It was only after Rina had walked a few hundred metres, that she finally managed to recover from her embarrassment. And only then did she realise, that her behaviour was inappropriate for a number of reasons.
Firstly, there was her interaction with Marianne. Even though Rina wasn't sure why the brunette, a beautiful woman even by the standards of this world, was approaching her so aggressively, she was able to let it go. After all, Marianne's motives were not important to her.
What was important, however, was that Rina knew that it was only a matter of time, before her feelings for Marianne would reach the same intensity as her feelings for her beloved mistress. And this was unacceptable from her moral point of view, even though she knew from her past life that she tended to fall for more than one girl at a time.
Secondly, Fran was right. They hadn't come all the way to this village just to have her flirt around with Marianne like they had last night or just moments before. They had come here to clear out the Demon-Spawning-Cloud, that had been sighted in this area. That was not a task that anyone, especially Rina, could fulfil with her mind occupied by dirty feelings.
So, as if to fire herself up for the task at hand, she slapped her cheeks with both hands and concentrated on her surroundings. Only afterwards was she able to notice the direction in which she was currently walking.
'Oh no! Don't tell me... it's near the orphanage!?'
As soon as she had that thought, Rina started a full sprint in the direction of the eerie feeling, while ignoring the panicked shouts of Marianne and Fran behind her, telling her to wait for them.
Thanks to her small frame and her training, Rina was pretty confident in her stamina, and her sprinting speed was nothing to scoff at, as the other two behind her were nowhere to be seen anymore. As a result, Rina arrived at the orphanage only a few minutes after she had set off, even though it was usually at least half an hour's walk from the village.
Arriving at the orphanage, Rina couldn't believe her eyes anymore. The former church-like building with a somewhat well-kept vegetable garden was nowhere to be seen anymore. Instead, all the red-haired girl could see were the ruins of a collapsed building.
To make matters worse, she could perceive a dark cloud hovering over the rubble. So, not knowing how to react or what to make of the scene in front of her, Rina just dropped lifelessly to her knees, like a puppet whose strings had been cut. And she just stayed like that for quite a while.
It was not until some time later that she came to again when she felt her body being shaken by hands on her shoulders as her name was repeatedly called out loudly. So when she became aware of her surroundings again, she saw Fran's beautifully chiselled face only dozens of centimetres in front of her, looking at her with a worried expression.
“Fran?”
“Oh, Rina... thank God you're okay.”
After hearing Fran's words, Rina averted her eyes from the elf and looked around to see that she herself was still on her knees in front of the orphanage. Next to her, she saw the brunette lying on the ground on her back, breathing heavily.
“M-Marianne!? Fran, what's wrong with her?”
“Calm down, she is just exhausted from a heavy sprint session. Seriously, when you're back, tell your Mistress, that Marianne needs to train her body.”
“...Haaah... haaaaah... shut up...” Instead of Rina, the heavily breathing girl spoke. “...Haaaaah... it's not... haaaaah... that I'm untrained... haaaah... It's Rina... haaaah... who's abnormal... I mean... seriously... haaaaah... I want to know... how that small body of hers... haaaah... is built...” As if to show her anguish, she shot Rina a reproachful glare.
“Um... what exactly happened? Why is she... um... in this sorry state?”
“Shut up, Rina!... Haaah... I'll remember this... and pay you back a thousand times... tonight.”
“That was supposed to be my question!” Paying no further attention to Marianne, Fran answered Rina's question. “You suddenly started sprinting at full speed when we were on our way here. And even though Marianne and I followed you as fast as we could, we only arrived a few moments ago... And well... this is the result.” Fran pointed at Marianne.
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“I see...”
“Not 'I see!'” Fran's sudden loud voice made the poor red-haired girl twitch in reflex. “Why were you dazed in front of the Demon-Spawning-Cloud!? It's dangerous. If a demon had crawled out at that moment, you would be dead by now! You need to be more aware of your surroundings!”
“I-I'm sorry...” Seeing no way to defend herself, Rina couldn't think of a way to appease the angry elf other than to look down and apologise.
When Fran saw her pupil's reaction, she felt her heartstrings being pulled, and suddenly felt bad about raising her voice. So she calmed down before she continued at a lower volume. “Seriously, why were you in that state in the first place?”
“Before we talk about it, is it really okay to just leave it alone?” Rina pointed to the dark cloud above the destroyed orphanage. “Shouldn't we be on guard in case the demons spawn?”
