, let go..."
"Look, you don't cry. You don't have any water."
Alice takes a drop of tears streaming down the crying girl's cheek.
I didn't understand the sight for a moment.
"Right. Tears were delicious, and I'll make it yours."
"Huh...? What, what...?
"We poor people are always hungry. So I was wondering if you could share a little bit?
"Your delicious body."
Along with the words, Alice waves down the knife she took out of somewhere.
But that will be taken by my dagger.
"... get out of the way"
"I can't get out of the way. Aren't the grown-ups who insisted on looking down on you? These kids have nothing to do with it."
"Are you serious about that?
She laughs at my words with her nose and takes a step back.
I stopped walking away from her like that.
"Humans can't live without looking down on someone. Isn't that why a slave named 'Witch' was born?
"So that's the environment..."
"I was born. This is human instinct"
I hide the children brought in with my body so I don't distract myself from her eyes.
"It's weird that people are born to be looked down on, and people to look down on, right? That's crazy, isn't it?
……
"They look down because they don't look good. They look down because of bad guidelines. They look down on me because I love my personality."
"... Sure, it might be unreasonable"
"Right? That's why we educate you. This is what happens when you look down on people. People are equal!
"But you're wrong."
I slit their ropes in the back of my hand and set myself free.
Then, after checking that they had escaped at first sight, turn around and stare at Alice.
"If it's all an equal world, someone never looks down on someone. I saw it four years ago."
"Isn't that the ideal place?
"Oh, it's the ideal home. But that was the problem. Too ideal a world has corrupted people"
City of mercy. I don't know what happened to the facility after that.
But everything was equal in that city.
Ideally, it must be close to what she wants.
"Instead of someone being looked down on, if someone doesn't stand on top, people will be corrupt. That's just like livestock."
"There's no reason why those who stand on it shouldn't be us, is there?
"... at least to you now, there is. Killing people with resentment, you don't deserve to stand on top."
I tell her as coldly as I can, without emotion.
And after seeing her swing the knife down against me, I fly her knife with a dagger, letting my left arm tuck in the dovetail.
And she lost her mind after a while.
I look back and say cold words to the children who curse at me.
"... your boss is gone. Tomorrow, this gathering is over."
I decided to carry her like that and go home to myself.
Maybe if we talk, we'll find out.
I know it's a sweet idea, but I had myself a sincere wish I could talk to you like I used to.