– My parents died several years ago. My older sister was barely making ends meet, helping with odd jobs around the neighborhood.
– Every time I went to that house, all I saw was sleeping.
– The kid was really shy and didn’t come out much, so I don’t know much about her…
– I thought she couldn’t even talk.
After visiting the Cathedral, Yona wandered through the now-quiet village and felt troubled by the stories about Rubina.
It’s just a matter of leaving her behind.
If they just leave her where she is, everything would be easier.
But Yona might feel a bit off about it.
“…Hah, damn it.”
Yona sat on a rock in the back alley where the Troll’s body was lying, scratching her head irritably.
She hadn’t washed her hair in days, so it was all greasy and scratching it felt terrible; her mood just worsened.
“What’s up this time?”
When she turned around after hearing a voice, it was Alex.
“Get your head out of the way, baldhead. It’s blinding me.”
“Wow.”
“Did you come for a heal?”
“I’m not dead, you idiot.”
“Let’s pretend you are.”
Alex scoffed and sat down next to Yona. As their bottoms bumped into each other, Alex instinctively shifted a bit away.
“So, what’s bothering you? Is it that little brat?”
“Yeah. Ugh, this is really troubling.”
Alex stared at Yona silently. She looked so frustrated, with her chin stuck out as if it were ready to take flight — it was quite the sight.
“Can’t you just do what you feel like?”
“The problem is I don’t even know what I feel like…”
Sighing deeply, Yona’s hand gradually moved over Alex’s head. After caressing it a few times, she gave Alex a grumpy look.
“Hey, it’s a bit weird to touch like this with my Sacred Barrier on. Move to the left.”
“You crazy… ugh.”
Still, Alex readily stood up and sat to Yona’s left.
“Yeah, yeah. This is much better. What if my tattoo transfers to your head?”
Yona started to gently stroke Alex’s head with her bare left hand.
It felt really nice — so smooth and crunchy.
“Anyway… leaving her behind is really hard to bear.”
To be honest, the thought of just leaving her behind didn’t sit well at all.
From what she’d heard from the villagers, if they just left her here, the only future she had was starving to death.
She couldn’t talk properly, and being shy, it wasn’t like she could go around the neighborhood to do any odd jobs. There was no way she could even beg.
—Honestly, she couldn’t even sell her body in this tiny town, and there’s no way a little kid could do that either.
“But if we take her with us…”
Yona was already slow on the move because of her.
“I’m kinda slow.”
“And if we include Rubina, won’t it get even slower?”
“It would have been perfect if that cathedral had an orphanage.”
“Yeah, right.”
Yona nodded at Alex’s words.
“Even though it’s called a cathedral, it’s actually more focused on education. I hear there isn’t an attached orphanage. I’ve never seen one myself…”
That was the言 of a beast person who looked a bit apologetic.
Seeing that face, he probably wasn’t lying.
Besides, it’s also a teaching of the Church of the Celestial God to extend a hand to those in need, so it makes even more sense.
“Hey, Yona.”
“Yeah?”
Yona replied in a flat voice.
Alex opened his mouth while looking at the silhouette of the hunting knife outlined on her left thigh.
“Do you remember that first request we went on together?”
“Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”
“I’m asking if you remember.”
“I do remember.”
*
It was a wild goblin extermination request.
“Extermination” didn’t sound so grand; it was just the first request they took right after registering at the Adventurer’s Guild. Since it was tough to find a party with only two iron-ranked adventurers, they went out just the two of them.
It was a tiny nest with four wild goblins.
Though they were goblins, they were just low-level monsters the size of small children, so they carefully decided they could take them on together, but it wasn’t that easy.
They managed to catch them, albeit barely.
Yona, being a healer, couldn’t wield a weapon in her right hand, so she borrowed the round shield that Alex was using for a reinforced defense and hardly made any progress, comically struggling to bash the heads of the goblins.
So, feeling quite proud of themselves for defeating what they thought was just a group of wild goblins, they were gathering their loot when, of all things, three more wild goblins returned.
Having exhausted their stamina from fighting four goblins, the two were in no condition to handle three furious goblins avenging their fallen kin, so they fled.
Amidst all this, a lost little kid appeared right in front of them.
Judging coldly, the kid could just run away.
After all, just behind him were three goblins, enraged from the loss of their kind, so if he wanted to stay alive, he could just escape with the two of them.
But then—
“Ah, uh, shit— Hah, hah, hah… shit—!!”
Alex turned back at Yona’s scream mixed with curses.
Yona, clutching the kid in her arms, was running desperately, albeit getting slower and slower.
Her face was bright red, tears welling up in her eyes as she ran, but her speed kept decreasing.
