Where am... I?

Using her arms as support, the girl slowly gets up. Her neck cannot keep straight as her head weighs on it as if it were a boulder, forcing her to look down. She sees a large, soft piece of cloth covering her legs, a blanket. Feeling its warmth on her legs is enough to make her drowsy, ready to fall unconscious again. Angling her head further down, she sees that she's wearing a very large plain white shirt, so large in fact it fits her like some kind of dress.

She feels the softness of the bed she's sitting on, her hands sinking into the squashy mattress. It has an almost hypnotic effect on the girl, though it's cut short by her arms feeling sore from supporting her body weight.

She hunches over, relieving her arms of the stress. Tilting her head slightly upwards, and clearing the hair obstructing her view, she gets a better look at her surroundings.

The room was mostly empty, save for the bed and a wooden desk that stood beside it; the rest of the space was filled only with sunlight, coming from a closed glass window. The girl takes notice of how clean the white walls and floor are, as well as the polished wood ceiling, immediately reminding her of the carriage.

I remember going to sleep with the wolf... What happened after that?

She looks at her left hand. It's not wrapped in any cloth, and she can move it around just fine, with only a minor discomfort. Where the stab wound would be is instead fully healed, and in its place a large scar.

A click from the doorknob being turned echoes through the room. Followed by the creaking of the door. The girl watches in anticipation as a white gloved hand pushes it open.

Tall, slim, pale, and a stern look.

"How are you feeling?"

Julian moves closer toward the girl, intentionally keeping his body more relaxed than usual. In his left hand, he holds a wooden stool, in his right, the white glowing object he had found while checking the area surrounding the bandit camp. The girl stares at him unresponsive.

He places the stool near the bed, keeping some distance from the girl. He sits down and once again inquires about how she feels, changing his wording slightly.

"Are you feeling well?"

The girl nods shyly.

"Can you speak?"

The girl looks at him for a second in silence. She tilts her head down almost unnoticeably, and then replies.

"Yes... Sorry."

"Pay no heed. I will explain to you where you are, but first," Julian holds up the white object with both of his hands; it has a round, crescent shape, starting pointy in one end and gradually becoming thicker, until reaching the other end which was flat and circular. It emanates a permanent, faint white glow. "Do you know what this is?"

She raises her head and erects her back.

"That's the wolf's."

So she came in contact with it. Interesting.

"Indeed, this is one of the horns of a beast we refer to as a 'Nightshade', though some more remote regions may call it a 'Moon Wolf'. Since you mentioned it appeared to be a wolf, I assume that means you saw it in person?"

The girl takes a moment to process the complicated words, and then nods.

"Did it take anything from you when it appeared?"

The girl thinks back to when she first saw the wolf.

"It took my dagger."

"Do you mean this dagger?" Julian puts the horn on the desk and pulls out a glowing dagger from his pocket; also an object he'd found at the scene.

The girl nods.

This makes no sense. Why would it be attracted to her?

Julian sets the dagger by the desk with the horn.

"Were there any further interactions with the wolf after that?"

"It followed me around through the forest..."

Followed her?

"Then it lead me to a cave with a bunch of stuff in it, after that I fell asleep. Then I woke up here."

"I see. That is unusual."

Is she lying? But why would she? Maybe she hallucinated it?

"I asked you because we found you unconscious on the cave floor, with the horn and dagger lying beside you. The nightshade is a particularly rare beast, so I thought I'd ask you."

"Oh." The girl stands awkwardly in silence.

No reaction. It doesn't look like she's lying, at the very least. Though she could still have hallucinated it.

"I must apologize, that was a test. The truth is, we found you at the brink of death near a bandit camp by the Jade river. Your wound had gotten infected, you were probably in a strong state of delirium which would explain why you can't remember anything else."

The girl looks at him with a hint of confusion.

"We brought you here and had a man with an ability that speeds up natural healing nurse you back to health. I'm sure you noticed your left hand; you were actually unconscious for only two days."

