Chapter 21 (2/2)

Her s beauty

He stumbled back and fell on his butt As he still tried to draw back, he involuntarily gave an ingratiating smile

She put the end of her saber to his throat and said, ”—I have some questions for you, dipshi+t”

The man could only nod stupidly

†††

It was cramped and pitch-black

Her hands and feet were tied up, and she had a gag in her mouth

She sat with her knees to her chest, unable to stir in the slightest

Why… why did it turn into this? she thought absentmindedly with a vacant stare

Lily's gaze wandered around the darkness

This here she hen she came to her senses

Cram school ended as usual today, but she was late on her way home The Cornwell's son, Juli, pulled her aside to study with her

Lily wanted to go hoood will, since he was to be the successor of the Cornwell institution She ignored his rather uninteresting talks of poe sootten very late

Juli orried for her, so he offered to take her hoht that she'd be fine on her own, and there was no reason to make the son of a noble personally escort her, so she turned him down

That was her mistake

She thought that if she had just listened to hiht not have ended up like this

Lily took the main road as she always did

A boy that she didn't know called out to her

His clothing wasn't bad and he was a little older than her, but his eyes had an evil look to the food to Borris-ojichan's place in celebration of his job, but there's too et Lily to help”

To be honest, it sounded strange Borris lived in the old tohich was dangerous to walk around in at night

However, fro the o too She read toowith it

The boy took out a piece of honey candy, which was , and offered it to her, ”Want some?”

She took it and put it in herthe way

Then—that's where her memory became fuzzy The last of what she re into alleys, and the candy in herpowder After that, the world started to spin and, as if she were in a dream the whole time, she woke up like this

I wonder… What's going to happen to me… she asked herself over and over with a dead expression She was vaguely aware that she had been kidnapped and was being confined She cried, she screaled—but her stamina had already run out

Will I be taken by souys… and forced into labor…?

The first things that cained a scaryforced to do hard labor in a

She was still too young to iine what other, possibly worse, outcomes there could be

However, that didn't change the fact that she was terrified She quietly sobbed into the gag Maybe she had cried too much already, as no tears came from her already red eyes Mom… Dad… Save me… I won't be selfish, I'll study harder, I'll listen better I want to see you, Dad, Mom…

She scrunched up her face in the dark

She prayed Without speaking, she cried

A loudsuddenly came from above

She jolted in surprise and looked upward The sound of e of the situation and she began to tre the time of her execution

More and radually widened Her only thought to the warht was, the outside

Will I get out of here?

Or… will I be taken out of here?

”Mmmn!! Mnmnnn!!” Lily's sense of fear suddenly returned, and in spite of hardly being able to th to try to resist and twisted around

”Lily! Lily!!”

But the voice she heard sounded fa

”Lily! Are you okay?!”

Lily saw Aileen's face peering down at her fro

”Are you hurt?! Wait one sec, I'll get you out right away!”

Aileen leaned over and with her right hand grabbed onto the rope on Lily's back Then, with unith in her slender aro

Aileen narrowed her gaze at the gag and tightly bound rope around her ”So cruel, to such a s to do”

Lily couldn't keep up as going on, she blinked with surprise

Aileen quickly cut the rope with her knife and re

”I'ht now”

She sive her peace of mind

Lily was able to realize that soht had run out of tears quickly welled up again ”O…nee-chaaan!!”

”There, there It was scary, wasn't it?”

She clung to Aileen, hugging her and crying For a moment, Aileen looked like she was about to cry, too She closed her eyes and held Lily's tiny body close to her ”It's okay… It's all okay now”

Lily's face was covered in tears and snot Like a co a baby, Aileen slowly rocked her back and forth Aileen gently stroked her back ”Now… NoIt'd be a shame if you ruined your pretty face, Lily”

”Ehu, onee-cha, onee-chan”

”Your o home”

”Y…eah, let's go…” She pulled away fro her eyes and nodded

Aileen gave a small smile This whole situation was unfortunate, but at least she wasn't harmed

[PART 3]

They descended the stairs Aileen carried Lily on her back since her legs were unsteady froasped in surprise at theon the floor—especially Borris, who renored it and left straight out the door

”So, which way is home?”

Currently, they were somewhere near the et to theher memories from before the sun set, she moved toward the center of the district

However, before they even walked for one minute, Aileen said, ”What's that…?”

Straight ahead were a large nuhts They could hear the sound oftoward them

The people running were a group of guards carrying lanterns

”Ah! Aileen!!”

And then from behind them, the face that popped out suddenly was—

”—Kei?!” Aileen shouted, al Lily slip off accidentally

He ca hi His face was flushed and under his leather hel around

Having not yet grasped the situation, Kei rushed straight to her ”Are you hurt anywhere?!”

