"Luno!"
"Yusof! Stay there! Don't go anywhere!"
My teary call to her is replied with a strong order. I nodded in response and stood there silent with Mira under my right arm and her staff held tightly in my left hand.
Currently Luno is using her Magic, as seen that both of her arms are glowing brown veins from her shoulders towards her hands.
Her hands that touched the ground are the source of the trembling earth that I am experiencing. I turned around to see that the troll is struggling just as much from this hindering movement.
"HAAAAAR"
The troll let out a scream as the ground that is moving slowly surrounding the troll, making it unable to move. The broken trees, trees, rocks and all that touched affected moving ground followed it towards the troll.
I saw clearly that the dirt started to climb the troll from both of its feet. Then it slowly rose up all the way to its knees. The trees and rocks also followed, effectively blocking the troll's path and movement.
Not long after, a thick barrier of dirt, trees and rocks stood around it. The ground became distorted from the forced movement and the terrain became unnatural, as they were all compressed to form the dirt barrier around the troll.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH"
One final roar was let out from the troll before it fell in complete silence.
Is it over?
Is it already dead?
I couldn't feel anything.. If trolls are magical creatures then they should have a degree of Magic Flow that I can detect with my current abilities.
I wanted to confirm its death more thoroughly but I noticed a waterfall of blood flowing through the cracks of the tree cage.
It must really be dead. The relief in my heart grew immensely, something that terrifying defeat on my first day just made me glad. Even if I didn't take much part in it. But I couldn't bask in the serenity as the appearance of the jet black haired girl caught my attention.
I turned over to Luno, who was the one who made this. She was still crouching, I didn't understand why she did so until she stumbled.
"Luno!"
I called out her name and ran to her, along with Mira and her staff. The first thing that came into my mind when I saw that was she used a lot of her Mana. Even as someone who doesn't know anything, this appears as a large-scale spell. It won't surprise me if it really is Mana exhaustion.
I came closer, it became clear that she pushed herself a lot. Her breathing was rough, her arms shook trying to keep herself up and there was sweat visible on her face. There was also a hint of light green around her arms. Okay, that might be something else but I'm sure I'm not too far away.
"Are you okay?"
I asked her as I got closer to her. She lifted her head and replied.
"I'm okay.. How about Mira? Is she okay? How about you?"
"I'm still alive." I said jokingly just as I stopped moving. The distance between us is enough for us to talk without yelling and for me to clearly see her body. "But Mira passed out from using too much magic."
Hearing this, she lifted herself upwards and stood straight. Not wasting any time, she walked towards me focusing her eyesight on my right arm. More precisely, she is staring at the unconscious girl I am carrying like luggage.
She placed her palm on Mira's forehead. I feared the worst because other than passing out I don't know what other side effects came from using all your Mana.
"That's not good."
"Is.. something wrong? She has a fever?"
"Oh.. N-no no, she doesn't have a fever.. Uh.. it's a force of habit." She replied to me in her usual cheerfulness while trying to explain what she just did. After leaking a cute laugh, she continued to speak. "She used too much of her magic, I was just checking if there is more than just her passing out."
I nodded at her statement while she continued to examine her. Then it occurred to me that she had more than 'just' passed out. I messed up earlier and she fell on the ground, injuring her skin. Inevitably, as she thoroughly examined Mira, Luno encountered my belt cloth bandage that I tied around the wound on her wrist.
"What's this?"
Luno's voice when she discovered the bandage was stern, it was both extremely serious with a hint of worry.
She didn't take it lightly at all.
"She fell over just now!"
I flat out lied to her, not a good way to get someone to like you but I feel like admitting "I dropped her and her skin tore open." Isn't really the better way to go - even if there are possible bonus points for honesty.
But unlike before, where I thought she would be the same gullible Luno that believed Mira's stomachache-dry-acting yesterday, she stared daggers at me. Unfortunately for me, it was as if she could read my mind, she wasn't buying it. The current situation appears as if she doesn't believe what I said.
"Really?" She approached closer and asked the question in a somewhat untrusting tone. This time she grabbed my collars and pulled her face close to mine. Her eyebrows lowered and pulled closer together as her lips tightened inwards. "Are you sure? Really?"
This was a serious situation - at least what it would have been if I didn't find the expression she's making to be cute.
