By the time we left the guild, it was getting dark outside. The sky was
still bright, but the streets of Rikarisu seemed oddly gloomy. After a second, I
realized it was a side effect of its location; the tall walls of the crater had cast
the city into shadow well before the sun actually set. It'd probably be pitch
black in no time.
"I guess we should find an inn right away."
Eris looked over me with a puzzled expression. "Can't we just camp
outside the city or something?"
"Oh, come on. Might as well get a good night's sleep in a real bed
when we're staying in a town, right?"
"You think?"
Ruijerd didn't seem to have an opinion one way or another. When we
were camping out in the field, he'd often handled the night watch duties all
by himself, since he could sense approaching enemies even when he was
half-asleep. I'd woken a couple times in the middle of the night to the sound
of something exploding, only to realize that Ruijerd had just sliced apart
some hapless monster. It wasn't exactly conducive to a relaxing rest.
Anyway, an inn was definitely in order. For one thing, I was starving.
We could probably buy something in the city, but we still had a ton of dried
meat left over from the other day. It was probably smarter to finish that and
keep our expenses down for now, but I was hungry enough that I at least
wanted someplace to sit down and stuff my face in peace.
"Hey, Rudeus! Look at that!"
Eris's voice was full of excitement. Curious as to what she'd spotted, I
looked up to find that the inner walls of the crater had begun shining faintly;
the light seemed to be growing brighter by the second.
"This is amazing! I've never seen anything like it before!"
By the time the sun set completely, the crater's walls were brilliantly illuminating the stone and clay buildings of the city. It felt like we'd
stumbled into a lit-up amusement park.
"Wow. That's really something, isn't it?"
Of course, I'd spent my previous life in a place that never got
completely dark at any time, so I wasn't quite as awestruck as Eris. Still, this
was definitely a magical spectacle. Why were the walls shining like that
anyway?
"Ah. Those are the illuminators."
"Hm? You know something about this, Raiden?"
"Raiden? Who's that? Hm. Was there a Sword God a few generations
ago with that name…?"
Naturally, the reference was completely lost on Ruijerd. There
probably wasn't a single person in this entire world who would have
understood it. Kind of depressing.
"Sorry. I used to know someone by that name, and he knew all sorts of
weird things, so… It was just a slip of the tongue."
"I see."
Ruijerd reached down and patted me gently on the head, like a man
comforting a child who'd reminisced about a deceased parent.
Uh, just for the record, Raiden isn't my dad's name or anything. My
old man's named Pat or Pablo or something like that. Pretty decent father,
pretty crappy human being.
"Anyway, what are these illuminator things?"
"They're a variety of magic stone."
"How do they work?"
"They absorb light during the day, then release it like this once it's
dark. They shine for less than half as long as the daylight hours, though."
So they were basically solar-powered lights? I didn't see anything like
these back in Asura. It was surprising they weren't in broader usage,
considering how convenient they sounded.
"So why don't people use these all over the place?"
"Mainly, it's because the stones themselves are rather rare."
"Huh? Looks like they've got a ton of them here, though…" It had to
take a huge number of those things to light up an entire city like this, right?
"The Great Demon Empress apparently had them brought here at the
height of her power. You see that over there?" Ruijerd pointed to the broken
fortress at the center of the city, shining faintly in the light of the stones. "It
was all so her castle would glow beautifully in the night."
"Wow. That seems a little…excessive." An image of the Demon
Empress popped unbidden into my mind. It was Eris in a dominatrix outfit,
shrieking, "More light! I need more light, so that the world may know my
beauty!"
"Doesn't anybody try to steal them or anything?"
"I've heard it's forbidden, but I don't know the details."
Right. This was Ruijerd's first time in Rikarisu, too, after all. The
stones seemed to be positioned fairly high up the crater's walls, so maybe it
was tricky to get to them unless you could fly.
"At the time, the project was widely condemned as a selfish waste, but
I suppose it's proven useful in the end."
"Hmm. Maybe the Empress actually did it for the good of her citizens."
"That I highly doubt. The woman was infamous for her decadence and
self-indulgence."
