Chapter 4: Just Jump Already!

Dust POV:

“…It’s Bertha isn’t it?” I say slowly in realization, hitting my palm with the bottom my fist, “Your name’s Bertha isn’t it!?”

As I said this, I saw her shoulders tremble slightly as she looked down at the road.

Is she mad? I stopped walking for a moment, glancing worriedly at her. I’m not going to get cut down am I..?

“Pfft…” I heard a weird sound before a small laugh escaped from her lips. …What?

Her face that usually held no emotion was now laughing brightly in front of me. My mind went blank as I looked at her.

Before, it could be said that she was like an excellently carved statue. Cold and unfeeling, giving out an untouchable beauty that turned others away. But now… her beauty soared. The world around me lost color as I looked at her, the rays of the sun that shone down from the now clear sky only served to increase the dazzling radiance she gave off. I felt like I could look at her laugh like this forever, that’s just how beautiful she was.

We stood like that for what felt like an eternity that passed too quickly. The dreamlike picture of a young man looking at a laughing young woman could be seen from afar as they both stood alone on the side of a dirt road, surrounded by nature.

Her laughter that rang out clearly like the ringing of bells slowly subsided. She looked at me and showed a smile for the first time since I’ve met her. “My name’s Lilith,” The wind played with her hair as she softly said, “What are you standing around there for? Aren’t we headed to the city?”

I… didn’t see that coming. I watched her turn around and gazed at her back as she began to walk once again.

“Y-Yeah…” I stuttered and followed behind, lightly jogging to catch up.

“…..”

Like this, we walked on for a few hours.

The gentle embrace of nature and silence were the only things that accompanied us as we walked, our footsteps making slight noises upon making contact with the ground.

Since leaving my home, this was the first time I felt at peace. Hank was no longer terrorizing me, I had a decent amount of money, and my adventurer’s rank finally had a chance to improve after all this time.

 Now, the only thing left was… that.

My thoughts stray and Hank’s words repeated themselves in my head.

‘You’re weak! So in this life, you’ll only be stepped on by the strong!’

He… wasn’t wrong. I was weak. The only reason I was able to advance my rank was because I met Lilith…

Old insecurities reentered my head. Lilith, who was in front of me, failed to notice my expression. I frowned and tightened my fists as the memory from long ago resurfaced once again.

It was like this. Every. Single. Day.

-\o/-

Long ago…

“Dust… Why aren’t you eating?” A woman who looked to be in her thirties spoke with a worried tone, looking at a child around ten years old.

This child had black hair, which was fairly common in humans within this world. Right now, he was staring at the soup in front of him with a complex expression. He bit his lower lip and had his eyebrows scrunched together into a slight frown.

“…Can we have meat instead?” Dust looked up at his mother and said in a hopeful tone, his eyes looking hatefully at the soup.

“No,” The woman smiled sadly and said, “we’re saving the last of our meat for when your father comes home.”

Dust looked up at her smile and felt a strange pain in his chest, “..Okay.”

He looked resolutely at the soup and brought his spoon to his mouth. The soup only had some vegetables and herbs, coupled with a bit of salt. As he ate, the soup brought about a warm feeling within him.

‘Mother’s food is always like this…’ No matter what his mother cooked, Dust would always feel warmth when he ate his mother’s cooking. His mother looked at him as he ate, leaving her smaller portion of soup untouched.

She rested her cheek on her palm, staring at Dust with a smile as her eyes slightly narrowed in a loving expression.

‘Silly child,’ She thought to herself as she watched Dust devour the soup, ‘even though you were complaining just moments before…’

Within the span of a few minutes, Dust was already finished eating. His mother’s soup had started to grow cold so he looked at her quizzically and asked, “What’s wrong mother?”

His mother leaned forward, wiping the stains in the corner of his mouth off with a piece of cloth and kissing him on the forehead, “It’s late already, you should go to sleep.”

Dust gave a little nod and hopped off the chair, walking towards his room, failing to notice his mother’s smile slowly fade away.

