“...Brother... isn’t... a werebeast. He’s human. T-The one who trained me.” The girl shook her head furiously from side to side.
“Trained? If he’s a human, then that means you’re not related... right?”
Rio frowned slightly at the mention of a brother. It was hard to believe she could have one. While he knew it was possible that she could have been the child of another slave, he didn’t want to jump to any hasty conclusions, so he asked just to make sure.
“I don’t... know...” The girl bobbed her head without confidence.
“...Let me change my question. Where did you follow me from?”
“The... same place... as you.”
“So the capital of Beltrant, huh.”
“Probably... Th-There were lots... of pretty houses.”
“I see. Then, is there anyone other than you who’s trying to kill me?”
“...I-I don’t know. But... probably not... I think.” the girl replied feebly.
“Okay. Here’s my last question, then.”
Instantly, Rio’s aura darkened dangerously. He gazed deeply into the girl’s eyes. She couldn’t look away, and swallowed nervously as she waited for Rio’s question.
“...Do you still intend to kill me?”
“I-I won’t kill.” The girl trembled, shaking her head stiffly.
The eyes were a window to the soul; no matter what kind of expression was pasted on the face, some form of emotion would always reach the eyes. Rio could no longer observe the calm killing intent she had carried in her eyes before. While she was fairly terrified at the moment, she didn’t seem to have any other hidden agenda.
“...All right, you’re free. I’ve left all your weapons with your robe over there,” Rio declared with a sigh as he began to untie the girl’s restraints.
“Huh...?” The girl made an expression of confusion.
“I’m saying: you can get away from here. Without a collar to control you, you no longer need to return to your master. Though... I guess that makes you a runaway slave now,” Rio said with a rather sullen look. He understood that even if he released this girl here, she didn’t have many options available to her.
There were no human settlements in the Strahl region where a demi-human could live alongside humans in peace. This meant that it would be impossible for a werefox like her to live with humans. However, even if she were to live away from humans, she had been born a slave — it was hard to believe she was taught any form of self-sufficiency. She had been controlled by the Collar of Submission, but it hadn’t been the only thing restricting her. If she wanted to continue living in the Strahl region, she’d have to become slave property to someone.
That was her reality.
The girl had yet to understand that herself. She stared back at Rio with a blank look on her face, tilting her head a bit with worry.
“...If you leave this country and head east, there’ll be a vast area called the Wilderness. There should be land there where demi-humans like you live,” Rio said; he had opened his mouth before he realized he did.
“The... Wilderness? East...?”
“East is the direction I’m heading in... Beltrum is to the west. You’d be better off finding your own kind in the Wilderness than staying in these lands.”
“Own kind... East... Wilderness...” The girl muttered to herself. A glimmer of hope appeared in her eyes.
She had no idea what to do with her newfound freedom, but with Rio’s guidance, she now had a vague hope for her future. Rio watched her silently for a moment, before speaking: “I’ll be off, then. Just a warning, but the next time you attack... I won’t hold back.”
He started to walk off, reassured that he had indeed granted the girl her freedom from the Collar of Submission. However, that was simply because the girl — no, the reason was because he didn’t want to kill anyone. That was why he had no obligation to oversee what the girl did from here. He repeated this reasoning to himself in his heart.
The girl instantly adopted the expression of an abandoned puppy.
“Ah-”
She reached a hand towards Rio’s departing figure and let out a small sound, before quickly drawing her hand back in. She paced around that spot for a while. Once Rio had completely disappeared from sight, she hesitantly started to follow his footsteps.
Plod plod, plod plod. She followed along at a distance, making sure not to lose sight of Rio walking ahead.
Now that she was free from slavery, she had nowhere to return to. She would never go back to that place where she had been a slave ever again. With that, she only had one place she could possibly go: the Wilderness that Rio told her about. But without a map, nor a sense of the land, she was scared of moving forward aimlessly. And if she wanted to rely on someone else, then there was naturally only one option. She chose to follow Rio, who seemed to be heading in the same direction.
