I woke up to sunlight rolling over me. Still fairly early morning. Surprisingly, the room was empty.

I could recall Cris getting up and leaving the room earlier in the morning… but she never returned? Slightly disconcerted, I shot up and exited the room.

I found Cris’s mother in the kitchen. When she turned and saw me, she shared with me a look of relief that said something like ‘isn’t it great that Cris came back safe?’.

“Syco, I heard you’ll be going off to the capital today. Ah, here—these are the coins that Cris asked me to give you. It’ll be more than enough to cover the travel cost. Is there anything else you’ll need?”

She spoke kindly, but I couldn’t help but feel that I was being booted out. Not maliciously, but… It truly seemed that my time here was over.

“Thanks… How is Rea? Is she okay not being watched?” I asked out of curiosity as I took the handful of silver metal pieces.

“Oh, were you not aware? She woke early this morning, and we couldn’t stop her from dragging Cris out to see someone. I do hope it isn’t too much for her… oh, I really should have stopped her! Her condition is still precarious…”

“I see…”

Wondering where Cris might have gone, I stood awkwardly in the kitchen. There was no reason for me to stay here, but I pondered for an excuse to wait a short while longer. But, I had practically no belongings to check, or anything to ask. I retrieved my clothes that I had originally worn—considerately cleaned—and went back to the front of the house, where Cris’s mother simply waited.

“I’ll be going then… Thank you for your hospitality, ma’am.”

I walked out the front door. I had expected to be thanked for protecting Cris, or something along those lines. However, from the perspective of her parents, it could just as well look as if I had dragged Cris into danger. So what if Rea was saved; Cris had been missing, and she even came back with nasty scratches along her arm, and with a hollow look in her eyes! It wouldn’t be unfair for her parents to react that way… Considering that, it’d be natural to want me gone. Even if they could be sure that I was harmless, a parent was obliged by nature to believe that the lifestyle they had fostered was the safest place for their child. Any foreign substance that entered that system could be seen as a threat…

The small village was the same as usual. Nothing had changed in the world of the general inhabitants here.

I considered waiting around to see if Cris or someone I recognized showed up, but figured it best to find the carriage spot before it became too late. I could come back later, until it was time to go. And if Cris didn’t show, I could take that to mean that she was okay with me leaving like this. It was a slight pity—it felt that it shouldn’t happen quite this way. Unfortunately, loitering here wasn’t justifiable. I’d be leaving to take care of my singular priority, and that was it.

-=-

It had been the crack of dawn when Rea had regained consciousness. Cris’s father was warming her and checking her vitals when she sat up in a hurry. She had asked to see Cris immediately. Not wanting her to make a racket, he reluctantly knocked on Cris’s door.

After some discussion and pleading on Rea’s part, the two girls left the house.

“You aren’t too cold?” Cris asked. “This really isn’t necessary right now, you know?”

Rea nodded, despite her cheeks and nose being so red. However, she was lively and covered in the warmest clothing they had in the house, so Cris had given in. Rea’s long blonde hair bundled around her face and staved off the early morning chill.

They arrived at the Ophelias’ home several minutes later. To their surprise, Varus was sitting on the short brick wall that surrounded the house’s humble garden, near the front door. He was hugging himself and fidgeting to keep warm.

“Varus, what’re you doing here?” Cris asked. Varus jumped up and greeted the two.

“Rea, are you doing okay? Is it safe for you to be out here like this?” he asked over and over. Once he was satisfied (when Cris said that she was taking responsibility for Rea, so not to worry), he explained that Ophelia—Holly’s mother—had heard from another villager that the group had returned last night. Of course, Holly was not with them, and as such, her mother’s mind was anything but calm upon realizing that this was bad news…

Varus had taken it upon himself to check up on the poor woman, but it seemed that she had turned to rage and kicked Varus out. That didn’t pressure Varus into leaving her alone though, and so he had decided to keep watch from outside, and knock at the door only every so often to see whether she would be receptive.

“What about you two?” he asked after explaining.

Cris looked at Rea, who looked down at the ground. “I want to apologize…” Rea said quietly. She refused to expand on what she meant.

Cris knocked at the door. The different cadence must have hinted that it wasn’t just Varus again, because Ophelia came to the door immediately.

“What is it? C-Cris? You’re… back…” she trailed off.

Cris nodded, but when she tried to speak, her words caught in her throat. What could she possibly say to this woman, now? Varus, too, looked away in silence.

