Knock knock.

The next morning, Cycelia wakes up to someone knocking on her door. Too dispirited to even get up, she ignores it. Then, she hears it again.

「Lia? It's me. Are you awake yet?」

Knock knock.

「Lia? If you want to sleep in, that's alright, but I thought we should go get you that sword…」

Cycelia opens the door and looks Straf in the eyes, with no expression to speak of, beyond perhaps a hint of sadness. She leaves her room and shuts the door behind her. Straf starts walking towards the stairs, but takes a glance at her face again with a furrowed brow.

「Lia? Are you alright? You look kind of down…」

「Straf… That woman… Who is she to you?」

She asks him with no emotion or tone in her voice, looking down at the floorboards.

「Hm? Believe it or not, that's my girlfriend.」

「Straf, acting like-」

「Hm? Hm? What?」

Cycelia is about to say something, but she stops herself, she instead walks besides Straf in silence. They turn in their room keys, and leave towards the market. She walks as if in a dream, or a daze.

「Careful!」

Straf suddenly stops Cycelia. She blinks, and notices she was about to trip on a streetlight that's blocking the street. It looks as if it was cut down, like a tree. The morning sun reflects off the glass shattered everywhere, scattering the light as if it were hundreds of beautiful gems.

「What… What happened?」

She looks around, all the streetlights as far as the eye can see, are in the same state. They step over the ruined lamp, and continue. Straf weaves through the crowd discussing the inexplicable act of vandalism.

「…I heard it was over a bloodied cloth, or something!…」

Straf overhears one of the men in the crowd, he reaches for his pocket.

「By the way, that reminds me… Here, you can have this back.」

Straf hands Cycelia her handkerchief, now spotlessly clean.

「What… When did you- Did you not sleep?」

「Nope. I had issues falling asleep, so I thought I'd wash that and return it. I thought it might improve your mood.」

「Straf… You shouldn't lose sleep over something like this…」

「Well, thanks to my stupidity, I won't be able to sleep ever again.」

Straf says very matter-of-factly. Cycelia looks at his serious face for just a moment as he stares forward, unbothered by anything. She pockets her handkerchief, and though still sad, a faint smile returns to her face.

「Straf…」

《As I thought, he's only doing this to cope. He must have been thinking of me the whole night as well. He just feels like he can't abandon his girlfriend… Maybe with enough time, he'll accept that it's the time to move on?》

They walk past the crowd loudly discussing rumors with fervor, and head for the market…

「What did you say his name was?」

「Not name, that's what they call him! It's the Moonlit Avenger!」

「Huh? And why do they call him that?」

The men in the crowd discuss amongst themselves, and question the loudest one. Suddenly, another one walks up and chimes in.

「I have a friend who's involved in some thing, I can't tell you what, but he knows everything!」

「Yeah? Then what happened?」

「He was in a warehouse in the slums, it was already well into the night. He knows some guys I can't tell you about, and they were already talking about this Moonlit Avenger guy.」

「But why is he called that?」

「Patience, I am getting to that… Suddenly, they hear terrible clamor outside, glass shatters, deafening noise of metal on stone. And then, he appeared! They call him the Moonlit Avenger, because it was pitch-black, and only the moon was shining on him!」

「And what did he want? Is he some sort of guard that lost it?」

A very young man in the crowd asks, with barely pubes on his chin for a beard.

「Nobody knows! My friend hid in a crate when he heard the noise, and he heard him asking something really creepy and cryptic. Like, 「...which one of you gets rid of blood?…」 and stuff like that!」

「And nobody died? Seriously?」

「That's the weirdest part! He said, unless they tell him where to find the one that deals with blood, he'll devour their soul! But all of them ended up just really badly beaten. My friend said he almost shit himself when one of the guys crashed into his crate!」

「Holy shit. I'm not leaving my house tonight.」

「He was also asking about murderers- Ah, don't tell the guards that one…」

…

Straf walks up to the weapon merchant's stall, with Cycelia close behind. She looks for a longsword that is not too big or heavy for her.

「Are you looking for anything special?」

The merchant asks with his arms crossed.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

「Ah, no… Just a cheap sword to replace my broken one.」

「Well, the cheapest one I have is this…」

He takes one of the thin-looking swords, much like the one Cycelia had previously, and hands it to her sideways, both his hands beneath the blade. She takes it by the grip, and takes a few slow swings, feeling for its weight and balance.

