The carriage was quiet, the air cold, and the sword that Shizu had thrown at Innis’ throat was imbedded deep within the wooden walls of the carriage, right next to the skin of Innis’ neck. Had I not managed to push Shizu’s hand at the last second, Innis’ head would most likely be rolling on the floor right about now.
“Why did you stop me?” Shizu asked.
“Why…” I took a deep breath to recompose myself, “Why the heck did you try to kill Innis?!”
“Innis?” Shizu said, “You mean this little girl?”
“Yes!”
“Excuse me, I’m not a ‘little gi—”
“She’s going to hurt us, Ryuji." Shizu said, frowning. "We need to kill her before she kills us. I thought that was obvious?”
“No, it’s not obvious!” I shouted back at Shizu, “Are you goddam insane?!”
“W-what, why are you shouting at me?” Shizu winced, hurt spreading across her face, “I was only trying to protect you…”
“Just,” I sighed, not knowing how to deal with Shizu, “Just be silent for a moment.”
“Okay, Ryuji…”
I turned to Innis who was sitting there in the same position in her seat with wide eyes and a look of confusion on her face.
“Innis… are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Innis replied, “Though I have to admit, that was indeed rather shocking.”
“Of course, anyone would be scared after being almost decapitated.”
“No, I don’t mean that,” Innis shook her head. “What I mean is… why did you do that?”
“Huh?” I blinked. “Do what?”
“Save me.” Innis said. “You saved me.”
“Er, well…”
Oh god, don’t tell me this was the part where the newly introduced female side character would fall in love with the protagonist for doing something that any sensible person would do.
“It was unneeded.” Innis said flatly, then her voice progressively grew more and more out of tone, “And quite frankly, reckless. You put yourself in harm’s way for no good reason whatsoever. You don’t even know me at all. We only barely met and spoke for a few minutes, that’s all. How could you be so certain that I wasn’t an enemy? How could you not even trust in your own companion’s decision? What you did was most likely – no – most definitely and certainly stupid!”
“…Uhm…”
Wow. I did not expect that. Within the space of ten seconds, Innis had broken my image of her completely with that uncharacteristic rant out of nowhere.
Innis probably realised it as well and coughed into her fist, trying to hide her slightly flushed cheeks.
“What I mean to say is…” Innis said, returning to her usual kind demeanour, “please don’t do something unnecessary like that again, Ryuji…”
“Sure…”
I turned back to Shizu, feeling a little dazed from the exchange with Innis. I didn’t quite understand it, but I guess everyone had their bad moments.
Shizu stared back at me without a word, then silently, she mouthed to me, ‘Can I speak now?’
“Yes.” I replied.
“Let’s kill her.” Shizu said. “That ungrateful little bitch.”
“You can stop talking now.” I told Shizu.
~x~
As we approached the gates of the city of Lunaris, the imposing walls loomed above us within the carriage, guarding the city within. The narrow and dirty streets beyond were crowded with people, all going about their daily business.
“Wow! Look, Ryuji!” Shizu cried out gleefully, leaning up on her seat to stare outside the carriage window, “There’s so many people outside!”
“Yeah,” I said, following her eyes out the window, “Very different to our village…”
The carriage continued travelling past the outer skirts of the city, children in ragged clothing ran past our carriage and beggars laid in street corners ignored by passerbys. I grimaced, observing the poverty surrounding us. Although our village wasn’t wealthy, everyone there at least took care of one another.
“What is it?” Innis asked, noticing the expression on my face.
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“Nothing.” I replied.
The appearances of the streets and people continued to improve as the carriage took us deeper into the city. Coming into view at the distance in the centre of the city stood an impressive looking castle with soaring spires and ornate carvings that could be seen from afar.
“What’s that?” I asked Innis, pointing towards the castle.
“Ah that’s right, you two haven’t been to the city of Lunaris before.” Innis said, “That castle is where the Lord of Lunaris resides, Lord Grevius. He’s the Lord ruling over Lunaris.”
“Lord?” Shizu asked.
That reminded me that Shizu and I were the only two people that had been isekai’d into this world, or at least as far as I was aware.
“Come on, do you two live under a rock or something?” Innis joked with a light laugh, then stopped when she realised we were being serious, “Lords are the rulers appointed by His Majesty to rule over their assigned cities.”
Innis stared at me silently with a worried face. “Is something wrong?” I asked her.
“Maybe I really did hit you two too hard back at the marshlands…”
“W-we’re fine,” I said, “It’s just that Shizu and I are from a rural village that usually doesn’t get involved much with the rest of the Mideron empire because of how far away we are. That’s why it might seem like we don’t know many things that goes on around here.”
“Oh, I see.” Innis nodded, “Apologies for my crude joke just then. I did not mean any ill intentions.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I replied.
It seemed like Innis was back to her usual kind persona after having recovered from her earlier outburst. Even the memory of it now was so bizarre that I was beginning to question whether it actually happened.
