Chapter 3: The Birth of a Hero

Chapter 3:
The Birth of a Hero

 

IT HAD BEEN roughly a month since Lily first set foot in the capital of Tils. In that time, she had begun to learn the connections between voice and words, sounds and letters, from Lafine.

A lack of intellect had never been a problem for Lily, who had been unable to speak only because she had been unable to hear. In fact, because she had once spent all of her waking hours reading books, she had perhaps a surplus of knowledge, which was now bearing fruit. By now, Lily Lockwood was equipped with faculties of language similar to any other typical girl of this time and place.

A cart overtook Lily as she walked, a basket full of bread in her hands. The sounds of the metal horseshoes on the cobblestones and the turning wooden wheels were different here from how they had sounded running through the grasslands a month prior.

The light of the sun above did not give off any sound, merely shining down upon her. Yet Lily was becoming used to the very many other sounds that emerged whenever the sun was shining. Even the voices of men and of women were different. Men’s voices were low and heavy, women’s high and light.

Lily would never grow tired of it. Just as that young mage told Lily that night, the world was full of far more sounds than she could ever imagine.

“Take this, Lily dear!”

Lily turned around at the sound of a hoarse, thick voice, to see an apple arcing through the air. She swiftly put the handle of the basket between her teeth and caught the apple in both hands. The apple had come from the old man who ran the produce stand.

“Thank you!”

She deftly let the handle of the basket slip down to the crook of her left arm, held the apple in both hands, and took a bite. The tangy flavor and fresh fragrance were overwhelming.

Having spent the bulk of her life locked away in the mansion, Lily had had no idea that the outside world could be this much fun. How amazing her life was! Every moment was such a thrill!

“Ha ha ha! Gonna eat it right now?”

Crunch crunch. The sound of the apple crunching between her teeth was a joy to her ears.

“Huh? Should I not?”

“It’s fine! It must be tough for you, looking after that Lafine.”

But in truth, it wasn’t. Lily had fun almost no matter what she was doing. Still, it was notable that Lafine’s reputation preceded her even here in the capital, Lily thought.

“She vanished from this city without a trace several years ago and then showed up again out of the blue last month. Gotta wonder if she’s a bit off, considering she never comes out of the house. I swear…”

“I mean, she’s a really nice person!”

The shopkeeper’s eyes narrowed warmly.

“You really do love everyone, Lily. I’ll bet you’ve been through a lot.”

“I guess so…”

When their carriage had been ambushed, Lily would have been lost without Lafine. Furthermore, seeing how capable Lafine had been that night, Lily thought it was something of a wonder that she should be thought of as a bit unreliable here in the capital, from whence she hailed.

From what Lily could gather, Lafine was once an incredibly skilled hunter. Now, she never left the house—but she didn’t need to, thanks to the payment they had received from the Flaming Wolves following the aforementioned incident. Not that the sum was enough to support them forever.

Incidentally, the Flaming Wolves had made an impassioned plea to the pair that night, asking that, should the two ever become hunters, they think seriously about joining up with the Wolves. However, Lafine had merely scowled at them with a deep disdain, told them to, “Get lost,” and kicked them to the curb. For her part, Lily had thought the proposal quite an appealing one. After all, the majority of her storybooks involved adventurous main characters—like hunters—who always did the right thing.

It would be, she imagined, just like in the tales of Miami Satodele. In those books, there were special personages, known typically as “heroes,” who spent their days vanquishing evil and protecting the weak. It had always spoken to her, even when she was younger—though at the time, when she could not leave her room, all Lily could do was aspire to such quests.

If she became a hunter, though, could she take one step closer to becoming a hero?

“Ee hee hee!” She dashed through the streets and opened up the door of their house. “I’m home!”

“Simmer down. Where have you been, getting yourself all worked up?”

Lafine stared at Lily through weary eyes. It was already near one in the afternoon, but she was still in her sleep clothes. A toothbrush stuck out of her mouth.

“Hey, hey, Lafine!”

“Hmm?”

“Could I be a hunter? I think the Flaming Wolves might let me join them!”

“No way,” Lafine snapped.

“Why not?”

“If you busied yourself with being a hunter, who’d be around to make my meals? Let me tell you right now, there’s no way I can cook for myself. If you went away on a mission, I might end up so hungry I’d cry,” Lafine said, puffing out her ample chest.

“Oh no! That’s terrible,” Lily said, imagining the woman weeping from hunger. “I would feel awful.”

“Y’see?”

“Yeah. Okay, no being a hunter then!”

“That’s right. All you need to think about is growing up as my dear little sister while you’re still all pure and innocent. Then someday we’ll marry you off to some rich man’s son or some lesser noble or something, and I’ll be livin’ on easy street.”

Lily shot her hand up in a salute.

“Okay!”

“Oh. You do need to earn some money, though.”

Lafine removed the toothbrush from her mouth, took a swig of water from the cistern, and swished it around.

“I guess so.”

“You find any jobs yet?”

“Huh? For you?”

Lafine looked up, spreading her hands.

“No, for you. I’ll have to soldier on here, waiting for you. If you don’t come back home, I might get hungry and start to cry, so you need to come back home to me every day. You hear me?”

