Chapter One: Demi-Human Adventurer Town
We got rid of Motoyasu and escaped from the fire, but we didn’t know where to go from there.
“I know he said the southwest—but where, exactly, are we supposed to go?”
In order to clear our names, we were heading to meet the queen in a country to the southwest, but no one had told us where she actually was.
It wasn’t anything more than just grasping at straws, but I was hoping that if we just headed southwest and crossed the border, things would be clearer.
What I couldn’t figure out was how Motoyasu had been able to find out where we were going in the first place.
My best guess was that he was asking around for eyewitness reports or something.
Could there have been a shadow on the enemy’s side too?
“Shadow” was the name of the queen’s secret service soldiers. They had shown up to help us a couple of times.
But from what I hear, the shadows were far from a singular organization. The enemy might have been employing them too.
According to the Shadow, the queen’s group (who was trying to save us) and the Church of the Three Heroes (who accused me of kidnapping Melty but is actually trying to have her killed) were in the middle of a dispute. If the Church was as good at snooping around as I suspected, they might have been feeding Motoyasu information about our whereabouts.
The shadows that were helping us were dressed like ninjas. Apparently the group was divided into spies, and soldiers, and other specialties.
“We don’t have the time to let our guard down. If we don’t wait for Motoyasu to get far away from here, then we’ll have to keep running for days on end.”
Thanks to Motoyasu and Bitch, Melromarc’s road to the southwest had been heavily damaged.
By the time we had the chance to stop and think, we’d gotten far off of our intended path.
“Filo.”
“Whaaat?”
“Can you figure out where Shadow went?
“Um… I can try, but Big Sister Raphtalia is better at finding hidden things!”
“Is she?”
“Is that true, Ms. Raphtalia?”
Melty chimed in on the conversation.
“Please don’t put so much pressure on me. Sometimes I feel… I feel like something strange is going on… but I wouldn’t be able to tell unless I was really close.”
“Yeah, good point. Sometimes I feel like we are being watched from far away. I don’t know how we can hide completely.”
It would be very difficult to completely escape the gaze of the shadows. Still, there was a shadow on our side too, and he was drawing attention away from us. There was a high probability that we could shake off Motoyasu.
Even better… Motoyasu stopped tailing us once night fell. Bitch probably didn’t like to fight in the dark. She probably complained that a good night’s sleep was the cornerstone of proper skin care, the fire-starting monster.
Whatever. As long as they weren’t still chasing us, I didn’t care.
“Ah.”
Melty looked as though she’d had a realization. She was staring at me.
“What?”
“I know a wealthy family in this area. They might let us hide out until Motoyasu has moved on. Then we could escape without being seen.”
“You want to head into town? You? And me? Even Filo is pretty recognizable these days.”
My face was very well known. The crystal ball they had used was like a 3-D photograph back in my world. There wasn’t a soul alive in Melromarc that didn’t know my face.
If someone saw Filo, they’d report that too. She’d been turning into a more average-looking Filolial these days, but she still stood out just by being pink.
We’d seen the village from a distance, and there were clearly a number of guards posted there.
“And you say they are wealthy?”
I had a good reason for asking.
The powerful families of Melromarc tended to really hate the Shield Hero. According to what Melty said, and as far as the teachings of the Church of the Three Heroes were concerned, the Shield Hero was Melromarc’s enemy. It didn’t matter how many people’s trust I managed to earn on my mercantile wanderings. The nobility and the powerful families would still hate me.
“I think it will be fine.”
“Why?”
“This particular family always worked very closely with my mother. I think they share her way of thinking.”
“What do you mean?”
“They were very involved in demi-human to human relations in Melromarc. They tried to help everyone get along.”
“Then why don’t they speak out against your father, Trash, and the Church?”
If they were so enlightened and active, why did everyone still disbelieve me? Why did they all hate me?
If they had really worked so closely with the queen, then they certainly couldn’t claim ignorance about Melromarc’s internal affairs.
