Chapter 2: Assassin Girl
By the time Rio left the Ricca Guild, the western skies were already turning red. Once the sun set, the city gates would be closed to any kind of traffic going in or out.
Rio, however, was walking down the main street, leisurely searching for an inn. He had been on a fairly strict schedule on his way here, and had to sleep outside numerous nights in a row. He wanted to rest easy on a proper bed for at least tonight.
As he glanced around at his surroundings, he could see street signs for inns practically everywhere, but he wasn’t about to settle for just any old place: there were differences in the facilities that inns could offer, and Rio was searching for one with a bath.
However, the bathtubs of the Strahl region were a little different in appearance to one that a Japanese person might imagine. This was partially due to the fact that water was not as readily available here as in Japan, and the general population’s lack of desire to submerge themselves in bath water. This meant that bathtubs deep enough to submerge a person simply didn’t exist. In fact, the word ‘bathtub’ here referred to shallow tubs that only held enough water to wash one’s hair and body.
Furthermore, the only ones who washed themselves every day were members of royalty and nobility — commoners would never spend money on baths. This meant that having a bucket filled with water and partitioning a private space away from others was enough to be considered a rather splendid bathing facility.
That being said, even that much would be difficult to find if Rio just wandered into any cheap inn, so as a former Japanese person, he was very selective about the bathtub status of the inn he chose. Just as Rio was pondering between his choices...
“Hey, mister!” A voice suddenly called out to him from behind. Rio turned around.
There stood a cute local girl in an apron and tunic dress, who looked to be around two or three years younger than Rio, making her around ten years old. The girl looked up at Rio with a bright and friendly smile.
“Um, do you mean me?” Rio asked, pointing at himself.
“Yup! Are you looking for somewhere to stay?”
“Yes, but who are you?”
“I’m working in that inn over there! Would you like to come stay at our place?” The girl asked, pointing at a wooden, three-story building that towered over its surroundings.
She clung to Rio’s arm tightly, as though it was her way of refusing to let a possible customer get away. Despite her young age, she was very good at drawing in business.
“I’m looking for a single room with a bathtub. Do you have something like that available?”
Naturally, Rio wasn’t able to tell whether bathtubs were included by looking at the inn from the outside, so he figured it’d be best to simply ask the person actually working there... All the more so if she had purposely come to him for business. With that in mind, Rio put forth his request conditions. The girl beamed and nodded.
“Yup! We only have individual rooms at our inn. We still have rooms available, and you can even rent a bathtub, too. So... will you choose us? Please?”
The little girl laughed happily, then peered at Rio, catching a glimpse of his face under the hood of his cloak. Her eyes widened by a fraction.
“I guess I will.” If he put it off until too late, there was a chance that all of the free rooms in the city could become taken. This place fulfilled his conditions, so Rio nodded, immediately deciding on it.
“Hehe, yay! One guest, coming right up! Follow me, this way! This way!” With a light blush on her cheeks, the girl pulled Rio’s arm energetically.
Upon entering the inn, the two were faced with a vacant reception desk. There was a swinging door to the right that led to the cafeteria, where quite a bit of hustle and bustle could be heard from within.
“The fee is paid upfront. It’ll be seven large coppers for one night, dinner included. You can get the bathtub free as a bonus!” Ignoring the commotion within the cafeteria, the little girl explained the prices in a loud and clear voice.
The price was neither cheap nor expensive; for a commoner staying at an average quality inn in a single room, the price tag was to be expected. For reference, staying at a shared room in one of the cheaper inns would have cost less than one large copper.
“Here you are, then.” Rio handed over seven large coppers.
“Thank you for your business! Oh, that’s right... What’s your name? I’m Chloe!” The girl asked with an innocent and professional smile, befitting for her age.
“I’m Haruto.”
“Haruto, okay! You’re probably a little older than me, right? It’s nice to meet you!”
“Yeah, nice to meet you.”
“Hmm... You’re kind of quiet. You seem cool, Haruto. You should take your hood off and smile more! Come on, lets see that smile!” Chloe pouted with a slight look of dissatisfaction at Rio’s calm reply.
“Haha...” It was difficult to smile on command, but Rio did his best.
“Hmm... Okay. I guess that’s acceptable. I’ll lead you to your room now!” The smile returned to Chloe’s face. She nodded, then grabbed Rio’s hand and walked off.
What a bubbly girl, Rio thought with a bitter smile. After being surrounded by impish children during his days in the Royal Academy, meeting someone like Chloe, who actually acted her age, was rather refreshing.
They marched their way up to the third floor, where Rio’s room was. It was around twenty-two square feet in area, with nothing but a bed inside.
“Here we are. You can only lock it from the inside, so don’t leave your valuables when you leave the room. It’s dinner time right now, so you can come down to the first floor once you’re ready. Or do you want your bath first?” Chloe explained at the doorway of the room.
“No, I’ll eat dinner first.”
“Got it. Then call me when you need the bathtub and the water prepared. I think I’ve explained everything... Do you have any questions?”
“Nope, I’m fine.”
“Great. Well, let me know if you need anything. ...Oh, that’s right! Many of our patrons are adventurers, so try not to pick fights with them, yeah?” Chloe added as an anecdotal warning.
“All right, got it,” Rio said, nodding a bit tiredly. He wished she had told him that during the negotiation stage of his visit, but those kinds of adventurers could be found in more or less every inn, so he gave in.
Adventurers were jack-of-all-trades that belonged to organizations called adventurer guilds, usually specializing in dirty work. They’d act as mercenaries during wars and exterminate monsters and other dangerous beasts during times of peace. Thus, most adventurers tended to be rather rough around the edges. It was common to see drunk adults picking fights with each other on a daily basis.
“Be careful, okay? Even if they’re not adventurers, adult men can be really stupid. They get mad quickly and always turn to violence... You might get picked on a little, but since you’re still a child, they’ll probably let you go without a fight if you just nod along with them,” Chloe said with insistence. There was a faint shadow over her face.
“It’s all right, Chloe. You have work to do, don’t you? You’d better get back before you’re scolded,” Rio replied, giving her a soft smile.
“Yeah. See you later, then!” With a nod, Chloe turned around. But before she left, she stopped abruptly.
“Umm, if you have some time after dinner... I’d love to talk to you some more. I like my job a lot, but I don’t have many friends around my age,” she said bashfully.
◇◇◇
Rio stepped into the cafeteria to find a large gathering of red-faced adults making quite a racket; it seemed as though business was booming at the inn. Some of the customers were even wearing swords — those were probably the adventurers. They stared after Rio’s hooded figure brazenly, but he purposefully ignored their stares. Just as he was looking around for a place to sit...
“Haruto! Welcome! Here, this seat is free.”
Chloe, who was working as a waitress inside the cafeteria, noticed Rio and came running. Even with his hood on, she recognized him instantly from his stature. Rio let Chloe drag him to a counter seat.
“I’ll bring you your food right away. What would you like to drink? The first drink’s on the house.”
“What do you have?”
“The free options are beer, wine, and mead. Oh, and tea with milk.”
“A beer, then.”
“Heh... You can drink something that bitter, Haruto?”
There was no drinking age limit in this world, but it seemed like Chloe was still unaware of the delights of beer. Rio chuckled.
“Yeah. I’m actually pretty hungry right now, so if you could, please bring the food out quickly.”
