v1.1.4

“—What a pain in the ass.”  

Toru muttered under his breath, trudging along with a bare machete dangling from one hand.  

“Goddamn, what a pain. Now that I think about it, isn’t this basically honest-to-god work? No way I’m doing this. Shit. I told you, working means losing. Ugh, such a pain. If only some gold would just fall from the sky somewhere. That’d make things a hell of a lot simpler.”  

The words were the epitome of a deadbeat’s brazenness.  

Of course, it’s not as if he planned to rob someone just because he was broke.  

Before Toru’s eyes stretched the dense, verdant expanse of a forested mountain.  

Del Solant was a typical fortified city surrounded on three sides by mountains, it wasn’t exactly convenient for travel, but that made it difficult to attack and easy to defend. The long war, fueled by the conflicts of powerful lords, had given rise to many such fortified cities. Though, with the war’s end, most of these sturdy strongholds had become little more than inconvenient backwaters.  

Be that as it may, just outside Del Solant lay a vast mountainous region. This area was rich with flora and fauna… but it was also far too rugged for anyone unaccustomed to mountain trekking. As such, aside from a handful of professional hunters or woodcutters, hardly anyone ventured in.  

Toru had figured this was a good place to gather wild herbs or hunt rabbits or rats.  

But—  

“That Akari…”  

Leaves from a shrub, sliced by his machete, fluttered up and drifted down.  

Catching one that fell before his face with the corner of his mouth, he muttered to himself.  

“What’s she even expecting from me at this point?”  

It had been over a year since they’d washed up in Del Solant.  

Day after day, watching her brother do nothing but idle away his time, you’d think she’d have given up by now—but Akari still kept prodding him, trying to get him to work.  

It was she who had registered Toru’s name with Del Solant’s labor guild. She’d registered herself as well, but there seemed to be an oversupply of workers, so jobs didn’t always come their way. And, as mentioned before, Akari’s odd naivety meant she often failed to notice when she was saddled with low-paying, undesirable tasks, leaving their income pitifully meager.  

Come to think of it, Del Solant wasn’t unique in this regard—fortified cities, by their nature, were self-contained, so lucrative jobs rarely trickled down to refugees. For newcomers like them, it was even worse.  

“With her looks, she could just find some decent guy to mooch off.”  

There was no need for her to keep bothering with her deadbeat brother.  

As far as Toru was concerned, it’d be easier if she just gave up on him. If he got hungry enough, he’d come out to the mountains like this, simple as that. Sure, eating nothing but wild herbs for three meals a day—without bread, cheese, butter, salt, or pepper—would get old fast.  

But he’d deal with that when the time came.  

“Besides, even if we’re siblings, we’re basically strangers to begin with… Talk about pointless, at this stage.”  

Muttering such thoughts, Toru pressed deeper into the forest. As mentioned earlier, this area saw little human traffic, with only faint animal trails to follow barely enough to serve as proper footing. Toru was used to places like this, so he managed, but an amateur wandering in recklessly could easily get lost.  

But then after a moment…  

“…Hm?”  

Toru stopped in his tracks as a sound had caught his keen ears.  

“What’s that…?”  

Holding his breath and listening intently, he heard it again—the rustling of bushes. And it was getting closer.  

Something was definitely moving through the underbrush, hidden.  

“…A beast?”  

He could see it now—not just the sound, but the bushes themselves trembling. Judging by the size of the shaking patch, he could estimate the creature’s size.  

It was as big as a human—or even larger.  

“…”  

Toru quickly gauged the distance with his eyes.  

About fifteen meltruls, give or take. If it was a beast, it could cover that distance in an instant—even in the uneven terrain of the forest.  

(TN : Meltruls is basically the measuring unit, i.e, Meters but to keep intact with the world.)

Bracing himself, Toru readied his stance.  

If it was a deer or a boar, he’d want to hunt it. If it was a bear or a wolf, he’d need to figure out how to slip past. And if, by some chance, it was an abandoned beast… well, that’d be that.  

He was pretty good at giving up.  

(…Nah, probably not an abandoned beast.)  

The thought crossed his mind with a distinct lack of urgency.  

Then—  

“…?”  

A clunk, clunk sound reached his ears which hardly something a beast would make.  

Searching his memory for a similar sound, it reminded him of a wooden box striking a rock—a hard, artificial noise. No beast had footsteps like that, and no insect made such a racket.  

Straining his ears further, he caught another sound—a scraaape like something being dragged.  

(What the hell?)  

It couldn’t be a hunter or a woodcutter.  

That left…  

“…”  

Suddenly, something poked out from the bushes.  

“…Huh?”  

Toru stared, his brow furrowing into a deep vertical crease. It was so out of place, so unnatural and completely beyond his expectations.  

