novelraw Chapter 43: Isolated
Chapter 43: Isolated
After being whipped, Henwil and the others were not let down.
They were left hanging all morning until noon, when under the scorching sun, many children had fainted before they were finally taken down.
The noon meal was terrible—a bowl of clear soup and a dry, hard flatbread.
Vegetables?!
What were they thinking?
This wasn't summer camp; it was a training camp specifically designed to turn children into tools of killing!
By daybreak, Henwil had already surveyed his surroundings clearly.
The terrain resembled a volcanic crater, cylindrical in shape with a diameter of approximately three kilometers.
The area had been partially modified—the ground leveled and divided into several zones.
There was a gap on the northern side of the valley, about five to six meters wide, but it was fortified with a small castle that appeared to be a defensive stronghold.Various cavities were built into the surrounding cliff walls—some served as rooms, while others had unclear purposes that Henwil would need to figure out later.
Regardless, the defenses here were extremely tight.
"Easily defended but hard to attack" didn't even begin to describe it. Escaping from this place with Henwil's current abilities was clearly unrealistic.
After temporarily abandoning thoughts of escape, he needed to understand his current situation better.
The area where Henwil and the others were located had the words "Blood Pool Seven" written in the Continental Common Tongue.
The entire valley could be divided into sixteen zones based on such markings.
There were Blood Pools One through Seven, Horns One through Seven, with the remaining two zones being the Castle District and the Selection District.
Apart from these last two areas, all fourteen other districts were training children.
The number of children in each district varied—some had over thirty, while others had more than a hundred.
Additionally, the ages of the children differed greatly, ranging from five or six years old to nearly adults.
In Blood Pool Seven, where Henwil was located, the children were generally over ten years old.
At over 1.5 meters tall, Henwil already stood out noticeably among these children.
During the meal, some children gathered together, using the ointment given by the bald man to tend to each other's wounds.
Only Henwil had no one to help him—this was clear isolation.
Because the bald man had said that Henwil performed the best, making the other children seem inadequate.
So the bald man had "rewarded" the other children with two additional lashes each.
Henwil knew this was intentional. When managing a group, having someone emerge as a leader was most problematic.
Especially when that leader was both excellent and intelligent.
That would cause the other lambs to gather around the leader, creating unnecessary trouble for the administrators.
Now the bald man was deliberately destroying any foundation for Henwil to become these children's leader.
This was one of the taming methods—preventing children from banding together for warmth.
There would be other methods later, eventually dividing the children into several groups with conflicts and even clashes between them.
Henwil understood these principles, but the other children didn't!
They only knew that because of Henwil's actions, they had received two extra lashes.
However, Henwil didn't want to interact with them either.
That would cause the other lambs to gather around the leader, creating unnecessary trouble for the manager.
In his current precarious situation where he couldn't guarantee tomorrow, he had no mood to form factions.
Even less interest in making friends!
Most importantly, Henwil knew that not all these children would survive the training.
If he got too close, he might develop feelings, and watching them die later would only torment himself.
All Henwil could do now was take care of himself and survive as best he could.
Just as Henwil was painfully applying ointment to the wounds on his back, a voice came: "Do you need help?"
Henwil looked up to see a little girl.
The only girl who hadn't been stripped naked and whipped while hanging.
The girl had delicate features. From her fingers, skin, and accent when speaking, she clearly wasn't from a commoner family.
Her Billie Kingdom language was somewhat awkward—she was probably from the other side of the Allied Forces.
She had an Ogiro Kingdom accent, likely from a noble family.
Rumor had it that because the war results dissatisfied the King of Ogiro, he had purged some nobles—this girl was probably among those affected!
During the previous bathing time, only this girl had undressed and bathed in the pool in front of all the boys.
Because her physical strength was poor and she ran slowly, she was still punished, though not by being stripped.
This made the other girls ostracize this girl, considering her naturally indiscreet for not avoiding the boys.
So besides Henwil, she was the only one without help applying medicine.
Henwil glanced at her and handed over his ointment: "Thank you!"
The girl had delicate features. From her fingers, skin, and accent when speaking, she clearly wasn't from a commoner family.
The girl's face slightly reddened, but she complied.
Henwil mentally complained: What's there to be shy about? Front and back are equally flat!
When the ointment touched her fair back, the little girl visibly shuddered.
Henwil said calmly: "Soak the flatbread in the soup to eat. That way your stomach won't feel uncomfortable!"
"But... but then it becomes paste, and it tastes terrible!"
"Perfect! The bad taste will make you forget the physical pain, or the pain will make you ignore the bad taste—you'll always have one less suffering!"
This made the other girls reject this girl, considering her naturally indiscreet for not avoiding the boys.
The girl lowered her head: "My name is Mishir..."
Henwil picked up his paste-like meal and began shoveling it into his mouth: "No need to tell me your name. I won't take care of you.
Here we can only take care of ourselves and rely on ourselves. Don't forget the beautiful times and hatred from before.
When you can't hold on, think about those things—they'll help you persevere. If you want to survive, you need to be stronger!"
With that, Henwil lowered his head and continued eating.
Henwil mentally complained: What's there to be shy about? Front and back are equally flat!
Truly noble family upbringing! So young yet already knows how to use her advantages to gain male sympathy.
Perhaps in another place, this little girl could achieve great things.
But here, as Henwil had said, survival was what mattered most.
In the afternoon, the bald man made everyone start running.
That aimless running, continuous running until they collapsed on the ground unable to get up even when beaten with sticks.
Henwil didn't give his full effort, only demonstrating first-tier ability.
Although the bald man was experienced and could always identify which children were pretending to be too exhausted to get up,
Henwil's acting skills were equally sophisticated!
Here we can only take care of ourselves and rely on ourselves. Don't forget the beautiful times and hatred from before.
Or perhaps only Henwil himself didn't realize that his acting was somewhat unnecessary.
Because in everyone else's eyes, he was just a child anyway!