Stealing is out of the question. I’d prefer some kind of job, if possible...
He knew his chances were bleak. It wouldn’t be easy to find someone willing to hire someone like him in this dismal society. Orphans from the slums were already considered to be at a high risk of committing theft in marketplaces and such, making people all the more wary of them. Not to mention, if it were that easy to find a job, orphans wouldn’t exist. Even if they did manage to find one, they’d be exploited and underpaid. Since that was the case, Rio wondered if he had any useful talents he could use to his advantage. The only special skills he had were the ones he obtained in his previous life: a university-level education, the ability to do housework and other life skills obtained from living alone, as well as a myriad of other know-hows from his family home and part-time job. He searched his head for a way to apply these skills in a useful manner, but it was nearly impossible without the right social connections.
This meant that the only options left were the less-than-legal methods, but Rio — no, Amakawa Haruto inside of Rio — was extremely reluctant about turning to crime, which was a weakness that Rio himself had long since thrown away. Really, there was no point in avoiding criminal activities anyway, considering how often Rio had been forced to act as an accomplice for the men that used him. The realization of how dirty his hands were rose within him, overwhelming him with guilt. It was too late for him. The corner of Rio’s mouth quirked up in a self-deprecating smirk as he stared at his palms with a furrowed brow.
At that moment—
“Hey, you there. Little... girl?” a stern, womanly voice said to Rio.
He raised his head to see four people of various ages standing before him. They all wore nice, clean robes that hid their faces and covered their bodies, so Rio couldn’t tell their genders from their appearance. Looking at their heights, the one who addressed Rio was probably the oldest in the group. Judging by how young the person sounded, they were most likely in their late teens. Behind the one who spoke was a figure who looked to be the size of an early teen and two child-sized figures — they were probably around Rio’s age.
Apparently, the one who spoke to Rio was unsure of his gender, too. His face had always been rather androgynous, and his hair had grown long and scruffy, making it easy to mistake him for a girl.
“Stinks...” one of the small children muttered under their breath in disgust.
The voice sounded feminine, like a little girl. It was a melodic and cute sound, which ran contrary to the blunt and scathing words.
“It would be best to avoid breathing in too much. It might be bad for your health,” the other small child said.
This one also sounded like a little girl.
They sure are saying whatever they please...
Rio frowned, slightly upset at their words. He was aware of the fact that his current state wasn’t ideal, but he had just washed himself...
Rio turned to look at the two little girls. Their faces were covered by hoods, but he could feel them looking down on him anyway. Meanwhile, the small figure next to them was also watching Rio observantly. He couldn’t feel any negative emotions behind this gaze, though.
“Hey, are you listening to me?” the eldest woman asked in a serious tone. “Don’t tell me you can’t even understand what I’m saying.”
She seemed to be in a hurry for some reason as she threateningly pressed for a reply.
“I hear you. What do you want?” Rio replied coldly.
He observed the four of them cautiously — their clothes were too clean for them to be residents of the slums. He could see an expensive-looking hilt peeking out from between the robes of the eldest woman. What could they possibly want from an orphan of the slums? They didn’t seem like the types that would want to hire thieves, but Rio raised his guard anyway.
“Have you seen a little girl with lavender hair? She’s around your age,” the woman explained.
There was an air of superiority behind her words, as though she was looking down on someone that she expected would obey her orders.
So they were looking for someone.
Rio wasn’t particularly bothered by her attitude, but he didn’t feel obliged to answer her politely, either. And in any case, he didn’t have any clue where this girl could be. He stood up with a sigh and shot them one more glance before briskly walking away.
“Hey, wait. Answer the question,” the woman called back to Rio, clicking her tongue in annoyance.
“No clue. Sorry,” Rio said, pausing mid-step and tossing his answer over his shoulder.
“Answer her properly.”
“Hiding the truth won’t benefit you.”
The two little girls pressed Rio imperiously, seemingly doubting Rio’s statement. He huffed.
“Like I said—”
“I don’t think he’ll answer if we speak to him like that, everyone.”
Just as Rio was about to restate his point, the small figure who had been silent until now interrupted him. It sounded like the slightly tired voice of yet another girl.
“Hm... Celia.”
The eldest woman looked at the girl she had called Celia.
“Please leave this to me, Miss Vanessa.”
“Good idea,” the woman addressed as Vanessa said, hesitating for a brief moment before passing the baton to Celia. “A teaching professor like you could probably handle this situation best.”
Celia then took a step forward.
“Hello there. Sorry if we surprised you before. Will you tell me your name?” she asked kindly. “Oh, and I’m Celia.”
“...Rio,” he muttered in response.
“Rio? That’s an unusual name.”
“...I’m a migrant child, so.”
“I see... so that’s why your hair is black. Would you mind if I asked you a question, Rio?”
“Go ahead.” Rio nodded.
“Have you seen a little girl with lavender hair by any chance? We’re currently looking for her. Would you happen to have any ideas?”