"Uhhh...." I staggered, her eagerness physically and mentally preventing me from giving her a clear answer. Only after she tightened her hold on my collars and violently shook them. In a cluster of unexplainable emotions, I confessed. In hopes of having her release this near suffocating hold of hers. "Uhhhhhh.. T-the truth is... I .. fell over.. and dropped her."
"You dirty liar! You should've just told me!"
She scolded me as she released her grip and placed both of her hands on her hips. This pose and the way she spoke made it look like a kindergarten teacher who successfully got the truth out of a lying kid.
"Sorry."
I could only squeeze out that word as a response in a bitter smile. Still, I have to admit, realizing that she only was concerned for her companion made me regret ever lying at all.
Just then Luno did an "aah!" and raised her index finger.
"Oh! I know! Knowing her, she must've brought some of her weird potions."
Her demeanor returned to her usual joyfulness as she said that. But it's what she said my brain goes into a buffering motion.
"Eh?"
Weird potions? Does she mean those suspicious looking vials under her robe? Me and Mira just drank one not long ago and they worked wonders. Though, I didn't think that she had more.
"Yusof, lay her down on that tree."
She said and pointed towards a nearby tree. I nodded and placed Mira on her back behind the tree. Wasting no time, Luno crouched down next to her and plunged her right hand into her robe. Luno wasn't really gentle with it since I can hear rustling and something like glass hitting each other.
"I think... Ah! Here they are.."
Luno cheered as she pulled out several vials of colorful liquid from under her robe. One by one she observed the vials and moved them from one hand to the other as if she's searching for a specific one.
"Energy, Vision, Healing, Purification."
Luno spoke out the words on labels of the vials as she examined each vial and placed it on her other hand. I took a peek on the labels of the already examined vials on her left hand as they were conveniently facing upward.
I almost coughed from the struggle I faced trying to read the words on the labels.
Enerji, Visyen, Hiling, Piurifikesyen.
What the hell are all of these potion labeling? Is this some kind of joke? Or is she just bad at spelling? No, I doubt it. She must be doing this on purpose. It would be wildly bizarre for someone smart enough to brew potions that grant positive effects to not be able to spell properly.
"Okay! It's this one." The vial Luno was celebrating on was labeled Mana - what seems to be the only thing there spelled correctly. To be fair, spelling Mana isn't as hard since the words are spelt exactly as it is pronounced. It would be hilarious if she did spell that wrong though. I chuckled to myself at that thought.
"Hold her properly." Luno said as she opened the vial, making a plop sound. Unlike the previous one, which was an energy potion that had a yellow sparkling liquid; this mana potion of some sorts is colored a deep blue with something that looks like flakey ice shards floating inside it. I gulped at what Luno was trying to give Mira and timidly opened my mouth to ask.
"A-are you sure you're going to have her drink this?"
"Don't worry, it's safe for the most part, she made these things after all."
That's true, Mira is the culprit behind the brewing of these strange liquids and the abysmally terrible spellings.
I gave in and held her shoulders straight so she wouldn't move about. Luno placed her hand under her chin and lifted her head. After she did so, she pulled down her thumb and Mira's jaw parted. She brought the vial closer to the gap between her lips and poured one third of the vial's contents into her mouth.
To my surprise, although the blue liquid looked like it had miasma leaking out, it didn't have any odor. After Luno had poured enough of the potion into Mira's mouth, she placed the lid back and inserted all of the vials back into Mira's robe.
"Now we wait."
Luno said as she transitioned from crouching next to Mira to a cross legged sit.
"Aren't you going to sit?"
She lifted her head to look at me, who was still standing up.
"Uh.. okay."
"Umu." She nodded as she gestured to me to sit down next to her, in between Mira. I moved towards that location and sat down in a position as if I'm about to hug my knees.
A moment had passed since I sat down and it had been silent between us. I wanted to talk about something that I had meant to ask since she came. I turned my head over to her and opened my mouth.
"Did anything happen to you when you were alone?"
I could've asked "what happened that made the troll come over here?". But that isn't what I cared about. I wanted to know what happened to her.
"N-nothing. Why?"
She said I looked her dead in the eye. I don't believe her. She was shaking a lot just now.
"Yusof? Is there something on my face?"
She asked me this time with a hint of confusion. It doesn't matter, since if I was alone in a forest and some random guy stared into my soul like this, I'd be confused and on guard.
