๐๐ถ๐บ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ล
I opened my eyes, full of energy but nowhere to spend it. Looking at Shin, he was still sleeping meaning it was probably still very early.
'I can't believe I'm saying this but I want to go outside...' I thought to myself, so I grabbed a lantern from my bag and made my way outside.
The cold and cruel wind blows my long hair to the side as I make my way atop the wall.
"Oi, you there?" I asked when I reached the watchtower but no response from inside came but instead from somewhere else. "She doesn't watch this town all day you know."
I immediately turned around and put my hand on my katana and stared at the source of the voice. In front of me, to put it simply, was a beautiful woman wearing a simple dress.
I don't respond, only looking at her with suspicion. For someone so beautiful to exist in this town was quite suspicious, especially when that same woman, approaches me casually.
My heartbeat beats faster but not from her beauty. 'Demonic beast of lust...' I thought to myself, as I stepped back.
"Geez, I'm not here to hurt you, okay?" She said, pouting cutely before clearing her throat and introducing herself. "My name is Iona Desperg, nice to meet you again."
"Again?" I asked as she looked at the setting moon. "Say, do you like the moon? Personally, I don't really like it." She asked.
I also look at the moon before answering. "Yeah."
"Do you mind saying the reason?"
"Hmm, I guess it's because it's quite peaceful, the grey color of the moon feels calming since it isn't as bright as the sun. The cold wind feels comforting, reminding me of the cruelty of this world. There are more reasons why I like it but I can't really explain them well, god, why am I even telling you this?" I asked, scratching the back of my head, although I may not show it I was already suspecting that I was under some charm spell since I wouldn't normally open up to some stranger.
"You're quite cute when you're talking about something you like you know." She comments.
Contrary to my suspicions, she does nothing. "Well the sun is about to rise soon so I'll see you later." She said with a smile before leaving.
I look at the moon again before heading down but I don't go down the trapdoor, instead, I tried to do some pushups. Before I could even get halfway, I immediately collapsed to the ground.
My strength stat has gone down by seven points and a feeling of self-loathing overpowers my mind. Using that hatred, I directed my energy to take another pushup to prove to myself that I'm not leeching off my party
In the end, I could only manage three pushups with one arm and my strength stat stayed the same. I sighed to myself but I needed to continue training or else I would most definitely die.
'Even if I can just barely escape death, I'll be happy since I prolonged my life.' I thought to myself as I started running laps inside the walls.
I kept a steady breathing while running, side-stepping, and other agility-based training that focused on my dodging.
My sweat dripped from my bloodied white polo shirt so I concluded my training and went back to my room to see Shin waking up.
"Ughh, morning..." He said, clutching his head due to a headache.
I threw him my waterskin and immediately he drank it without ever touching the rim of my waterskin with his lips.
After practically emptying it, he throws it back to me and apologizes. "Sorry..."
I didn't really mind it since there was a river and a lake that can never dry up so I dismissed it. "It's fine."
I said while wiping off the rim of my waterskin with my polo shirt as if it was natural even though his lips didn't even touch it. A short memory comes back to me about my friend always asking for my water bottle since he refuses to bring his own.
"What time is it?" Shin asked, interrupting my memory. "By the time, I went here, it was barely sunrise so pretty early."
"I see, well I did hit the sack earlier than I usually do."
He nods and notices something. "I'm surprised you can understand me, I thought you had a hard time understanding the language?"
"I still do, I just have a translation ring."
As I see that, he made an expression as if trying to say "This guy's an idiot" so he approached me and took my translation ring off my finger. "H-hey!" I said as I tried to get it back but he quickly pulled away.
"Iif waoyu dubliaininac eeaerinn, teheceinn I'imm inoteh eeteteiinge waoyu dublieaerr teheiiss. (If you wanna learn, then I'm not letting you wear this.)"
I pause for a second before speaking again.
"Ie dubliaiss peaininiinge teou dou iteh iinn tehee iiieristeh peeakae! (I was planning to do it in the first place!)" I said but he didn't give it back.
I sigh, in defeat, and spoke seeing as he didn't budge. "iiiine. (Fine.)" I said somewhat pouting.
He merely responds with a "Good." before pocketing my translation ring.
"Teheeere ishecoedy ve isoime peopee adubliake ve inodubIiu, I'eel iinteerodykae waoyu teo teheceimm dubliheciee Ie teoyerr waoyu teob oyerr teodubliinn. (There should be some people awake by now, I'll introduce you to them while I tour you to our town.)"
I held up my hand, cutting him off and responded. "Ie ineedu teou dubliaishech imwaiseeiif iiieristeh, Ie jeyisteh iiiiniishecedu imwai teeraiiniinge eaereieerr. (I need to wash myself first, I just finished my training earlier.)"