Ooh. I like the sound of those words. If this lady's still alive
somewhere, I'd love to meet her. We're definitely talking about a sexy
succubus type here.
"Hey, sometimes truth's stranger than fiction, right?"
"Is that some sort of human proverb?"
"Yep. Think about it though. The Superd don't have a great reputation
either, but they're actually kind-hearted people, aren't they?"
Ruijerd patted my head affectionately. I wasn't sure how I felt about
being petted like this at my age, but…let's think this over, shall we? Yes, I
was basically in my mid-forties, mentally speaking. But this guy was in his
560s. Just chop off a digit if it's too hard to wrap your head around that. Now we've got the equivalent of a four-year-old being patted by a fifty-six-year-
old. That's nice and heartwarming, right?
"Hey, Rudeus! Why don't we go check that place out?!" Eris said,
pointing at the ruined, jet-black castle looming ominously against the night
sky.
"Not tonight, Eris," I said. "Let's find an inn."
"Oh, come on! We can just take a little look around!"
Well, now I'd got her pouting. It was charming enough that I was
tempted to indulge her, but based on what Ruijerd said earlier, this light
wasn't going to last forever. The last thing we needed was to find ourselves
plunged into total darkness just as we reached the castle.
"I've been feeling kind of worn out lately, Eris. I'd rather head to an
inn."
"Huh? Are you all right?"
I wasn't lying. It probably had something to do with the fact that I
wasn't used to traveling, but I'd been feeling kind of sluggish for the last few
days. I could still move just fine in battle, so it hadn't been a major issue yet.
Still, I did seem to be getting tired more quickly than usual. Maybe the stress
was getting to me. "I'm fine, Eris. It's nothing too serious."
"Really? Well, all right then… I guess I'll have to be patient."
Now that was a phrase I never would've expected to hear from Miss
Eris Boreas Greyrat. The girl really had come a long way in the last few
years, hadn't she?
***
We settled on a place called the Wolfclaw Inn. It had a total of twelve
rooms, and the rate was five stone coins per night. The building itself had
seen better days, but they openly welcomed beginner adventurers, and the
price was definitely fair. For an extra stone coin, they provided morning and
evening meals, and if you were an adventuring party with more than two
people staying in a single room, they waived that fee altogether. As part of that newbie-friendly strategy, the rate stayed the same no matter how many
beds you used.
Their front lobby also doubled as a little tavern, with a handful of
tables and a few counter seats as well. When we walked in, one of the tables
was occupied by a group of three young adventurers, which didn't strike me
as surprising.
The word "young" was relative here, of course. They were probably
older than I was, maybe about Eris's age. All of them were boys, and all of
them were staring at us without making any attempt to hide it.
"What should we do?" said Ruijerd, shooting me a glance. He was
presumably asking if we were going to put on another show.
"Let's not," I replied after a moment's thought. "This is where we're
sleeping, right? I'd rather be able to relax here." There was no telling how
many nights we'd actually be spending in this particular inn, but these boys
were still children by Ruijerd's standards. If we stayed under the same roof
for long, they'd naturally come to learn that he was a good-hearted guy.
"We're a party of three. We'll be here three days at least."
"Yeah, fine. You want the meals or no?"
The innkeeper here didn't seem to be the friendliest. "Yeah. Meals,
too, please." I handed over enough coins to cover our first three days upfront.
The free food thing was definitely a nice bonus. This left us with one iron
coin, three scrap iron coins, and two stone coins…the equivalent of 132 stone
coins, in total.
"H-hey, are you a rookie adventurer too?"
As I was listening to the innkeeper explain the rules and such, one of
the newbies wandered over and spoke to Eris. It was a kid with white hair
and a horn sticking out of his forehead; you could probably have classified
him as a "pretty boy," if you were feeling generous.
The other two…weren't bad either, I guess. One of them was a sturdy-
looking, muscular guy with four arms, and the other had a beak for a mouth
and feathers where his hair should be. They were all relatively handsome,
although in different ways. If Horn-head was a normal-type Prettymon, Four-
arms was a fighting-type, and Beak-boy was a flying-type.