‘..Why isn’t he home yet?’ As she thought this, she looked at the other bowl of soup that was also left untouched. She stared out of the window, looking at the dark night sky.

The clouds gathered together and became heavy, bringing in a storm. The clouds rumbled and lightning danced across the sky. Dust was in his room asleep, only stirring slightly upon hearing the loud rumbling.

His mother was still awake in front of the table, staring worriedly at the window outside. The soup had long since gone cold and had now lost most of the taste. It was already past midnight and darkness completely enveloped the room that lacked lighting. The only light that would enter was from the bright flashes of lightning from the sky above.

A knock came from the door, making the woman sitting by the table perk up. She hurriedly stood up and unlocked the wooden door, making it creak slightly as she opened it.

And outside… she saw flames.

-\o/-

I shook my head and pushed the memory out of my head. I bit my lower lip as an empty feeling of loneliness filled my chest, ‘I should be happy today, but why do I feel so…’

My fists tightened further, my knuckles turning white.

“…Dust?” Lilith finally noticed my rare silence and looked back at me worriedly.

I relaxed my fists, my hands loosening, ‘No use worrying her,’ I thought to myself as I forcefully made my shoulders slump, sighing slightly, “I’m hungry.” I said and made a face.

A worried look was still on her face as she stared at me with a frown, finally, her expression loosened up. She nodded and sat down under a tree nearby. I stared at her questioningly and let out a small ‘Ah!’ when she brought out a couple sandwiches from her bag.

Sitting down, I received a sandwich from her and we began eating.The sandwiches were really good and brought a smile to my face. I leaned back on the tree and let out a small, content breath.

“Thanks. Did you make these?” I asked, pointing toward the remaining sandwiches that she placed over a small white cloth on the ground.

She nodded lightly and reached out to another sandwich, bringing it close to her mouth and taking a small bite, “Mn.” She said, giving a small nod of confirmation.

 I stood up and dusted myself off. A bit of my own blood still stained the shirt I was wearing, but I didn’t want to change clothes so early, as I had a limited amount of spares.

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Lilith gave me a puzzled look as I stood up and began to climb the tree beside us.

I used to do this a lot when I was younger and my prior experience showed itself on the way I skillfully climbed the tree.

I gave a smug look at Lilith who was hugging her knees below as I reached out to a fruit that grew on the branches. I picked one and placed it in my pocket, looking around for more.

I spotted one a few feet away and weaved my way through leaves and branches. After a few attempts at picking it without falling, I finally succeeded and placed in my pocket.

I climbed down to the lowest branch and hopped off, landing lightly on the ground below.

I handed her one of the fruits, “This is a Balilaise Fruit, the outer portion is bitter, but the inside of the fruit tastes great.” I showed her how to eat the fruit, it was done by simply tearing it in half and eating the sweet, soft core inside.

The fruit was about the size of a fist, so we had no trouble opening it. I popped the core into my mouth and enjoyed the taste. I saw Lilith eat it with some hesitation, but her expression immediately lit upon tasting my favorite fruit.

Her eyes closed as she displayed a soft smile, lightly chewing and completely savoring the taste. I stared on, similarly enjoying the fruit’s sweetness.

‘She really likes it, huh?’ I thought to myself as I stared at her with a smiling expression.

She finally finished the fruit and swallowed, looking like she’d lost something important.

“It was good, right?” She looked at me and gave a firm nod, standing up and jumping toward the tree I just climbed, coming back down after a few minutes, her arms were filled with at least a dozen Balilaise Fruits.

“….” My pride as a tree-climber completely shattered at that moment. I stared at her hatefully as she pulled out her enchanted bag and stored all the fruits inside.

My shoulders sagged as we packed up and prepared to leave. I was contemplating about having a tree climbing competition with Lilith when I heard a slight rumbling coming from opposite our direction.

It seems like Lilith noticed it too, she gave a slight frown and looked at me, “It’s probably nothing,” I said, giving a slight shrug. We walked back to the road and what welcomed us was a terrifying sight.