“Yeah. You’re the lonely homemaker.”

“That’s right. Now, bring me a slice of bread with butter.”

“Coming right up!”

Lily was being duped. It would be plain for anyone to see. Even so, Lily smiled happily. Compared to her life until now, she couldn’t help but be overjoyed. She was able to hear and speak and walk around as she pleased.

However, there was one thing that troubled her. There was something she’d had in her previous life which she did not have now: her storybooks.

In a world where methods of mass printing had yet to be developed, every copy of every book had to be painstakingly copied from the original by scribes and was thus a costly endeavor. The works of Miami Satodele were in particularly high demand, and shortages were always predicted. Indeed, their publisher, Orpheus, had set aside a substantial sum to account for such things.

She wanted her books. However, there was no way that she could ask Lafine, who had provided her with both a home and a future, to purchase these books for her. She had no choice but to earn some money, all on her own. Yes. She had to find a job. That was the solution.

After lunch, Lily set out again.

“Hm. I wonder how I even find a job.”

If she were a hunter, it seemed she would be able to use the guild as her intermediary, but without that help, she would have to find other means of locating work. As she passed by the greengrocer’s stall, he was in the process of making a sale to a husband and wife. Once it seemed their business was concluded, Lily approached the man.

“Hey, Mister.”

“Hm? Oh, hi, Lily. What’s up?”

“Are there any jobs I could do?”

“Jobs?” Briefly, he furrowed his brow. “Ah, I see. I’ve got just the thing.”

He glanced upward briefly and then looked back down, before retreating into the shop. When he returned, he was holding a small hat in one hand.

“A customer who was here earlier dropped this. Could you deliver it to them for me?”

“Sure thing!”

Lily grabbed the hat and then took off running, but was swiftly called back.

“Hang on! I haven’t even told you who it belongs to.”

“Oh.”

The man smiled wryly and said, “You’ll find the house right through that alleyway. Just head down and make a right. There’s a cheeky little boy named Kram. He’s around the same age as you, actually.”

“This is his?”

“Yeah, he was here with his mother earlier. They were carrying a lot.”

“Okay, I’ll take it over.”

“Thanks!”

Lily took off once more. This trip wouldn’t be long at all. She entered the narrow alley and turned right at the junction, finding just one house. It was a cute little structure, with a red pointed roof.

“Excuuuse me!” she called, knocking on the wooden door. Soon, a woman who had a motherly air about her emerged.

“Hello?”

“Um, here. The man at the produce shop asked me to bring this. For, um, Kram.”

The woman, seeming to decipher the situation the moment she saw the hat in Lily’s hands, turned and called back, “Kram! Get over here!”

“Huh? What is it? I was eatin’. Who’s this?”

The woman smacked the boy on the back of his dark-haired head.

“Oww! Mom, what’s your deal?!”

“Don’t you oww me! Your hat!”

“Oh.”

Finally noticing the hat Lily was holding out, Kram snatched it from her hands.

“What’s with the attitude?! Say thank you!”

“Shut up!”

Smack!

After receiving a second smack to the head, Kram turned back to Lily, cringing. He stared at her face, going slightly red.

“Thanks…or whatever.”

Smack!

“Ow! Stop hittin’ me! You’re gonna make me go stupid!”

Smack!

“You couldn’t get any stupider! Thank her properly!”

The woman once again raised her hand. Kram hurriedly shouted at Lily, “THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!”

“Heh heh. You’re welcome!”

This seemed to be a very lively family, quite unlike the Lockwoods. After hurling a few more scolding words at Kram, who scampered back inside the house, the woman offered Lily a wry smile.

“Sorry about that,” she said. “Thank you for doing all this just for my idiot son.”

“It’s no problem.”

“Come to think of it, I suppose I’ve been seeing you around here lately. Where did you come from?”

“Oh, I’m uh, Lily Lo…ck…uhh…” Suddenly Lily recalled Lafine’s harsh warning to never reveal her parentage. After all, she had explained, they could never know where the assailants of the Lockwood family might be hiding. And so… “I’m Lafine Alstea’s little sister, Lily Alstea.”

“Goodness, that Lafine? That’s a shock. I had no idea that lazy girl had such a capable sister.”

Lazy girl?! Lafine, your reputation!

The woman stared at Lily as these thoughts ran through the girl’s head.

“Well, I call her lazy, but I suppose she’s been through a lot, as have the rest of your family. It’s probably inevitable things ended up this way.”

“I see.”

Lily was curious, but she got the feeling it would be rude to Lafine to ask too many follow-up questions, under the circumstances. Still, perhaps it would help to clarify her situation a bit.

“Well, um, I call myself her little sister, but we’re actually distant relatives. A few things happened, though, and Lafine said that I could be her little sister, so now I’m living with her.”

This was the explanation that Lafine had come up with for their situation, so as not to raise too many questions. At Lily’s words, a tinge of sympathy came to the mother’s face, as though something about Lily’s story bothered her. Of course, considering the tragedy that had occurred at the Lockwood home, Lily was very much deserving of that sympathy, but this woman couldn’t know that.

“Anyway, the grocer let me help him out today, so I could start earning my keep.”