An ability? The girl grows interested in those specific words.

"I'm choosing to believe your words about what happened. However, are you certain you can't remember what happened with the wolf afterwards?"

Stolen novel; please report.

She takes her attention off of Julian and begins trying to concentrate, trying to remember anything else that might've been important. Before she can give her reply, however, their conversation is interrupted.

"Already pestering the girl with your questions? You can't even give her some time to rest?"

They both turn to see Zacharyah standing at the door. He glares at Julian.

Julian looks down and smiles, then looks back at the girl.

"You're right, she must still be very tired. I'm sorry for interrupting your rest; we can continue this later if there's anything else you want to tell me."

Julian gets up from the stool, readjusts his glasses and walks out, not making any more eye contact with Zach. The information he got from the girl may not have been complete, but it was enough.

Saying it's 'particularly rare' is cutting it abysmally short. If a nightshade really made its den in the forest, that changes things.

Zach watches as he goes away for a few seconds, then breaks the silence.

"Man, why doesn't he just get new glasses?"

He sighs and walks toward the girl, ignoring the stool, instead just standing a few feet away from her. He smiles and introduces himself.

"I'm Zacharyah, people just call me Zach. What's your name?"

"I don't... know."

"Do you... not have one?"

"I don't know, I can't remember."

Is she suffering from amnesia?

"How much... do you remember exactly?"

The girl ponders over the question for a bit, trying to create a timeline of past events in her head.

"I guess... the past four years?"

"Four? And nobody called you by anything in that time?"

Her expression darkened slightly.

"It wasn't my given name."

Zach was intrigued, but concluded he shouldn't pursue it further.

She must have a complicated past.

"Anyways, you must be starving! I'll go to the kitchen to see if they can make something easy you can eat."

"Sure... Thanks..."

Zach begins walking toward the door, but stops midway and looks back at the girl.

"Oh, you should think about picking a name for yourself!" He continues, picking up the pace.

"Name... myself?"

The girl looks at the nightshade horn sitting on the desk beside her, looking for inspiration.

While making his way down to the kitchen, Zach runs into the chief swordsman, Lou.

"Zacharyah. I've been looking for you."

"Chief? Do you need to talk about something?"

Lou rubs his chin, questioning how he should phrase his words.

"Zach, you uh... It was a good thing you did back there. You saw someone in critical need of help and didn't hesitate in lending a hand, however..."

Zach raises an eyebrow, which Lou takes notice of.

"Look, what I'm trying to say is... You won't always have the same leniency to do something like that. Going against Julian was probably the right decision this time, but you shouldn't disobey orders from your leaders in the future, it could lead to disaster."

"I know that. I know my limits, chief."

Despite his words, Zach looked at Lou with defiant eyes.

If I can save someone, I will. No matter the cost.

Lou sighs, realizing it was a pointless effort.

"So, where are you headed? I heard from Julian the girl you rescued had woken up."

"The kitchen. I'm gonna ask them for something for her to eat."

"I see. Well then, I'll be on my way."

Before Lou can get too far, Zach stops him.

"Actually, chief, I have a question."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Do you think it'd be possible for me to become one of the guards? I'm going to need money since... you know."

"Sorry Zach, but I doubt Emeral would agree to that. You're a pretty capable fighter, but you still fall short due to your age; the other guards can still beat you on raw strength alone."

"Then, could you make her one of your apprentices like you did with me?"

"Sorry but... when I made you my apprentice, I didn't do it with the expectation that you would one day become one of the guards, and Emeral knows that. He'd rather I spend the time and resources training the actual guards, so I'm not allowed to have another pupil. Besides, we don't even know if the girl would want that. I'm very sorry, Zach..."

"No, it's fine, I kind of half-expected that. I'll manage. If nothing else, I can always try my hand as a mercenary."

Upon hearing that, Lou's face immediately shifted to that of pure shock.