“Sorry, I haven’t seen anyone like that...” Rio shook his head.
But you’re probably too late, he didn’t add.
He couldn’t imagine any child from another district remaining unharmed after wandering into the slums. To the residents of the slums, even commoner clothes could be resold for a ridiculous amount. If the aforementioned girl was related to these four in any way, she’d probably be wearing high-quality clothes — those would have been long stripped from her by now. If she was lucky, that’d be all that was taken. She could end up in one of those brothels for men that had a taste for little girls.
“I see...” Celia’s voice trailed off with disappointment. She took a breath and pulled herself together before asking, “The slums are past here, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Is it a big area? Would we get lost easily if we went in?”
“It’s pretty big, and the roads are kind of complicated... Are you going to go in?” Rio’s eyes widened a little.
“Yes. We have to find this girl,” Celia asserted without hesitation.
“I wouldn’t recommend it.”
“Why not?”
Celia tilted her head in confusion as Rio looked her up and down.
“...Your clothes are too nice. It’s like you’re asking to be attacked. There aren’t many people around this early, but you’re still asking for trouble. It’s not a place for a girl like you,” he informed her politely. Celia’s eyes widened in surprise.
“He sure speaks well for an orphan,” one of the smaller girls muttered.
“Ah, I see. It must really be a dangerous place,” Celia said, looking down at her own outfit with a strained smile.
“This was a plainer robe, too...” she mumbled to herself.
If Rio didn’t have Amakawa Haruto’s memories and personality within him, he probably wouldn’t have shared that information with Celia. He especially wouldn’t have bothered with the warning if it had just been Va
nessa, who was overbearing, and the two little girls.
They could wander off and die in the slums for all he cared.
That’s what he was supposed to feel in the bottom of his heart... yet, the man named Amakawa Haruto was kind. Kind enough to stop a little girl who spoke to him with the minimal level of respect from wandering into the slums.
“Umm... what kind of clothes do women in the slums wear, then?”
“What do they wear? Just your usual commoner clothes, worn down to rags. There are people in nice clothes, too, but they’re usually the types that run wild in the slums.”
“I see. That’s very helpful.” Celia nodded cutely in contemplation. “By the way, you speak very politely for an orphan. Do all orphans talk like you do?”
“...Who knows? My mother told me to speak this way before she died,” Rio answered rather stiffly.
At just seven years old, Rio didn’t have a very extensive vocabulary. But he knew that speaking rudely would just make the men hit him, so he had learned to speak while judging other people’s moods. With his mother’s original influence and Amakawa Haruto’s personality returning to him, Rio’s mentality had grown and changed his speech into that of an adult’s.
“S-Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that,” Celia apologized in a fluster.
“No, it’s fine...” Rio answered rather listlessly.
“...”
Celia’s eyes widened by a fraction, as though she had seen a glimpse of an unknown emotion deep within Rio’s eyes.
“Celia, let’s return after we change our clothes,” Vanessa interrupted. She had been quietly watching on.
“What are you saying! We have to hurry or she’ll—”
“That’s right!”
The two small girls frantically protested.
“If our information is correct, we still have some time. Don’t forget — we’re moving against protocol. We cannot afford to make a wrong move and mess up the official search party’s efforts. Don’t you agree, Christina?”
“...Then let’s hurry and buy the clothes,” the little girl named Christina said, frowning unhappily at Vanessa’s explanation.
“Celia, are there any suspicious sources of essence nearby?”
“Umm... give me a moment. Zona Revelare!”
Celia took a deep breath and chanted some words that Rio didn’t recognize. A geometric circle of light began to rise from beneath her feet.
Hm?
A strange sensation immediately washed over Rio. It almost felt like some kind of... pulse. At the same time, he could see a faint wave of light being released from Celia herself. Was he hallucinating? Rio rubbed his eyes to check, when—
“Oh. You...”
Celia inspected Rio’s face up close.
“What about the child?” asked Vanessa.
“My area search reacted to him. I’ve adjusted my magic to react to a certain level of magic essence, which means this child has a fair amount of it flowing from him. He has the potential to use sorcery.”
“Ah, right... even an orphan can have the potential,” Vanessa said.
“This kid has essence?”
Whereas Vanessa accepted the situation easily, Christina tilted her head doubtfully.
“There are some humans outside of nobility with enough essence to use magic. Their parents might not have much essence, but they may have had an ancestor up the line that once did. Even so, none of that matters if they don’t receive any training, since they won’t be able to detect it otherwise. Most people go their whole lives unaware,” Celia explained simply.
“Huh... Guess you can’t judge everything by appearances,” the still unnamed little girl muttered.
“Hmm, makes sense... but he’s still an orphan. Essence is irrelevant.”
Vanessa shot a pointed look at Rio.
Magic? Essence? Was essence the strange pulse of light just now? I definitely felt something... but they said I shouldn’t be able to detect it without training...? What does that mean?
Rio listened to their conversation in confusion.
“So were there any suspicious essence reactions?”