The mother looked at her affectionately, nodding approvingly. “I see,” she said. “You’re a good girl. Looking forward to seeing you around, Lily dear.”

“Yeah, me too! And you too, Kram.”

Kram, who had been standing behind a post eavesdropping, quickly retreated. Given that his receding footsteps had halted, the sound of his breathing remaining in one place, Lily had been aware of his presence the whole time. As she was always paying particular attention to the sounds around her, Lily’s hearing was quite sharp.

“Uh… Y-yeah. See you around, L-Lily.”

Kram’s footsteps skittered away once more.

“That boy, I swear. Always with the attitude—even when he’s being shy!”

“It’s fine. I don’t mind.”

Lily was used to cold gazes. She had always received them from the members of her family. However, what she did not yet realize was that there was something different here. Kram’s gaze was not truly cold. In fact, there was a certain heat behind it.

“I see. Well, I apologize on Kram’s behalf anyway.”

“I’ll be going now. See you soon!”

As the door shut behind her, Lily tittered to herself. It was quite a spectacle seeing Kram scolded, but there was still a gentleness, a cheeriness about this family. Come to think of it, she had never been scolded very often, not by her mother or her father.

Perhaps they did not even care to…because she could not hear them…

She shook her head to banish the dark thoughts. She could hear now! So, the next time she met them, certainly…

“Okay! I’ll be ready!”

She ran back to the produce stand and gave her report.

“Thank you, dear. Are you still looking for more work?”

“Yes. Do you have anything else?”

“Hm. Can you take this box of cabbages to Canadoyle’s place? It’s down the main road, third house on the left. It’s heavy though. Be careful.”

“Okay!”

She proceeded to the third house, made her delivery, and returned to the grocer.

“Got any more?”

“Hmm, well, thanks to you, Lily, my work is done for the day. Here you go. It’s not much, but here’s your reward for helping me.”

“Yay! Thank you!”

Lily accepted the little pouch full of coins, gave the man her thanks, and left the stall behind, heading into an alley. She quickly opened the bag and peered inside to find eight half-silver within. She was thrilled. This was the first money she had ever earned on her own.

However. However…

The bread the two of them needed to eat lunch cost two half-silver alone. Adding soup, salad, and butter to that was another coin. And that was only accounting for one meal, so once you factored in breakfast and dinner, they would be blowing through at least nine half-silver a day.

This was not enough to live, let alone go buying books. Of course, she had worked only a short time, but the grocer would only occasionally have extra work for her. Naturally, accepting a few jobs from him every day would not be enough.

Lily looked up to the sky and sighed.

“Ugh, it’s no use. Earning money is too hard. Guess I’ll have to become a hunt—”

“Yo… Li—er, Alstea,” said a voice. Lily turned around to see Kram, leaning against a wall. His gaze was averted, and he was scratching the tip of his nose, cheeks red. The hat she had returned to him earlier was low over his eyes.

“Oh, hi, Kram! What’s up?”

“N-nothin’ much. Just happened to see you there.”

“Hmm…”

Kram lifted the brim of the cap slightly and turned his gaze to Lily.

“You lookin’ for work?”

“Yeah, I am. If I don’t work, Lafine won’t be able to eat. She’s older than me, but that’s just how things are.”

The boy looked befuddled.

“Y-you’re taking care of an adult? Huh, I—uh. I don’t really get it, but that sounds hard Li—er, Alstea.”

“Um, you can just call me Lily.”

If he called her Alstea, she would not be able to react very quickly. She had only just started using that name recently, after all. Kram pulled the brim of his hat back down, hiding his gaze.

“So, what’s up? Did you want something?” asked Lily.

“I know where you can get some work. Want me to tell you?”

“Wow, really?!”

Kram glanced at the enthusiastic girl out of the corner of his eye and spat, “Th-this is valuable information. N-normally, I’d charge a half-silver for this, but today I’ll make an exception. Since you brought me my hat and all, L-Li… Ugh… L-Lily.”

“Whoa, thanks!”

Kram whipped a slip of paper from his pocket and jabbed it out at Lily.

“Go to the place written here. You can get jobs without going through the Hunters’ Guild. It used to be that mostly kids from the slums took these jobs, but I heard they’ve been runnin’ out of folks to take ’em lately… So…”

“Hmm?”

Lily opened the paper. The directions here pointed her to an area that Lafine had recently warned her specifically to stay away from. However, the word “danger” was not yet a part of Lily’s mental lexicon. It wasn’t that it had been erased the moment she came into possession of powerful magic—it had simply never been a concept she was aware of in the first place, owing to the fact that she had spent the majority of her life in the gilded cage that was the second story of the Lockwood mansion.

“I’ll go check it out. See you later, Kram.”

“S-sure. If you’re ever in trouble, come see me anytime. Seriously, anytime. Don’t hold back, okay?”

“Okay. Thanks. Bye now!”

Without sparing so much as a glance at the tough guy stance Kram had attempted to assume, Lily took off walking, eyes fixed on the slip of paper. There was a little map, and the place it marked was not far at all. She moved from the main part of town into the slums and headed for the center.

