Keel was probably the only boy among them that you could call attractive. He almost looked a bit girlish, but I guess you could call him handsome. Actually, I suppose it was rude to say this about a boy, but if you imagined a cute girl with boyish looks, that would give you a good idea of his appearance.

That mole-type therianthrope—his name was Imiya or something like that—seemed to have come out of his shell a bit. He and Keel had been running around together and the two were getting along well.

“Hey, Bubba Shield! I’m tired of meat and vegetables. That’s all we’ve had to eat lately!”

“Stop acting spoiled!”

Keel was starting to act overly familiar with me lately. I could come down hard on him, but I didn’t feel right scolding him, since he wasn’t slacking off.

I guess it was because they felt more comfortable with me now, but more of the kids had started telling me all about their time as slaves. They always finished it up with a thank you. I was glad that morale was high, but still . . .

“We’ll go to the ocean and catch some fish, so you can cook them up for us, bubba!”

“I don’t remember ever becoming your bubba!”

Now Keel was just being plain cheeky. Maybe it was time for a good chewing out, after all. I could accept “Bubba Shield,” but just plain “bubba” wasn’t going to fly. But he showed no sign of stopping.

“Ahh . . . if only Sadeena were here, we could be having seafood every day!”

Oh? Raphtalia had mentioned that name before, too. I think she mentioned she was an aquatic therianthrope. She must have really taken care of everyone, because it wasn’t just Raphtalia—pretty much all of the kids originally from this village mentioned her from time to time. This was a good chance to find out what kind of character she was.

“Raphtalia. I know you mentioned her before, but just who is this Sadeena?”

“Sadeena was a fisher by trade. She also took first or second place for the strongest fighter in the village.”

“Oh? In that case, she must have fought in the wave and . . .”

My voice trailed off as I was about to say “died.” It made sense that she would have fought in the wave, and that meant the likelihood that she had died in battle was high.

“If Sadeena had been here, I’m sure we would have been able to fight off the enemies from the wave and the slave hunters, too, bubba.”

“Hold on, now. She’s that strong?”

“No doubt! I’ve never seen Sadeena lose a fight. From what I’ve seen, I’d say she’s stronger than that knight lady, too!”

Stronger than Eclair? That would make her a real force to be reckoned with. But if that were true, then it prompted a rather large question.

“Then why was your village destroyed when the wave came?”