We didn’t speak much last night and headed straight for bed. She seemed exhausted so I didn’t pursue the matter of why she was alone. After we ate, I set up the tent and went straight to bed.

It was early morning the next day. Miss Lisette was a heavy sleeper so it was difficult waking her up. I took her to the river so she could wash up before me. Of course, I never peeked once. I may be a pervert but I wouldn’t peek on maiden cleansing herself.

Anyway, since my tent was for a single person, it was pretty cramped while we were sleeping. I also had to lie on my right side all night which was a nightmare. Miss Lisette was sleeping behind my back, turned to the other side.

“Are you ready?” I gave Lisette a rope to hold on to so she didn’t stray from our path.

She nodded. “Please lead the way, sir Clyde.”

“Okay. We’ll be taking the main road so we can avoid the monsters in the forest. It’ll be faster this way, however, it’ll also be dangerous. We might run into bandits. If that happens, I want miss Lisette to stay by my side, okay? I won’t be able to protect you if you run off.”

“Mm!”

I smiled.

“Then, let’s go.”

◇◇◇

Lisette and I walked the main highway. Thankfully, we were out of the forest for now. It continued past the town we were headed to now, though.

‘I have to buy a bigger tent. She’s not saying anything but I know she’s uncomfortable.’

We were strangers who met just yesterday. Since I was the one who pushed that we should travel together, she must’ve had no choice. She was between a rock and a hard place.

Without a means to protect herself or a way to see, she was easy prey. For monsters and humans alike. Wouldn’t the boy who killed a strong monster with one spell be the perfect partner to journey with?

“By the way, miss Lisette…” I spoke as we walked down a small hill.

“Yes?”

“Shouldn’t your divinity be restored by now? Usually, a priest only has to wait a few hours.”

“Ah, that…No, in my case I cannot restore my power once it has been depleted. I have to undergo a special ritual to restore my powers.”

“You aren’t used to divinity yet?”

“Yes. That is the simple explanation. I must go to my church to have my power restored using the special potion the leader always gives me.”

She muttered something I couldn’t hear: “Although I was the only one who was successful, there are many limitations to this power…”

“…..” I glanced back and looked at her.

Silver hair, a priest uniform, bandaged eyes….

‘Why does she seem so familiar…? Am I mixing her up with someone else?’

I decided that it wasn’t important since I couldn’t remember what it was. I had a lot on my plate so I was bound to forget about a lot of things.

‘Maybe it’s nothing.’

After a few hours the snow blanketing the horizon had finally melted. The sun had been shining ever since early morning. The formation of the clouds hinted of even more snow.

“I can see the town from here. It’s fairly large.” I stopped and told miss Lisette.

“Ah. We made it earlier than I thought we would.” Miss Lisette sighed in relief.

“You know…why not buy some new clothes for you?” I asked as I glanced at her uniform. It was torn in a lot of places.

“Does it look that bad?” She chuckled. “I have been wearing it for weeks now. I’m not really much of a shopper so anything I wear is fine as long as it covers my delicate areas.”

“Tell me something…how were you able to survive out in the forest for so long if you can’t see?” I asked to ease my curiosity. For warriors, they could use their natural abilities to sense everything around them. The so-called sixth sense. Even a blind swordsman was still a dangerous opponent.

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“Have you heard of using mana to see?”

“Huh? That’s a thing?”

She giggled. “Of course it is. Although, I cannot see the way normal humans can, I can use mana to feel my surroundings. It’s a natural magic ability so I don’t really need much mana. What I see is the spectrum of colors that make up rainbows. For body heat, it’s orange and red. For mana, it’s blue.”

“That’s amazing. That’s a very unique way of using mana.”

We were actually the same. I could manipulate the mana in order to break down a spell until its molecular form and she could manipulate mana to sense her surroundings. Sure, she might not be able to see the way we do but the ability itself was amazing.

“I lost my mana defending myself with light spells to blind my targets. Since it wouldn’t work on me anyway, I figured I should use it to my advantage.”

After our little talk, we walked in silence down the main path. To our left, I could see adventurers coming back from the forest carrying monsters on wagons. Since the humanoids had green skin, it was goblins.

Although adventuring was a spread out profession, few survived long enough to reach A or even S rank. It wasn’t suited for everyone, however.

I quickly grew bored of it after adventuring solo for a while. Without Miya, it didn’t feel fun anymore. My rank at the guild was ranked A. I was pretty satisfied with that.