“Got it! Mom’s pretty proud of the meal she cooked tonight, so you should look forward to it!” Chloe said, before running into the kitchen. As though they had been waiting for just the right moment, two male adventurers seated at a nearby table stood up.
“Heeey, kiddo. Aren’t ya a bit young to be drinking beer, huh?”
“Yeah. Weakling like you should be drinking milk, don’t ya think?”
“Tell me about it!”
They were probably drunk already. The red-faced men burst out into hearty laughter as they took the two seats on either side of Rio in an overly familiar manner. He sighed, his expression twisting at the stink of alcohol on their breaths. The other men nearby grinned as they watched on, treating the spectacle like an appetizer to accompany their booze.
“Hey, you lot! Don’t pick on Haruto. Let him eat his food in peace, okay?” Chloe warned the adults, pushing Rio’s meal at him from the other side of the counter.
“We’re not pickin’ on him, Miss Chloe. We were just startin’ a conversation with a kid we haven’t seen before.”
“Das right. He looks like a new adventurer. We thought we’d give ’im some pointers, bein’ his seniors and all.” The men argued back at Chloe with cheerful smiles. “Geez. Haruto, you can have as many servings of bread and soup as you want. I baked the bread myself, you know!” Chloe said gently to Rio after sighing in exasperation. The wooden plate that she offered him was stacked with food.
“Wow, it looks delicious. I’m getting seconds later,” Rio said, taking out the cutlery he had prepared beforehand from his pocket and using his knife, fork, and spoon to eat. Chloe had said this meal was her mother’s pride, and he could taste it.
“It’s great. Could I ask you to bring my beer, too?” Rio requested as he elegantly brought the food to his mouth.
“Oh, right,” Chloe nodded absentmindedly and returned to the kitchen.
“Tch, look at them table manners. Think you’re a noble, huh?” The man sitting to Rio’s right clicked his tongue in boredom.
The cafeteria was filled with people eating with their hands, making Rio’s refined use of cutlery stand out. It made him appear as though he was putting on an air of importance, much to the displeasure of the others in the room. They didn’t find it amusing at all.
Rio ignored the man’s words and continued to eat his meal silently, which further enraged the men. They finally snapped in anger.
“Listen here, brat. Your seniors are talking to you right now. At least take off yer hood,” the man to Rio’s right said, before boldly reaching for his hood. Slap! Rio smacked the man’s outstretched hand away without looking up. The expressions on the men changed instantly, and the one who had his hand slapped away glared darkly at Rio.
“Seems like someone needs to learn their manners...”
“I could say the same to you. This is our first meeting, is it not?” Rio sighed, objecting to the man in a cold voice and making him greatly furrow his brow.
“What did ya say?”
The atmosphere soured. Until...
“All right, break it up, break it up! Take your fight outside!” Chloe, who was in the middle of bringing the beer over, jumped in between them in a panic.
“Come on, Miss Chloe. This doesn’t count as a fight, right? Or are ya givin’ this brat special treatment?” The man whose hand was slapped away said, clearly unhappy.
“That’s not... my intention...” Chloe flinched at the dark glare the dangerous man sent her.
“Then shut yer trap. I’m going to teach this kid some manners. Hey, boy! Take off your hood and get on your knees. I’ll forgive you if ya do that.” The man to Rio’s right ordered unreasonably with a sharp look.
However, Rio continued to enjoy his meal silently, which rubbed the men the wrong way. The spectators around them sniggered at the sight.
“Heh, he’s ignoring them.”
“They’re being looked down upon. Serves them right,” someone said mockingly.
“Y-You...” The two men started to shake with rage at being humiliated.
“H-Haruto! Hurry up and take off your hood!” Chloe fearfully urged Rio to comply.
“...I don’t want to.” Rio gave an uncomfortable smile and shook his head at Chloe.
“So you’re going to ignore what we say and only answer to Miss Chloe. Is that it? Is that’s how you’re gonna be, huh?”
“How else should I respond to someone who clearly approached me with ill intent? If there’s a correct response, please, do inform me,” Rio asked the man with a tired affect in his voice.
Getting involved with something like this is nothing but trouble.
Rio had been raised in the slums where power was everything, but he found that the adventurer’s society was rather similar indeed. The way both groups thought was extremely simplistic. For both of them, being looked down upon was the equivalent of defeat, because their livelihoods depended on their strength. They couldn’t afford to show any weakness. Even if Rio apologized here, there was no guarantee they’d forgive him. They’d simply push their accusations further, saying something along the lines of “Apologizing means you admit it was your fault.”
“...A correct response? Don’t change the topic. Right now I’m askin’ ya how you’re gonna make up for this. All ya need to do is apologize.” The man whose hand Rio slapped away insisted on having things his way. Rio let out a mocking huff before moving a slice of meat toward his mouth.
“Do you really wanna learn things the hard way, brat?” The men stood up from their seats with a loud clatter.
“Hey Gene, Assil. Shouldn’t you teach the kid a lesson?”
“Yeah, he needs to be knocked off his high horse a little. Especially bein’ a newbie and all. Teach him the rules of livin’ as an adventurer around here.”
The men sitting nearby tried to rile up the men bothering Rio even more. Chloe tried to speak up against them, but was silenced with a single sharp glare. She closed her mouth out of fear.
“Stand up,” the man whose hand was slapped away earlier said, grabbing Rio by the collar with his left hand.
The man was nearly two meters tall, so at twelve years old and at 160cm tall, Rio’s feet easily dangled in the air. However, the act of grabbing someone’s collar in a fight was usually nothing more than an act of intimidation; it occupied your hands and left you defenseless to counterattacks.
“Haha, typical Gene and his brute strength. Go and get ’im, man!” The spectators urged on the man holding Rio up.
If this one’s Gene, then the other must be Assil... Not that it matters. Rio cast his cold gaze over the two men once.
“Tch, you’re one impudent brat.” The man named Gene clicked his tongue, muttering with breath stinking of alcohol.
“You reek. Could you stop talking... No, stop breathing at me?” Rio asked unhappily, twisting his face.
“You asked for it now.”
Gene made a fist with his right hand and swung it at Rio’s face. But Rio moved his hands easily, and in the next moment —
“O-Oww!” Gene screamed. Rio nimbly grabbed Gene’s left hand and twisted it, allowing him to push Gene’s doubled-over body down to the ground.
Gene grimaced from where he was pressed down; he had yet to process what had happened. The same went for everyone else watching them.
“H-Hey! What did you do to Gene?!” Assil demanded, flabbergasted.
“It’s self-defense, obviously,” Rio replied bluntly.
But that wasn’t what Assil wanted to know. He was talking about how Rio had pinned Gene so easily, but Rio wasn’t about to disclose that.
“How long are you going to keep that up for?! Let go of Gene already!” Assil clenched his fists impatiently and tried to punch Rio.
Rio let go of Gene and swiftly dodged the incoming fists. They were just the sweeping punches of a wobbly drunk, and Rio had no trouble reading their path and avoiding them.
“Stop dodging me!”
Assil panted for breath, but no matter how many times he swung his punches, they never made contact with Rio. But he persistently kept swinging, so Rio tripped him. Assil went flying through the air.
“No can do,” Rio said with a short laugh at Assil’s fallen figure after his pathetic tumble.
“Y-You...” Assil’s anger caused him to jump right back up on his feet, but he suddenly froze when he saw who was standing behind Rio. It was Gene, and he had drawn the hidden blade at his waist.
