Dein looked down, holding his stomach as he heard it grumbled.
'Damn I'm hungry…'
Hours had passed already since Dein had woken up but the sun still shines brightly above their hanging cage and yet, Dein still wasn't being fed.
On his side, his roommate, whom he decided to call Little girl giggled as she watch Dein's tummy grumbling.
"Haha… funny sound"
Dein sigh.
"Aren't you hungry Little girl?"
"Nope! Our stomach isn't making funny sounds like your's mister"
Dein had half expected and half hoped that she'll answer differently but sadly, he'd been disappointed. It seems like she doesn't get hungry as well.
That makes sense, after all, aside from being unable to get hungry, the little girl is unable to be seen by others as well!
Dein stared at the little girl for a while, watching her giggled and laugh as she continuously poke his stomach.
He frowned.
He doesn't know nor understand what the hell even is the Little girl. She moved and react like a normal curious child but there's also a slight feeling of oddities around her that Dein could definitely feel.
Earlier, when Dein is convincing Clay – the moron who thinks he's going to eat him – he mentioned to him the word "us" implying that the little girl and Dein wants to talk to him, however, instead of reacting normally he started freaking out and questioning Dein of what he meant by "us".
At first, Dein is just confused so he tried pointing to the little girl, introducing her but it was still to no avail. Instead, Clay just freaks out even more. So it was either that Clay is faking not being able to see her or that she really can't be seen by anyone other than Dein.
Of course, Dein leaned on the more plausible explanation.
And there's also no way Clay would just pretend out of nowhere, at least not while saying things like:
"Y-you, are you mentally ill?"
"Shit, a– a ghost! You can see ghost?!"
His questioning continued on like that that Dein just got tired of explaining and changed the subject, all while the little girl watch the stupid interaction with curiosity.
'Well, it's not like I'll be able to explain to him anyways…'
Dein also doesn't understand anything after all, and he neither could do anything about it nor learn more about it, because the little girl herself seems to have no idea what is happening. She might not even know that Dein is the only one that could see her…
So Dein just decided to let it be. For now at least. After all, his father had once said that "Things that you cannot understand or comprehend is the things you should be warry of the most" while at the same time, Freya had stated to him that "If you truly can't understand something and have no way of comprehending them, then just let it be and go with it"
The two have their own point and so, right now, Dein is doing both. He's both watchful of the little girl while at the same time just letting things go as it is. As of now, the little girl has not been a threat to Dein so it's fine staying with her – not that he could leave of course – but he is also watching her so he could be prepared of anything.
Glancing at the little girl who's now happily gazing outside their cage, watching the nightmare creatures outside, Dein sighed.
'This is just great… I have a useless aspect, unseeable attributes, caged in an unknown place and now I have schizophrenia?'
Really, just how unlucky does someone has to be to receive all of this on their very first nightmare!
And not to mention the fact that Dein is for spell's sake hungry!
Just then, Dein felt their cage tug and the little girl on the other side of their cage let out an excited yelp as she looked down.
Dein's already slit mouth curved into a smile.
'Finally!'
Below Dein, standing beside a tree holding the long rope connecting to his prison, was a young man who's about a year older than him. He wore a simple ragged grey tunic that extended only below his hip and a long brown pants that is tied on different sections of it.
The young man carries a bit of clumsy demeanor to him but at the same time he's also cautious and which could be seen by him looking around before proceeding to lower Dein's prison.
Dein's cage lowered with relative ease that made it look like the whole thing is just an exercise for the guy below him – well… maybe because it probably is.
After a while, Dein's wooden prison stopped right beside one of a long, wide branch of the tree his cage is tied in. He looked down to see the young man climbing the tree using a makeshift ladder.
His smile did not falter and in a few moments the young man who had already climbed the tree could be seen walking towards Dein's cage. His smile simply widened, even the little girl on the other side of the cage stood up and walk over. And then the two of them gave him a warm welcome.
"Clay! Your finally here!"
"Old mister finally came back!"
Of course, only Dein's voice reached Clay's ears. Nevertheless, the little girl happily greeted him alongside Dein. It was weird really, but Dein paid it no attention, he's more interested on what Clay had brought after all.
Clay meanwhile, finally reached his cages and sat down on the wide branch.
"I got it Dein!"
He said, before presenting a bag of food wrapped using a big leaves that Dein guess is from one of the trees and a small tunic of brown color similar to him. Dein's eyes sparkled with excitement.
"Woo! Finally! Thank you so much Clay! I'm dying in hunger here"
Also in shame of course, he'd been naked ever since coming to this god forsaken nightmare after all. But to be fair, Dein's current body has no reproductive organ which is probably the work of whoever the master of this gremlin is before it was abandoned.
Still, Dein would very much appreciate some clothes.
Finally, Clay put the bag of food and the clothes inside Dein's cage, placing it on the floor as he smiled. Immediately, Dein put on the tunic which turns out to be much larger than he expected but he was fine with it. Next, he lifted the food, opened it to see crushed dried fruits resembling rice and for the first time in hours, he dig in.
Clay on the other hand, spoke, his voice both surprised and delighted while the little girl stared at Dein with a mix of bewilderment and curiosity.
"Wahh, you're really eating it! I thought monsters only eats raw meat but youu…"
Dein allowed himself a bit of reprieve before giving Clay a huge grin, making his face contort in disgust.
"Y-yeah… but maybe don't do that, just eat"
This guy! Well to be fair, he does look stunningly hideous on this monster body so what more if he grin. Still though, does this guy really have to make such a face? How rude!
In almost an instant, Dein finished his food before drinking on the canteen Clay handed to him next. Relief wash over his body.
"I told you right, I'm a special monster. I was really just minding my own business yesterday before your two friends decided to capture me"
Clay laugh.
"Yeah, yeah, I believe you now. The friend that sister Clara always follows is known for attacking monster without thinking."
The friend… yeah, that's probably Lei, the damn swordsman. And also…
"Sister Clara? She's your sister?"
Clay almost jump up at mention, his eyes sprung wide in surprise and his hands flail around defensively.
"Wha– uhm, y-yeah, something like that."
Hmm? Are they siblings or not? Considering Clay's reaction he's probably embarrassed at the mention of his sister. The little girl and Dein stared at Clay in confusion, after the awkward silence lasted for a good while, Clay clarified.
"Well… not really, just something similar. She used to take care of me when I was a child but it was the same for every child of my age. Sister Clara used to be the caretaker in charge of every children in the tribe before she got chosen by the sacred flame after all"
"And we're also, uhm… kinda close" Clay added as he scratched the back of his head, shy. It was good to know that there's someone that Clay knows really well even with his low status, however, Dein wasn't interested on that...
Instead, Dein asked ignorantly. "Sacred flame?"
Of course, deep down, he already have an idea what this "sacred flame" is… it was the bonfire that blaze around the center of the tribe day and night – the same one he saw at the very beginning of this trial.
That said, why would the bonfire choose someone though?
Proving his thoughts, Clay answered.
"It was the huge bonfire that blaze around in the center of the whole tribe! You cannot see it right now because it's daytime but comes night, it shines brighter than anything".