Then, Ophelia’s eyes set upon Rea. There was a flash of something like relief, but then her expression became a scowl.

“You, you silly girl! Look what you’ve done! What you did to my daughter!”

The woman shouted, a voice harbouring anger and sorrow, at Rea, whose eyes began to leak trails of tears. But she remained silent, and listened. She listened to how she was a bad influence on Holly. How she convinced her to run away to play games when they were children. How she stole her away from her studies, and eventually, how she introduced her to the natural drugs that could be scavenged outside the village.

It was all true—so Rea couldn’t argue back. Cris held her hand, but otherwise she took it all on her own.

Ophelia stopped when her voice grew hoarse and she realized that she would get no response with this course of action. And then, Rea apologized. “Sorry,” she sobbed. It might have been an apology for getting Holly killed, or for everything else, or perhaps for something that wasn’t even said. “I’m so sorry…”

“Rea… You were a terrible friend for my little girl to have… but why did this happen? What happened?” Ophelia asked mutedly.

Ophelia didn’t go back to shouting. She was tired of it already. She knew, after all, that Holly was the one who suggested going out of town this time, and that Rea had been off any and all substances for some time now. She knew that Rea would never put Holly in any real danger. She remembered how Rea had once suggested they go swimming in the river, and when the rapids had almost carried Holly away, Rea staunchly refused to let Holly go near any water for the next year.

So she was just… confused.

“She’s known Rea since she was only a baby. She probably thinks of her as her own daughter, to an extent…” Varus said.

Varus and Cris had retreated to the nearby small barracks building while Rea talked with Ophelia.

“You always see things in such a buoyant way, Varus. Though, you’re not wrong. Rea was always a pretty bad girl, but she was Holly’s best friend, and you can’t deny that a relationship like that means a lot… Miss Ophelia isn’t so blind as to not recognize that.”

“Right, exactly. I wonder what happened though. Do you think Rea is explaining it all to Holly’s mum?”

“I think that’s unlikely… I don’t think Rea is willing to talk about anything at all yet. She had her mind set on apologizing to Miss Ophelia, that’s for sure. Maybe I’m wrong… but as long as Miss Ophelia gets that Rea wasn’t at fault, I don’t think Rea has a reason to spell things out quite yet.”

“Well, you’re the doctor, so I guess I should trust your opinion,” Varus said without sarcasm. “So you don’t know why they would have gone over there? I mean, I know Holly had her… problem. But she isn’t the type of person to drag Rea into it. And Rea wouldn’t just go along with it. So why did they end up in that area?”

“Yeah… you’re quite right,” Cris said. “The only reason to go there would be for the cellar, or the mostwurm. But neither possibility makes sense.”

Cris explained her reasoning. If the goal was to get poppies… Rea was off them, and Holly was working hard to avoid them. Neither of them would or could drag the other there, if either of them even wanted to go. Cris couldn’t be entirely sure, but it seemed out of character for them to both go there willingly. They were like an elastic band; if one side tried to run off, the other side would snap them back to sensibility.

The area grew a lot of mostwurm, which was somewhat of a healing agent against the poppy addiction. But Cris recalled the morning before they had gone to the Poppy Cellar themselves. Ophelia had pointed out the mostwurm that the girls had spent a day collecting… “I figured that they had to go far to find any at all,” Ophelia had said. If they went to the Poppy Cellar entrance to gather mostwurm, they wouldn’t have had any trouble filling a basket. It only made sense if they went to one of the more distant, sparse fields, to gather the herb. It’d also mean they didn’t have to go near the Poppy Cellar, which they would obviously prefer to avoid.

“… So, what happened then? They urgently needed some mostwurm, or they… nevermind. I don’t want to disrespect Holly by entertaining the thought that she could be that weak.”

Cris, having organized her thoughts on the matter to this degree, had a piercing, irritating concept flourishing in her mind. However, she kept it to herself.

“I don’t know,” Cris said. “I’m sure we’ll hear everything from Rea at some point in time, anyway.”

Varus sighed heavily. “Yeah, you’re right. No point worrying about it. Rea is back safe at least, so we should focus on her recovery… uh, right?” He sheepishly looked for reaffirmation from Cris, even though his opinion was perfectly reasonable.

“What will you do from now on, Varus?” Cris asked.

