Vol 1 Chapter 14 (1/2)
Chapter 1, Part 4
“…This sucks,” Tohru co his unsheathed hatchet in one hand
“Ah, da now is respectable work, right? shi+t I told her that those ork, lose God damn it, what a pain Why can’t money just fall down from somewhere? That’d be much faster”
Tohru was so disgusted that he laid bare all the standard re
Of course, although it was true that they had nowas not an option
Spread out before Tohru’s eyes was a deep mountain forest
Del Solant was a normal fort town Because it was surrounded by a mountain on three sides, it wasn’t very convenient for transport, but because of that it was hard to attack and easy to defend The long period of war had created the need for many cities to be outfitted with fortresses and other defensive structures, though now that the wars had all ended sily fortified cities were merely obstacles that made an already rural area even more of a nuisance to travel to and from
At any rate, just outside of Del Solant there existed an enore
This etation and wild ani tried to push their way through here, theyBecause of this, almost nobody, except professionals like hunters and lumberjacks, ventured out to this place
Tohru had thought it would be a pretty good place to capture mice or rabbits or pick wild plants
But…
“Geez, that Akari”
Leaves that he had hacked off from a shrub with his hatchet whirled up in the air and fluttered in front of his face He grabbed one of therumble
“After all this ti this from me now?”
It had already been a year since they had drifted to Del Solant
After day after day of watching her older brother do absolutely nothing but laze around, it seeiven up on hiht a fire under his ass and make him work
Akari had also been the one to register Tohru into Del Solant’s guild She had registered herself as well, but because there were probably way too o around Toof the world and had coot the brunt of the crappy jobs forced onto her, so her incoh to scrape by
If you thought about it, not just Del Solant but all city strongholds prized self-sufficiency Refugees just weren’t going to get a ton of sweet-sounding job offers–even more so if you were considered a newcomer
“I h; she can easily just shack up with souy that’s suitable for her and have him feed us”
As if she would deem it necessary to concern herself with her useless brother then
Tohru felt like he’d rather be given up on and let free, honestly–when hunger becah the mountains like this Of course, without any bread, cheese, butter, salt, or pepper, he would get really tired of having to eat plants for every threeit
“In the first place, even though we’re ‘brother and sister’ now, originally ere strangers…honestly, why now?”
Muttering things like that, Tohru h the forest Because not a lot of people came in here, even animal trails barely existed, let alone hardened, well-treaded footpaths Tohru was used to this kind of thing so it was fine for him; however, for an amateur the results could have been disastrous
But…
“…Hm?”
Tohru stopped suddenly
A sound coht his ears
“What was that…?”
He held his breath, pricked up his ears, and listened Once again, he heard a noise–it sounded like soradually approaching him
So in the bushes
“…An animal?”
When he took a closer look, he noticed that in addition to the sound, the brush was quivering He took note of exactly how , and based on that had a pretty good idea of the size of the thing hidden within
It looked to be about the size of a huer
He immediately measured the distance between him and the creature: about 15 meters(1) An animal would easily be able to cover that distance in an instant, even with the bad footing of the mountain forest
Tohru prepared himself
If it was an animal like a deer or boar, he wanted to hunt it If it was an anio
And if, by any chance, it was a Feyra…well, he would think about that when the time came
Giving up ht be a solid option at that point
Well, it doesn’t seem like one of those
He thought, not tense at all
There–
“…?”
Thud Thud He heard a noise that couldn’t possibly belong to an animal
Tohru searched through his memories to try and find a noise to co a wooden box? Definitely so hard and artificial At the very least, it wasn’t the sound of an animal’s footsteps, and it probably wasn’t the sound of an insect, either, and when he listened carefully, he could hear the sound of so pulled
What the hell is that?
It probably wasn’t a hunter or a lumberjack
If it came to that…
“…”
Suddenly, so stuck up out of the bushes
“Ah?”
Tohru fixed his eyes upon it
So ay off Or perhaps you could say it was just unnatural Anyway, however you phrase it, it was clear that this being’s existence was completely unexpected
To get straight to the point, it was……a huirl
She looked to be about fourteen or fifteen
She had lovely, refined features
Since it was ht that filtered through the trees glistened gently on her long, silver hair Affixed to her head hite hair ornae purple eyes blinked rapidly in surprise as she looked around to survey her surroundings In some respects she looked like a small animal
In any case, she wasn’t a ferocious wild beast On the contrary–with her dark clothing and frail-looking stature, she looked more like someone that would be attacked here
This petite girl andering aih the h However, this situation had gone beyond “curious” and into just plain weird Although her one-piece outfit was mostly dark, it also had various decorative cloths and personal accessories attached to it–an outfit that was in no way suitable for s and remnants of shrubbery stuck all over her body as well
Of course, she didn’t have a hatchet to cut through the undergrowth, and she didn’t have any sort of a walking stick either
Most hikers through this area had at least soirl looked like she was on a don stroll or belonged at some aristocrat’s ball
If it wasn’t a disaster waiting to happen, it would be so
It seemed likely that she had underestimated the mountain
However…
“What is…that?”
