episode_0029

“Aren’t you worried about La Boille?”

“I’m not worried?”

“But isn’t Illisha your colleague? The night will be dangerous.”

The kid and Elisias look at me with concern.

La Boille? That guy?

He may be a bit of a coward, but I know he does what he does, so I wasn’t too worried.

But if there’s anything you’re worried about

“When I think of it being a drag… Fuha!”

I burst out laughing as I remembered La Boille shaking and looking for me.

“Does that guy even get dirty?… That’s unexpected…”

Elisias and the kid reacted strangely.

To some extent, I understand why that reaction is the way it is.

“Sorry, sorry, it’s because you don’t know much about LaBoille. He puts on all kinds of looks and pretends to be strong, but in reality, it’s all a bluff. LaBoille is a guy who gets startled and trembles at the sight of a large dog on the street.”

“That Laboille?”

If a guy who was competing with an orc his size got scared when he saw a dog on the street, anyone would react that way.

” That’s right, he even trembled under the table when he first saw me?”

I recalled the memory of the first time I met LaBoille.

It’s funny to think back on the sight of LaBoille trembling with his body folded under a table that couldn’t even hide his large size.

“Well, I can’t help it even if I’m a little pretentious, so please understand”

He tries all sorts of things to pretend to be strong so as not to look down on him, but to me, it just looks like a small dog being wary.

I’ve told him to tone down his bravado a few times, but I understand it to some extent.

It’s easy to be caught looking down on people here, so you have to be a little strong and come out as many times as possible.

“Ilicia, how did you and LaBoille get to know each other?”

In response to the kid’s sudden question, I refined my memory a little.

Our first meeting was definitely at the store that raised me.

“Well…it’s a bit of a long story…”

I frowned a little because it wasn’t a pleasant and eventful story.

Since I was born, there was no one called Mom and Dad, so I grew up under the care of a director of an orphanage with poor facilities and bad hand habits.

I was tired of his caress coming every night, so I ran away from the orphanage in the middle of winter, but the harsh wind on the streets in winter was too harsh for the child.

Since I didn’t even have a place to return to, I walked around the alleys every day, rummaged through trash cans, or secretly stole large pieces of bread from a bakery and ran away. If I was unlucky enough to get caught stealing, I would get stoned that day.

Life in the alleys was dirty, mean, and terrible.

The smell of alcohol and blood that came out at night was fishy, and I had to fight to protect myself and not have something taken away.

The screams I heard at night were very scary, but I had to be alert and show off in order not to be looked down on.

To me, this was a world where you had to steal in order to survive and harm in order to protect. It was literally a world of jungle. That would be it.

“Are you okay?”

As I was wiping the blood from my forehead after getting hit again today, a man held out his hand to me.

That was the first grace I received.

“Mister! It’s out!”

“Illisha! Take a seat here! What on earth are you doing these days?”

I got used to living on the streets and turned 15.

Today again, when I returned from cleaning up the people polluting the streets, the man pressed me and scolded me.

The man frowned as if his head was in pain and sighed.

“No, what…cleaning???”

My uncle always said that helping someone is a good thing, but violence breeds violence, so show mercy and forgive rather than force.

This innocent and kind-hearted man said that he had forgiven his wife for running away with her lover, leaving behind only their daughter. He also emphasized that I should not use force and told me to just live like other girls my age.

But that can’t be possible.

“Elisha sister! Are you here?”

“Leila!”

Layla is the one and only treasure of the man who clothed me, fed me, and put me to sleep. She is like a shining star to me. I opened my arms and gave her to her, who was cuter than a doll.

The little boy came back with a bright face and was held in my arms, wondering what was so good about it.

It gave me a strange feeling that the child who was so small when I first saw him has now grown up and is running around with both feet to greet me.

“Sister! sister! You didn’t forget that you were going to play with me tonight, right?”

I nodded, gently stroking the head of the girl who buried her face in my chest.