Meanwhile, Rio had noticed Gene’s presence long ago.
“If you use that, I won’t hold back either.” He glanced behind himself, cautiously, and offered that single warning.
“Shut up! As if I could let you walk all over me any more than this... I won’t forgive you even if you beg, you damn brat!” Gene yelled furiously. Suddenly —
“No spilt blood on my floors!”
A woman who seemed to be the proprietress of the inn stepped out of the kitchen, led by a terrified Chloe. She looked to be in her late twenties; this was most likely Chloe’s mother.
Normally, the city guards wouldn’t take action against a brawl between two drunks at an inn, but even they couldn’t overlook fights that resulted in dead bodies.
“Heeey, Rebecca, sweetie. Sorry, but we gotta defend our honor ‘n all that. We can’t jus’ step down so easily,” Gene said, staring at Rio with a crazed look in his eye. It wasn’t that he was reluctant to back down; he clearly had no intention of backing off at all.
The fact he was too drunk to calmly process his thoughts played a large part in his decision-making.
Rio stared back at Gene, who was moments away from lunging at him. If you don’t want to lose face by picking drunken fights, then you should live more modestly, he thought to himself in exasperation.
But Rio had no intention of voicing those thoughts out loud and fanning the flames. He had enough of these two troublesome drunks before them, and just wanted to go back to his room and rest. To him, Gene and Assil weren’t opponents worth fighting, so he didn’t want to get any more involved in their troubles than he already was.
Ah, well. If they’re going to attack, I wish they’d do it quickly. That way, what ever I do would be in self defense, at least.
Rio’s thoughts were starting to take a disturbing turn, but his words could only bring disaster. He could probably provoke them into attacking with some generic taunts, but claiming self defense wouldn’t fly too well after inviting the trouble himself. The fight would be deemed both their faults that way. To establish the situation as an undeniable act of self defense, he had to ensure Gene attacked him without provocation in a clear way.
That was why Rio turned the corner of his mouth up into a sneer in a way that only Gene would see. Gene gave a spiteful click of his tongue and threw himself at Rio at full force.
“Mr. Gene!” The proprietress Rebecca yelled, but Gene did not stop. He thrust the knife in his right hand forward, aiming to stab it through Rio’s shoulder.
With a small sigh, Rio stuck his right hand out towards the incoming knife. Gene’s knife and Rio’s hand crossed, but not a drop of blood was spilt. Instead, Gene’s large frame soared through the air. Rio had brushed away the hand with the knife and tripped the man’s feet up, before throwing him over his shoulder. Gene crashed into Assil, sending the two of them to the floor. Of course, Rio left both Gene and himself unharmed, but — “Gah! Oww...”
Gene’s knife was stuck in Assil’s thigh. The momentum of the fall had probably flipped it in Gene’s hand. Assil groaned in pain, holding down the injured area with a pale face.
“M-Mr. Assil! Are you all right?!” Rebecca left the counter in a panic.
“A-Assil? I-I’m sorry!” Gene apologized through his shock.
“Oww, oww...”
Seeing Assil’s face twisted in agony made both Rebecca and Gene lose their calm. “Y-You brat! What did you do to Assil?!” Gene turned the brunt of his rage to Rio.
“What? It was an instance of proper self defense. You’re the terrible one here, stabbing your friend like that,” Rio replied in an earnest voice.
Though it had been an instance of self defense, Rio felt a strong sense of repulsion from crossing the line of murder — because of Amakawa Haruto within him. However... He was tainted enough by the values of this world to overlook just a little bit of unavoidable damage. That was why he couldn’t find it in himself to pity men who got hurt picking on others for their own amusement.
“What? You’re the one who did it!” Gene flared up at Rio’s words, unable to accept them.
“The knife was in your hand. Since you were the one who decided to thrust it at me, my self defense was more than justified. Or are you telling me to shut up and just let myself get stabbed?”
“Wh... N-No, but...” Gene hesitated, pressured by Rio’s indifferent tone and gaze.
“You should stop the bleeding quickly. It’s not a fatal wound, but it’s not something you should ignore, either,” Rio said, causing Gene to turn back to Assil with a gasp.
Rebecca was trying to perform emergency first aid on him, as she had ordered Chloe to fetch some alcohol and a clean cloth.
“I’m going to remove the knife and sterilize the wound. It’ll hurt, but you’ll have to endure it,” Rebecca said, before pulling the knife out of Assil’s thigh. He yelled out in pain.
Rebecca washed out the wound with alcohol, then wrapped it with the cloth, instantly staining it blood red.
“W-What should we do? The blood...” The inflexible rule of stopping bloodflow was to put pressure on the artery closest to the heart. However, amateurs tended to fall into a panic and end up only placing pressure on the wound itself. Rebecca was a classic example of such an amateur, as the sight of the bright red cloth sent her into a fluster.
...This lot got what they deserved, but I suppose the owner isn’t at fault...
The only ones involved in the fight were Rio, Gene and Assil — Rebecca was an innocent third party. Seeing her desperately attempt to stem the flow of blood, despite her lack of involvement, was more than Rio could bear. With a sigh, he pointedly approached Assil.
“Please move.”
“Huh?”
Ignoring Rebecca’s confused voice, Rio easily lifted Assil’s larger body up. He was only able to perform this by secretly enhancing his physical body with essence. But to everyone else around them -- including Gene and Rebecca -- it made Rio look like he had a tremendous amount of strength, making them all freeze in confusion.
Rio carried Assil to a corner of the room and untied the makeshift cloth bandage, locating the proper point of pressure to stem the blood flow and retying it tighter. Then, he placed his hand over the wound and chanted the spell for healing.
“Cura.”
A mystical, faint light emitted from Rio’s hand. However, no spell formula -- no magic circle, that is -- appeared alongside it, because Rio’s peculiar constitution prevented him from performing magic. Instead, he imitated the flow of essence in a magic formula to perform the same phenomenon as the magic itself. To anyone with even the slightest knowledge of magic and sorcery, Rio’s actions would seem extremely suspicious. No matter how few commoners could handle magic, using such supernatural abilities in front of others was enough to cause concern. That was why Rio had carried him to this corner, where the onlookers couldn’t get as clear of a view of his treatment.
Thankfully, Assil was squeezing his eyes shut to avoid looking at his red-stained leg, giving Rio a chance to heal him just enough to close the wound. Once more, he carried Assil to where they had been before and laid him down, untying the cloth that had been putting pressure on the blood flow.
“I’ve stopped the bleeding, but you’ll need to refrain from any vigorous activity for at least a week. Otherwise, the wound will open again. It’ll hurt, but you should be fine to walk again starting tomorrow,” Rio explained indifferently to everyone there. They were barely listening with their jaws dropped in shock. A silence fell over the room for a moment. Then —
“A-Are you serious...?”
“He healed him with magic?”
“Hey, could he really be a noble?”
“Shit, this is bad. Touching a noble carries a penalty of death.”
Instantly, murmurs of fear and unrest spread through the room. Rio, however, watched the reactions of those in the room coolly, searching for anyone who noticed the irregularity in his actions. As a result, he determined no one had noticed anything strange. Once he had come to that conclusion, he no longer had any reason to remain in the cafeteria.
