"It's because of her that the town was attacked! That cursed girl you adopted is the reason for all of this!"

"Chief! You can't just blame it on her just because she's an Ylka!"

"They are a calamitous race! Do you know why they were pushed to the brink of extinction it's because of their hair! It's because they possess their god's color... The color of calamity and destruction!"

"Such a thing cannot be considered as an appropriate argument, having a different hair color than the rest of us... You can't be serious..."

"Banish her... Or else kill her with your own hands..."

"Y-you!"

"Prince Marx... Please..."

"But this old coot he!"

"We're not going anywhere!"

"You intend to defy me! You insolent brat!"

"I have never broken a promise of mine to you father except for the matters regarding my family, she is your granddaughter as well..."

"She is no child of yours, she is an adopted daughter, not of blood... There is no way I will have any connection to that daughter of yours...

"If anyone outside of this tent, hears of this... God forsake what I will do, please remember this father..."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Perhaps... But I am not a person who goes back from my words..."

In Toni's eyes, his eyes glinted red with anger, in turn the chief glared right back and replied...

"Insolent brat..."

After their exchange Toni and the others went out of the tent and headed to their house... Most of the housing in the town was burned due to the attack, so most of the residents are to shelter themselves in a tent, though damp, it still much better than nothing...

"Kieffer... Please keep this a secret from the Kingdom... You too your majesty..."

"I would never sell Ryomi off... I promise that with my name..."

"I could not express how happy I am to hear that your majesty..."

"Is this okay Toni? Threatening your father like that..."

"He's a smart man, he wouldn't make a stupid move, he knows that I'm a person he can't stand against and he'll never do anything without a proper plan, it may work for a while but soon he'll move and expose everything, when that time comes we'll have to move away from this place..."

"I see..."

The prince lowered his head as he heard Toni's thoughts... No more words were spoken and thus they separated.

--

"Nnn..."

"You're awake..."

"Who..."

Strangely enough I don't feel threatened by her presence rather, I feel calmer for some reason... How long have I been asleep... Also, where is this place?

"It seems you've got questions... Please drink some tea..."

"Heh... Like the times when you meet a god huh?"

"Well, such was written on your original world's books... Though it is an unfounded fantasy, I try to make you as comfortable as possible, so I decided to play it safe with this..."

As I sipped the tea, which only tasted like water for me... I really wonder what is wrong with the Japanese people's sense of taste, saying that a water is sweet, rather than saying it's plain...

"... So you really were a god?"

"Yes... I guess this makes things much easier, than explaining everything from the start... I assume that you know me already..."

"The only one I remember with a silver hair and golden eyes was the patron god of the cursed race, God Leonia, am I right?"

"I see... You have done your homework..."

"What is this about?"

"I have a request..."

"Is this about... The treatment about the Ylka race?"

"Keen... I must say you take the words out my mouth, yes, that is the reason..."

"Is that why you made me a girl?"

"Ah! T-that is... I thought you were a girl in appearance... and well..."

"What!? You just made a wrong judgement?"

"Yes... erm... I'm sorry..."

"Did you know how hard it is for me to lose the thing that makes me a man?"

"I... I couldn't possibly know... I'm really sorry..."

"... Haa... Also, are there others like me in this world?"

"Others... Ah! Yes, there is, a dozen of them have gathered in the continent up north..."

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"For what purpose? It has been a year and I knew some might have already been killed and some have made achievements. Why were we sent here?"

"To be our plaything..."

That answer caught me off guard... I didn't expect such an answer to come... Plaything? What the hell?

"Do you guys take us for a fool?"

"That is the other gods' purpose... I want to help you, if you want to go back I'll do anything I can but..."

"There is a price for anything, right?"

"Yes... An equivalent trade..."

"I see... In that case... I refuse..."

"Wah? Don't you want to return?"

"I'll go back by my own... I'm sure there are some way to go back... Also, how could I trust your words, you are also a god... The ones who brought us in this world without our consent..."

"B-but that's..."

"I'm sorry... Maybe, when we meet again some other time... I'll think about it..."

"I see... So you will reconsider... All is not lost..."

I saw a small smile appeared as she lowered her head and said...

"Next time... I hope you will reconsider my offer... Randell Hall..."

"Heh... That's a name I didn't hear for a long time..."

My vision gradually brightens and as soon as everybody is swallowed by light, I've already appeared in another room...

The ceiling had a lantern with a fire stone embedded into it...

"I see... I'm back..."

Lethargic as I was, I forced myself to sit right up, my hair fell into it's place... Then I realized something... Shim was sleeping by my lap, she must've already known... That I'm no human, that I'm one of those cursed Ylka's... But seeing her here lift up my spirits, as I thought "I'm glad she didn't hate me for it..." and slowly caressed her face...

"Nnn... Ryomi~"

"Good morning? He he he..."

"Ryomi!"

She opens her eyes wide and jumps at me with wide arms, and hugs me... Seeing this my unfounded fear was blown away... "She really didn't hate me for it..." I thought as I hugged her back, a sweet scent of lavender loomed over her hair, is this shampoo? I thought but neglected the idea as there were no such items in a medieval world...

"I'm really glad you're safe..."

"Huh, fighting goblins isn't even a challenge to me..."

"Even though you were bleeding too much, when we found you..."

"We?"

"Everyone, your mother, father, the prince..."

"The prince came as well, huh?"

"What? You feel much happier?"

"No... Why would I?"

"Um... Erm... That's... It's nothing..."

I feel glad... nothing bad happened to Shim, but I can't say the same for everybody else...

"Ryomi... Don't do that again... Okay?"

"I can't promise... But I will try..."

"That was reckless you know... Casting [Rain] all over the town..."

"... Yeah... I almost got killed because of it too..."

"Mwuu! Don't make it sound like it's not a big deal..."

I suddenly wanted to tell Shim about my going away after I've fully recovered, but as she is my strength, she is also my weakness, I couldn't possibly go with her being all teary-eyed over me going some place faraway... I'm going to have to talk to Emily and Toni about my talk with Leonia and hear their opinions about it...

I gently let my hand fall down her hair and hug her close... She really smells good... I thought as I sniffed her lightly in reaction to this Shim lightly muttered "Don't sniff me, I smell awful..." I was blown away by her words, if this is awful then how do you smell when you're totally cleaned up, I got the urge to say this out loud but stopped myself from doing so...

"I'm going to go get your parents..."

"Okay..."

Shim then stood up and walked outside the door. Then I immersed once again into thinking, I wonder... Was it right to have rejected Leonia's offer? Well, I did say I'll reconsider it so there is no harm there... She also seemed to not rush at all... But maybe it's just her keeping it together and being rational, she didn't want to rattle a potential pawn after all...

Ah! All this thinking is going to fry my brains out... Aaah! Gotta sleep again...

So the day ends, particularly exhausted with my thinking of the goddess' plans.