From inside the buildings around her, many which were little more than rubble, countless children stared out at Lily as she walked down the road. There were no adults here in the slums. The moment they became adults, the children here always set out from this place and never looked back. Some became hunters to earn their keep, while others fell into banditry or other lives of crime. If they were particularly good-looking, they might become the lover of some noble or wealthy merchant. If they were good with money, they might find employ in a shop, but those who lacked either looks or wits usually wound up doing manual labor.

Even so, anything was better than remaining here in the slums, and as a result, most typically left this place sometime in their mid-teens, bidding farewell to those younger than them…those little brothers and sisters to whom they had never been bound by blood.

Of course, Lily knew nothing of these sad circumstances. She strode proudly and lightly through this town of only children, thinking it strange but delightful all the same. Finally, she came upon a small plaza in the middle of the district, surrounded by rubble.

“Is this the place?”

In the wreckage in the center of the plaza sat a single adult. It was the first adult she had come across since entering the area. He was a man, his age indiscernible. He had ashen gray hair and eyes of the same color, the rest of his face obscured by a cloth mask that hung from his nose to below his chin. There was no one else around. She would have expected to see other job-seekers present, but there were none. It was a bit unnerving.

The man’s sharp gaze turned to Lily as she approached him head-on.

“Good afternoon.”

“Who are you? You ain’t from around here.”

It was obvious from how she was dressed. Lily was not wearing the sort of patched and tattered clothing that the children from the slums might wear, though she also was not wearing the dress in which she had left the Lockwood home. She was wearing normal clothing of the sort that would not look out of place for any commoner. They seemed to be clothes that Lafine had worn when she herself was around ten, though they were a bit loose in the chest, the sleeves a bit too long. Still, the clothing was far too fine for any orphan from the slums—and too clean.

Plus, the light in her eyes was different.

The children of the slums lived lives saddled with discomfort, and even their smiles reflected this. Lily, on the other hand, carried an innocence that belied even her nine years. Her smile was like sunshine on a day without a single cloud in the sky. From just a glance, it would be obvious to anyone that she did not belong here.

“No, I’m not. But I was told that I could come here to find work. My name is Lil—”

The man held up a hand, cutting her off.

“Hold it. I don’t want to know your name, and you don’t need to know anything about either me or your employer. All I do is offer the jobs to you, nothing more and nothing less. Those are the terms of service of the slum agency.”

For a moment, Lily was dumbfounded, but a grin soon spread across her face.

“Oh, you sure? Okay, yay! Yes. So, I won’t say my name.”

To be able to avoid giving her own name was a relief.

The man’s brows furrowed at this unexpected response. Yet he did not question her, quickly moving to explain the work, when…

“Oh, but,” Lily inquired, “how come I can’t ask about my employers?”

“To avoid any unnecessary conflicts. Too easy to get wrapped up when you pry needlessly into your employers or the work. I’m your broker and your negotiator. I receive thirty percent of the money your employers pay. The rest is your cut. Avoiding any contact with them is for the sake of your safety.”

Lily seemed to ponder this for a few moments and then nodded.

“So I guess that makes you like the guild, then.”

“You could say that.”

Judging by the man’s voice, he did not seem particularly old, though the gray of his hair gave him the appearance of someone in at least his fifties. Was he actually young?

“So, what should I call you?”

“Names are unimportant. If you really need one, you can call me the Broker. So, you wanna talk about the job or not?”

“Oh, yes, sorry. Go ahead.”

The masked man nodded.

“Okay, right. So, I said not to ask after your employers, but there will be occasions when those employers are present at the job site—like when you’re carrying things for merchants or making deliveries, for instance. Still, whenever your employer doesn’t show themself, or you don’t understand the purpose of the job, it’s best not to look too deeply into it.”

“Why not?” The broker did not reply. Right, thought Lily, no questions. “Okay, understood.”

“Good.” The man brought a stack of papers out from his pocket. “Let’s see, jobs a little girl can handle… Loading carts is probably out of the question. There’s a bunch of courier jobs—what do you think?”

“How much can I get for each delivery?”

“Usually about one half-silver each. Taking my cut, that leaves you seven copper.”

That was not much at all. Apparently, the grocer had given her a bit of a bonus on her delivery for him. At that rate, she could work all day and still not make enough. Plus, the cut this man took was fairly large. If this were the Hunters’ Guild, not only would brokerage be provided, but they provided for everything for the hunters, from insurance to purchasing materials. This man, however, was only the broker. Thirty percent was absurd.

“Ugh! That won’t be enough to eat.”

“No one’s forcing you to work. Up to you whether you wanna take these jobs on or not.”

“Oh, right. I should have mentioned, Mister, that I can use magic. Do you have anything like eliminating monsters or escorting people?”

According to her storybooks, exterminating monsters was where a hero truly shone. You got to look cool, and lots of people thanked you, and you even got something to eat out of it. Plus, it seemed like you could make a surprising amount of money from selling the parts.

“You can use magic?”

“Yeah.”

“Dunno how good you are, but unfortunately those kinda jobs don’t usually come around here. Usually it’s through the Hunters’ Guild, and if something’s too dangerous for them, the Crown gets involved.”

“How come? Do they not like you?”

The broker let out an enormous sigh.

