“There aren't many things I wouldn't be willing to do for you.”

Both Marianne and Fran looked at Rina for a while with wide eyes, as if she had suddenly grown a second head. Seeing this, Rina chuckled inwardly and continued, further elaborating on her words. “To be honest, I don't really care about the lives of strangers I don't know. Well, a few years ago, I might have cared, but now... not anymore.”

Naturally, Fran was not amused to hear this. After all, it would mean that all the years she had spent conditioning the girl had been useless. When she had left a year ago, she had considered her plan a success, thinking that her manipulation of Rina to sacrifice herself to the world had worked out. That was the only reason she had left back then to travel around the kingdom to research the demons, leaving the still-growing and training Rina behind. But now, upon hearing the red-haired girl's words, Fran truly regretted her decision.

However, Rina's next words calmed her down a little.

“Fran, the only reason I agreed to help you fight the demons was because of what I said earlier. You are very important to me, that's why I decided to help you.” Rina then turned to Marianne. “It's the same for you... if there's something you want me to do, please just tell me... you don't have to act like you did... you know, manipulating me and stuff...”

“Wait, but Rina... didn't you say in Lord Eric's office that you wanted to help the people in the village? Was that a lie?” Fran couldn't help but be curious about this.

“Well, it's true. There is a part of me that wants to save helpless people, especially with my magic powers. But the bigger reason why I agreed was because of you... but well... considering Clara's personality, I have decided to hide that fact from her, as she would surely throw a tantrum about it.”

“Fufu... well, considering that jealous girl, your decision is probably correct.”

At Fran's comment about Clara, everyone laughed lightly. However, it didn't take long for all three to calm down and fall into their own deep thoughts. After all, even though they seemed to be having a light-hearted (?) conversation just now, they all knew that what they were about to do, fighting demons, could as well cost them their lives. Well, at least Fran's and Rina's, as Marianne didn't plan to be in the front line with the other two, but even she couldn't help but feel the tension.

Rina, however, was not only thinking about the upcoming, possible fight against the demons. There was something else that had been on her mind since they had departed. It was, of course, their destination, her birth village, Mousa.

Even though it had been already more than five years, since she had left, or rather escaped the village, it was still clear in her mind that everyone in Mousa, except for Sister Baal, had a hostile attitude towards her.

Of course, it was not that she thought about not helping them with their demon problem because of the past. After all, the way they had treated her had never bothered her. Instead, she was afraid of what the villagers would think of her reappearance after all these years.

True, one might think that she was now too full of herself fearing this. After all, who would still remember her after five years? In fact, she inwardly hoped that no one would be able to recognise her. That way, they could arrive, get rid of the Demon-Spanwing-Cloud and the demons, and leave again. For some reason, however, Rina suspected that it wouldn't be that easy. She had a hunch that most of the villagers would remember and react to her. Her red hair and red eyes, something that the villagers hated for some reason, were still there after all. And they weren't what one would call inconspicuous.

Unfortunately, no matter how long she thought about it, she couldn't get her anxiety out of her head, so she decided to seek advice from the people present, namely Fran and Marianne. “Um... may I ask you something.”

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Funnily enough, they both flinched at the same time when they heard Rina's voice. After all, they had been also deep in thought for the past few hours. The last thing they had expected was for Rina to interrupt the comfortable silence they had been enjoying.

Nonetheless, Fran was the first one to regain her composure and respond. “Hmm? Ask away.”

Despite getting Fran's confirmation and a nod from Marianne, Rina still hesitated to ask her question. Fortunately, they both waited patiently for her to speak up. After all, it wasn't as if they had anything better to do in the carriage right now. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity but was actually only a few seconds, Rina opened her mouth.

“Do you know which village I come from?” In the past, Rina had told them, that she came from a village not far from Valhale, but not that she was from Mousa. And since there were many small villages around the Royal Capital, there was no way that they could have known that the village they were currently heading for was also her birthplace. However, despite all these facts, Rina suspected that they, especially Fran, knew that Mousa was where she was born.

And indeed, her suspicion proved correct, as the High Elf nodded at her question. “Yes, I know.”

Rina then looked at Marianne, who also nodded, signalling that she also had also known about it. “I see,” was all Rina said. She then just looked out of the carriage window and seemed to be deep in thought again.

Meanwhile, Marianne had no idea what to make of the younger girl's behaviour.

At first, Rina fumbled around, hesitating to voice the question. And when she then finally did ask it, it turned out that it was just to see if she and Fran knew about her hometown. After they had given her the answers, she suddenly became depressed.

Naturally, seeing all that made the brunette more than a little confused. 'Does Rina have a troubled past in her birth village? She rarely talks about herself... maybe I should manipulate her into talking someday.' However, as soon as she had that last thought, she remembered her situation from earlier. So she put the idea of manipulation out of her mind. 'M-maybe asking her after this trip would be sufficient enough...'

On the other hand, while Marianne was struggling with her image of Rina, Fran was also having trouble reading the red-haired girl's current gestures. To make matters worse, unlike Marianne, she hadn't seen Rina for the past year, which made it even more difficult to get a read on her.

Of course, Fran had learned everything about Rina as soon as she had found out about her Dark Magic abilities all those years ago. So she understood very well, that the villagers in Mousa were not what one would call 'friendly' to Rina. In fact, she also discovered that, for some reason, they hated Rina to the core and that that hatred hadn't diminished despite her disappearance over five years ago.

But all this played into Fran's hands. That was why she didn't go to the village to fight off the demons herself, as she had done for other remote villages over the past year. Instead, she stopped at the Dragonherz mansion first to take Rina with her. Fran wanted the red-haired girl to get involved in combat with demons, but more importantly, she wanted her to experience what it felt like to fight for people who hated her.

She had planned it all while ensuring that Rina didn't get a bad impression of her. In the past, she had been confident, that she could do it. But now, after witnessing the usually clueless and naïve girl see through Marianne's schemes, it was clear that her plans and image were also in danger.

No, that was not quite right. In Fran's eyes, Rina's behaviour indicated that her pupil had already seen through everything that she had planned. But Rina had still decided to go through with it anyway. This made the elf feel guilty once again, and she was no longer sure if it was the right thing to continue using Rina in this way.

However, it was at that moment that the carriage stopped. "We have arrived at your destination."

When the coachman opened the door, Fran, pulled out of her thoughts, was the first to get out, closely followed by Marianne.

Rina, on the other hand, having just awoken from her light sleep, took a few moments to prepare her heart. When she was finally ready, she also left the carriage.

“Esteemed Ladies, I will wait here at the entrance to the village.”

Rina, who had already conversed with the coachman on a few occasions as he was also an employee of the Dragonherz, nodded at him in acknowledgement and followed the other two. But instead of catching up with them, Rina kept a few steps away. It seemed that Fran already knew the location of the village's small inn for travellers, so Rina decided to focus her senses on observing her surroundings instead.

Before entering the village, she had a faint hope that the villagers wouldn't recognise her, even though it was unlikely. That hope, however, was shattered when the first people around her immediately began whispering to each other as she passed.

True, one could say, that she was being paranoid, as the people might be talking about a completely different topic, not about her. But from the way the villagers occasionally glanced at her, and from her past experiences, including those from her former life, Rina was convinced that it wasn't the case. These people were openly insulting her behind her back.

Fortunately, her time with Clara, Marianne, and even to some extent Fran, had taught her that the opinions of people she didn't care about didn't matter. So, while pitying her past self, she could only smile wryly at the difficulties of the next few days.

'I'm already used to it, so whatever.'