“They were a noble family in charge of managing a territory called Seyaette. But they died in the wave.”
“Oh…”
Why did the good people have to die so quickly?
“They were vacationing in their lands when the wave happened. They fought to protect the people who lived there… until the end.”
“That’s terrible…”
“Yes. We lost them in the first wave. It was a great sacrifice.”
Huh? The first wave?
I looked over at Raphtalia. She had met a hard fate during the first wave too.
Raphtalia nodded.
“My village was under the protection of the governor. But the governor died, and we tried to rebuild… the village was…”
So it was all true.
“When we lost that family, we lost the last voice that spoke for the compassionate treatment of demi-humans. Any remaining powers that held the same views were given reassignments by my father. That’s not the worst of it either. I’ve heard that the inhabitants of Seyaette met a hard fate in the ensuing violence.”
“Violence by the Crown’s soldiers.”
Raphtalia was unable to hide her irritation.
Melty silently nodded. She appeared to understand what had happened.
“I believe my mother, once she returns, will see that they are punished. She sent a letter, but it seems to have been ignored. Once all this is over, Raphtalia, please tell me about the soldiers that did these things.”
“I will.”
“Your father is up to no good.”
“Father…”
Melty looked disappointed.
She should be disappointed. One of her parents and her sister were after her life.
Melty says that he’s just being used, but could Trash, the king, really be innocent?
Still, the real mystery was the queen and this noble family. Were they really working for demi-human liberation? Here in human-supremacist Melromarc? I didn’t have enough information to fathom a guess at their true intentions.
But I digress. Back to the topic at hand.
“Ok, and you say there is a noble family in these parts with ties to the past governor of Seyaette?”
“I think so. They were not close with my father, and I believe they were forcibly removed from their lands.”
“That’s a real gamble.”
It sounded like this family was having a rough time. But it wasn’t like I knew nothing about the area.
I guess it happened gradually over a few weeks, but with Filo pulling the carriage, I’d managed to travel most of the country. There were even times when I knew people and places that Melty mentioned.
I didn’t travel as the Shield Hero though. I pretended to be a holy saint of a bird-god, and I traveled around selling cheap accessories for handsome prices.
I remembered a rather intellectual-looking, young family. I’d met a young guy that seemed very kind. My private nickname for him was “Nice Guy.”
I’d secretly snickered to myself at the time, but could it be that he’d done business with me—and he’d known that I was the Shield Hero?
He might have. He had seemed affable. Thinking back on it further, I remembered seeing some demi-human adventurers around town too. Raphtalia might be able to walk around without arousing suspicion.
“It’s a risk to enter the town, especially for Melty and Filo.”
“Why?”
Melty cocked her head inquisitively. Filo did it too—I wished she wouldn’t copy Melty like that.
“Your blue hair stands out too much.”
Melty’s hair was noteworthy. It was a deep blue… almost navy.
It was rare to come across people with deep blue hair, so she stood out even when she wore a disguise.
As for Filo: her Filolial form, and of course her Filolial Queen form, drew the attention of anyone walking by. Don’t even get me started on her human form. She was impossible to hide. If we all walked in wearing heavy robes to hide our identities, that would look suspicious too.
“You stand out too, you know.”
“You’re right.”
“Hey, Master! How about we wait until dark. Then everyone can sit on my back, and I’ll jump over the city gate!”
“That’s not a bad idea, but we’d be caught if there was a single guard on duty.”
“Raphtalia could use her magic to help us…. but I guess that if we used advanced magic, that would draw attention too…”
“What should we do then? It seems like we can count on support. And yet…”
Running away probably wasn’t a bad idea. But constantly running away from Motoyasu had me exhausted.
My body was telling me that it needed rest. Motoyasu was not our only enemy. We might have to fight with adventurers, soldiers, or bounty hunters. We needed to rest up.
“Um…”
Raphtalia raised her hand.
“What is it?”
