Chapter 9: It’s a Person…?!

“…….”

The intense sunlight streamed through the window.

Thanks to it, I was forced to wake up, scrunching my face as I squinted against the brightness.

If only Alex had thought to install curtains too.

Still, waking up in a soft, warm, and cozy bed for the first time made the morning feel less annoying.

“Bed, why does morning even have to come…”

Hugging my pillow tightly, I directed the question at the bed.

In response, a breeze blew through the cracks in the window, rustling the blanket just enough to tickle my cheek.

It almost felt like the breeze was saying, ‘Stop babbling nonsense and get up, you sleepyhead.’

“But I don’t want to get up.”

Children need lots of sleep.

In other words, mornings are their natural enemy.

So… it’s okay if I sleep in just a little longer, right?

I am a child now, after all.

…Well, mentally, I’m still an adult, but that’s beside the point.

‘It’s not like I have anything to do today.’

Sleeping in on weekends is practically a rule, isn’t it?

I didn’t know if today was a weekend or not, but if I declared it to be the weekend, then it was the weekend.

Pulling the blanket over my head, I prepared to dive back into my sweet, golden sleep.

Sorry, Bed. I’ll rely on you just a bit longer…

“Mmm…”

Just as I was wriggling around to find the perfect sleeping position…

Whoosh.

A whistle-like gust of wind came through the cracks in the window again, stronger than before.

This time, it flapped my blanket wildly, refusing to settle down.

“Ahhh…!”

Before I knew it, I was rolling this way and that, completely robbed of my peaceful sleep.

Ugh.

Bed clearly had no intention of granting my request.

“Why are you doing this to me? Okay, fine! I’ll get up!”

And so, my grand dream of sleeping in crumbled into nothingness.

Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I had no choice but to climb out of bed.

“Even though it’s morning, it’s still cold.”

I went over and shut the annoying window that was making me shiver, then plopped back down on the bed.

Sitting on the bed, zoning out.

Now and in the past, this is something I often find myself doing after waking up in the morning, especially when I’m feeling sluggish.

Why do I do this? I’m not sure myself.

Maybe it’s because I’ve always been bad at mornings.

But sitting there, doing nothing, and just spacing out after getting up has somehow become a habit.

Even now, when I’ve swapped genders, become younger, and arrived in another world, it seems some habits die hard.

“Ughhh…”

The sunlight streaming through the window was pleasantly warm.

Now that the icy wind that had been tormenting me was gone, a soothing laziness wrapped around me.

The soft blanket from Bed was making my lower body go limp with relaxation.

“Hmmph…!”

Still, having come this far, I couldn’t let myself fall back asleep.

Stretching my stiff body with a long yawn, I pushed myself to wake up.

Back in the day, my weary body—worn out by daily grind—would have groaned with creaks and cracks.

“My body feels so light.”

Sure enough, being in a child’s body meant none of those old-person sounds.

Instead, the only thing I could hear was the faint jiggle of my soft belly as it lightly wobbled.

That said, I was starting to get hungry, so it was strange how my belly still looked so round. What a mystery.

“Huh?”

As I finally shook off my drowsiness and tried to get up for breakfast, something unusual caught my eye.

“What is that?”

A narrow path stretched behind the orphanage, leading towards the foothills of a mountain.

A menacing warning sign was planted at the entrance, reading that monsters were known to appear past this point.

Near the path, something black—looking like a plastic trash bag—was fluttering in the strong wind.

“That… doesn’t look like a monster…”

Alex had mentioned that he regularly cleared out the monsters near the village, so it was unlikely to be one.

Besides, I’d never heard of a monster shaped like that.

Well, technically, I hadn’t seen any “real” monsters yet, but wasn’t it safe to imagine they’d look like slimes or goblins? Probably?

“Huh?”

I was scratching the back of my head, still uncertain if it was a monster, a person, or something else entirely.

That’s when a strong gust of wind caused the black object to shift, revealing peach-colored arms and legs underneath.

“It’s a person.”

It was a person.

The black, bag-like object was actually a tattered black robe, and inside, someone was lying on the ground!

“I have to help them…!”

Whether they were starving, dehydrated, or injured didn’t matter.

Whoever was lying out there was clearly in a dangerous situation.

On top of that, having been exposed to the freezing wind all night, their condition was bound to be terrible.

“Hang on! I’ll be right there!”

This was no time to be bickering with Bed.