Fran shook her head at the redhead's question. “I think we're safe for now. As far as I know, the mist still hasn't reached the size where demons could appear. Of course, we should both still keep our eyes on it, but for now, I want to know the reason for your reaction earlier... Why were you in that state earlier? Did something happen while Marianne and I were catching up to you?”
Rina looked at Marianne first. After making sure that the brunette, who was still lying on her back, had calmed down, she turned her attention back to Fran and shook her head.
“It's not as if something purposeful had happened. The collapsed building under the Demon-Spawning-Cloud... it's the orphanage where I grew up in during my early childhood. And even though I was not particularly attached to that place... seeing it in ruins like this did something in me...”
“I see, so you were so shocked from seeing your old home in such a state...”
Rina nodded at the elf's conclusion, before continuing, “Well, it's not like I had any friends here... in fact, I was estranged from everyone during my stay. But there was a caretaker, who was good to me... I just wonder what happened to her.”
“I see... Hmm okay, since we have nothing better to do at the moment, let's talk a bit about another topic... for that...” Fran's eyes wandered from Rina to Marianne, who was lying in the middle of the paved path, and back to Rina. ”...let's find a place to sit down, where we can relax.”
Only then did Rina realise, that she was still on her knees, also in the middle of the paved path, a very uncomfortable position to be in for a prolonged period of time. So the three of them got up, walked a few metres away from the ruined orphanage, and sat down on the grass under a tree, with Rina in the middle and Marianne and Fran on either side of her.
Still, even though it was Fran's suggestion, Rina still couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable leaving the Demon-Spawning-Cloud alone like that, so she mentally decided to be vigilant, in case Fran got too lax. Nevertheless, she still turned to her teacher and resumed the conversation. “So, what do you want to talk about?”
“About what I learned about the Demon-Spawning-Cloud, when I travelled around the kingdom over the past year. At first, I was going to teach it to you and Clara in the Dragonherz mansion after this is over, but I changed my mind. Tell her, what I teach you now, later.”
“Don't we already know everything about it? I mean is there anything else to learn about it?” Rina tilted her head in confusion at Fran's answer.
Hearing her pupil's words, Fran frowned in return. After a few moments, she shook her head in disapproval. She even wanted to scold Rina for her ignorance and lack of interest in the Demon-Spawning-Cloud, something that affected the world enormously. But then she dismissed that notion and decided instead to teach her in a calmer way.
“Actually, there's a lot that's still unknown about the Demon-Spawning-Clouds. After all, what do we know about them, other than that they appear more and more as the demon invasion approaches, that we go crazy when touching them, and that demons crawl out of them? And that they're made of Mana, which is used to spawn the demons. That's also why the clouds always disappear after the demons have spawned.”
Everything Fran just said, was already known to Rina. After all, it was the elf herself, who had taught her this knowledge in the past. Therefore, Rina thought that what she knew was enough.
But then, she recalled, that the Duke had been able to capture one of those things in the past. So, the existence of the Demon-Spawning-Cloud was indeed still shrouded in mystery, as Fran had said. And now, thinking more deeply about it, Rina still wasn't sure, if her power to cleanse those clouds, as the Duke had explained in the past, might not even have a part in this whole mystery surrounding them.
Unaware of Rina's inner thoughts, Fran interpreted her pupil's silence as a signal to continue her explanation. “As you already know, I left the mansion a year ago to clear those clouds, … and also to study them. Why do they appear? How? At what frequency? Where? When? So many questions, and no answers”
““...””
“I told you, that I travelled to remote villages, do you remember?”
Both Rina and Marianne nodded. After all, it had not been long since Fran had told them that.
“Do you know why?”
“Isn't it because they can't defend themselves and because the lords of the territory won't help?” Rina replied, trying to remember the conversation they had in Lord Eric's office yesterday before they departed.
“Well, that too... but the main reason is, that Demon-Spawning-Clouds rarely appear in larger cities. In fact, the one you saw five years ago, was the only recorded cloud to appear in a major city. All the others have always been sighted in smaller villages.”
“”...””
Before the two girls could even digest the new information, Fran continued, “To make matters worse, all the villages, where the clouds have appeared, had one still operating facility. In fact, the villages without such facilities were left alone by the clouds.”
Both maids remained silent as they watched Fran clench her fists and grit her teeth in frustration.
“I'm talking about orphanages.”