“This is the slums, you idiot. There’s no way kids from the slums or brats from the orphanage could go around killing monsters. Obviously, no one’s gonna come here and ask them to do that.”

“Oh. Eh heh heh.”

That was obvious. Lily was embarrassed. Any amount of thinking could have brought her to that conclusion.

“Also, it’s pretty rare for any herb-gathering jobs outside of the capital to come here. That’s something that a G-rank hunter would never be asked to do without a chaperone, and currently, you’d be considered even less skilled than that. Try to stick around here.” The man continued flipping through his papers. “How ’bout spending the evening with some pervy noble? You could make a few silver in a night, maybe even a few half-gold if ya play your cards right. Might even set yourself on the road to an exclusive contract.”

An exclusive contract—in other words, as a lover.

“Uh, I’ll pass on that.”

Thanks to her storybooks, Lily had a pretty good idea of how these things worked, and thus she had some idea what might be expected of her in order to earn those half-gold.

“Gotcha. I figure someone like you’d be in pretty high demand, though.”

“Eh heh, you think so?”

The man cast a sideways glance at Lily, who was grinning, bizarrely pleased by this, as he continued thumbing through the papers. Just then, he flipped all the way to the last page and stopped, letting out a sigh.

“Look, most of the jobs we get around here are just manual labor, considering this is a place where kids don’t usually get much of an education. Ain’t many jobs in here that would suit a weak little girl like you. Most of these are better for boys.”

“Anything like helping out at a shop?”

Thankfully, during her confinement, Lily had received a broad education from Lafine. Granted, Lafine hadn’t been too cheerful about teaching her. Or rather, she had only begrudgingly taught her at Lily’s pestering insistence. She always seemed quite bored. But in any event, Lily could do basic arithmetic.

“Obviously not. Think about leaving something like that to some homeless brat from the slums. You’d just end up with things stolen or them eating up all the merchandise.”

“I’d never do anything like that!”

The man tapped at his own forehead.

“No merchant’s even gonna take my word for that. Those guys are suspicious and stubborn. No one’s gonna listen to what any kid from the slums has to say, and even if they did listen, they’d never believe ’em.”

“Okay. So there’s nothing then?”

The man put the papers back in his pocket and looked up at the crestfallen Lily.

“Well, there’s still one thing, though I really don’t feel like I should be tellin’ someone like you about it.”

“What? You do have something?!”

Lily leaned toward the man, her eyes glittering. Annoyed, the man pushed her away and then drew back.

“There’s a posting to sit by the city gates from dawn ’til dusk and count how many merchant wagons set out from the city and at what times.”

Lily tilted her head.

“What’s the point of that?”

“Don’t ask. Just think of it as a traffic density study. There are a lot of threats to commerce around the capital—monsters and bandits and all. There are probably folks who have a vested interest in making sure all the merchants are reaching their destinations safely.”

Lily’s smile returned.

“Well, that sounds great!”

“S’pose so…”

Ignoring how the man averted his gaze, Lily leaned forward excitedly.

“I’ll take that one!”

“Roger that. Now, you’re gonna be responsible for paying half the damage fees for any breach of contract. That said, it’s not like there will be a true contract, since neither of you is gonna know each other’s names. If anyone shows up asking questions, you just keep up that you didn’t see anything and you don’t know anything.”

“Whaaat? Um… I guess that’s fine. I can keep watch for half a day.” Lily clenched her fists, her smile redoubled.

“Hope so.”

The man took a quill and paper from his pocket, along with an ink well, and drew a simple map.

“Here’s the place.”

“Got it. When should I go there? Right now?”

“Tomorrow. I told you that you start at dawn, didn’t I? Don’t be late. Gonna need to bring your own pen and paper for noting down the times and the numbers. When you’re done, someone’s gonna come and find you to collect those, around the first evening bell.”

“Okay. That won’t be you, will it?”

“Nope. I’m just the broker. The collector’s gonna be someone hired by your employer. Once that’s done, you just go on home. Come back here the next day. I’ll have your payment ready. Even after my cut, it should be around five silver.”

“Okay! Thanks, Mister!”

Lily gave her thanks to the peculiar man and said her farewells before leaving the slums behind. This job seemed like a one-time thing, but if she could keep coming back and receiving different sorts of tasks, she just might be able to eke out a living. Plus, it seemed like it could be pretty fun—she would get to hear all sorts of things, and exploring the city was way better than sitting alone in the mansion. She truly had to find a way to thank that mage who had healed her ears. If only she could meet her again someday…

Lily was practically vibrating with excitement—which is perhaps why she never noticed the young man whose gaze followed her from behind a half-ruined house…

 

***

 

The traffic density study job was even easier than Lily imagined. The greatest difficulty she encountered was that, thanks to the early morning start, she nearly fell asleep out of sheer boredom. All she had to do was stay near the city gates, count the wagons coming through, and write a memo of the time at which this occurred. There was a bench nearby, intended for those waiting for others, so she did not have to stand the entire time, either.

Indeed, this was a fine job. If there were any more of these, she would definitely take them. Plus, Lily thought, if she could manage to afford any new storybooks, she would have something to make even the time sitting and waiting more fun.