“Chloe,” Rio called the name of the girl frozen behind the counter. She had been in the middle of carrying a bucket of water into the room to wash away the blood. The moment Rio saw her jump out of her skin and stumble backwards with her small, frightened body —
“...Sorry. Nevermind. The food was delicious... Thank you for the meal.” Rio gave a slightly sad smile and returned to his room.
◇◇◇
The next morning, Rio left the inn before the sun had even risen.
“Thank you very much for healing that injured patron last night. The situation was contained because of you,” Rebecca said, bowed her head deeply towards Rio at the front desk.
“Please don’t worry about it. It’s not something you should be thanking me for, ma’am.” Rio shook his head with a forced smile.
“No, it was my fault... I didn’t intervene sooner.”
“Adventurers fighting in bars is a daily occurrence. You can’t afford to break up each and every one of them. The ones at fault here are the parties concerned: myself, and the other two men.” Rio defended Rebecca so that she wouldn’t feel as guilty.
Last night, Rebecca had been the one to bring water and a bucket to Rio’s room. She had apologized numerous times in that interval, making Rio feel quite badly for her.
“So please, don’t let it bother you. I must be going now,” Rio said, trying to leave as soon as possible.
“Umm, would you like to take a lunchbox with you instead of breakfast? Please wait here just a moment, I’ll go pack it now! I’ll also return your room fees.” Rebecca took a coin purse from the counter; she had probably prepared it beforehand. Rio shook his head in a fluster.
“There’s no way I can accept a refund. I’ve received more than enough service from this inn.”
“Then let me make your lunch, at least. Breakfast is meant to be included in the fee, after all.”
Without waiting for Rio’s reply, Rebecca placed the coin purse down on the counter and made a dash for the kitchen.
She’s an honest and good person, but rather than giving off a wise aura, she seems to be the type to be fooled easily... Rio noted his impression of Rebecca. He looked towards the kitchen to see Chloe and another unknown girl in an apron watching him back. They hid the moment their gazes met with Rio’s.
Chloe... and her little sister? She’s young.
Whereas Chloe was around ten years old, her sister was clearly much younger. Having someone that young helping out at the inn provided more than enough evidence that Rebecca was struggling.
Is this place being run by three girls? I don’t see any sign of a husband. Rio hadn’t seen a proprietor since entering this inn. He had thought that the man might have been working in the kitchen, but the kitchen was being run by Rebecca.
...Well, whatever.
It had nothing to do with him, so Rio decided not to stick his nose into their business any further. It was then that Rebecca returned with a neatly wrapped lunchbox.
“Sorry for the wait. I packed it full of breakfast foods and bread. Chloe woke up early to bake it, so I hope you enjoy it.”
“Thank you for going through the trouble. Please let Chloe know too —”
“Hey! I’m back!”
Just as Rio was thanking her with a smile, a drunken man entered the inn. He spotted Rebecca and wobbled his way over to her.
“Honey! Don’t tell me you’re coming back drunk again!”
“Shut up! I can drink whenever I want to!” With a yell, the man suddenly struck Rebecca.
Rio was surprised, guessing that this was her husband. And judging by how he was coming home drunk in the early hours of the morning, he probably wasn’t a good one.
An unbearable feeling came over Rio, but he didn’t want to act on it and complicate their family matters any more than they already were.
“Ugh...”
But he couldn’t help but feel helpless as he watched Rebecca touch where she was hit in pain. Rio sighed and approached her. He feigned chanting a spell, and manipulated his essence to heal her pain.
“Huh? It... doesn’t hurt anymore? T-Thank you!” Rebecca made a surprised face at the pain disappearing, but instantly understood what Rio had done and bowed her head in gratitude.
“What? What did he do?” Meanwhile, her husband glared at Rio doubtfully. He didn’t understand what Rio had done, and was in a worse mood after seeing Rebecca being defended.
“Stop it! That’s one of our patrons!” Rebecca tried to stand in front of her husband in a panic.
You’ll only get hit again doing that...
Rio was fed up. He knew she was a woman with a high sense of responsibility, but this was rather tactless.
Sure enough, her husband’s temper flared, and he tried to smack her once again. With a sigh, Rio closed the gap between them, neutralized her husband’s movements, and gently touched the man’s head.
“Purgo.”
Rio’s hand started to faintly glow as he chanted a fake spell once more. Several seconds passed until the husband regained his senses.
“It’s a sobering magic. Do you feel refreshed now?” Rio asked in a cold tone.
“Huh...? Y-Yeah. Sorry about that,” the husband said, perplexed by his suddenly clear state of mind.
“Don’t apologize to me, apologize to Rebecca,” Rio said in a tired voice, glancing over at the woman. Her husband turned to the proprietress with a guilty look on his face.
“Sorry.”
While he was a furious drunk, he didn’t seem to be unreasonably violent when sober.
“I-I’m really sorry for the trouble!” Rebecca bowed her head at Rio in extreme gratitude.
“No, I should be the one apologizing. Thank you for the lunch. Bye now.” Rio chose to say his farewells before things got more complicated, then left the inn.
Well, that didn’t really solve anything...
The scene that had happened in the inn just now would most likely occur again in the future. His actions had been meaningless... A temporary solution at best. The thought made his morning a bit more gloomy.
Time to get a move on. He decided to leave the city and put his bad mood behind him as quickly as possible.
After walking east along the road into the forest for a while, Rio checked to see if anyone was nearby, before deliberately straying off the road. It was still early in the morning, so the forest fog made everything difficult to see. Rio leisurely started to run.
Not long after he’d changed his pace, he discovered a figure lying on the ground in his path. He stepped toward it it to see that a person was there, lying face-down.
Even one step outside of the city walls exposed you to the risk of being attacked by monsters and carnivorous animals; that risk rose exponentially once you entered the forest proper. This person could have potentially been the result of that hazard — but it was possible that they may have just collapsed in the middle of their journey.
With that thought in mind, Rio approached the body.
It wore a robe that covered their entire figure. Judging by the size, Rio thought it was a child.
Why is a child all the way out here...?
It was a little unsettling, but just abandoning them would leave a bad aftertaste in Rio’s mouth, so he reluctantly decided to call out to them.
“Hey, are you all right?” he asked as he shook them, but there was no reaction, though he could feel some body heat through the robe.
So they were still alive — Rio relaxed for a moment and tried to peek at their face through the gap in their hood.
Suddenly, the person — a girl, he realized — opened her eyes; they emitted a faint, murderous intent. Rio directed his gaze at the girl’s hand, only to see a knife with a long blade clutched in her hand.
The girl thrust the knife towards Rio’s body, but he twisted himself around with a flinch, avoiding the attack. The girl’s knife had swung through empty space, narrowly missing him. However, it seemed as though she had read his first evade as she seamlessly moved to use a follow-up attack.
With a heavy puff of breath, the girl blew at Rio’s neck. In her mouth was a small flute-like pipe — a blowgun.
Rio felt a sting of pain at his neck, making him frown. But he knew he had to create distance between them, first and foremost, and reflexively shoved the girl away, while taking a step back.
The girl’s hood fell back, revealing a very cute face and pale orange hair that reached down to her shoulders. She appeared to be two or three years younger than Rio, but there was a terrifying amount of cold-blooded murderous intent lurking in her scarlet eyes. Two fluffy fox ears grew out of her head, strongly demanding attention to their presence.
A werebeast?! Rio’s eyes widened at the girl’s features. Suddenly, all the strength in his body drained away as he fell to one knee.
