The girl fixed her clothes up and tapped my shoulder while rubbing her eyes.
"Excuse me. Who are- ah! The man from the inn." She tried to sound like she had just gotten up but it was clear that it had been a while. Just decided to pretend to sleep for a while longer.
I wasn't quite sure which attitude I should have put up in front of her.
But an introduction seemed logical.
"You're right, I'm the guy from the inn, and the woman you're sitting on is Vivi, my travel companion." I pointed below her.
"Hep." She jumped off her lap while Vivi gave her a quaint smile. "I'm sorry! I thought it was a roc- I'm sorry!"
"It's fine! I'm glad you're up." Vivi tried to cheer her up. Obviously even she was at a loss when it came to acting around the girl. Though she had the right approach. Our situation was a bit awkward.
The victim was wary of us, and we felt pity for her no matter how much we tried to conceal it.
But it was any moment now.
The startle made the girl slowly come to her senses.
"What am I even doing here-?" Just as she asked that the colour left her face. Her memory from a few hours ago came back to her. Erratic, she turned to her side and almost let the contents of her stomach out.
"Vivi." The redhead grabbed her mouth and turned her face upwards making her gulp down her vomit before it came out. "I'm sorry but we don't have enough food for 3 people. So you can't throw up." I justified.
This truly was a tragic situation. But for now, she was our responsibility. We couldn't let her die of starvation on our way back.
The girl pulled Vivi's hand off and crawled to a corner, shivering. Small whimpers started resounding around the little plateau.
She seemed stuck in place. So fragile, that leaving her alone would just break her.
"I'm going to get some firewood." I didn't want to be part of the awkwardness, and having a man around with her fresh trauma might do more harm than good. It was getting pretty chilly.
As the whimpers slowly got louder and turned into cries, I got up and started wandering around the forest. There was plenty of firewood everywhere. I could have gotten the adequate amount in minutes but that would've meant that I had to go back to the waterworks.
So I decided to mentally take note of the location and wandered around some more. As long as I could feel their presence with my [Natural Predator] skill.
The night wasn't safe, but after what I went through today, the concept of self-preservation seemed almost foreign. More than fright, I felt the need to vent my anger. I sensed some bloodlust within myself. Was it because I had gotten a taste of killing humans?
Or was it just my left hand acting up again?
My thoughts were simple and slow, almost as if my mind itself was stretching back to relax.
'Let's just eat.'
"Natural Predator."
[ Proficiency increased. ] I familiar voice rang as the grimoire appeared in front of me again.
{ (Natural Predator - C) has evolved to (Natural Predator - B) }
Like a gust of wind, the world around me expanded vastly. My senses had already peaked when I got the skill, but just now, the range increased. I could see far, I could hear even farther.
And one thing that stood out was that even though there were a plethora of monsters around us, not one dared to come close to Vivi's vicinity. That and a couple of people wandering around the area.
There were always a few stragglers.
My mind went back to the monsters and I immediately found a prey.
"There."
I dug my feet into the ground and darted off for my meal.
###
[ Unable to summon (Boar - G) due to lack of **** ]
{ Agility - Ten/Ten - D }
I ate the last little strand of meat hanging off the bone. I saved tonight's worth of travelling food.
'That should do.' My anger and bloodlust were nowhere near relieved. But I felt that if I continued I would completely surrender to it. So I used this momentary fulfilment to head back and rest of the party with firewood in my hands.
Finding them was easy with my skills. I could almost see them from this far away.
I breathed out and a small cloud of mist escaped my mouth.
When I arrived the girl was couped up next to Vivi.
"Is she fine?" I plopped the firewood down.
"Yes, Anino is fine." Vivi looked at me as if to tell me to not be insensitive.
'So her name was Anino, huh?'
"Did you explain the situation to her?" I sat down next to them. The girl's eyes were red from crying and she was still not in the best state. But it was better than before. She seemed more stable than before.
Back then I could have let her throw up since I saved my portion of the meal anyway.
"I was hoping you would do it." Vivi left the hard part to me, huh? She lit the fire and the cold started to avert.
'Hmm… How do I explain this?'
