Change || The Promised Neverland

➴ Chapter Forty: Safe ➴

<< You're safe now, so why do you feel the need to do more? >>

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

[Name] was getting tired of trees.

Maybe it was an ungrateful thought since she had spent a year in Lambda, where the only plants she saw were the vegetables in her supposedly undrugged salad. But even after taking a small break of the forest at the halfway point, C04 - 28, all the trees blended into one long, blurry image.

Of course, [Name] didn't let any of the children know about her exasperation or exhaustion. She kept moving forward as strictly as a military soldier and with the same determination as one. If the children were tired, she needed to keep up an image and push them to go just a bit further.

Having raised most of them, she felt she had a duty to be their role model. Her being weak, being tired, wouldn't do.

Even at the halfway point, she'd made an effort to keep watch, peering around the dusk-colored rock's edges to make sure nothing followed them. While the rest of the group ate and slept in the fence-like rock's walls, she'd sat, nestled along the jagged rocks, and kept a watchful eye out.

According to the pen, the rock was called "The Jaw of the Lion". The name had shown up when Norman opened the writing utensil. [Name] still didn't know what it meant or why it only showed up when they were at the precise location, but Norman speculated that it was significant and that they keep it for later.

The (h/c) internally grimaced at the memory. Once Norman had realized she wasn't sleeping nor eating, he had practically ordered her to rest. She tried to protest, but the look in Norman's eyes eventually told her not to argue. In the end, she (very) reluctantly went to sleep.

Unfortunately, that meant more time with Johanna.

[Name]'s ancestor was a harsh teacher. Now, while she didn't have any trouble with memorizing the various information Johanna threw at her, what made it difficult is that her ancestor would make her do this while she was in combat. Whether it was facing off another demon or Johanna herself, the woman made sure that [Name] wasn't able to rest, keeping her mind off of the memorizing.

While [Name] was used to being intensively trained mentally, she wasn't ready for whatever Johanna had in store. The woman was a drill sergeant, yelling at her to run and jump and all sorts of things.

Needless to say, [Name] got even less sleep than usual.

She stopped for just a moment to pick up a few beans she spotted at the base of another tree. Her eyes brightened as she recognized them as pinto beans from the light brown beans, speckled with darker spots.

Since the group hadn't been hunting (they could not do so, and Norman didn't want to waste any bullets), these and other types of beans were their sources of protein. [Name] gathered a good handful or two into a small drawstring bag she had made from the corner of her blanket.

I never thought I'd be saying this, she thought, pulling the bag close, but I have Mother to thank for this. If I hadn't become the sheepdog and her assistant, I wouldn't have learned to knit or sew.

After depositing the bag into her backpack, she jumped off to join Norman and Vincent at the front. Norman was the first to notice her.

"How is our food supply?" he asked, nodding at her bag. [Name] shifted the parcel, her eyes still scanning the forest floor for any more plants.

"Our luck has gone up after leaving the Jaw of the Lion," she admitted. "The beans should help with our protein intake, although it wouldn't hurt to find wheat or greens around here. Fruit, if we're desperate. There aren't that many iron-rich plants here."