A Name I Dare Not Speak
What kind of treatment was this?
No matter how terrifying the man in front of me was, I absolutely could not say my name.
If I opened my mouth in a situation like this, I was certain some magic would fire off and kill the person standing right there.
That was how completely the overwhelming pressure had seized me with fear.
Please, let him understand what I mean…
Hoping the gesture meant the same thing in this world, I crossed my index fingers into an X and held them over my mouth.
Please… please…
Redrago snorted as if he'd expected exactly that, pulled a sheet of paper and a quill from his right pocket, and slammed them onto the desk hard enough to make a sharp crack before shoving them toward me.
This man… he seemed to have decided that I understood speech just fine but simply couldn't talk.
Except I didn't understand a single word of this world's language…
Ah, whatever.
I took the quill to write my name.
Should I really write it down?
When I just sat there holding the quill without putting a single mark on the page, Redrago let out a heavy sigh of pure impatience and brought his fist down on the desk.
Bang!
What a short fuse.
Fine. I'd write it. Our languages were different anyway—he wouldn't be able to read a thing.
With a trembling hand, I wrote my name.
Tiable
Redrago looked at what I'd written and frowned.
Then he looked at me and spoke.
Whatever he said, I couldn't understand a word of it.
As if that hadn't been what he expected, he briefly stroked his chin, then came closer.
Up close, the difference in our builds was even more stark.
He gripped both my shoulders, turned me around, pulled down the cloth covering my back, and seemed to examine it carefully.
After a quiet murmur, he sat me back down in the chair.
What on earth was he doing?
Redrago was baffled.
The girl couldn't speak—and on top of that, the language she used was completely different.
When he'd asked her name and she seemed to understand, he'd offered her paper. What she wrote was a string of characters he didn't recognize. As far as Redrago knew, none of the neighboring countries used anything even remotely like it. It was a language he had never seen before.
"An unknown language…"
Where in the world had this girl come from?
Even measuring from the nearest bordering nation, it would take a week of walking without rest. He couldn't imagine the girl in front of him—wrapped in nothing but a single sheet of cloth—surviving that kind of journey.
And if someone had luckily taken her in along the way, that still didn't explain finding her alone in a rainy forest wearing nothing but a scrap of fabric.
How had she even stayed alive?
Unless she was an escaped illegal slave, the only conclusion was that this girl was hiding something.
To check whether she was a slave or not, Redrago approached her and examined her back.
It was clean.
"None…"
He murmured it under his breath.
Not a slave, then. And not a girl with any connection to the neighboring countries, either.
In that case… it should be safe enough to decide she wasn't a dangerous individual.
Even so, she still seemed to be hiding something.
He couldn't afford to drop his guard completely. Not yet.
Redrago reached his conclusion.
Redrago stood in front of me with his head bowed, lost in thought.
Well, of course. If we couldn't even talk to each other, there wasn't much he could dig out of me.
At least he wasn't treating me aggressively right from the start—that suggested this wasn't a country that threw lives away lightly. Public order was probably decent, too.
Even with the language barrier boxing me in, I was still trying hard to pick up whatever information I could. When he'd first shoved a blade in my face, I'd honestly thought I was about to be tortured.
As if he'd finished thinking it through, Redrago stood up and held out his hand to me.
He said something I couldn't understand.
He wanted me to take his hand?
I was a little dazed, but for now I should just do as I was told.
I took Redrago's hand, and at last we left the identity interrogation room and started walking down the main road. The scenery I'd only glimpsed hazily through my earlier search was now unfolding right before my eyes.
Crowds of people moved along the street with bright smiles on their faces. I could feel the curious glances of children who kept peeking over as they ran past.
Our strides were completely different, so every time we walked I fell further and further behind and had to break into little hurried steps just to catch up.
I really wished he'd slow down a little.
When I lagged again, I squeezed his hand a bit tighter.
Whether he felt the pressure or not, Redrago glanced at me for a moment, then started walking again—this time matching his pace to mine.
This man might actually be… kinder than he looks…?
For now, I'd stay quiet and gather information for a while.
We seemed to be heading deeper into the busy district…
The place Redrago brought me to was, I guessed, his workplace.
The moment we stepped through the door, people bowed to him in greeting.
So he was someone fairly high up…
I followed him without resistance to wherever he was leading me—and found the same flustered young man who'd interrogated me earlier sitting there clutching his head.