“What if they’ve been following the news, and they are expecting us to stop by?”
Hm… that very well might be the case.
After all that happened, it seemed like the country was divided into two factions over how to deal with me.
“Good point. And you know, Naofumi, a demi-human adventurer might be more willing to listen to us.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Did you forget? If the Shield Hero is the enemy of human-supremacist
Melromarc, then what would the demi-humans think of him?”
She had a point. Among the countries that were on bad terms with Melromarc, one of them was a nation of demi-humans.
It seemed like the Church of the Three Heroes was the national religion of Melromarc—which meant that any nation that stood in opposition to Melromarc might be more willing to cooperate with us.
And that meant that demi-humans might be more inclined to listen to us.
Thinking back on it, I recalled then some of my first customers had been demi-human adventurers. It might be worth a shot.
“All right. When we get to the town, let’s try talking to a demi-human adventurer.”
“Okay.”
“I hope it goes well.”
“Here we go!”
We made for the nearby village, careful to stay hidden on the way.
“Ex… Excuse me!”
“Hey!”
As we drew closer to the town where we expected to meet the nobility, we found a demi-human adventurer on the road. We hid in the shadows and called out to him, but…
“Oh man… that’s the tenth time! Naofumi, what did you do?”
“I don’t know!”
When the demi-human caught sight of my face he made an exaggerated apology and ran away.
But why? Had my demonic reputation spread even to them?
Things were not going as smoothly as I’d hoped.
“It doesn’t look like he reported us.”
“You’re right. He ran, and then we ran—but no soldiers have shown up.”
I had been worried that the town guards would find us and chase us away. But so far no one seemed to be around.
Honestly, as we were walking down the road, it looked like even the demi-humans would run off to a different path when they caught sight of us.
“Maybe I should approach them?”
“Will you do it for us, Raphtalia?”
“Sure.”
“If anything happens, call for help immediately.”
“All right.”
“You can do it, Big Sister!”
So Raphtalia stepped in to approach some demi-humans we encountered.
It had me a little worried. The demi-humans in Melromarc always seemed to be on their toes—always ready to dash off.
It must have been very uncomfortable for them to be in Melromarc. They were always aware of their status.
I wondered what they were doing here, but the sheer number of people seemed like a good enough explanation.
Raphtalia came back from talking with the demi-human adventurers.
“I’m back.”
“What happened?”
“Well, I found out why they won’t talk to you. It seems that they have been ordered not to speak with you directly.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I thought it was weird too, so I asked in a way that seemed natural. They said that the Shield Hero told them not to speak with you.”
The last Shield Hero had told the demi-humans not to talk to me? That could be a problem.
So the only reason Raphtalia talked to me was because, at first, she didn’t know that I was the Shield Hero? And because she was in trouble? It’s like this whole world was set up to make me miserable!
“Naofumi, didn’t you once tell demi-humans to stay away from you?”
“I don’t remember that.”
“That’s strange. My mother once said that the Shield Hero had ordered everyone to stay away from him. Demi-humans worship the Shield Hero, so they were only obeying his wishes.”
What?
“You mean because Master said to stay away?”
“Could that be it?”
“I don’t remember saying that. Was it a previous Shield Hero?”
“No. So you mean that it’s not true? Could it all be a misunderstanding?”
It had to be the Church of the Three Heroes!
“I heard that this happened a few days after you were summoned here, Naofumi.”
I was pretty messed up then, and I don’t remember much about the first couple weeks.
It was when I had just been framed and arrested. I didn’t trust anyone, and I told off anyone that tried to talk to me.
Could it be that someone who sincerely wanted to team up with me had approached me? Could I have told them to stay away from me?
“Naofumi? You don’t think…”
“Anyway, can we get into the town?”
I changed the subject. I couldn’t tolerate the way that Melty was staring at me.
“Well, they seemed friendly for as long as we spoke. They know how foolish Melromarc is being. They said the Church was crazy.”
“Did they mention any reports about us?”