"W-we're pretty new to this ourselves actually. Want to come eat with
us maybe?"
Oh wow. He's actually hitting on her. This little punk was pretty damn
precocious, huh? Too bad his voice was trembling. It was kind of adorable, in
a way.
"We can probably give you some advice on picking jobs and stuff, you
know?"
"…Hmph." Eris's only response to the boy's offer was to turn her face
away. Way to go, girl! Give that little flirt the cold shoulder!
Well, not like she can even understand what he's saying.
"C'mon, just for a bit? Your little brother over there can come too."
"…"
Just as I felt like I should intervene, Eris abruptly glanced across the
room and began walking away from the boy. I recognized the technique of
course. It was something she'd learned in Edna's etiquette lessons…a basic
move from the Art of Avoiding Annoying Aristocrats! Now then, how was the
kid going to play this? At this point, a gentleman would get the message and
back down gracefully…
"Hey, don't ignore me."
Horn-head was evidently not a gentleman. Clearly irritated, he reached
out and grabbed the bottom of Eris's hood. The kid yanked Eris backward,
but she had enough lower-body strength to keep her balance. As you might
expect from an adventurer, he seemed to be relatively strong himself.
Unfortunately, there was a cheap piece of cloth caught up in the middle
of this power struggle. With an ugly ripping sound, Eris's hood gave way.
"…Huh?"
Eris looked down at the damage. There were tiny tears all along the
hood's bottom edge, where the seams had pulled apart.
I think I actually heard her snap.
"What the hell d'you think you're doing?!"
A shrill cry, loud enough to shake the inn to its rafters, served as the
starting bell. Twirling around, Eris fired off a Boreas Punch. This was a turning blow she'd learned from Sauros and perfected in the course of her
training with Ghislaine; the poor kid never saw it coming. Her fist caught him
square in the face, and his head jerked back so far that it almost looked like
she'd broken his neck.
The kid fell spinning backward, hit the back of his head against the
floor, and was instantly unconscious.
I was a total amateur, but even I could tell that blow had some serious
power behind it. You could almost hear the world's strongest death row
convict muttering, "What a punch." Kinda serves you right for being so
pushy, man. Hopefully the kid had learned his lesson and would never again
do anything so foolhardy as speaking to Eris. Sometimes education can be a
painful process.
Anyway, his two friends were presumably going to come charging in at
this point. I probably needed to step in…
"Who do you think you are anyway?! You've got some nerve touching
me!"
But to my surprise, Eris wasn't done yet. This time, she unleashed the
Boreas Kick…another highly sophisticated technique she'd learned from
Sauros and perfected under Ghislaine. Her foot smacked into the solar plexus
of her second victim.
"Gah!"
Four-arms moaned in agony and sank to his knees. Eris promptly drove
her knee into his chin, sending him flying backward.
"Huh? Wha— Huh?!"
It didn't seem like Beak-boy had fully processed what was happening
yet, but as Eris rushed toward him, he reached reflexively for the sword at his
hip. That seemed a little overboard, so I quickly tried intervening with magic.
As it turned out, though, Eris was the only one really going overboard
here. Before Beak-boy could even draw his weapon, she smacked her fist
viciously into his chin. I'd never seen a bird's eyes roll back in its head
before, but apparently there was a first time for everything.
In mere seconds, Eris had totally immobilized all three of her
opponents. She stalked back to where Horn-head lay unconscious and kicked his
head like a soccer ball. The first blow jolted the boy awake, but he couldn't
do anything except curl up in the fetal position. Eris proceeded to kick him
over and over again. "That…was…the…first…piece…of…clothing…
Rudeus…ever…bought…me!"
Oh my! Miss Eris! Do I really mean that much to you?! It was just a
cheap little thing to cover up that hair of yours, you know… Goodness,
you're going to make this old man blush!
Eris kicked the boy over onto his back and reached down to grab one
of his legs. Her face was twisted with rage. "You'll regret this until the day
you die! I'm going to stomp that thing into mush!"
What thing was she referring to, you might wonder? I was too afraid to
ask.