“Are you curious?” As I was having my own thoughts, miss Lisette spoke next to me. She pulled on the rope.

“Hm?” I slowed down after I felt her tugging the rope.

“About my eyes. How I lost my eyesight. The people I had travelled with have all asked the same thing.”

“I’d lie if I say I’m not curious…” I said carefully. I decided not to ask because it was strange to ask such a question to a stranger.

“Don’t be shy. We’ll probably travel for about two more weeks so let’s get to know each other, sir Clyde.” She smiled gently.

“R-Right…” I cleared my throat and continued walking. “So how did it happen?”

It started one morning when she was sweeping the floor in the church where she lived that it happened. Being an orphan, she had to work in order to survive.

That was why she asked the church’s sisters if they could take her in. She became an assistant nun at the age of ten. When it was discovered that she was able to use divine spells, they appointed her as an official priest.

Anyway, that morning when she was sweeping the floors, a group of girls approached her. They were the other orphans who were taken in before her. They antagonized her for a deed she didn’t do.

She was continuously bullied by the same group of girls for years after that. When it was her 15th birthday, she underwent a ritual for teen girls working as priests and nuns. It was to test whether they were still pure.

One of the girls from the group said that Lisette wasn’t a virgin because she slept with a member of the choir of the church. The boy from the choir was the son of the head nun.

Lisette was condemned for what she did. She was told that she’ll be removed as an official priest and have to work as a servant all over again.

“I don’t know what went through my head when I gave my consent that night. I heard later that the boy set me up. He was part of their group.”

Out of anger for what they did, Lisette confronted them. She hit the girl after gaining the courage to do so. Lisette was always told how soft and kind she was, so they were probably surprised by her actions.

The girl’s friends stopped Lisette and held her down. She was then brutally assaulted by the entire group. One of them poured acid onto her face.

The acid damaged the area around her eyes and burned her pupils. It was on that day that she saw darkness.

“Can’t elixirs help cure your injury?” I asked after she finished talking.

She shook her head and bit her lip. “I used one before with the money I saved up, but it was useless. Although my face healed, the area around my eyes and my eyes themselves didn’t. The hardest thing about being a priest is not being able to heal my own body.”

‘So all of this was done out of jealousy.’

I came to that conclusion after hearing her story. It wasn’t very pleasant of a backstory but I could sympathize with her. All of that was done out of spite. My guess was that the girl who did it wanted a priest role as well but wasn’t suited for divine spells like miss Lisette was.

I went through bullying as well on earth. Although, it wasn’t to the extend of hurting others. I forgot about those days since it didn’t define who I was today. If someone bullied me here then I’d just blow them away with a spell.

“It must’ve been hard…” That was all I had to say. Nothing prepared me to deal with a situation where both I and the person going through the pain, could do nothing about.

I saw Lisette smiled gently. “You sound guilty. Don’t be. I have adjusted to my life as it is. Anyway, how far until we reach the town, sir Clyde?”

“We’re nearing the town’s gate.” I took out my adventurer badge. It would be awkward explaining that I was on a solo journey and some girl tagged along.

We waited for a few minutes since the guards were busy talking amongst themselves. One of them returned to the gate and held out his hand.

He was gesturing me to give my identification. If I were a merchant then a trade permit would be sufficient. However, since I had my adventurer license, I only had to show that.

“Hello. We are a party of two. My comrade here doesn’t have a badge yet, so I am taking her to Salvesteer’s Adventurer Guild.”

I stuck with that. The guard nodded after seeing my badge.

“This is a small town so don’t cause any trouble. And keep that young lady safe. Young women keep disappearing during the night.” The guard whispered.

“Huh? How frequently does this happen?” I whispered back.

“Well, three days ago, a young woman was found in the forest. She was a bar maid who was working in this town for a few years. When we found her, her stomach was completely blown up. It was like something burst out of her stomach.”

I noticed that miss Lisette’s shoulders jerked when she heard that.

‘This could’ve happened to her as well if I left her alone.’

It was the right thing to do after all.

“Thank you for the warning, mister. We’ll keep an eye out.”

I bade him farewell and paced through the gate.

‘Maybe I shouldn’t leave miss Lisette alone.’

I wanted to stroll the town. Although it was said to be small, I could tell that the population was huge. Probably in the thousands. There was even a clinic and school that we passed by. I wanted to take miss Lisette so she could rest at an inn.

While she was at the inn, I would go out to gather more information.

“Let’s look for an inn first.”

“Mm.”