Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (LN) - Volume Ex1 - Chapter 4.4

The Girl in the Ruins

"Hey, Onee-chan, is mom going to be okay?"

"--Of course."

My response to my little sister was slightly delayed.

I wonder if I was able to smile enough to convince her...

Mom has been unconscious since yesterday.

I want to ask someone for help, but I know no one will come.

There is no priest that would come to this ruined building in the slums.

"I'll go look for food. You stay here by mom's side."

"O-okay."

I leave my sister and crawl out of the house.

The chilling air pierces through my thin rags.

My hair only moves slightly in the heavy wind, as if it was a withered tree. Ever since it got cold, I haven't washed it once.

"""Get out of here, you dogs of the baron!"""

On the other side of the street, I hear the voices of the adults arguing with Baron Muno's soldiers.

Apparently, they're doing some 'town planning' and forcing people out of the slums.

If we ever get forced out, we'll have nowhere to go.

"Someone, help..."

I let out a weak shout with tears in my eyes.

I know crying won't make anyone help me, but I can't hold the tears back.

My tears get wiped away by a clean cloth.

This may be the softest cloth I have ever seen. I raise my face in surprise.

"Is something wrong?"

There was a young man with nice clothes who I had never seen before.

"Help my mom--"

Mom told me to run away if a stranger approaches me with a smile, but before I realized it I was begging him to help me.

Maybe because he had a kind-looking face.

"Okay, lead me to her."

The young man agrees without a second thought.

I lead him to my mom's bedside in the ruined building.

"Hmm, malnutrition and endemic disease... This should do the trick."

The young man glances at mom and mutters something to himself, then lays down a mat in the corner of the room.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm making medicine, it'll only take a little while."

He takes various grasses and beautiful rocks out of his bag, pounds them into dust, and then mixes them with water.

"Pretty."

"Yeah, it is kind of pretty."

My sister and I watch from a distance so that we don't disturb him.

The medicine sparkles a little bit in its glass container.

"It's done. She's unconscious, so we'll use a feeding cup."

The young man pours the medicine into a weirdly shaped thin container and then uses it to feed mom.

"There, everything is alright now--. See?"

At the young man's words, we look over to see mom opening her eyes.

"Mom!"

"Mooooom!"

My sister and I jump up and run over to the bedside.

◆

"Onee-chan, Chevalier onii-san is here."

At my sister's words, I stop cleaning the room and head outside to greet him.

My hair gets blown around lightly in the wind.

It's so soft and fluffy now that I wash it every day.

The clean bed and clothes given to us by Chevalier-sama are great as well.

"Hey, have you gotten used to living here now?"

Chevalier-sama asks me this with a slightly troubled smile as my sister clings on to him.

"Yes! It's all thanks to you!"

It's thanks to him that I and the other slum residents can now live in the castle barracks.

"All I did was make a request to Baron Muno and Consul Nina."

Chevalier-sama pats me on the head as he responds slightly embarrassedly.

However, if he didn't help us out, Mom would still be sick. If the slum residents and the soldiers got into a real fight, things would be even worse.

"Chevalier-sama! Please try out the sasakama."

"Understood, I'm on my way."

Someone calls out to him from far away.

"Oh right, I need to give you a reward for cleaning up the barracks."

"Yay~"

"Snacks~"

"It smells sweet."

All of the children jump for joy at Chevalier-sama's baked sweets.

Of course, I love them as well.

A maid grabs Chevalier-sama's hand and leads him to where mom and the others are working.

If I became a maid, would I be able to hold his hand too?

◆

Now that I think about it, that was the day that I decided to become a maid.

Before then, I could only think about how to survive for one more day. It's thanks to Satou-sama that I was able to have a real dream.

I've succeeded in becoming a maid, but my other dream of holding hands with Satou-sama has not yet been fulfilled.

But, someday, I'll make sure it comes true.