At the same moment, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed against the floorboards. Sota, having finally gathered his courage to follow Takeshi, burst into the room terrified, shouting his friend's name.
As soon as he entered, his eyes fell upon the woman. Seeing her injuries, he exclaimed in shock:
"What happened here? Where is Takeshi?"
He shook his head, noticing the massive hole in the wall, but he didn't dare look beyond it. Instead, he turned back to the mother and daughter, pointing toward the door.
"Wait for me here! I have a first-aid kit!"
His voice was thick with hesitation and fear; clearly, he was not accustomed to such high-stakes situations. However, his heart steadied slightly when he realized the occupant was just a wounded woman. Most of her injuries were superficial, except for the single deep gash in her stomach. She had lost a great deal of blood, but because she kept it covered with her hand, neither Sota nor Takeshi had realized the true extent of the danger.
***
Outside, Takeshi was about to head off to search for the rest of the villagers when he felt a heavy hand clamp onto his leg.
"You..."
Takeshi looked down. It was the massive man, his head battered and his face painted a dark, visceral red from his own blood.
The man had regained consciousness quickly, likely a byproduct of his special ability, but Takeshi showed no mercy. He delivered a powerful kick that sent the brute flying into a nearby tree. The impact shattered the trunk, the sound of splintering wood echoing through the night and striking terror into the hearts of the mother and child inside.
Inside, Sota and the family remained in the dark about the details of the struggle. The woman, who had cried out for help in a moment of desperation, still didn't truly know if Takeshi was a savior or merely another monster.
Takeshi approached the man's slumped body. With a scowl and clenched fists, he growled:
"Attacking the weak? Is this how low you've fallen?"
The man tried to process the situation, but before he could utter a word, a second kick pulverized his yellowed teeth and shattered the bones of his nose and jaw.
Takeshi knelt before him, punching the ground beside the man's head.
"Slave traders? Your leader is going to vent his anger on me? Then tell me—where are your friends and this leader of yours?"
The man initially refused to answer, averting his gaze from Takeshi's piercing eyes. Takeshi glanced at the man's mouth, noting a single yellow tooth that hadn't been knocked loose. He raised a tight fist.
"Oh! You have one last tooth left. Let me remove it for you—"
Before Takeshi's hand could move, the man raised his hands in terror. His voice came out garbled and strange due to his missing teeth:
"Halth! I thill tell you!"
He pointed a trembling finger toward a large hall not far away—likely a communal shelter or a massive warehouse.
"There... you will find all the thillagers."
The moment the man stopped speaking, Takeshi struck him in the neck with the edge of his palm, knocking him unconscious without killing him. He stood up and began walking forward, his heavy footsteps rhythmic under the cold glow of the moon.
***
Inside the cottage, Sota had managed to bandage most of the woman's wounds, though she kept the deep abdominal gash hidden beneath a scrap of her clothing.
"Please... take my daughter... take her to her father... please..."
The woman spoke with every ounce of her remaining strength. The little girl, however, refused to let go, clinging to her mother in silence. Sota placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, a nervous but sincere smile appearing on his face. He spoke gently:
"What is your name, little one?"
The girl hesitated for a moment before whispering through her tears:
"Eve—"
"What a beautiful name!"
Eve looked up suddenly. After the horror of the evening, she hadn't expected someone to offer a simple, kind compliment. Sota continued cheerfully:
"Eve, come with me. We will find your father together!"
Eve hesitated, looking at her mother's bandaged wounds.
"But... Mama—"
Her mother squeezed her hand, using the last of her vitality.
"Don't worry. I will be fine."
Sota carried the girl out through the hole in the wall. From a distance, he spotted Takeshi's silhouette in the moonlight. Sota took a deep breath, filling his lungs to capacity, and screamed at the top of his lungs:
"TAAAAAKEEEEESHIIII!!"
Both Takeshi and Eve felt as though their eardrums had been blown out. Sota's voice was unexpectedly, incredibly loud. Takeshi pressed his palm to his forehead and muttered under his breath:
"I came with an idiot..."
To scream like that in a village where people were being abducted by slave traders was reckless. However, Takeshi began to wonder about the situation. The houses seemed intact, and there was no blood on the ground except for the woman's. He concluded that the massive trader had been telling the truth: the woman must have been the only one who fought back, while the others were taken quietly.
Sota caught up to Takeshi, gasping for breath. The short run had been enough to exhaust him. Takeshi looked at Eve and raised an eyebrow.
"Why did you bring her? It's dangerous here."
Sota looked up at Takeshi.
"I'm going to find her father. She might have information about what's happening. I haven't asked her yet because I wanted us both to hear her answers."
Sota set her down. Before they could ask, Eve wiped the remaining tears from her eyes and spoke first:
"Those people came to our village and stole everyone, including my father. My mother fought them, so that mean fat man attacked her."
She used simple words—"stole" for "kidnapped" and "fought" for "resisted"—but the meaning was clear. It confirmed the trader's story. The girl swallowed hard, looking at the ground.
"There was a huge man with them... he had red paint on him, like lines. He's even bigger than the man who attacked Mama. He rides a big horse, too..."
The image formed in their minds: a leader, massive, marked with red tattoos, on horseback. Takeshi pointed toward the hall.
"Were they taken to that hall?"
The girl looked down, tears beginning to flow again.
"I don't know!"
Sota quickly hoisted her back onto his back. He felt her tears soaking into his shirt and felt a wave of frustration. Takeshi turned toward the hall, watching the stars appear one by one.
"Don't worry. I am going to save every person in your village!"
Those words planted a seed of hope in the hearts of Sota and Eve. Sota already knew Takeshi was no ordinary person, having seen the massive brute he'd leveled outside.
***
Inside the house, a faint light filtered through the debris. Eve's mother watched it, a weak smile on her pale, pained face. A few drops of blood escaped her lips, and her hand finally slipped away from her stomach wound, surrendering to her fate. Before the smile faded, she whispered:
"May safety be with you all—"
The light dimmed as she drew her final breath, placing her ultimate trust in the strangers who had promised to save her daughter and her people.