Chapter 49: Leaving Town

“Huh! My leg!” It hurt as much as I thought, but it wasn’t high enough to injure me. “Alicia, it’s your turn. Don’t worry, I’ll catch you.”

I opened my arms for her landing. Alicia seemed scared, probably from inexperience doing something like that. However, she closed her eyes and finally jumped in my direction. A perfect landing.

We were at the back of the inn, but we could hear the explosions on the other side of the building, sometimes like thunder disrupting the air, other times like something shattering.

“Can we really leave Diane and Sarah against that?” Alicia asked me, her voice filled with concern for the others.

“You want to help them?” I asked Alicia.

She hesitated to respond to me. She stayed there, looking at the ground with a sad look. “I wanted to be capable of that. I don’t want people to risk their lives for me without doing that. I feel so powerless.”

I clenched my fists in frustration. I knew exactly how she felt, because I was at the same spot she was. I didn’t like it one bit to feel like a weight, incapable of helping.

However, I also knew that I would just get in the way. The best thing that I could do at this point, with my strength, was protect Alicia and bring her to Diane safe and sound.

I needed to be determined. Not only for Alicia, but for Sarah as well.

“I hate this as much as you, but they trust that I will protect you, and that’s what I’m going to do.” I said to her, opening the best smile I could, my hand stretched towards her, “Let’s go, Alicia.”

The princess was still frightened, but she was able to reach my hand. Together we walked away from town holding hands, while the magical bullets were destroying the rooftops. I forced myself to not look back, because if I did I would break my promise.

Holding tightly to Alicia, we left town, entering the deep sea of trees nearby. ’We will meet again, Sarah.’

…

After a long run around town trying to shoot down Diane, I returned to the inn’s tavern with ragged breathing. Justine was sitting at our table with Ms. Grace standing right beside her.

“You made quite a ruckus out there.” Justine greeted me with her usual cold tone. “Did you catch her?”

“Ah… Ah… Do I look like I have caught her?” I said to her, panting, with little air in my lungs to shout properly.

“So no success, huh. What a shame.” She said in a monotonic voice, as if it wasn’t her problem.

“That’s only because you refused to help!” I said to her in the angriest tone that I could.

“But I have low stamina, I would just get in the way.” She told me her cheap excuse once again.

“You could use your magic, you idiot!” I scolded her.

“Oh!” She hammered her hand, as if she had just thought of that when I said it to her, “That’s true. Sorry for that, Erina, I was so immersed in such delicious food that I forgot about it.”

“Oh my, you flattered me with your words~” Ms. Grace said, appearing to be really happy with the compliment to her cooking prowess.

“So you admit that you skipped work just to eat.” I said with a disapproving glare at my friend.

“Yes, but I thought that shooting down a single Assassin would be an easy task for you, Ms. Erina.” Justine said this last part in a provocative tone.

I couldn’t avoid the thought that I faced my target with doubt. Now that I was calmer than before, I could tell what was strange about Diane. Her behavior was weird, standing outside of the establishment where we were. ’What kind of fugitive does that?’

“She won today, but I’ll blow her next time.” I declared to Justine, looking at my underling, and then looking closely at our table. “Huh?”

There were two bowls on our table. Both were close to just being empty. The bowl that was right where I was sitting wasn’t there anymore. I just connected the dots.

“You ate my bowl!”

Justine just gave me a shrug. “It would get cold anyway, so it can’t be helped.”

“You have no shame, do you?”

“Ms. Justine is really amazing. I couldn’t believe that someone could eat so much.” Ms. Grace said smiling, praising her appetite.

I thought it was strange, because I was just seeing two bowls of soup, and it wasn’t a big deal. And then it hit me. I remembered that before I left the table she was taking a second serving. With my bowl, it was three.

“Now that I think of it, how much did you eat when I wasn’t around?”

Justine stayed in silence, avoiding my gaze as if she had done something wrong. My question was answered by the inn’s owner. “Justine ate almost all the cauldron.”

“W-What?”

“I get carried away, just a bit.” She said with a bit of embarrassment in her voice. Food was really a weakness for my professional-looking underling.

“How are you gonna pay for it?” I asked her.

“What do you mean?” Justine asked me back. “Ms. Erina, it was you who invited me to eat.”

“Eh?” I let out a surprised sound.

“So please, pay for my meal.” She said to me, with her monotonic voice.

Indeed, trying to stay around to see if I would get to Sarah and Alicia, I invited her to eat, but didn’t expect that she would guide me into bankruptcy.

“I can’t believe that.” I thought out loud. At my side, Ms. Grace was staring at me with a smile, clearly showing that she wanted her payment.

“Ms. Erina, who are those people?” Justine said, pointing to the glass window. “They are staring at you.”

“What do you mean by… Waah!” I stopped mid-sentence, looking outside. A large group of people was staring at me with anger, torches and tridents in hand.

“It’s her! The woman that destroyed my house!”

“She destroyed my windows!”

“The entrance of my shop was completely destroyed!”

“There is ice all over my roof!”

Complaints against me didn’t stop, the result of my chase earlier, and it didn’t look like those people wanted just an ’I’m sorry.’

“That’s a problem. What should we do, Ms. Erina?” Justine asked me, as if she didn’t create another problem for me to deal with.

Looking at how problematic my situation had gotten, I could only think one thing.

’I want to go back home~’

…

The sun had already set, bringing the darkness of the night to the forest. Alicia and I stood close to a bonfire that I made.

I brought my bag with me, so I could set up a small camp for us. However, I didn’t have time to bring some important things. Like food, for example.

The only food I had was three breads from a few days ago. ’It’s probably from the time Leo was still with us…’

I’d like to offer something better to Alicia, but it was the best I had.

“Here, take it, Alicia. In the morning I’ll look for something better to eat.” I said to her while giving a bread to her.

Alicia readily ate the bread, but as she started to chew, her expression looked sadder than before. “It’s tough to eat.”

I tried to eat it, and yes, it was tough to eat. I had an idea then. Using a stick, I pierced through a piece of my bread and put it above the bonfire, trying not to burn it. After I thought it was good, I blew on it so it wouldn’t be too hot for her.

“Try this.” I said while offering a part of the heated bread to her.

She took it with both hands, and when she chewed it, a smile opened on her face. “It got softer than before.”

“It didn’t get much better, but it’s edible now.”

“Huh huh.” She shook her head. “Thank you for the bread. And thank you for being by my side.”

We finished eating, one bread each. There was still one for tomorrow morning, and then we would have to hunt down an animal to feed our stomachs.

“I think we should go to sleep.” I said that, but a sudden weight pressed against my arm.

“Alicia…” I spoke to the girl sitting close to me. Her head rested on my shoulder.

“I don’t feel like sleeping now.” She said in a pampered voice. Her emerald eyes fixed on me, filled with loneliness. I understood why. The girl had been running for days, being protected by her closest friend, and after arriving in a place where she could be safe, she had to leave without Diane.

At the moment, I was the only one she could count on, and she was leaning on me, longing for human contact.

At that distance, I could smell her sweet scent. Her small and delicate breasts were pressing against my arm.

“Please, stay with me for the night. Don’t leave me alone.” She said with a sad voice.

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