episode_0173

Tia and Fosao, having returned home, gasped for breath. Both wore expressions of disbelief that they had managed to return home safely.

Who could have predicted they would meet Mister Marvin there? Tia hadn’t even considered that such a worst-case encounter would happen in the first place.

It was an unpredictable event. People usually called such things a ‘disaster’.

Like someone praised for being truly good suddenly getting struck by lightning and dying. The two of them had met disaster.

“It’s dangerous.”

In any case, the unexpected happened suddenly.

Tia barely escaped the crisis by intentionally starting a fire.

The problem was what came next.

“I’m wanted as a murderer in Taildon. If Mister Marvin brings that up, the Lord-nim here won’t be able to do anything.”

“Then… wh-what should we do?”

“There’s no time for this.”

Tia, her face pale and hardened, spoke quickly.

“We have to run. Quickly.”

There wasn’t much time left.

Tia immediately began preparing to leave the place. She haphazardly stuffed clothes into a tattered bag that she thought she would never have to take out again.

Perhaps because she had moved residences multiple times already, her movements were incredibly quick. Unlike Fosao, who was flustered and didn’t know what to do, she only packed essentials for survival.

“C-Can I go to the village vault? All my money is, uh, deposited there…”

There was a problem.

Fosao had most of his money deposited in the guild’s vault, so he didn’t have many gold coins to take with him immediately.

“No. There’s no time.”

There was no time to go to the vault and come back. Even a brief separation between the two of them in this time-critical situation would be extremely dangerous.

They didn’t know what Marvin was doing or where he was. What if they carelessly went down to the vault and got caught by someone?

Even if they could get it, the weight of the gold coins would be considerable, making it hard to be sure they could carry it all.

“Are you saying I have to give, give up everything?”

“Yes. You have to give it up.”

……

“There’s no choice.”

Tia hoisted the bag onto her shoulder and tightened the straps. And lastly, she picked up Rose Shabel and fastened it to her waist.

That appearance was exactly like… the attire I wore when I left Breezedon to get my medicine.

“For now, let’s leave this place until it’s safe.”

The two of them left the house.

Because the fire that broke out in the warehouse was quite large, all the villagers near the east gate had gone down and were no longer there.

However, their neighbor living across the way, Rodya, was just coming out of her house.

“Oh my. Modaless Mister!”

“Ah, ah…”

“Have you heard the news? They say a fire broke out near the market.”

Rodya pointed to the sky. Thick black smoke was rising high.

“Everyone went to put out the fire. What a shame for such a pleasant day to turn out like this… Oh, by the way, where are you two going? Your bags look heavy, and you look like you’re dressed for a long journey.”

“Well… we’re going on a trip starting now.”

“A trip? A honeymoon?”

“Ah, yes!”

Tia hastily made excuses as the conversation continued. She didn’t seem to have the energy to speak clearly.

“Now? There was no talk of that.”

“It just ended up being decided.”

“When will you be back?”

Tia’s expression grew increasingly anxious. Her eyes kept darting elsewhere.

This was not the time to be held up by this talkative woman, making up excuses. Cold sweat ran down her back at the feeling that ominousness was continuously pursuing them.

“We’ll be back soon. So, if you’ll excuse us…”

Tia and Fosao fled the spot as if escaping.

“Be careful and have a pleasant trip!”

Leaving Rodya’s blessing behind, the two ran towards the east gate.

Perhaps they would never hear the voice of that kind and gentle woman again.

After running with all their might, they arrived at the city gate.

“Haa- haa-.”

“I, I can’t move a muscle…”

Leaving the exhausted Fosao to rest for a moment, Tia looked for a carriage passing through the village.

She stopped a passing coachman and asked.

“Can we ride in your carriage now? Two people.”

“There’s no room for people. Besides, it’s illegal.”

All carriages traveling to and from Goldburg were merely pulling carts for cargo.

They were packed with goods, leaving insufficient space to carry two people.

Tia pleaded in a desperate voice.

“Can’t you do something?”

“If I were to take you, I’d have to take out that many goods. Can you pay for that cost?”

“……How much?”

“Let’s see. If I take out two bundles of cargo, move them to the warehouse, and factor in storage fees…”

The merchants quickly calculated.

They calculated all the costs in their heads and came up with an estimated price.

“It would be about 70 gold.”

Fortunately, that amount could be covered by the money remaining in the vault, but the money they had on hand was only about 40 gold.

Anyway, the money in the vault couldn’t be used. Since the coachmen didn’t know Fosao at all, they couldn’t even write a promissory note for him to take money from the vault.

To get the money right now… there was only one way.

“Wait a moment. Just wait for me.”

Tia immediately entered a nearby general store. And she firmly grasped Rose Shabel.

