Chapter: 324
“Hello! I’m Evangeline!”
A girl with black hair abruptly introduced herself, catching the attention of the girl nearby.
The girl raised her guard against this stranger who had grabbed her arm.
After all, the old man who had helped her adapt to life in the mine had warned her to be cautious of anyone who suddenly touched her.
Up to this point, she hadn’t faced any trouble by heeding the old man’s advice, so she narrowed her eyes and glared sharply at the girl in front of her.
However, as she looked at the smiling face of the girl beaming back at her, she couldn’t help but feel foolish for being so wary.
……Come to think of it, the old man had advised her to be careful of the male slaves who tried to touch her, not girls.
Taking another look at the girl before her, she noticed that she was smaller and looked weaker than her.
If she tried to force anything, the girl should easily be able to resist.
Having made that assessment, she thought it would be better to find out why she had been grabbed and asked the girl.
“…What do you want?”
“Oh! Hehe, I almost forgot to say that!”
Then the girl giggled, as if she hadn’t remembered, and quickly added confidently,
“Let’s play together!”
“……Huh?”
And upon hearing those words, the girl couldn’t hide her confusion.
It reminded her of the old man’s stern warnings.
‘You need to be careful of many things, but especially those who suddenly try to touch you or coax you into playing. Those kinds of people are definitely dangerous.’
The girl had a vague understanding of what “playing” meant.
When she asked the old man about it, he said it was too soon for her to know, but she had seen a male slave asking a female slave if she wanted to play that night.
The girl remembered.
She recalled the subtle expression of the female slave who looked uneasy after hearing that proposition, and the pained groans that escaped from the male slave’s tent that night.
As that memory flashed in her mind, the girl’s face turned pale.
“When other people come here, they said there would be someone to play with! Hehe, let’s play together!”
The girl smiling and suggesting they play all of a sudden felt extremely dangerous.
“Ah…!”
“Wait…!”
For that reason, the girl yanked her arm away from the girl who was holding her and ran off without looking back.
*
“……That was what happened. It almost turned into a disaster. Everyone, be careful.”
The next day, the girl shared the terrifying incident she had experienced with the other slaves while having lunch.
However, contrary to her intention of warning them, laughter erupted among the slaves for some reason.
“Bwahaha, that sounds like a real mess!”
“Hehe! You see, old man, I told you, no matter how young they are, they need to know a thing or two! I think this time, it’s time for me to step in and show them what adult games are really like—”
“Hey, now! What exactly do you intend to show a child! Haha… Anyway, I admit I didn’t explain it properly this time. Kid, what that girl meant by playing is—”
And through the old man’s continued explanations, the girl came to understand that the concept of play the previous day was entirely different from what she had originally thought.
In the end, she didn’t learn much about what adult play was, but she realized the girl hadn’t been as dangerous as she initially thought.
Thinking back to the girl she had seen before, the girl nodded her head in agreement. She suddenly became curious about who that girl was and asked the elder.
“By the way, who is that girl? I don’t think I’ve seen her around here.”
“Ah, well, she’s a girl from another district. I’ve only heard about her through stories…”
This underground mine had been operating in such a way for over 10 years.
The number of slaves already inside and the depth of the tunnels they had dug were quite significant.
Thus, the slaves weren’t gathered in one place but were divided into several groups, each residing in their respective work areas.
However, as the old man was someone who had worked in the mine from the beginning and had connections here, the girl was able to gather information about Evangeline.
Evangeline was said to have been born in this mine by chance.
When her parents were sold as slaves to this place, her mother was already pregnant with her, but they didn’t know it at the time.
Naturally, Evangeline should have been a child who had to be aborted.
If a slave’s belly gets big, they can’t work, and a slave who can’t work can’t survive here.
But perhaps out of a strong will to keep the child alive, Evangeline’s mother continued to work hard while carrying her.
And the mine’s owner, Davis, also left her alone. (The elder added his personal opinion that for Davis, it was as if he gained another free slave without any loss as long as she worked properly.)
Evangeline’s mother worked until the day before giving birth and miraculously brought Evangeline into the world, but right after giving birth, she reportedly passed away as if she felt her duty was complete.
After that, Evangeline grew up in the care of her father, a widowed slave who lost his wife, but when she turned three, an accident in the mine caused her father’s death as well.
However, other slaves who had grown close to him took care of the orphaned Evangeline, allowing the existence of the Evangeline we see now.
Finishing his story, the elder uttered while patting the girl’s head, who looked dumbfounded among the other slaves who were sniffling with tears.
“Well, she’s a girl with such a background. She probably heard there’s someone her age around here and got curious enough to come and play. Think about it… it’s not like there’s anyone else apart from you that doesn’t know about the outside world. I do hope that you can become friends with her.”
Up to this point, the girl had been an outlier among the slaves.
She was the only one who didn’t know about the outside world.
But she realized today that she wasn’t the only unique existence.
Just knowing that was enough to fill a corner of her heart with warmth.
Moreover, the elder wanted her to befriend that girl, and since she had misunderstood the situation yesterday,
“…Then, if I see her again, I’ll ask her to play together.”
“Hoho, that would be nice.”
She decided that if she met the girl again, she would indeed ask her to play.
