The Weight of a Promise
I had to hear the news through Flint.
Before meeting Sien, while I was busy settling a turf war to ensure I didn't lose my foothold in the slums, Flint came sprinting toward me, breathless.
"Berg!"
"Flint, hold on. Let me finish this up."
"This isn't the time for that, Berg!"
At the urgency in his voice, I dropped the wooden club I was holding.
"...?"
"Go... go back to your friend...! Her parents...!"
The desperation in Flint's voice made me realize the gravity of the situation. Flint wasn't the type to act like this over something trivial.
I dropped everything and started running toward Sien.
It wasn't hard to guess what might have happened. I just prayed that my intuition was wrong.
My head spun as I ran. Death wasn't a foreign concept to me, but the thought of Sien being hurt made my heart beat with anxiety. Thinking of her gentle nature made my chest feel like it was tearing apart.
Please, let it be nothing, I prayed as I ran.
Because Sien's parents were doctors, they were often away from home, traveling from village to village. They said they sometimes took Sien with them, but that seemed to be only when she was sick. This time, Sien had told me they were heading to a village of the wolf-kin, who were skilled in medicine, to learn new techniques.
Had something gone wrong during that process?
As I approached Sien's house, I saw a massive crowd I had never seen there before, filling the space. Muffled sobs and wails whispered from all around. It felt as though I could physically sense the positive impact her parents had left on the city.
Frozen by the sight, I caught my breath for a moment. That was when I saw Sien, slumped on the ground amidst the crowd, weeping.
"Ugh...! Hhh!"
At that sight, my body moved on its own. I didn't even think about the judgmental glares I would receive as a slum-dweller. Our relationship, which had been kept a secret, could no longer be hidden.
Pushing through the crowd, I ran to the crying Sien.
"What the—what the hell? Isn't that a slum rat?"
"Watch your wallets! That bastard's a thief!"
I didn't even hear the commotion rising around me. Their insults didn't bother me. My eyes were filled only with the sight of Sien crying.
I broke through the crowd and reached the area guarded by soldiers. A dwarf who looked like an adult in expensive clothing was patting Sien's shoulder, trying to comfort her. Sien was frozen, unresponsive.
I called out to her.
"...Sien...!"
She, who had been frozen, reacted with a start at the sound of my voice. Her eyes and nose were red from how much she had cried. Sien slowly scanned my face, and then her expression crumbled. Her face was stained with grief.
"*Hic*... Berg..."
Sien stood up, stumbling.
"Berg...! *Waaaaah*...!"
She opened her arms and ran to me with difficulty, throwing herself into my embrace. She began to wail in my arms.
"Mom and Dad are...! *Hic*...!"
The people who had been holding onto her no longer stopped me, though they looked on with suspicion. I didn't give them a shred of attention. I just held Sien tightly, standing there with her without a word.
They said Sien's parents had been attacked by a monster. Even though they had many guards, they had all been killed in an instant. Judging by the traces, they said it was a special type of monster, and there was nothing they could do. It was a tragic, unlucky accident.
Sien had to be held by wealthy adults for a long time. And because Sien wouldn't let go of me, I had to stay with them as well. Unlike the neighbors, these wealthy adults cut the mourning short. Instead of condolences, they listed the complicated problems left behind for Sien. They offered to keep her inheritance safe, or suggested she be adopted into their families...
Stories that sounded fine at first listen felt unsettling when you looked closer. I had to filter out the traps on behalf of Sien, who was in no state of mind to do so. I had no right to step in, but I didn't care about rights. It was a moment where I had to keep my wits about me.
There are many people who throw away their morality in the face of great wealth. Having seen life at the very bottom, I could be certain of that.
A long time passed. Sien just kept shedding tears in my arms without answering. When she gave no response, the adults left, making excuses about giving her time to mourn.
Sien and I were left alone in the large, empty house. With only the two of us left, Sien's crying and trembling intensified. The more she did, the tighter I held her, supporting her. I hoped my sincerity would reach her, even if just a little. I stayed by her side without a word until her crying stopped.
