Deranged Writer's Afterword

The trial of truth was an outdated practice that was seldom put to use, so the beastpeople were confused when their chief's declared that they would be witnessing the absurd trial once again.

Before pitting the two accused together, the accused we asked to take a five-day cleanse to 'heal' their soul. The accused, in this case, Adam and Max were freed from their imprisonment. They did still have the mana restraints on them though.

The cleansing ritual included being bathed in the blood of prey that the accused themselves had caught.

" Ha !, I hate this so much.", Max said looking like something that jumped out of a cheap horror flick.

The two of them were currently being bathed by maids, their body was being scrubbed with the blood of the game they had caught themselves. Adam had caught a deer, but Max unfortunately was a noob when it came to hunting,

The only game he caught was a bunch of rats.

" Bear with it.", Adam said looking bored.

" Why do we have to do this anyway when the stupid trial is fa-"

" CARROTS! CARROTS! CARROTS!", Lydia screamed startling the two teens.

" Oh...right !", Max said realizing his mistake.

The people that knew that the upcoming trial was a farce were limited to the people within that room, two days ago.

Two days have passed since the cleansing process started.

This meant that the maids that were 'cleansing' them right now thought that this entire thing was real.

Also, it seemed that Lydia's go-to thought when she panicked was ' CARROTS! CARROTS! CARROTS!'

She truly was a peculiar child.

" Why are you even here ?", Adam asked Lydia attempting to change the subject.

" I've been tasked with observing you so, of course, I'm here.", Lydia replied avoiding their eyes.

....

Of course, since their nether regions were covered with a towel, there wasn't much of an issue but both Adam and Max felt a little uncomfortable with Lydia's presence. Sure, she was a literal wolf, but still....she was a woman, and for growing teenagers that was enough to make things weird.

" Okay...I was bored.", Lydia admitted letting out a sigh of defeat, she continued," Since you're leaving soon...I wanted to spend time with you."

" I'm so touched....to think that you thought so highly of me even though we just met yesterday.", Max said wiping away his tears of joy.

" No...I-", Lydia looked at the knowing smile on Adam's face and soon a similar smile bloomed on her face, " Yeah...I'm gonna miss the two of you."

After five more minutes of being scrubbed with the blood of dead animals, it finally stopped.

The maids left as quickly as they arrived leaving the three of them alone in the large space.

" We're gonna freshen up now, so....", Adam said staring apologetically at Lydia.

...

" Oh yeah...I'll leave.", Lydia said running out of their way.

As the two of them settled into the huge bath that was prepared for them, Max said,

" That girl must be lonely...."

Adam closed his eyes enjoying the cool water embracing his body,

" Yeah...she's had a tough life."

~~~~

Day four,

It's the fourth day of the cleanse.

Both Adam and Max had finished their cleanse for the day.

Lydia, Adam, and Max were lazing around her house, Georna was in her room with Rhys keeping her company.

"Burgh. I just want this to end.", Max groaned out smelling himself," I still smell like a rat."

" We only have one more day to go.", Adam said, more to himself than anyone else.

Feeling the gloomy atmosphere surrounding her, Lydia thought about how she could distract her friends,

" Hey...… I have an idea !", Lydia jumped up and dragged the two depressed boys outside.

" Where are we going ?", Adam asked surprised to see Lydia so excited.

" We're going to Blue Finn Orphanage !"

~~~~

As within any population, there were some orphans present in both villages. Blue Finn was the orphanage that took care of these helpless beast children. A unique fact about this orphanage was that it housed both wolf and lion beast children, there was no discrimination whatsoever even though the orphanage itself was built in Lupus village.

Lydia liked to volunteer at the orphanage when she was free which meant that she was there most of the time. Blue Finn orphanage was the only place where she felt truly welcomed, nobody there despised her.....they were just grateful for her help.

" I'm telling you this place is gonna blow your mind away.", Lydia said as an orphanage building came into view,

" It sounds stupid.....who cares about orphans ?", Adam said earning weird looks from both Lydia and Max, " Oh...I was just joking...I love orphans."

'Knock' 'Thump' 'Knock'

Lydia knocked on the door in a rather peculiar manner.

After some time, the door swung open, and a lion child greeted us in an energetic voice,

" Sis....it's you !", the child said, smiling widely.

" Guys !, Lyd-Lyd sis came back !", the boy screamed and soon we could hear many footsteps rushing toward the front door.

~~~~

Adam's POV

____________

I hate children.

I hate everything about them.

This is a fucking nightmare.

A swarm of deadly children had blocked all paths of escape, I was trapped along with my compatriots who didn't seem to mind the children that much.

One of the runts of the pack, a little girl [wolf] looked up at me with her stupidly wide eyes and as if she had decided on something, the child nodded her head and held on to my leg like a parasite.

Now, I did try my best to gently put her down, but the child refused to budge so I threw her off me with a little force. She hit the floor and immediately started crying,

'Waaaaaaaaaawaaaaaaaaaa'

Now.....is any of this my fault?

That's debatable, but the glare on Max and Lydia's faces told me that they thought otherwise.

" Now...now....that's no way to handle a child, young man."

All three of us turn around hearing a familiar voice, it was...Leo.

The large lion wore a pink apron over his clothes and had a gentle smile on his face as he greeted us,

" It's nice to see you three here."

…...

Hmmmm.

I need a camera.

~~~~