Chapter 109

“Hahh…”

Spirits join the night wind as they playfully fly around me. It is just the perfect degree of coolness for my heated body, and I cannot help but smile. The spirits laugh too. They fly around and eventually rise into the sky where they disappear.

“Asagi looked so happy today…”

I recalled our little dinner party. That scene, where we reunited with Gardo and Ness, old acquaintances from Fhiraldo. Asagi had laughed and enjoyed himself so much as we ate. Sometimes he would act serious when Ness teased him, but he always smiled, and then he would look slightly embarrassed when Gardo commended him. Those smiles felt so genuine.

These two, who were now dozing off in front of me, do not know that Asagi has killed people.

I had to deal with that bandit’s head. It was on the first day of our arrival.

□ □ □ □

After Asagi finished playing with fire in the bathing room, I invited him to come in with me. And we bathed together. I gave his body a good scrubbing and then some. And he ended up quite exhausted and fell asleep right after. Just as I had intended. I do feel guilty about that, but I had my reasons.

It was midnight. Asagi had sunk into our bed. I slipped out alone and poked his cheek, but he did not respond. His eyebrows were somewhat tense, perhaps he was still feeling the aftermath, but he looked cute when asleep. I attempted to unknit those eyebrows of his, and he rolled onto his other side in annoyance. I chuckled.

And so I took the root of Asagi’s recent problems with me and left the room. The head of the bandit that was wrapped in many layers of cloth. It was now stuffed in a bag so that no one could see it. And like that, I went out into Replant’s night. My destination was, of course, the guardhouse. There were diners on the way that were still open even at midnight, but I did not feel like stopping. In a way, I had forced this action upon him, and that had resulted in a deep, deep wound. With the root of that in my vision, I could hardly work up an appetite.

I saw a guard on patrol on the street, and so I asked for the location of the guardhouse. I had acted before actually finding out where I needed to go. Of course, I might have dealt with this at the gate that we first entered from, but these sort of things were best taken to the central guardhouse. As ultimately, some of the work required you to contact the central guardhouse.

The patrolling guard had initially mistaken me for a lady of the night and given me a contemptuous look, but a murderous glare caused him to jump back in surprise and point his spear at me. Hmm. Shoddy, but at least somewhat disciplined. This one might just barely be reliable.

“Excuse me, but there is something I need to ask you.”

“Fi-first, you will stop looking at me like that…!”

“Ah, forgive me. Someone was looking at me with foul eyes, and I could not help it.”

“Fffo-for that I will apologize…! But…”

He looked like he was ready to faint. And so I fixed him with a gentler stare and asked him where I might find the central guardhouse. When he was able to breathe easy again, he said that he would take me to it. But he backed off when I flatly refused and said that I would have no problem finding it if I knew where to go. It helped that he understood what I was capable of.

With the hefty bag in my hand, I opened the door to the guardhouse. There was a clerk there who looked at me through sleepy eyes, but he jumped up after hearing what my business was and ran to the back to call his superior officer.

“I am in charge of Replant’s central guard house at night. You can call me Assam. I heard that you have some important business here. What is it?”

“I am Daniela. We suppressed a certain bandit ambush the other day. And I have here brought the head of their leader. I would like for it to be inspected.”

“Hmm…it is in that bag then? Leave it here. You must wait in the back room until we are finished.”

“I understand.”

I handed over the bag, and the captain…Assam, led me to a room in the back. Hmm. It reminded me of that room in Fhiraldo that I had to share with Asagi. One table. Two chairs. One bed. Bars over the window. A plain room. I sat down in the chair and stared up at the ceiling. I thought of Asagi.

Hardly any time had passed since the incident with the bandits, and there was a shadow behind his smiles. Sometimes I would see a sadness in his eyes as he sighed. He seemed to have found heart again after that night we spent with Marie Elle, but the wound was still there. And it would take some time for it to heal. I could have made him feel good, and then we could have had slowly talked about it, but I wanted to be rid of this head, the cause of it all, first.

□ □ □ □

That was what I thought… But it seems that Asagi was able to relax a lot because of those two. I had seen it as a role that I had to fill. But for his sake, I am fine with the outcome. Well, I had been making my own plans while at the guardhouse, thinking of ways to cheer him up. But I was rather hopeless, as my thoughts quickly turned to more carnal ideas. I still had a lot to learn.