That was how far backed into a corner she was. To rely on the person she had tried to kill... Though it had been under someone else’s order, she couldn’t help but feel guilty about it. There was also the possibility of him rejecting her if she asked for his help outright. As a result, her selfish desires made her choose to sneakily follow after him.
A few minutes of walking through the forest later, Rio suddenly came to a stop.
“Come out,” he said loudly over his shoulder.
The girl flinched. She was sure she had hidden her presence, so she wondered how he had noticed her... But she was more than well aware that she couldn’t win against Rio, no matter how much she struggled. Without thinking too much on it, she revealed herself to him.
“Do you still want something from me?” Rio asked the trembling girl.
“U-Umm... I want... to go... east... with you,” The girl answered falteringly. Rio placed his right hand against his head and heaved a sigh.
“Are you serious?”
“I-I want... to go.” The girl bit down on her lip and nodded.
“...You may be misunderstanding something here. I didn’t release you from slavery because I wanted to save you. It was just more convenient for me to choose not to kill you.”
To put it bluntly: he didn’t want to carry around the weight of a murder. That was why he had removed the girl’s Collar of Submission. He wasn’t completely apathetic to the girl’s situation, but he definitely didn’t act out of pure intentions. That was his thinking behind all of this.
“B-But I-I don’t know... what... to do,” The girl muttered, ducking her head with tears in her eyes. Rio scratched his head awkwardly.
“...I’m a human. The same species as the people that treated you as their slave. Aren’t you afraid?”
“You... don’t... seem bad.” The girl shook her head.
Rio had a vague feeling this would happen from the moment he removed her collar. Considering the girl’s circumstances, it made sense. That was why he had purposefully made sure to walk away, just in case the girl decided to pursue him. Sure enough, here they were. But did this girl really understand what it meant to move together with the person she had tried to assassinate just moments ago...?
“Have you considered how I might feel about you, after you just tried to kill me?” Rio asked flatly. The girl’s face fell aghast.
“Ah! I-I’m sorry! The collar... hurt so much, I...” She began to apologize in a panic, tears dropping from her eyes.
“I’m not actually angry. I don’t know what kind of pain you suffered from the collar, but I know you only tried to kill me because you couldn’t disobey it. But that doesn’t mean I have any proof you won’t attack me again. In other words, I can’t trust you. Do you understand that?” Rio explained with a troubled sigh.
It was true that a part of him didn’t mind bringing the girl along with him, but at the same time, he wasn’t exactly at ease with the idea of traveling alone with an unknown former assassin.
“T-Then, the collar! You can... You can put it on me! P-Please. Take me... with you,” she begged frantically
through her tears.
“The collar... Didn’t you hate wearing that thing?” Rio asked in near exasperation at the girl’s failure to understand the weight of her words.
“I don’t... want to be... alone. I’m... scared. So... please,” she sniffled and sobbed with her head down, making Rio feel even more uncomfortable. An extremely uneasy expression fell over his face as he clenched his hands into fists. He sighed for the umpteenth time.
“All right. Do as you please,” he declared, giving in. He weakly reasoned to himself that it was better to move together than have her secretly follow him.
“Huh...? Ah... O-Okay!” The girl hesitated for a moment before nodding enthusiastically.
“We’re going to go back to the city first. Come.” Rio came up with that plan of action after glancing over the girl’s body.
“U-Umm, are you... going to put the collar on me?” The girl hesitantly asked Rio’s back as he began to walk off.
“I threw that away long ago. Let’s go already; we can only travel for so many hours a day,” Rio replied as he walked briskly.
“W-What... are we doing... there?”
“You don’t have the proper equipment. We have to prepare your share of supplies for the journey.”
The girl was only wearing a single, thin layer of clothing under her robe, which wasn’t appropriate for the long journey they were about to take. He also had to buy more food supplies to make up for her share.