Before that day’s work was completely done.
“……I’m tired.”
Labor can exhaust a person.
The girl felt that way too.
The long hours of labor were enough to wipe her mind clean of anything but the need for rest.
However, just as she was heavily fatigued and returning to the tent.
“Hey… hello!”
The black-haired girl from yesterday appeared.
“I was surprised when you suddenly disappeared yesterday! By the way, let’s play! Together! Okay?”
Even though she might have been disappointed from being abandoned yesterday, the girl was smiling brightly, suggesting play once more today.
The girl thought as she looked at her.
…Ah, this is exhausting.
But then she recalled the elder’s words and the promise she had made to herself earlier.
Sighing, she nodded.
This might be tiring, but maybe she could participate today.
“……Alright. Let’s play.”
“Yay! Really?! Yahoo!”
Just from agreeing to play, the girl looked as if she had won the world.
Seeing that, the girl shook her head and asked.
“……Sure. But, what are we going to play?”
“Um… then, hide and seek! Let’s play hide and seek!”
“……How do you play hide and seek?”
“It’s simple! One person becomes ‘it’ and has to find the others hiding! What do you want? Should I hide, or should I be ‘it’?”
“……Then, I’ll hide.”
“Okay! I’ll count to thirty, so you hide in the meantime! Then, ready… start! You better hide well~! I can see your hair~! One—”
Hide and seek.
It was a game she had never heard of, but the reason the girl chose to hide was simple.
She thought it would be less exhausting to hide than to seek.
She sat down behind a nearby rock, covering her eyes with her hands while listening to the girl counting.
“Thirty! Now, I’m coming!”
As she leaned against the rock and took a moment to catch her breath, she heard the girl’s voice calling that she was coming.
“I found you!”
“……I’ve been found.”
Having hid poorly, the girl was quickly discovered by the other girl.
However, thinking that perhaps this meant she could take a break, she said to the girl,
“……Then I’ll just go.”
“Huh? Aren’t we switching who’s ‘it’?”
“…No, since I’ve been found, that’s it for today.”
Saying that, the girl brushed herself off and stood up. Feeling somewhat guilty, she glanced at the girl to see her reaction.
“Hehe, okay! Thanks for playing with me! It was fun!”
The girl smiled brightly without any hint of disappointment and waved her hands as she ran off.
“Then, let’s play again tomorrow!”
…Huh? Tomorrow?
The girl felt an uneasy vibe from the girl’s words, but the girl had already dashed away.
*
And the next day.
“I found you again…?”
Returning from work, the girl spotted the girl from yesterday, standing in the exact same spot, and a chill ran down her spine.
With her head held high, the girl was looking around, obviously waiting for her.
If caught, she would definitely suggest playing again.
But today, she was really in the mood to rest.
So she thought about simply rejecting her, but at that moment, the girl’s eyes met her gaze.
Those eyes were bursting with excitement.
Seeing that look made her lose the courage to refuse directly to her face.
So the girl decided to take another approach.
“……Should I just hide until I leave?”
She had made that choice; it was only a matter of quietly hiding until the girl left.
She took a quick glance around to find a place that wasn’t likely to be noticed by the girl.
Yes, probably behind that large stalagmite.
After hiding behind the stalagmite, she waited for about three minutes.
And after three minutes, she thought that maybe the girl was gone and peeked out.
“Found you!!”
The girl stood there, grinning widely as she locked eyes with the girl.
“Whaat?!!”
The girl, startled, let out a scream and fell with a thud, landing on her backside.
Looking down at her, the girl spoke with a smile.
“Hehe, I see you like hide and seek too? If you want to hide next time, you should hide even better!”
“Uh…? Huh…?”
“Well, since I found you today, it’s done, right? See you tomorrow!”
The girl, who had been dazed, was bombarded with the other girl’s words before she bolted away.
“W-what…?”
The girl felt something was off but it was already too late.
*
“Again, huh…?!”
As expected, the following day, the girl was once again waiting in the same spot.
Seeing the girl in that position sent chills down the girl’s spine.
If she didn’t escape properly from this, it felt as though she’d be in for continuous torment.
“……I should hide.”
It was instinctively decided that she had to hide.
The girl concealed herself in a place where she wouldn’t be spotted.
However,
“Found you!”
“Eek?!”
“Hehe! Today was fun too! See you tomorrow!”
The girl was discovered again.
And just as the girl had predicted, she found herself unable to escape her game of hide and seek with the girl.
“Found you!”
“Yikes!!”
The next day.
“Ah! Found you!”
“W-How did…!”
The day after that too.
“Yahoo! Found you!!!”
“I-I really thought I wouldn’t be found this time!”
So the girl racked her brain daily, trying to figure out how not to be discovered by the girl.
“Hehe, found you!”
“Again, found…”
No matter where she hid or how well she attempted to conceal herself, the girl always found her.
And today too, as the girl was found, Evangeline smiled as she always did.
“Hehe! Today was fun!”
The girl knew nothing of the outside world.
But while playing hide and seek with the girl, Evangeline, she came to learn one new thing.
So the girl could now say,
“……Yeah, me too!”
With a bright smile just like the one before her.
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