As if my comfort helped her heart settle, she finally stopped crying with great difficulty. After staying up all night with her, she finally opened her mouth.
"Berg..."
"...Tell me, Sien."
"...I want to live with you in the slums."
"What?"
The suggestion Sien made after long deliberation was enough to surprise me.
"...I only need you. Okay?"
Given her desperate voice and our relationship... it was a request that was truly hard to refuse.
"...No."
But I had to be firm.
"What?"
Sien, feeling betrayed, started to choke up again. Still, I shook my head.
"No. The slums are too dangerous. It's not a place for you."
Having felt firsthand how harsh the slums were for a human to live in, I couldn't bring her there. I wanted to protect her innocence. I didn't want her to see the filth of the world.
"...Berg... please... I just want to be by your side—"
"—I will always be by your side, Sien."
"......."
"So, go to the orphanage. Forget about adoption or whatever... ignore all those dangerous-sounding things... and go to the orphanage. I heard there's a good one in the north of the city."
Perhaps reassured by my promise that I wouldn't leave her, Sien wiped away her tears and hugged me again.
"...We'll be best friends forever, right?"
I nodded at her sudden question.
"Yeah. I swear."
Sien stared blankly at my expression for a moment. Then, she spoke with a determined face.
"...Okay, then. I'll do as you say."
She trusted me more than anyone else.
And so, Sien began her life at the orphanage. She had to give up all her inheritance, but this was the path for her. One shouldn't be stingy with money. There would be no shortage of people who would put her in danger for that wealth. The past me wouldn't have thought this way, but with Sien's life on the line, my thinking changed. What was it about her that changed me this much?
Even though Sien had lost everything, my feelings for her only deepened. I gradually reduced the time I spent in the slums. To be the pillar Sien could lean on, I always hovered near the orphanage. If someone bullied her for being a weak human, I went and fought them; if she cried, I wiped away her tears.
As Sien leaned on me and grew accustomed to the orphanage, she used her natural sociability to get along with everyone and continued to live her life bravely.
"...It would have been so hard if you weren't here."
Four months into her life at the orphanage, Sien said to me, "Thank you, Berg." Every time she said things like this, I felt a sense of purpose in my life.
"Anytime."
Three more years passed. I turned 16, and Sien turned 14. Our bodies grew at a rapid pace. The baby fat melted away, and we grew taller. The differences between male and female began to stand out.
But nothing had changed in the relationship between me and Sien. Having overcome the death of her parents, Sien returned to her old self. She was a storyteller, so you could say our conversations never ran dry. I learned many things about the world through her. Our trivial conversations always brought us happiness.
However, if I had to point out one change... it was that the physical distance between us had closed. We used to just hold hands, but now we interlocked our fingers, and whenever we took a break, she would always sit between my legs and lean her back against me. It was so natural that I couldn't recall when it started.
We were still the most precious people to each other. But because of that, feelings of jealousy also gradually began to emerge.
"...It's annoying," Sien said.
"What is?"
"Why do you keep getting more handsome?"
"What?"
I chuckled, but Sien didn't relax her expression, as if this were a serious concern.
"...There are more and more girls who keep looking at your face. It's annoying as hell. It would have been better if you were ugly."
"You're the only one who thinks I'm handsome."
"No, I'm not? Ah, how about you just cut off all your hair?"
"...What are you talking about? And anyway, I'm only with you."
"...Liar."
Sien's expression turned cold.
"...What?"
"—Bel, you were talking to Hailey earlier, weren't you? What did you say to her then?"
At some point, she started calling me by the nickname 'Bel'.
"Hailey? I didn't say anything special."
Hailey was a girl at the same orphanage as Sien.
"You didn't say anything, but you smiled at her like that?"
"What are you even talking about?"
"...Are you going to keep playing dumb?"
