The Black Plague (2)
Rohan ran hard with the woman on his back. Before long, they were nearing the campsite where their company was staying.
There was no lodging for them in the small village, so they had pitched tents and made a camp of their own.
Rohan burst in, shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Priests!! We have a patient—a patient!!"
At the cry of "patient," priests came rushing out, flinging open tent flaps. Among them was the pink-haired priest Ruel.
"This patient is suspected of having the plague! Everyone, cover your noses and mouths!!"
Hans shouted, holding Daisy in his arms. The priests who had been rushing out ducked back inside, then emerged again with clean cloths covering their noses and mouths.
The holy knights could shield their bodies with holy power, but the priests could not, so they covered their faces thoroughly.
"Over here—lay her down over here."
Rohan carefully set the woman down. Her face was beyond pale—it had gone a bluish cast. The priests calmly pulled away the cloth covering her body.
"Ah—!"
"Dear heavens..."
Sighs of pity broke from the priests' lips. The woman's body was a pitiful sight.
At her armpits, the backs of her knees, her elbows, and her neck, red swellings had ballooned up like tumors, and black spots densely covered her body, blotting out the white of her skin.
"...Let's do everything we can for now."
The priests rolled up their sleeves and closed in. Waves of holy power swept over the woman's body.
Whoooom—
There was no need to show this to a child. Rohan and Hans covered Daisy's eyes and left the tent.
Whether Daisy understood her mother's condition or not, she quietly followed, holding Hans's hand.
One of the priests came out after them and sent a wave of holy power over Hans, Rohan, and Daisy. The holy power swept through every corner of their bodies and faded away.
The priest nodded.
"Fortunately, no signs of the plague have been found in any of the three of you. Still, just in case, if you develop any symptoms—spots, chills, anything of the sort—please let us know at once."
"Understood. Thank you, Father."
The priest bowed his head and went back into the tent.
"Where do we go now?"
"Well..."
At Rohan's words, Hans looked down at Daisy, who was gripping his hand tightly. He could send her home as she was, but… the gazes of the villagers he had seen on the way flickered through his mind.
Malice so vivid it was unmistakable. If he threw a powerless little girl into the middle of that, there was no telling what might happen.
"..."
Daisy, wordlessly clutching his hand, staring at the ground.
Looking at her, Hans said to Rohan,
"Do we have a spare tent?"
Rohan grinned, one corner of his mouth pulling up.
"If we don't, we'll make one."
A short while later, Hans and Rohan were putting up a tent a little ways from their own.
"Lift it higher!!"
"Hup!"
Somehow word had gotten out, and other unit members gathered one by one.
"One, two, three!"
"Heave!"
With a fair number of people lending their strength, the tent was finished in no time. Daisy's eyes sparkled as she looked over the newly made tent.
She carefully went inside, patted the walls, and stroked the simple cot.
"A bed… Can I really sleep here?"
"Yeah, kid. For a while, you'll eat and sleep here."
"If you need anything, just say so."
Word of the unit's new little guest spread quickly. At the rumor that a small, cute little guest had arrived, people came one after another just to get a look at Daisy.
From that day on, Daisy wandered all over the campsite, looking for work she could do with her tiny hands.
"I'll polish your shield."
She carefully wiped Iscal's shield with a cloth—the shield of a man who had been thrashed black and blue by Friga under the pretext of sparring.
"I'll do the dishes."
She took the unit members' dirty bowls and washed them, splashing about in water cold as ice.
"I cleaned."
She swept and scrubbed not only her own tent but others' tents as well.
Daisy's behavior was admirable, but the unit members felt pity first.
Her actions were, how to put it… as if she were asserting her own usefulness.
I'm good at work like this. I can do this kind of thing too.
Daisy was afraid of being driven out of this place.
That was why she grunted and polished a shield larger than her own body, why she washed dishes while enduring hands that turned red in the cold water, why she cleaned crawling along the floor.
Unable to watch any longer, one of the unit members came to Hans as a representative.
"Hans, that little kid Daisy you brought—how on earth has she been living?"
"Well..."
"Looking at what Daisy does, you'd think we dragged her here as a slave. Look at her. A kid that age should be whining, throwing tantrums, and laughing."
The unit member patted Hans on the shoulder.
"Hans. Have you ever seen Daisy smile?"
Those words hit Hans's head like a hammer. In all the time Daisy had been staying at the campsite, Hans had never once seen her smile.
That little girl neither laughed nor cried. She didn't complain or throw tantrums, and she never whined that she didn't want to do something.
"I've seen a lot of faces like that while living as an adventurer. A face that's matured far beyond its age. Her surroundings forced Daisy to become an adult. Because if you're not adult-like, you can't survive."
"That's..."
"So Hans, you're the closest to Daisy out of all of us. Look after her a bit."
After the unit member left, Hans sank into thought. Was he thinking his own behavior had been irresponsible?
Standing still for a long while, thinking and thinking again, Hans finally set his feet in motion. He intended to go find Daisy first.
"I'll do this."
"Eek! You don't have to! Please, Daisy, just rest over there!"
In the distance, Daisy could be seen wrestling with someone over a bowl. Slightly larger than Daisy, with distinctive pink hair—she was sweating from the effort she was putting in.
Hans slowly approached and called to her.
"Daisy."
"Ah."
In the moment she glanced back at Hans, Daisy lost her grip on the bowl she'd been struggling over. She let out a rueful sigh, then quietly looked up at him.