“Nothing within a radius of 50 meters, at least. The only one caught by my search was this child here,” Celia explained.
“I see,” Vanessa said. “Sorry for making you come out here, but you’ve been a great help. Zona Revelare users are rare and no one else can compare to your search range.”
The two continued their puzzling conversation, leaving Rio completely lost, until Celia broke off and turned to him again.
“Thank you. Will you accept this in exchange for the information you gave us?” she asked, and handed Rio five large silvers. He accepted the coins and looked at them in shock. Five large silvers was worth way more than the information he told them... Perhaps this girl didn’t have a sense of money? He looked at the girl in wonder, but...
“Oh, is it not enough?” she asked.
“...No.”
After a beat, Rio shook his head. He would accept whatever money he was given — he didn’t have the freedom to refuse out of politeness in his current situation.
“Thank you very much,” he said, bowing his head at Celia in gratitude.
“Just to be clear, this also serves as hush money. Forget what you saw and heard here,” Celia warned in a slightly colder tone.
“I understand.” Rio nodded immediately.
These four were probably nobles, and Rio had absolutely no interest in sticking his neck into the troublesome business of nobility. Curiosity killed the cat, after all.
“Well... thank you. For telling us so kindly,” Celia thanked him awkwardly.
“...It was my pleasure.”
“Bye, then. Take care of yourself.”
Celia seemed to have formed an attachment to the orphan during their short interaction, as she gave Rio a somewhat regretful smile from under her hood.
“Let’s go, Celia.”
“Yes.”
The four of them turned on their heels and walked away from the entrance of the slums. Rio watched their retreating backs, straining his eyes when he noticed a strange light faintly flowing out of their bodies. With a gasp, he fixed his gaze down at his own body. The same faint light that the girls had was flowing out of himself. It wasn’t a hallucination. He could both see and feel it. The light flowed through his entire body like the blood in his veins. It streamed out of his body endlessly, like water from a spring. The group of four gave off the most light in the descending order of Celia, Christina, Vanessa, and the one who might have been Christina’s attendant. However, the amount of light flowing out of Rio’s body was far greater than even Celia’s.
When did this light first start to release out of him? Were Celia and the others aware of it? Such questions passed through Rio’s mind, but he couldn’t find an answer for any of them.
Can other people see this light too? Would it be bad if they noticed it?
In a panic, he focused on decreasing the amount of light coming out, only to find it was surprisingly compliant with his will. There was still some leaking out, but it was much less than Celia’s group’s, so it probably wouldn’t be an issue. Rio sighed in relief.
Is this light “magic essence”...?
If it really was an essence, he should be able to do something with it intuitively. But attempting such actions without any knowledge of it risked things spiraling out of control, so he needed to pick a better time and place for experimenting with it.
It would be bad if he returned late as well, so Rio decided to head back to the shack for now.
◇◇◇
On the way back to the shack, Rio’s head buzzed with thoughts about his future. He could live off the five large silvers he received from Celia for quite a while, but he still couldn’t break off from the men until he had some form of stable income. There was nowhere to run from them in the slums, and they’d probably hunt him down and kill him if they discovered that he’d run away.
Sti
ll... for now, with both his stomach and pocket filled, Rio felt a little better. With his new funds in hand, all he wanted now was some time to carefully plan how to get away from the men, his escape route, and how to live going forward. Eventually, he arrived back at the shabby shack while pondering such things. The sight of it immediately dampened his mood. He sighed.
“I’m back.”
He entered the shack with a small bow. The men would yell at Rio for no reason at all sometimes, but they had been in high spirits this morning, bringing Gigi — who was their favorite — over to pour them drinks, so that wasn’t as likely today. They were probably partying and making an uproar right now.
Or so Rio had thought.
The lamp is out?
The inside of the shack was pitch black and completely silent, The window was closed and the lamp that lit the room had been extinguished, making it impossible to see. A sharp, metallic smell of rusted iron pierced his senses, making Rio frown.
What’s that smell? Blood?
The scent that wafted into Rio’s mind was blood... the same blood like when he got injured.
“Mmrgh! Mmmgh!”
Just then, a muffled sound could be heard inside the shack. It was coming from the corner of the room.
“...!”
The sudden sound made Rio flinch in surprise.
What’s that?
He could hear the rustling of fabric. Had someone fallen asleep?
Rio warily started to inch towards the sound when his foot slipped. He could feel a mysterious liquid against the sole of his bare foot. The floor was wet. Suspicious of the unknown substance that felt so strange against his skin, Rio decided to open the window first.
The window is...
Relying on his memory of the room’s layout, he ignored the uncomfortable sensation under his feet and proceeded towards the wooden shack’s only window. He threw it fully open; light flooded in from outside, illuminating the dark room.
“Wha...”
Rio fell speechless at the horrendous scene before his eyes.
There were dead bodies lying everywhere. The bodies of the men who were drinking in the shack earlier, and—
“Gigi...”
Kingdom of Lies Page 3