"I really don't know what you mean."
"You smiled at Hailey. And I don't want you to do that anymore. Do you know how much she goes around the orphanage saying you're handsome?"
"Just for smiling—"
"—Then should I go around smiling and playing with other boys too?"
"..."
At her point, laughter bubbled up again. When she put it that way, it certainly made me feel unpleasant. "...I guess so. I'll be careful."
Only after I conceded did Sien relax her expression and show me a smile. I, too, had started to feel jealous like her. Since entering the orphanage, Sien had started to believe in a god. The goddess of purity, 'Hea', was her god. She wasn't exactly what you'd call devout... but there wasn't a day she skipped her prayers.
"Can't you stop praying?" I asked one day. I was always with her, but I didn't like the time being taken away. But Sien was firm on this.
"No. I have to pray."
"What do you even pray for every day?"
"For your happiness."
"...Isn't that unfair? What does that make me if you say that?"
"But it's the truth!"
I couldn't win an argument against Sien. Whenever I saw her voice, her words, and her beautiful smile, I always lost my words. Even when I was angry, it would melt away like a fool.
We also started talking about the future. "Do you have a dream, Bel?"
"A dream?"
Through Sien, I thought about having a dream for the first time. It was an awkward thing for someone who had always lived only in the present.
"Yeah, a dream. How do you want to live in the distant future?"
After thinking for a while, I listed the positive things I could think of. "I just... want to live. I don't really want to be rich or anything."
"Be a little more specific."
"I want to save up a decent amount of money and live a decent life. Peacefully, you know? I don't want to live in tension every day like I do in the slums. Should I leave the city?"
"To live alone?"
"Ah. It would be nice if my friends were by my side."
"...Which friends?"
I pressed Sien's cheeks, which were starting to puff out, and burst into a chuckle. The teasing ended there. I already knew what answer she wanted from the middle of the conversation.
"And you have to be there."
At that answer, Sien smiled bashfully, pretending she didn't care.
"What about you?"
I was curious about Sien's dream right away. Sien leaned her head against me and said, "...I want to travel the world."
There was a dreamy atmosphere in Sien's voice as she said that. "It was fun when I traveled with my parents. I want to show you..." Sien glanced up at me and whispered, "...I want to show you the things I've seen."
At the sight of Sien being shy, I laughed for a long time again. As I laughed, Sien added as if making an excuse, "...Y-you sometimes don't believe what I say...! That's why..."
Whenever Sien told me amazing stories about the world with sparkling eyes, I often teased her, saying she was lying. It seemed that had been weighing on her mind. But in truth, even if I hadn't seen them with my own two eyes, I already knew that everything Sien told me existed. She was just terrible at lying.
If she had lied, it would have shown. And like Sien's dream, I thought it would be fun to see everything she had talked about with my own eyes, together with her.
That light conversation about dreams awakened me. The moment to leave the slums was coming. It was becoming difficult to live by stealing like I did when I was a child. From my age, those from the slums start looking for new paths. I had to do the same.
There was no way I could obtain a future with Sien through theft. There was no way I could travel the world with her. The income was too low. Eventually, after long deliberation, I told Sien the answer I had reached.
"Sien, I think I'm going to join an organization. I've actually been getting offers recently."
Sien scowled fiercely. It was cute to me, though. "...You said you wouldn't get involved with crime anymore."
"What can I do when these are the only options? If you don't like illegal work, I could be a mercenary. They were recruiting recently."
There weren't many paths for those from the slums. Either way, it was natural to fall into a path that required force.
"Mercenary work is even worse...!" Sien shouted. Her expression trembled with anxiety. "Do you know how dangerous mercenary work is...! You have to fight monsters, that's what it is!"
She always became intense whenever it involved monsters. Naturally, she couldn't forget the things that had taken her parents away. So, even though I knew, I didn't hide my heart.
"...It's something I have to do to survive."
