Yu had made a deal with Maron Martin and returned to the village of Urta with his group of three to find a vehicle to Redchapel.

When they found a new carriage with a different driver, before it was time to leave, he went to the coffeehouse in the square to find out what had happened during the night and asked the coffeeman if they had found anything in the woods.

Since the coffeehouse was the one who had arranged the house for them and was the one to whom they had reported the noises, he thought it would be better to get the information from here.

“We found two mutilated bodies in an area close to the houses. The bodies are unrecognizable, but we can guess who they are because two people who should be in the village are missing.”

Yurine was demoralized by not being able to save them. Yu realized that he felt nothing for the dead. If they were good people, he felt sorry for them, but if they were disturbers of society, their deaths would help create a better world.

Still, he thought that the monster in the forest that night was dangerous and had to be stopped, and he believed that he had done the right thing by not intervening, even if the dead were good people.

Above all, he had to be able to predict what might happen to the people who died that night. Even though the state had a duty to ensure security within the borders of the country and to prevent the slaughter of its citizens, it was a dangerous world and people could be killed by monsters.

If they didn't think of it, it was not Yu's job to think of it for them and take responsibility to save them.

“After all, I'm not a hero.”

It was a common feature of almost every parallel world story that travelers between worlds, those who traveled from one world to another, gained special powers and continued their stories as heroes.

But Yu had no powers, and no matter what anyone said, it was suicide to try to be a hero in this world when there were no powers to help.

Yu was aware of the situation and had no intention of becoming a hero. Of course, his ego wanted to be called a hero and for people to admire him, but he wasn't going to try to be a hero, he wasn't going to put his life in danger.

He would rather live in luxury as a rich and happy man than die as a hero respected by the people.

Even if Yurine had powers unlike Yu, he wanted to ensure that Yurine would make the same choice. Just because she had powers didn't mean she could overcome every problem, and heroism would always be life-threatening. He would not allow her to play the hero and risk her life like a fool.

“It is better for others to die than Yurine and I. No matter how good those others are, even a newborn baby, I will always put our lives above theirs.”

Yu did not believe that people could be happy in death because of what they had fought for. For him, only warriors in stories could die such a happy death, the reality was different.

Death was not beautiful in any way and no one would want to die for someone else unless there were strong bonds. Yu Valarfin believed this.

“I guess so.”

Without lingering long in Urta, they got into the carriage and waited in silence until the driver started moving. There is only their team in carriage. That made travel more comfortable.

It was evening when the driver of the car said they were approaching the town of Redchapel. Yurine was sleeping with her head on Yu's shoulder. Seeing her like this should gave Yu joy. It was as if a warmth emanating from Yurine's left shoulder was enveloping his heart. And he like it.

But he was in pain.

The last passenger, apart from Yu, was Lylphia, whom Maron had brought along as a helper.

She was wearing a different outfit than when they first met. He wore a white uniform, similar to the uniforms of naval officers, and behind it, a light blue cloak that hung from Lylphia's shoulders. Above his large chest was the logo of the Wizarding Academy.

There was also a white ribbon tied around Lylphia's pinkie finger.

“What’s about that fa~ce?” Lylphia said. “Why are you sulking? There is such a cute moment here. You should be happy.”

“I am happy,” he replied. “But I also think of Sharley’s mother. He lost her son and Yurine was so mean to her. I thought I wouldn’t care but now I suddenly start thinking about her. Remembering her in pain also makes me remember mine.”

He remembered his sisters. As soon as he remembered, grief surrendered his heart and he wanted to talk about something else.

“What's that ribbon for?”

“It is customary, when you intend to do something, you tie a ribbon around your pinkie finger and don't take it off until you succeed.”

“That's interesting.” It was like married people wearing rings. The more you looked at your finger, the more you remembered the duty you were bound to. “I've heard of old people doing the same thing to remember things.”

“Yes. My grandfather did it sometimes. But this is different, if the ribbon is tied on your pinkie finger, you have a mission. If the ribbon is tied on the ring finger, it means that the mission is of a romantic nature. Usually girls wear ribbons on their ring fingers to prevent boys from approaching them.”

“Interesting,” he said again.

He raised his right hand and looked at his pinkie finger, should he tie a ribbon there? If he did, it would be purple.

And what would he tie that ribbon there for? To find Sony or to fulfill Yurine's wish?

He looked at Yurine again. He didn't want to tell her that he couldn't make her wish come true, he couldn't claim that he would, but if asked if he wanted it to come true, he would have said yes.

“Yurine, we're here.” She called in a gentle voice to the sword fairy sleeping on her shoulder. She did not want to disturb their current position, but she had to wake them.

“Huee!”

As soon as she woke up, she realized that she was lying on his shoulder. She screamed and pushed herself away from Yu, but this time she hit her head against the wall.

“You asshole! You're the worst! How dare you take advantage of me while I sleep!” Yurine rubbed his head as he rattled off insults.

“You're hurting my lovely heart.”

“Don't say such things!”

Yurine's exaggerated reaction hurt, but he greeted her with a slight smile. It was the first time he had seen Yurine blush like that. Her white cheeks were as red as apples and he wanted to squeeze them.