「Ah! It's really good! It's much heavier than mine was… But I guess you can't help that.」

「How much do you want?」

Straf asks, looking away from content Cycelia.

「8 silvers.」

「What the f- Are you serious? I just got two medallions for a silver, and two rooms and meals for a half, and you want 8 silvers for this shit?」

「If you don't like it, find a better deal. You won't. Unless you want to wait a few weeks for a smith.」

「At least drop the price a little! How about 5 silvers?」

《Here we go! This is what I got the charisma for! Give me that for free!》

「…Do you expect me to go broke, because you don't like the price? Do you have any idea of the labor involved in making one of these? The risk of not selling them? I'm lucky if I make one gold coin a week. Sounds like a lot? Until you realize I have to spend that gold on getting more swords that might just not sell. And the profit I get in hand amounts to maybe a silver or two at most.」

「…So, are you going to drop the price?」

「8 silvers. Take it or leave it.」

「Tsk.」

《What the fuck is charisma good for?》

With his hands on his hips and visibly upset, Straf looks around the market. He finds a blonde boy sitting down with his back against one of the buildings. He grabs Cycelia by the arm and drags her away from the stall, out of the merchant's earshot.

「Give me just one second!」

He then turns to Cycelia and starts whispering to her.

「Lia, where did you dump my plate I got from the adventurers' guild?」

「What? Ah, I didn't. I still have it…」

「You do? Why- Doesn't matter. Great. Give it back for a second.」

She pulls out Straf's copper ID plate and hands it to him. He walks to the boy he just saw, taking quick wide steps. The child notices him walk up, and he lifts his ice-blue eyes to look at Straf.

「Hey kid, what's your name?」

「Wr-」

「Okay cool, put this on.」

He slips his ID plate onto the boy's neck, the boy looks at it, confused. Straf then picks the boy up and carries him under his arm to the weapon merchant.

「I need to borrow you for a second, play along and you might get some food.」

「I don't need food! Put me down! Let go of me!」

「…Straf? Who is that chil-」

「Behold! A tragedy!」

He holds up the wriggling boy to the merchant's view by his armpits. The merchant raises his eyebrows, still standing at his stall with his arms crossed, as very confused Cycelia looks at the events unfolding.

「Merchant, haven't you the heart to sell this poor young adventurer a sword on the cheap!? His parents have died tragically, and he has no choice but to collect herbs, and do other menial tasks for scraps as he struggles to feed himself! Look how thin he is!」

「What are you talking about? Put me down!」

「Do you hear that? His life is unbearable suffering! Will you really force this young boy to starve for years, before he can finally save up for a sword and become an adventurer proper!? If you make it 3 silvers, I will gladly cover the price as charity! Think of the children!」

Straf finally puts the writhing child down, he takes the copper plate off and throws it in Straf's chest with balled fists. The merchant is unimpressed.

「8 silvers. Take it or leave it.」

「What? Not even for this poor kid!?」

「I'm not a poor kid! Bite my ass!」

He spits on the floor and runs off. As he runs, Straf shouts a warning.

「Then starve, you goody two shoes dumbass! And watch out for cats! I mean it!」

The child turns around, only to flash a rude gesture at Straf, then turns a corner. Straf shakes his head.

「Come on. I killed a troll and got 3 gold coins. You're telling me I need to kill at least one per week to not starve?」

「Uh-huh. And I'm King Roderick. 8 silvers.」

「H-hey!」

Cycelia gets visibly upset as the merchant drops the name.

「Tsk. You know what? Fine. Break this, then.」

Straf opens his [Portable Storage], throws his copper plate in, then pulls out a single gold coin. The merchant stares in amazement at the swirling vortex within, but he hands Straf his change of 2 silver coins despite the awe. Straf closes his [Portable Storage] and pockets the coins, then menacingly points at the merchant.

「You give merchants a bad name. This is why stereotypes exist. If there are art schools in this world, don't be surprised when- You know what? Forget it. I won't spoil it. Have fun finding out. Let's go Lia.」

「Um, Straf, it won't fit well into my old sheath…」

「That's no problem at all miss, I sell many types for just one silver-」

Straf starts stomping the ground in fury…

「Shit! And just when I was about to boycott your shitty stand!」