Polke, Haman, Paulo, Doris.
These four had originally belonged to the same mercenary band, but now they were criminals who had killed their client and fled.
A horde of monsters they had encountered while on escort duty for a merchant caravan.
It was not a place where monsters in such numbers should have appeared, yet with their unexpected arrival, the mercenary band suffered devastating losses.
Amid it all, Doris, who survived, and the three mercenaries who followed him made a swift decision.
Their destination was still far away.
Expensive goods and wealth, in inverse proportion to the insufficient number of escorts.
Taking advantage of the dead of night to kill the client and the remaining mercenaries, then making off with the valuables, had been, from their perspective, the obvious thing to do—nothing even worth agonizing over.
Doris was a fairly clever man.
Since they had killed everyone, it seemed as though there would be no problem, but with even a little investigation, people would be able to learn of the missing goods and of their own names listed in the mercenary band.
So they fled far away without rest.
And while fleeing, they discovered a rural village.
Territorially, it belonged to the Viscounty of Dalton, but that was nothing more than a façade.
It was obvious that the viscount’s house would not concern itself with a tiny village like this, and they planned to hide here for the time being.
A village so small it was not even marked on a map.
In some ways, it looked like a slash-and-burn farming village; it was perfect for hiding, and so they had had no intention of causing a major commotion.
But then…
“You bad men! Don’t hit Hio!”
A red-haired girl came down from upstairs, shrieking.
She looked to be just barely of age.
Even with her face twisted in a frown, her radiant beauty was no less than that of a noble young lady raised in comfort.
Doris, who had been momentarily dazed by the appearance of a girl he had never imagined he would see in such a small village, soon curled his lips into a lewd smile.
“Well, now… that changes things a bit.”
He had intended to show off a suitable amount of force and laze about in the village, but after seeing that face, how could he possibly hold himself back?
There might be a bit of a disturbance, but that woman was more than worth it.
In fact, the gloomy interior seemed to brighten with the girl’s appearance alone.
“Heh heh heh.”
The three mercenaries who followed Doris seemed to be thinking the same, their eyes busily moving up and down as they laughed obscenely.
“Boss. That one’s a prize.”
“What an unexpected windfall.”
Unaware of the words they were exchanging, the girl who had come down from upstairs, Claire, stood beside Hio, took hold of both his shoulders, and peered into his face.
“Why are you just letting them hit you like an idiot!”
Then Claire whipped her head around and glared at Doris.
“What are you people! We don’t need customers like you, so get out of our shop right now!”
But even at that gaze and sharp voice, Doris’s smile only deepened.
“Heh heh heh… Is he your husband or something? Why don’t you come to us instead of that weakling? We can show you a real good time.”
“That’s right! We’re much better than some guy who can’t even act like a man!”
“And there are four of us.”
“That means four times the fun!”
Even after Claire ordered them out, they instead came closer little by little with unpleasant laughter, and only then did Claire flinch.
“D-don’t come near me!”
Of course, Doris’s gang paid no attention.
“I clearly warned you not to come…!”
As Claire backed away little by little, a small flame finally burst from her fingertips.
Only after seeing the sudden flare of fire did Doris come to a startled halt.
“Stop! Unless you want to be roasted whole!”
Of course, it was not large enough to roast them whole as Claire said, but she was, in any case, someone who could use a skill.
That scorching fire was real, and if they approached carelessly as they had a moment ago, they could be seriously injured.
“Well now… I want her even more. A skill user, huh.”
“What should we do, boss?”
“Let’s just take her with us. From the looks of it, she’s only just awakened and can’t even handle it properly.”
Even at their urging, Doris remained cautious.
“Hmm…”
Because he could feel the sound of many people’s footsteps outside the shop heading this way.
Haman and Paulo seemed to hear it belatedly as well and looked quietly at Doris.
After thinking for a moment, Doris looked at Claire and showed her a nasty grin.
“We’ll head back for today.”