“From now on? Meaning what? I imagine there will be a funeral, and then some of the farms need extra hands still… what else…”

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“We haven’t even talked about what happened after leaving the cellar.”

Varus fell silent, and avoided looking at Cris.

“There was that…” he said. “W-We were lucky to leave there alive, huh?”

“I thought you would’ve immediately sent off a message about it. I’m sure Jean would have been thrilled to hear that there were demons left to kill—“

“Stop!” Varus whispered violently, shushing Cris. He looked out the window at the sky, paranoid.

“Varus, there aren’t any demons around. Yesterday was just… wrong place at the wrong time.” Cris knew this wasn’t exactly true, though; that demon had, like she had said to Syco, taken something from her. And yet, she couldn’t consider herself related to that at all. Should she just leave it as some freak occurrence?

“You can’t know that…” Varus replied. “Honestly, Cris, I was only at Ophelia’s because I couldn’t sleep.”

“Oh… Yeah, I can imagine… I didn’t sleep well either.” That was mostly a lie. “So will you send a message to Jean? They could send back a squad and guard the village, just in case.” Jean was Varus’ old trainer in sword-fighting, who he called his master. He was still in the army and would take word from Varus seriously.

“No, I won’t bother him…”

“And what about the Poppy Cellar? Is it really safe now? Any number of things could happen, and the vines could spread further. And what about the things we found in there? And, and don’t you want to be more ready for things if something like that happens again?! There’s so much to think about—“

“C-Cris, stop, hold on. Things you found in there? What are you talking about?”

Cris felt herself getting more and more agitated. The sun had risen now. She felt like time was ticking away, running out, drawing closer to an End. It was difficult to keep still.

“N-Nevermind. I just found the biology of the poppies… interesting…”

“Well, that’s Cris for you,” Varus laughed bitterly. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. Nope, there are things that I need to work on in the village, promises to people, so I have to focus on that. Same goes for you right? That old farmer couple asked us to repair their fence, I think that was tomorrow…”

Cris stopped listening as Varus listed off jobs that they had agreed to do. Repairing fences? Sowing seeds? She didn’t care. She just couldn’t care anymore. It was all she could muster just to stay seated and think things over.

-=-

I’d been wandering for a couple hours without much aim. The large building at the very end of the main road was a respectably-sized inn, and I came across it just as a sturdy carriage drawn by two horses arrived outside. The plump man sitting at the head of the carriage with rein in hands had joyfully called out to me and commented on the weather before I asked when he’d be leaving, passed over the payment (Cris had given me twice as much as necessary), and then left to pass the time. The man had asked if I wanted to chat, but I doubted that we would have any common interests, honestly.

I spotted Rea crossing the road as I wandered, and called out to her.

“W-Who are you?!” she yelled, flinching backwards in fright. Ah, of course, she had no recollection of me.

“I’m a friend of Cris. Um, do you remember anything from the past few days?”

“O-Oh, did you help Cris to save me? I’ve never seen you before…”

“I’m just visiting the village… I did help find you. Don’t worry, I’m not going to ask you to talk about what happened to you in there.”

“Ah, it’s okay. I got a lot off my chest, actually, so, haha, is there something important?”

The girl looked unsteady on her feet, and was clearly pushing herself. But her attitude was commendable. I was curious about some things, but none of it really mattered to me, as far as I could tell.

“No, I was just going to ask if it’s okay for you to be out. Cris isn’t with you?”

“Ah, no, she went to the barracks building with Varus. Or she might be at home now?”

I decided to walk Rea back to the house, to ensure she didn’t collapse on the way. She was strangely talkative. That must have just been her personality. Or she kept talking to hold back worse emotions. In any case, she made it back to the house without incident, and checked if Cris was inside for me. She wasn’t.

Next, I went and found the not-so-aptly named barracks building. It was also empty.

I walked around for an hour longer, avoiding the villagers who stared at me with suspicion, and then was forced to return to the inn lest I miss my carriage.

“Ah, there you are, miss. Where is your baggage?” the plump man from earlier asked when he saw me.

“I have no baggage. Are you leaving now?”

“Oh, well, any moment now! Feel free to wait inside, here,” he said, opening the cleanly painted white door.

With a final look around at the sober street, I stepped inside. The inside of the carriage was built of sturdy-looking wood, with a cushioned bench on both the front and back ends, and that was about it. It was serviceable.

