episode_0066

There are many cities on the continent, and some of them are huge cities whose existence everyone on the continent knows about.

Most of those cities are the capitals of a country.

In the first place, there are many cases where you don’t know everything about the city, even if it’s in your own country.

However, if everyone knows about it even though it is not even a city in their own country, it should truly be the capital of a country.

However, there are a few exceptions.

Although it is not the capital of a specific country, there are a few cities that everyone on the continent knows about.

One of those exceptions is Perdion.

As the Academy was established and the population flocked, Perdion, a city that was naturally created, became known to everyone on the continent, even though it did not belong to any country.

And there is one more city that falls into that exception.

That is, a city called Aguilem.

Aguilem is a city built northwest of the center of the continent, near where the grasslands that occupy the central part of the continent end and the desert begins. Because of its characteristics, it is often called the Free City.

As its name suggests, Aguilem is not affiliated with any country and is run and run solely by citizens and groups within the city.

Originally, Aguilem started as a small village that could not even be called a city.

Aguillem began when people started living together one by one because it was easy to obtain water for daily use due to the adjacent river.

The village, which was so insignificant, grew exponentially in size over time.

The reason was simple.

Because Aguillem’s geographical location was so good.

It is located relatively close to the center of the continent, on the border between grasslands and deserts, and next to a huge river.

It is no exaggeration to say that it was a transportation hub, and people and logistics naturally flocked to Aguillem.

As time passed, Aguillem developed and eventually became a fairly wealthy city.

It didn’t end there.

A long time ago, when Aguillem was developing into a city of trade, there was a person who took office as the mayor of Aguillem.

He was not satisfied with Aguilem’s condition, and had ambitions to make Aguilem bigger.

What he turned his attention to was entertainment.

Even at that time, many people came and went from Aguillem.

With the simple idea that if he built an entertainment facility inside the city, he would be able to take a lot of money out of his pockets, and he began to attract entertainment businesses to Aguillem.

The entertainment industry was introduced to Aguillem in a somewhat unreasonable and hasty manner.

It has grown with unimaginable momentum, surpassing even market expectations, and has become a business that attracts enormous amounts of money.

Not only those who stopped by Aguillem enjoyed the entertainment, but there were even people who came to Aguillem to enjoy the entertainment.

Ultimately, Aguillem achieved continuous development through trade, commerce, and entertainment, and today it has become one of the wealthiest cities on the continent.

Aguilém is a city full of life, where countless things and people gather during the day, and where the lights never go out on the streets at night.

Inside the city, a woman was walking.

What should I say, she was an ordinary woman.

From the face to the body shape, height, and stride, everything was ordinary.

It’s so ordinary that it doesn’t leave an impression.

This is not an exaggeration, she was a woman with such an ordinary and vague impression that you would forget her face after seeing her face for a few steps.

The path of such an ordinary woman was towards a small grocery store, which is rare in Aguillem.

Just because it was Aguilem, no area or building was grand or flashy.

There are ordinary houses and areas where ordinary people live.

This grocery store was located in such an area.

“Hmm? Miss, you’re here again.”

The owner, who was sitting at the counter at the entrance of the grocery store reading the newspaper, looked at the woman and smiled.

“Hello.”

After giving a brief greeting to the owner, the woman entered the grocery store.

He then walked around the interior and brought various groceries, including vegetables and meat, to the counter in a basket.

The owner looked down at the basket the woman had brought and its contents.

This is a large amount for a woman to consume alone.

Considering how often I stop by the grocery store, I don’t usually buy several days’ worth at once.

If so, it would mean that the woman does not live alone.

The owner inadvertently thought of such a guess.

Well, it’s not a particularly meaningful guess. It’s just a habit developed over many years of working in the business.

“Since you have been using it frequently recently, I will give you a small discount.”

The owner decided to use his generosity and discount the price.

Recently, customers have been stopping by frequently, and there are a lot of things they buy.

For customers like this, service is necessary.

A small service like this is what creates regular customers.

“Thank you.”

After paying, the woman bowed slightly to the owner and left the store.

The owner quietly watched the woman’s back.

He described her as a woman who leaves an impression no matter how many times you see her.

***

I like it─

With the noise made by the old hinges of the old door, the woman entered the dark room.

With familiar hands, I turn on the lights and place the purchased items on the table.

And the place where her steps were headed was the innermost room of the house.

Crash─

When I opened the door and entered, the first thing I saw was a bed in the corner and a person lying on it.

Inyoung’s condition was miserable.

The sight of his body wrapped in bandages was enough to raise questions as to whether he was actually alive.

However, the slight rise and fall of her chest only passively proved that Inyoung was still breathing.

“… … .”

The woman, who had been quietly watching the feeble proof of life, closed the door and entered the room.

Then, I sat down on the chair placed next to the bed.

He looked down at Inyoung, who seemed dead and motionless.

“… Haha.”

Soon, he let out a loud sigh and held his head.

“Why should I do something like this… .”

The woman who was muttering something as if she was regretting something and messing with her hair turned her gaze back to Inyoung.

Originally, it wasn’t supposed to happen like this.

But, it ended up like this.

The woman, Bella, chewed her lips and recalled the memories of that day.