I needed to help that person as quickly as possible.

Throwing open the orphanage door, I sprinted toward the path.

Outside, the wind was still howling fiercely.

The wind was so strong it was hard to stay standing.

“Hey, are you okay…?”

As I got closer, I noticed the unusual appearance of the person lying on the ground.

The black robe that had been covering them was gone, seemingly carried off by the relentless wind.

“Gasp.”

On the path lay a small, frail child.

But this wasn’t just any ordinary child.

On their pitch-black hair sat what looked like animal ears, and from their lower back, a tail-like appendage swayed in the wind.

“They’re… a beastkin?”

Beastkin.

A rare race possessing animal-like ears and tails.

I remembered hearing about them from Alex.

It must’ve been when I first met him—back when I got that skewer of lizardman meat.

“Hey, Alex, is a lizardman considered a monster?”

“Hmm? That’s a curious question.”

Typically, in fantasy worlds, lizardmen aren’t treated as food.

They’re often intelligent creatures, so eating them isn’t common.

I had been intrigued and asked him about it.

“I think you’re a little confused. Let me explain from the beginning.”

“Okay!”

“There are five major classifications of races: humans with high intelligence, beastkin with superior physical abilities, demons and celestials with advanced magical prowess, and monsters, who don’t excel in any one area but have a wide range of unique traits.”

“Whoa, so beastkin exist too!”

“They do. A long time ago, the five races lived together peacefully.

But then one day, the Demon King, the ruler of the demons, appeared and…”

What came after was both predictable and not.

The demons were said to have first targeted monsters—creatures with weak individual strength but vast numbers and diverse traits.

“…Most monsters, except for a few, fell victim to the Demon King’s magic, losing their intelligence and becoming mindless beasts.”

The demons then used these countless corrupted monsters as shields and launched attacks on the other races.

“That’s when the factions split. Half of the beastkin sided with humans and celestials, while the other half aligned themselves with the demons and monsters.”

“And lizardmen were part of the beastkin who sided with the demons?”

“Exactly. Sadly, the demons didn’t spare the beastkin who joined their side. They, too, fell victim to the Demon King’s magic, losing their intelligence like the monsters.”

“…That’s such a tragic story.”

The war, Alex explained, then reached a stalemate, and it has continued ever since.

“Without intelligence, there’s no room for negotiation or reasoning. They’ve become nothing but killing machines, attacking humans, celestials, and even their fellow beastkin on sight.”

“The other beastkin haven’t had it easy, either. With half of their kind betraying everyone, they’ve been left under a cloud of suspicion…”

“Even now, innocent beastkin face unjust discrimination. Thankfully, there aren’t many like that around here, but in the capital? It’s a different story.”

Back then, Alex had worn a sad expression, and I didn’t press further, feeling it wasn’t my place to dig deeper.

I changed the subject instead.

But now, one of those beastkin was lying in front of me.

They looked pale and clearly unwell, not even stirring from where they had collapsed.

They’d likely been attacked by monsters somewhere nearby or…

No matter the case, I need to help them.

The bleeding from the right leg was severe.

A sharp cut, like one made with a blade, stood out clearly.

Alright.

Let’s do this.

Though I lack any real medical knowledge, I can at least perform basic first aid.

No, I will perform it.

I’ve always been the one teaching my juniors how to treat combat injuries.

I just need to do exactly what I’ve done before.

There’s no difference here.

As someone who has earned the title of “Outstanding Warrior” five times in a row, I can absolutely pull this off.

“Hold on a little longer. I’ll save you, no matter what!”

“Promise!”

Let’s do this!

Thankfully, the first aid was a success.

The wound was deep but only a minor laceration, so I managed without much difficulty.

After moving the child into the orphanage and laying them on the bed, I stopped the bleeding.

Their expression looked much more at ease.

Using torn fabric from clothing as an improvised gauze and temporary bandage seemed to work.

As expected of me.

“They’re sweating a lot.”

But the child still didn’t look well.

It was likely they’d caught a cold after being left out in the cold for so long.

I should wipe off their sweat with a wet cloth.

“Isn’t there a towel somewhere?”

No matter how much I searched, I couldn’t find one.

Even if the exterior looked brand new, the orphanage was still an abandoned and empty building inside.

There was nothing to be done.

“Ugh, whatever!”

If there’s no towel, I’ll just have to make one.

I closed my eyes tightly and tore off some cloth from my own clothing.