In a World without God

Chapter 26

"I really hate humans." Laotou sometimes said such things when she was drunk. "How dare they mock the Lady, she saved their lives!"

'Everyone says that, once in a while, right??' Bosha thought to himself, "Humans are shameless and disgusting. Selfish and ungrateful." That was the kind of conversation Bosha had every time he shared a drink with Laotou.

Bosha thought. In Ygraine's army of hypocrites, there's someone who makes sense.

But Laotou fundamentally differed from Bosha. When the witch's army closed in on Rajastina, Bosha realized it.

"You fool!"

Laotou shouted. Someone was sprawled on the ground in front of a witch's clone. A flushed-faced drunkard shivered, too drunk to escape.

The situation was urgent. Ygraine's army was running west, protecting the refugees. Only Bosha and Laotou guarded the rear of the army.

The drunkard was far from Boshaa. Even with Laotou, the witch's clone was too much to handle. There were too many of them.

And in the first place, Bosha had no intention of going to save him. It was his own fault for lying there, unable to run away after Ygraine had been running around the village for so long, trying to get people to evacuate.

"Let's go. Let's join the main force."

But Laotou ignored him and ran toward the drunkard. A fingernail protruded from the witch's clone and stabbed her in the chest. Blood flowed. For the first time, Bosha saw Laotou in her spider form. For the first time, Laotou had shown her true self.

"You stupid bastard!"

Laotou cursed, picking up the drunk and disappearing into the shadows.

Bosha knew the drunk's face. The day before, he'd been ranting in the bar about wanting to steal a kiss from Ygraine's lips.

Later, over drinks with Laotou, Bosha asked him about it.

"Why did you save him?"

Bosha didn't understand. Didn't Laotou say he hated humans? Even the drunkard had disrespected Ygraine, so why risk saving him?

"I hated him too!" Laotou said in disgust as if she had seen a cockroach.

"But the princess... the princess would have wanted me to...."

That day, Laotou drank more alcohol than usual. She could barely hold her head up without clenching her jaw. Her cheeks flushed like ripe peaches.

"Bosha, do you have any idea how lonely I am?"

"You are?"

Bosha hadn't thought of it. She was always laughing and talking with the others as if she were having fun.

"As long as I have the princess, that's all I need, but the princess wants something else. The princess loves humans. I don't care what happens to humans! But... if the Lady knows I'm thinking like this, she'll probably distance herself from me."

Laotou clutched her head with both hands.

"I want to go somewhere no one knows about, where no humans and no witches come to visit. How I wish I could be with Princess Ygraine there. We could hunt for berries, give names to bugs... we could live like that...."

Bosha found dealing with such Laotou tiresome. "Bullshit. There's no such place in the world, so let's get up."

Bosha started to get up, but Laotou grabbed him.

"No, there is."

"What?"

Bosha arched one eyebrow. Laotou kept his head down.