“They said that everyone has been told the Shield Hero is close. But they also said that all the demi-humans were in agreement that they wouldn’t say anything if they saw him.”
“Huh… Well, it sounds risky, but should we try it?”
If things turned sour, we could always escape on Filo. We could throw capes over our faces…
“Hello?”
“What?”
We were hiding in the bushes, but did someone just call out for us?
I looked out to the road, and Nice Guy was there. He wore glasses, and was sitting in a high-class carriage. He stopped it and called out to us.
Yeah, I remembered. Nice Guy had been nobility in that town.
“Could that be Princess Melty and the Shield Hero in there?”
“Um… yes?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s dangerous to speak here. Would you accompany me back to my residence?”
Judging by the direction he’d come from, he must have come out here to meet us. So he HAD been thinking about us.
“If you try to hand us off to the other heroes, we’ll cause a big ruckus.”
“Naofumi, you shouldn’t…”
“And by ‘We,’ I mean my subordinates and this barbaric princess.”
“What was that?!”
Melty shot me an ice-cold glare.
“YOU’RE the barbarian!”
“What are you saying? I’m the most sophisticated hero by a long shot.”
“You once sold me an item, for which I am very grateful. The materials are quite simple, so you see pieces like it everywhere, but your design, Hero, makes it much more valuable to me. It cost five times more than similar items, but I still feel like it was worth it.”
Melty was really glaring at me now.
“I’m very sorry.”
Raphtalia held her head in her hands.
“Anyway, Naofumi, we should go with this man for now. We can hear all about how you’ve behaved later.”
“Why do I have to talk with YOU about MY behavior?”
“Because these issues are going to keep popping up. Could it be YOUR fault that people call you the Shield Demon?”
“Any stories you hear will be stories of my valorous deeds.”
“Don’t act like you are proud of your crimes!”
Whatever. I can deceive my enemies all day long and not feel a bit of guilt for it.
It’s all about perspective. Modesty can look like cowardice to an enemy.
“That’s enough for now. If you cause a fuss here, the Spear Hero will find us.”
Hm… Raphtalia was right. We silently crawled into Nice Guy’s carriage.
I looked out the carriage window to get a sense of what was going on outside. We had only been on the run for a few days, but I was already finding myself nostalgic for hustle and bustle. The town outside the carriage window had a backwater character.
It really did seem like there were more demi-humans around this town: lots of adventurers out and about.
Before long we arrived at Nice Guy’s residence. We left the carriage and snuck inside.
“Excuse us.”
Melty was sure to pardon herself before stepping inside.
Whenever she had to act as the official princess she became very polite.
She spoke that way to the other heroes too.
Actually, come to think of it, she was only rude when she spoke to me.
Granted, I hadn’t exactly gone out of my way to earn her respect—so I suppose I couldn’t blame her.
“You must be exhausted. Please take this time to rest up.”
He led us to a dining room and stepped out before reappearing with food for us.
Filo didn’t have the best table manners, but Nice Guy smiled and looked genuinely pleased.
“So you have been on the run this whole time? You ended up in my territory and decided to stop by?”
“That’s right. We were looking for a way to shake Motoyasu… I mean, the Spear Hero, off of our trail. We thought this might be a good place to hide out.”
“I have something I’d like to ask you. I’ve heard that you set fires in the mountains around here to try and cover your tracks and escape from the Spear Hero. What really happened?”
Bitch. She did it all herself, but of course she blamed it on me.
“Your sister doesn’t hesitate for a second, does she? She did exactly what I thought she would.”
“Sister… How could you…?”
“So it’s not true? I thought so!”
“Yeah, it wasn’t me. It was the princess that’s traveling with the Spear Hero. We were hiding from them in a bush, and I saw her set the fires myself.”
Nice Guy sighed deeply.
How much worse could Bitch get?
“Very well. I hope that I can be of some use to you… Do you have any other ideas?”
