After a few days of traveling, the group finally made it to the area where they would meet William Minerva.
“SO BIIIG!!!”
“I can’t believe these trees!” Gilda said as she and the rest of the children examined the area in awe.
“It’s a forest!” Yvette said.
“But way bigger than the other ones we’ve seen!” Don added.
“Is the hideout in there?” Oliver asked.
“Yes! We’ve almost arrived.” Jin responded.
‘It’s true that this area is far away from the demon villages…But I bet this forest must be brimming with wild demons. And they settled hundreds of people in such a place…?’ Ray thought.
“The trees all look the same, I can’t tell where we’re going!”
“I’ll go ahead first to tell the Boss about you folks!” Hayato said. “Jin, Zazie, show the way to our friends and keep ’em safe!”
“Roger!” Jin replied.
Hayato took off very fast, shocking the other children.
‘He’s fast!!’
‘Hayato is actually fast!!’
‘What was that? No…Come to think of it, at that time this guy had…He’s…No…They are-‘ Ray thought.
“Here it is.” Jin said, cutting his thoughts off. Jin pointed to the entrance, leading in between the overgrown roots. “This is our hideout.”
The children looked at the place in bewilderment.
“WOW! WOW! WOW! WHAT IS THIS PLACE?!” Both Thoma and Lannion exclaimed.
“Our hideout.” Jin repeated.
“Yes, we know that…” Gillian sweatdropped.
‘An entire town…Inside a tree?’ Emma thought as the group looked around. ‘Amazing…It’s a town, really. They got everything. And what’s more…All these kids have a smile on their faces.’
Many of the children started greeting the newcomers.
“Welcome!”
“Wow! The fugitives are here, dude!”
“Nice to meet you!”
“Welcome!”
‘This is the paradise that Minerva built…’
“You must be tired. Here’s some tea. We have sweets too.” A kid said as he and some other children passed out refreshments and snacks.
“S-S-Sweets?!”
“Enjoy!”
“Thanks!”
Ray only looked around as he accepted a drink. Y/n grinned as he spotted high areas. Then, when he was about to go up there, he felt someone grab his arm and he turned to see Ray deadpanning.
“Hehehe…” The boy sweatdropped.
“Emma!” Hayato called out. “The Boss wants to meet the leader!”
Emma turned to Oliver and he nodded with a smile.
“I’ll be back soon!” Emma waved as she followed Hayato and Zazie.
‘Finally…Finally, I’ll meet him.’ Emma thought as she remembered the beginning.
‘It was thanks to you…that we could escape. Thanks to you…We could have these two years of happiness.’
They then arrived at a door and Hayato knocked.
” Boss. She’s here.” Hayato said as he waited for a response.
“Come in.” A voice from the other side of the door said.
Hayato opened the door and Emma’s eyes widened as she saw the person on the other side of the door.
“Thanks, Hayato. You may leave now.”
Hayato obeyed and left Emma with the person.
“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” The male asked.
‘He’s…No way…How?’ Emma wondered as she stood in shock, tears rolling down her face.
“Norman…” Emma said.
Norman stood there with a smile on his face as he looked at her.
“Are you really…Norman?” She asked. ‘But he was shipped on that day…Didn’t the demons…’
Norman nodded in confirmation that it was really him.
“Emma.” He said with a smile, making more tears come out of Emma’s eyes.
She then ran to him, dropping the pen Y/n had given her since he didn’t feel like holding it.
‘How often did I dream of this…That he could somehow be alive…How often was I filled with regret…And about to fall into total despair. It was so hard, Norman. But I never gave up! I kept going!’
Emma fell onto him as he caught her in his arms.
“All this time, I hoped we could meet again…I’m glad you’re doing fine, Emma.”
“It’s like a dream…You’re alive! You’re alive!” Emma cried.
She then squished his face, making him confused.
“You’re really Norman, right? Really? You aren’t some kind of doppelganger or monster, right? How? Why? They took you that time…”
“I was taken to a particular farm…” Norman sadly smiled. “…and there I became another cattle.”
‘A particular farm…?’ Emma thought.
“And you…”
Norman then felt something missing from the side of Emma’s head, his eyes widening.
“Ah, this…I left it at the Grace Field house. But we did manage to escape! And we brought Y/n and Ray along with us!” Emma smiled.
“I see. You did well…”
The group that came with Emma now stood in front of Norman.
“This is our family now!” Emma cheered.
“It’s gotten quite large. What a great family!” Norman smiled.
“Hu…Huh? What’s going on here?” Don asked.
“Wait, what…? Minerva was…” Thoma and Lannion said.
“It’s that boy. That boy from Emma’s pictures…” Violet said.
“But, didn’t he…” Gillian trailed.