Around noon, the first midday bell rang, and Lily began to nibble the sandwich she had prepared before setting out that morning. She had also prepared one for Lafine, who was still sleeping, and left it on the table. Right about now, she would probably be snacking on the same thing.

Suddenly, Lily realized there was a shadow over her. She looked up.

“Hey, that looks pretty good.”

The voice belonged to a young man, standing with the sun at his back. To Lily’s mind, he had a very kind-sounding voice.

“Good afternoon!” Lily cheerfully replied.

The young man had close-cropped hair and a sword at his side. He looked to be in his later teens, with a toned, muscular build.

“What are you drawing there?” asked the young man. “A landscape?”

“No, this is my job. It’s a traffic density study.”

After a pause, the young man asked, “Mind if I sit?”

“Go ahead.”

Lily scooted over on the bench. The young man sat down on the opposite side. He took some bread out from his knapsack and began eating as well. Compared to Lily’s sandwich, his looked quite unappealing—just bread, with no vegetables or meat or anything. Even so, the young man appeared quite happy eating it. In fact, he made it look so very delicious that soon Lily was dying to try it.

“Hm? Is there something wrong with my bread?”

“It looks so good…” Lily murmured. The young man split the bread in half at once and offered some to Lily.

“Here you go.”

“Oh, well then…”

Lily broke off a piece of her sandwich and exchanged it for half of the young man’s piece of bread. He then grinned mischievously.

“Ha ha ha, looks like I’ve just made a profit here, thanks.”

“Hee hee! Did you just trick me?” Lily asked, but the moment she took a bite of the bread, her eyes opened wide.

It was good. In fact, it was somehow still warm. When she bit into it, steam welled up from within. It was practically fresh-baked. Sure, there were no meat or vegetables to go with it, but the fragrance of the wheat alone was more than enough. It was wonderful.

“This is good!”

“Isn’t it?”

“What bakery did you get this from?”

“Ha! No bakery could make it this good. My little sister bought the wheat and baked it herself. Well, I say little sister, but we aren’t related by blood or anything—my siblings are all more or less orphans.”

Lily felt a pang of empathy. With her own family’s whereabouts unknown, Lily herself was practically an orphan, Lafine’s younger sister in name only.

“Me and Lafine—er, um, my big sister—we aren’t related by blood either.”

There was a pause before the young man’s face crumbled. “I see. But you aren’t from the slums, are you? I’ve never seen you around there before.”

“Nope. I live in the regular part of town.”

The young man bit into the sandwich.

“This is good. There’s a lot of different things in here, and it’s super flavorful. This is very well composed. Is that a tomato sauce with diced onions?”

“That’s right!”

The pair looked at one another and smiled.

“I’m Veil. I’m sixteen, and I live in the slums. I’m a C-rank hunter.”

“Whoa! You’re a hunter?! That’s so cool!”

Veil smiled a bit bashfully. “I’m still just starting out, though.”

Of course, Lily did not yet know that this young man’s name was relatively well known even amongst the C-rank hunters of the capital. At the graduation exam of the Hunters’ Prep School, he had bested a man named Gren, leader of the A-rank hunting party the Roaring Mithrils, with his swordsmanship.

(Naturally, it should be noted that the one behind this feat had been none other than Mile, the little mage who had healed Lily’s ears. Mile lurked in the shadows of most miracles.)

Either way, Veil was a bit ahead of the curve for a C-rank hunter.

Lily was overjoyed. Here was a real-life hero. A hero, who fought back evil monsters and captured villains, was sitting right before her eyes. And now they were even acquaintances.

“I’m Lily. Lily Alstea, nine years old. Nice to meet you.”

“You too, Lily.”

Just then, a wagon passed through. Lily immediately made a note of it.

“That for your job?”

“Yeah. I got this job in the slums, actually.”

“I see…”

Veil, having finished his part of the sandwich, scratched his head.

“So, um, this is kind of awkward, but…”

“What is?”

Veil put one hand to his mouth, pondering something. Finally, he looked back to Lily and spoke.

“What time do you finish work, Lily?”

“Somewhere around the first evening bell. Whenever someone comes here to collect this memo.”

“I see. Are you free afterwards, then?”

Suddenly, Lily realized what was going on. Her heart began beating a little faster.

“Um, are you…hitting on me?”

“Goodness, no. I really just wondered if you might be up for a continuation of that job,” Veil replied.

Lily patted her still-flat chest.

“Oh, phew! You startled me.”

“So, do you have a bit of time?”

“Hmm. Well, if I’m late getting home to make dinner, Lafine might cry…”

“Didn’t you say she was your older sister?”

“She is.”

“How old is she?”

“She’s twenty-two.”

“Is she ill?”

“No, she’s healthy as a horse! I’ve even seen her—ah, uh, never mind. Eh heh heh.” She was healthy enough to hold a bandit boss at knife point, but of course, Lily could not say that. “It’s just that she goofs off a bit too much. She sleeps until noon, and drinks even though we have no money, and never leaves the house, and on bad days she sometimes sleeps until evening. Still, she gave me a home when I had nowhere else to go. She’s a good person!”