Even though I’m not his real brother, he treats me like his real sister.

I wanted to protect the smile of the child who welcomed me with a bright smile, even though I was like a stone that had rolled in, from this dirty place.

“Leila, I have something to talk with you, so stay up.”

“Ehh!! no! Today I’m going to have an adventure with Illisha!”

When Layla shook her head with a pouty expression and filled her mouth with her cheek, the man looked troubled and didn’t know what to do, and I slightly dropped Layla in my arms.

“Layla How about playing hero instead of adventure today? Leila is playing the hero!”

“Playing as a hero? Then who is Illisha?”

The innocent little boy’s question left me speechless and a little cold sweat breaking out.

“Uh…I’ll play the villain! So, can you wait in the room for a moment? In order for your sister to become a scary villain, you need to prepare!”

Leila finally seemed to agree with the answer, nodded with a big smile on her face, and toddled up the stairs to her room.

The man must have finally felt relieved as he sat down on the sofa and carefully patted the spot next to him.

“What…with such a serious face.”

A man was waiting for me with a slightly shadowy figure. I carefully sat down next to him and he carefully held my hand.

“Illisha, don’t tell me that what you’re doing is bad. Even though you are clumsy, you are a child who tries to repay the favor in any way possible”

The warm touch made me close my mouth.

“The reason you come here every day and patrol the area every night is because you are worried about Leila and me, right?”

The man stroked my head carefully.

“Thank you for your concern, but I want you to live your own life. Helping you that day wasn’t something I expected in return.”

“But…”

While I was hesitating, the man carefully hugged me.

The warmth of that embrace was so warm and precious, unlike the cold winter that day.

The man patted my back and let me go.

“Ilicia, you are just as precious to me as Leila. That’s why I want you to live happily and confidently, that’s my wish.”

“But man…you know, the only thing I know how to do is work hard…that’s the only thing I’ve learned. What can I do like this?”

All I learned during my 15 years of life was violence and bravado.

I wasn’t as beautiful as an all-rounder, not as gentle and gentle as a lady, and I didn’t have the skills to learn like other kids my age, so I didn’t know what I could do.

After contemplating with me for a moment, the man said he thought of a brilliant method and hit his leg.

“Okay, how about this? Become an adventurer.”

“Adventurer…?”

I’ve heard of it.

People who are freer than anyone else and fight dangerous monsters when asked to do so and protect the safety of ordinary citizens.

Because this store I was indebted to was a weapons store, I occasionally saw people come in to get their weapons and armor fitted, but they didn’t seem that strong.

“It may be a little dangerous, but Illisha, you are quite strong compared to ordinary people, so you will be able to do well, and maybe even become a famous adventurer.”

The man who spoke while nodding his head smiled evilly.

“If that happens, would it be okay to brag about it? The store that produced the famous adventurer Illisha! We’ll do it very cheaply! He said hehe.”

“At times like this, you are a very treacherous person.”

“Hmm, there is no business with money?”

When I spoke with a smile, the man stuttered as if he had been stabbed, stretched, and looked at the room upstairs where Leila was.

“You know that since our store is a weapons store, we also deal with the remains of monsters, right?”

The man handed over the remains of monsters to adventurers who occasionally visited, asking for reinforcement materials for weapons and armor, and gave them money.

There were some people who said they didn’t like the price and became abusive, but I went to see them separately and took care of them.

“If you bring me the remains of a monster, I will pay you a higher price than other places. Instead, come to Layla occasionally and tell me real adventure stories, not just adventure games.”

The man turned his head to look at me and smiled, showing his white teeth, but I couldn’t smile.

Because I felt so sorry, I had been a nuisance ever since I was young, but I was so thankful that he tried to take more care of me.

“Yes…I will.”

When I stopped crying, he patted me on the back, and with that warmth, I decided to do one thing.

If there is someone who can help me, I will be the kind of person who will willingly step forward and help like this man.