“22194 22194.” Adam said.
“You’re alive?! The real thing?!” Nat said as he started crying, same with the other children from Grace Field.
“Norman!” They cried as they hugged the boy.
“You survived! I’m so glad!!”
“How?!”
“I’m glad, Norman…”
“Right, Emma, Y/n, Ray?” Gillian asked. “Ray…?”
Ray stepped in front of Norman as the latter smiled at him.
“Ray…”
Ray then slapped him in the face, making the others scream in surprise.
“How awful. To get payback without so much as greeting me.” Norman smiled as he rubbed where Ray slapped him. “Looks like you were able to find something important to you.”
“Yeah…Thanks for that.” Ray said as he failed to stop tears from falling from his eyes.
“I’m glad you’re alive…!” He said, hugging Norman and Emma.
‘Wh-?! Why am I being hugged too?!’ Emma thought.
“Don’t think of trying to die again, dumb Norman.”
“Right…I got it, idiot Ray.”
“Hey…Where’d Y/n go?” Nat questioned as they looked around, no sight of the brunette.
“That moron…” Ray groaned, placing his hand to his face.
Zack then entered the room, catching their attention, and they saw him holding the missing boy by the collar of his shirt.
“He was trying to jump off from one of the roofs.” Zack sweatdropped.
“Hey! If you wanted to join, you could’ve asked me instead of being jealous and stopping me.” Y/n pouted as he swung his feet in the air, still being held up by Zack.
“We only just arrived and you’re already trying to die?!” Nat, Thoma, and Lannion said, irked.
“Hmm. Yup.” Y/n nodded.
He was then placed down, but as he was about to step forward, he tripped because of his untied shoelaces.
“Oww…” He muttered, face flat on the ground.
He heard footsteps nearing him and he looked up to see Norman holding a hand out, smiling.
“Hello, Y/n. Still running around and trying to commit suicide, I see.” He said, amused.
“Hehe. Of course!” Y/n grinned as he stood up.
“Good to see you again! I knew you were alive the whole time, but I didn’t expect you to outgrow all of us.” Y/n laughed as Norman opened his arms and Y/n hugged him.
——
After the hearty reunion, the situation was finally explained to Norman.
“Is that so…?” Norman said.
“Phil and the other kids are still in the house…But you all did very well in making it this far. Meeting the Grand Valley group is very fortunate. From the bottom of my heart, I’m happy. And…I’m sorry. I’m very sorry. If only I had deduced earlier the location of the shelter and the timing of their attack…”
“Don’t say sorry! It’s the Ratri clan’s fault!” Gillian said.
“And you? Where have you been?” Gilda asked. “You said you went to a particular kind of farm, but how was it?”
“I was at 7214. A site for experiments on cattle children.” Norman said, showing the emblem mark on their upper chest.
“That mark…” Yvette said.
“It’s just like Adam’s!”
“Lambda 7214, a new farm in the western-most area…” Gillian said.
“So you two have come from there?”
‘Experiments…’
“How did you get out of there?” Ray asked.
“I broke free.” Norman responded. “I gathered some comrades…Got in touch with a Minerva supporter…And destroyed Lambda.”
“A supporter?”
“Right. He called himself Smee. He’s the one who gave a pen to Sister Krone. Although he’s been killed by now…He was another victim of the purge carried out by the current clan head, Peter Ratri. All the Minerva supporters who had still infiltrated the clan were exterminated at that time. Smee was the last to go and luckily I was able to inherit some information as well as his network.”
“Then this hideout too?”
“Yes, it’s a part of Smee’s network.”
“Thanks to him, we have such a large town for shelter…”
“That transmission was from you, right?” Emma asked.
“Yup!” Norman smiled.
“I posed as Minerva because the message would surely reach you better. And also, to keep the network or connections. To build a new paradise. To make the Ratri clan feel threatened. To declare open war against the demons. The names of Minerva and James Ratri have been useful in many ways. It had too many advantages to ignore.”
“Say, Norman…I have loads of questions to ask you. About Lambda, about this hideout…Hayato, Zazie, everyone in this town and a lot more-” Ray said. “But before all that talk, let me ask one very important thing. What exactly are you planning? Attacking and destroying plantations, building this ‘paradise’…Just what are you-“
“Before I can answer your questions…I have a very important matter to discuss too. Have you already found out? Why do demons eat humans that is…Why they must eat humans?”
“Huh-?” Emma asked.
” Do you know what the demons are?”
“What the demons are?” Lanni questioned.
“Well, they’re monsters, aren’t they?”
“If they don’t eat people, they can’t sustain their appearance and shape.” Norman said.
