“Hey you, girl with the sword!”
Myr turned around. She saw a caravan of six of the same vehicles that Vicar Dicoigne had used. And in the vehicle at the front was a plump man with a twirly mustache waving at her joyfully. With grubby fingers and snake-like eyes, he was probably a merchant.
She’d deliberately ignored them earlier, thinking that they’d go past her without a word, but now came the greatest challenge: social interaction.
“M-Me?”
“No, the other girl with the sword.”
Myr looked around, embarrassed that she got it wrong. But she soon froze upon remembering that there was no one else here except her.
“Of course it’s you! Where are you headed?”
Panicking, she quickly reached into her backpack and opened the map. She traced her finger along the road she was on and toward a small village.
“Iglsah, s-sir.”
“That remote place?” The man frowned. “What are you doing there?”
“J-Just a temporary stop, s-sir. I’m trying to get to Linder.”
“Oho, I see.” He twirled his mustache and nodded. “We’re also stopping at Iglsah. Want a ride?”
Myr looked down at the ground, not willing to make eye contact with this strange man—or anyone at all. “I-I don’t have money…”
She did, but she didn’t want to spend it on this.
“No worries. You seem decently strong; all you need to do is protect my caravan when the need arrives. How about it?”
Myr thought about it. Her legs were getting pretty sore, plus, she was killing every bloodthirsty creature that came her way anyways. Doing this wouldn’t hurt.
“S-Sure…”
“Great! Climb the leg of the fourth Walker. I think there’s space for you there if the goods don’t take up much space.” He laughed.
Myr nodded. So their name is Walker… A simple but fitting name, she supposed. She ascended the leg of the fourth Walker and found a trapdoor. Opening it, she climbed into its compartment.
The inside was dark, but she could make out the vague outlines of things. First, there were the boxes. And then there was the steam engine running constantly. Just a little beyond was a small humanoid figure with deep purple eyes.
Nothing out of the ordinar—
“Woahh!” Myr almost fell out of the Walker in shock. Someone’s also here? Well, to be fair, the mustache man didn’t explicitly say that she’d be alone. Gulping, she climbed into the compartment and closed the trap door.
Myr decided to sit opposite the figure. But the space was so cramped that their feet were touching.
What followed was an awkward silence. Neither Myr nor the figure said anything, but they were staring at each other. While the figure’s eyes contained no emotion, Myr was nervous.
Not being able to take it anymore, Myr initiated the conversation.
“H-Hi.”
“...Hello.”
This voice… A little girl?
“The weather’s nice, isn’t it.”
“...I wouldn’t know.”
Wow. ‘The weather’s nice.’ Good job, Myr. She wasn’t used to making small talk, but this was just pathetic, even by Myr’s standards.
Okay, let’s start again. Keep it simple this time.
“I’m Myrellion, but you can call me Myr. What’s your name?”
The girl stayed silent for a few seconds before answering, “Elicia.”
The conversation ended there, and Myr didn’t know how to continue it. Just as she was about to try again, her rapier vibrated, indicating that Luna wanted to say something.
Myr unsheathed the rapier so that just a tiny bit of blade was exposed, and that was enough for a dim light to fill the room and for Luna to project herself.
[I would suggest you stop. It hurt to watch, even inside the sword.]
And it hurt Myr to hear that from Luna. This just confirmed that she was socially hopeless. She couldn’t even make conversation with a little girl. The clues were there all along; it took Myr several months to even begin talking to the gate guard she was familiar with, and even longer to begin asking him for his name.
She guessed that she just didn’t want to admit it before.
Putting aside her nostalgia, Myr took a look at Elicia’s face now that the compartment was slightly illuminated.
Cute…! Just as Myr had expected, Elicia was a child, maybe fourteen years of age. She wore clothes that looked plain but were made of amazingly good material. Her shoulder-length jet-black hair complimented her purple eyes well.
Myr was a sucker for cute things. But she refrained from fawning over Elicia. Doing so would just make her a creep.
Not really trusting herself, Myr sheathed the rapier again, returning the compartment to almost total darkness. Looks like it’s going to be a long rid—
The Walker suddenly stopped, almost knocking Myr over. Just as she was about to scramble for her rapier, she heard a loud voice booming from outside.
“Come out! Time to set up camp!”
Myr grabbed her rapier and opened the trapdoor, happy that she could take a break from this uncomfortable space. But as her body was halfway through the trapdoor, she suddenly noticed that Elicia wasn’t moving.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
“Aren’t you coming?”
Although the light coming from beyond the trapdoor lit up the lower half of Elicia’s face, it was hard to see her expression. “I’m not hungry.”
But her own stomach betrayed her with a loud rumble.
Myr narrowed her eyes, but eventually let the matter go. To each their own, I guess. She’s probably the merchant’s rebellious daughter. Not my place to interfere.
She climbed down and jumped to the ground. Looking around, she saw men in leather armor running around carrying camping supplies. Looks like I’m not the only Hunter here. Since she didn’t know what to do, she decided to go find the merchant.
It was easy to find him—he was standing in a clearing in the forest, chatting with a burly and stoic man with brown hair and hazel eyes.
As Myr approached them, the merchant noticed her and tapped on the burly man’s shoulder. “That’s the girl. What do you think?”
The burly man turned around to look at Myr. His gaze was cold and calculating, and Myr felt like he was seeing an asset, not a person.
“Decent. A bit more and she can match my right-hand-man.”
“Wahahah! I knew I made the right choice! More security at the cost of almost nothing!”
I can hear everything, you know? But it seemed like the men didn’t care, so Myr didn’t voice her thought out loud. “E-Excuse me, what should I do?”
The merchant smiled. He nudged the burly man’s arm. “Your call. Us merchants don’t know much about these kinds of things.”