***

One day, Bella, who was traveling around the continent following missions and requests as usual, heard about a rumor.

That is, the rumor that the prince of Elbrend died at the academy and that the culprit is on the run.

When she heard the rumor, she thought.

It smells like money.

He is the prince of an empire.

There was no way the empire wouldn’t place a bounty on that evil beast, and there was no way the amount would be mediocre.

Most likely, she thought, it was a large sum of money that an ordinary person could live off of for the rest of his life.

Sure enough, as expected, the bounty on the criminal’s head was an astronomical amount.

Even for her, I can’t help but feel moved.

With that amount, it was enough to bring her goal to fruition a step closer.

In the end, Bella decided to participate in the race to hunt down the prince’s killer.

There were a lot of competitors due to the amount of money, but I thought it was worth a try.

Because she was confident in her skills.

Bella immediately acted on the rumor.

As if traveling non-stop for several days was worth it, she was finally able to catch up with the criminal.

I saw scenes everywhere of people who seemed to be business associates at first glance, moving about busily.

Convinced that the culprit was nearby, she followed her companions into the mountain.

Judging by their actions, it seemed that the culprit had not been caught yet.

Therefore, Bella had a golden imagination and continued to move forward.

What stopped her unstoppable progress was a loud explosion heard from deep in the mountain.

A powerful wave of magical energy erupted, accompanied by an explosion that seemed to literally shake the heavens and earth.

She knew it intuitively. There is a battle going on above, and a fearsome power is there.

Money is important, but it is nothing compared to life.

Thinking like that, she decided to watch from a distance for now.

I don’t know what happened, but I figured it wouldn’t be too late to take action after watching what happened, so I decided to wait.

And after a while, the noise died down.

Knowing that the fight was over, she wanted to see where the noise had come from.

Because I thought there was a high probability that the fight earlier was related to the culprit.

However, if you go up normally, you will be late.

Even now, numerous competitors were heading towards the top of the mountain with their eyes lit up.

It’s not that I don’t have the confidence to beat them with speed, but doing so would require a significant amount of stamina and magic power, and it would be difficult to make a difference.

Considering what happened later, it was definitely not a very wise choice.

So she decided to take a different path.

Suddenly, I saw a steep cliff in the distance.

A rough and steep cliff that the average person would not dare climb.

After taking a quick look, I decided that it would be easy to reach the top by climbing up that cliff since it was long.

So, while heading to the cliff, Bella felt a presence.

A faint sign as if it would go out at any moment.

Maybe, it could be the culprit.

That small possibility passed through Bella’s mind.

It doesn’t take a long time to check anyway, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to check.

With that thought in mind, Bella quickly walked in the direction where she felt the presence.

And, it wasn’t long before I saw it.

A man lying dying by the river.

He had rare black hair, was taller than average, and had a youthful face that made him look like he was in his twenties.

It was exactly as I heard.

Bella’s eyes widened as she approached the culprit, but her steps suddenly stopped.

“… … ?”

It was because I felt a sense of déjà vu.

I felt like I had seen that face somewhere before.

Bella, who narrowed her eyes and studied the man’s face, soon realized.

I met a man once.

‘At that time… !’

It was a man I met last summer in the city where I was on a mission.

The man who helped her when she got caught up in a street gang and was wondering how to deal with it.

A man who realized that he was killing himself and ran away to avoid detection.

The man was dying before her eyes.

He was charged with murdering the prince.

Bella was momentarily lost in that sudden and absurd reunion.

However, the time itself was not that long.

Even while her mind was busy, her body moved and approached the man.

Then he started administering first aid.

‘As it is… !’

If left like this, the man will surely die.

In the first place, she came for the bounty, and the Empire said it didn’t care if he was alive or dead, so she didn’t need to save the man, and she knew that, but Bella’s body didn’t stop.

I fed the man the potion I had prepared for emergencies and applied it to the affected area.

Although it was a very effective product for special situations, the man’s condition was so bad that it only improved slightly and was only a temporary solution.

She started running, carrying the man whose condition had slightly improved.

If it stayed like this, it wasn’t long before the wild cats would smell it and flock to it.

Just like that, Bella left the scene, carrying the wanted criminal she should have killed on her back.

***

And it comes to now.

Bella, who escaped the scene, carried Wade while erasing all traces, and thus came to Aguillem, her base.

A choice to help a criminal with a large bounty on it, a choice that he would not have made or considered originally.

But somehow, for the first time in her life, she ended up making that choice.

In fact, even after arriving in Aguilem, I was able to change my choice as many times as I wanted.

All I had to do was send a message to the Empire and that would be the end of it.

But Bella couldn’t do that.

On the contrary, he treated Wade’s wounds and even took care of him.

“… … .”

I hesitated again and again.

I thought several times a day that it would be right to contact the empire right away.

However, in the end, no action was taken.

She also couldn’t understand why she was doing this.

We only met once, and our relationship ended with just a few words exchanged.

Of course, it is true that she developed feelings for the other person during that one meeting.

However, it wasn’t a crush so deep that I could lose even a large amount of money.

‘how… … .’

Why am I doing this?

Bella, unable to find an answer, could only sigh one after another.