However those aren't my intentions. Not in the slightest. I opened my mouth to speak, though these words are something that she should tell herself. I need to calm down my own heart.
"Mira became really sad when the troll came to us without you in sight. She thought something happened to you."
I told her. Frankly speaking, I think I got a bit harsh considering she helped distract the troll while we were moving Shenre to a safer place.
"I.. see.." Her expression shifted to being apologetic. Her eyebrows angled upwards as she made a sullen expression. She shifted her sitting position to one that allowed her to hug her knees and did just that, she shifted her gaze towards a peacefully sleeping Mira. "I'll apologize to Mira when she wakes up. But I actually don't know what happened. All of a sudden, it didn't pay attention to me and just walked in your direction."
All of a sudden? So even she doesn't know what happened then? My head had already cooled at this point and I saw her sulking. It was an after effect of me being considerably hard on her.
I wanted to extend my hand to calm her down. Because it's my fault that she's sad so I took a deep breath inside my head and forced my hand to extend like prying open a closed can.
"Were you hurt?" I squeezed out a sentence to break this silence. I didn't really think it through but now that I have, I seriously sound like someone who couldn't mind their own business.
"Uh! No! I'm not hurt!" Luno had become shocked and waved both of her hands palms forward at me, as if trying to convince me. If I'm being completely honest, being surprised is one of the last reactions I'd expected.
She quickly dropped her hands after shaking them left and right towards me. But with my keen eyesight from multiple questionable sources, I was able to catch the revealed bit of her skin on her palm torn off. The skin, or actually, what's under the skin had become swollen and the blood around it had dried.
She didn't tell me about it? It's on her palm as well. In my experience, literally any type of wound on my palm had become a major hindrance in doing my chores until its stinging pain had become bearable.
"Then what is that?" I pointed at her left hand as I said that. She then, instead of trying to hide it like I predicted she would, lifted her left hand and looked at the swollen parts.
After that she placed her hand back on the ground, the back of her palms facing upwards.
"Nothing!" She said unfazed. I blinked in slight disbelief at what I saw. She is either a living cartoon or a massive airhead. But considering she can fight hundreds of times better than me I'll just let it slide.
"This." I said as I grabbed her wrist and lifted her hand, turning it over. Revealing a wound about the size of a 50 cent coin. I looked at her hand first but when I lifted my head I saw her making a shy face with both cheeks red.
Then it occurred to me that I had been holding her wrist close to her hand. This might be something she isn't used to. I didn't want to look like a wimp by frantically apologizing in this awkward situation so I'll just explain things calmly.
"Uhmm... See, you have an injury." Speaking in a manner that is the complete opposite of calm, I completely ignored what she is feeling while suppressing my own. I went straight to the point. Calm down, this isn't the first time you touched a girl. But it is the first time you touched one this pretty... THAT IS NO EXCUSE.
"Uhh... Uhmmm. I .. tripped when I was rushing over here." Not noticing my inner conflict, Luno turned her face away from me. She spoke in a low voice with her cheeks slightly less red from before.
"Oh.. then.. wait a second." I said as I released my hold on her wrist. I turned towards my belt made of cloth and looked for a slightly torn part. It didn't take long since there were actually quite a lot when I searched for it. I don't have a knife with me so I took out my sword from my back.
"W-what are you doing?" Luno asked as she held the place on the wrist I held. Did I grab her too tight? Ah! No! Now is not the time for that.
I took out my sword and in my head, I measured how much cloth I would approximately need to wrap her wound.
After deciding how much I needed, I used the sword which I held like a kitchen knife to cut the belt cloth. Now I have something to wrap her injury with. Though after having torn almost everywhere and also cutting it twice, my belt is now in shambles. Sorry Mikra.
I'll deal with his ear washing later, right now I have to help her.
"Here, give me your hand." I turned to her with the cloth in hand. Seemingly knowing what I am trying to do, she hid her hand away from me and shook her head frantically making a terrified face. She looks like a child afraid of applying medicine on their cuts after seeing a scary tube which is the medicinal ointment.
I made a wry smile and forced a small laugh and slowly reached out my hand towards hers. I grabbed her hand and pulled it towards me. Her hand stiffened, resisting, showing she is reluctant.
"Don't be scared. it's not going to hurt." Honestly I hated that I had to say that. This is a grown woman for God's sake.
But to my surprise, her arm relaxed and I could easily pull her hand palm up towards me. I shifted my gaze towards her face which is red either from embarrassment or fear of this procedure. God knows?
