Chapter 17 (1/2)

| | 18: Somewhere We Don’t Belong

Raws:

I took a seat.

Aira, Palmira, and Leon were lined up before me, similarly seated.

It was Irene I promised, not Leon, but oh well, I’ll tell her some other time.

Though whether or not it’ll be the truth is a different question.

But at least these three, I thought, should hear the truth.

Aira.

Palmira.

Now, after walking the same line between life and death so many times, they were companions no one could replace.

And they had told me about their own pasts. That was why I should tell them my own now.

It wasn’t a debt I owed them. I was just telling them because I wanted to.

I wanted to share that connection with them.

Leon.

He was a mystery.

He was still hiding parts of himself behind courtesy. Even now, he addressed me formally.

Still, he was cheeky to a strange degree, so I ended up saying whatever I felt like to him.

Objectively speaking, only a few days had pa.s.sed since we met, but I’d come to rely on him against my better judgement.

I shouldn’t have been the trusting type in the first place. But why, in spite of that, had I ended up having this much faith in him?

The more I thought about it, the less I understood.

I didn’t understand, but to put it bluntly —

If I didn’t talk about myself now, I’d probably regret it.

“…Though I wonder where I should start…”

Looking at Aira, her expression slightly tense, and Palmira, I traced my past upriver.

The day I became a woman.

Further back.

The day I became an adventurer.

The day I left that country with my tail between my legs.

The day I swore I would never rely on anyone.

I looked at Leon. Instead of his usual smile, he watched me with sincerity.

Alright. All of it, from the very beginning.

Let’s have them hear it from the very beginning.

–

–

I was born on the continent across the sea from the Empire. Even in the confederation of small nation-states it belonged to, the country of my birth was especially small.

Not that I came from a particularly distinguished pedigree or anything like that.

I wasn’t poor, but I wasn’t rich either. I was raised as the eldest son of a small merchant family.

I don’t remember much from my childhood.

Only that my parents were kind, and my little sister, who had joined us before I knew it, was adorable.

I wasn’t particularly unfortunate, but on the other hand, I wasn’t generously blessed with happiness either. I was one of those kids you could find anywhere, just living a normal life.

One day, when I came home with my sister in tow, my parents were in the dining room discussing something. The mood was extremely serious, and my sister and I were a bit scared as we stared at them. I remember that with horrible clarity.

Now, if I think about it, they were talking about the unrest in the neighboring country.

Then, my country, which should have been at peace, witnessed the horrors of war.

— Do you understand what it was like?

The sight of the world that you believed would never change — suddenly painted red? The despair of losing the everyday life that should have been unshakeable?

What should never have disappeared, did. What should never have been, was.

My home crumbled, and the familiar faces disappeared.

Before I knew it, the war was over, but that only marked the beginning of more miserable days to come.

Nowhere to live.

Nothing to eat.

During those days, I lost everything.

My parents, my sister. They disappeared while I stood by and did nothing.

Of course, I shouted for help.

It’s just, thinking back on it now, everyone was desperate.

But the reality was, no one came to save us. Everyone pretended not to see. My desperate screams went unanswered.

In the time I spent screaming, I lost everything.

I don’t really remember what I did after that.

When I came to, I was on a s.h.i.+p crossing the sea. Maybe I wanted to run away from that disaster-stricken land.

I’m sure it’s already been close to eight years since then. Since I disembarked here, and then began my career as an adventurer.

“Eight… years ago?”

Aira’s eyes were wide with amazement. I tipped her a small nod in response.

“Yeah, I’m sure that when I crossed the sea, I was ten years old. After that, as an adventurer… well, there was no age limit at the time, but I still got into a fight with the guild…”

With a wry smile, I recalled what had happened.

Unsurprisingly, the guild clerks were rather perplexed, and ultimately, I had to go again and again and again until I got my registration.

Thinking on it now, I was being pretty unreasonable, but I was desperate.

…There’s a chance it’s my fault that there’s an age limit now… well, maybe I’m giving myself too much credit, but it might have been one of the main reasons.

“Then how old are you now, Big Sister?”

“Eighteen. Probably.”

To be honest, I might be off by a year or so. My age didn’t matter that much to me.

“Well, setting that aside, I sc.r.a.ped by day to day taking on various jobs as an adventurer. And when I say various, I’m really not kidding. Often it was monster extermination, caravan escort, bandit hunting… I’ve gone into combat as a mercenary too.”

“That reminds me, you said you would go back to being an adventurer.”

“Good memory.”

“Of course. I said I’d be one too.”

‘So you did, now that I think about it,’ I smiled wryly. By what twist of fate did I go from there to end up here?

Life is beyond my ability to understand, I think.

“However, in practice, the core of adventuring is still ruin exploration. So one day, I…”

Now I got down to business.

I told them that I found a new set of ruins in the Artor Ruins Cl.u.s.ter.

That I surveyed it by myself, even though it was reckless.

That even so, I discovered its final treasure.

That I triggered a trap and got poisoned.

That I did made a decision that I now genuinely considered rash, and chugged the vials of mystery medicine.