Following my uncle’s words, I headed to the guild and began living the life of an adventurer.

The battle with monsters was completely different from the battle with humans, so many dangerous situations occurred, but it was okay.

Since monsters were not as clever as humans, they were just like some kind of beast that was faithful to its instincts.

I trained my body even more so as not to forget my promise.

For the day when I can protect myself and be of help to someone.

How many years have passed since then?

Life as an adventurer was hectic, but it was full of unexpectedly fun things.

“Mister…isn’t it going to get worse if you keep doing this?”

Sometimes, when I stopped by the store, my uncle and Leila welcomed me with hospitality.

“Only benefits remain? The quality of the debris they bring is good haha! Thanks to this, our store is starting to see more and more people?”

Today too, as usual, when I handed over the debris I had brought with me, the man said he was happy and handed me some silver coins.

“Ha…the world is worse than that…”

The man let out a small sigh as he put the passed things away in a corner.

“What’s wrong?”

“There are ugly rumors going around on the streets these days.”

“Oh, about that weak medicine?”

A weak drug that caused a stir a few years ago

It is said to have been banned by law due to the side effect of making people crazy, but the drug is still floating around in Kazas Alham, and the number of people involved in crimes caused by the drug is said to be increasing.

“It’s okay, mister, I’m here, right? If anything happens, I will protect you.”

My adventuring career had already reached 10 years, and the group of monsters wasn’t too much of a burden, so I was confident that I was strong in my own way, so I stuck out my chest and answered the man.

“Layla is waiting. I heard there’s something I want to ask of you today?”

The man who was looking at my face smiled and pointed to the upper room.

“Oh really?”

I went up the stairs in one go and burst into the door where Layla was.

“Uh, is your sister here?”

Leila was startled and quickly hid the long object covered with a blanket behind her.

“What is it? Is that…?”

Curious about what he was hiding, I quickly snatched up the item he was hiding and took off the blanket.

“Sword…?”

Leila lowered her head as if she were embarrassed, then fiddled with her fingers and took a deep breath.

“, you know? I want to become an adventurer like my sister…”

“No.”

I asked with great anticipation, but Layla looked surprised at my firm refusal.

“Uh, why!”

The guy who was as small as a bean was already starting to catch up to my height.

Leila, who resembled her father, had clear features and a thin body that was suddenly overflowing with volume, literally turning into a lady. That’s why I wanted to oppose working as an adventurer even more.

“Of course, it’s not up to me to decide, but being an adventurer is also a dangerous job… didn’t you always tell me? About the danger of monsters… Your sister says you are strong, but you…”

I know it’s not my place to argue with Leila, but as her older sister, I think it would be nice for her to meet a wonderful man and live a wonderful life while doing something a little more comfortable than working as an adventurer, which is always dangerous and can cost you your life.

“I just need to help my sister become stronger!”

I ignored Leila’s cries and burning gaze and remained silent.

Is it my greed? Leila wants to live a different life than me.

I started working as an adventurer because I wanted to help others to make a living, but Leila probably started it just for fun.

I know that I will never be strong with that kind of mindset.

The reason I became strong was to survive, so I would give up so quickly.

“Do you know that you want to become an adventurer?”

“I know…my sister told me to become an adventurer, but I’m the only one who can’t!”

Leila said that out of anger and ran out.

I was taken aback by Leila’s appearance and just watched her running away.

Did I do something wrong? I scratched my head with mixed emotions.

“Ha…”

I’m sure you have the same reason for opposing Leila as an adventurer.

Because treasure is very precious.

Of course, if Layla is serious about making a living and truly trying to become strong, she will have to think differently.

When you feel like you need to have a serious talk with your uncle

“―Aaaah!”

A cacophony of shrill screams and the sounds of objects breaking.

Could it be that another adventurer is making a fuss again because he doesn’t like the price?

As I quickly went down the stairs, I couldn’t keep my mouth shut at the sight of the devastated store.