In the plaza, I wondered why there were so many stalls, and it turned out today was the day for the night market.
I only found out about it when I went down for dinner and saw the hall was empty, so I asked the owner.
“The night market, huh… hmm.”
Yona stroked her chin with a hand wrapped around the Sacred Barrier, deep in thought.
A night market, huh.
They didn’t have those in Evian.
In other words, it was something I had never experienced since coming to this world.
I was curious.
“Rubina.”
“Yup, got it!”
Rubina, who was in a fierce battle with a boiled potato and a fork, dropped her fork in surprise when Yona called her name.
Yona quickly caught the falling fork under the table and handed it back to Rubina, patting her head afterward.
“Want to check out the night market?”
*
After giving Alex’s behind a swift kick for insisting on following us, Yona took Rubina’s hand and they walked down the street.
Even though it was night, the glowstone streetlights lit up the surroundings, and since it was the night market, the crowds made it feel just as lively as daytime.
“Mom—no, sister.”
“Huh?”
It felt like she called me ‘Mom.’
Well, it wasn’t anything particularly important, so Yona looked down at Rubina.
With a flushed face, Rubina avoided Yona’s gaze and asked, “What’s a night market like?”
“A night market, well… It’s a market that opens at night…”
Since Yona had never been to a night market either, it was quite hard to respond.
“There’s just a lot of things to see and eat, and well, that sort of place.”
“It must be expensive.”
That response hardly seemed like something a ten-year-old would say.
Yona sighed internally and shook a little leather pouch in front of Rubina.
The pouch jingled with a few coins and a couple of silver pieces inside.
“Older sister has lots of money. Don’t say things like that. Don’t hesitate, just tell me what you want to eat or try, okay?”
“…Okay.”
Rubina responded with a voice barely above a whisper.
Satisfied with that response, Yona tried to walk again, but once more, Rubina’s tiny voice came through.
“In two days… we’ll be apart, so can you spend money on me?”
Hearing that, Yona couldn’t just brush it off.
She stopped, knelt down in front of Rubina to look her in the eye.
“Who said we’d be apart in two days?”
“But… the orphanage today—”
“Do you think I’m going to abandon you at the orphanage?”
“……”
Rubina didn’t respond.
She just avoided eye contact, looking around shyly.
“If you’re doing well at the orphanage, I’ll definitely come to find you. When I come to check if you’re doing okay, listening to your guidance teacher, and not fighting with your friends, I’ll want to hear about it. So we’re not breaking up. Right?”
“…Yeah.”
“It’s fine to just say ‘yes.’ You can do that, you know?”
“But…”
“You can just say ‘yes.’ Remember when you called me Mom?”
Rubina remained silent.
After waiting for a moment, Yona gently tapped Rubina’s cheek and stood up, and that’s when Yona heard it.
A tiny, tiny voice saying, “Yeah.”
The moment an unknown liquid burst from her mouth, flames adorned the sky.
As an unknown liquid exploded, flames painted the sky.
The flames blazing from the end of the horizontal bar shot out like dragon breath, depending on the man’s skill, sometimes spitting long streams of fire, other times appearing to extinguish as they entered his mouth, only to come back to life again, drawing gasps from the onlookers.
“Sis, sis! Look over there, he’s eating fire!”
“Yeah, that’s amazing.”
It truly was a fascinating skill.
Yona nodded as she took a bite out of a name-less grilled fish she was holding.
It tasted better than she expected.
There was almost no fishy smell, and the flesh was moist, contrasting with the crispy skin that was perfectly grilled just before getting burnt.
Rubina seemed to enjoy it too, nibbling away at her fish skewer, prompting Yona to wonder if maybe fish dishes would’ve been better than meat sandwiches for lunch.
“Is it good?”
“Yeah, uh, yes. It’s good.”
“Good, eat plenty.”
Yona almost reached to pat Rubina’s head with her right hand instead of the one holding the grilled fish but hesitated.
If that strange tattoo on her right arm transferred to Rubina, it would be a disaster, so she dropped the idea.