The dart from her blowgun had been covered in a fast-acting poison, Rio determined. He pulled the dart out of his neck with a trembling hand. Then, before the poison could travel throughout his body, he covered the wound with his hand and secretly began to neutralize the poison without the girl’s noticing.
The girl assumed he had no form of antidote and watched on, waiting for the poison to circulate through him.
Meanwhile, as Rio administered his detoxification ability, he carefully observed the girl’s face. He had read about them in books before, but this was his first time seeing a real werebeast.
Werebeasts and other demi-humans were very rarely spotted if one lived a normal life in the Strahl region, making Rio’s surprise justified.
The two stared at each other as Rio continued to remove the poison from his body. Once he deemed himself ready — and checked the strength of his grip — he gave the girl a small smile. The girl finally noticed that the color was, for some reason, returning to Rio’s face. Surprise flickered across her emotionless face.
Rio kept an eye on the girl for any movements as he removed his backpack and dropped it on the ground, making him instantly lighter. Now, he was ready for a fight.
In the next moment, the girl burst into a run towards Rio with tremendous speed. She had probably used Augendae Corporis beforehand, but even if she did —
She’s really fast!
Rio was shocked at how fast her burst of speed was; of all the people he had met, until now, she was definitely the fastest. Despite her young age, her natural abilities as a werebeast had probably awakened... But that didn’t mean Rio had to fall behind her. He could manipulate his essence to allow his body to surpass its physical limits, and draw out his abilities too.
Rio let his essence flow out of his body, which instantly strengthened it. Then, at a speed that was equal to the girl’s, he dove to the side. The girl’s eyes widened slightly at Rio’s speed, but she changed her trajectory to match his.
So she’s able to keep up...
Rio tracked her movements calmly as he took out a knife from his robe. He threw it at her leg, but the girl jumped to evade it. She grabbed a moderately sized branch and pulled herself up, jumping lightly from branch to branch to climb up a tree. Rio burst into a run — faster than the wind, he charged straight towards the girl, making her reach into her robe in a panic. She took out several throwing knives and flung them at Rio.
Rio drew his longsword from its scabbard midair; although it wasn’t anything flashy, a fairly famous blacksmith had forged its razor-sharp blade. As proof of that, the blade of the sword gleamed sharply. Rio swung his sword at the approaching knives —
The shrill sound of metal colliding with metal echoed throughout the forest. Rio had foreseen the trajectory of the girl’s knives and knocked them straight out of the air. He returned his sword back to its sheath as the girl swiftly descended from the tree. At the same time, Rio jumped up into the tree where the girl had just been.
The force of his jump snapped the branch beneath him, making him move to another nearby branch instead. Then he dropped down to the ground once more... But the girl closed in on him, as she had anticipated the timing of his landing. She thrust the knife in her right hand towards Rio’s torso, but Rio calmly moved his left hand, parrying her knife attack. He then moved his right hand too; using the palm of his hand, he countered the girl’s attack with a blow to her chin. But the girl moved her head to the side, evading his palm. She spun the knife around in her hand, attempting another strike on Rio’s body.
There was probably poison on the knife too.
Rio used his flawless defensive movements and refined footwork to skillfully continue to dodge her attacks, but the girl refused to give up. She persistently tried to land one more attack.
Her fierce attacks continued on for a while, but Rio observed her movements meticulously, and avoided each of her attacks with simple precision. Only the pitiful sound of the blade cutting through empty space echoed through the air.
Eventually, the girl became aware of the difference in their ability. Her emotionless face began to show signs of impatience as her movements gradually became rougher. Rio had seen through the girl’s habits, and at this point, was deliberately creating chances for her to attack. The girl completely fell for his trap, swinging the knife horizontally at his face.
You’re focusing on the knife too much.
Rio flung himself backwards to avoid the knife. Simultaneously, he timed a kick to the girl’s feet just as she swung her knife, and knocked her off balance. He then grabbed the girl’s arms and disarmed her of the knife, throwing it away with vigor. He flung the girl back-first at a tree, but she flipped midair to regain her balance and landed by the tree on both feet, negating her momentum. She kicked against the trunk like a springboard, and launched herself back into the air, drawing a backup knife from her pocket. She thrust it forward, aiming for Rio’s heart.
It’s like watching an animal move... Rio found himself in awe of the girl’s combat senses, but he dealt with it calmly.
Grabbing her arm as she leapt towards him, he threw her over his shoulder and onto the ground with force.
“Guh...!” She received the brunt of the impact against her back this time, making her groan in pain. The strength in her limbs gave out, making her let go of the knife. Rio kicked the knife away and straddled the girl’s body, holding her down.
“It’s over. You can understand my speech, right?” he said, pressing his weight down on her. He didn’t miss the brief flicker of fear in the girl’s emotionless eyes.
“Uuh... Uwah! N-No! No! Nooo! I dun... I dun wanna die...!” She struggled, shaking her head about in violent discomposure.
“H-Hey, calm down!” Rio said, trying to soothe the desperate girl.
“E-Eek! S-Save me! Mom! Mama...!”
It was hard to believe this was the same girl who had just fought so calmly before. She was in no state to hold a conversation — once he determined that, Rio placed his hand on the girl’s head and imitated sleep magic to put her to sleep by force. The girl’s body fell completely limp.
Rio removed a rope from his sack of belongings; In order to make sure she didn’t thrash about when she awakened, he’d remove her robe and inspect her body before securely tying her up. But halfway through the process, he noticed a metal collar around her neck, and frowned.
“...The Collar of Submission, huh?” Rio muttered with furrowed brows.
The Collar of Submission was a type of magical artifact used on slaves and criminals — an artifact that controlled the free will of the wearer. When the wearer received an order from a registered owner, they would feel greatly inclined to follow that order. On top of that, if they resisted the order too strongly, the registered owner could chant a certain spell to cast extreme pain on the wearer.
Slaves were seen as property that could be owned. They had no human rights, and could be treated like objects without resistance, no matter what they really thought inside their hearts. That was what slaves were, and the Collar of Submission existed to supplement that.
This werefox girl, who had just tried to kill Rio, was wearing such a collar, unmistakably making her the slave of someone else. She had probably been raised as an assassin and ordered to kill Rio by her registered owner. As long as she had the Collar of Submission on, she would continue her attempts to kill Rio. If she didn’t, she would have to suffer erratic shocks of pain throughout her body.
It was almost like a curse... To both the girl, and to Rio.
There weren’t many options to escape that curse, either: the fastest option would be to kill her, but Rio had never killed anyone before. Amakawa Haruto inside him still strongly rejected the idea of crossing that line. But at the same time, he knew that choosing to solve this another way would only bring him more hardship.
Unable to hide his annoyance, Rio let out a heavy sigh.
After several moments of hesitation, he placed his hand against the girl’s neck. Then, a faint light emitted from his hands — Clack! The collar that had restrained the girl fell off. Rio had dispelled the sorcery cast on the artifact by imitating the high-class magic, Dispello.
“Hey. Wake up.”
Rio retrieved the Collar of Submission and shook the girl awake.
“Ngh... uhh...”
After a few shakes, the girl’s body gave a twitch. Not long after, she blinked her eyes open. Then, seeing Rio’s figure in her field of vision, she tried to get up in a panic, but soon realized she was restrained.
