***

I woke up early in the morning. The sun was shining brightly through the trees. I gathered my things and went away from the place, not wanting to look at the bodies anymore. I was still feeling bad about what happened.

I still felt hurt.

I was thinking about Mommy. She was the one who taught me how to ride a horse. I thought she was gone, after all. I was sad.

"At that time, I guess it was just some hallucination or something..."

After some time, we reached a river. I went down and put my things beside the river. I took a deep breath.

"I need to clean myself. I'm so dirty and covered in blood. I need to wash myself."

I started to undress. I took off my clothes. I washed my body with water from the river. Then I cleaned my wounds. I used my bandage to wrap my wound.

"This will work."

I dried myself with my clothes.

"Hm? Oh, I should get dressed."

I went back into my bag and took out a new outfit. I changed my clothes. I put on the dress and hat. I put on the gloves. I was ready to go.

"Okay, Donkey. Let's say goodbye to the forest today!" I said while giving him a pat on his neck. I tried to be cheerful to forget yesterday’s event.

We left the river and headed south.

***

Next day we finally left the forest. We were in a grassland. There was nothing around us. I was relieved. I felt so much safer, not having to watch out for every tree in case someone was hiding there.

"Let's keep going south. We will reach a town soon."

The sun was shining. I felt warm.

"Mmm..."

I closed my eyes and enjoyed the warmth. I felt so happy. I could even feel the wind caressing my skin. I opened my eyes. I saw the horizon.

"Wow! A building!"

We ran towards the horizon. I felt excited. We stopped and stood in front of the outpost.

It was a trading post. A signboard was placed outside. It said "Owain's Trading Post".

"That's the name of the owner. Maybe he's inside?"

I knocked on the door.

"Hello? Hello?"

There was no response.

"Is anyone here?"

I knocked again.

"Please let me in. I need help."

I heard a voice.

"Who is it?"

I opened the door. I entered the store. I looked around and saw an old man. He was reading a book.

"Are you the master of this trading post?"

He looked up at me.

"Yes, I am. Who are you?"

"My name is Moon. My friend Donkey and I were attacked by bandits."

"What? You're kidding me."

The old man got up and walked to me. He put his hand on my shoulder.

"Thank goodness you're okay. How many people were they? What happened?"

"There were four of them. They almost killed me, but I somehow survived. I was really scared, but I somehow was able to defend myself. But the men... Sniff... I-I killed them..."

I burst into tears. I couldn't hold it back. I cried loudly.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. Don't cry. Please don't cry."

The old man hugged me.

"They're dead, aren't they? I'm sorry. I didn't want you to remember something this horrible, little girl. But you have to understand that you saved your own life. So please stop crying." For some reason he also mistaken me for a girl. When I think about it a lot of people did the same in the past. Was there something wrong with their eyes?

"But..."

"You did the right thing. Now come over here. Sit down and tell me everything that happened. And then we'll decide what to do next."

I sat down and told him everything.

"I see. That's quite a story. You killed four men, huh? You must be very strong. I'm impressed. Not many people would be able to kill four men like that. You're amazing."

"It's not as impressive as you might think. I was just lucky."

"Lucky? No way. You're amazing. Your strength is amazing. You're brave too. I'm glad you're safe."

"Thanks. I'm glad you're not blaming me for killing people."

"Of course, I won't blame you. It's the natural result of living in this world. Everyone has to fight in order to survive. If you don't, you will die. I'm just glad you're still alive."

Then we were interrupted by the voice of door opening.

"It's you!"

A masked man came in. He was the man I met some days ago, who almost shoot me with a bow. That shameless fiend!

"W-what are you doing here?!"

I shout angrily.

"I was looking for you."

"For me? Why?"

"It seems you got mixed with quite some trouble."

"H-How do you know? Don't tell me! You were stalking me?! You were following me? If you did, you could have helped me instead!" I pouted.

"I wasn't stalking you. I just saw the battlefield and figures it was you."

"Oh, I see. Then what do you want from me? Are you going to help me?"

"No. I just wanted to warn you. The men you killed so stupidly, belonged to a certain organization. And let me tell you, that organization doesn’t take likely to forgive something like this. They're a group of killers who will not hesitate to kill even children if they think it necessary."

"What? You mean the people who attacked me are from that organization?"

"Yeah. They are very dangerous bunch. They might look for you soon."

"N-no way! I thought they were just ordinary bandits. I never expected this. What should I do now?"