With the moon shining brightly and the orange streetlights joining in, people’s faces seemed to glisten with an orange hue.
It was clearly time for everyone to head home and prepare for tomorrow, yet so many faces were filled with nothing but smiles, devoid of worry or concern.
“Looks like this place is really livable.”
“Hmm?”
Yona snatched the skewer that Rubina was toying with, now almost gnawed down to the head and tail, and handed her her own skewer that she hadn’t finished yet.
“People are all smiling, you know? That’s what I’m talking about.”
“Are they smiling?”
“Yeah. Rubina, you laugh when you’re in a good mood, right? Everyone’s smiling, so they must be in a good mood. If there’s a lot to laugh about, it means it’s a good place to live.”
Rubina looked up at Yona, with a mouthful of fish skewer, as if she had something to say.
“What?”
“Then does Uncle Alex like you, sis?”
“…Huh?”
What was that all of a sudden?
Yona tilted her head down, puzzled by Rubina’s question.
“What are you talking about out of nowhere?”
“Uncle Alex is always smiling when he looks at you. That means he feels good when he sees you, right? If just looking at someone makes you feel good, doesn’t that mean you like them?”
“Of course he likes me.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely. Sis is the best healer in Evian. For someone like Alex, who is my teammate and a healer, it’s only natural for him to feel good just from looking at me.”
“Is that so?”
“It is.”
Yona snorted, puffing out air through her nose.
That’s normal. After all, how many times has that guy come back to life thanks to me?
Of course he should feel good just by looking at me; I’d even carry him around on my back if it meant I’d get even a little credit.
“Alright, let’s go explore some more.”
“Sis, what’s that over there?”
“That? Hmm, what is that again?”
“Is all of that ice?”
“Yeah…”
Having already said something, Yona couldn’t bring herself to say it was expensive, so she handed over six coins to receive a wooden plate.
On the mountain of rough ice flowers were colorful syrups slathered all over, topped with a few pieces of fruit – it was definitely shaved ice.
Feeling like her voice might tremble, Yona forced herself to answer, tightening her throat.
“It’s cold…”
“Th-that’s right. This is called bingsu. Bingsu.”
“Bingsu…”
“Okay, let’s go sit over there and eat.”
Just then, there was an empty bench.
What a perfect timing! Yona dashed over and plopped down, patting the space next to her to call Rubina.
As soon as they sat side by side, Yona picked up a rough spoon—essentially just a hunk of wood with a hollow carved out—and scooped up loads of bingsu, syrup galore, and plopped a piece or two of fruit into Rubina’s mouth.
“Ugh—!”
With her mouth full of the cold, first-time taste, Rubina’s eyes widened in surprise.
Rolling her huge eyes around, Rubina looked at Yona.
“Er, I, I like it!”
“I know, it’s super delicious. So you eat it. Big sis won’t eat.”
The feeling of losing the six coins from the vanished fairy tale seemed to grow with every bite Rubina took.
Not daring to say that out loud, Yona quietly watched Rubina enjoy the bingsu.
Each spoonful that Rubina took made her glance over at Yona, and every time Yona nodded, Rubina took more bingsu without hesitation.
But since she’s just a kid, she couldn’t finish even half of the bowl before she set down her spoon.
“I can’t eat anymore…”
“Did you finish already?”
“Yup.”
“You aren’t lying just because you want more, right?”
“No, I really can’t eat anymore.”
Yona chuckled, ruffling Rubina’s hair.
This time with her left hand, since Rubina was sitting on the left.
“Well, Rubina wouldn’t lie. Lying is what bad kids do, right?”
“Uh, uh…?”
Rubina jumped in surprise.
That was an unexpected reaction from her.
But Yona didn’t notice Rubina’s odd response.
“If you’re worried about big sis, you can eat more. Don’t hold back just because of me.”
“I-I really can’t…”
“Okay. Speaking of which, Rubina, you absolutely cannot lie when you go into the Cathedral. Got it?”
“Uh, yes…”
“If you lie, it’s serious business. The Celestial God will say, ‘Hey, you…'”
Lying is considered one of the top taboo sins according to the Church of the Celestial God.
