A Former Police Officer Who Died And Get A Second Life!-Chapter 47: The One Left Behind

With a slightly exasperated feeling, Qiong Xing called Cari over and asked him to bring out Mayo.

"Sorry to surprise you. Due to certain circumstances, I’ve ended up raising this child. However, since this is my first time raising one, I was hoping to get some advice from someone."

Perhaps because Mayo had been kept in the bag for so long, when he came out he coiled himself around Qiong Xing’s neck in a clingy manner and rubbed his cheek against him.

"That thing... is it really safe?"

When Qiong Xing stroked Mayo’s head together with Cari, Joa relaxed his guard upon seeing how attached the snake was.

After Joa told him to wait, he went off and brought back a snake beastman.

And she was a woman.

"It’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry to startle you. This is sudden, but may I trouble you for a brief conversation?"

"If I can be of help."

She seemed wary, but perhaps she was strong-willed, as she did not appear frightened and nodded in agreement.

From there, Qiong Xing asked everything he could think of that he should be careful about when raising Mayo.

There would surely be differences between a beastman and a real beast, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

Unexpectedly, the woman explained things very carefully, and in the end, she even patted Mayo’s head.

For the most part, there were no major differences compared to other beastmen, but she said that snakes were poor at regulating their body temperature and asked him to keep a close eye on that. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"Is that all?"

"Thank you very much. I was able to ask her everything I wanted to know."

"Her? You mean there’s still something else you want to ask?"

"If you would allow it."

What he had asked just now was important, but it was for Mayo’s sake.

What he wanted to ask next was about Qiong Xing himself.

It wouldn’t be a problem if he couldn’t ask, but if he had the chance, he wanted to hear it.

Even if it was embarrassing.

"Is it fine if it’s me? Or do you want me to bring someone else?"

"If possible, I’d like to speak with your mate, Joa."

"..."

Seeing Joa make a bitter expression, Qiong Xing realized that there was no such person.

"Are you... alone?"

Joa was clearly older than Qiong Xing and looked to be of a respectable age, and since he was called the boss, Qiong Xing had assumed he would have a mate.

"That’s right... no, I suppose I should say that I am now."

"Now? Then does that mean you had a mate before?"

"Yeah. She died five years ago."

"...I’m sorry."

He had only just heard how important a mate was to beastmen, so he felt bad for having asked.

"Don’t worry about it. Sure, I still feel lonely even now without her, but I’ve got those guys. I can’t keep showing a pathetic side of myself in front of them, the ones you’d call family."

Joa said he was fine as he smiled, but that smile carried a faint trace of sadness.

"...Did you ever think about dying?"

"Elias?"

Up until then, Elias had been silently listening, but now he stared straight at Joa.

"At first, yeah. I did."

"Then..."

"But I made a promise. I promised I’d look after them. Actually, it was my wife who first suggested building this place."

Her name was Vita.

One day, Joa found Vita wandering through the forest, and as they began living together, they grew close and eventually became mates.

At first, they lived happily while constantly fleeing from humans, but the two of them began wondering whether it was really okay to go on living like that.

Then Vita became pregnant with their daughter, and Joa hesitated.

He worried whether they could truly raise a child safely in such a life.

After agonizing over it again and again, he confessed his fears to Vita.

Vita responded by saying that if that was the case, then they should create a place where they could live without worry.

A place humans would not notice, and a place that would not be easy to enter.

Together, they searched various locations and eventually found this place.

By then, Vita’s belly had begun to swell slightly, but along with companions who agreed with them, they carved out the rock, renovated the interior, and over a long period of time, completed this place.

At first, there were only a few rooms, but with their companions, his wife, and the baby who would soon be born, life was joyful.

However, that life did not last long.

One night, Vita went into labor, and the other women among their companions helped her.

It was apparently a very difficult birth, and Vita suffered as the baby refused to come out no matter how much time passed.

In the night that felt endlessly long, they rejoiced when the baby was finally born, only to realize that no cry could be heard.

The umbilical cord had wrapped around the baby’s neck many times over, cutting off its breath.

As despair set in, the women began shouting that the bleeding from the childbirth would not stop.

Joa rushed over immediately, but the blood kept flowing, and Vita’s complexion steadily worsened.

There was no doctor, and no one present had any experience with childbirth.

Unable to do anything, they could only watch.

As Joa cried again and again, calling her name, Vita’s eyelids fluttered open for just a moment.

"...The baby didn’t make it, did it?"

She must have realized it from the silence where a newborn’s cry should have been.

"I’m sorry. I’m sorry I can’t stay with you forever... I’m sorry. We were supposed to become a family... I’m so sorry."

"That doesn’t matter! That doesn’t matter, so please don’t die! I’m begging you!"

He pleaded through tears, but Vita’s complexion did not improve.

"Please... protect everyone... so that children like me... would have home. Okay? Promise me?"

"I will! I promise, so please don’t die!"