Horn-head didn't know what she was saying, of course, but he seemed
to understand what she intended to do. He started yelping apologies, begging
for help, and trying desperately to squirm away. But his words were
meaningless to Eris, and they wouldn't have made a difference either way.
Eris always finished what she started. The girl was nothing if not thorough.
This kid was about to meet with the same fate I might have suffered three
years earlier, had I failed to escape her wrath.
"Stop it, Eris!"
At this point, I finally managed to step in and intervene. Everything
had happened so quickly that I'd been too startled to react immediately.
"Down, girl! Down! Calm yourself!"
"What's your problem, Rudeus?! Why are you stopping me?!"
I'd grabbed Eris from behind, but she was still thrashing around in my
arms, trying to bring her foot down on the boy. What part of the boy
specifically, one might ask? The answer was too horrible to contemplate.
"We can just repair the hood! I'll sew it up for you, okay? So cut the
guy a break! You're going way too far here!"
"Oh, whatever! Hmph!"
Fortunately, my desperate pleas got through to Eris in the end. She
stopped fighting and stomped back over to Ruijerd with her face still full of fury.
Ruijerd, incidentally, had been sitting in a chair at the counter and
watching all of this unfold with a small smile on his face. "Ruijerd, come on!
Don't just sit there next time this happens!"
"Hm? It was only a children's fight, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, but the grown-ups are supposed to stop those!"
Especially when it's such a total mismatch…
***
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm f-fine…"
Feeling a bit sympathetic despite myself, I cast Healing on the battered
boy and helped him to his feet. "Sorry about that. She can't speak Demon-
God."
"Th-that scared the heck out of me… Wh-Why'd she get so mad
anyway?"
"Well, she doesn't like being pestered, and I think that hood is pretty
important to her."
"R-right… Uh, would you mind telling her I'm sorry?"
I glanced over at Eris. She'd taken off her hood, and was staring at the
huge tear in it while grinding her teeth furiously. She was definitely in her
"never forgive, never forget" mode right now. I hadn't seen her like this since
the very first day we met. I half-expected to see little cartoon clouds of smoke
coming out her ears.
"Sorry, but if I spoke to her right now, I think she'd punch me too."
"Uh, wow. She's cute, but kinda scary, huh…"
Honestly, I'd thought the girl had grown more civilized recently, but
maybe it was only an act. Kinda depressing, since I'd just been patting myself
on the back about how far she'd come. "Well, yeah, she's definitely cute.
And that's why you probably shouldn't talk to her unless you have a good reason, okay?"
"R-right. Sure…"
"Also, if you ever feel the urge to try and get revenge for this, I'd
advise against it. I stepped in today since the whole thing was just an
accident, but next time you might actually die." Not exactly subtle, but I
wanted to make sure he knew where we stood.
The boy's eyes widened, and he rubbed at his nose, then checked the
back of his head for lumps. After a few moments, he seemed to calm down.
"My name's Kurt. What's yours?"
"I'm Rudeus Greyrat. Oh, and she's Eris."
At this point, the two others, who Eris had punished for their friend's
misdeeds, came up to introduce themselves as well. The four-armed
muscleman was Bachiro, and Beak-boy's real name was Gablin.
Once we'd finished exchanging our names, these two took up positions
on either side of Kurt, and the little group struck up a dramatic pose.
"Together, we are…the Tokurabu Village Toughs!"
"…"
Were these kids trying to pull off an Athena Exclamation or what? Talk
about lame. And you're calling yourself "toughs"? Seriously? What are you,
a biker gang from fifty years ago or something? In fact, is this Tokurabu
place even on any maps?
"We're on track to hit rank D soon! We were thinking it was about
time we found a girl magician to round out the party, you know? That's why
I came over."
"A girl magician…?" That didn't make much sense. I was the only
magician in our party. It's not like Eris is wearing a wizard robe or
anything…oh. Wait a second…
"Did you assume Eris was a magician because of the hood she had
on?"
"Well, yeah. Only spellcasters wear stuff like that, yeah?"
"She's carrying a sword, you know…"
"Huh? Oh, wow. You're right." Apparently Kurt hadn't even noticed. He seemed like the type who only saw the things he wanted to see. "But
you're a magician, right? I mean, you can use healing spells and everything.