Even though it had only been an instant, he had e aniht it was part of a creature For so cue dark red case, which looked to be the cause of the brushso much
No, it was so more than a “case”
“…A coffin?”
The fact that it was oblong was already telling–it was an octagonal shape stretched out The only thing that Tohru could compare it to in hiselse
Of course, the coffin-like object was big enough to fit a fully-grown adult inside, and as such was irl herself A leather belt rapped around it so she could carry it on her back while walking Carrying it like this should have caused it to suffer scrapes or quite possibly cause it to break, but perhaps because it was quite durable, not a scratch or crack could be seen anywhere on it
However, just what in the world was she trying to do?
Even if the coffin were completely empty, it should be quite heavy
At the very least, a little girl like her had no business in the ? It even had some kind of lamp installed on its side
Well, if you were to co, the former would probably be safer…
“…Hey”
Tohru was in shock at this girl who had so naturally risen up out of the bushes, but he recovered and called out to her
“You there What are you doing?”
“…!”
The girl jumped in surprise and turned her head in Tohru’s direction
When she saw hie purple eyes opened even wider
“What the hell are you doing out here in the mountains?”
In a sense, he could ask himself the same question–
“…!?”
But before he could get an answer…
With a heavy, forceful noise, the girl and the coffin sunk back into the bushes
“Hey…?”
Tohru jolted forward at this unexpected reaction, calling out to her However, in the next instant, he saw a trail of rustling brush move quickly away from him It appeared that she had fled She had looked rather confused
“…”
It was easier to get lost on a mountain than in a town
Even going straight was difficult in this area There were many hardshi+ps to be found when one was not used totheir hile trying to avoid various obstacles and unwittingly going around in circles as a result
Actually–
“…”
While squinting, Tohru observed the girl hunkered down in the bushes She keptin that direction–until he heard a “thu had caused her to stop She headed back in another direction, but then he heard another “thump” and a dull crash, and she stopped once more, moved to the side, then went back and forth until finally ending up returning to her original position in front of Tohru
And so…
“…”
“…Welcome back”
Is it okay now? The girl who had gotten herself stuck in the brush see He wondered if she had finally learned her lesson By now they were about two meters away from each other–if he took one or two steps and extended his hand, he could have easily reached her
“…!?”
The girl’s face froze in surprise
Because Tohru was used to dealing with the stony-faced Akari, he had to ad
She flapped her arht, and then once more in front of her
Then, after she had panicked for a bit, she stoppedsuddenly and spoke
“A…”
” ‘A’ “?
There was a sound like the snapping of a twig as the girl gave an accusatory glare and pointed at Tohru, his head tilted in wonderment
“Attacker?”
“Attacker? Who’s attacking? Who’s being attacked?”
It wasn’t like Tohru didn’t understand what she was trying to say, but he deliberately asked anyway
“You Me”
After pointing at Tohru, she pointed to herself
How could one put this… all her actions see with so back On the other hand, she was certainly wary of him, and looked ready to strike
“…”
“…”
Tohru gazed at the girl with half-closed eyes
The girl glared at Tohru with upturned eyes
There was an air of one-sided tension between the two
Then–
“You want me to attack you?”
“…”
The girl shook her head vigorously
“Bandit–no?”
“If you’re asking if I’ around, I’m not”
“……”
“Sorry to disappoint you, but currently I don’t have an occupation”
“……Hunter?”
The girl knitted her brows as she stared at Tohru’s face
“Like I said, I don’t have a job”
Tohru heaved a sigh
Sure, he would catch small animals on occasion But you couldn’t call that “professionally hunting”
“I eat wild plants in order to survive”
Truth be told, even he thought saying so was pathetic, but if he were to get so easily depressed after all this ti with her hammer
“…Understand”
The girl gave a nod of assent as she said this
For soed into a triuht at the tip of Tohru’s nose like she had come to some conclusion
“Beggar!”
“Well, I guess it is true that I don’t have a job and I’ain by everyone really is irritating”
He said this with a sigh
While it was just a bit strange to be called a beggar by someone else, it was true that he was poor to the point where he alirl’s facial expression looked like she was laughing at hi down on hiave off the ireat pleasure to look at
“Beggar Understand Beggar”
She nodded her head again and again