I started to use the far end of the cloth to clean her wound. It had some dirt and dust sticking on her flesh, something retracted in me because this must feel extremely uncomfortable.
"Ow.." She squealed. Her body twitched when I wiped the dirt sticking on her flesh.
"Sorry, but I have to do it properly." I said, trying to ease her. I have a little experience with first aid from frequent injuries in the kitchen trying to master the art of cooking.
This is the first time operating on someone else though. The cloth is dirty too… I don't have time for that.
Putting that aside, now that most of her injury is cleaned, it's time to wrap it up. I placed an end on the back of her hand and began to wrap her hand.
"W-what are you doing now?" She asked with a worried tone in her voice, as if implying she doesn't want this.
"Wrapping it up, it'll get an infection if you leave it like that." I said while moving the belt cloth in the gap between her thumb and index finger.
"T-there's no need!"
"What are you talking about? Treating your wounds is the most important thing right now." I said as I now tied the two ends on the back of her hand, completing the bandage.
She no longer tried to argue back. Her expression tells me she is troubled, but I could sense relief behind that. I let go of her arm and she also brought her arm back to her.
She stared at the low quality bandage that I made on a whim using a belt cloth of questionable hygiene. Intrigued? I can't say so, it appears to be more like surprise.
"Hey.. Yusof."
"Hm?" I replied to the soft voice calling my name. She then looked up and focused her sights on my face.
"Thank you." She said, her face looking at me in the eyes.
"You're welcome." I replied with a smile.
"But, Why?" She asked her voice and felt like she was confused and curious.
"Why what?"
"Why did you help me?" Her eyes focused on mine, eagerly waiting for an answer. I paused, not because I was shy, it's because I'm confused myself.
"What are you saying? You were hurt, and I helped you, it's normal." I replied, suppressing my inner urges to reply with a lash, like how I would back then.
"But your belt!" She raised her voice, clearly dissatisfied.
"I can just buy a new one after this. But if your hand gets an infection, it'll be hard on you for weeks." I replied. She no longer had anything to say and just sat down there.
After that there were no more conversations. While we wait for Mira to wake up, there is only silence between us. I glanced towards Luno, she already closed her eyes, resting, probably from exhaustion. Her hand seemed to be looking a bit better.
I smiled as I looked at the two girls peacefully sleeping. This silence left me time for myself, to which I pondered.
'why did you help me?' it felt like she didn't want my help.. or she is too used to not being helped that she became surprised at that.
I briefly remembered what Mikra said.
-Because they're magic users. Magic users in this world are forced to be those who fight. In the eyes of society, those with magic are not allowed to be normal people who become merchants or housewives. They are forced to become people who carry out dangerous tasks for the people who can't fight.
I clenched my teeth at the thought.
The incident at the Union flashed through my head.
All this implies that not only were they forced to do this kind of job, they were also not given any form of help in doing so?- To the point they don't even expect it?
It might be me, and I really hope it's just me being stupid like always. But I don't find this fair, at all. This is wrong. This is the world they lived in, whether I accept it or not.
I looked towards the sky and unintentionally parted my lips. "Maybe the nature of my previous world and this weren't much different."
"Yu..sof?"
My sullen expression and depressing thoughts were interrupted as I heard a soft voice speak my name. I lifted my head and saw Mira had already woken up.
"Mira, are you okay?" I said as I went to her side helping her stand up.
"What happened?... Where are we?.." She's a bit confused, naturally since she got knocked out and woke up in the middle of nowhere.
"We're safe, for now." I replied to her while I held her shoulder.
As I said that, Luno opened her eyes. The first thing that came into her sight was Mira waking up. With that, she immediately leaped towards us - more precisely, Mira.
She hugged Mira as she landed and I got shoved over to the side from the force. Ouch.. it appears that the sluggishness of just waking up didn't affect her at all. I wished it was the same for me.
"Mira! I missed you!" Luno spoke to her affectionately, rubbing her cheeks onto Mira's. The girl in question, Mira, had a stream of emotions that couldn't be seen through her expression.
"Wait! Hold up! Luno? Is that you?!" She said in surprise, as she removed her cheeks from Luno's and stared at her face.
"Umu!" Luno nodded.
"Ah... So you're safe.. Th-" Mira said as she turned her head down. I couldn't hear the words she last said because she spoke too quietly.