Aileen shook her head, taken aback ”I-I'm fine”

”It looks like it's already over… I guess I was too slow”

He saw Lily on her back and breathed a sigh of relief as he exhaustedly put his hands on his knees From behind him shouted a familiar voice, ”Lily!! Lily!!”

”Dad!!” With eyes wide open Lily jumped off of Aileen's back and ran toward the voice

Montand staggered as he ran out frouards

”Lily!! You're fine?!”

”Dad!! Daaad!!”

Lily dove into his arround in the an to cry

”I'lad that you were safe! Oh… Lily!”

”Dad! I was so scared!”

Kei and Aileen watched the tith gentle expressions

”Umm Well, er…” A voice interjected frouards, an older man with a splendid black beard ”Ah, you're the one from that time!” He pointed at Aileen He was the inspection officer during the incident with her Hi-Potion back at the gate

The man removed his helmet and scratched his head with an embarrassed expression, ”Sorry, but could you explain what happened?”

”Sure… Well, it's exactly as it looks” Kei shrugged slightly and pointed at Lily and Montand ”Aileen successfully rescued that child”

”Uh, well, I get that much, but…” He looked even more embarrassed, but looked at Aileen suspiciously ”I heard that a skilled hter was on their way for the rescue, but it was her…?”

”Yeah, that's right She's theher?”

”Not even a ht men inside, but I left them all alive… Borris was there too” She added the last part in a low voice

”What…?” Kei knit his brow and his face turned serious

The black bearded man looked confused, and while still somewhat doubtful, decided not to pursue it and shouted at his subordinates, ”Hey, you all! The kidnappers' den is close!”

”Wait a sec, what are you doing here, Kei?”

Kei smiled as if to uards and persuaded Montand to coh, it looks like ere too slow…”

”Well, there's that too But how did you know to come here?” She tilted her head with an aard expression

Kei looked away

Behind hiht she saw a girl in an angel's raily

”W-whaat?” Her jaw dropped ”You used an emerald…? That's such a waste!”

”It's fine! What's it matter…” He had a sour expression, but turned serious and looked at Aileen, ”We can buy a jewel or thenever ant! But…”

But… he thought His gaze wavered, and his ain ”Well, um, at any rate… Sorry we're late” Kei lowered his head

Aileen blinked at his unexpected action After a short while her expression changed as if to say, there's no helping it, and she lightly pushed his head ”Don't worry about it… I'm just happy that you came Also…”

She remembered that what she said to hi it up again and apologizing cause it to be an issue again?

Right now—

She said nothing, put her hand on his shoulder, and gave hih it really is just that you caht, but to be honest, you didn't do jack shi+t!”

”Ugh… I can't argue with the truth…!” He looked vexed as Aileen laughed

”What's with all this stuff anyway? Plan on waging a war? There's no way you'd ever use this many arrows!”

”You never knohat ht come in handy! Leave me alone!”

”I thought you couldn't use a bow in urban combat~”

”I planned on shooting through walls if it came to it!”

With the guards in a circle around them the two pestered each other noisily Next to them the parent and child couple cried

The black bearded hed ”I want to go home soon…”

†††

Afterwards, the guards arrested Borris and the other abductors

After they exa, they found various narcotics and illegal goods It turned out to be a large-scale drug cartel's den

Borris seeanization

They arrested ating, and Borris included, were mostly sentenced to decapitation The others were all forced into slavery, working until death in either thewaste in the northern section of Satyna

The only useful inforet froer; a thin man nahly likely that he had already left

From the past events, Montand and his family were exhausted mentally and physically

Particularly Lily, who te from the shock at home Montand also took a short break from his work

”We are spending ti a sripped Aileen's hand and said, ”Really, thank you so much” The amount of times he bowed his head to her was impressive

Kei and Aileen stayed in Satyna for another three days after the incident

They wanted to find a job as escorts as well as wait for Connor to finish Mikazuki's hide

For better or worse, because of the incident they—priain some fame and reputation

The allantly invaded the kidnappers' den and admirably rescued a child For that person to be a beautiful young girl as well, there was no way that people wouldn't talk about it The tales of her heroism beca for escorting jobs, shopkeepers came to them with escort requests

The largest one of them all was Montand's client, the Cornwell co was that Juli, Cornwell's son, kept Lily at theof guilt Juli was so grateful for Aileen saving Lily that he e amount of money as a reward personally

The reward came from his own pocket old coins Kei and Aileen were both surprised and wanted to accept thearound with so many coins would be a pain

The boy was clever; he understood that ic cost a catalyst such an eold coin that he had left, bought them new ones the next day The jewels and labradorite[1] were of such a fine quality that Aileen wouldn't have to worry about her usage, and Kei could use his 『Manifest』 again, after having run out of eot them faster than expected

