A month after Amelia left on a journey with Rory.

“Grr!”

She was walking through a town with a furious expression her face. This expression caused every man to stay clear from her, despite being as beautiful as she was.

“Where is that useless bastard?!”

She suddenly shouted.

Let’s rewind to a few hours later.

“Wow, our first town in a month! I was getting tired of seeing trees everywhere I looked.”

Rory said as he looked down on a town, while standing on a cliff.

“Seriously, how far up in the mountains was that country of yours? What’s it called again, Bush?”

“Buchse.”

Amelia answered with a frown.

“Right, right. I can’t believe it took us a month to reach civilization.”

“Actually, the next town was only a day’s walk from Buchse.”

Amelia answered.

“Really? Then why did we take a month?”

Rory asked with a confused expression.

“Why, you ask.”

Amelia’s body started to visibly shake.

“It’s because you’re always getting drunk and diverting into a random direction, that’s why!”

She shouted.

“First, you stole all of the liquor from Buchse you could find and stored it in a giant sack, then you tried to drink it all at once every night and get drunk every single time!”

Just remembering the journey here made Amelia’s blood boil.

On the first night he got drunk, Rory stripped naked and started to roam about in the forest. By the time she found him, it was already dawn. But that wasn’t the surprising part.

She found him surrounded by a pack of wolves by a cave. He had somehow became their alpha in a couple hours, and was getting ready to lead them into a war against a neighboring pack for territory.

The second night was even worse, she found him squaring off with a rare water serpent in a river. The serpent was very poisonous, so she couldn’t get near them.

She had to wait until Rory finally knocked out the serpent, only have its partner come for revenge.

The third night, he didn’t strip naked or wandered off. Instead, he started sleepwalking. If that was all, then it wouldn’t be a big deal, but he was apparently dreaming about a time he was in battle.

Amelia had to dodge his attacks all night like her life depended on it.

It goes without saying the rest of the month was a living hell for her.

“I almost got eaten by a tribe of cannibals because of you!”

“Hey, I saved you, didn’t I?”

“That’s only after you sobered up! Before that, you were suggesting to them what kind of spices they should use!”

“Hey, I thought that you were a boar.”

Rory answered without any guilt at all.

Amelia growled when she heard his carefree tone.

“Anyway, let's enter the town. I’ve ran out of booze and plus we need to know where we are since neither of us is familiar with the area.”

Rory said.

“Fine.”

The two then went down the cliff and arrived at the town’s entrance.

“Grace Town?”

Amelia read the name that was on the gate.

“Looks like we have to pay to get in.”

Amelia said after seeing a toll booth on the side of the gate.

“I’ll go find out how much is the toll.”

She took a step towards the booth, but was dragged back by the collar.

“What are you doing?”

“That’s what I want to ask you.”

Rory said.

“Pay the toll? Ha! I don’t waste money on something so meaningless.”

“Then how do we get in? You aren’t going to suggest we break in, right?”

Amelia looked at him with a suspicious look.

“My dear, Elia. Do I look like a savage to you?”

“I don’t know. After seeing you allowing yourself to be pampered by a mother bear who mistook you for her cub, I don’t know what to think of you.”

Amelia answered with a straight face.

“Well, I am no savage. I’m an elegant being sent from the heavens.”

For some reason, it seemed as if holy light was shining down on him.

“And as an elegant being, I must act elegantly.”

He took an old robe from his sack and conjured a cane out of earth. He put on the robe, arched his back and used the cane to support himself.

“Follow my lead.”

“………..”

Amelia didn’t know what to do and just followed behind him.

Disguised as an elderly person, Rory slowly approached the booth.

“Um, excuse me.”

Even his voice was perfect.

“Yes. How may I help you, Elder?”

The person said from beyond the booth.

“My granddaughter and I have come from over those mountains in search of my son who came here for work.”

‘Granddaughter? Son?’

Amelia was confused by what Rory was saying, but remained quiet.

“I’ve lost touched with my son a few years ago, and I got so worried that I made my granddaughter accompany me here.”

“I see. So how may I help you?”

Asked the person beyond the booth.