"Huh?"
"Th.. D-Don't ever ever do that again! Never! Never! You almost broke your promise!" Mira's voice cracked and I could see her eyes watering up.
Mira had been worrying about Luno all this time. I could see that her tears are tears of joy, knowing that the person she thought she lost is now next to her.
However my focus was directed to Luno. When Mira said the word 'promise', Luno's expression turned dark. Her eyes became lifeless and her joyful demeanor disappeared as if never existed. She then held Mira in her embrace.
"I'm sorry... Mira… I'll… never do that again." She whispered in an intense anguish, I can't hear it much, but I can feel the pain from the voice.
"It's alright.. you can let go now. It's okay." Mira replied as she gently released Luno's arms from around herself.
However the sudden complete change in the atmosphere around Luno at the time was something I couldn't let go immediately.
"Luno? Are you.. okay?" I asked her timidly, it's the first time I've seen her like this. Up until recently, she'd only been playful and happy. I extended my hand towards her slowly, in an attempt to shake her out of it.
But even before I fully lifted my hand, she shook her head and the life that was lost from her expression came back.
"Wha? Ah! I-I'm okay!" Speaking in her usual cheerful manner, she just made her lifelessness seem like an illusion.
I'm.. seriously confused.
Though my confusion is short lived because after recovering, Mira broke the silence by beating the dust off from her robe.
"Now explain. Yusof, what happened?" Mira spoke in a serious tone.
I explained everything that happened since she passed out, all while she looked around the area she woke up in. In the middle of the forest scattered with trees tall enough to cover the sunlight. There are some trees that broke down from the troll's movements. Not long after, her survey arrived at the huge cylindrical monument made from trees, dirt and rock along with the distorted land around it. It was made to contain the troll, killing from suffocation if my observation is correct.
She became surprised for a second then sighed the next. She must've known that Luno did that as she turned her head towards the recovering Luno who had already stood up and fixed her breastplate.
"If what you're saying is true, how did I wake up so soon? Mana Fatigue takes a long time to recover." A perplexed Mira asked as she held her palm over her forehead.
"Uh… Luno had you drink some of your weird potions." I stuttered a bit but then I answered. But when I said that, her face immediately turned grim as if struck by a panic attack.
"What!? Oh no.. this isn't good."
"What's wrong?"
"You had me drink the Mana Potion right?" She asked as she her robe, pressing against the vials
"Yes?"
"Oh no.. that's one imperfect.." Mira said. She had stood up and beat off more dust off her robe.
"It can't be that bad…" I tried to be optimistic but I'm very sure that my tone of speech made my intended presentation all the more unconvincing. Because, really, she drank something weird that she doesn't even know the side effects of. It's impossible to be optimistic.
"I never tested it before… So I don't know what exactly it does.." Mira answered as she finally picked up her staff from the ground. The way she is acting makes me think she isn't really concerned about what she drank and just was overreacting.
"Then why did you bring something like that?"
She went silent for a few seconds that felt like ages. Then she let out a voice that was no louder than a whisper.
"I.. just want to."
"It's her habit, she's been doing that for as long as I can remember." Luno spoke. She had finally stood up and fixed her appearance. However, at that response, Mira's face turned red as twisted her head facing Luno - or actually it feels like she is trying to hide her embarrassed expression from me.
"Shut up!" She squealed. I couldn't help but laugh. Mira regained herself and continued to speak in her more serious tone. "Well, let's go, it's over now. We should get back to the cart and report this to the Union."
Me and Luno nodded in reply, the spell Luno casted that trapped the troll in it had killed the troll. But it is no doubt an extremely dangerous creature, nothing like the simplicity that the girls said they were. No, I remember they also said that trolls aren't usually like this, they were enhanced with Dark Magic - an outer force must be at play here.
That thought made me anxious.. adding the fact I possibly saw Jeyson running into the forest earlier, the blonde man's description also matches what little I know about him. His behavior with Mikra last night tells me that he knows something we don't.
"Let's go Yusof. Aner must be worried sick." Luno called me as she took a deep breath as she stretched her body.
"Ah! Yes." I replied. I fixed the leash on my sword and started to move. I guess I'll ignore this then. It isn't any of my business to delve deeper, it might actually be stupid of someone powerless like me to stick my nose in something I don't even know anything about.