“No one knows their original appearance. They were probably something like bacteria. The main mechanism for bacteria to multiply is through division. They barely change at all while separating and making copies. Those bacteria somehow underwent some kind of evolution and transformed. And those would be mutations. Horizontal gene propagation is where genes from other species ‘incidentally cross over’ and are adopted by another. Their evolution is similar to something like that.”
“Whenever they eat, they evolve. They take on the genes of what they’ve eaten and inherit its traits. If they eat insects, they become like insects. And if they eat fish, they become like fish. In short, they were able to acquire several various traits. And evolved into all kinds of forms. And eventually, they ate humans. They took on the shape of humans, as well as their advanced intellect. They acquired language and culture. Humans were the number one food source for them. Before long, the demons surpassed humans and became their natural enemy.”
“After evolving at an astounding rate and transforming, they developed into the apex predators. Humans became afraid of them. Demons, monsters, devils, gods. They were called many different things. But they are still living beings. Their special characteristics aren’t always advantageous for them. There’s a price to pay for evolving too quickly. They have unique differences. And because they don’t have an original form to return to, they need to continue eating to be able to keep the traits they inherited.”
“Demons eat humans because otherwise, they would lose their form, as well as their intellect. Once they knew of the taste of humans, and their form and intelligence, they desired it. They continued to eat humans. Even after the promise was forged. That is the true identity of the demons.”
The group was silent as Norman finished speaking.
“Evolution through eating…?”
“Just by eating?”
“For that purpose, they ate humans…”
“So that’s why there are all kinds of demons…” Nat muttered.
“And also why they created the farms…”
“To cultivate us…”
“But…generally speaking, they were creatures that had a simple construction like bacteria, to think that it’s possible for a living being to be genetically modified into a complicated organism so flexibly…” Ray said.
“That’s why they’re so dangerous.” Norman said.
“But being the case, whether it’s good or bad traits, their genetic blueprint is constantly being rewritten. They are extremely unstable beings. So that’s why…If we destroy the plantations, the demons will perish. For these past 1000 years, they’ve been eating inferior-mass-produced meat. The ability of the lower-level demons to retain their traits is exceedingly weakening. If one of them does not eat a human for 6 months, they will lose their intelligence and return to the wild.”
“Return to the wild…”
“They get to be like the wild demons we see?”
“Mass-produced meat that is too low of quality and the lower-class demons that are dissatisfied with it. To the extent that it’s at now, it’s a social issue.”
“If we destroy the plantations, the demons will become like the wild ones we’ve seen…so that’s why Norman is destroying the farms…” Emma said.
“But will it really be all the farms? Can we do it? Can us humans…No, us cattle-” Gilda said.
“We can.” Norman said. “Emma, Y/n. You saw Zazie, right? And that boy’s power.”
“He defeated those demons with a katana…3 in one strike.” Emma said.
“It’s a by-product of the experiments at Lambda. Zazie was born in Lambda.” Norman said.
‘The place Norman and Adam were at!’
“All for more diverse luxury meat. All for better production of mass-produced meat. To be both appetizing and practical. And now the demons are seeking that meat. The 5 noble demon families and the Ratri clan have joined forces. With every possible method…Those chosen to use any means necessary. And that is…The experimental farm, 7214. Repeated medication, experiments, selective breeding…through these processes, our muscles, nervous systems, and more were stimulated. There were individuals who started to show abnormal development and irregular maturation.”
“And that’s what Zazie and Hayato are?” Ray questioned.
“Yes. But Jin and Hayato weren’t at Lambda. They were born at a series of mass-production plantations.”
“Then…Hayato was so fast back then because…” Don trailed off.
“Jin too?!”
“And possibly Adam’s strength and recovery speed…” Violet said.
Norman then pointed to his head and continued speaking.
“This right here is a strength that can surpass even demons if you train it. And ironically, the demons gave it to me. Kind of how they take our intelligence. Even though they were all called irregular, we attacked and liberated Lambda and its affiliate farms first. I wonder what percentage of kids at this hideout are headed for a future like Zazie’s. I thought a lot back in the cage at Lambda. If it’s Emma, we’ll definitely have a future where all of us can live and smile. Not just for our family or ourselves, you’ve wanted a way to save all of the cattle children. Right, Emma?”
Emma and the kids smiled as they listened.
“I want to make that as well. A future where not just our family and friends, but all of the cattle children can live on and smile. This time I want to live with Y/n, Emma, Ray, and everyone else. To that end, I’ve thought about the best course of action. Here’s my answer.” Norman said.
“I already have a plan. Our firepower and other preparations are ready. More than escaping to the human world, more than anything else. The safest method to rescue all the cattle children forever is…Hunting the demons to extinction. This Neverland will be over soon. Let’s create a paradise for us cattle children in the demon world.”
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