The Girl Named Dana
Her name was Dana. Though her tone was soft, her voice carried a clear, beautiful quality. It was a pretty voice, too—shame she didn’t use it more often.
“If you have nowhere to return to, then work hard and make one for yourself.”
That might have sounded a bit cold, but it was exactly what I was already doing. I waited, hoping she might speak again, when an unexpected sound broke the silence—a loud, rumbling growl. The kind that made the listener feel embarrassed on her behalf.
“Where’s that coming from? Is there a hungry ghost nearby?”
I asked with feigned innocence. She didn’t look the least bit ashamed. Instead, she met my gaze calmly and rubbed her stomach. I already knew where the sound had come from. Was she proud of it?
Come to think of it, neither of us had had a single drop of water since yesterday. Her or me.
“Can’t be helped, I suppose.”
My continued kindness wasn’t because I was naturally good-hearted. It was probably because I was drawn to her beauty. Thinking back, there was definitely some selfish motive mixed in. After all, there are studies claiming that the reason human babies and animal young are cute is tied to reproduction and survival. They evolved to radiate cuteness in order to trigger protective instincts and survive in a world of predators. This situation felt similar. Her fine clothes and striking appearance had stirred feelings of pity in me. In short, it was no different from a man completely smitten with a woman acting like a pushover.
Well, I shouldn’t turn into a complete idiot. Since she had nowhere to go, I’d help her out of basic human decency—nothing more. I led her toward the secret hideout, the cave, holding her hand tightly.
“We’re here.”
I released her cool, soft hand and removed the cloth covering her eyes. I’d kept them covered the whole way so she wouldn’t learn the cave’s location.
“……”
While she calmly surveyed the inside of the cave, I quickly prepared a meal.
I lit a campfire, set a pot over it, poured in water, and tossed in two unpeeled raw potatoes. When sorting through loot, I sometimes came across stolen food. Since I’d grown used to the work, I’d occasionally sneak a few items before handing the rest over to the cook in charge of meals. The potatoes had been hidden away in the cave the same way. Lately, I’d even been considering starting a small field near the cave. The food served at the bandit camp was both scarce and tasteless. Circumstances being what they were, I was about to take on farming as a side job.
“They’re done.”
I poked one of the potatoes with a small skewer that doubled as chopsticks; it slid in easily. I handed it to her. She accepted the skewered potato without a word of thanks and began nibbling at it with her small mouth. Watching her eat, I thought she must be blessed with good fortune.
“Eat as much as you like.”
Smiling, I used my dagger to spear my own potato and pull it out. One bite told me it was bland without any salt. I was hungry, so I ate it anyway. Normally I would have thrown it away. I hoped our next raid would turn up some salt. Maybe I could sneak a little for myself.
“What’s your name?”
I asked eagerly while we ate together, but she ignored me completely. She didn’t even glance my way, focused only on eating. If I was going to teach her some manners, I needed to be firm. I put on a deliberately serious expression.
“If you want to stay indebted to me, you should show some sincerity too. If you’re going to keep ignoring me and doing things your own way, then I have no choice. I’ll either take you to the bandit camp and let them have their way with you, or—if you don’t want that—I’ll beat you with a switch and drive you out.”
She chewed quietly, staring at me. After a moment, she lowered her gaze and wrote something in the sand on the cave floor with her finger.
Danna.
“Dana?”
Pretty name. Why had she been so reluctant to share it?
“I’ve been wondering—why don’t you talk, Dana? Trying to seem mysterious?”
She continued eating quietly, offering no real reaction. Maybe she didn’t trust me because I was a bandit, or maybe she was simply the quiet type. Either way, I gave up before I gave myself an ulcer and focused on finishing my potato in silence.
“Wow, that was delicious.”
After forcing myself through the meager, tasteless meal, I fastened one end of the shackle around her ankle and attached the other empty ring to a meter-long iron chain, securing it so she couldn’t escape. If she left without a word and the cave’s location became known, that would be a problem. Besides, there was a sack of gold coins hidden inside. What if she took it and ran?