____________
Our walk for the most part had been going smoothly. Other than the constant careful steps around the broken trees' sharp wood scattered across the ground and broken path from the massive fallen trees, there wasn't much. It was a relief that Luno remembered the path we took coming here, because I got lost in the panic from running away.
Mira on the other hand, still had a restless expression.
"What if I get crippled? Or worse… dead!" She had been going on for a while now. Earlier we made her drink a suspicious potion to replenish her Mana. Now she's paranoid because she doesn't know what will happen to her.
Also, how is dying worse than getting crippled? rather off myself than live my life as a vegetable.
But that's besides the point.
Not long after, we arrived at the pathway after almost endlessly trudging through the forest.
"We have to report this to the Union, this is too dangerous." Luno said as she kept moving towards what I hoped to be the exit of the forest.
"Let's go." I replied as I patted Mira's shoulder attempting to get her to snap out.
"Ack! O-oh.. l-lets go."
But just then.
"AHCCK" Mira let out a painful scream as and dropped her staff on the ground, immediately gripping her head with both of her hands.
"Mira!"
"Mira! What's wrong!"
"M-my head!" She exclaimed, struggling to keep balance.
I moved towards her. But the single step I took forward, an intense sensation coming from her overwhelming all my senses.
"W-what is this?" Luno said, making the same reactions I did.
I couldn't answer, my eyes locked onto Mira, the birds in the vicinity flew away. Luno went to Mira and lifted her up on her back. Mira's face was red and the nerves in her arm were glowing an extremely bright blue.
"We have to go now, Hurry." Luno ordered me. I didn't argue and started to move.
I heard something in the distance. Something that felt like passing wind, but I couldn't shake this ominous foreboding. I looked up, following my gut feeling.
An extremely huge rock was hurled at us.
"Get away!" I reacted immediately and pushed the two girls away from the rock's collision course.
"Wha-!"
THUD
"Argh!"
A huge rock fell in between us. This rock was probably at least as long as 6 cars and as tall as a bus.
My reaction time saved me, I was able to save them but it ended up separating us. It fell sideways but it was still too tall for me to climb. It's also very wide. I wasted no time and commenced my way around it.
"Luno! Mira! Are you okay?"
"Yeah! We... We're fine!"
I heard Luno coughing from the other side
"Stay there! I'm coming!"
"What was that!?"
"I don't know!"
If I didn't push them away and jumped away myself in time, we would've been flattened. The question was, what could've done something like this?
Not long after, I'd see that our question would be answered.
As I was making my way to them. Concerningly loud sounds of breaking branches and trees can be heard from ahead. Only becoming louder. Not long after, the sounds of breaking branches were accompanied by a vibration on the ground that caused my legs to react as well.
I turned back to the front, the cleared path with some remaining trees.
The vibrations became stronger to the point it was no longer just vibrations, it was like an earthquake.
What came into my sight was another troll.
This one is bigger than the one Luno killed a while ago.
"What is that!?" Luno asked again.
"It's.. a troll."
"Another one? Mira hasn't recovered yet. Yusof! Let's go!" Luno ordered me, but I only stood still.
I gulped my saliva and racked my brain trying to think.
Why is another troll here? Was it because of Mira's condition earlier? Did the troll came here because of that? How do we stop this when Mira and Luno aren't in the best shape?
Many questions passed through my head and the troll steadily gained upon us.
We can't stop it. The smaller troll from before, even with both legs injured, could match our speed.
Now this one is bigger, and its condition is perfect. We don't stand a chance at running.
I have to make decision.
"Luno!"
"Yes?!"
"How long do you think Mira will recover?"
"Uh.. I don't know?"
"The dose of potions... in the vials I brought.. would last 15 minutes." Mira replied, making her voice as loud as she could.
15 minutes, it's a big gamble, but it's one that I have to take.
"Got it!"
"Wait, Yusof, what're you doing!?"
"You focus on helping Mira!..." I ordered Luno from the other side of the stone. I unsheathed my sword, released deep breaths to calm myself and strengthened my resolution.
a I've been protected ever since we came here. I can't swing a sword properly, I can't use magic and I'm as fragile as glass. Now the people who helped me are in trouble, I can't expect myself to just cry like a little girl.
I'm not who I used to. I will definitely fulfill my promise to myself. I will not lose when I haven't gained anything.
"...I'll distract the troll."
I ran forward as I finished my sentence.