The Left Path
The question caught me off guard. I paused for a moment, then turned toward her.
"If you mean what happened back then..."
"If it makes you uncomfortable, you don't have to tell me."
I didn't have to think hard to know what she was asking about. She meant that day — there was no question. The real problem was how much to tell her, and how. More than anything... even thinking about it brought the sensation flooding back. The cold kiss of that blade was still vivid. Still ugly.
"Why don't we sit down first."
I sat and pressed my thumb against my forehead for a moment. When I cracked my eyes open, I could see her face. Anyone looking at her would have known she was deeply uneasy.
She's probably thinking she shouldn't have asked...
"Um... that question I just asked. Could we pretend I never said it...?"
Just as I thought.
"I didn't realize it would make you this uncomfortable. Please forgive my rudeness..."
"No, no."
I waved a hand, just a little. I hadn't meant to make her squirm. I'd only been trying to figure out where to start — and where to stop — so I wouldn't put too much on her.
"It's not a pleasant story. But if you really want to hear it..."
So... I supposed I should start from when I'd been traveling with that woman.
Miela. Or rather... Valentina Shiev.
The moment she met me, she shoved me into a shop, saying I needed a weapon. Just grab anything, she told me. I'd had a fair amount of money at the time, and several gold coins stashed in a separate pouch besides, so I confidently picked up whatever was closest. That turned out to be a longsword that cost me five gold — a complete rip-off.
"I was an idiot for thinking that was the going rate. Haha."
After that, we breezed through the dungeon entrance checkpoint — the guards had been half-asleep on the job — and walked deep into the dungeon. After a long stretch through the dark, we found an empty room. That was where Shiev drove her dagger into me.
How much it hurt as I convulsed while she robbed me. How horrifying it was to feel the blood draining out of my body. Even now, just thinking about it made me tremble...
As I was slipping under, she must have thought I was dead. She turned and started walking away. And in that instant, a sharp pain lanced through my stomach — and I came to. Then the sound of a blade hitting the ground, ringing in my ears.
"I got lucky. It was a plant monster... a Tally, I think? I never imagined the thing had been lying in wait in the corner."
Through my swaying vision, I could see the vines clamped tight around her arm. I could see the fallen sword, too. I don't know what I did with it after I picked it up. When I came to, I was in the guard station infirmary.
I'd been lucky. Incredibly lucky. I'd barely survived.
"I barely... made it out alive."
A faint smile rose to my face. The relief welling up in my chest, and some unaccountable sense of pride, must have lifted my spirits a little. But when my eyes left the hands I'd been fidgeting with and found her face, I realized I'd said too much. Her expression had gone terribly still.
"Something like... that..."
"No, I didn't mean it like that..."
Or had I?
The thought flickered through my mind. Did I really not hold even a shred of resentment toward her?
When I thought about it, it was almost funny. I'd woken up to find that the woman who worked the counter at my inn was about to be sold as a slave. Complete strangers had told me I should help her if I could, and I'd bought her as if I'd been under a spell. A complete stranger. Looking back, none of it made any sense. Why had I wanted to buy her? What had I been expecting when I took her in as a slave?
"...I didn't."
I hadn't meant her any harm. That much I needed to make absolutely clear. I hadn't brought her here for revenge.
But then the image of her as someone else's slave flashed before my eyes. A hideously injured ear. A face covered in bruises. A wounded neck. Wearing rags, chains on her wrists, staring blankly at me...
I shook my head hard.
Yes. That was why.
Another face flickered past. Paul. The sheep beastkin who had taken in a complete stranger. He'd worked me hard, sure — but he'd given me a warm room and a bed, and he'd gone all the way into the city just to get me the things I needed. And on the day the bandits attacked, even as he was dying, he'd still made sure I had what I needed. That kindness. I hadn't forgotten it. Wasn't that why I'd bought her?
"So you don't have to look at me like that."
I said it as if I were shaking something loose from my chest. But even as she forced herself to nod, I never saw her face relax.
The next day, the dungeon entrance was under tight watch. Everyone going in had to hand their identification to a guard, insert it into a device for verification, and only then could they pass through the portal, one by one. It was a new experience for me. The first time I'd gone through, the entry procedures had been laughably lax.
"Next!"
This time was different. I was wearing proper armor, carrying a real weapon — even a somewhat heavy shield — as I stepped through the portal into the dungeon. Inside, there was a wide staging area much like before, but a few things had changed.
Right beside the entrance sat a small outpost with a sign posted on it.
GUARD STATION
One guard watched from inside; two more leaned against the wall outside, tracking every person who passed with their eyes. Before, it had been nothing but an empty space where people clustered in little groups. Now there were lanterns to light the area, and a few more amenities besides.
"Hah..."
I let out a long breath. That day, I'd come into the dungeon far too excited, showing off for the first woman I'd met, puffed up with pride. Never knowing she was a killer. Drunk on the fact that I'd come to another world, intoxicated by everything that looked beautiful.
If that chance hadn't appeared by accident — if I hadn't been left butchered and bleeding, warmth draining out of me — it would have been my life taken, not hers.
"Hey."
A soft rustle, and then the feeling of someone gently taking my arm. I lifted my gaze.
Her voice was gentle, soothing. Maybe it gave me a little courage. I shook myself once and squared my shoulders. Doubt and unease kept flickering in a corner of my mind, but I forced them down.
"It's all right. I'll trust you."
This time, I could trust the person I was with. We had a contract, didn't we? I told myself that, forcing the reassurance down, and slowly stepped forward.
Unlike last time, when the path had grown darker and darker as we walked, we'd prepared a proper light source. At least I could see what was in front of me.
She held a torch in one hand, the other resting at her hip, scanning the surroundings — then she stopped dead.
"Hold on..."
She bent her knees slightly, closed her eyes, and spread her ears wide. She tilted them this way and that, then stood and turned toward me.
"I can hear something this way. A rough scraping against the ground from the left, and a slithering, sliding sound from the right. The left is a stone golem. The right is..."
She hesitated, then bit her lower lip slightly and looked me straight in the eye.
"I think we should go left."
"Why?"
"The right... the only monster on this floor that makes a sound like that is a Tally. I was worried it might bring back bad memories. That's why I'm saying this."
She stepped closer with a serious expression, studying my face, then pulled a handkerchief from her clothes and wiped my cheek.
"If you think this is too much, we can turn back right now. Look at this. You're sweating this much..."
That much? I hooked the warpick I'd been holding onto my belt. That was when I felt how damp my gloves had gotten.
I told myself I was fine. But was I, really?
...I had to be.
From now on I had to earn a living for two people, and money to send to her family on top of that. Whether in the short term or the long, the only job that could provide a stable income without requiring much education was dungeon exploration.
Bounty hunting? Obviously out of the question. Killing that one criminal had been pure luck. Paperwork? Trade? I had no capital, and I could barely write.
So I had to do this. For now, and for the life ahead of us. The weight of it all came crashing down at once, but I couldn't drop to my knees. Not now. I had to steel myself.
I put a hand on her shoulder and nodded. Then I gripped the warpick at my belt tight again and started toward the left passage.
"The left passage, you said?"
Responsibility. That was what mattered.
I was someone's master now.