Hans carefully extended his hand.
"Daisy, want to go for a little walk?"
"...Yes."
A child's small, delicate hand took hold of Hans's. That small hand was full of cracks, tears, and cuts.
Even though the priests washed her and treated her wounds every day, she would come back hurt from somewhere. Probably from working.
Hans and Daisy walked quietly in silence. Leaving the noisy campsite behind, they went as far as the forest where a quiet stillness had settled.
The soft sound of grass underfoot. The chirping of insects. Walking like that, they arrived at a place where nameless wildflowers bloomed in profusion.
"Daisy, did your mother make that flower bracelet?"
"Yes. Mom made it for me. When Mom wasn't sick—when she was healthy."
On Daisy's arm was a flower bracelet that was starting to wither a little. Daisy carefully touched it.
"When Mom started getting sick, she told me. That she'd definitely get better and make me a flower bracelet again. She promised me."
"I see. Wasn't it hard when your mother was sick?"
"It wasn't hard. Because Mom was sicker and having a harder time than me. So I have to stay by Mom's side. Mom can't do without me. She gets sad when she can't see me."
"..."
Hans was left speechless by such adult thoughts. As if that silence made her anxious, Daisy hurriedly continued.
"...I! I can do anything well! I don't eat much, and I work hard. I can't lift heavy things, but I clean well and I can scrub bowls until they're clean."
"Daisy..."
"Please don't drive me away. Mom needs me. I'll eat even less and work even harder. I'll sleep even less. Please, please don't drive me away..."
Hans felt an indescribable emotion welling up inside him. How on earth had a young child lived to be able to say such things? What kind of work had she done with these small, fragile hands?
Steadying his breathing with effort, Hans bent down and began picking wildflowers one by one and weaving them together. Clumsily but carefully, groping through his memory.
The flower bracelet that resulted was crooked and ugly. Daisy's eyes went round.
Hans carefully slipped the flower bracelet onto Daisy's arm—on the opposite wrist from the one wearing the slightly withering bracelet.
"This is..."
"Daisy, we're not going to drive you away. So don't worry."
Hans carefully took Daisy into his arms. Even kneeling and holding her close, she was a small child who only came up to his shoulder. Her thin, delicate body looked as if it would break if he applied even a little force.
"No one is going to say anything to you, Daisy. When you're sad or having a hard time, cry. When you're happy, laugh. You're a child who's allowed to do that."
How hard must it have been?
"I'll make sure your mother gets better. You can rest now. No one will say anything to you. We won't drive you away either."
How heavy a burden had been placed on these small shoulders?
A child who, at an age when she should still be clinging and acting spoiled under an adult's care, had been forced to become more adult than anyone.
"Daisy, you've done so well until now. It must have been so hard. You must have wanted to cry and scream, but you held it in so well."
"..."
"Now we'll help you. We want to help you. Daisy, will you let us help you?"
Daisy buried her face in Hans's chest without a word. Her small back trembled. Hans felt the area around his chest growing a little damp.
Daisy's hands tightly gripped Hans's clothes. Hans willingly gave them to her.
Daisy sobbed, shaking her head slightly.
The soft chirping of insects gently covered the girl's sobs.
After receiving the flower bracelet from Hans, Daisy visibly brightened little by little.
She would exchange silly conversation with Ruel and smile a little, and clap when she saw Iscal's shield tricks.
From time to time, watching Friga and Kenis spar, she would gape with her mouth open. Hans felt a warm, contented feeling looking at Daisy like that.
"Hans. What are you doing?"
"Rohan?"
Rohan appeared, tapping Hans on the shoulder. Seeing Daisy at the end of Hans's gaze, he soon snorted a laugh.
"What, so the little brat can smile? Well, I'll be."
"Isn't it nice to see?"
"Well… better than that sour face from before. Still got no manners, though."
Rohan shot back. Hans knew that even though Rohan talked like this, he secretly brought fruit to Daisy every day.
His words were rough and crude, but he was a friend with a deep and tender heart.
"Still, isn't she a bit young to be your bride?"
"...Are you actually insane?"
Hans shook his head. Still clearly a madman.
After watching Daisy for a moment, Rohan spoke as if something had suddenly occurred to him.
"Hey. Did you hear about that this time?"
"About what."
"The Imperial army is supposed to arrive soon."
"Only now? Didn't that take way too long?"
"It's not like the Empire is a day or two's journey from here, and we just got here too fast. Don't you even know that? This is why you can't talk to country bumpkins."
Rohan let out an exaggerated sigh and shook his head. Hans bristled, but since he was a country bumpkin just as Rohan said, he couldn't argue back.
"Uh… and what else was it. The captain told me to pass something on. Ah damn, what was it?"
"Is it important?"
"Yeah, it was pretty important… Ah, what was it?"
After scratching his head for a moment, Rohan shouted as if he'd remembered.
"Ah! Aah! I got it. Those village people, right?"
"The people from that village over there?"
"Yeah, since they might get attacked by the plague rats, starting today the village people are going to stay at our campsite."
"...Really?"
Just as Rohan said, near the entrance of the campsite, villagers could be seen carrying their belongings. Among them, more than a few were glaring at Daisy.
Did they think Daisy was the cause of this whole situation?
Hans looked at the eyes of people filled with malice.
...I've got a bad feeling about this.
Whether it was just his mood or not, even the sky over the campsite seemed a little overcast.