Imagine being kicked out from home, dying, then being isekai'd to a new world, only to be kicked out from home again.

"What? I can't stay here in the village either?!"

"Ryuji, you're an adventurer now... How the hell are you going to be an adventurer if you just stay in one place?"

"But..."

"Besides, the local Adventurer Guild in our village is being closed down temporarily until they can find a replacement for the clerk. It's probably gonna take a while seeing how small our village is."

"Fine."

"Huh? What are you sticking your hand out for? Do you have a fractured bone or something?"

"No! Aren't you going to give me some spare money to help Shizu and me get settled first?"

"Hahahaha! You're a funny kid, Ryuji."

"But I wasn't joking..."

That was the last conversation I had with my dad before I was thrown out on the streets without a penny to my name.

Stomachs growling, walking for what would had been days now, I was leaning on a broken stick, trying my best to not think about food as we trudged through an endless marshland that was supposed to lead us to the next town. So far the only thing we've encountered were dead animals and bones.

"Ryujiiii," Shizu moaned from behind me, "I'm so hungryy!"

"I already gave you the last bit of food we had..." I replied, feeling like I was getting closer to death with every breath. "We just have to put up with it a little longer until we arrive at the next town, Shizu..."

"They didn't even give us any reward for clearing out the goblin cave," Shizu sulked. "The quest said that there was a reward."

"That's because you killed the clerk that was going to hand out the reward." I replied tiredly.

Hearing no response, I glanced back, saw the upset look on Shizu's face and tried to backtrack my words, "Ahaha, don't worry about it, Shizu...! It's not like the clerk was going to give us the reward even if we kept her alive anyways."

Now wasn't the time to waste our precious energy talking about this. It was better to keep Shizu mentally stable than to unsettle her and make this trip even worse than it already was.

Shizu's violet eyes brightened up at me from my words. I forced a reassuring smile back at her.

She walked over to me, then opened her backpack behind her, getting something out, "Here, Ryuji."

"Huh?" I glanced down at the bread she was holding in her hand towards me, "Isn't that the bread I told you to eat earlier?"

"I... I didn't want to eat anything if you weren't going to eat..." Shizu said, her violet eyes glancing sideways shyly, "I'd rather starve myself than to make you starve, Ryuji..."

"Shizu..." I mouthed in surprise, staring at her.

After the massacre at the cave and witnessing Shizu torture the clerk to death with a kitchen knife, I had sworn to myself to remain steadfast on my plan to escape from Shizu as soon as possible. I mean, she had proven herself numerous times to be a psychopathic murdering sociopath with zero remorse for her actions, but sometimes I find myself questioning myself.

Is she really just a psycho? Was this all an act on her part to lower my guard? The questions spun around my head, making me doubt my own plan.

"Shizu," I said, "I gave that to you to eat, so you eat it."

"B-but..."

"Don't worry about me. You're the stronger one out of the two of us. If anything happens, I want you to have the energy to defend us."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Still..." Shizu said, glancing at me reluctantly. "I want you to eat, Ryuji."

"Shizu, just eat it." I sighed.

"No, I don't want t--"

Suddenly, Shizu ripped her knife out from her belt and bolted past me at a speed that almost blew me off my feet. I turned to see what happened and saw Shizu leaping in the distance onto a lone figure clad in a travelling robe who was holding what appeared to be a giant stick with a crystal ball at the top.

"Shizu!" I screamed, but it was too late.

At the moment of collision, a fiery explosion tore in the space between Shizu and the lone figure, creating a powerful blast wave that tore through the earth around them.

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Horses trotting, wheels rolling on the dirt ground hitting the occasional bump, the sound of someone flipping the page of a book. Slowly, I opened my eyes and saw a young child with long azure hair sitting in front of me reading an ancient looking book. We were inside a carriage and out the window at the side I could see green meadows passing us by.

Something warm was weighing down on my lap and I glanced down to see a battered looking Shizu lying on top of my lap, breathing gently with her eyes closed. She appeared unconscious so I didn't try to bother her. Damn, she looked so cute and normal like this.

