“Now, what should I do?”

Damian caressed his neck. He let Emilia run off to have fun with her friends and was now stranded in the streets of a town he had only been in once.

[Guess I’ll look for that old man from before. He said I shouldn’t be here and he’s right. I didn’t come to this town in the last timeline. But maybe he’s just some crazy old man like Emilia said. I’ll ask him what he meant.]

Thus, Damian started his search to locate the old man. He started his search in the bustling marketplace where they first encountered but to Damian’s disappointment, the old man was no longer there. From there, Damian went on a stroll through the town hoping to bump into the old man while asking the townsfolk if they had seen the person in question. Everyone Damian questioned had the same general answer:

“Nope.” an irritated fruit vendor responded.

“Sorry, I don’t remember anyone like that.” a male passerby apologized.

“Not that I can recall.” a female server at an outdoor diner pondered.

Forty minutes had passed by and Damian hadn’t made any progress. He thought to himself while he ambled aimlessly.

[The old man has seemingly vanished into thin air. Where could he have gone and why hasn’t anyone seen him?]

As Damian cursed his bad luck he noticed two suspicious men, one wearing a red bandana and one wearing a light green vest with nothing underneath, dragging a woman hidden under a gray hood into an alleyway.

“Huh. I must have stumbled into the bad part of town.” Damian noted as he looked around and realized that no one was out. There were a few people staring at Damian from their windows but dared not to come out.

Damian made his way to the alleyway the woman was being dragged into and hid behind the corner. The men could be heard grunting as they pulled the woman by her arms.

[Two against one. Can I fight that? I don’t have a weapon on me and I don’t know if they’re armed.]

Damian steadily peeked over the corner, being careful to not be seen by the kidnappers, and noticed a brittle wooden board laying beside a dumpster.

[I can use that. Ok. I’ll rush in, grab that board, smash it over the bandana guy, punch the vest guy in the face, and then use the confusion to grab the lady and run away.]

After taking a second to mentally prepare himself, Damian charged down the alleyway at the kidnappers. He passed by the dumpster and snatched the discarded board.

The kidnappers detected Damian too late as he brought down the board on the bandana guy’s head. A resounding CRACK sound echoed throughout the alleyway as the board split in half. The bandana guy went down in pain. Damian let go of the remaining board pieces he was holding on to and striked the vest guy square in the nose with a right hook, which produced another crack from his nose breaking. The two men let go of the woman in their pain, to which Damian grabbed her hand.

“Run!”

Damian led the way holding the woman's wrist, pulling her along. It didn’t take long for the kidnappers to regain their senses.

“Get back here you bastard!” The vest guy yelled while clutching his nose.

Things were going all according to Damian’s plan. He had successfully taken the lady away from the kidnappers. All he had to do was exit the alleyway and enter the busy streets. However, Damian’s clumsiness found himself gracelessly tripping over a crack in the ground.

“Shit!” Damian cursed as he tumbled to the ground.

He, along with the lady, were now helpless on the ground and to add to the misfortune, Damian had even scraped his right knee while attempting to break his fall. The two men were now on top of them. The bandana guy reached into his pocket and revealed the knife that was hidden within.

“You’re gonna pay for that little stunt you’ve pulled.” He growled with deadly malice.

“Oi. We don’t have to go that far.” The vest guy protested.

“Move out of the way or I’ll kill you too.”

The bandana guy aggressively shoved the vest guy out of the way and stepped over Damian, raising his right arm equipped with the knife.

[Is this it?]

The sight of his to be killer with a knife aimed at him frightened Damian to the point where he couldn’t look. He closed his eyes and braced himself for the coming strike, only to be deafened by the loudest howl he had ever heard in his life. Damian reopened his eyes and was greeted with the marvelous sight of the bandana guy on the ground, clutching his crotch. The hooded lady had her right boot raised where the bandana guy should’ve been. Damian put two and two together. The lady picked herself up with a pissed expression on her face.

“Ah, now you’ve done it kid. I can’t hold myself back any longer.”

“D-don’t get any closer!” The vest guy stammered as he revealed the knife he also had hidden.

The lady, who’s enraged aura was so hot that Damian felt his nose hairs singe, ignored the vest guy’s demands and stepped towards him. The vest guy, desperate to survive, swung wildly at the lady. She effortlessly stopped the swing with her left hand, pulling him closer to absolutely clobber his face with her right fist. The vest guy went down hard with a few broken teeth at the least. Damian couldn’t help but admire the display in front of him. The woman turned her attention to Damian.

“You ok?”

Now that she was standing upright, the mysterious lady was taller than Damian by a few inches. She had smooth almond skin that contrasted with her intense amber eyes. Her maple-syrup-colored wavy hair, now free from the depths of her hood, fell down to her shoulders. She extended a hand to Damian, which he accepted.

