Before me is a girl I came across just before the battle a few days ago at Brundisi. I saved her from getting taken by ill-intentioned men.

My motivations for this are still unclear, even to me. Therefore, I don’t believe it is fair to say that I had done anything heroic.

“Because of the cloak and your demeanor, I couldn’t tell at first. But, you really are that Cassius from a few days ago” She tells me.

I awkwardly respond with a “hello.”

“You… I heard a battle happened… what could have possibly happened to cause this change!?”

She was truly shocked, I would be too.

How could I possibly explain this?

Do I even need to?

…

Ah, damn it. Why do I keep trying to run away?

Be honest with her.

“A… a lot happened… I can’t really talk about it… not yet.”

“You are trembling.” she points out as she approaches me.

I was thrown off by her attempting to get closer and flinch backward. Since the start of the war, this instinct has been trained into me.

“You flinched…”

“Ah, uhm, sorry… people don’t really get close to me unless they are trying to kill me, haha.” I try to break this tension with a joke.

“That’s so sad…”

Where do I go from here?

What did Cassius do in conversations like this? Usually, he would… think of the other person.

“Hey, uhm, are you ok?”

“We were talking about you, Cassius.”

“...Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.” she shifted her eyes away from me for a moment before continuing, “I’m alright.”

“What happened just now?”

“Nobody is taking my quest. I registered as an official client as you asked, but with the battle just now, most adventurers are fleeing the city alone.”

“They think you would be dead weight…” I miscalculated “I’m sorry, I should have considered the possibility of an early battle.”

“Don’t be sorry! You have done so much for me already!”

Ah, I’m being inconsiderate. I shouldn’t be making her stand in the street like this.

“Do you want to go to a tavern?” I ask

“That would be nice,” she responds.

We walk to the nearest spot that we could find. I wasn’t paying attention to where I fled to, it turns out I landed in the upper-class district where aristocrats like senators and merchants lived.

She pulls out her coin bag and tips the waitress immediately, requesting a table with privacy. Allowing her to handle this was all I could really do.

We sit down and get a menu spoken to us. This is common practice in this world, even in fine establishments. The literacy rate here is low.

After we order our food, I try to continue the conversation. I inhale and open my mouth to speak, but don’t know what to say.

After patiently waiting a little while for me to talk, she picks up where we left off.

I couldn’t pick up on this due to the situation we were in the first time we spoke, but she is a lot more confident and verbal than I would expect.

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“To truthfully answer your question from earlier, I am not ok.” She grips her shirt and continues “It was just a few days ago that my father died… he was all I had.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. Honestly, I am forlorn, without my father to guide me, I don’t know what to do.” she was tearing up, her black pupils aimed directly toward the table where her food now lies. “But, my father wanted me to survive. I have to keep fighting…”

She really is strong. I have to admire her.

“I know you can’t talk about what has happened, but can you tell me one thing?” she asks.

“What is it?”

“What will you do now?”

“I’m… trying to figure that out.”

“You don’t plan to fight anymore, do you?”

“I don’t think I could even if I wanted.”

“Then come with me. There are peaceful lands to the northeast, right?”

“Yes, the kingdom of Assyricum…”

“Will you?”

I want to. I have a feeling that if I continue to watch her, then I will learn a great deal of what I need to. But I am a burden.

Almost everyone that I have ever had around me has either died or been irreversibly scarred. If I allow myself to go with her, then she will suffer, I am sure of it.

While I hesitate, she speaks up once more,

“Allow me to rephrase it. Please, protect me. There is not a single other person in this city that can help me.”

Ah, she is likely dead already if I do nothing. I suppose…

“Alright. Please, travel with me.” I request.

“Yes, let us travel together,” she responds.

We finish our food and get separate rooms at this same inn.

…

“The battlefield of Brundisi is only a few day's march away. They could be here any hour now.”

“So the Aenes Kingdom won the battle?”

“Likely so, the only question is how well they recovered from the death of the king.”

“The king died? How did that happen?”

My eyes shift away and I draw my hand to my arm. The memories of that battle are fresh, but I can’t help shivering as I look back. She respects my body language as a signal to let go of the subject.

“What will we need to get before we go?” She restarts the conversation.

“Non-perishable food, preferably a horse, and sacs for storage.”

There are probably only a few vendors left in this city. Demand for their goods will also be great. During emergencies, price gouging becomes natural. Unfortunately, this country doesn’t have federally mandated price-ceilings.

We manage to find some food and sacs. Olivia does all the talking and purchasing while I hang back.

I try to give her money to pay for it, but she refuses, stating “This is your money in the first place.”

I try to explain it is hers, but she doesn’t accept it.

“Furthermore, I already pledged if we met again, I would repay you. I would use the life you gave me to repay you. Though, we met a lot sooner than I would expect.”

I can’t tell if she is extremely dedicated or acting for survival. At the moment, I am likely the only thing in between life and death. It’s only natural she would feign obedience. Ah, should I really be speculating on this?

“We will have to make do without a horse for now.” I inform “I will try and find one for sale within the next few villages we visit.”

“I understand,” she responds

We make our way out of the north gate without any hassle. Everyone is minding their own business, few people have the time or luxury to be focusing on others. The guards don’t bother speaking to those who are leaving, their main worry is outside of the city walls.

As we exit the tall city gate, my new companion and I take our first steps towards a new life.

…

The roads are dry, it is spring, yet there is no rain.

I often find myself walking too fast for Olivia to keep up, so I have her walk in front of me. Against her wishes, I carry all the luggage. It is very light to me, even if my mind has become weak, my body is still that of a master warrior.

The roads are packed. Every time I see a shoeless family marching to the north, I am confronted with an awful truth, that I am part of what caused this.

It seems that I find sorrow in everything around me, I rarely have the strength to wake up and leave my tent in the morning, even if nightmares stop me from resting, I just want to stay in bed forever and let the world pass.

Olivia has taken to waking me up and helping me get ready on these days. This too makes me feel pathetic, she is the one with a reason to be depressed, not me. Despite this, she has to go out of her way to take care of me.

She is also the one who makes food. The cheap non-perishables we have on hand are the foods she grew up cooking with, I on the other hand have no culinary experience.

I really am pathetic.

We haven’t run into any monsters yet, but we can see what they have left behind. Every once in a while there lay a pile of corpses. The monsters in the area seem to have realized a large number of weak humans are moving through this area.

The hired guards of wealthy people have slain quite a few, but the number of opportunist beasts searching for human prey is vast.

If a beast were to arrive, I would have to run. I can’t even imagine myself fighting a monster. Olivia told me it was fine if we ran away, but I hardly find it acceptable.

If I want to become a hero like Cassius asked, I will need to fight someday.

But, I can hardly find the strength to wake up in the morning. How will I find the strength to fight?

I pray Cassius returns to my dreams and reveals this. For now, I will have to focus on keeping Olivia alive.