The man frowned but simply nodded. He walked up to Myr and handed her a card; one that Myr immediately identified as a business card.
===
Guild name: Barren Bar of Truth
Subdivision: Escort 4
Current leader: James Stonehart
Cardholder: James Stonehart
Rank: Abnormal
===
Immediately after reading the card, Myr’s face paled. N-No! I don’t have a business card! It was common courtesy to hand the other person your business card after receiving one, but Myr didn’t actually expect to meet any Hunter this early!
So, she fumbled in her pocket and took out her Hunter card. This will work. Hopefully. “H-Here!” She handed it with two hands.
James received the card, glanced through it, and handed it back. “Myrellion, huh? Strange name.”
“Haha…” Myr awkwardly laughed. She didn’t know how to respond.
Perhaps sensing this, James decided to end the conversation there and said, “Listen here, you’re not obligated to listen to my commands, but it’ll make things easier if you do. Understand?”
“Y-Yes!” She unwittingly straightened her back.
“Good. Now, go get some firewood. And I’d better not see any wet one.”
Myr quickly nodded and ran off into the forest. All the while, she could hear the merchant’s hearty laughter.
“Bahahah! Stop scaring the girl so much!”
.
.
.
.
.
“And… Thirty!”
With one final thrust, Myr had obtained her thirtieth piece of firewood. James didn’t specify how much he wanted, so she decided to just get as many as possible. And this seems plentiful enough for me.
She plopped down to the ground with a sigh and wiped the sweat off her forehead. It was further into dusk; almost night, so she had to return soon. But before that, she wanted to have a few moments to herself… and Luna.
Myr stood up again and placed her hand on the handle of her rapier. Her target was the biggest tree around. Her mana flowed in an intricate pattern.
“[Quick Flash]”
Myr’s surrounding was dyed white. And as suddenly as it’d appeared, the light disappeared. Myr sheathed her rapier again and ran up to the tree. She traced her hand over the small hole that appeared in the middle of it.
[Disappointing. If you had perfected it, the tree would have been obliterated.]
Myr shrank a bit from the harsh comment, but she still managed what sounded like a small whimper. “B-But I’m just staring out… It hasn’t even been two months since I’d left town…”
[...You are right.] Luna sighed; more discontent with herself than anything. [I might have been too harsh. But your enemies will not wait for you to get stronger. Need I remind you of how slow your progress is?]
{Class: Blade Vicar of Moonlight
Level: 9 (current maximum: 20) (Normal)
Progress to the next level: 77%
Current rank: Normal+
Current progress to the next rank: 9/30 (levels)
Skills: [Eyes of Clepsydra] || [Quick Flash] (slight)}
Myr narrowed her eyes. Luna had definitely added some things to this interface without mentioning, but they served to further quantify Myr’s power, so she didn’t mind it too much.
“But for running into nothing but Gawblins and Wolves, I think my progress is fast.”
After all, Wolves gave 0.2% per kill, and it was 0.1% for Gawblins.
[In the grand scheme of things, it is slow.]
“What’s up with you?” Myr frowned. She faced Luna directly; gazing intensely into her silver eyes. “You’ve been pushing me for the past month! You weren’t like this before! What happened!?”
[It is none of your concern. Now, I will take my leave.]
Luna hastily disappeared without giving an answer.
Myr was mad, but not too mad. She had an inkling of what it was that made Luna act that way. It seems that meeting Solis really had an effect on her.
Still, she didn’t want to disappoint her sword friend(?). Vowing to take on stronger creatures from now on, Myr collected the firewood and returned to camp.
.
.
.
.
.
The dinner was joyful. Hunters laughing, drinking, and dancing around. Even the merchant joined.
Yet, there was one girl who sat at the edge, detached from all the fun. It wasn’t as if she didn’t want to; just that she didn’t really know them well enough to ask to join.
Tonight, she was the loneliest person in this group.
Well, maybe I’m not. Myr’s thought drifted toward Elicia as she slowly consumed her porridge.
Her gaze alternated between her food, the Hunters, and the fourth Walker. After some deliberation, she sighed. Can’t believe I’m doing this.
Finishing her food in one gulp, Myr approached the merchant and shyly asked, “M-May I have one more?”
“Another one?” He put his drink on the table.
“Am I… not allowed?”
“No, no, you’re more than welcome. You eat less than these Hunters anyways. But why now when you refused a second serving earlier?”
“A-Actually.” She scratched the back of her head. “It’s not for me. It’s for the other girl.”
The merchant stared at Myr for a bit before frowning. “What gir—”
But before he could finish, a Hunter grabbed his hand and made him dance. With the combination of alcohol and the joyful atmosphere, the merchant soon forgot about Myr entirely.
Myr stared at the dancing merchant dumbfoundedly. As if she was doing something illegal, she very sneakily got some more porridge from the pot and ran back toward the fourth Walker.
As she entered the dark compartment, she unsheathed her rapier to illuminate it. She then put the bowl of porridge next to Elicia.
“What’s this?” The little girl sniffed the bowl. The scent made her stomach rumble again.
“Food. For you.”
“...I already said I’m not hungry.”
Myr chuckled. She knew that the girl was just shy. Maybe. Probably. Not she knew for sure that she couldn’t force her to eat.
So, she leaned her back against the wall and closed her eyes. “You don’t need to.”
After a few minutes, Myr felt something poking her cheek. It was probably Elicia checking if she was really asleep.
After the pokings stopped, she heard occasional slurping. And after a few more minutes, she decided to slightly open her eyes. The first thing she saw was the empty bowl on the ground.
That was all she wanted and needed to see. Closing her eyes again, she fell asleep for real this time.