“Explain to me why this low way of life came with us.”

“It doesn't have a long explanation, it's there in case we need to use someone as bait.”

Yurine shook her head and gave Lylphia a disdainful look with her red eyes.

“You mean female version of my mother's apprentice, would have been nothing but bait.”

There was only one moment when Sharley was useful in some way, but it was not for his own sake because he caused his death, but for Yu's sake because he helped him meet Rie and Yurine. Maybe if Sharley hadn't been fed to the gorilla, Rie would have died before she could meet Yu and Yu would have been left alone in this world.

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Of course, if it wasn't for Sharley, Yu might never have had to feel the weight of the murders on his conscience, might never have had to risk his life. Maybe if it wasn't for Sharley and if Rie and Yurine had died in the tunnel that day and Yu had never met them, Yu would have settled in the same inn with the money he earned by selling his phone, started a business, married Lucie and lived a happy life in this world.

But looking at Yurine now, he was glad Sharley was there that day. Even though it hurt, he was happy to be there with Yurine.

“I don't think it's nice to talk about the dead people like that,” Yu said.

“At least talk somewhere where I can't hear you!” Lylphia pouted again, crossing her arms under her breasts, and her huge tits stood at attention towards Yu again.

Lylphia's breasts caught Yu's eye, but not in a good way. He was not attracted to them, on the contrary, the excessive size of her breasts bothered Yu.

“Maron said she can also use fire magic, so if we need to fight, she can fight for us.”

“That sounds better than being bait, but...”

“But she can't use fire magic as she pleases.” Yurine finished Lylphia's sentence.

“Why?”

He knew that magic was not forbidden in Rolderhelm; if it were, many adventurers would be out of work and there would be no school called the Wizarding Academy.

Yurine had wind and light magic, and the only thing preventing her from using them was mana. Even though she said she had plenty of mana, the healing spell could deplete it quickly. She said this was because healing magic was an inefficient type of magic.

“You cannot use fire magic on living beings unless it is for protection. A few forward-thinking countries even consider its use on the battlefield a war crime. Although, if the side using the spell wins, there is no crime, but that's the way it is.”

“Why is there such a thing?”

Yurine used wind magic and light magic to her heart's content. No one had ever told her it was a crime.

But unlike other types of magic, there was an understandable reason why fire magic was forbidden.

“Because burning to death is not a good thing,” Yurine said. Her eyes misted slightly and she wiped them with her hand.

“You thought of Rie.” It wasn't hard for Yu to understand. “But she didn't burn to death, so I hope...” it was horrible to think about.

“Other types of magic can kill a person in a short time, which is why they are legal to use in warfare, but fire magic, even if a powerful mage can turn someone to ash in an instant, will not kill them easily in most cases. In fact, it is not even certain whether it will kill or not. Even I am afraid of my magic,” Lylphia said.

Any form of death was unpleasant, but he couldn't get the Sigma Tower out of his mind. If they couldn't get out of the tower, they would burn to death. The concept of death was Yu's greatest fear, and burning to death only intensified it.

If he had to choose a way to commit suicide, he would put burning to death at the bottom of the list. He might even prefer living a miserable life to burning to death.

Another scary scenario was the possibility of not dying after being burned. Your whole body could burn and you could wish with all your heart to die, but the possibility of not dying would always exist. For Yu, having to live the rest of his life with burn wounds that would not heal, with a deformed body, was scarier than death.

Yurine sighed. “The only useful thing about her is her magic, and even then she has problems, she's a burden.”

“Hey! I can still hear you!”

As Lylphia explained more about fire magic, the carriage began to slow down and finally stopped in front of the town hall. The driver got down and opened the door for the passengers. Yu got out after two girls had left and looked around, it was dark.

“Redchapel is even more depressing at night. Even the stars hide themselves.”

Rain clouds blocked the stars and moonlight. The town, which already had a gray-dark atmosphere because it was built in the gothic style, was draining the life energy of the people when night fell on top of it.

“What do we do?” Yurine tugged Yu's arm.

“It's dangerous out at night, we'll find an inn, eat and then sleep. Tomorrow morning we will spend the whole day getting our work done.”

What he meant by our work was the notation of the houses where the letters were to be delivered. Rolderhelm had the numbers of all the houses, which made it easier.

“Meanwhile, Lylphia starts to do research on Sony. We return to Rolderhelm in the morning of the next day.”

“Why are you going? I feel like all the work is on me.”

Lylphia's breasts jiggled as she spoke. If Lylphia kept shaking her breasts at him, Yu would vomit. Was this girl an exhibitionist?

“We have things to do,” he said, turning his head away from Lylphia. “We'll stay in Rolderhelm for a few days, find something until we get back. When we get back, we'll continue our investigation based on the information you've gathered.”

“How am I supposed to investigate on my own? I don't even know what I'm supposed to do, I thought I'd just do fighting part.”

“Didn't Maron give you a grant? If there's an adventurers' guild or something, go there, ask them or talk to people, maybe they'll tell you something because of the uniform you're wearing, and if necessary you can bribe them with your allowance to get information.” It was Yu who asked Maron to give her a grant and the reason for the grant was to help with the research. “Let's go, Yurine.”

