I'm the Only One With a Different Genre - Chapter 51

Chapter 51 – Plans for Confinement Stacked Up

Noah, with Julianna’s help, managed to survive in a brutal forest. In a dark and damp cave, she shared body warmth and pressed on day after day with the children.

They hunted small monsters and filled their starving bellies with whatever edible mushrooms or fruits they could find.

The precarious day-to-day life ended when several of the children were attacked by monsters.

None had lost limbs, but the wounds were deep, necessitating proper treatment. Noah set out from the forest hastily, seeking a village. Being captured by slavers was a risk, but it seemed better than losing the children by standing still.

“There it is… a village!”

Perhaps their desperate need reached the heavens, for Noah and her party discovered a small village. While there were no professional healers or priests, there were quite a few hunters.

The village, perched on the edge of the Forest of Death, subsisted on hunting monsters. However, it was not a gathering place for the truly strong.

It was a collection of individuals too weak to thrive in the ruthless land of the Demon King, yet too strong to lay down their swords—mediocre strong ones, to put it simply.

They took up monster hunting as their trade, which made treating the children’s wounds manageable, but it was not free.

“We used precious herbs on you, so work in the village until you’ve paid us back. You’re safe on this land now, aren’t you?”

In exchange for the treatment, the village chief demanded labor from the children. With no other options and unable to continue living in the cave, they accepted the chief’s condition.

Thus, Noah and her group began their lives doing menial work in the small village.

“Hurry up and move!”
T hi s w a s c o p i e d fr o m ki n g m t l. o rg

Without strength or parents, the children received treatment no better than that of slaves. They received the leftovers of others’ meals as though it were charity, and slept in places like animal pens, barely sheltered at all.

Yet, it was still far safer than the Forest of Death, so they diligently lived on, day by day.

Just when they began to feel somewhat accustomed to the work, an incident occurred.

T hi s was c o p i e d fr om ki n g m t l. o rg
“Noah… Noah, brother!”

“Let go!”

Noah dropped the heavy pile of firewood she was carrying and ran towards the scream. There, she found Lily being held by one of the hunters, while Nero was scratching at the hunter’s wrist.

Without hesitation, Noah threw herself at the hunter. The training she’d had with Julianna was not in vain, as she was able to subdue the hunter with ease.

‘We need to leave.’

Holding a trembling Lily in her arms, Noah realized they could no longer stay in this village. She hid the unconscious hunter in the forest and snuck back into the village to steal anything of value and food, then fled.

The chief had never imagined the children would flee into the Forest of Death, so he hadn’t bothered to keep watch over them. This allowed them to leave the village without difficulty.

Afterwards, Noah became stronger as they roamed through the Forest of Death, but she also grew tired. The injuries on the children’s bodies increased one by one, and sometimes their lives were even at risk.

Their bodies, including Noah’s, accumulated both large and small wounds.

‘Lian…’

Whenever she felt like she was about to crumble amid the cruel reality, she thought of Lian. His kind smile, warm words, and heat allowed her to grit her teeth and stand up again.

They tenaciously survived and finally managed to completely leave the Forest of Death. The children who had survived the forest now no longer hesitated to wield and swing weapons.

Hiding as best they could, they followed a caravan of merchants through the forest for days. The long procession passed through a small fortress wall into a large city. The children managed to squeeze their small bodies through a gate to get inside.

This wa s c o p ied f r o m k in g mt l.o r g
‘This is…!’

Upon arriving in the city, Noah recognized it immediately. It was the same city where she and Nero had been trafficked as slaves.

The city’s name was ‘Cardishian’, a haven for a vast underworld. A city where beggars and corpses were as common as insects in the summer, it was a suitable place for Noah’s party to stay.

Thanks to the poor security, they could stay in the city even without identification papers. They managed to eke out a space in an alley filled with other beggars, but at least there were no individuals trying to kill or exploit them.

However, that peace didn’t last long.

“They look quite useful, don’t they?”