"Who... are you?" I asked, glancing back up at the young girl.

"Shouldn't you be the one to introduce yourself first?" The girl said without taking her lapis lazuli eyes off the pages of the book she was reading. "Especially considering you were the ones to attack me first unannounced."

I was surprised at the formal sounding accent used by the young girl. She sounded a lot more mature than she looked.

"Attack?" I said, "Oh, you mean Shizu... wait, you were the one Shizu attacked at the marshes?"

"Yes."

I glanced to her side and saw the large wooden stick I had saw the figure in the marsh carrying. It had been too far before to see properly but from this distance I could easily tell it was a mage's staff. One that appeared quite powerful too based on the intricate weaving along the staff and the lustrous crystal ball at the top.

"Hm, you're a mage too." The young girl suddenly said, and I glanced back at her to see that her lapis lazuli eyes were now staring right at me. It almost looked like her eyes were glowing when contrasted against her pale skin and dark lashes. "Interesting..."

"I'm just a novice though." I said. I was getting an uncomfortable feeling from her stare like she was seeing through me. "Anyways, we're really sorry about attacking you out of the blue like that. To be honest, I was trying to stop my companion here at that time, but she's a bit, um... jumpy... as you probably saw."

"I thought so." She replied, then she glanced down at Shizu on my lap. "She's a dangerous one. That one. Very fast. I almost didn't see her coming. And well, if I didn't..." The young girl smiled at me, "I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you right now."

She had a pretty smile ignoring the awkward topic at hand. It was like the unadulterated smile of a child that hadn't yet been exposed to the cruelties of life. I guess that was because she was still pretty young judging from her child-like stature.

"Is this your carriage?" I asked, trying to change the topic as I glanced around.

"It's a rental carriage." She replied. "I rented one from a nearby place so that it could carry you and your companion too. I was going to take the two of you to a nearby town called Lunaris so that you could see a doctor and make sure the both of you are fine."

Wow, what a kind person. And she was taking us exactly where we had been planning to go as well.

There was also the very important fact being that this young girl appeared to be even stronger than Shizu! I thought it would take a long time for me to eventually find someone that would be able to defeat Shizu but this person was sitting right in front of me!

Did I just run into an angel sent from heaven to save me after all the badluck I've had?

"Thank you so much." I said. "I don't know how we could repay you."

Also we didn't have any money at all to pay her for the trouble.

"I was the one that injured the two of you with my spell so it is naturally my responsibility to make sure the both of you aren't hurt."

I stared at her, mesmerised by her kindness. I almost felt like crying.

"I-is there something on my face?" A slightly pink blush caught onto the young girl's face and she averted her lapis lazuli eyes from my stare, raising a hand to one of her cheeks. "You've been staring at me for a while..."

"Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to stare!" I immediately apologised, "By the way, I just kind of realised I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Ryuji, and the girl lying on my lap is Shizu. It's really nice to meet you."

"Innis." She bowed her head politely, but she still looked a little bit awkward from before, "Likewise, the pleasure is all mine."

"Also, just so you know, you don't have to be so formal just because we're older than you." I laughed, trying to lighten up the mood. "We don't mind if you speak casually to us."

"Ah really?" She said surprised. "I didn't know you two were as old as me."

"Hm? How old are you?"

"74."

"..."

Innis raised the pointy edged grey hat on top of her head, revealing a pair of pointy ears, "I'm a light elf."

At that moment, the carriage hit a bump on the road, jolting us from our seats for a moment.

"Ryuji..."

I heard Shizu groan from beneath me, glanced down and saw her opening her violet eyes warily.

"Hey Shizu, you're awake!" I said. "Listen, this is..."

Shizu glanced across my seat at Innis, then without hesitating Shizu grabbed the sword at my waist, unsheathed it and threw it across at Innis' throat.

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AI generated art : Innis

[https://i.imgur.com/YXcZivh.png]