Episode 7. The Night Before the Storm. (6)
I steered the carriage back to where my companions were waiting.
“So we’re wanted criminals now, is that it, rookie?”
“Yeah, seems like it. They drew Asha and Horn pretty accurately—anyone would recognize them at a glance.”
I spilled everything I’d learned to my companions, who were resting by a small campfire I’d lit. By the time I returned from the city, the clear sky had darkened early thanks to winter, so I naturally set about prepping the ingredients we’d bought that day and tossing them into the pot.
“Eugh? We’re criminals now?!”
“But we didn’t do anything wrong!”
The twins came toddling over, each grabbing one of my legs as they asked.
“Well... yeah. You can become a criminal without doing anything wrong. Hmm, since it’s happened, let’s just call it a good learning experience?”
““What’s good about it?!””
When I replied like that, the kids pouted indignantly and just poked at my legs.
They were still too young to understand, but that was how the world worked. The Brahm Holy Kingdom, the foremost religious state, had decreed that aiding gray users was itself a criminal act. What could you do?
Thinking about it, I’d half-expected something like this. I knew we couldn’t keep breaking the law for Asha’s sake and expect endless peace and quiet. If the holy knights hadn’t spotted us, it wouldn’t have escalated to this level of threat, but there was no helping it. Thanks to Asha stepping in back then, we’d kept our lives.
“Haha... New Year’s criminal initiation: success...!”
“Did we even have that as a goal?”
“Just... since it’s too late now, I figured saying something positive might make us feel better...”
Aberly muttered awkwardly with a sheepish grin, then picked up the ladle and stirred the pot. He didn’t seem particularly fazed by becoming a criminal—he just acted like always.
Anyway.
“So from now on, Horn and Asha should stay inside the carriage as much as possible. Aberly, ditch that white robe for a while and wear a plain one.”
“Sure, I’d rather do nothing anyway—it’s easier.”
“Ahh... my pre, precious identity, just like this...”
The two whose faces were clearly depicted on the wanted posters needed to avoid going out, and the white robe explicitly noted in the details had to be sealed away for now.
“Yaki and Tori, you shouldn’t stick together either—it could be risky with such a distinctive group. Split up when you go out.”
““Okaay~””
And as additionally noted, the dwarf-and-twin-kids combo was too eye-catching, so we’d split that up too.
Like that, I was laying out our future plans, looking each companion in the eye—except one was missing.
“And Asha. Asha should... Asha? Hey, where’d she go?”
“While you were talking to us, rookie, she seemed deep in thought, then suddenly headed for the carriage.”
Asha had been suspiciously quiet with no replies—she must not have been sitting next to me after all. As I scratched my head awkwardly, Eileen, who’d been listening quietly the whole time, suddenly jerked her head up.
“Gasp...?! W-wait a sec...! I, I didn’t do anything guilty...”
“...Eileen.”
At the same time, the carriage door creaked open, and Asha’s voice came through chillingly cold.
“A-Asha-nim...? I, I didn’t do anything w-wrong... eek! S-save...! Mercy... eek...!”
“We’ll have a little private chat and be right back.”
“I’m sor—! Wrong... aaack...!!!”
Next came the sight of Eileen, still by the campfire, getting dragged off by a clump of mana.
From the dark woods beyond where the two disappeared, wretched, bizarre screams like skreeeek echoed thickly one after another.
“Hm, did she do something wrong?”
“Hmm... who knows. Nothing comes to mind...”
We exchanged glances, forced to listen to Eileen’s endless screams.
On top of that, unlike the others, I trembled with the uneasy feeling that some of that fire would splash onto me too.
A little later.
“Itwath deliciouth...”
Eileen muttered that with a small tooth mark on her cheek, then grabbed a bowl of stew and sat on a stump. She hadn’t just hit her—what was with biting the kid on top of it?
Asha followed the dejected Eileen and naturally sat beside me. She looked up at me and spoke softly.
“Ain.”
“Y-yeah... what?”
Her eyes were even deader and mustier than the occasional zombie-like stares she’d been giving lately. Scary.