I'd never seen Lord Redrago that angry before.
At first he'd seemed kind even if his face was scary, but then I'd vanished right in front of him—how was I supposed to look him in the eye after that…
The young man who'd botched his first interrogation sat replaying every mistake, berating himself and fretting over what to do next.
He raked a hand through his sky-blue hair as he sat on the sofa and made a firm resolution.
From now on, I won't mess up.
I'll just do better next time!
The door suddenly burst open and Lord Redrago walked in.
There was no reason for Lord Redrago to set foot in the soldiers' break room…!
"L-Lord Redrago? I'll get out of your sight at once."
Time to run. He still wasn't ready to face him.
He scrambled up from his seat and tried to bolt for the door.
"Hold on, Hugo. I've got a job for you."
"A j-job for me…?"
The young man called Hugo glanced at the girl standing beside Redrago and trailed off.
Surely this had nothing to do with her.
Hugo felt a bad premonition—and it hit the mark perfectly.
"Teach this girl how to speak."
"Teach her to speak? M-me?"
"Yes. And look after her while you're at it."
"W-why someone like me…?"
"I know you have a little sister, Hugo."
"Y-yes, sir, that's right. But what does that have to do with…?"
He was startled.
To think Lord Redrago even knew the family makeup of a lowly soldier like him.
"She seems to be hiding quite a few things. Try getting close to her first."
"None of the others here know how to handle a kid like that. They're all too rough with their words."
Lord Redrago rested a hand on his shoulder and spoke gently.
"You only started working here recently, and you've got a little sister—you're the perfect fit."
"Y-yes? Understood."
"But if you notice anything unusual, report it to me immediately. Even the smallest detail is fine."
Lord Redrago locked eyes with him and spoke in a voice completely different from a moment ago—serious and unyielding.
Those burning eyes looked ready to set him ablaze.
"Yes, sir…!"
This time, he would carry out the order properly…
Redrago left the girl in the room and walked out.
…
With Redrago gone, an awkward silence filled the room between just the two of us.
"Hu… Hugo!"
The young man pointed at himself with his index finger and spoke in a much lighter voice than the one he'd used during the interrogation.
So he could drop the deep, serious tone whenever he wanted…
I nodded to show I understood.
Hugo stepped closer and said something else.
Sorry. No idea what that meant.
When I gave him no reaction at all, his shoulders slumped a little. He sat down beside me without even looking at my face and stared blankly at the floor.
During the interrogation he'd left so quickly I hadn't gotten a good look, but sitting this close and taking my time, I could see him properly now—neat sky-blue hair, light green eyes, a face that looked a little young, a body that had clearly been trained with care, and features that were honestly quite handsome.
He must have noticed me staring, because he jumped and scooted backward.
For some reason his face flushed for a moment, but then Hugo came back over and looked me over carefully.
His gaze traveled from top to bottom and stopped at my feet.
He took hold of my foot, winced as if it hurt him more than me, muttered something under his breath, and then led me somewhere else.
An infirmary, probably.
He sat me down in an empty spot and went to speak with the person farthest inside.
When he came back, he was carrying a small cup and a strip of cloth—clearly for treating my feet.
Hugo held my foot and poured whatever was in the little cup over it.
The unexpected pain almost dragged a real scream out of me. I clamped both hands over my mouth and fought to keep every sound locked inside.
Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, but I managed.
Well done, me.
He must have realized I was hurting, because he glanced up with a worried look and said something.
Of course I didn't understand a word, but it was probably along the lines of This might sting, but it'll be over soon—we're almost done.
Without giving me a moment to recover, he started wrapping the cloth around my foot.
I'd known it would hurt, but I hadn't expected it to hurt like this.
A sound slipped out before I could stop it.
"Heut…!"
Then a voice rang through my mind.
This is bad. Please, anything but some strange magic…
h-eu-t
[Analyzing…]
[Calculating meaningful word…]
[Calculation complete]
——x—□—o—/—
Current Situation:Pain from wounds
Spell Cast:Heal • Supreme
Thankfully, nothing dangerous had been cast.
And with startling speed, the pain vanished as if it had never been there.
Hugo finished wrapping the cloth, stood up, and gently patted my head.
Then he left me there and hurried outside.
Not long after, he came back with clothes and shoes in his hands.