Preparations

Leaving my ancestral home with Master was also when I discovered I had become a wanted fugitive. To allow me to escape, Master chose to stay behind alone.

In the end… I couldn’t even recover his remains in their entirety.

I could only return to the old ruins carrying his legacy and bury him properly on the peak where we first met.

A gentle breeze brushed against my face as I gazed into the distance. Though my nose stung with emotion, I did not cry. Master’s departure made me realize that running away was useless.

The Toras family was hunted to extinction because of its former power, and they wouldn’t even let me—the last descendant—go. I once dreamed of living out my days with Master in our ancestral home, but even that small hope was shattered.

Revenge.

I must—

“Good morning, Miss Leni.”

My contemplation was shattered.

I snapped my head up, my consciousness returning from the depths of memory to reality, and a familiar face appeared before me.

“What are you doing here so early? And you brought so many things to the river.”

Atop her dark yellow hair, those furry ears twitched. Although I usually feel indifferent toward cats, having them so close at this moment made me want to reach out and grab them.

No, no, stay calm.

I adjusted my breathing so she wouldn’t notice, pitched my voice higher, and spoke to her with a smile:

“Good morning, Hisaba.”

The one standing before me was Hisaba.

It wasn’t surprising, really. The Nako people naturally come here in the morning to draw water. Behind Hisaba, I saw the silhouettes of several villagers carrying wooden buckets. However… Hisaba didn’t seem to be carrying a bucket?

“Miss Leni, could it be that you are quite familiar with tools?”

Hisaba was still wearing her straw raincoat. Squatting beside me, she looked at the firewood, wooden boards, and other tools laid out on the ground with curiosity.

This was actually my second trip to the river; the tools currently laid out here were from the first trip.

“I’m alright. I only know a thing or two. What brings you here, Hisaba?”

“Me? To see what Miss Leni is up to, of course.”

Hisaba’s tone was a bit playful. In fact, since we confirmed our bond of trust yesterday, our conversations had lost much of their formality, becoming far more relaxed.

Though… I still wasn’t used to being called “Miss Leni.”

“Don’t tease me. Isn’t the Midwinter Festival today? You’re probably here to check the condition of the water source.”

“Mm-hmm. Miss Leni is as clever as expected.”

I had spoken based on a guess, and Hisaba wasn’t surprised by my words; she even complimented me in return.

“I just guessed. Don’t praise me.”

“Miss Leni is as humble as ever. But since only Miss Leni knows my purpose for being here, it feels a bit unfair.”

As she spoke, she curiously fiddled with the equipment on the bank. Her single eye, peeking through her hair, stared straight at me without any attempt to hide her interest.

She was clearly hinting for me to tell the truth… though it wasn’t anything important.

“The word ‘purpose’ is a bit much, but…”

“But?”

Before I could finish, Hisaba moved quite a bit closer. Her face was so near I could hear her breathing. I am still a man, after all. Although the side of her face she hides has its flaws, it doesn’t mean she is unattractive. If anything, after getting to know her personality, I found her quite charming in her own way.

“Cough… You see, I am a girl too…”

As I said those words, I felt something deep within my soul wither away.

Cough, cough, cough! Calm down. It’s just a lie. I’m a perfectly normal man. It’s natural to feel shy and excited when a woman puts her face this close. Anyway, keep it together.

“…I was trapped on that pirate ship for over ten days. Now that I’m finally here, I really want to… take a bath, you know?”

Enduring the embarrassment, I finally got the words out.

“Take… a bath?”

Hisaba tilted her head.

“Ah… you know, ‘bathe’?”

I had cobbled the phrase together using the words for “wash” and “water.” Thinking she might not understand, I switched to the term for “ritual bathing.”

“But it is winter now. If you bathe in the river, your body will surely suffer.”

Hisaba looked astonished, her eyes wide as she stared at me in confusion.

I see… so people here normally just wash directly in the river.

“Washing directly in the river is definitely out of the question. The weather is too—”

“Sister Hisaba!” “Hisaba—!”

I was only halfway through my sentence when several figures called out to Hisaba from a short distance upstream.

“It seems our chat must end here. How regrettable.”

Standing up from the ground, Hisaba gave a helpless smile.

“If you’re interested, you can come by and take a look later. But please wait until after I’ve finished bathing.”

“That sounds quite promising. Well then, I shall take my leave.”

At the end of every conversation, Hisaba always reverted to her respectful attitude. Perhaps it was a habit; though I found it somewhat jarring, her behavior reminded me of our current relationship.

We are different after all, and not just because of our races.

I watched Hisaba walk toward the Nako villagers, then turned and knelt beside my tools by the river.

I am human.

Many descriptions of the Demon Race in the Holy Oracles of the Heavens are quite wrong, but there is one point I have to take seriously.

That is… our hostile relationship with them.

The Demon Race, who invade every hundred years—what exactly do we humans look like in their eyes?

“…Hah.”

Thinking for a moment yielded no answer, and I let out a helpless sigh. Although I had picked up my tools, I delayed starting my work for a brief moment, troubled by the uncertainty of the future.

“As expected, I still need more information.”

Gazing at this alien starry sky, I lamented from the bottom of my heart.