“We are trying to meet with the queen, but we don’t know where to go. We’ve had to spend all our time trying to avoid Motoyasu, and so we aren’t making much progress.”
The noble stood there thinking for a moment before nodding.
“Very well. I think I’ve understood the situation. We’ll do whatever we can to help you. However, my own position is not exactly secure, so I’m not sure how much I can actually do.”
“I’m not expecting much. Whatever you can do is a help.”
Besides, I didn’t really know how much we could trust him. I wasn’t planning on staying very long anyway.
“We’d just like to rest for a little bit. Oh, and do you know anything about what the other heroes are up to?”
Motoyasu wasn’t the only person we had to worry about. I had no idea what Ren or Itsuki were up to—since they didn’t seem to be chasing us. It was best to try and figure out what they were doing.
I was well aware of the possibility that the Church was watching Nice Guy closely, so once I had the information I wanted I planned on escaping as soon as I could.
We had to cross a border too… I wanted to figure out the safest course we could take.
“Very well. I think I can find out how the other Heroes are occupying themselves. Please wait a little.”
“We’re putting you at risk. We’ll leave in the morning.”
“We’re leaving that quickly? Shouldn’t we rest up a little more?”
Melty had to make sure we all knew how she felt about it.
“There’s a good chance they will come looking for us here. If we stay, we’ll put these people in danger.”
“Yes… Well…”
“Very well, I will look into the actions of the other Heroes, so please take this time to rest up.”
“Thank you.”
“I kind of wanted to rest for a few days…”
“Ms. Melty, you seem to have changed during your travels with the Shield Hero.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Before, you always put duty first when you spoke. Your true emotions never made it past your official proclamations. I think the people will prefer the new you.”
Nice Guy smiled at Melty. He looked genuinely happy.
“That’s… That’s not true…”
“What’s up, Melty?”
“Don’t listen to them, Filo. This man has just decided to evaluate me.”
“Oh…”
Nice guy turned to Raphtalia.
“How did Melty used to behave?”
“She always spoke very politely, and she always forced herself to be perfectly composed. She always behaved as though her position as princess was at the forefront of her mind. But as she’s been traveling with us, and with the Shield Hero, she’s begun to mature in a different direction. It has made me very happy to watch it happen.”
“Sh… Shut up!”
“Very polite… Yeah… that is how she was. I wonder what made her change.”
“Don’t you think it’s your fault, Mr. Naofumi?”
“MY fault? I don’t think so.”
It wasn’t that traveling with me had changed her. It was that her true nature finally came to the surface. The outer skin had just been peeled back.
Still, that’s not to say she was so bad. Compared to her father, Trash, and her pyromaniac sister, she was in a different category altogether.
“It’s your fault, Naofumi!”
“Oh, don’t go pinning that on me. You’re the one with arsonists in the family. Hysterical traits are inheritable, you know?”
“What was that?! Are you seriously comparing me to my sister? I can’t STAND that!”
Melty was glaring at me with fire in her eyes.
She must have really hated her sister. Granted, she was impossible to like.
Looking at it from that perspective, Motoyasu was very impressive, not that I’m trying to stick up for him or anything.
Still, Melty was her sister, so she was definitely working with some of the same material.
I guess it just meant that she never developed a taste for the misery of others. That’s what I thought, anyway—but of course I wasn’t going to tell her that.
“Apologize.”
“Oh fine. Fine! Melty, you’re nothing like that fire demon sister of yours. There, happy?”
“You didn’t really mean it!”
“You’re right.”
“What?!”
She was starting to get on my nerves.
“Now, now… Relax. You know Mr. Naofumi doesn’t mean the things he says in times like these.”
Raphtalia, acting like an enlightened angel, tried to calm Melty down.
Filo was nodding along with her. What was up with these three?
“You’ve finished eating, so please go to your rooms and rest up. I should have all the information I’m going to get in the morning.”
He led us to our rooms, and we all started to relax.
