I lifted the frail girl like a baby that I didn't even want to look at and that I wanted as far away from me, I brought the girl outside in the hallway.
Putting her down on the ground, I then took a few steps back and went to sit opposite to her. I was willing to wait enough for her to wake up. After all, I did not believe that it would take too long for her to do so.
She passed out due to eliminating toxic waste from her body. How long could she possibly stay asleep?!' I thought.
That's when I remembered that it might take a while for some people to wake up from their coma after vomiting from alcohol. Although it wasn't the same scenario of course, I decided to take such an example as a comparison.
Hence, with the thought that it'd be at least half a day before she woke up, I decided to stand back up and leave the place.
I sighed before I whispered to myself, "Hopefully those soldiers won't come back soon. Either way, I need to leave this place while I still can. If I can't come back for her, that is her bad luck. I can't even take care of myself, how could I possibly do so for someone else?!"
With such a resolution, I pushed through the wooden doors that would bring me to the next area.
It was an empty pathway that I found myself in. A short one at that, which leads to another wooden double door. Going through the next door, I no longer found myself in a path or hallway. Instead, what I saw was a whole underground district.
A mountain-like village that expanded miles, all containing simple houses and buildings made of clay.
This place that I can call a little town. It barely had any lightning, just like the prisoner area. Yet, I could see everything within a hundred meters clearly due to my vision which had been adjusted a while ago. Buildings that could host multiple people and homes for individuals.
Why was there such a place underground?
*Sniff*
A pleasant smell suddenly caressed my nose. The smell of warm and delicious food, although I couldn't see anything resembling food around me, I swear I had caught a slight whiff of it. My stomach rumbled. This was enough proof that I wasn't wrong. Someone is cooking…
I wanted to know why something good was being cooked in a place like this. A place where I could only eat a bowl of leftovers a day. Perhaps the ones cooking right now, and the ones who will eat the food that is being cooked, are the ones who passed on the leftovers to the imprisoned children like me.
I should tread with caution… I shouldn't let hunger take over me anymore, especially now that I have the choice to control myself thanks to the freedom of being able to move around.
Like an assassin, I used the shadows and the cover of the buildings to my advantage. Slowly, I sneaked deeper into the unknown town, looking for the smell that would guide me towards the people who have the LEISURE to cook in such a dark and underground place!
*Sniff*
There it was again. the aroma of food wafted towards me with the help of the little wind that's available in this cave.
This time the smell was way stronger and accurate, so strong that I couldn't help swallowing my own saliva. I didn't let the smell take advantage of me of course. Instead, I used the smell to my advantage. Like a compass, the smell guided me to its origin.
Even if it would take me time to get there, and even if the food is all gone, the smell would not disappear under the sensitivity of my nose that has grown throughout the days of my starvation.
I'm not sure how long it had taken me, but if my guess says right, then perhaps I have traveled more than an hour already. An hour or two maybe, that's how long it had taken me to get to the center of this little town.
That's right… I was at the center, literally! I had not put much observation to that before, but I had seen enough to remember that thing. The bright light at the top, which is in the center if you estimate its distance between each wallside.
This bright light… it seemed to be right on top of the cauldron of food. This cauldron which contained boiling and hot food, but that didn't have a source of fire below it.
Magic!
My eyes widened when I noticed the abnormality with the cauldron. Right after, I quickly stopped peeking, afraid that I would expose myself while frozen in thought.
The idea of there being magic in this world, it was insane enough to blow my mind with questions and imagination. I knew this naturally, that's why I had decided to go back into hiding.
I was leaning on the wall of a building while my mind raced. I realized that things are now more difficult for me to explain, because of the element of magic being a variable!
What if I have the magic of gluttony?! What if that girl was hurt by my magic?!
It all makes sense now! We are the children of the sin of gluttony!
And there I went again. Spewing out a bunch of unconfirmed possibilities inside my mind.
Realizing this, I quickly shook my head. I told myself to not think about it too much, as doing so would only waste my time.
Calming myself as I let out a slow breath, I reorganized my thoughts. When I was clear-headed and ready, I stretched my head out again, taking a peek at the area with the cauldron.
There were teens like the current me, children who were unusually big in size, and lastly, a few of them who looked like adults.
'Are they enemies, or are they allies?!' I wondered.