That's pretty awesome."
"Yeah, spells are basically what I do."
"Hey, why don't you both join up with us then?"
Wait, you think we're going to join your gang? Seriously? Didn't you
learn anything from that little episode earlier?
"Just so you know…if I joined up, that guy over there would be
coming too." I pointed over at Ruijerd, who was busy lecturing Eris about
something or other; she looked a bit sulky, but was nodding at his words.
"Huh? That guy's in your party too?"
"Oh, absolutely. His name's Ruijerd."
"Ruijerd…? What's your party called anyway?"
"Dead End."
The boys stared at me with undisguised bewilderment. They were
obviously wondering what the hell we were thinking.
"Uh, is it really a good idea to use a name like that?"
"Well, we got approval from the man himself."
"Suuure…"
Yeah, I know it sounds like a joke, but I'm actually telling the literal
truth here…
"It's just a name, right? Point is, Eris and I are already taken, so we
can't join up with you guys." It was hard to imagine we'd get anything out of
teaming up with these kids anyway. We weren't here to run around playing
make-believe.
"Oh yeah? Guess that's your loss then. We're gonna make a big splash
in this town, you know? Don't come beggin' us to let you in the party once
we're famous."
Is he for real? Well…nothing wrong with a bunch of fresh-faced
youngsters heading to the big city with their heads full of dreams, right?
Those grizzled veterans back at the Adventurers' Guild probably welcomed kids like these with warm, indulgent smiles.
"You talk awful big for someone who just got his butt handed to him
by a kid…"
"Hey! She, uh, just caught me off guard, man."
"You gonna trot out that excuse when some monster ambushes you in
the wilderness too?"
"Gah…"
Yeah, I think I won that one. Feels good, man. Hard to argue with the
mental image of a Pax Coyote ripping out your throat, right?
I left the "Tokurabu Village Toughs" to nurse their bruised egos.
***
After dinner, we headed up to our room, where three fur beds awaited
us.
"Phew…" Sighing softly, I took a seat on mine. Today really had been
exhausting. I wasn't in the best condition to start with, and we'd met so many
people, heard a ton of laughter, and endured so much mockery. Even when
you're consciously playing a part, that stuff takes a toll on you.
Eris was gazing out our window at the city, which was growing darker
by the minute. That ruined castle was pretty captivating, sure, but you'd think
the girl was a tourist or something. We had all sorts of things to worry about
right now, didn't we? Did she expect me deal with everything all by myself
or what?
Okay, no. I needed to stop being so negative. Eris trusted me; that's
why she wasn't overthinking things right now. It wasn't as if she was being a
spoiled brat or anything. Now if only she'd stop getting into pointless fights…
I fell back onto my bed, looked up at the ceiling and thought about
what came next.
First and foremost, we needed money. This room was costing us fifteen
stone coins a night for the three of us. We needed to earn at least that much
per day at a bare minimum. But based on what I'd seen earlier, F-rank jobs paid out about five stone coins, and even E-rank jobs were only worth one
scrap iron coin or so. As a solo adventurer, you could probably just tackle
one F-rank job per day to cover the cost of your lodgings, then start saving
some cash once you ranked up into more lucrative work. F- and E-rank tasks
were mainly odd jobs around the city, but at D rank you started getting more
requests to gather materials and such. Basically, the system was set up so that
you could save up some money doing easy work, then buy some equipment
to tackle more dangerous jobs.
It was well thought-out, but…there were three of us.
Including the cost of lunch and everyday goods, we're probably
looking at twenty stone coins a day on average. If we handle one task a day,
we're probably looking at a net loss of ten to fifteen stone coins. And we've
got 132 left at this point…
We'd be flat broke in under two weeks. That wasn't much of a cushion
at all. We needed to be completing three or more jobs per day to stay out of
the red.
If we could split up, it'd probably be possible to pull in more than
twenty stone coins doing simple jobs. But if we left Ruijerd by himself, there
was a risk his real identity would be exposed. And Eris couldn't even speak
the local language, so she'd have a hard time on her own. She had a short
temper too… She might end up getting into fights with her clients.