When you enter the orphanage at the Cathedral, the first things you learn are the ten virtues and the ten sins.
They start teaching kids not to lie right off the bat.
Yona meant this lightly, but Rubina lowered her head and stayed silent for a while.
“…Rubina?”
At that, Yona suddenly felt something was off.
She called Rubina a few more times, but still, Rubina didn’t respond.
“…I do…”
“Huh?”
A very quiet, fragile sound barely reached her ears.
Yona leaned closer to Rubina.
“I-I… lied…”
“You said you lied? But you can eat more, right?”
What kind of lie would a kid tell anyway?
Yona still had a smile on her face as she patted Rubina’s neck.
“Okay, okay, what did you lie about? Bingsu? Or something else? If you tell big sis honestly, I’ll forgive you—”
“Really… really…?”
Rubina suddenly looked up at Yona, her large black eyes filled with tears that seemed ready to spill over.
“Then! What did you lie about? Just tell me the truth.”
“I, I lied about the orphanage…”
“One…”
“Orphanage?”
What on earth is this about?
Yona was momentarily flustered.
Is there anything Rubina would lie about regarding an orphanage?
“I… I didn’t want to go… I said I liked it… Waaah!”
Suddenly, Rubina started to bawl.
As the distinct sound of sniffling mixed in, Yona couldn’t make out what Rubina was saying.
“Ugh, big sister… Uncle… together, hick! together… hick! together…!”
“Together?”
“I wanted to go… hick! I wanted to go… sniff!”
Oh.
So, she didn’t want to go to the orphanage and wanted to come along with us but couldn’t say so and ended up lying that she liked the orphanage. Is that the story?
“I—uh, I wanted to—hick! I wanted to be with you…!”
Rubina was now wailing openly.
At this point, it was Yona who was confused. She had thrown out a casual comment, not expecting it to spiral into this, especially with the fact that Rubina didn’t want to go to the orphanage and wanted to follow along.
Realistically, that might be a bit much.
Then again, is it really just something unrealistic?
“Okay, uh? Rubina, first, calm down a bit, and drink this…”
Yona tried to give Rubina a snow cone to soothe her, but in the chaos, it fell from her lap and disappeared into the sandy floor.
It had vanished after only half a bite, which was a total waste of three coins.
“Um, first. Rubina.”
Yona’s mind was a mess, and she had no idea how to handle this.
Her mind, which had been sharp against monsters, was now all jumbled up.
“Okay, uh? Rubina, wipe your tears.”
Yona used the hem of her nun’s robe to dab at Rubina’s eyes, trying to clean the tear streaks.
Now what should she do?
With all this crying and hiccuping, she needed to get her to drink something, but leaving the child alone was out of the question, and taking her along in this state was impossible.
“Oho, that’s quite the crybaby you’ve got there. What’s the matter?”
That voice sounded familiar.
Yona looked around and saw a man right there.
He had a black spot on his forehead, and a single strand of hair visible under the glow of the streetlight.
“Uh, Guard?”
“Oh, just a little kid I’ve seen around. What’s the problem?”
“Well… uh, a bit. Yes.”
“Oho…”
The guard was off-duty, dressed in casual clothes instead of armor.
He looked concerned as he glanced back and forth between Rubina and Yona.
“This child needs something to drink. Those hiccups are bad.”
“Yeah, that seems necessary. I was going to get something…”
“Oh, then hurry up. I’ll watch the kid.”
Those words brought a smile to Yona’s face.
She was stuck not knowing what to do, and now someone familiar—and a guard at that—was offering to look after Rubina. It felt like a stroke of luck.
“Then, I’ll leave it to you! I’ll be right back!”
“Take your time! I’ll take good care of her.”
Time passed, and when Yona returned to the bench with two fruit juices for Rubina and the guard, she found that Rubina was nowhere to be seen—nor was the guard.
A couple Yona had never seen before was sitting on the bench, chatting and giggling, and Rubina was nowhere in sight.
The trace of snow cone spilling on the ground remained, but the girl who had been devouring it was gone without a trace.
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