Well, first of all-
"How old are you?" My voice was a lot stiffer than I thought it would be. It had been more than a bit since I had to bother with hurting others' feelings.
"I will turn 17 in a month." Anino's chin was on top of her knees and her voice was tired and miserable.
"So still a kid, huh?"
"El… You're a kid too." Vivi took some dried meat out and put it on top of the fire.
"Shhhh. I'm 18." Anyways, I needed to know her situation before figuring out what to do. If it wasn't as bad as it initially seemed, or if the ones attacking her were the only deviants then maybe, just maybe, it was fine to send her back to Rottheim. "Can you tell me what happened to you?"
Anino sniffled and remained silent for a while. The only thing going around was the sound of the fire crackling and the smell of meat. I stopped Vivi from cooking my portion.
"In Rottheim, if you conduct business, you need to give a certain organisation some money." Anino finally spoke up as if she had rehearsed this beforehand probably out of a lack of self-confidence.
Anyways, the 'certain organisation' she probably meant the ruffians.
"Why?"
"The mayor works under them, and the top brass has a lot of strong adventurers." She explained. Politics was foreign to the me who only knew farming.
"Why didn't the clergy step in?"
"Cuz they earn the most from the taxes on top of the taxes they themselves implement on the city. Of course, not many people, except the affected know of that."
Woah… You didn't need to know politics to know that these assholes were all rotten to the core.
"And, then?"
"So after some time, my father became unable to pay the fees. And the organisation took over our business. They said that they would provide us with customers. The customers they sent were a rough bunch who would do unspeakable acts in the bedroom. Not to me but... Other women..." Her eyes were squinting.
Yep… that made sense. I remembered the inside of the inn was more like a brothel than an inn. Disgusting.
"If we were still unable to pay up, then he would take something as collateral. I wasn't there for the conversation but that was what my father told me." Anino sniffled.
"…"
"In the fear of the inn getting taken away, I started to offer my own personal services. I became an attendant but never signed up to be a harlot. I would personally serve alcohol, clean guests, and entertain them. But the ruffians, they- they harassed me. Hit me when I did something wrong and burned me when they got high enough." Her face was so grim that she could have died at any moment. "BUT I STILL DID IT! I WANTED TO SAVE OUR INN!" She yelled.
I couldn't give her the reaction that she wanted. My face was plain while she was in pain. Trying my best to hide pity. Vivi was seething with rage at that moment. I didn't look at her but I was sure. I could feel it.
'That wasn't the right reaction either.'
"I saved the money and gave it to them, but for some reason, they took it and never waived the debt. Said that the debt only grew with interest. Today, they said that I didn't give any money back, it didn't make sense. They came to collect the collateral. So I begged to save the inn thinking that the inn was what was getting taken away." Even Anino was starting to get furious. "But I didn't know that collateral would be me!"
She shoved her face back into her knees. Her story ended.
It was clear that going back wasn't an option anymore. She would meet a worse fate if we went back. Because I helped her escape.
So I thought about the rest of my plan calmly before replying.
"Vivi and I are going to my town. It's a small town, and if you hide well enough you'll never get found out." It was my turn to talk. "I would shelter you. Of course, not for free. My sister and Mom run this eaterie and I think they were looking for a third pair of hands. You work for them, and I can at least offer you some safety. Due to some circumstances, I too have to hide. So I can help you with staying away from that organisation's sight."
Her eyes peeked out.
"If you change your hair, get some glasses, and cover up your scars, I doubt that anyone would recognise you." This was the most I could do for her. "You're welcome to join me. Just know that I'm a wanted man."
"Eh? When did that happen?!" Vivi finally intruded. Oh yeah, now that I think about it, I was hiding that from her. It didn't matter now anyway. She was in too deep.
"Apparently I tried to kill the Hero and then accidentally got knocked off the cliff. Or that's how the clergy spun it. So not only am I a wanted man, but I'm also dead."
"You didn't do that right?" She asked and I looked her dead in the eyes. "Of course, you didn't. You're too weak."
This little-! Wait, no. Calm down.
"That we can discuss later… Anino, are you willing to join us on this little journey?" I looked at her expectantly. Her head got progressively higher. Anino was weighing her choices.
.
.
.
"Yes, please."