Juli also wanted to arrange for Lily to have a bodyguard to bring her to and from cram school once she returned The idea he proposed was for Aileen to be the bodyguard If the guard was a ood looks and abilities, she was already close to Lily While it was another eye-popping addition to the reward, neither Kei nor Aileen intended to stay in Satyna and regretfully turned him down

With the prospect of Aileen being Lily's bodyguard gone, Juli looked awfully disappointed However, he are that Kei and Aileen would be heading to Urvan and began to speak of work There was a caravan ofnorth to Urvan via the highway They'd received treato on top of a great reward Kei would never have iined they would receive such treatment from a boy that they had no interaction with until this point

—The good you do for others is good you do yourself, huh

Thethat he couldn't help but think of as they stood in front of the northern gates

Thetheir final check of their luggage Kei and Aileen were all ready to go Kei rode Sasuke while Aileen rode one of the plains people's horses, recently nah the Cornwell company

”Onee-chan… You're leaving?”

”Yeah, sorry I have to go to Urvan no etic

Aileen and Lily said their goodbyes next to Kei Lily hung her head She didn't ask Aileen not to go She didn't cry She kneould be selfish All she did was silently hang her head

”I know I'll give you this” Aileen nimbly jumped off of Suzuka and squatted down to Lily's level

”What's this…?”

”It's a charm”

The thing she put in Lily's hand was a rose quartz ge on a chain

”Ias the sun is set, you can call ain and you call ht away”

Although, she said Lily could call her, she couldn't teleport to her It would use『Manifest』so that they could talk for a short tih for a child that the char distance

Nonetheless, Aileen's words had a rasped it preciously with the sparkle back in her eyes ”Thank you, onee-chan…” She did her best to put on the bravest smile she could and expressed her thanks, but tears soon welled up in her eyes and her smile crumbled ”Onee-chaaan…”

”There, there…” Aileen held the crying Lily to her chest as she softly stroked her head

Kei watched silently from his horse

”Kei-san…”

Kiska and Montand came up to Kei's side, careful not to bother Aileen and Lily

”Hey there”

Kei moved to dismount, as it would be rude to stay up there, but Montand stopped hi us”

”I didn't do anything… It was all Aileen” Kei smiled aardly as they both bowed to him His smile wasn't exactly forced, but you couldn't call it natural either

”We've already said our thanks to her many times Of course, it's not a matter of the number of times…”

Kiska held a basket out to Kei while Montand flailed his arms in a panic and tried to correct what he said

”They're sandwiches I apologize that this is all it is, but I hope that you and Aileen will enjoy them for lunch today”

”Oh, thank you… what about the basket?”

”Keep it, of course”

”Thanks” Kei smiled with his reply as he fastened the basket to Sasuke's saddle

Montand recovered himself in that time and took out a medium sized quiver ”I' arrows I hope you find a use for them

”Oh, this is… I already have a bunch of arrows, but… is this okay?”

”Of course it is” Montand nodded deeply

Kei seriously had a lot of arrows He purchased most of them from Montand, but the proble the one on his back, the ones on either side of Sasuke's saddle, and the one on Sasuke's back Three of thee to boot

”I'll gladly take them But there's still a lot of space in the quivers I have, could I just take the arrows?”

”Yes, certainly, certainly”

Kei took the arrows from him and put them into the quiver on his back He felt that these were somehow made even more carefully than the others

”Alright It's about time that we head off!” The head of the caravan shouted from the front

The htened up in their saddles

It was time to leave

”It's time”

”Yes… Take care”

”Truly, thank you so much”

Montand and Kiska bowed to Kei and Aileen and gave them their thanks one last time

Kei reaze from them and looked up at the sky absentmindedly

The sound of wooden wheels turning began and the wagons slowly started to move forward

Kei lightly kicked Sasuke's flanks and he, too, moved forward

”Onee-chan! See you again!!”

”Take care!! I'll definitely coain!!” Aileen shouted and waved back at them from next to Kei

It had been approxiht to this world

Just ere they brought here?

Kei and Aileen began their trip to solve that mystery

Their destination, north The center of the Ri'leir region

—The fortress city, Urvan

Afterword

Left to right: Borris, Tristan, Ahito

Tonderful illustrations from Mr NAKA! Thank you very much! Ahito is a character from the second volume, so he hasn't made an appearance yet

His figure has only been seen from the back, yet he's been made to look this cool! Thank you very much!

By the way, Ahito is a plains person The plains people have his general features

TRANSLATOR'S NOTES

[1] labradorite: enwikipediaorg/wiki/Labradorite

Illustrations courtesy of Mr NAKA Find him at(opens in new tab)