To put it simply… it was a human girl what was in his vision.  

She looked about fourteen or fifteen years old with her features were refined, almost doll-like in their beauty. In the dim, shadowed forest, her long silver hair glimmered faintly under the sparse rays of sunlight filtering through the trees. A white hairpiece adorned her head, and her large purple eyes blinked repeatedly as she glanced around, her movements making her seem like a small, curious animal.  

She was no ferocious beast ready to attack.  

Far from it—clad in a black outfit, her frame was visibly delicate, more likely to be the one attacked.  

A petite girl wandering alone in the mountains was strange enough, but her attire was beyond odd but to put it straight was downright bizarre. Though black, her dress was adorned with decorative fabrics and accessories, utterly unsuited for mountain climbing. Indeed, it seemed she’d snagged it on everything; broken twigs and leaves clung to her body in various places.  

Of course, she carried no machete to clear branches, nor even a walking stick.  

Her outfit was the polar opposite of a hunter or woodcutter’s practical gear. It wasn’t even fit for a city stroll, perhaps more like something you’d wear to a noble’s ball.  

She definitely looked like a child who would ready to get lost at any moment.

Her attire could only be described as utterly unprepared for the mountains.  

(…What… is that?)  

For a fleeting moment, Toru had mistaken the petite girl for a large beast because, with her luggage, she’d seemed like a single creature. She was carrying a large, dark crimson box on her back, which had amplified the rustling of the bushes.  

No, it wasn’t just a box—  

(…A coffin?)  

Tall and oddly distinctive with an elongated octagon, it matched nothing in Toru’s memory but a coffin. Of course, the container, sized for an adult male, was larger than the girl herself. She seemed to be carrying it with leather straps wrapped around it. Such a thing would surely get banged up and ruined in no time, but perhaps it was remarkably sturdy so no visible scratches marred the coffin’s surface.  

(But… what is she doing walking with it? )

Even if empty, it had to be heavy.  

At the very least, it wasn’t something a young girl should be lugging through the mountains. Was she using it as a sleeping bag? There was even what looked like a lamp attached to its side. Sure, compared to a shoddily sewn sleeping bag, it might be more comfortable and secure, but…  

“Hey.”  

Stunned, Toru stood up from the bushes and called out to the girl.  

“You there. What are you doing?”  

“…!”  

The girl flinched and whipped around to face him.  

Her already large purple eyes widened further in shock as she stared at him.  

“What are you doing in a place like this…”  

In a way, Toru’s words were the kind that could be thrown right back at him—  

“...…!?”  

But they were cut short.  

With a sound that could’ve been a thud, the girl and her coffin sank back into the bushes.  

“H-Hey…?”  

Caught off guard by her reaction, Toru stepped forward, calling out. But in the next instant, he saw the bushes trembling as they rapidly moved away—zazazazaza.  

She was fleeing, and in quite a panic.  

“…”  

Unlike the city, a forest was easy to get lost in.  

Moving in a straight line was a challenge and people unused to mountain trekking often lost their bearings while dodging obstacles, sometimes circling back to their starting point in a comical blunder.  

And, as it happened—  

“...…”  

Narrowing his eyes, Toru watched as the girl, crawling through the underbrush, moved one way, only to stop with a thunk—followed by a short yelp, “Mugya!?”—then veered another way, hitting another thunk and swerving ridiculously aside. Zigzagging back and forth, she ended up right back in front of Toru.  

And then—  

“…”  

“…Welcome back.”  

As the girl poked her head out of the bushes, as if to say, Am I safe now?, Toru spoke with a weary tone. They were about two meltruls apart butclose enough to reach her in a step or two.  

“—!?”  

The girl froze, her expression one of sheer shock.  

Used to Akari’s typically blank face, Toru found her reaction oddly amusing.  

Her arms and legs flailed wildly—jitabata jitabata jitabata. She looked right, then left, then back at him.  

After a flurry of panic, she abruptly stopped and spoke.  

“Atta…”  

“‘Atta’?”  

Pointing at Toru with a gesture so sharp it seemed to make a snap, she glared and declared,  

“Attack?

Wait who’s attacking who?”  

He could guess what she meant, but Toru asked anyway, just to be sure.  

“You. Me.”  

She pointed at Toru, then at herself.  

There was something… oddly imperious about her gestures, as if she had no reservations despite facing a stranger. Yet, at the same time, she radiated wariness.  

“…”  

“…...”  

Toru eyed her with half-lidded eyes.  

She glared up at him, her gaze sharp.  

A one-sided tension hung in the air between them.  

And then—  

“You want me to attack you?”  

“...…” She shook her head vigorously.  

“Bandit—not?”  

“What kind of bandit wanders alone?”  

“...…”  

“Sorry to say that I am not even bandit, I’m peak unemployed right now.”  