“A…good person…” A knowing expression spread across Veil’s face. “Pft… Heh heh heh. Lafine Alstea? Lives in the main city, right? Gotcha. I’ll go and get permission from her directly then, while you’re working. I’ll bring her some basic provisions, too. That should be enough to excuse you for dinner.”

“Whoa! Could you really do that?”

Veil tugged on the chain of his necklace and produced a small metal plate. The plate was engraved with a C, to signify his hunter rank, along with his name, the capital branch of the Hunters’ Guild, and what appeared to be his registration number.

“This is proof that I’m a hunter. Once I show most people this, they’ll believe me. Of course, that means I can never do anything bad,” he said with a smile.

“Whoa, that’s so cool!” Lily smiled. Somehow, she guessed that it wasn’t just his registration tag that made people trust Veil. In Lily’s eyes, he seemed like a very reliable individual.

Veil looked at Lily as she applauded and then stood. “Anyway, if I can’t get Lafine’s permission, I’ll let you know so that you can just head right on home.”

“Okay, sounds good.” Lily nodded.

“Now then, I should get going. See you in a bit, Lily.”

“See you later, Mr. Veil.”

Veil grimaced slightly and scratched his forehead with his pointer finger.

“Oh, um, just Veil is fine. Also, don’t tell anyone that I was here, all right? It’s probably better that the person who comes to collect those memos doesn’t know that you were slacking off and chatting on your lunch break.”

“Sure, I guess so. It must be hard being a hunter. If the guild found out, would they scold you? Since you’re working, too, Veil?”

Veil shrugged.

“Who knows? Okay, bye for now.”

“Bye bye!”

Lily watched his sturdy back as he walked away, waving. She continued happily eating her bread as he shrunk into the distance, thinking how wonderful it was to have made her first-ever friend.

 

***

 

As the sun sank and the first evening bell rang, the courier arrived. He was a small-framed man, wearing the same type of mask over the lower half of his face that the broker wore, though he was clearly far older. The man strode straight up to Lily and silently held out his hand. Without hesitation, Lily gripped it, shaking his hand up and down.

“Hi there, pleased to meet you.”

After an awkward pause, the man pointed to the memo in her other hand.

“Oh right, there. Eh heh, my mistake.”

She let go and handed over the memo. The man took a quick glance over the paper, nodded, and turned his back on Lily at once. Then he took off walking.

“I guess I’m done! And then I’ll go back to the slums tomorrow.”

She stood up from the bench and stretched.

“All done, Lily?”

“Oh, are you done with work, too, Veil?”

“Nope, just starting.”

“Hm?”

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s go.”

Lily jogged after Veil as he took off walking.

“Where’re we going?”

“Who knows?”

“Is it a secret?”

“Not necessarily. It’s just that I don’t know, either.”

Lily gazed up at the young man now beside her and tilted her head. Veil was walking out of town, through the city gates. Lily jogged to keep up.

“Hey, Veil, are you a bad guy?”

“If hunters were the bad guys, the whole world would fall apart.”

“That’s true.”

Lily had been wondering if she was being kidnapped again, but that did not seem to be the case. Veil only stared straight ahead as he walked along the road, not looking at her. Lily looked back and then ahead to see a man among the travelers and wagons.

“Oh…!” It was the courier. Veil was following the courier from before. “Wait, what are we doing?”

“There are responsibilities that come with everything we do. All the more so when money’s involved.”

“Hm?”

“Lily, you need to see with your own eyes what it is that you’ve done.”

As they passed by various diverging roads, the number of travelers decreased drastically. It was obvious that there were few people leaving the city this late in the day. Monsters were far livelier in the depths of night, after all.

Of course, Lily was not afraid; she had Mr. Nano watching over her. Veil, as a hunter, probably was not afraid either.

“If he turns around, he’ll spot us,” Veil said, slackening his pace and letting the gap between them open up. Lily followed suit, dropping back next to Veil.

The courier walked on and on. Veil followed after with Lily in tow, occasionally taking a moment to conceal them in the shadows. Finally, when they reached a point in the road where neither travelers and merchants were anywhere to be seen, the courier took a look around as if to confirm he was in the clear and then ducked behind a rocky outcropping on the side of the highway.

Veil went ahead, pressing his index finger to his lips and then gestured for Lily to follow, sticking closely to the rocks. Lily approached, deadening her footsteps. She could hear two men talking quietly.

“Did you get the timetable?”

“Yeah, it’s right here.”

Veil and Lily peeked surreptitiously and ever so slightly out from behind the rock, his head above and hers below. The man who received the memo from the courier skimmed over the three pages it encompassed.

“Heh, perfect, perfect. Here ya go.”

The man handed the courier something in a small sack. It landed in the courier’s hands with a soft jangling of coins.

“Thanks as always… So, you gonna do it tomorrow?”

At those words, Lily felt a seizing in her chest. She was not stupid. Lily Lockwood may not have known much about the world, but she was by no means a fool. It was merely that something like this had never even occurred to her.

“That’s none o’ yer damn business. Best way to assure a healthy life is if neither of us knows too much.”

“Well, of course.”

“If yer done here, then scram.”

