In a World without God

Chapter 54

Bosha's heart had a hole in it. His soul was always hungry. Like stepping out in thin clothes on a cold winter dawn, his heart was always cold.

No matter what he did, he couldn't fill the hole. He was always hungry. Deceiving, killing, and taking what he could from seemingly happy people made him feel like the hole was filled for a moment, but only for a moment.

"Maybe I was born to be a man-eating monster." That's what Bosha thought his life would be like– endlessly hungry, endlessly resentful of people.

- Captain Bosha. The day will come when those who throw stones now, will chant the name of Captain Bosha with joy.

Ygraine said. It did not take many years for those words to become reality. As Bosha had rescued some of the children taken by the witch.

"My son... my son...."

A thin, haggard woman reached out to Bosha. Bosha slapped the child's back and urged him to walk faster. When the child was handed over to his mother, Bosha said in a surly voice.

"Take good care of the cub. What use is a mother if she loses her child?"

The woman then knelt on the ground and sobbed at Bosha's feet.

"Thank you, Captain Bosha. What can I do to repay you for this favor? Come to my house and take all my possessions. I will give it all to you, even the floormat."

Bosha took a step backward. He felt embarrassed that the woman was wetting his feet with her tears; even more so for she was a Lishaia villager. The Lishaia villagers shouted insults and threw stones at him whenever they saw him.

Bosha looked around and realized that the hatred in their eyes was no longer there.

"Captain Bosha, please stop by our house."

"We'll kill a pig for you, and we'll bring you a drink. Please let us repay your favor."

Of course, they should. He had risked his life, he'd given people what they wanted, and so he deserved to be paid for it. That's certainly what he was thinking. But then something else came out of Bosha's mouth.

"I have a busy road to travel, and I have no time to be held back by you."

Then the people fell and grabbed Bosha's legs. "No, please stay. Please accept the reward you deserve. Please let us treat you."

At that moment, Bosha felt it— that he wasn't hungry, that something had filled the hole in his chest.

- You should respond with a smile. Let go of old hatreds, know love, know happiness...

Ygraine's words were not entirely true. Bosha could not respond with a smile. Bosha shook off the hands of those holding him and screamed.

"I'm busy! How dare you people, who are nothing more than penniless, treat me like this!"

Ygraine watched, smirking.

Bosha understood now. The way to satisfy his gnawing hunger. The nature of the hunger he felt. He was not a man-eating monster.

Then, what about the people he had consumed until now?

Edulis etched in his heart the question Bosha tried to ignore.

***

Razor-sharp eyes turned toward Edulis. The sight of a rolling child's head stirred people's emotions. The soldiers murmured.

"We believed.... We believed you saved us...."

"We were tricked by a witch, and this Edulis was her henchman."