On the rear bench was a little girl. She must have been around 12, had blonde hair cut shoulder-length, and was wearing a white and blue shirt and shorts along with a distinctive cap. It was rather unusual attire; not casual, but they weren’t work clothes either. I wasn’t sure what to think of it.

“Oh, are you a passenger too? Great, I was afraid I’d be travelling alone! My name is Sandy, I’m 13. This is my first time going out of the village on my own! Say, I’ve never seen you before, you don’t live in this village. Are you from the city? I’m going all the way to the city myself! I heard that there are buildings that are so big that they block out the entire sky! Is that true!? Oh, by the way, this isn’t a weapon, it’s just a toy-kinda-thing. Ah, let me move my bags, there you go. Hey, you seem kinda sad. Ah, sorry if I’m wrong! It’s just that you seem a bit worried. Do you not like bumpy rides either? Haha, the trick is to keep your eyes on the view outside, that’s what my brother told me. Can you believe that we have to go on one of these old-style carriages though?! Ah, no, that’s not what I meant, mister! I actually love this style, it’s really, um, classy, and stuff! Phew, well, that’s true and all, but I did want to try one of the new ones I’ve heard about! Gosh, I hope it doesn’t rain today, if it leaks I’ll demand a refund! No, hahaha, I was just joking~!”

“U-Um, we’re leaving in one minute,” the coachman said as he poked his head through the window.

“Oh gosh, I hope I have everything, let me check my bag. Let’s see, I have my coat, my other coat, my pants, my purse…”

The girl just didn’t stop. A minute of various items being checked off later, the carriage started rolling, but then stopped again. The door opened up and someone else got in. She was wearing a summery white one-piece dress, her amber-ish straw-ish hair was tied in twin-tails, and she was wearing at least 7 pieces of jewellery as well as having blush applied. Essentially, she looked like a rich daughter attending a fancy ball.

“… Who are you?” I asked her.

“W-What? It’s Cris, obviously!” she scorned. I wasn’t even joking, but she was right, it was Cris.

“Umm, hey Syco, can I borrow some of that silver back?” she asked. I nodded and handed over the spare from what she had left me, and she jumped back out and handed it to the coachman. Then she got back in the carriage and closed the door, and the carriage started moving again.

“Wow, you’re really pretty, miss!” the little girl said.

“… Sandy, it’s me, Cris!!”

“WHAT!”

The girl was genuinely perplexed. Cris looked at me. “I-It’s not that weird for me to be wearing a dress, right?!”

“I thought I had suddenly woken up in a fairy tale this time,” I admitted. Cris scowled at me. “Y-You look really nice,” I added.

“I’ve never seen you in a dress!” Sandy spluttered. “A-Are you getting married, Cris?!”

“No! It’s just, you know, we’re going to the city! So of course I want to look nice, it isn’t weird at all!”

“I-I see…!” Sandy said.

Cris sighed. “It is weird, huh.”

“Maybe for people used to seeing you one way,” I said. “I’m just surprised that somebody can look so at home delving into a creepy abandoned dungeon one day and being dressed up like royalty the next. That’s all.”

“Like royalty?”

“Yeah. Um, elegant, beautiful, tra—well, that’s all.” I thought of the Goddess again, and almost said ‘tragic’.

“Ah, I suppose I can accept that…” Cris said. She did look uncomfortable in these clothes, but that was surely just an issue that time would solve.

“Wait, Cris. Why are you here?” I asked. That’s right. She was going to the city too? I hadn’t heard about this.

“Ah, ahaha, sudden change of plans?” she laughed sheepishly. “Is it a problem if I come along on your adventure?”

Not only that, she was following me?

“Not a problem…” I said, honestly unable to think of anything wrong with that. Rather, if Cris was there to help me, things could go much more smoothly. I’m sure a more active-minded soul would have done all they could to pressure Cris to come along with them, perhaps even Varus and Karl. Why not accumulate all the boons possible for the purpose of fulfilling my goals?

The trails of thought I had in times like this seemed to always lead back to the same thing, and I was beginning to get an idea of what this ‘thing’ was. And, so far, it seemed to be something very troubling. I feared that my soul would bring ruin.

‘I can’t promise that I’ll lead you to anywhere safe or pleasant, that is all.’ I gave her an honest warning. At least, I intended to.

But those words didn’t reach my lips.

As soon as I realized that those words could, or rather, were likely to impede me… they evaporated.

What I said instead was, “Glad to have you.” Cris smiled.