It was not as though they could not force the matter if they wanted to.
There might be a lot of people outside, but they were ordinary folk without weapons.
If they quickly subdued the two in front of them, dragged them outside, and made an example of a few with their blades, those people would soon lose the will to resist and fall apart.
“Tch… Lucky you.”
“If only she weren’t a skill user…”
“Heh heh heh. Still, we’ll be seeing you again, won’t we?”
The only problem was Claire, the skill user.
Doris’s goal was not to kill Claire, but to take her away unharmed, so if Claire resisted fiercely, it might take time and they might be injured.
If that happened, dealing with the people gathered outside would become difficult.
There were plenty of easier methods, so there was no need to force things right this moment.
“See you soon. Heh heh heh heh…”
Doris’s gang opened the shop door and went outside.
—What are you looking at! Never seen former mercenaries before?
—Haman, don’t talk like that. It’d be nice if we all got along. Got along.
—We didn’t do anything, all right? We were just having a little chat, so why did you all come rushing over like this…
Through the open crack of the door, Doris’s gang could be seen leisurely speaking to the villagers as they disappeared.
“Children! Are you all right?”
And the one who flung that door open and came in was a middle-aged woman.
She was the owner of this shop and Claire’s mother, Selly.
“I was about to come in when I heard what sounded like someone getting hit, so I called people over… Oh my! Hio! Look at these wounds. What are we going to do!”
Selly, who belatedly discovered Hio with his cheek swollen red and his lip split, approached in a fuss.
“Claire! Hurry and pick some soyi-flower petals!”
“Hahaha… Ma’am, I’m fine.”
Hio scratched the back of his head and smiled awkwardly.
Naturally, he was quite irritated, but it was not as though there had been no results.
[Hidden Trait: Violence Is Not Okay! (Patience: 734 / 1000)]
After those guys arrived, his Patience had risen by a whopping 12.
At this level, it was a number that could only be raised by being teased by the village children for several months…
It meant he had endured and endured that much, but in any case, his current mood was fairly good.
“Fine, my foot! Claire, what are you doing! Hurry up and go!”
Of course, Selly had no way of knowing that, so he had to take a smack on the back from her.
* * *
“Idiot.”
If soyi-flower petals were gathered and crushed until their juice came out, they were reasonably effective on wounds.
“Pathetic.”
It was one of the pieces of information that reminded him this place was truly a living, breathing world, something he could never have known when playing it as a game.
“Don’t you feel wronged, always just letting yourself get beaten like that? Whether it works or not, at least resist!”
Claire irritably smeared the medicine all around his mouth.
Thanks to that, the area around Hio’s mouth was covered in soyi-flower juice.
“That… compared to the wound, the treatment is a little too much…”
“Shut up! What did you do so well, getting beaten without even fighting back like a pathetic fool!”
“Claire.”
Looking at Claire as she huffed and puffed, Hio spoke seriously.
“Violence is not okay.”
“Don’t make excuses!”
“Okay.”
Claire applied the remaining soyi-flower juice to Hio’s reddened cheek and spoke in a voice that had calmed a little.
“I’ve made up my mind again. I’m definitely going to the Academy.”
At the atmosphere that somehow felt more solemn than usual, Hio simply listened quietly.
“I know it’s hard. But I’m going to work hard to save money, and I’m still practicing my ability. I think I can handle it pretty well now, too.”
Claire was ambitious.
She was certainly not a girl suited to such a rural village.
For an ordinary person, the small village where they were born and raised was the entire world, and everything outside it was truly unknown territory.
It would be natural to be afraid, yet Claire thought and acted solely for the goal she had set.
“I don’t know exactly how much money I need or how much skill is required. By any chance… do you know, Hio?”
“…The Academy.”
Of course, he knew the rough details.
For former players, in other words, possessors, it was not a particularly necessary process, but overall, it was an important institution and a place with many major NPCs.
