The subdued sunlight entered through the broken windows and lit up the blood-soaked floor.
After the raucous night, an eerie silence swallowed the orphanage as the last goblin perished.
The captured humans guardedly came out of their hiding spot.
'It's so quiet… Are they all dead?'
'Is it safe now?'
'Can I go home now? Really?'
The three men sighed in relief. The long night has passed and they survived the brutal banquet.
Gasp!
Only then did they notice the scene of carnage. Everywhere they turn, corpses of goblins littered the floor like common trash.
Step…squeak!
One of the men dazedly walked out and stepped on a goblin's hand.
"AAHHH!"
He fell on his bottom and his palms were instantly coated with warm goblin blood from the slippery floor.
"Ugh… Bleargh!"
He vomited as the stench of the dead assaulted his nose.
One of his companions gently rubbed his back and asked in a worried tone, "Hey, You okay?"
"Y-yeah… just… the smell is disgusting."
"Right… Do you think Elena survived?" the man guiltily asked.
"I don't know… maybe not… but I hope she did."
"Are you kidding me? There is no way she survived that crazy night! She'd be lucky to have any bones left judging from the ferocity of these monsters!" the last man reacted.
"R-right… I just feel bad because we practically sent her to her death, you know?"
"And what do you suppose we do in that situation, huh? If we came out to save her, we'll also be dead by now! Just be grateful that she did not tell the goblins where we were! That must mean she also wanted to sacrifice herself for us, don't ya think?" the last man rationalized.
"I guess so…" the guilty man concurred.
"How about the kids?" the man who fell stood up and eyed the staircase leading to the upper floors.
"Are you seriously considering going up? Who knows if there are goblins waiting to ambush us upstairs? Plus, with the number of monsters in this lair, the children can't be alive!" the last man looked at his neighbors as if they had gone insane, but the two fathers avoided his eyes as they hoped that their children would be alive somewhere in this orphanage.
"Haah… have it your way, but I'm not going. I'll tell my wife that it was too late to save our kid. We can just make another one anyway."
'How cruel.' the two fathers thought as they stared at the retreating figure of their neighbor.
Ting!
The panel appeared as soon as the cowardly man stepped out of the front door.
'Oh. Well, at least I got something out of saving such a trashy father.'
Ptui!
Mikael spat on the ground. He could not believe that such a father existed, "What? Make another one? Do you think kids are livestock? Ah! I really should've let the goblins eat him!"
He fumed as he passed through the floors and walls toward the room where the children hid.
"Uwaah! Mama! I was so scared! Uwaaaaah" the eldest boy bawled while his mother, Elena, stroked his head.
"Shhh… Don't cry, my baby… Mama came to save you. It's alright now… Hush… It hurts mama's heart to see you cry."
The woman gently soothed all the other kids who wailed loudly in response.
"Hic! Hic! But mama… How did you know we're here?" the boy asked as he wiped his tears and snot with his shirt sleeve.
"Ah! A voice! A voice told me where you were!" his mother clapped her hand like she just remembered Mikael's existence.
"Oh! So Mister talked to you!"
"Mister? But I didn't see anyone… I just heard a voice."
"Yeah, mama. Mister is not a human…"
"N-No way! A demon?!"
"No! Mister is a good guy! He saved us!" the boy insisted and the other children vigorously nodded in agreement.
"That's right! Mister promised us that he will get us out of here!"
"Right! He's a good guy!"
Their loud voices contrasted with the quiet surroundings which made it easy for the two men to find them.
Bang!
The door opened and two large figures appeared.
"KYAAAA!!!" the children, traumatized by the goblins, screamed.
Thud!
The shadowy figures knelt and cried, "My son… you were alive! Thank goodness!"
They hugged their children tightly and sobbed, "Thank god! Ughh…"
A few minutes passed and their heart-rending reunion ended.
"Let's get out of here." The man resolutely said.
"B-but! We can't leave Mister here!" his son protested.
"Mister?"
"Yes, Papa! This place is gloomy and scary! Let's take mister with us!"
"W-What are you saying?! Who is this 'Mister'?"
The woman and the children explained but the two men were ridden with fear.
"The Demon! You want to take a demon with us?! No!"
"Papa! Mister is not a demon!"
The men recalled the events that happened the night before. The unexplainable phenomenon of monsters killing each other with bloodlust and the flying weapons, "He is! He just told you he'll save you to get your sympathy! How do you know he's not the reason you were kidnapped in the first place?!"
Mikael watched the scene and felt annoyed, "Wow! How smart of you to know that I'm a demon. It's thanks to you guys that I became a low-grade demon but you won't even offer gratitude?"
He was still bitter about the fact that he was reclassified as a demon despite his good intentions so his temper got the better of him.
The man heard Mikael's resentful voice and his pupils constricted in fear.
"V-voice! The voice admitted that he's a demon!" the man grabbed his child and ran desperately toward the exit.
'Tch! Such an ungrateful man!' Mikael thought as he drifted alongside the running man.
The confused children followed him out and as they stepped out of the orphanage, a series of notifications popped up.
Ping!
Ping!
Ping!
'Phew…'
Mikael held his chest as a gesture of relief.
'I thought I would have no choice but to choose the dark side… It's a good thing that I continued saving them no matter how much of a human garbage they were.'
He then noticed that the children had stopped running.
They faced the orphanage and waved goodbye, "MISTER! THANK YOU FOR SAVING US! GOODBYE!"
Mikael's phantom heart wrenched at the scene, 'Yes, this is enough…'
For the first time since coming to this strange world, Mikael truly felt happy.
--Chapter end--