As I’d feared, the sparks flew my way too, finally singeing the hem of my clothes.
“Spraying perfume on the back of some unrelated woman’s neck is wrong.”
“Th-that’s not...”
I’d been racking my brain the whole time over Eileen’s screams, wondering what the issue was, but I’d never dreamed it was that.
Because... it was just helping a trembling little girl, right?
“It’s wrong.”
“But Eileen’s just a kid...”
Because of that, I stupidly tried to defend myself like an idiot.
“She’s an adult. An adult woman.”
“True, but she looks so young...”
Even seeing her stare at me with dead eyes, repeating the same words, I added one more foolhardy line.
“She’s an adult. An adult woman. Eileen is now an adult woman. So spraying perfume on the back of an unrelated adult woman’s neck is wrong.”
“...”
Ah, I shouldn’t have defended myself.
If I’d had time to think of an excuse, I should’ve just groveled reflexively and admitted I was wrong.
“She’s an adult. Eileen is now an adult woman. Spraying perfume on the back of an unrelated adult woman’s neck is wrong.”
“Uh...”
Her image from when she’d beaten that creepy woman to death in the hotel overlapped in my mind for no reason. And now, she wasn’t even blinking as she looked up at me, having already grabbed my wrist so I couldn’t flee, which made it even scarier.
“An adult woman. Eileen is an adult now, so that’s wrong.”
“Yes, I’m sorry.”
“If you get it, don’t do it again, Ain.”
“Got it.”
“This is your last warning.”
“...”
Ah. Fuck.
That day, mid-level adventurer Ain—that is, me—received two skulls. If I ended up getting that final one, would I meet my end just like that? Defying the gray and dying without even bones left was this world’s ancient tradition, after all.
The night passed like that, and we skirted past the city, heading east once more.
For some reason, as we slipped by the city walls, the guards eyed our carriage with a mix of pity and disgust.
No need for lines like ‘only the guards know the truth’—it was pure sympathy for me mixed with intense noble loathing.
I glanced back into the carriage and let out an admiring remark.
“You really planted that noble hatred deep. As expected of Eileen Prizhia Delfinium, the poster child for nobility—please keep delivering when we need it.”
“Nooo... I’m really innocent though...”
“Oh, is the coachman supposed to just shut up and drive?”
“Ah, come onnn... I did it just like you asked, why tease me...!”
The red mark on her cheek from last night had been healed by Asha and was fine now, but in its place were eyes brimming with injustice and pursed lips.
And.
Asha, who’d reluctantly left the coachman’s seat to sit beside her, stared at Eileen, crossed her legs, and muttered.
“What’s with this nauseating smell. Ugh, I can’t stand it.”
“Asha-nim...?”
Thanks to scouring the carriage last night for traces of the past, she was mimicking Eileen’s words and haughty demeanor from before.
“I can’t forgive this stench seeping into my carriage.”
“Eugghh... stop, please stop now...”
With that, Eileen was shot down. She flopped over limply, sprawling across Asha’s lap and vanishing from my view.
Of course, her weak voice kept drifting on afterward.
“Ahaha... that reminds me of those young ladies who used to tease me... Even after I scrubbed hard and went to the ballroom, they’d pinch their noses right in front of me. That wicked young lady’s name was probably...”
“Uh, um... Eileen, it was a joke.”
Asha seemed flustered and switched back to her normal tone to talk to her, but.
“Ah... right. Those young ladies always smiled and said it was just a joke...”
“I’m sorry. I’ll stop teasing, Eileen.”
“Aah... yeah, that’s right... When I started sniffling, they’d say sorry and promise not to tease next time... But at the next ball, they’d torment and joke just the same...”
Eileen was already lost in nightmares of the past, unable to snap out of it.
“...I was wrong.”
“Wrong, you say... They only said that after my bullying got exposed and Father stepped in... ehehe... And after a little time passed, they’d find another excuse...”
“...”
“Still... thanks to that, I got good at acting like a noble, so it’s a good thing, right...”
No. Eileen, we’ll stop teasing, so please pull yourself together. We’re sorry.