"S-Surely you can't mean that, Zach! A mercenary!?"

In any other world, becoming a mercenary might've meant going on a grand adventure, slaying monsters, braving dungeons and finding lost treasure. People would see becoming an adventurer like an opportunity to do something greater than themselves, or to obtain fame and riches, and most would look up to experienced adventurers as heroes and champions.

In this world, however, becoming a mercenary was a death wish. It was seen as complete lunacy. One only became a mercenary by being extremely courageous, completely oblivious, or just outright insane.

Humanity had managed to survive and create spaces it could thrive in, but that's not to say they were apex predators. Far from it. Becoming a mercenary meant defying all reason and taking on the challenge of pushing the borders of human territory with your own strength alone.

It was a job only the most obsessed of fighters took. People who live for nothing but battle, whose only objective in life is to become as strong as possible, people who want to challenge the whole world to a duel and come out alone on top.

Needless to say, most of them die. Doing it for just a few years made you a veteran.

Though rare, some come out on top. True champions emerge, and push the borders of what's considered possible.

"You don't have nearly enough strength to make a living off of mercenary work, you would die!"

"It's only a last resort, I'm still gonna try to get an actual job. Now, let me get to the kitchen already, the girl's waiting."

Just outside, in the yard of the Saphir mansion, Julian speaks to a man sitting in a carriage, preparing to depart.

"Surely you must have noticed it as well? Her abnormal mana levels?" Julian inquires.

The man, looking to be in his early twenties, was the one that had taken care of the girl. He was in fact not a doctor, but a scholar, who specialized in researching mana.

He wore a large black coat and had long black hair that covered one of his eyes, which too were black. Under them were heavy eye bags, from countless nights of not getting any sleep. He was skinny with soft skin and well-shaven, and his posture was terrible, definitely not characteristics of a fighter, though he had exceptional control of mana. His facial features were also quite feminine, and his voice was a bit higher-pitched, making him easily mistakable for a woman, though supposedly it wasn't intentional, he just didn't care enough to look more masculine.

"Right? I was actually kind of meaning to ask you about that..."

"Well, she certainly doesn't look like she knows how to control it, yet her mana output is so high it forms a faint aura sometimes."

"Right, right! While I was watching over her she would start glowing! Absolutely no control whatsoever!... Hey..."

"Is there a problem?"

"This is a bit of a weird request, but... Can I have her?"

"Pardon?"

"Can I have her? The girl?"

Julian looked perplexed.

Is she some kind of toy?

"Can... you have her? In what sense do you mean?"

"Oh, I was just thinking, you know, I could study her mana, it actually resembles a lot a phenomenon I've already been researching for a while. I could also make her my assistant, it would help a great deal. I'll take good care of her, of course. You would have problems taking care of her here, wouldn't you?"

I see. That does sound optimal. However...

The man stared at Julian with wide eyes, eagerly awaiting his response.

I'm not sure I would trust him with the 'good' part of taking care of her.

"Well, I guess that would depend on whether she agrees to it."

"Yay! I'm sure she will, we'll have lots of fun!"

The man jumps out of the carriage and runs inside, headed for the bedroom the girl was in.

"Hey! Wait a sec-"

"Thanks July! You're a huge help!"

Jul- What the hell is wrong with this guy!?

Back in the girl's bedroom, Zach was already back with a bowl of rice porridge.

"I'm back! Julian had apparently told them to make you something already."

"Luna."

"Huh?"

"Luna. I've decided on Luna. That's my name..."

"Oh, I see... Luna, huh? That's a pretty cute name."

"Thanks..." She takes her eyes to the bowl of porridge in Zach's hands.

"Oh, here." Zach approaches and gives her the bowl. "Careful, it's hot."

She takes it and stares at its contents.

When was the last time I ate warm food?

She takes the spoon and brings it to her mouth.

Nom.

"Ow!"

"I just told you it's hot, stupid."

I burnt my tongue...