After a bit of struggling, she came to accept the fact that her movements had been completely constrained, and she cowered in resignation. She looked up at Rio with wary eyes.
“It seems like you understand the situation now. If you don’t want to die, don’t thrash around like you did before. Okay?” Rio decided to intimidate her a little with a threat, but fear filled the girl’s eyes.
“...If I don’t... thrash... you won’t... kill?”
“That depends on whether you answer my questions or not. You were ordered to come kill me, right? Is your master one of the royals of Beltrum, or one of the nobles?”
The girl fell silent at Rio’s question. She had probably been under strict orders to never act in a harmful way toward her master. Breaking that order would have resulted in extreme pain gnawing away at her body, making her instinctively want to avoid speaking, even though Rio had already removed her collar.
“Hey. Do you know what this is?” Rio held the Collar of Submission up for her to see the same collar she had been wearing moments ago.
“A c-collar...?!”
The girl gave a confused reply, immediately followed by a gasp. Her eyes widened. She desperately wriggled her body under her restraints to check for the sensation of the collar. Eventually, she realized that the sensation of something that should’ve been there was missing.
“It’s... gone... The collar... is gone? But... why?” The girl blinked her eyes in utter astonishment.
After a moment, she snapped back to herself with a gasp, then struggled to check the presence of the collar once more...
“Eh... w-weh... hic... hic... Waaaaah!”
...Then burst into violent tears.
“Hey...” Rio found himself at a loss before the girl’s flood of tears. All he knew was that the Collar of Submission must have weighed heavily on her.
With a sigh, Rio decided to let the girl cry all she wanted for now. He took that time to go and collect all the weapons they had used in their battle.
“...Are you done yet?” Rio asked as her cries finally started to settle down. The girl flinched, and worriedly looked up at him.
“The collar is gone now, so you can answer my questions, right? Who ordered you to come kill me?”
“Ah, uh...”
The girl didn’t respond right away to Rio’s question. She glanced around at her surroundings, and sniffed the air.
“I don’t know what you’re so wary for, but it’s only you and me out here. You can rest easy,” Rio said, making the girl’s body shake once again. Eventually, she opened her mouth.
“I-I... d-don’t know the name... of my master... He never... told it... to me...”
It was more or less the response Rio had been expecting. Having a slave for the risky role of an assassin meant the master probably didn’t allow any more information to be passed on than necessary.
“...Do you know the house name?” He didn’t have very high expectations, but he asked anyway.
“H-House name? I don’t... know.” The girl tilted her head in confusion as Rio gave a disappointed sigh.
“B-But! I know... I know Brother’s name! Stewart... I-It’s Stewart!” The girl strung together her sentences in a rush. Rio narrowed his eyes at her response.
It was a very familiar name to him. The same name as the boy who tried to push the blame for shoving Flora off the cliff onto Rio. If his family had found out about Rio, it would make sense for them to send their pet assassin after him.
“Stewart... Is he a werefox like you?”
“...Brother... isn’t... a werebeast. He’s human. T-The one who trained me.” The girl shook her head furiously from side to side.
“Trained? If he’s a human, then that means you’re not related... right?”
Rio frowned slightly at the mention of a brother. It was hard to believe she could have one. While he knew it was possible that she could have been the child of another slave, he didn’t want to jump to any hasty conclusions, so he asked just to make sure.
“I don’t... know...” The girl bobbed her head without confidence.
“...Let me change my question. Where did you follow me from?”
“The... same place... as you.”
“So the capital of Beltrant, huh.”
“Probably... Th-There were lots... of pretty houses.”
“I see. Then, is there anyone other than you who’s trying to kill me?”
“...I-I don’t know. But... probably not... I think.” the girl replied feebly.
“Okay. Here’s my last question, then.”
Instantly, Rio’s aura darkened dangerously. He gazed deeply into the girl’s eyes. She couldn’t look away, and swallowed nervously as she waited for Rio’s question.
“...Do you still intend to kill me?”
“I-I won’t kill.” The girl trembled, shaking her head stiffly.
The eyes were a window to the soul; no matter what kind of expression was pasted on the face, some form of emotion would always reach the eyes. Rio could no longer observe the calm killing intent she had carried in her eyes before. While she was fairly terrified at the moment, she didn’t seem to have any other hidden agenda.
“...All right, you’re free. I’ve left all your weapons with your robe over there,” Rio declared with a sigh as he began to untie the girl’s restraints.
“Huh...?” The girl made an expression of confusion.
“I’m saying: you can get away from here. Without a collar to control you, you no longer need to return to your master. Though... I guess that makes you a runaway slave now,” Rio said with a rather sullen look. He understood that even if he released this girl here, she didn’t have many options available to her.
There were no human settlements in the Strahl region where a demi-human could live alongside humans in peace. This meant that it would be impossible for a werefox like her to live with humans. However, even if she were to live away from humans, she had been born a slave — it was hard to believe she was taught any form of self-sufficiency. She had been controlled by the Collar of Submission, but it hadn’t been the only thing restricting her. If she wanted to continue living in the Strahl region, she’d have to become slave property to someone.
That was her reality.
The girl had yet to understand that herself. She stared back at Rio with a blank look on her face, tilting her head a bit with worry.
“...If you leave this country and head east, there’ll be a vast area called the Wilderness. There should be land there where demi-humans like you live,” Rio said; he had opened his mouth before he realized he did.
“The... Wilderness? East...?”
“East is the direction I’m heading in... Beltrum is to the west. You’d be better off finding your own kind in the Wilderness than staying in these lands.”
“Own kind... East... Wilderness...” The girl muttered to herself. A glimmer of hope appeared in her eyes.
She had no idea what to do with her newfound freedom, but with Rio’s guidance, she now had a vague hope for her future. Rio watched her silently for a moment, before speaking: “I’ll be off, then. Just a warning, but the next time you attack... I won’t hold back.”
He started to walk off, reassured that he had indeed granted the girl her freedom from the Collar of Submission. However, that was simply because the girl — no, the reason was because he didn’t want to kill anyone. That was why he had no obligation to oversee what the girl did from here. He repeated this reasoning to himself in his heart.
The girl instantly adopted the expression of an abandoned puppy.
“Ah-”
She reached a hand towards Rio’s departing figure and let out a small sound, before quickly drawing her hand back in. She paced around that spot for a while. Once Rio had completely disappeared from sight, she hesitantly started to follow his footsteps.
Plod plod, plod plod. She followed along at a distance, making sure not to lose sight of Rio walking ahead.
Now that she was free from slavery, she had nowhere to return to. She would never go back to that place where she had been a slave ever again. With that, she only had one place she could possibly go: the Wilderness that Rio told her about. But without a map, nor a sense of the land, she was scared of moving forward aimlessly. And if she wanted to rely on someone else, then there was naturally only one option. She chose to follow Rio, who seemed to be heading in the same direction.
That was how far backed into a corner she was. To rely on the person she had tried to kill... Though it had been under someone else’s order, she couldn’t help but feel guilty about it. There was also the possibility of him rejecting her if she asked for his help outright. As a result, her selfish desires made her choose to sneakily follow after him.
A few minutes of walking through the forest later, Rio suddenly came to a stop.
“Come out,” he said loudly over his shoulder.
The girl flinched. She was sure she had hidden her presence, so she wondered how he had noticed her... But she was more than well aware that she couldn’t win against Rio, no matter how much she struggled. Without thinking too much on it, she revealed herself to him.