“Miss Daniela.”

Assam said with a knock on the door. I frantically shook the indecent thoughts out of my head.

“Come in.”

It actually took me some time before I could say that, but thankfully, I had returned to normal by then.

“We have finished inspecting the head. I will need a word with you.”

“Here?”

“No, there is an inspection room upstairs.”

“I understand.”

I got up and fixed the chair before following him out of the room. We climbed the stairs that were four rooms down and reached the second floor. The room in the center of this floor was where we were going. When we entered, I was greeted by the head of the man I killed and Asagi had beheaded. It was not pleasant, and I sighed and folded my arms.

“So, who is that?”

“This man was a former Adventurer who had been terrorizing the lands around Replant. His name was Gargan Zeera. A former garnet. “

Hmm…garnet. A ‘C’ rank Adventurer. The same rank as Asagi was now. Well, Asagi was still stronger.

“He had been imprisoned in the past for repeated acts of violence and robbery. But it wasn’t until he forced himself on a woman that he was sent to the mines. However…”

“He escaped then?”

“Indeed.”

To call the management of those mines careless, would be an understatement. It was hardly surprising that people had escaped from there. If you found a way to remove your shackles, there was little other people could do to distinguish you. After all, this one was a C ranker. That meant a level of accomplishment.

“And then he began his life as a bandit.”

“Indeed. We have sent our men out after every attack, but he has always managed to escape. These bandits were living in the forest.”

“The forest?”

That was the blood apes’ territory. It seemed insane to live in there. However, it must have been true, if they were always able to escape into the forest. But I could not understand why they were not attacked.

“So, that is who we killed.”

“Aye, I cannot thank you enough. We have suffered many times because of him.”

“You have my sympathy. We buried his men in a corner of the forest. As well as their victim.”

“I have read the report. A girl returned alone…”

“Not alone. She arrived with me and my partner.”

“That is right. I thank you again, for saving a citizen, and for killing the bandit.”

He bowed, as did the guard who had been inspecting the head. I nodded back. My business here was finished.

“Of course, there was a price put on Gargan’s head. It had gone up, not only due to his strength, but due to his repeated crimes. And so the bounty is now ten pieces of gold.”

“Hmm… I will not say no to a full purse.”

Money was money. We needed it to continue our journey, and so I would take it. That is something I learned in my many years of traveling.

“Then please confirm the amount.”

A purse of gold coins was brought and the guard emptied it on the table for me to count.

“….Yes, ten gold pieces. Thank you.”

“Thank you for everything that you have done.”

“No, it was only by chance.”

We had merely come upon them while exiting the forest. I was sad that we could not save Marie Elle’s father, but we were able to save her. I was sure that her father, who had died defending her, would be happy that she survived.

I put the purse away in my pocket and left the guard house. The wind felt much colder now on my way back to the inn. Now, things were finished…no, not really. Business-wise, it was. I was rid of the head. But Asagi’s heart was still bleeding. And I thought of little else as I walked back. This time I made no detours and remained deep in thought until I arrived.

I returned to the room and sank back under the covers. Asagi was groaning in his sleep. Perhaps I was tired of thinking too much, because I quickly fell asleep. And while I still felt a little tired, I woke up very alert the next morning. …Thought absolutely no one, but me. Asagi told me this later, but he had tried to wake me up, but I had kept sleeping. So that was why he wasn’t there when I got up. And so I absentmindedly enjoyed a morning bath… That was when Asagi had burst into the room. The rest hardly needs to be explained. We scolded an arrogant child, hunted together, talked to an annoying parent and dined on meat.

“I have to tell Asagi about it…”

About the head, of course. I sigh again and look up at the night sky. Spirits of the wind flit in the air overhead. ‘Fresh Green Eye’ allows me to see these spirits often. One of them catches my eyes and it waves happily as it descends.

Suddenly, it looks away from me and in a different direction. I follow its gaze and see Asagi, a pleasant wind of silver and green swirls around his feet. The wind spirits seem to appreciate it as well, and they clap and cheer. I felt bad that Asagi could not see them. I could not imagine not being able to see these adorable spirits.

The one that descended now lands on my shoulder. It points towards Asagi with excitement, but I put a finger in front of my lips and signal for it to be quiet. The spirit mimics the gesture and we both laugh.

Now, Silvergreen is coming. I whisper secrets to the spirit and prepare to greet him.