More importantly, we couldn't spread the word about Ruijerd unless
we worked as a group.
Once we ranked up, money would be much less of an issue. Monster-
slaying tasks were right up Ruijerd and Eris's alley. Once we could take
those, we'd be sitting pretty in no time.
That said, jobs of that sort were all rank C or higher. Basically, if we
managed to hit rank D within the next two weeks or so, everything would
probably be okay. That wasn't going to be possible if we only took on one
task a day though. I'd forgotten to ask how many completed jobs it took
before you could rank up, but…at the very least, the guild clearly didn't let
you hop up the ladder just because you were a powerful fighter. They
expected everyone to work their way forward step by plodding step.
It didn't help that I wasn't in the best condition right now. This probably wasn't anything serious, but there was a chance Eris or I might
come down with some illness I couldn't cure with basic Detoxification spells.
Also, it was hard to know how much we'd need to spend on irregular
purchases. We'd have to keep buying hair dye for Ruijerd periodically for
one thing.
And then there were our clothes. We couldn't keep wearing the same
ones forever. Our outfits were made of durable, high-quality materials, and
they didn't take too long to clean when I used magic to dry them. But doing it
that way was bad for the fabric, and they'd eventually get ripped and torn.
The earlier we could get some extra sets, the better. Soap would be really nice
too. Eris and I had just been wiping ourselves off with a rag soaked in hot
water for a while.
There were probably all sorts of other basic supplies we'd realize we
needed too. Money was going to be an issue.
Oh, right. Maybe we could take out a loan or something? There had to
be at least a couple moneylenders somewhere in this city, right?
No. We probably didn't want to get into debt if we could help it. Not
until we had a clear way to pay it off at least. I guess I could always sell Aqua
Heartia, but…that was going to be my last resort. I didn't want to lose the
first birthday present Eris had ever given me.
Wow, look at me anguishing over the family budget. Never thought the
day would come…
As I recalled…in my previous incarnation, I'd been known to ward off
my parents' attempts at discussing money matters by pounding my fists on
the floor like an overgrown toddler. Talk about a nauseating memory.
I'd have to make an effort to forget about that one.
I also found myself remembering the look on Paul's face when I asked
him to pay for both Sylphie and me to attend school together. Also somewhat
embarrassing in retrospect. I really had been a bit too casual about money in
the past.
All right. This isn't the time to be learning valuable life lessons. Let's
focus, please.
What was the most efficient way for us to earn money? Should we try to complete as many jobs per day as possible? It might be easier to just head
out into the plains and hunt monsters for their raw materials, honestly. I
didn't have to get too fixated on the adventurer thing.
But if we went that route, we wouldn't have many chances to build up
Dead End's reputation around the city. Moving up the ladder as adventurers
would be the better way to do that. Hitting a high rank would make things
easier going forward…and we'd probably get a better price for raw materials
going through the Guild too.
Could we get ourselves established before our money ran out though?
Maybe it'd be smarter to put helping Ruijerd out on hold until our situation
was relatively stable?
Damn. I'm just going in circles at this point…
I couldn't find a clear-cut answer here. Making money and improving
Ruijerd's reputation at the same time wasn't going to be easy.
Hopefully I can figure something out…
Nothing came to mind before I fell asleep, though.
***
I was dreaming. In my dream, I found myself in a pure-white void. I
could sense I'd reverted into a duller and more pathetic version of myself.
Not this again. Sigh…
A vaguely obscene-looking little jerk appeared before my eyes.
What is it this time? I asked. Can we wrap this up as quickly as
possible, please?
"You're as hostile as ever, I see. My advice about relying on Ruijerd
worked out for you, didn't it? He got you to the nearest city safe and sound."
Yeah, I guess. But knowing Ruijerd, he probably would have tagged
along and protected us from a distance even if we ran away from him.
"Goodness. It certainly sounds like you trust him. Why are you still so
suspicious of me then?"
You seriously don't know the answer to that question? Did you forget
the part where you called yourself a god?