But everything had gone so smoothly that I couldn’t shake the remains of my doubt. I looked out the window at the town.
Apparently there hadn’t been any poison in our food, but I wasn’t sure how far we could trust this guy. “Naofumi. Why don’t you relax a little?” “I made up my mind a while ago not to let my guard down in times like this. That’s what this world has taught me.” “But if you don’t rest, you’ll just get more and more tired out.” “I’ve had all my things stolen while I slept. If you don’t watch your back, people will betray you.” “Oh come on… Why can’t you just trust someone for once?” “Because of your sister and father!” “I understand that! I’m just saying you could try to trust a little more!” “Whatever. I will rest up as I see fit.” “You’re not the only one upset with Father and Sister! So just relax!” “Who else is?” “My mother. Before we parted ways, she would take paintings and statues of Father and Sister and burn them whenever they behaved this way.” “Well, you reap what you sow. If she doesn’t know how to choose a man, she doesn’t know how to raise a daughter.” “Are you speaking ill of my mother?!” It’s been like this since Melty started traveling with us. She was always freaking out about something. She even behaved this way knowing full well that people were after our very lives. If I let my guard down, she was going to get us all killed. “Ok, Mr. Naofumi. We will all keep watch while you get some rest.” “Huh? Oh… okay then.”
“Why do you listen to everything that Raphtalia says?!”
“Because I trust Raphtalia.”
“Oh, and you don’t trust me?!”
“Not particularly…”
It’s just that we were in a situation where she couldn’t turn on us.
People were after our lives, and she helped us in battle. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her—not exactly.
She behaved as she should, as the second princess and first heiress of the kingdom.
So in that regard, I suppose I could trust her.
But that is not what this was about.
Sure, I’d been traveling with Raphtalia for much longer, but even setting that aside, Raphtalia was far more experienced than Melty.
Trust had a lot to do with that.
“Hey Mel! I want to check out the rest of this house!”
Filo jumped into the conversation with something completely unrelated.
“Good idea. It might be good to go for a walk to improve my mood. Okay then, Raphtalia. Filo and I are going for a walk around the house.
“An adventure!”
Filo wanted her to say “adventure,” but Melty just smiled, waved, and left the room.
Finally—some quiet.
When she left the room I realized how tired I really was.
I lay down on the bed, trusted Raphtalia to keep watch, and drifted off to sleep.
Urm… I could feel someone approaching. How long had I been sleeping?
Ever since Bitch betrayed me, I’ve started to come out of my sleep whenever I feel someone approaching.
“If you get any closer, Mr. Naofumi will wake up.”
“But! But! I want to sleep with Master!”
Filo must have returned from her adventure around the house.
…Which must mean that Melty was back too.
Everything was so noisy these days… and I’d finally managed to fall asleep.
“You can’t. We already talked about this.”
“But! Big Sister, you said that you slept with him once.”
“You can get close while he’s still awake. You have to do it before he falls asleep.”
“Okay, then I’ll ask him when he’s awake!”
“…I don’t think he’ll like it.”
Raphtalia really understood me.
If someone approaches while I’m sleeping I won’t be able to get any real rest.
Just like what was happening now. I was asleep, but I woke up when Filo came over.
“…Yawwwwn.”
Raphtalia yawned deeply. She must be sleepy too.
“Ms. Raphtalia, you should get some sleep too. I’ll keep watch.”
“Are you sure it’s okay?”
“Leave it to me.”
“Okay then. Good night.”
Raphtalia lay down on the next bed over, and it was only a minute before she was sleeping soundly.
Shortly afterward, I could hear Filo and Melty whispering back and forth.
Melty kept trying to quiet Filo down.
“Hey, Filo.”
“What?”
Melty was whispering now.
“I know they were just talking about it, but it’s true. I used to always be very careful to speak politely.”
Yeah, Nice Guy had mentioned that.
Sure, she had always used formal language before… was she trying to say that her real self was that polite character?