That possessor who had supposedly joined as an Academy professor had probably done so to make connections with such big shots as well.
Hio thought for a moment and was just about to open his mouth.
“Never mind. There’s no way you’d know, Hio.”
Claire stopped his answer first.
Because it had not been a question she had asked expecting an answer in particular.
Selly and Claire had never once asked about Hio’s past.
They vaguely guessed that he had a story, but who in the world did not have one?
With that thought, they had accepted Hio without asking anything.
But from this remote village to the Academy located in the imperial capital was far, far too great a distance, so Claire naturally thought that Hio, too, must be from some nearby rural village.
“There, it’s all applied. Don’t move and stay still until the swelling goes down.”
As Claire gathered the bowl and was about to leave the room, Hio called out to her.
“Claire.”
“Yeah?”
Hio hesitated for a moment, then simply shook his head.
“Never mind.”
“…How bland.”
After Claire left, Hio flopped down on the floor just as he was.
“Those guys are going to come again, though.”
The four mercenaries had looked like they were carrying too many guilty secrets to be considered proper mercenaries.
The way they had looked Claire up and down had been so blatant that it was impossible not to notice.
Well, Claire, who had never experienced something like that, seemed completely unaware.
“Guys like that are obvious.”
They had been so blatant that he could see right through their thoughts.
They would camp somewhere near the village, then sneak in once it was the middle of the night.
“I’ll have to start waiting around evening.”
He intended to act before they entered the village again.
Of course, he could not do anything violent, so just a suitable threat.
Hio’s skill was enough to make even him feel weak in the knees when he looked at it, so lowlifes like them would tuck their tails and run on their own.
The more people a man had killed, the better he knew how easy death was, and how close.
“Before driving them away, if I can raise my Patience a little more, I should do that.”
Raising Patience was truly difficult.
Simply enduring the children’s teasing day after day barely made a dent.
Patience only rose when he sincerely held back violence and endured anger.
There was no way the simple people of this village would do such things to him.
And going to another village was also impossible.
“Mm. As expected, I should use those guys to raise my Patience a little more, then drive them away.”
Thinking that, Hio slowly closed his eyes.
* * *
When he opened his eyes again, the sun was already sinking outside the window.
Hio peeled the hardened soyi-flower juice from his face and stretched.
“Shall I get going?”
There were a few places he had guessed those men might be staying.
He knew the terrain around the village like the back of his hand.
“Ma’am. I’m going out for a bit.”
On the lower floor, Selly and several village adults were sitting together and talking.
It seemed they would be having dinner here tonight.
Since it was a common occurrence, Hio walked toward them without thinking much of it.
“Hm? Hio, weren’t you outside?”
“I put on the medicine upstairs and dozed off for a bit.”
After answering Selly’s question vaguely, Hio passed them and headed for the shop door.
“Really? I thought you and Claire were both gone, so I figured you were playing outside.”
In that instant, Hio’s movements came to a dead stop.
“Claire… isn’t here?”
“No. I went to her room a little while ago, but she wasn’t there.”
An ominous feeling slowly began to rise.
Had Claire not been acting, even while applying medicine to him, as though she would spend the whole day honing her ability and definitely go to the Academy?
But she had gone outside when Selly had not even asked her to?
A girl who said the village children were not on her level and shut herself in her room without going out?
“Mm… She must have gone for a walk. I’ll go find her.”
Hio pushed down the spreading unease, said that to Selly, then opened the door and headed outside.
Claire did not go outside much.
Claire’s daily routine was spending the entire day shut in her room, groaning as she trained her ability, and she never trained outside.
To begin with, the only people who knew about that ability were Selly, Hio, and Claire herself.
Selly and Claire knew strangely well that nothing good came from people learning someone was a skill user.
Yet Claire, of all people, had gone outside at this timing and had not returned.
It could truly just be a simple walk, but…
‘…’
If so, then what in the world was that black smoke rising in the distance?