“ Hunter…?”  

Frowning, she leaned in to scrutinize Toru’s face.  

“Like I said, I’m unemployed...sigh.”  

Toru sighed. Sure, he occasionally caught small game, but calling himself a professional hunter would be absurd.  

“I’m here picking wild herbs because I’m too broke to eat.”  

It was pathetic to admit, but… if he were the type to get hung up on that, he wouldn’t have let things get so bad that Akari was attacking him with a hammer.  

“…Understood.”  

The girl nodded repeatedly, saying,  

For some reason, her expression shifted to a smug smile. Pointing her index finger at Toru’s nose, she proclaimed,  

“Poor person!”  

“Rich unemployed people probably exist somewhere, but… being called a poor person straight-up kinda pisses me off.”  

Toru muttered with a sigh.  

Oddly, though, despite calling him a poor person—and, to be fair, he was so broke he couldn’t afford breakfast—her expression held no mockery or disdain. If anything, she seemed delighted, like she’d encountered something rare.  

“Poor person. Understood. Poor person.”  

She nodded over and over.  

(…What the heck with this girl?)  

It was as if she knew the word and concept of “poor” but had never seen it in action.  

“A-Anyway, you. What are you doing out here—”  Toru’s gaze shifted past her shoulder to the black coffin she was dragging.  “Hauling around a coffin like that? For that matter, even locals rarely come out here.”  

“…Ah.”  

Her eyes widened noticeably as she glanced over her shoulder at the coffin. Hastily, she unstrapped it and shoved it into the bushes, standing in front of it was she trying to hide it?before turning back to Toru, glaring up at him.  

“…You saw?”  

“Obviously.”  

Toru replied, exasperated.  

It was bigger than she was...how could he not see it?  

“You didn’t see.”  

“…...?”  

“You. Didn’t see. This.”  

“…Fine, whatever.”  

Scratching his cheek, Toru relented.  

Before him, she muttered again,  

“…Crossing mountains, hardly meet people… thought it was perfect plan…”  

Her words weren’t in the Continental Common Tongue but in Laake, a language mainly used in the north. Toru had thought her speech sounded stilted, and now it clicked tha t she was likely from the north. She wasn’t fluent in Common, but her Laake sounded smoother.  

“What, are you some kind of criminal?”  

The only people who’d go out of their way to avoid others and cross mountains were usually up to no good.  

Del Solant wasn’t exactly a hub of travel, but there were carriage roads through the mountains. Unless she had a serious reason, there was no need to haul a massive load through trackless wilderness.  

“Disrespect—rude! Insolent!”  

Pointing and glaring at Toru, she snapped, switching back to Common. It was barely intelligible, but… Toru preferred she stick to Common for clarity.  

“Then why are you so worried about being seen?”  

“…!?”  

Her expression froze, as if she’d been caught off guard.  

Apparently, she hadn’t expected Toru to understand Laake.  

“….....”  

She glared up at him again, her slightly upturned eyes a jumble of confusion, anxiety, urgency, and wariness—like a stray cat sizing up whether he was friend or foe.  

“Whatever, Criminal or not it’s got nothing to do with me.” Toru shrugged.  

Until a few years ago, the continent had been at war. Killing was normal. Stealing was normal. Plenty of people had grown up with those values. And in the post-war chaos, with nations scrambling to reorganize, legal systems were still shaky. The line between crime and non-crime was blurry so being chased as a criminal without even realizing it wasn’t exactly rare.  

No, really, it wasn’t.  

“Anyway.” Toru sighed.  

From their brief exchange, he’d pieced together a few things.  

This girl was an outsider, almost completely ignorant of the area.  

And, judging by her clothes, she likely had little to no experience or knowledge of mountain trekking. She had the air of a sheltered noble’s daughter, utterly out of touch with the world.  

“You… got business in Del Solant?”  

“Affirmative.”  

She nodded.  

“How long you been wandering this mountain?”  

“Three days.”  

“…”  

It was a miracle she was still in one piece surviving.  

Toru studied her from head to toe for a moment, then—  

“Hey, you—”  

“Mui?”  

“Got any money?”  

“Money? Cash?”  

Her purple eyes blinked as she spoke.  

Then, as if it clicked, she nodded enthusiastically and clapped her hands together.  

“Got it. Highwayman!”  

“Who’s a highwayman? Stop pointing me like that!”  

Toru swatted away her hand as she pointed at him triumphantly.  

“Mrr. Highwayman. Not?”  

“No way.”  

“Robber?”  

“Nope.”  

“…Murderer?”  

“You really want me to be some kind of outlaw, huh?”  

“Muu…”  

She crossed her arms and tilted her head.  

(Is she secretly hoping to get attacked or something?) Toru sighed again, rethinking his approach.  