“But ever since I started talking with Naofumi, my language has gotten more coarse… more vulgar. I used to be able to speak with him properly, but now all I do is complain…”
It kind of sounded like she was crying.
Could it have been that hard for her?
“Earlier, when Naofumi was telling me what to do, I even surprised myself. I sounded so hysterical… It’s like I’m not myself anymore! Filo, am I… am I going crazy?”
“Um…”
For the first time ever, Filo didn’t seem to know what to say.
Melty had picked the wrong person to confide in. What kind of advice did she think that Filo was capable of offering? Raphtalia might have been able to help, but Filo? I could have gotten out of bed and talked with her, but she didn’t know that I was listening, and she would probably freak out if I stood up now.
“You pretended to sleep and eavesdropped on me?!”
…She’d say something like that. That would only make her worry more.
I don’t know what caused it, but it sounded like somehow, through spending time with me, Melty had stumbled upon some kind of honesty switch, and now she couldn’t stop herself from complaining all the time. Best to let sleeping dogs lie. It wasn’t my problem to fix.
“Mel? What do you think of Master?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Well, you only act that way to him, right? You’re still polite with other people.”
“Maybe…”
“Do you feel like you can say anything to him?”
“Huh? Y… You think?”
“Cause when I watch you talking to him, it looks like you are excited, like you are really into the conversation.”
Well, well. Filo had really grown up.
Did it mean that Melty, that the REAL Melty, was a hysterical psycho?
Her place in the nobility had given her education, manners, and virtue— all the things she needed to hide her true self. But when she was with me, she couldn’t hide her inner bitch. Is that what Filo wanted to say?
“Th… That’s not it at all! Filo, don’t say things like that!”
“Mel, I didn’t mean to say anything weird. Let’s both just let Master spoil us!”
“What are you saying? That’s not me.”
“It’s not?”
It sounded like they were about to get into an argument.
This… this had to be a dream. Melty wouldn’t talk that way. She wouldn’t sound so weak…
That’s what I told myself.
The next time I woke up, Raphtalia was sleeping in the other bed with Filo, and Melty was looking out the window. It was twilight.
I raised myself up in bed, and Melty looked over at me.
She looked composed, meek. I had a flash of the dream again.
“You’re up.”
“Yeah. Ready to switch shifts?”
“I’m not that tired, so I’m fine.”
“Okay.”
Still, I couldn’t picture the two of us just gazing out of the window in silence. The whole room was still, silent.
“Hey, Naofumi?”
“What?”
“I’ve been thinking about it since we got here. I’ve been thinking… maybe I should just ask this family to deliver me to my father.”
“Really?”
It was true that we were being chased, but Melty herself wasn’t accused of anything. The Crown was still treating all this as a kidnapping.
Even if Trash had reassigned this noble family… if they delivered Melty to Trash then she would be okay… maybe?
Of course, she’d only be okay if they could get her into the castle and give her directly to Trash.
Anyway, it would be more effective than meeting Trash with me.
“Maybe… I don’t want to drag you guys down… And I want to do what I should.”
She was really thinking—despite being so young. She needed to clear her name, and if she went back to Trash then she could prove my innocence too.
“If we could prove it was safe, then it might be a good idea.”
“Of course, I already know that it will be dangerous. Still, it might be less dangerous than traveling with you, considering how my sister is on your tail.”
For Melty, anyone connected to her sister was a sure source of danger. So traveling with us was a guaranteed series of dangerous battles.
If that was true, then it really might be best for her to sneak back to Trash while we drew attention away from her.
It wasn’t like we needed Melty to be with us when we met with the queen anyway.
“It’s only an idea. Just keep it in mind.”
“I know. You sure are thinking about things.”
“Are you treating me like a child?!”
“That’s not what I meant. I was just realizing how much you’ve thought it through.”
“But you said it like…”
And there she was again, picking a fight with me. At the time, I had no way to know that we’d have to put her plan into action very soon. The catalyst was already on its way.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login