"Oh well, I suppose it doesn't really matter. I've got some more advice
for you, Rudeus."
Fine, fine. Would you please just get it over with? I hate the sound of
your voice, and I hate being here too. I hate feeling like the time I spent as
Rudeus was just a dream. I hate feeling like I've gone right back to being
some useless, pathetic loser. If you're going to make me hear you out, I wish
you'd just say your piece upfront.
"Somebody's awfully submissive today."
I'm just going to end up in the palm of your hand no matter what,
right?
"Don't be silly, Rudeus. All your choices are entirely your own."
Can you stop prattling on and get to the point?
"Oh, all right… Listen carefully, young Rudeus. Take on that task to
find the lost pet, and you'll soon find yourself with much less to worry
about…"
With the Man-God's final words echoing in my ears, I felt myself
slipping back into unconsciousness.
***
When I woke up, it was still the middle of the night. Talk about a bad
dream.
I'd had about enough of these divine messages, to be honest. The
timing here was incredibly suspicious. Pixel-face had picked the perfect
moment to take advantage of my uncertainty. Classic evil god stuff really.
We totally had a MOCCOS on our hands here.
Sighing softly, I looked over to my left.
Ruijerd was asleep. For some reason, he'd opted to lean against the far
wall with his arms around his spear, rather than occupying his bed. I looked to my right…and realized Eris was awake as well. She was
sitting on her bed, hugging her knees, staring out at the darkness.
I rose quietly, walked over, sat down at her side, and looked out the
window with her. The moon was out. This world only had one too.
"Can't sleep, huh?"
"Yeah," Eris replied after a momentary pause. She hadn't taken her
eyes off the window.
"Hey, Rudeus?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think we'll make it home…?"
All of a sudden, her voice was painfully anxious. "Oh…"
I was ashamed of my own cluelessness. I'd thought Eris was her usual
self. I'd thought she wasn't even nervous. I'd thought she was simply
enjoying this situation…our "adventure."
But that wasn't true at all. She was afraid too. She'd just been hiding it
from me. The stress must've been building up inside her for days. No wonder
she'd gotten into that stupid fight earlier. That should have tipped me off
right away, if I weren't a total moron.
"Yes. Absolutely." I gently wrapped an arm around Eris's shoulders,
and she promptly put her head against my shoulder. She hadn't taken a proper bath in days, so the faint scent wafting from
her hair was new to me. It wasn't unpleasant though. Not at all. Which was
kind of a problem, since my rambunctious little buddy began threatening to
act up again.
Control yourself, Rudeus… Until we make it home, you're an oblivious
protagonist.
This wasn't like the Sylphie thing. There was a reason, however
flimsy, that I needed to hold myself back. And in any case, only a scumbag
would take advantage of a girl who was feeling this anxious and vulnerable.
"Rudeus…you really will figure something out, right…?"
"Don't worry. I'll get us back home, no matter what it takes."
Oh man, this little lady's too cute when she gets all meek. No wonder
Sauros spoiled her rotten. I wonder what happened to the old man anyway?
That flash of light covered the entire Fittoa region, so I guess…
Nah, let's not think about it right now. I've got my hands full with my
own problems.
"Let's just focus on doing what we can for now, okay? You should get
some sleep, too, Eris. Tomorrow's going to be another busy day."
I patted Eris on the head, got up, and headed back to my own bed. Just
as I reached it, my eyes met Ruijerd's. He'd heard our conversation
apparently. That was…somewhat embarrassing.
After a moment, though, he just closed his eyes without a word.
Man, what a good guy! Paul probably would've started mercilessly
teasing me on the spot. Ruijerd really was a sweetheart. It'd just be plain
wrong to put his problems on the backburner.
Speaking of Paul though…I wonder if he's worried about me or
anything? I really ought to send a letter telling him that I was alive and well.
Although it was hard to know if it'd actually reach him from way out here.
Anyway. Tomorrow we're hunting someone's pet, I guess…
The Man-God's motives were still unclear to me. But for this one time,
I was willing to follow his advice without giving it too much thought.
Our first night as adventurers came to a quiet end—with the air in our little room still thick with anxiety.