Sien sat on my lap and grabbed my face with both hands. The weight of her body on my legs was lovely. But not knowing my heart, Sien explained with a worried expression, "Bel... let's not do dangerous work... we have to live together for a long time..."
Having lost her parents, she was always afraid of losing me. "Is it because I said I wanted to travel the world...? Can't you notice that you're my priority above all else...?"
"..."
"I like your dream too..."
At some point, there was something only Sien could do to me. Whenever I heard her desperate voice, even my firm resolutions would shake. I had a stubborn personality, but in front of Sien, I was too soft. Perhaps her words were striking a chord in my heart. So, I hugged Sien and said, "...Alright. I won't do things like that."
A few days after that conversation, I left the slums. There was no need to stay in that place which had been my shelter for so long. Flint and Max had already said their warm goodbyes and left to find their own paths.
I left the slums and wandered around the city, searching for a job. Some people chased me away, spewing abuse just because I was from the slums, but it was all fine. I wasn't even angry. I could endure it because I thought it was for Sien.
As I wandered the town, I would see mercenary recruitment flyers. 'Recruiting men who want alcohol, meat, money, honor, and women. Humans excluded.' There were mercenary groups that accepted humans and those that didn't. That was how much humans were looked down upon. But it didn't matter much to me anymore.
Mercenary work was an option I had thought about deeply, but now I didn't even give it a glance. As I walked the city for the second day, an opportunity came. The place I found this time was a tavern.
"Aren't you from the slums?" asked the dwarf tavern owner, looking at my scars and hands.
"Yes, I am."
"—Get lost. How can I trust someone from the slums?"
"...."
I swallowed the insult as I always did and turned around. But before I left the shop, the tavern owner opened his mouth again.
"Wait. You..."
"?"
He, with his bulging beer belly, scanned me up and down. "Aren't you that guy who looks after Asger and Hilda's daughter?"
I expressed my doubt. "Who are Asger and Hilda?"
"The two human doctors who died after being attacked by a monster a few years ago. Aren't you the guy who looks after that... what was it... Sien...? Anyway, that kid?"
It seemed Sien's parents' names were Asger and Hilda. I learned a new fact. "If it's Sien, she's my friend."
"Ha, well..." He scratched his head and asked, "So, are you doing this to take care of Sien? Why did a slum rat crawl out into the light?"
"...Just as you thought. I'm doing this to take care of Sien."
"Good grief."
"Are you going to give me the job, or not?"
"..."
The man thought for a long time. Then, he let out a deep sigh and said, "I'm not doing this for you. Those two once treated my son, so I'm paying back a debt. Come in from tomorrow. I'll teach you the work."
A smile spread across my lips. "See you tomorrow."
The one who was happiest at this news was Sien. She jumped up and down on the spot, blessing me for escaping the dangerous slums. "Is it true? Is it true, Bel?"
"Why would I lie to you? I'll be working at the tavern from now on."
I grabbed her legs as she hopped around and lifted her up. A smile more beautiful than any flower bloomed on her face. This was what I had been bowing my head and enduring humiliation to see. I could continue to do so in the future.
I said, "It's all thanks to you, Sien."
"You did well—"
"—No, Sien. The person who gave me the job... was an acquaintance of your parents. That's why I was able to get the work."
"........"
"Thank you."
Tears began to well up in the eyes of Sien, who had been smiling brightly. "...Thank you too, Bel. For trying so hard for us."
She leaned her upper body forward and hugged me again.
A few months passed, and I was able to earn the tavern owner's recognition. It was possible because I worked steadily, thinking of Sien. Accordingly, I was able to rent a small room. It was a room of a suitable size to be with Sien later. When she was old enough to leave the orphanage, we could start from here.
Like this, I was gradually finding my place. So, I believed the news of that day had nothing to do with me.
"Did you hear the news?" It was a sound that drifted from a table while I was working at the tavern. Even though I tried not to listen, the sound pierced my ears.
"What news?"
"They say the Demon King has been elected?"