21. If Only

"Tha, come here!" I have a new friend now. After Hanna's leaving, there was a maid who happened to be her friend, and now she has become familiar with me. As for today, I was invited to buy necessities from a trader or supplier. We would walk through the forest and a village on the slopes of a mountain not far from Alpha camp.

"The journey will be a bit far. We will arrive when there is no longer light in the sky," She said, then asked me to bring the provisions I had prepared previously, including carrying a knife.

"A knife?" I was confused about why I was required to bring such a thing. "What is that for?."

"We'll be alone, Tha. Alpha Camp has lost a lot of soldiers after the incident which was caused by Mr. Yon," She said so quietly, half whispering. I got the point, and the knife might be used as a defensive weapon if something unwanted happened, for example, robbery and the like.

"Fine" I would not take the knife she gave to me. I had mine and the one Shashin gave to me. I still had another one from Kerberos, though, but the one from that man was something different, it got a carve of my name there, and that pleased me.

She handed me a thick fur coat and asked Mickey to be put into a bamboo basket I carried on my back. Yap! That fat bunny would come with us because he didn't like the smell of Alpha Camp.

Alpha Camp had a strong smell of iron on the inside because the entire building was constructed from blackish brown iron. The big pit where the prisoners were held had a foul smell, mixed with very strong coal. I didn't know why it was like that. However, some say that the hell at the bottom of the hole had humans as fuel and a very dense black stone.

There were also many stone birds perched on the outside. They took stones through the hole, and to be honest, when I cleaned them every three days, in one of the rooms not far from the watchtower, they had a lot of shit.

We walked through the dark forest. Mickey kept complaining of animal noise during the trip to the jungle. Supposedly, it was noon, when the light should still be in the sky, but the clouds covered everything. "This winter is not as bad as last year," Azalea's maid, Ane, broke the silence. She was a human like me but somehow managed to work with Azalea.

I looked at her thin body and slightly hunched back. There were some wounds on her arms. I wanted to ask her but was too scared, so I remained silent. I only knew that Ane was from a chaotic region, a conflict area. Many said that because of that problem, Ane chose to escape here and work for Azalea in Alpha Camp.

Azalea prioritized the loyalty of her subordinates, but to me, she seemed to be thinking about something else. I found it quite difficult to be completely obedient to someone, especially when I saw that she was still wrong in giving her orders. For example, when I got an assignment from Azalea to capture Aras, I publicly mentioned her in front of every one about her methods and wrong orders. Surprisingly, that woman could always accept my ideas.

I watched the forest we were currently passing through when something peeked out from the trees. Ane immediately asked me to hide behind her, while Mickey, who was in the basket, said, "This is what will happen if there are no guards with us, especially when we have to go through the forest."

Ane had her knife ready, glaring warily at the creatures that might be ready to attack at any moment, but instead of doing what we expected, they were just peeking at us. Their bodies were pitch black, with very long nails and red eyes burning like fire. They were about the size of children between five and seven years old, with light smoke from their long-fanged mouths.

"Pest!" Ane turned as I signaled to the creature. "We're just passing through" I put some bread and fruit on the rock, then asked Ane to leave immediately.

I know what they were as they were there at my place, too, although the number was not as many as in this place. The little ones wouldn't bother you, and they might just be curious about what humans did. But the bigger ones could mislead you or even kill you.

"You know them?" Asked Ane, but she still looked shocked.

I smiled, then shook my head. "No, just see him often. They won't bother us" I didn't want to scare her.

During the trip, Ane told me a lot that since my arrival at Alpha camp, things had started to change with Azalea. Such as, she gave the servants the freedom to plant flowers in front of the camp. I did see some plants, which, although not healthy, were growing in front of the camp, as well as music boxes that were often heard. Talking about the guy, it looked like not many people knew that Naar wasn't his real name, but I thought I'd better keep this a secret.

"I love that piece of music, it always brings me to the outside world, my home, my family," She said. She seemed to miss her family so much.

"Don't you ever come home or visit?" I wondered if the maids weren't allowed to go home as well as the guards and soldiers, and the answer was 'yes'.

"Since being brought here, I haven't even been out." She looked so sad, but then her expression suddenly changed. "Even if I go home, I will also be confused about where to go?," She finally said.

"Meaning?" Honestly, I was very curious. Perhaps it was because I really wanted to serve Azalea, so I wanted to gather a lot of information.

Ane looked at me for a moment, and I saw a glint of sadness in her eyes. "My brother has gone, and my parents have, too."