"Ie isee, gyeisiss I'eel dubliaishech imwaiseeiif aiss dublieeel veiioere dublie gou aindu iinteerodykae waoyeriseeiif, iiieristeh iimpereisisioiniss aere iimpoerteainteh aiiteeerr aeel. (I see, guess I'll wash myself as well before we go and introduce yourself, first impressions are important after all.)" He said, shrugging before going out to the room, following him since I didn't even know where I could wash myself.
We arrived at a room that wasn't anything that resembled a bathroom but in fact just a room full of barrels of water with an armed man standing watch. Immediately, Shin talked to the man before pushing me to introduce myself.
My heart was beating fast since I was slightly nervous but I talked anyway since there was no way around this. "Heceelou, imwai inaime iiss Heciimyerac isateou, inikae teou imeeteh waoyu. (Hello, my name is Himura Sato, nice to meet you.)"
I said in a tone similar to a robot since I already practiced introducing myself multiple times.
Hearing my introduction, the armed man winces a bit but goes back to a friendly face and spoke. "Ahech heceaerdu oiif waac, waoyu tehece kiidu tehecateh imainagedu teou kieepe ype dubliitehech Isheciinn erighecteh? (Ah heard of ya, you the kid that managed to keep up with Shin right?)"
Immediately, I shook my head, denying it since, in truth, I only stalled for time while I let my companions get his party.
Shin elbows my side a bit and looks at me with a face like it's trying to say "Speak dammit." however, the armed man misunderstood my intention as trying to be humble.
However, I waited for Shin to talk to him first since I had no idea what I was supposed to do at this point.
He sighs to himself and spoke to the armed man. "Dublie'ere goininac dubliaishech oyeriseebeiss, tedubliou vykikeeteiss oiif dubliateeerr aindu teodublieeiss dublioyedu ve gereateh. (We're gonna wash ourselves, two buckets of water and towels would be great.)"
"Aeerighecteh, ve isyere teou veriinge iteh vakake. (Alright, be sure to bring it back.)"
"tehece dubliateeerr? (The water?)"
"inou, dyimvaisiss! (No, dumbass!")
With a bit of banter, we left carrying a bucket of water and a towel to wash, I was hoping for a bathroom but in a town like this, it was probably a luxury for them.
As I looked at the clear water which reflected my expressionless yet tired face, Shin bashed me in the head.
He lectures me about not speaking as much, honestly, it was quite annoying being lectured just because I never liked talking which was deeply engrained in my personality but he did have a point.
Humans are pretty weak in general since they are born with no natural talent however that was also their biggest strength as having no specialization means our race can learn practically anything without any setback from having a blessing which would sway a good majority of a race to learn and improve that sole blessing which dramatically slows them down as a race.
Of course, all intelligent species can do this as well however that is where the perception of time of humans and language comes into play.
I have observed in many cases of humans being looked down upon by other races seeing us as rats that just wouldn't die which wasn't exactly accurate but what they do not understand is how our perception of time can change our minds.
For example, if an intelligent species can live for only ten years before dying, that species would probably be dominant as they can learn far faster than anyone due to their skewed perception of time, and as for language, it creates unity by being able to write down what we have learned and teach it to others so that they can improve it and it was all because of language.
So if one truly asked, what humans specialized in, it would be learning. You can have an elf study a field in magic in a thousand years but a human can do it in their lifetime while having an adventure.
We entered our room and turned our backs to each other and washed ourselves silently.
As minutes passed, I asked him a question but for what reason? We barely know each other yet I feel so close to him.
Is it because our origins aligned with each other or something else entirely?
'Honestly, the cursed child duo doesn't seem like a slander title at this point.'
After a bit of pondering, I finally opened my mouth. "hecewai Isheciinn, dou waoyu teheciinke Ie kaoyedu isyerbibe aeoine? (Hey Shin, do you think I could survive alone?)"
"Hecimimm, peerovavewai, waoyu hecabe ac dubliieel teou isyerbibe, ebeerwavodwai doeiss inou imateteeerr hecodubliu imykahech tehecewai iteh. (Hmm, probably, you have a will to survive, everybody does no matter how much they hide it.)"
As he said that something came to me. "Hey Himura, remember that no one wants to die. Throw yourself to the sea and you'll see yourself fighting to survive."
A voice from a man who I could only refer to as my best and only friend.
"And who's the guy did you steal that quote from?" I retorted but he merely smiled and continued talking, not caring about the gazes of our classmates who saw us as an unlikely duo.
I grasped my chest and felt my beating heart.
"Heciimyerac? (Himura?)"
"Ite'iss inoteheciinge, tehecainke waoyu iioerr ainisdublieeriinge. (It's nothing, thank you for answering.)" I said as my face became expressionless.
I wore my uniform which was pretty much my formal clothes at this point and grasped at the handle of the door.
'I am fighting to survive first and foremost. Helping the town is my second objective.' I said to myself as I open the door with a new resolve.
I could hear Akira saying "Heh." in a proud tone for some reason as Shin led me around this underground town where a traitor lives amongst us.