“If you want to leave, just say so anytime. I’ll take you down the mountain. But if you want to stay here, you’ll have to keep the shackle on your ankle. It might be inconvenient, but it’s the rule, so please follow it.”
When I stood up, her eyes followed me. It almost looked like she was asking where I was going.
“I don’t live here, so I have to go. I’ll stop by in the morning and evening for meals. I might be very late in the evening. If work piles up, I might not come until the next day.”
Halfway to the entrance, I turned back and emphasized once more to the girl sitting in the corner.
“So think it over carefully. Rather than staying locked up here alone every day, it’d be better to just leave. No one can endure this kind of life. Don’t foolishly torment yourself—go to a crowded place as soon as possible and start over. If you have the courage, a place to return to will appear on its own.”
Even after my heartfelt advice, she simply hugged her knees and stared at the wall ahead, offering no reply. I watched her for a moment before turning away. As I stepped out of the cave and covered the entrance, a beast’s howl suddenly echoed through the forest. I scanned the woods warily, unease creeping over me.
“Is it really okay to leave her like this……?”
What if a wild animal or monster caught her scent and approached the cave? She’d be eaten alive. She seemed capable of magic, but the fact that she’d been captured by a lowly bandit suggested her skills weren’t very refined. Maybe she was an amateur mage, just as I was an amateur bandit. I needed to think of a way to protect her.
“Where’ve you been?”
When I returned to our tent, Marcus was smoking after breakfast, waiting for the morning squad leaders’ meeting.
“I went to the cave.”
“Why head there first thing in the morning?”
I’d already told Marcus about the cave Phelton had left behind. It seemed better for operational freedom if he knew.
“It’s mine. Do I need a reason to go there? I go when I want, and I don’t when I don’t. I also worry about wild boars or goblins messing the place up.”
“If you’re that worried, set up some traps around the entrance.”
“That’s a good idea. I was thinking the same thing on the way back.”
“Put what I taught you to use and test them out.”
Marcus had taught me various trapper skills—snares, deadfalls, caltrops, spring traps, pit digging, and more—but with my busy daily routine, making the components took too long and there was nowhere to practice, so my skills hadn’t progressed. I was worried I’d forget them. I should carve out time and master them properly. I decided to set traps around the cave whenever I had a spare moment. If I was lucky, I might even catch some meat. Two birds with one stone.
“Ugh. What’s that smell?”
A rotten-food odor filled the tent. Looking around, I saw the place was a mess from days without cleaning. Piles of unwashed clothes reeked of sour sweat, mixed with the smell of cigarette ash and rotting animal bones from discarded meals. Marcus was the type to make a mess but never clean up, so that duty fell entirely to me. Lately I’d been too busy to find any time for it.
I grumbled lightly at Marcus.
“Marcus, do some cleaning when I’m not around. You want to live in filth?”
“I’m old and weak. Cleaning’s hard.”
“Aigoo~ Only pulling the age card when it suits you.”
Honestly, I was exhausted. I had to worry about work outside and housework inside, playing both father and mother to one grown-up child. I wasn’t Superman. Things had been easier when Phelton and Harry were around to share the load. I missed those days.
“Haa.”
Suddenly I felt like going on strike. I tossed my shirt onto my bed with a deliberately annoyed expression.
“I’m not working today.”
“You little punk. Are you sulking just because I didn’t clean?”
“Doing everything by myself is going to make me sick. I need to rest properly sometimes to recover my energy. When exactly are we getting new squad members?”
“Why are you asking me that?”
“You said at yesterday’s meeting that you’d pick them.”
“Who’s really in charge of the 15th Squad right now?”
Marcus replied meaningfully, and I instantly understood what he meant.
“You want me to pick them?”
“Who else would?”
“I need to know people to pick them.”
“Then find some.”
“Where? Inside this dump of a bandit group?”
“Why not go to the slave market or something? You’ve got money. Just look around and buy any decent ones you find.”
The slave market?