[Deep in the Forest]
*Click* *Click*
The rhythmic sound of stones striking each other echoed as a young girl tried to create a spark to cook the fish beside her.
The girl wore an old, tattered long shirt that barely covered her frail body. On her head were two animal-like ears, and a small tail peeked out from beneath her clothes.
She kept striking the stones together, but despite her efforts, she couldn't ignite a flame.
"Ugh~"
She put the stones down, staring at her now red and swollen hands from the repeated impacts.
*Growl~*
Her small stomach growled, causing her to clutch it with a sad expression.
It seemed she hadn't eaten in days, leaving her body thin and frail.
She slowly stood up, giving up on starting a fire, but then she flinched in surprise.
*Horn*
A loud, unfamiliar sound of a horn resonated through the forest.
Her ears drooped, and her tail, which had been wagging, curled up against her stomach.
She quickly ran to a tree with a small crevice at its base and squeezed into it, hiding in fear from the sound of the horn.
Peering cautiously through the small opening, she anxiously observed the outside.
Before long, she heard the sound of two sets of footsteps running toward her.
Her ears perked up as she covered her mouth with her tiny hands.
The footsteps stopped nearby, causing her to instinctively hold her breath.
The owners of the footsteps seemed to be talking, but she couldn't make out their words. Soon, one set of footsteps started running off again, leaving only one behind.
She curled up in her natural hiding place for a while until she finally dared to peek out.
As soon as she did, a familiar metallic scent hit her nose.
It was the scent of blood.
She quickly scanned the area in the direction the scent was coming from and saw a woman lying against a tree.
She ran to the woman, knowing it was dangerous to approach a stranger who could be good or bad.
But she also knew the pain and suffering of wounds all too well, having experienced it countless times.
When she reached the woman's body, she froze in shock. Blood was pouring from a wound on the woman's waist.
She had experienced this kind of pain before, as she had encountered wild animals while surviving alone in the forest, one of them being a wild boar.
She had once been gored by a wild boar's tusk, leaving her with a deep wound that nearly cost her life, just like the woman before her.
*Rip~*
The sound of fabric tearing echoed as the girl ripped a piece of white cloth from the woman's armor.
The woman in the armor groaned in pain from her wound, her gaze unfocused, but the girl seemed unfazed. She carefully wrapped the white cloth around the woman's waist, tying it tightly.
After treating the woman's wound, the girl stood up and looked around for herbs that might help heal the wound, but there were only trees and grass nearby.
Her ears twitched several times before she turned back and tried to drag the woman's body toward the place where she had tried to start a fire, but the woman was much larger, and the girl didn't have the strength to move her.
She gave up and instead dragged the woman to her natural hiding place.
The reason she was so desperate to move the woman to safety was that blood attracted wild animals, especially dangerous carnivores, which made her very anxious.
The girl tugged and pulled, struggling to drag the woman to her hiding spot. After much effort, she finally succeeded.
She managed to get the woman into her hiding place, then adjusted her position before going back out to break off several branches.
She carefully used the branches to cover the entrance of her hiding spot.
This not only helped reduce the scent of blood escaping but also concealed the entrance from wild animals.
This was knowledge she had gained from surviving alone in the forest, and she felt proud of her work, her tail slowly wagging.
But after she finished covering the entrance and turned her attention back to the woman next to her, who was groaning in pain from her wound, the girl didn't know how else to help her.
Whether the woman would survive or not depended on her own willpower, leaving the girl's ears and tail drooping as she sat down beside the woman.
'Ugh... Did I lose consciousness?'
I groaned from the pain of my wound as my vision slowly adjusted and became clearer. I looked at my wound, which had been stabbed by an enemy's sword, but found it bandaged with a white cloth, though it was now soaked in blood. Someone had tended to my wound while I was unconscious.
It was then that I realized I was in an unfamiliar place. Panicking, I quickly looked around until my eyes fell on a small figure beside me.
A small girl was sleeping, but what stood out was her appearance. She looked human in every way, except for the animal-like ears on her head and the tail she was hugging tightly as she slept.
I was shocked, as I had never seen a human with such features before. Suddenly, a thought occurred to me.
'Could she be...?'
'A lost one from a gate?'
'Gate' is a portal that connects this world to other places beyond our understanding. No one knows how or when they will appear, but they are known to connect different worlds to ours and eventually disappear after some time.
My duty as a knight often involved dealing with these gates because they were pathways between worlds. Sometimes, creatures from other worlds would emerge from them, often dangerous and hostile.
"Is this child really from a gate?" I muttered to myself.
Once I calmed down, I had a chance to get a closer look at the little girl.
She was incredibly thin, with her body covered in numerous scars, most of which seemed to be scratches from tree branches. But what really took my breath away was how small she was. If I were to guess based on her appearance, she might not even be eight years old.
"Ugh~"
The girl made a small noise as she woke up, her face filled with panic.
I watched as the girl looked around, her eyes wide with fear.
When she noticed I was watching her, she quickly backed away to the edge of the small space.
"S-sorry…"
The girl's ears drooped as she clutched her tail tightly, as if she had done something wrong.
"No…"
I spoke softly, raising my hand with the intention of patting her head to comfort her. This little girl had probably tended to my wound and dragged me to safety.
But before my hand could reach her, she closed her eyes and began to tremble uncontrollably.
"P-please don't hit me…"