“T-Thank... you.”
“...Put your hood on inside the city. Otherwise things will get messy,” Rio said, glancing at the girl stumbling to keep up with his pace.
“Okay!” she nodded happily.
“By the way, what’s your name?” Rio suddenly came to a stop to ask the girl for her name.
“It’s... Latifa!”
“I see. You might know this already, but I’m... Rio. Nice to meet you, Latifa.” With a small sigh, Rio introduced himself somewhat reluctantly.
◇◇◇
After they went shopping, Rio and Latifa departed from Amande once more. While it wasn’t as huge as Rio’s, Latifa now had a large backpack on her back as well.
Then, once they were out of Amande, Rio tried running through the forest at his usual speed. He was testing Latifa’s stamina. As a result, they discovered she couldn’t last for very long while carrying a heavy backpack. Once they knew Latifa’s limits, Rio slowed his movement speed to a pace that she could keep up with. They took breaks more frequently than usual, too.
As they sat down on some boulders next to a spring in the forest, Latifa’s stomach growled loudly. Rio looked at her with widened eyes.
“I-It’s nothing! I’m... I’m not hungry!” Latifa shook her head furiously, blushing bright red.
“You don’t have to hold yourself back. It’s way past time for breakfast,” Rio said in amusement, reaching into his backpack for the sandwich Rebecca made him. He cut it in half with a cooking knife and offered it to Latifa.
But Latifa merely looked at the sandwich in confusion. Her eyes moved between the sandwich and Rio’s face several times.
“What’s wrong?”
“I-I can... eat this?” Latifa asked Rio hesitantly, gauging his reaction.
...I guess she’s never been allowed to eat without permission before. Rio hazarded a guess at the reason for Latifa’s question.
That was exactly the case: Latifa had been raised to only do as she was ordered to. If she moved of her own free will, she would have been disciplined. Thus, she had picked up the habit of asking for permission before doing anything herself. Her existence relied entirely on others. Releasing her from slavery wouldn’t solve those habits immediately.
By engaging with her, Rio was slowly able to analyze the issues regarding her personality and mental state... But changing her state of mind wouldn’t be easy.
He would just do what he could, helping her little by little during their time together.
“There’s no need to hold back — feel free to eat it. What do you want to do, Latifa?” Rio asked.
“...I w-want... to eat it.” After a moment’s pause, Latifa voiced her own thoughts.
“Okay, then eat it.” With a gentle smile, Rio handed her the sandwich.
Latifa stared at the sandwich in her hands intently. To make her feel more at ease, Rio started to eat his sandwich first, prompting Latifa to slowly put her’s in her mouth.
“I-It’s delicious.”
Once she had confirmed the taste, her next bite was a hurried chomp.
“Om, nom nom...! Mmhgh... nom... nnn... uguu...” Latifa furiously stuffed her cheeks with the bread, but began to cry midway.
Having been born a slave, this sandwich was the greatest delicacy she had ever tasted in her entire life.
“I won’t take it from you, so eat it slowly. It’s not good for you to eat like that.” Rio sat down next to Latifa and patted her back gently.
“Wah... hic... Every day, Brother would... hic... when feeding me... waah...” Latifa choked on her tears as she recalled her meals until now.
Just how horribly was she treated during her mealtimes? Rio didn’t even want to think about it. He continued to pat her back soothingly until she calmed down.
Rio refilled the flask with water using his essence, then offered it to Latifa after she stopped crying.
“Here’s some water.”
“T-Thank you...” Latifa nodded her head and started to gulp it down as Rio drank from his filled flask, too. He couldn’t quite find the right words to say.
“...We’ll be setting off in a bit. I want to cross the country border and enter the Wilderness by the day after tomorrow. Today, we’ll go as far as we can... At worst, we can camp in the forest if need be.”