"Just stay away from them. Avoid any unnecessary contact. If you do that, you might survive. Maybe"

"Okay. Thank you for telling me." I bowed to the masked man.

"Well, I might be just meddling unnecessarily. It's nothing important. Just forget it." The man was already turning back, but I stopped him.

"H-Hey mister. Can you tell me your name? I don't know your face, but I feel like I've seen you somewhere before."

"Hmm? Oh, I'm known as Lufas Maphaahl. Nice to meet you."

"Lufas Maphaahl...? What a strange name. Well, nice to meet you, Mister Lufas. I'm Moon." I introduced myself. For some reason I felt nervous. I felt my cheeks getting warmer. I guess I was actually pretty shy.

"I'm going to leave now. Good luck, little kid." Lufas turned his back on me and left.

"W-wait! Aren't you going to help me?!"

"..."

I tried to ask for his help, but he was already gone.

"Ugh... This sucks."

I was at a loss. There was no one to rely on. I was all alone. And I might have become a target of some strange organisation.

"What a strange man. Is he your friend?" The trade post owner - Owain - asked me.

"He's a person I met a few days ago. He's just a weirdo. No, he is a shameless fiend, who doesn't even know how to apologize!"

"Haha. Sounds like you two are close. I hope you get along." The man laughed heartily.

"W-we are not close at all! We only met twice! And he didn't even say hi!"

"Hmm. But didn't he specifically come here to warn you of danger? Seems like a good guy to me. He sounded worried about you too."

I thought about Owain's words. That was true. He was right. That man, who called himself Lufas, did come to warn me. That's why I can't really hate him.

"Well, H-he might not really be that bad of the person, I guess. But we are definitely not close! We aren't friends or anything!"

"Oh? What's wrong? Did you fall for him?"

"Wha— No, that's not it!" I denied him quickly. I felt my cheeks burning. W-what are you saying mister. I'm a boy!

"Ah, youth. I felt the same way when I was younger. I had a crush on some beautiful girl, Fiona she was called, but I was too scared to confess my feelings. After some time, she got married to another man. How unfair. You should confess your feelings when it's still not too late, or you will regret it just like me."

"It feels like you are not listening to me at all mister."

"No, no. Sorry. I was just reminiscing."

"Well, I'm leaving then. I'll see you again."

"Yes. See you."

And so, I left the trader post behind.

***

The next day, we were being chased by four masked men on horseback. They were riding full speed after us.

"Aahh! Go away! Go away! Don't follow me! Donkey, please run a little faster!"

"Huff... Hufff."

We ran through the grasslands with our pursuers hot on our heels. We kept running until the sun set, and then hid ourselves in an abandoned building. The place was deserted, and we could rest there without worrying about anyone finding us.

"Thank goodness. We're safe now, Donkey."

I sighed in relief. I felt tired.

I couldn't sleep. I thought about Lufas Maphaahl. I wondered what was he doing now. I wanted to meet him again. I still had questions to him. And I wondered if he would be interested in traveling together looking for goldens.

But I knew it was pointless to think about him. He was a mysterious person. I didn't even know his face.

I saw moonlight shining in through the broken window. Sounds of crickets filled the air. I looked at my steamphone, it was already midnight.

I closed my eyes. I had a dream.

I was all alone walking through the forest. The sky was dark. I could barely see the stars. The wind blew softly.

"Is someone there? Are you there, Lufas?"

"..."

Suddenly, I heard someone talking to me. But I couldn't understand what they were saying. I walked forward, and there was a tree in front of me. The tree was rotten and falling apart. I was startled. I looked at the tree a bit closer. Then the tree became a body. It was rotting away.

"Hiii!"

I yelled, and fell on my butt. When I opened my eyes, I saw a face staring at me. I screamed.

"Uwaah! Who are you? What do you want from me?!" It was a pale face with empty eye sockets.

I recognized his face. It was a face of a man I killed.

"Nooooo! I'm so sorry!"

I tried to run away, but I tripped over my own feet and fell again. I hit the ground hard. I lay there for a moment, and then I realized something. My heart was beating rapidly. I was sweating. I looked around. There was no pale face here. Just me and Donkey.

"What happened to me?"

I was in the abandoned building again.

"..."

Donkey wasn't moving. He was just lying down on the floor sleeping.

"Ugh, it was just a dream."

I put a hand to my face. I realised I was crying. I hugged Beary and tried to sleep again.

***