“One, two, three—this should cover our drinks for a while.”

The vulnerable children were nothing more than prey in the back alleys. Noah drew her knife to protect them. The children too, using the skills they had honed over time, dealt with the assailants.

T h i s w as c o pi ed f r o m k in gm t l . org
There were those who got severely injured in the process. With the little money they had, Noah treated an injured child, clenching her teeth.

‘I need strength.’

To protect herself and everyone, she needed greater strength.
T h is w as c o p ie d f r om k i n g m t l . o r g

‘I can’t do it alone.’

It wasn’t enough to become strong by herself. To survive, they all needed to become stronger together, as a group.

T h i s w a s c o p i e d f ro m ki ng m t l. or g
While living in the alleys, Noah began to learn ‘how the weak survive.’

T hi s w as co p i e d f r o m k i n g m t l . o r g
Later on, Noah started to rescue children from the alleys. The adults living there were already too far gone, so she took in those children who still had hope for a future. Of course, her motives weren’t entirely altruistic.

‘Lian, you would have made the same choice, wouldn’t you?’

She strove to emulate Lian’s selflessness in protecting the young.

The children who had survived the forest had various talents. They shared the knowledge they had learned and trained together with the new children.

As Noah, who had the talent for leadership and swordsmanship, began to teach the children in earnest, their abilities grew at an astonishing rate.

With training, Noah quickly grasped the dynamics of the alleyway life. Watching the fights among the alley’s vermin, she cleverly found blind spots to hide.

And so, Noah’s group gradually expanded in size.

On a day filled with the struggle for survival, Noah spotted Lian in a newspaper dropped on the ground.

[The Arrival of a New Star No One Imagined!]

The headline was grand, but the article was tiny, tucked in the corner of the paper, barely larger than a palm. There was a photo, but it was so small that it took someone with Noah’s keen eyesight to recognize it was Lian.

Noah stared at the tattered newspaper with wide eyes.

‘Lian… you’re alive!’

She had certainly believed he would be alive, but after living through the brutal back alleys, she couldn’t help but entertain the thought of ‘what if, just maybe…’. Her anxiety turned to elation.
T h is w a s cop ie d f r o m k in g m t l . o r g

‘Lian, I will definitely save you.’

Noah immediately began investigating the fighting arenas. Being just a group formed by children, it was difficult to gather credible information.

The best they could glean was that “there’s a white-haired slave with astonishing skills.” Even that scant information filled Noah with dizzying hope.

She wanted to rush to the arena and rescue Lian right away, but she didn’t have the confidence to survive the journey to Jiso’s land, let alone the power to smuggle Lian out.

Her talent as a ‘leader’, honed through guiding the children, quickly showed her the way forward.

‘To protect Lian, this isn’t enough. I need greater power.’
Th i s w a s c o p i ed f r om k ingmt l. o r g

She planned to grow the size of her group and increase each individual’s strength. Thus, creating a nest capable of protecting everyone, including Lian.

Noah began to move fearfully towards her goal. Julianna quickly realized that Noah wasn’t in her right mind but didn’t point it out.

In such a cruel world, one had to be mad to survive.

Julianna thought that if Noah was going to lose her mind, it was somewhat happier to do so over a person than over intoxication with blood or drugs.

No one tried to stop Noah, so Lian’s weight within her grew heavier with each passing day.

T h i s w a s c o pi e d f ro m k i n g mtl .o r g
Her life’s purpose seemed to be ‘Lian’.

As time passed, those around her noticed Noah’s obsession with Lian. Those who noticed, like Julianna, did not point it out.

“It’s dangerous here, so when brother comes back, let’s try to keep him inside a building as much as possible.”

“He might feel claustrophobic, so how about making a garden?”

“Then we’ll need a big building.”

With Noah, the leader of the group, constantly talking about Lian, the children naturally did not forget him and longed for him. Far from pointing out Noah’s obsession, they were adding fuel to the fire.

In the absence of Lian, plans for his confinement were meticulously being built up.