-\o/-

A few minutes ago…

I sighed and looked at Alice beside me who was pushing leaves away from her face, “We really messed up, huh?” I said as I scratched the back of my head.

“Hehe, it's all your fault Ace.” Alice looked at the mess we caused and laughed awkwardly.

“That was really close, good thing nobody's in the area…” I spoke in relief and stared at the large horde of wind wolves we had managed to provoke.

“They told us killing a white wind wolf would be difficult, but this…” Alice showed a terrified expression as we hid above a tree nearby. Alice had used illusion magic to mask our scent and covered us in illusory leaves, making us nearly invisible to the several hundred wind wolves we managed to piss off.

“Let’s give up on this request…” I said dejectedly, shivering at the thought of what would have happened if we were caught by the wolves.

“Yeah… let’s go.” Alice said as the horde of angry wolves disappeared into the distance.

-\o/-

Right now, a massive horde of wind wolves were headed straight at Dust and Lilith.

The number of wolves were impossible to count. Dust looked on as hundreds of green-furred canines madly stampeded through the plains beside the road, killing anything and everything that moved. Rabbits and stag were hungrily devoured in wolves’ rampage, painting the ground red with blood.

Lilith looked at the horde and considered the consequences of fighting, if anything went wrong, she was confident in being able to escape, but she couldn’t say the same for Dust.

Lilith looked at his dazed expression and said, “…We’re running.”

“Of course we are!!” Dust came back to his senses and cried helplessly, grabbing Lilith’s hand hurriedly dragging her away from the road, cold sweat rolling down his back.

Lilith’s eyes widened at his sudden action and hurriedly pulled her hand away, cheeks slightly heating up. The two kept running, but the wolves were too fast. Dust’s speed wasn’t enough as he was too slow to keep up with Lilith at full speed.

His breathing was already ragged and sweat covered his forehead, but he continued to run with persistence.

‘I wonder what made these wolves so angry…’

As Lilith thought this to herself, they continued to run for what felt like an eternity to Dust. He was starting to slow down as the fatigue began to set in. His eyes were glassy and paid no attention to where he was going.

Lilith suddenly stretched her hand out, grabbing Dust’s arm and pulling him back, preventing him from falling into the massive ravine below.

It was conveniently placed in a blind spot and Dust would have fallen off if Lilith hadn’t stopped him.

“Haaah… Haah… Thanks.” Dust said in between breaths and looked down at the ravine with fear on his face.

It was a large ravine. It continued to extend out of Dust’s line of sight and its width was a staggering dozen meters. There was no way the two of them would be able to cross this distance within a short amount of time.

Lilith noticed a faint sound and focused her ears… it was the sound of running water. It looked like large amounts of water were flowing from within the massive ravine. She looked behind them and heard the wolves’ angry howling.

She stared at Dust and spoke, “…Jump.”

His eyes widened and looked at her with another stupid expression, “Are you crazy!?”

‘I’m doing this for your safety, you know.’ Lilith silently cursed in my mind. Dust’s speech patterns were starting to affect her. She sighed at him and motioned to the ravine in front of them.

“You’re not joking!? That’s suicide, you know!?” He screamed as he scratched his head with a frantic expression.

Lilith’s irritation was rising, ‘This is your fault…’

“I’m afraid of heights and dark places, you know!?” Dust said, his eyebrows raising worriedly. Behind him, the wolves were now only a dozen meters away.

“…Just jump already!!” Lilith snapped and shouted at him, kicking him into the ravine. His pathetic scream echoed out as he fell down at a rapid pace and disappeared into the darkness.

She sighed and jumped after Dust, her cloak fluttering behind her as the wind blew against her falling figure.

Chapter End.

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Author’s Note:

                Aaaaand here’s the next chapter! I hope you all liked it. As always, the next one will come tomorrow. Please bear with me if these POV switches are getting confusing as I'm experimenting on my writing style. Also, this chapter is the beginning of Dust’s rise to power! We can’t have Lilith save his ass forever after all.

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