Behind them, the goblins were hot on their trail, and those rusty knives coated with deadly poison glimmered threateningly in the light.
The daggers were glinting menacingly, coated with deadly poison, rusted but still deadly enough to human beings.
Where on earth did that courage come from?
Yona held onto the child tightly, never letting go.
“Ugh, huff, hack, UGH, dammit…!”
Alex was the same.
He didn’t know where that courage sprang from either, but he charged forward, shield raised, right in front of Yona.
The shield struck the goblin’s arm faster than the stabbing dagger.
With a crack sound, the dagger flew away, and Alex swung his hammer down on the goblin’s head.
In the meantime, another goblin’s dagger plunged deep into Alex’s shoulder.
“AAAH—!”
With Alex’s scream, another shield came crashing down on that goblin’s head.
As the goblin let out a chilling scream and collapsed, Alex yanked the dagger from his shoulder, and a hand wrapped in the pure Sacred Barrier gently touched the wound.
As if by magic, the pain subsided, and the injury healed.
“You crazy witch, if I die, it’s your fault?!”
“I won’t let you die! Trust me, baldy!”
*
“…Well, I guess that’s true.”
Yona clicked her tongue.
Something similar happened on their first quest.
She wasn’t sure why, but she thought that leaving the child like that would surely lead to death.
Maybe she felt like it would haunt her dreams.
“So why did it happen back then?”
Alex chuckled, poking Yona in the side.
It was definitely a jab suggesting that their current situation wasn’t any different, and Yona responded by giving him a light smack on the back of the head.
It was a casual gesture, like a friendly greeting.
“I was worried about having bad dreams.”
“Weren’t you worried about me dying too?”
“I wasn’t worried about you back then.”
“And now?”
“…….”
Yona didn’t answer.
Without a word, she got off the rock she was sitting on and stretched widely.
“Hey, why aren’t you answering?”
“I won’t tell you, you bald-headed brat.”
With that, Yona turned swiftly, her gaze resolute, as if she had made up her mind.
*
“Kaiyak.”
“Perfect timing. Come over and sit.”
At the table, Kaiyak and James were already seated.
Next to James was Rubina, who seemed quite familiar with him, showing no signs of dislike even as James’s hand, larger than her head, affectionately ruffled her hair.
There was no sign of doing it.
On the table, there were four leather pouches.
Just by looking at them, they felt quite heavy, both in thickness and bulk.
“This is the reward for slaying the troll. Two gold coins. I’ve brought it in silver for easier distribution.”
“Oho.”
Yona’s eyes sparkled as she approached the table and sat down.
Alex joined her, and as Kaiyak picked up the leather pouches and dropped one in front of Yona and Alex, there was a delightful clink of coins spilling.
Just hearing that sound was enough to lift the spirits.
Both Yona and Alex, being adventurers, valued the reward they earned through their work profoundly.
“Do you have something you want to say to me?”
After confirming that they were securing their leather pouches, Kaiyak asked Yona.
“Uh, yeah. I do have something to say.”
Kaiyak stared intently at Yona. Even while she answered, she kept glancing at the little girl—after all, she was quite an easy-to-read child.
Humans are indeed fragile beings.
They spend an unusually long childhood, and they can hardly survive that lengthy childhood alone.
If it weren’t for their reproductive abilities, competitive spirit, and insatiable thirst for knowledge, they would have never formed an empire; truly an inferior race.
Though it’s hard for Kaiyak to understand, he didn’t feel the urge to blame Yona for that.
“Are you planning to take that girl with you?”
“Huh? Uh, yeah… that’s right.”
Yona nodded, looking slightly caught off-guard.
She half-expected it, having reached some sort of conclusion through manly discussions with James.
“Right. I hope you’ll take her to the Cathedral orphanage in the Duchy of Kapatia… I mean, it’s on the way anyway. Kaiyak, I’m sorry for interrupting your homeward journey.”
Yona lowered her eyes and lightly bowed her head.
To be honest, the whole returning home excuse was just that—an excuse. But due to this trait, Kaiyak held Yona in high regard.
A few days’ delay wouldn’t be much of an issue at all.
“Yeah, but if we adventurers want to come to an understanding, some kind of compensation is necessary.”
At those words, Yona placed the leather pouch back on the table.
Even among teammates, they were still adventurers.
If they caused any trouble for each other, it was only right to offer proper compensation.
Kaiyak pulled the leather pouch toward him.
Without hesitation, he opened the pouch and poured out silver coins with a dazzling shine all over the table.
“I, James, and Alex will share your portion among the three of us. Got it?”
“…Yeah, I’m fine with it.”
Yona nodded her head.
In fact, it was a neat resolution.
Settling things with money, without any guilt or feeling indebted—actually, it felt quite clean.
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