Tap. Tap.

Even as she walked a few steps, it seemed she deliberated hundreds of times. Truly, she really didn’t want to do this, but the thought that there was no other choice kept urging her steps forward.

“What brings you here?”

When the owner of the general store asked that.

Her anxious and uneasy heart finally made a decision.

Tia unfastened the belt wrapped around her waist.

Then she took out Rose Shabel’s scabbard and set it firmly on the table.

“…I came to sell it.”

Her mother’s memento.

A gift left by her only blood relative.

Considering the arduous struggles Tia went through to retrieve this sword after losing it in Deseo, this action was utterly incomprehensible.

A single sword left to her since birth.

Whenever she was lonely, whenever she missed her family. She would hug it tightly to her chest and sleep.

Tia’s dream of becoming an adventurer began with this sword.

To inherit everything from her parents. To achieve something herself, even as an insignificant girl.

She always said that.

She would become a great adventurer.

Before me, Tia had held the dazzlingly beautiful Rose Shabel and declared.

But.

Where had all that dream, that resolve, that determination, that brilliance gone?

To me, Tia… appeared to be nothing more than a pathetic fugitive.

Just to get out of this place. To get a few more paltry coins.

Giving up her life and memories with Rose Shabel…

She was a pitiful girl who sold off the precious dream she had brilliantly nurtured since childhood.

The owner, glancing at Rose Shabel, said gruffly.

“20.”

20 gold coins dropped.

The sword was gone, and Tia’s face visibly paled as she looked at the gold coins in her hand.

…Ah.

Tia’s life and dreams were merely.

Worth ‘20 gold’?

She raised her trembling head and asked.

“Can’t you give… more?”

“20 is already a very generous offer.”

“Please look again. This is different from an ordinary sword…”

Before long, her sobs were tinged with sorrow.

Was it because she belatedly realized she had sold half of herself to survive? Transparent tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.

“Hmm.”

It seemed the owner was moved when a girl like his own daughter spoke as if wailing. He finally closed his eyes and took a few more coins from his money pouch.

Clink-.

10 more gold coins were added.

“No more. Go now.”

“…Thank you.”

Tia looked once at Rose Shabel in the owner’s hand.

Her gaze lingered for quite some time. But, she soon tightly closed her eyes and turned her head away.

Clunk!

The money obtained from selling Rose Shabel was immediately handed over to the coachman.

He took the two of them into the cart and exited the east gate.

It was just as they were about to leave the checkpoint.

“There they are! Catch them!”

Someone’s small shout was heard.

Tia looked back.

In the distance, Goldburg’s soldiers were running towards them. Mister Marvin was among the soldiers.

Tia shouted to the coachman.

“Drive! Quickly!”

“Hey, this wasn’t part of the deal!”

“Please!”

……Tch!

Anyway, since the coachman also had evidence of an illicit deal, he wouldn’t fare well if caught.

“Hup!”

He powerfully drove the carriage, shaking off the soldiers’ pursuit.

Far, far away.

Until Goldburg was no longer visible.

Tia disappeared like that.

* * *

“Hey… are you listening to me?”

The vision of memory vanished.

I was holding Rose Shabel inside the general store. And next to me, Ruyef was looking at me with a serious expression.

“I’m listening.”

Thud.

I put Rose Shabel back in its place.

……

What should I do?

Tia sold this sword and left. There was nothing more to see.

But I felt that I had to retrieve Rose Shabel.

It wasn’t for any particular reason.

This sword was both an extension of the ‘Tia’ I knew,

And I had a strong intuition that it would be a weapon to protect my will.

“I’ll be back tonight, so could you hold onto this sword for me?”

“Haha. You speak as if you’re the owner.”

The owner waved his hand.

“Well, I don’t mind. Just don’t be too late.”

As soon as I exited the general store, Ruyef asked.

“Ritsu. Did you see anything?”

……

That was precisely the problem that was bothering me.

I let out a deep sigh and answered briefly.

“She’s not here.”

“What did you say?”

“She left Goldburg about a month or two ago.”

After all that effort chasing her.

I didn’t expect to feel this sense of emptiness again, with nothing left.

“And you don’t know where she went?”

“No. But I have a feeling I know.”

“In that case, let’s go immediately. The later it gets, the harder it will be to pursue her.”

“Right. Before that, I think we should pick up Tia’s sword.”

Ruyef made a displeased expression.

“It will cost a lot to get it back. There’s no time to dawdle here. Even if you want to take that sword, you might have to do it by force…”

“No. It’s fine. I can get enough before nightfall. The travel expenses we’ll need. And the funds for village reconstruction that you wanted. I’ve found them all.”

“…What do you mean by that?”

I know.

That the money Tia and Fosao saved is still in Goldburg’s vault.