“Do you still want something from me?” Rio asked the trembling girl.
“U-Umm... I want... to go... east... with you,” The girl answered falteringly. Rio placed his right hand against his head and heaved a sigh.
“Are you serious?”
“I-I want... to go.” The girl bit down on her lip and nodded.
“...You may be misunderstanding something here. I didn’t release you from slavery because I wanted to save you. It was just more convenient for me to choose not to kill you.”
To put it bluntly: he didn’t want to carry around the weight of a murder. That was why he had removed the girl’s Collar of Submission. He wasn’t completely apathetic to the girl’s situation, but he definitely didn’t act out of pure intentions. That was his thinking behind all of this.
“B-But I-I don’t know... what... to do,” The girl muttered, ducking her head with tears in her eyes. Rio scratched his head awkwardly.
“...I’m a human. The same species as the people that treated you as their slave. Aren’t you afraid?”
“You... don’t... seem bad.” The girl shook her head.
Rio had a vague feeling this would happen from the moment he removed her collar. Considering the girl’s circumstances, it made sense. That was why he had purposefully made sure to walk away, just in case the girl decided to pursue him. Sure enough, here they were. But did this girl really understand what it meant to move together with the person she had tried to assassinate just moments ago...?
“Have you considered how I might feel about you, after you just tried to kill me?” Rio asked flatly. The girl’s face fell aghast.
“Ah! I-I’m sorry! The collar... hurt so much, I...” She began to apologize in a panic, tears dropping from her eyes.
“I’m not actually angry. I don’t know what kind of pain you suffered from the collar, but I know you only tried to kill me because you couldn’t disobey it. But that doesn’t mean I have any proof you won’t attack me again. In other words, I can’t trust you. Do you understand that?” Rio explained with a troubled sigh.
It was true that a part of him didn’t mind bringing the girl along with him, but at the same time, he wasn’t exactly at ease with the idea of traveling alone with an unknown former assassin.
“T-Then, the collar! You can... You can put it on me! P-Please. Take me... with you,” she begged frantically through her tears.
“The collar... Didn’t you hate wearing that thing?” Rio asked in near exasperation at the girl’s failure to understand the weight of her words.
“I don’t... want to be... alone. I’m... scared. So... please,” she sniffled and sobbed with her head down, making Rio feel even more uncomfortable. An extremely uneasy expression fell over his face as he clenched his hands into fists. He sighed for the umpteenth time.
“All right. Do as you please,” he declared, giving in. He weakly reasoned to himself that it was better to move together than have her secretly follow him.
“Huh...? Ah... O-Okay!” The girl hesitated for a moment before nodding enthusiastically.
“We’re going to go back to the city first. Come.” Rio came up with that plan of action after glancing over the girl’s body.
“U-Umm, are you... going to put the collar on me?” The girl hesitantly asked Rio’s back as he began to walk off.
“I threw that away long ago. Let’s go already; we can only travel for so many hours a day,” Rio replied as he walked briskly.
“W-What... are we doing... there?”
“You don’t have the proper equipment. We have to prepare your share of supplies for the journey.”
The girl was only wearing a single, thin layer of clothing under her robe, which wasn’t appropriate for the long journey they were about to take. He also had to buy more food supplies to make up for her share.
“T-Thank... you.”
“...Put your hood on inside the city. Otherwise things will get messy,” Rio said, glancing at the girl stumbling to keep up with his pace.
“Okay!” she nodded happily.
“By the way, what’s your name?” Rio suddenly came to a stop to ask the girl for her name.
“It’s... Latifa!”
“I see. You might know this already, but I’m... Rio. Nice to meet you, Latifa.” With a small sigh, Rio introduced himself somewhat reluctantly.
◇◇◇
After they went shopping, Rio and Latifa departed from Amande once more. While it wasn’t as huge as Rio’s, Latifa now had a large backpack on her back as well.
Then, once they were out of Amande, Rio tried running through the forest at his usual speed. He was testing Latifa’s stamina. As a result, they discovered she couldn’t last for very long while carrying a heavy backpack. Once they knew Latifa’s limits, Rio slowed his movement speed to a pace that she could keep up with. They took breaks more frequently than usual, too.
As they sat down on some boulders next to a spring in the forest, Latifa’s stomach growled loudly. Rio looked at her with widened eyes.
“I-It’s nothing! I’m... I’m not hungry!” Latifa shook her head furiously, blushing bright red.
“You don’t have to hold yourself back. It’s way past time for breakfast,” Rio said in amusement, reaching into his backpack for the sandwich Rebecca made him. He cut it in half with a cooking knife and offered it to Latifa.
But Latifa merely looked at the sandwich in confusion. Her eyes moved between the sandwich and Rio’s face several times.
“What’s wrong?”
“I-I can... eat this?” Latifa asked Rio hesitantly, gauging his reaction.
...I guess she’s never been allowed to eat without permission before. Rio hazarded a guess at the reason for Latifa’s question.
That was exactly the case: Latifa had been raised to only do as she was ordered to. If she moved of her own free will, she would have been disciplined. Thus, she had picked up the habit of asking for permission before doing anything herself. Her existence relied entirely on others. Releasing her from slavery wouldn’t solve those habits immediately.
By engaging with her, Rio was slowly able to analyze the issues regarding her personality and mental state... But changing her state of mind wouldn’t be easy.
He would just do what he could, helping her little by little during their time together.
“There’s no need to hold back — feel free to eat it. What do you want to do, Latifa?” Rio asked.
“...I w-want... to eat it.” After a moment’s pause, Latifa voiced her own thoughts.
“Okay, then eat it.” With a gentle smile, Rio handed her the sandwich.
Latifa stared at the sandwich in her hands intently. To make her feel more at ease, Rio started to eat his sandwich first, prompting Latifa to slowly put her’s in her mouth.
“I-It’s delicious.”
Once she had confirmed the taste, her next bite was a hurried chomp.
“Om, nom nom...! Mmhgh... nom... nnn... uguu...” Latifa furiously stuffed her cheeks with the bread, but began to cry midway.
Having been born a slave, this sandwich was the greatest delicacy she had ever tasted in her entire life.
“I won’t take it from you, so eat it slowly. It’s not good for you to eat like that.” Rio sat down next to Latifa and patted her back gently.
“Wah... hic... Every day, Brother would... hic... when feeding me... waah...” Latifa choked on her tears as she recalled her meals until now.
Just how horribly was she treated during her mealtimes? Rio didn’t even want to think about it. He continued to pat her back soothingly until she calmed down.
Rio refilled the flask with water using his essence, then offered it to Latifa after she stopped crying.
“Here’s some water.”
“T-Thank you...” Latifa nodded her head and started to gulp it down as Rio drank from his filled flask, too. He couldn’t quite find the right words to say.
“...We’ll be setting off in a bit. I want to cross the country border and enter the Wilderness by the day after tomorrow. Today, we’ll go as far as we can... At worst, we can camp in the forest if need be.”
“O-Okay.” Latifa rubbed her eyes with the sleeve of her robe and nodded.
◇◇◇
As they had discussed, Rio and Latifa dedicated as much time as possible to moving forward, heading towards the far east kingdom of Galarc.
Before the sun began to set, Rio discovered a low area of ground suitable for camping and pitched a suggestion to his traveling companion.