“Yeah, thanks to you.” Damian dusted himself off.

“You’re bleeding.”

“It’s just a scratch. Hey, wait a second, if you could’ve beat them up the whole time then why’d I have to save you?”

“I never asked you to save me.”

“Well, yeah but still!”

“I was trying to get kidnapped. These guys were gonna lead me to the black market.”

“Black market? Like where they sell illegal stuff?”

“Yeah. I was trying to locate and free the enslaved women before you tried to play hero.”

“I-I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine. What you did would have been respectable if this was a normal kidnapping. I’ll just interrogate these two. They don’t seem like the type to keep quiet in a torture room.”

“You’ve...got a terrible sense of humor.”

The lady smirked in response and hauled the two unconscious bodies by their collars, one in each hand.

“That WAS a joke right?” Damian tried to confirm in a panic.

“See you around kid.”

And with that she was gone. Damian stood in a daze. He had just tried to save a person getting kidnapped, only to be saved by the person getting kidnapped who turned out to be on an espionage mission to destroy the black market by posing as a slave.

[I really messed up huh? She said it was fine but I still feel bad for sabotaging her mission like that, especially since it involves freeing slaves.]

Damian glanced at his wrist. The watch’s hands pointed out the time to be 3:25. Realizing that he had to meet up with Emilia in five minutes he dashed out of the alleyway and towards their meet-up point.

[I hope she completes her mission successfully.]

The hectic streets of Jackson Town were bare. Now that the rush hour was over, the town was much more pleasant to traverse. Damian maintained a light hobble-jog as his scraped knee irritatingly burned. For such a small injury, it hindered Damian to the point where running was no longer possible without fighting the burning sensation that made it feel like his leg would fall off. Three minutes later than their agreed time, Daman made it to the gates of the town. Emilia was chatting away with the guard on-duty. She noticed Damian hobbling over to her and bade farewell to the guard.

“What happened to your knee? It’s all scratched up and bleeding.”

“I tripped.” Damian feebly replied, which wasn’t technically a lie.

“I leave you alone for an hour and you come back like this. You’re hopeless you know that?” Emilia sighed as she pulled out a handkerchief. She wrapped the cloth around Damian’s injury. The blood seeped into the white fabric, painting it red.

“I didn’t ask you to be my mother.” Damian huffed as he walked ahead. “But thanks.”

“Hmmmm? What did you just say? I couldn’t quite hear you.” Emilia chipperly teased while wearing a cheeky grin. She cupped her ear with her right hand and tilted her head to bring her ear closer to Damian. “Can you say that again?”

“No.”

“What? Why not?”

“I know you heard me.”

“Noooooo, I really didn’t.”

Damian shot an irritated look towards Emilia. She beamed an innocent smile in response.

“I said thanks. For always looking out for me. I always thought of your actions as a nuisance but I’ve begun to realize that you really care for me. So I’m grateful for that.”

“Wha-what are you saying so suddenly?” Emilia stammered.

“You’re totally blushing, you know that?” Damian smirked.

“No, I’m not! It’s...just really hot out today. Whew!” She justified while fanning her face.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say.”

“Geez, I’m the one that's supposed to be teasing you. Not the other way around.” She pouted.

“Sorry, not sorry.”

[The sun is setting. There's about 4 hours and 30 minutes before the attack. Will any adventurers show up in time? If we’re lucky they are already at the village. If not, I’ll have to think up something in case we get no takers. Maybe if the villagers all work together we can somehow beat the beast. But without help our chances of victory are slim. No, I shouldn’t think like that. I’ll make it work out somehow.]

Damian, deep in thought, unintentionally ignored Emilia who was struggling to get his attention. Realizing words were futile, she grabbed Damian’s shoulder and violently shook him.

“Damian!”

“What? Stop shaking me!”

“You’ve got this grave expression on your face, like you're about to head to a funeral. You had it this morning too. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s gonna be ok this time.”

“This time? What do you mean?”

[Shoot!]

“I, uh, don’t know. Why did I say that?” Damian rigidly scratched the back of his head as if pondering the question.

Emilia frowned but thankfully for Damian, didn’t pursue the topic any further. However she did end the conversation with one last reminder.

“If you ever feel like talking I’ll always be willing to lend you an ear.”

[Yeah. I know that.]

The rest of the walk back to the village was filled with a comfortable silence that was interrupted once in a while by Emilia. Damian tried to maintain small talk with her but the thought of what was to come continued to distract him. Emilia sensed Damian’s nervousness and remained quiet but stayed close to let him know she was there for him. A gesture that Damian appreciated.