I ran, ran as fast as possible. But dammit, why did the town have to be so far!?

While I was running out of breath, I noticed a familiar annoying Druid cruising his bear right next to me. “Tired yet?”

I scowled. “Enjoying seeing me suffer, huh?”

“No. Just waiting for you to apologize.”

“For?”

“For grabbing my collar and throwing me on the ground!” He slammed his hands down Ursa’s head. Ouch, poor bear. “I didn’t even do anything to you!”

Eh, trivial things. Nowa was in danger, so I literally couldn’t care less. Though…

“If you let me ride Ursa to the town, I’ll apologize.”

Fred widened his eyes. “P-Promise?”

‘Wait, why is he like this just because of an apology?’ Eh, children, I guess. “Yeah, promise. Pinky promise. Vows. Whatever. Now, are you going to let me on or not? Because if something happens to Nowa…”

Fred gulped. Then, he grabbed my arm and lifted me onto Ursa, sitting me down right in front of him.

‘W-What? Was he always this strong?’ But seeing Fred’s smug face, I quickly hid my surprise. I couldn’t let him get the satisfaction. “I swear if you put me in this position just to grope me…”

“No! I won’t!”

“Good.” I chuckled. I was just joking, but seeing him shaking like that amused me. Anyways, Nowa’s in danger! Let’s go!

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It took five minutes to get to the town’s gate by Ursa’s back. “Hey, after all this is over, can I borrow Ursa?”

“What for?”

“He seems strong. Nowa will be safer if he protects her.”

“...No.”

“Tch, selfish prick.”

After surprising some town guards with our appearance, we rushed through the streets at top speed. ‘Come on, Nowa, where are you?’

I commanded Fred to stop along the way to ask people if they’d seen her, but they were all useless. However, one certain homeless man gave me a lead.

“Ah, the child with white hair? I saw her.”

“Where? Where is she!?”

In response, the man jiggled his hat which had several coins inside it.

‘Dammit, I don’t have time for this!’ And I took out my money to just get it over with. However, I realized that I didn’t have anything on me.

Just as I was about to threaten him, Fred placed a hand on my shoulder and smirked. “Watch this.”

On cue, Ursa growled and snatched the man’s hat with its teeth, and then handed it to me.

“Tell us, now,” Fred demanded, “or else you’ll lose your money…or worse.”

The homeless man gulped. “I-In the town square, near the protests!”

I nodded in satisfaction and threw him his filthy hat back, but not before snatching a few Coppers for myself.

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As we approached the town’s square, I noticed crowds upon crowds of people marching on the streets while shouting and holding up signs. ‘What?’ I looked at the signs. Supposedly, they wanted this town to be turned into a city. I mean, this town was bigger than most cities, so it was kind of strange that it hadn’t been c— oh forget it, Nowa comes first! Stupid brain kept getting sidetracked!

I scanned the crowds and soon saw a little girl with white hair slipping into the crowds. “NOWA!”

But I was too late. She disappeared inside them.

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“Go! In the crowd!” I shouted.

“But there’s peopl—”

I smashed him on the head. “Do I look like I fucking care!? Go, now!”

Fred shrank back onto Ursa and commanded the bear to rush into the crowd.

As I’d expected, people parted ways for us. Not wanting to be mawed to death was a very good motivator.

Before long, I found Nowa…lying on the floor, squirming in pain. Even her face was swollen to the point that I couldn’t have recognized her if it wasn’t for her white hair! “W-What?” These bastards stomped on her without even knowing!

I got off the bear and swooped down to take Nowa in my arms. I could tell that several of her bones had been broken, and some of her organs were crushed. “N-No! [Minor Heal]!”

But it was futile. She was still in critical condition.

Just as I was about to fall into despair, Status appeared.

[Achievement unlocked: {Selfless Healer}

Condition: The user’s 5,000th Heal is done on anyone other than herself

Reward(s): {Selfless Healing}]

{C} [Selfless Healing]

A variant of [Minor Heal]. The user cannot heal herself, but healing done on other people has increased effectiveness, being able to heal minor organ injuries as well as fractured bones.

I widened my eyes in surprise. ‘This can save her!’

“[Selfless Healing]”

Nowa’s wound healed slowly but surely. Thankfully, she was out of danger. Although her face hadn’t healed, it wasn’t important. As long as she was alive, I was glad.