“We’re here.” Innis announced, breaking me out of my thoughts as the carriage came to a gradual stop.
Following Innis out of the carriage, I turned to look for the carriage horses and instead saw a giant polar bear-like creature leashed to the front of the carriage. Unlike a polar bear however, the creature had what appeared to be a patagium running from its front legs to its back legs, a long, heavy tail, and sharp black spikes pointing outwards from its back.
“Wah, so cute!” Shizu exclaimed as she stepped out from the carriage behind me, “What is that?”
“A ranturko.” Innis replied. “Beasts used commonly as a mode of transport. You don’t have those back at your village either?”
“Like a horse?” Shizu said.
“Horse?” Innis asked.
“Nevermind.” I said, then pointed at the shop nestled in the street corner in front of us, “Is that where the doctor is?”
It was a small modest shop but the wooden sign hanging above the door indicated at its presence. The exterior of the shop was unassuming, with a plain door and a window covered with a thick layer of dust obscuring the view inside. A few potted plants sat on the windowsill, their leaves having wilted in the hot sun. The walls of the shop were made of rough-hewn stone, with creeping ivy snaking its way up the sides.
“Yes,” Innis nodded, glancing over at shop, “As I said before, I wanted to take you both to the doctor to get checked up in case I injured you with my spell back at the marshlands. It is my responsibility after all.”
“Thank you, Innis.” I said. “But we were the ones in the wrong for attacking you first out of nowhere.” I glanced next to me at Shizu, “And Shizu has something to say for the attack at the marshlands and inside the carriage… don’t you, Shizu?”
Shizu glanced at me, puzzled, “I do?”
“Yeah, this is when you’re supposed to apologise, Shizu…”
Hearing that, Shizu immediately turned to face Innis and bowed her head, almost as if her personality had suddenly changed, “I’m sincerely sorry for attacking you. I understand that my actions at those times were unacceptable, and I deeply regret my behaviour. I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”
Innis’ eyes widened in surprise at Shizu, “I thought you were something like a wild animal, but it appears that you do have manners after all. I’m impres—”
Shizu turned back to face me, smiling like nothing had occurred, “How did I do, Ryuji? Is that what you wanted? If there’s anything you didn’t like, I can change the words and apologise again!”
This girl truly was a sociopath. I knew trying to lecture Shizu on human sentimentality right now would be a waste of time so I diverted my attention back to Innis.
“Ahaha…” I laughed awkwardly to Innis, then tried to make something up, “Sorry about that, Innis. Shizu spent much of her life bedridden when she was young so she is a bit clueless on socialising with others…”
“Oh, I see.” Innis said, giving Shizu a concerned look, “What a poor child.”
“Why is the little girl calling me a chi—”
“In any case, thank you for all your help, Innis.” I said. “We probably wouldn’t have been able to make it all the way to Lunaris without your help.”
“You’re welcome.” Innis said, “Please think nothing of it.”
“On another topic, are you a traveller or something?” I asked Innis. “I noticed you were all alone back at the marshlands. Normally I would have thought travellers would travel with others.”
Innis paused momentarily, “Yes, that’s true…”
“If that’s the case, you are more than welcome to join our party. Shizu and I are new adventurers but we intend to travel around the Mideron empire. Of course, we can accommodate you as well if there is a specific place you were heading towards.”
“N-new adventurers?” Innis said, glanced at Shizu in surprise, then shook her head with a sad smile appearing on her face, “I… I really appreciate the offer, Ryuji, but unfortunately I must decline. You and Shizu seem like great people, but… I would most likely just get in the way. You two would be better off without me.”
“I see…” I said, “That’s a shame. You would have been a great help to us, Innis. It seems like you are stronger than Shizu and well, as you can clearly see, it can be sometimes hard for me to control her.”
Innis laughed, “Honestly speaking, I was lucky that time at the marshland. I would have most likely died if Shizu was well-rested and had some better equipment than the scraps she was equipped with.”
“Huh?” I stopped, “Aren’t you stronger than Shizu…?”
“Mages like us are countered by close combat specialists that can get into close range as fast as Shizu was,” Innis said, “There’s little space or time for us to cast a spell once we’re forced into a close combat fight.” Innis glanced at Shizu, “Especially not against someone as exceptionally skilled as your companion.”
“Um…”
“Anyways, I have to go now,” Innis said, glancing up at the orange sky and the setting sun, “There are some errands that I still have to run, but I’m sure we will meet each other again.”
Walking back to her carriage, Innis climbed up the steps and gave us one last smile, “Until then, Ryuji and Shizu. Please take care of yourselves and I’m sure you will make great adventurers.”
We watched the carriage heading back down the streets from the direction we had came from as the sun continued to set in the horizon of the metropolis.
Once the carriage was gone, Shizu grabbed me by the arm and huddled up close next to me, "Let's go, Ryuji! We need to get checked up at the doctor, then quickly find a place to sleep together for the night!"
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AI generated art : Shizu
[https://i.imgur.com/nW3DxTX.png]