“Breakfast for two. Guide fee.”  

“…?”  

She stared at him, her expression dubious.  

To the slow-witted girl, he spoke brusquely.  

“You want to get into Del Solant without being seen, right? I don’t know your deal, but at this rate, you won’t make it in a week.”  

“…Muu!?”  

“You went out of your way to cross the mountains, so you’ve seen a map, yeah? If you were moving right, it wouldn’t take three days. You’re obviously lost.”  

After all, she’d just tried to flee from him and ended up circling back to the same spot. She probably thought she was crossing the mountains in a straight line but was actually going in circles. Without a clear path, it’s easy to lose track of direction in dense forest.  

“Shocking truth.”  

“Figure it out already!”  

Her wide-eyed exclamation earned a sharp retort from Toru.  

“I’m saying I’ll guide you if you cover breakfast...mine and my imouto’s.”  

“…Mrr.”  

She frowned, crossing her arms. Sure as it was natural to be wary when a guy you just met in the mountains starts talking about guide fees and breakfast, but—  

“I told you, I’m unemployed and poor. Not proud of it, but I don’t even have money for—”  

He got that far when—  

—Moruzerun moruzerun erumun

A strange sound reached his ears.  

No—not a sound.  

It was a voice.  

A low, ominous voice, chanting incomprehensible, eerie words—  

—Seburun wamurun tourun

Shunerun horun yarun—

“…!”  

The girl’s eyes widened in shock.  

At the exact same moment, Toru lunged at her.  

“Migyaa!?”  

She let out a short yelp at the sudden move.  Pinning her small frame to the ground, Toru felt something streak past his back with ferocious deadly speed.  

“Damn it…!”  

Toru growled.  

“This is the worst!”  

Without hesitation, he scooped the girl up under his arm and kicked off the ground as staying put would get them killed for sure. Fleeing wasn’t much better as chances were high they’d still die—but atleast he had to try.  

“—Hey, wait!?”  

A strange tug made Toru shout. The girl felt oddly heavy—or rather, she was being pulled backward. Glancing back, he saw her tightly gripping the coffin’s leather strap.  

The black coffin clunked dragging along behind them, gakon gakon.  

In a mountain already lacking stable footing, carrying the girl threw off his balance, and dragging this extra load made running damn near impossible.  

“Ditch that thing darn it!”  

“Refuse.”  

Her reply was immediate.  

Since he was carrying her facing backward, all Toru could see were her flailing legs, her backside, and her back. He couldn’t catch her expression, but her tone was resolute.  

“Goddamn it!?”  

Toru shouted.  

A large black shadow vaulted over his head.  

Kicking off tree trunks and branches, tracing a complex, zigzagging path, it landed right beside the fleeing Toru and the girl—  

“An abandoned beast, of course…!”  

It was… a bizarre horse. If you could call it a horse—a jet-black creature that leaped effortlessly through the trees, with a strange organ on its forehead and fangs only a carnivore could possess.  

“A Unicorn*…!”  

Horses were creatures of the plains.  

Their hooves, legs, and entire bodies were built for sprinting across flat, open spaces. They weren’t suited for navigating obstacle-ridden forests or mountains. But this creature—called a Unicorn, a type of abandoned beast—defied such logic. Despite a body as large as or larger than a normal horse, it moved with the agility of a monkey or squirrel, executing three-dimensional maneuvers.  

The Unicorn was a predatory carnivore in the shape of a horse.  

*[TN : Unicorn (独角馬, Dokukakuma), an abandoned beast (棄獣, kijū).]

“Shit…!”  

Toru groaned, urgency gripping him.  

Competing with an abandoned beast especially a Unicorn in a footrace through these mountains was sheer folly. Especially while literally weighed down by luggage, escape was impossible.  

If that was the case—  

“…No choice.”  

His options were limited.  

He’d been in these mountains many times and knew the terrain roughly. Toru glanced up, checking the sun’s position through the canopy to confirm his bearings and deduce their current location.  

“Hey!”  

He shouted to the girl in his arms.  

“Scratch that—hold onto that coffin and don’t let go!!”  

“—Mrr?”  

—Moruzerun moruzerun erumun

Seburun wamurun tourun

Shunerun horun yarun—

That eeiry voice echoed again.  

And then—  

“Here we go!!”  

The vision-obscuring foliage suddenly parted.  

Just as he’d remembered, just as he’d calculated.  

Now—  

“Hold your breath!!”  

Toru shouted, kicking the ground harder.  

In the next instant—  

“…Nya?”  

A black trajectory carved through the air with ferocious speed.  

The girl’s oddly nonchalant voice.  

Leaving both in the void… Toru, the girl, and the coffin plummeted straight toward the ravine below the cliff.