“W-W—”

I could hear Nowa trying to speak. However, I placed a finger on her lips to shush her. “You don’t need to say anything. Just…rest.”

Nowa nodded and stayed there in silence.

Then, I realized that the protesters were closing in on us.

-”A-Are you okay?”

-”What happened?”

Veins bulged on my forehead. “What happened? WHAT FUCKING HAPPENED!? YOU DID THIS!”

I could see some of them lowering their heads in shame. However, I wasn’t done yet. “YOU ALMOST KILLED A CHILD!”

My shouts of anger only stopped when I noticed Ursa and Fred approaching me…along with what looked like a doctor.

“Esther, I’m back! I brought a doctor!”

“Yes!”

Lifting Nowa up, I loaded her onto Ursa’s back and watched as she and the doctor took off in the direction of the hospital. Since Ursa could only transport two people at a time, I regretfully couldn’t follow them.

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The danger was over. Since Nowa would definitely be put under intense care, I made my way to a nearby park and sat down on a chair, winding down from all of this.

Fred sat next to me and stretched his arms.

I looked at the red-haired boy. He was…more than helpful despite my bitchy attitude. So, the least I could do was…

“Thanks.”

“H-Huh? What was that?”

“I thanked you.” I lightly jabbed his arm. “And sorry…for being mean.”

“It’s fine.” He shrugged. “You were right. Nowa was in danger. So I don’t blame you for acting like that.”

Huh, I never knew he had that mature side to him.

We sat in comfortable silence, watching children play around in the park. They were playing tag, I guessed.

The green-haired girl tagged a brown-haired boy, and the brown-haired boy tagged a girl with…white hair and red eyes!

“Nowa!?”

I immediately dashed toward her and hugged her. I inspected her face. Yep, definitely Nowa. “W-What? They healed you that quickly!?”

Nowa simply stared at me dumbfoundedly. “Nee-chan?”

“W-Weren’t you in the square?”

She shook her head. “I play here with Freya!” She then pointed at the green-haired Dryad, who was still absorbed in the game of tags.

‘What? Then who did I—’

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Turning around, I saw…the Tailor holding a bag with an awkward smile.

“Thank you!”

I stayed silent. What was this all about?

“You saved my daughter in the square! Thank you very much!”

‘...What?’

He then handed me his bag. “This is all your clothes. Truthfully, I bought them from you because I want my daughter to wear them, but…” He smiled wryly. “...After today, I realized that I’ve wronged you. Once again, I’m eternally grateful to you!”

The Tailor then left, leaving a very confused me behind.

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It took me several more minutes to figure out what had just happened. And when I did, I could only let out a sigh. “Oh…”

Yeah, that was… embarrassing. But I saved a child from death, so maybe I should feel good?

Anyways, back to Nowa. She was about to doze off in my arms. Normally, I’d gladly allow that to happen, but I needed to set things straight with her first.

“Nowa, don’t leave my sight ever again.” I hugged her tightly. “I couldn’t protect you today. I-I don’t know what to do if t-that girl was really you…”

But then, I noticed Freya walking up to me. “Fox spirit, I don’t think that’s a good idea. You can’t trap her in a box like that… A-And I heard this saying s-somewhere. ‘If you love somebody, set them free.’”

“What do you know?” I scowled. She was the reason why Nowa was here in the first place!

“Actually, I think my dumb sister is right for once,” Fred added. “You said before that you want her to have a good childhood. I’m not sure if watching every aspect of her life would achieve that… And maybe I can let Ursa protect her if you like.”

I didn’t want to admit it, but I was…shaken. Their words sound logical, but I didn’t know if I should listen to logic or emotion…

But Nowa’s words were the final nail in the coffin.

“Nee-chan, I had fun today. P-Please don’t…” She looked at me with pleading eyes that were full of sadness.

Well, maybe I overreacted. “Fine…”

Nowa beamed. She jumped up and—

“...!”

—Kissed me on the lips. My first kiss was lost to my half-sister, and my second one was lost to my own sister.

‘W-What?’

Okay, I definitely needed to have a talk with her later. But today was already too tiring for my liking, so I decided to not say anything until we get home.

But Nowa didn’t seem to want to let me rest.

“Nee-chan, I want to go to school!”