“Let’s set up camp for today. I’ll fix up a place for us to sleep, so you wait there.”
“A place... to sleep?” Latifa tilted her head in wonder. She seemed to be questioning if they had any materials to create such a thing, since their backpacks were mostly stuffed with food supplies.
“I’m going to make it myself. Stand back a bit.” Rio gave a small smile as he drew the sword at his waist.
He marched towards a moderately-sized tree and leapt at it, swinging his sword around at a speed faster than the eyes could follow. The next moment, thick branches of the tree rained down from above.
“Wow...” Latifa said with widened eyes.
Rio picked up an especially thick branch from the selection scattered about. He stabbed it into the ground at the edge of the lowered pit, fixing it in place. It would serve as the main pillar of support for the shelter he was about to build.
Next, he stuck branches on both sides of the pillar, diagonally into the ground, positioning them like a triangle and using rope to reinforce the structure. At this point, it formed a tall tent shape.
Then, he covered it in greenery to make it blend in naturally with their surroundings. The leaves also helped cover any gaps to block out the wind and rain. All that was left to do was make a door and similarly camouflage it before the simple tent was complete. Since the forest at night was cold and the weather unpredictable, it was worth the trouble of building such a shelter.
Seeing how fast he had constructed such a wonderful shelter made Latifa gaze at Rio with sparkling eyes of awe. With a forced smile, Rio started a fire near the tent entrance.
“Okay, time to make our meal. Can you fan the smoke into there?”
“Fan... the smoke?”
“Just make the smoke blow into the tent. It acts as an insect repellent.”
“O-Okay. Leave it... to me!” Latifa nodded earnestly.
Rio picked up his backpack and walked a bit of distance away from the campsite, to avoid leaving the scent of food near the tent in case beasts roamed by at night. He picked an appropriate place to begin cooking; today’s menu would be pasta soup.
First, he built a simple base to place the pot on and filled it with water, lighting a fire underneath to warm it up. Then, he did the same for a deep frying pan, oiling it with vegetable oil. He placed cuts of dried meat and wild grasses he picked on their way here into the pan, added seasoning and spices before beginning to fry it up. He would occasionally use his essence to create a gust of wind, casually blowing the smell of the food directly up into the air.
Meanwhile, the water in the pot had reached a rolling boil, so he added some salt and let it simmer. Then, he dropped the pasta into the pot, radiating it out from the center. He turned down the heat and stirred the pasta lightly; it boiled as he adjusted the temperature of the bubbling water.
As soon as it was done, he transferred the pasta to the frying pan, cooking everything together at a low heat. Then he poured in the broth and adjusted the flavoring to complete the pasta soup. Rio preferred his food spicy, but he held back so a child like Latifa could easily eat it.
Hm? He suddenly sensed a presence behind him, making him whirl around.
It was Latifa, lured by the smell of the food.
Her nose twitched cutely as she sniffed the air. Seeing the typical fox-like behavior made Rio chuckle with a smile. Latifa noticed him laughing at her, and blushed in response.
“Come on, food’s done. Let’s have dinner,” Rio said, picking up the frying pan. He served the pasta soup into containers and carried them to a makeshift table he had put together earlier.
“Spaghetti? Is this spaghetti?!” Latifa took one glance inside the container and yelled in astonishment.
“...You know what this food is?” Rio asked his question in a daze, though at first, he had been at a loss for words for a moment.
“I... know! I... know it! Can I... eat it?” Latifa nodded furiously, looking up at Rio with expectant eyes.
“Of course. Eat up before it cools.”
“T-Thank you!”
Once she’d received permission from Rio, Latifa smiled a carefree smile, eyes sparkling as she began to eat the pasta. Rio watched her in contemplation. The noodle-like food called ‘pasta’ had only appeared in this Strahl region recently. On top of that, it was only sold in a limited number of areas at the moment. Rio was sure he had never seen pasta in the kingdom of Beltrum, at least.
Furthermore, Liselotte — the inventor of pasta — had never called it spaghetti. And yet, Latifa had taken one glance at the pasta and called it just that. She was even using the fork and spoon with skill, moving the pasta into her mouth with familiarity.
What exactly could this mean? Rio’s thoughts came to a stop.
“Omf, om nom nom.” Latifa was engrossed with gobbling down the steaming hot pasta.
“...You’ll burn your tongue like that. Slow down a little,” Rio warned her gently, fearing she would hurt herself.
“Om — hah, hot!” Sure enough, Latifa burned her tongue. Rio smiled bitterly.
“Here, water.”
“Ah, t-thank you.” Latifa accepted the flask from Rio and brought it to her mouth in a hurry.
“Apparently, this food is called pasta. Have you had it before?” Rio inquired once Latifa drank the water and calmed down.
“Fweh? Pasta? Ah... umm, yes. I used... to eat it.” Latifa’s expression suddenly stiffened, fearing she had done something bad. But after a moment, she fixed an uncomfortable smile on her face and nodded with feigned enthusiasm.
“I see. No wonder you seem familiar with eating it. That’s great,” Rio said, as though he was impressed. But on the inside...
She’s never received a proper education, yet she knows how to use cutlery and eat high-class food... there’s just too many factors that can’t be dismissed anymore. Pasta isn’t even in circulation in Beltrum’s markets yet...
Rio calmly deduced that Latifa was either lying or hiding something from him. And he had one theory he was fairly certain was close to the truth — that Latifa also had memories of a previous life.
However, Latifa’s language abilities seemed a little too underdeveloped for that to be the case, Rio thought. From his interactions with her up until this point, he could tell there wasn’t much of a difference between her mental age and her appearance. If anything, they matched up perfectly.
Perhaps it was because of her slave upbringing, but her mental instability made her seem all the more child-like. At the very least, she didn’t appear to have any experience with society in her previous life. Of course, it was possible that it was all an act, but Rio couldn’t imagine a need for her to do that.
Which meant that she wasn’t much different in age — an elementary school-aged child — in her previous life.
However, if that was the case, then that would mean Latifa had suffered a much more tragic second life than Rio. A child living in the prosperous modern Japan had suddenly been stripped of her human rights and made into a pet slave, after all. If she had been born and raised as a slave, she would have never known any better, but that all changed once she regained her memories of her previous life. She would have lived her life yearning to be free from slavery, to return to her former world. Her pain and fear would have far surpassed anything Rio could imagine.
Not being allowed the freedom to live.
Not even being allowed the freedom to die.
Just imagining the circumstances Latifa had been placed in made him feel sick.
She should be less than ten years old at present; he didn’t know how old she had been when her memories returned, but if it was at the same age as Rio, then she would have been six. Even if Latifa was an elementary school student in her previous life, she wouldn’t have had more than ten years of life experience. Simply merging those two young lives together didn’t mean their life experience had advanced further. Rio had the feeling he knew why Latifa appeared and behaved as she did. And at the same time, he knew why she seemed a bit unstable, as well.
“Fuu, fuu.”
At the moment, Latifa was wholeheartedly eating Rio’s cooking. At some point, her eyes had even welled with tears, but her expression was one of happiness. Once she finished the last bite, she licked the empty bowl with regret.
“There’s still some left for seconds. You can eat more... Here.” Rio took Latifa’s bowl and served her another helping.
“T-Thank you!” Latifa smiled happily and bowed her head.
Rio had completely lost his appetite, so he forced down his own first serving and gave the rest to Latifa.