“O-Okay.” Latifa rubbed her eyes with the sleeve of her robe and nodded.
◇◇◇
As they had discussed, Rio and Latifa dedicated as much time as possible to moving forward, heading towards the far east kingdom of Galarc.
Before the sun began to set, Rio discovered a low area of ground suitable for camping and pitched a suggestion to his traveling companion.
“Let’s set up camp for today. I’ll fix up a place for us to sleep, so you wait there.”
“A place... to sleep?” Latifa tilted her head in wonder. She seemed to be questioning if they had any materials to create such a thing, since their backpacks were mostly stuffed with food supplies.
“I’m going to make it myself. Stand back a bit.” Rio gave a small smile as he drew the sword at his waist.
He marched towards a moderately-sized tree and leapt at it, swinging his sword around at a speed faster than the eyes could follow. The next moment, thick branches of the tree rained down from above.
“Wow...” Latifa said with widened eyes.
Rio picked up an especially thick branch from the selection scattered about. He stabbed it into the ground at the edge of the lowered pit, fixing it in place. It would serve as the main pillar of support for the shelter he was about to build.
Next, he stuck branches on both sides of the pillar, diagonally into the ground, positioning them like a triangle and using rope to reinforce the structure. At this point, it formed a tall tent shape.
Then, he covered it in greenery to make it blend in naturally with their surroundings. The leaves also helped cover any gaps to block out the wind and rain. All that was left to do was make a door and similarly camouflage it before the simple tent was complete. Since the forest at night was cold and the weather unpredictable, it was worth the trouble of building such a shelter.
Seeing how fast he had constructed such a wonderful shelter made Latifa gaze at Rio with sparkling eyes of awe. With a forced smile, Rio started a fire near the tent entrance.
“Okay, time to make our meal. Can you fan the smoke into there?”
“Fan... the smoke?”
“Just make the smoke blow into the tent. It acts as an insect repellent.”
“O-Okay. Leav
e it... to me!” Latifa nodded earnestly.
Rio picked up his backpack and walked a bit of distance away from the campsite, to avoid leaving the scent of food near the tent in case beasts roamed by at night. He picked an appropriate place to begin cooking; today’s menu would be pasta soup.
First, he built a simple base to place the pot on and filled it with water, lighting a fire underneath to warm it up. Then, he did the same for a deep frying pan, oiling it with vegetable oil. He placed cuts of dried meat and wild grasses he picked on their way here into the pan, added seasoning and spices before beginning to fry it up. He would occasionally use his essence to create a gust of wind, casually blowing the smell of the food directly up into the air.
Meanwhile, the water in the pot had reached a rolling boil, so he added some salt and let it simmer. Then, he dropped the pasta into the pot, radiating it out from the center. He turned down the heat and stirred the pasta lightly; it boiled as he adjusted the temperature of the bubbling water.
As soon as it was done, he transferred the pasta to the frying pan, cooking everything together at a low heat. Then he poured in the broth and adjusted the flavoring to complete the pasta soup. Rio preferred his food spicy, but he held back so a child like Latifa could easily eat it.
Hm? He suddenly sensed a presence behind him, making him whirl around.
It was Latifa, lured by the smell of the food.
Her nose twitched cutely as she sniffed the air. Seeing the typical fox-like behavior made Rio chuckle with a smile. Latifa noticed him laughing at her, and blushed in response.
“Come on, food’s done. Let’s have dinner,” Rio said, picking up the frying pan. He served the pasta soup into containers and carried them to a makeshift table he had put together earlier.
“Spaghetti? Is this spaghetti?!” Latifa took one glance inside the container and yelled in astonishment.
“...You know what this food is?” Rio asked his question in a daze, though at first, he had been at a loss for words for a moment.
“I... know! I... know it! Can I... eat it?” Latifa nodded furiously, looking up at Rio with expectant eyes.
“Of course. Eat up before it cools.”
Blessing of the Spirits Page 7