“You see, in the last few years tragedy has struck our family time and time again. First, I lost my wife of 50 years, then my granddaughter lost her husband in a hunting accident, and now I’ve been diagnosed with an incurable disease.”

Rory coughed up some blood after speaking. It was actually ketchup though.

“Elder, are you okay?!”

The person beyond the booth grew frantic.

“I-I’m fine. Thank you for your concern, my child.”

Rory lifted up his trembling hand and said.

“Is there anything I can do?!”

The person said.

“Thank you. Actually, my poor granddaughter, having lost so much have lost her ability to speak because of the grief.”

“My god….”

‘My god, indeed.’

Amelia thought while watching the façade in front of her playing out.

“As you can see, I don’t have much time left. So before I go, I wish to reunite my granddaughter with her father, so that she can have someone to rely on when I’m gone.”

“I see, I see.”

“The problem is, we didn’t know that we needed to pay a toll and didn’t bring any money.”

“Toll? What toll?”

“It says right there, that everyone must pay 4 pieces of silver to enter the town.”

The moment he said that, he saw a hand take down the sign that stated the toll price.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Entering this town is totally free.”

“My, young man….”

Rory suddenly sounded like he was about to cry.

“It’s good to see that they’re still kindhearted people as yourself around.”

“Don’t worry about it, Elder.”

The man beyond the booth pushed out two entry tickets under the glass.

“G-Go. Go and find your son.”

The man started breaking down.

“Thank you, young man. May the Sacred God bless you.”

Rory bowed and took the tickets. Amelia bowed as well and two entered the town.

After they were gone, the man in the booth completely broke down.

“Some people sure have tough.”

He said.

“Hahahaha!”

After entering the town, Rory threw away the old robe and stick and burst out laughing.

“You’re the worst.”

Amelia looked at him with disgust and said.

“Say what you want, I still got us in pretty easy.”

Rory said without remorse.

“You took advantage of someone’s kindness.”

“Ha! Like they weren’t trying to take advantage of us. I mean 4 silvers to enter this broken downtown? I could get 2 bottles of booze with that. That’s highway robbery!”

Rory retorted.

“That’s why I had to finesse the system.”

“Yes, yes. You’re a true revolutionary.”

“Call me Rory X. Hahahaha!”

He said.

“Seriously, why did I chose to follow this man?”

Amelia said.

She continued walking until she realized that Rory was quiet for more than 30 seconds. As far as she knows, that only happens in three situations:

He’s either eating, drinking, or not there.

He talks in his sleep all night, by the way.

She quickly turned around and as expected, he wasn’t there.

“Damn it!”

And that returns us to the present time.

“Why does it feel like I’ve only shortened my life since I joined up with that guy?”

She said.

“Besides, what about training me? He hasn’t taught me anything despite that I shouldn’t take up drinking.”

She grumbled.

She walked around the town until she came across a road that didn’t have that many people. It looked shady but the best place to look for a shady person is to look in shady places.

Thinking that, Amelia walked down the road.

She looked around while walking and quickly figured out that this area was the slumps of the town. The houses looked broken down, and there weren’t that many businesses.

The people were either laying on the ground trying their best to sleep away their hunger, or were looking at Amelia like she was a fat sheep they could devour. Even so, Amelia’s steps didn’t halt or slowed for a moment. She walked proudly and without fear.

“What do you think?”

“?!”

That’s when she heard a familiar voice behind her and quickly spun around. As expected, Rory was standing there with a smile.

“What are you doing?”

Amelia asked rather upset.

“I’m rather fond of these areas, they show what reality is like more than anything.”

Rory answered as he walked past her.

“This area clearly shows the true face of society, no life itself.”

“The true face?”

Rory nodded.

“All life are not equal.”

He answered.

“If it was, a child living in a place like this wouldn’t have died from hunger after being abandoned by its mother without no one knowing. A man who experienced bad luck wouldn’t have to rely on total strangers for chump change.”

He spoke as he walked.

“I love places like this because they remind me that nothing is certain. If I’m not careful I might end up like them here.”

“Why does it feel like you’re looking down on them?”

Amelia asked.

“I assure you I’m not.”

Rory replied.

Despite what he said being a heavy topic, it looked like it was a joyful topic when he spoke about it.

“I came here for another reason. I found an interesting scene.”