They stopped arguing with Lylphia and wandered the streets, starting at City Hall, looking for a place to stay. When they found an inn where they could spend the night, they took a room for two and settled in. It was the first time Yu would sleep separately from Yurine. Lylphia wanted to be close by, so she took the room opposite them, and after they had eaten, everyone retired to their rooms to sleep.

“Tell me what happened.”

“As I told you, Maron Martin asked us to find Sony von Bishory and bring him to the Wizarding Academy.”

The suffix 'von' was a title of nobility used in some countries of the Second World and all Bishorys had this title.

“Why?”

“Because we got off to a bad start with the current headmaster, we can no longer question him or ask his permission to enter the library. But if we find Sony and bring him to the academy, Maron said he will be the headmaster and he will give us what we want.”

“What if Sony is already dead?”

“That would be bad, I hope he's not dead.”

“But what if he's dead?”

“Our plan to bring your mother back will have problems if he is dead.”

Yurine swallowed and lay down on her own bed, pulling the blanket over her head. It bothered her to see that her job depended on luck.

“Are you sure you don't want to sleep next to me? There's no one there to cuddle with if you have bad dreams and get scared.”

“Sleep, stupid human.”

Yurine coldly dismissed Yu's provocation and said nothing more. After extinguishing the kerosene lamp, Yu settled into his own bed and fell asleep, wrapped in his blanket once more after a long time.

***

“Hairy...”

That was the word he chose to describe the long, soft object he felt in his palm. The silky hair felt nice in his hand. He opened his eyes to see a sweet girl with cat ears lying next to him.

Yurine came to sleep with a big smile on her face. It was also the first time Yurine was lying facing Yu, but something was bothering his in this beautiful moment.

“Why is the bed wet?”

He got out of bed and looked at the wetness on himself. Yurine's clothes were different from the ones she had put on the night before, but still wet.

“Yurine... Did you pee in your sleep? I'm telling you, wake up.”

When she lifted her eyelids, Yurine's red eyes met Yu's violet ones.

"Did you pee in your sleep?"

She quickly sat up in bed and pulled the covers over her to hide her soaked bottom from Yu. She turned her head to hide her flushed face and began to cry. It was the first time Yu had seen Yurine acting so childish, today was a day of many firsts.

“STUPID! IT'S BECAUSE OF YOU! BECAUSE YOU SAID YOU'D HAVE BAD DREAMS! IT HASN'T HAPPENED FOR WEEKS! STUPID! DISGUSTING! FILTH!”

“All of a sudden... Whatever. You said it hasn't been happening for weeks? I mean, before...”

“SHUT YOUR MOUTH!”

Even though it was something to be angry about, Yu reminded himself again that Yurine was a child. It was understandable for a child to wet herself.

“But why is that bed wet?”

This is where the strange part started. First she wet her own bed, then she changed her clothes and came to Yu's side because she couldn't sleep on a wet bed, but she wet the bed again.

Yu was disappointed to learn that Yurine had come to him out of obligation and not out of love, but he had to calm the crying Yurine.

“That's enough, don't cry.”

How could he calm crying children? Because of his upbringing, he interacted with a lot of children, but he never found the answer.

He would have liked to use his own experiences, when he cried as a child it was enough for his older sisters to hold him to calm him down, but Yurine would almost certainly not allow it.

He sat on the dry side of the bed to calm her down.

“Did you have a bad dream?”

“No.”

“Huh? Then why did you blame it on me?”

Yurine shrugged and continued to sit quietly.

“Listen, it's not that big a deal. I peed my pants until I was eight or nine.”

And many times he had been beaten for peeing his pants at night. As if a beating would stop him from peeing herself. Yu would be nicer to Yurine.

“It's because you're a stupid person, I'm not going to shit myself until I'm that age.”

“Okay then, think that there are others worse off than you and relax.” The sunlight filled the room. “Hurry up, we have a lot of work today.”

Knowing that there were worse than oneself helped some people to relax. Knowing this reduced the damage to their egos and made them grateful. The jackal was a way for the rulers to herd the sheep.

Yurine's tears had stopped. Even though Yu had revealed an embarrassing secret for this, it was worth it if it would stop her crying.

“Remember, it's a secret. You can't tell anyone.”

“Hmmhmm... Just don't do anything like pee your pants while I'm in bed,” Yurine got up from the bed. “Stupid.”

“That was the sweetest stupid I've ever had.”

They had taken a room without a bathtub, thinking it wouldn't be necessary. As much as Yu hated it, they had to use the communal bathroom, fortunately the sun was just rising when Yu noticed the wetness. He took the opportunity to use the bathroom while it was still not full of people.

At least that was the case for the men's bathroom, he didn't know how the side where Lylphia accompanied Yurine was doing.

After their breakfast, they left Lylphia. Lylphia went to find an adventurer's guild to start her research, and Yu and Yurine took notes and started walking around the town, picking suitable spots to distribute the letters.

It took them a day to visit the whole town with plenty of stops, and the next morning they returned to the capital, leaving Lylphia at the inn.