After he said that, he led Amelia to different area along the road. When they got there, they saw a group of boys surrounding another boy.

They were all taking turns hitting him.

“A bullying incident?”

Amelia was a bit surprised that Rory would want to show her this.

“What are your views on this, Elia?”

She didn’t know why Rory was asking her this, but Amelia gave an honest opinion.

“It’s disgusting.”

After she said that, she walked towards where the children were.

“Hey, break it up.”

She said as she stopped a boy from hitting the defenseless kid.

“Get out of here all of you.”

“Who’s this hag?”

One of the boys said.

“Hag?”

Amelia suddenly pulled her saber and pointed it at the child.

“You want to say that again?”

“Okay, that’s enough.”

Rory walked up to her and stood in front of the child who was shivering in his boots.

“You know, it's funnier when I’m doing the crazy stuff. With you, it’s just scary.”

He used his finger to push down the tip of the sword.

The other kids started to run away after that.

“Ahh~. You scared them away.”

Rory said as he watched them run.

“You have an anger problem you know that?”

He said.

“Hmph.”

Amelia put away her saber with a frown.

“Why did you even bring me here?”

“Boy, what’s your name?”

Rory ignored her and spoke to the boy who was getting beaten up. This made her want to grind his bones into dust.

“K-Kevin.”

The boy answered.

“I see.”

Rory nodded and then said-

“Kevin, how old is your mother?”

“43.”

“Okay, we’re done here.”

Rory turned his back to Kevin and no longer showed any interest, leaving him confused.

Seeing that, Amelia spoke to Kevin.

“Kevin, why were those boys ganging up on you earlier?”

“……..”

Kevin didn’t answer.

“It’s okay. You can tell me, I promise I won’t pick on you.”

Amelia spoke with a gentle tone.

“Murder Jack….”

Kevin answered.

“Murder Jack? Is that a person?”

Kevin nodded.

“He’s the leader of a group of bandits who live on the outskirts of town. He’s really scary and powerful….and I made him angry.”

He said.

“Murder Jack then declared that he will destroy the town in the next few days and everyone is blaming me for it.”

Amelia's eyes sharpened when she heard that.

“What did you do to make him so angry?”

“I threw rum on his crotch and lit it a fire….”

“Pfft!”

Amelia could hear Rory trying to contain his laughter behind her. She ignored him and asked another question.

“Why did you do something like that?”

“Because he was trying to take my sister away.”

“Kevin.”

All of sudden, Rory was standing in front of Kevin.

“How old is your sister?”

“19.”

“I see, I see.”

He nodded his head as if he understood something.

“Kevin, I promise you that we will defeat this Murder Jack and clear your name.”

He said with a righteous tone, but with obvious bad intentions.

“With that said…”

He placed his hand on Amelia’s shoulder.

“Elia, you’re up.”

“Huh?”

“Defeat Murder Jack. If you do, I’m sure you’ll discover something very important about yourself.”

Rory said as he gave her a thumbs up.

Amelia looked at him suspiciously and thought-

“Just what is he up to now?”

That same night, someone was moving through the darkness with incredible speed without being detected. They quickly left the town and traveled towards the outskirts of town.

They stopped when they came across a campsite with a lot of rough looking men in it. They didn’t hesitate to walk in.

“Guaaah?!”

Shortly after, screams of agony came from out of the camp. After a while everything became silent and only two persons were left standing.

One was a large mountain of a man, and the other was Rory. He lifted the man with one hand and looked at him with cold eyes.

“So this is the infamous Murder Jack? Such a disappointment.”

He squeezed his throat.

“If you’re this week, you can’t produce the results that I desire.”

He took out a small bottle that had a dark liquid inside it. He opened it and poured the liquid down his throat.

“Normally I wouldn’t do this, but since you’re nothing but scum giving you purpose is the least I can do.”

Murder Jack began screaming in pain as his body started to show strange changes. Rory continued to stare coldly at him without a change in expression.

“With this Amelia should be pushed past her limits.”

He turned his back and ignored the agonizing screams behind him.

“This is all to make her grow into the being that I desired for so long.”

He then disappeared in the night.

Murder Jack’s continuous screams served as the opening act to the play to

come.