The courier retreated. Veil tucked Lily, now stiff at her terrible realization, under his arm and ducked down behind the rocks in a spot that would not be visible from the highway. The courier headed back into town, making no sign of having noticed the pair.

Lily gulped nervously and asked, “Hey, Veil? That job that I did…was I helping out some bandits?”

“Probably. The person who hired you was a bandit. There are a lot of people like that who hire through the slums rather than the guild. Based on the departure times from that memo, they can calculate where they’re likely to find merchants who decided to make camp instead of sleeping at an inn when the sun goes down.”

Lily’s heart began to pound. Oh. This was bad. This was a very bad feeling. Someone might end up dead because of her memo.

“This is something you need to know: No job taken in the slums comes without strings attached. The only jobs that it’s safe to take there are ones that you’re certain you know the source of. Don’t trust that broker.” Veil cleared his throat and then continued, “Sorry. I just thought that it’d be best for you to see what can happen for yourself, at least once, rather than just warning you. Lily, you are far too careless. It’s not your fault that you were used, but I need you to remember that acting heedlessly can put other people at risk of being harmed.”

His words felt far away. Nothing was getting in through Lily’s skull.

“I’m going to keep tailing this guy and find the bandits’ hideout. Then, I’ll go and report it to the guild, and we’ll return with an elimination team. This is going to be dangerous, so you head on back into town now. Thankfully, monsters don’t tend to come out here, and it’s not that far, so you should be fine on your own.”

Lily had no reply.

She had been deceived. No, that wasn’t it. She had been used. It was the first time she had truly experienced the wickedness of a stranger. It was an awful sensation, like evil itself was dragging its coarse tongue along her bare skin. Her heart felt so heavy it was as though it had turned to iron.

Tears welled in her eyes. And yet…

She steeled herself and lifted her head.

“No. I’m coming with you. If help from the guild doesn’t arrive in time, some merchants might be attacked tonight because of me. We have to hurry up and let them know.”

“No way. I can’t bring you along—you aren’t even a hunter. If you’re feeling responsible and want to make up for this, go to the Hunters’ Guild. Tell them my name and what’s going on here.”

“I can’t do that. That’s just an excuse to send me back to the capital, isn’t it?”

Veil clenched his jaw, lost for words.

The bandits would move, and Veil would follow. No matter how Lily hurried, by the time she got back to the guild to retrieve other hunters and get them back here, there would be no one left around.

Lily might lack common sense, thanks to her extended seclusion, but she was by no means stupid.

“Plus, if we keep dawdling, those merchants are going to be attacked. There won’t be enough time to get people back here.”

Veil put his hand to his forehead. He was lost. Should he see Lily back to the capital, even if it meant taking his eyes off of the bandit? Lily pointed at the bandit ahead of them, her gaze keen.

“Look, he’s already on the move. If you try and drag me back to the capital, we aren’t going to make it in time before the merchants are attacked.”

The man finished reading over the memo and started off into a field away from the highway at rapid pace, without a glance at Veil and Lily.

Lily hurriedly followed. “It’ll be fine. You’re here, and actually, I know how to use magic. Hurry up, Veil.”

“H-hey! Jeez…”

Veil jogged to catch up with her. Upon reaching Lily, he lowered his stance and pulled her down next to him, whispering, “Keep your head down. Thankfully, the brush here comes up to about my waist. If we keep down, they won’t see us.”

“Got it.”

Lily crouched, as she was told.

“Also, I’m glad you’re so gung-ho about this, but try to keep your voice a bit quieter. If you don’t do as I say, I’m going to drag you back home by force.”

Lily leaned in close to the frowning Veil and breathed, as quietly as she could, “Okay. Now let’s—”

“Wait.”

Veil seized Lily by the arm as she started to move and held up one index finger, his expression harsh.

“Also, from here on out, whatever I say goes.”

“Okay,” Lily nodded. “Whatever you say goes.”

Veil let out a deep sigh and crept quickly after the bandits, body still lowered. Lily followed behind him.

As they climbed a grassy hill and moved into a thicket, Veil whispered, “This is bad. The sun’s down. We’re going to lose sight of him. Looks like we’ll have to get a bit closer.”

Lily tugged on his sleeve.

“Hey, Veil. Can I go in front?”

“Can you see him?”

“I can’t, but I can hear him.”

“Huh?”

As long as there was grass growing on the ground, she could follow the bandit’s sounds. Unlike the drawn-out sounds of the wind blowing across the foliage, the footsteps of living things cut a steady rhythm through the greenery.

“You can hear him?”

“Yeah. My hearing’s pretty good.” Of course, until not long before, Lily could not hear anything at all, but this did not seem the time or place to be explaining that.

“Go ahead then. Just proceed with caution.”

“Okay!”

“Your voice.”

“Okay!”

If they lost sight of this bandit, a merchant wagon somewhere would come under attack tonight for certain.

Her body still crouched, Lily scurried forth like an animal, keeping track of the difference between her own footsteps and Veil’s, and the bandit’s. Before she knew it, they were descending the wooded hill.

“Lily, wait.” Veil placed a hand on Lily’s shoulder. “There.”

There was a hazy orange light visible through the gaps in the trees. Looking around, several small wooden structures were visible.

“A settlement in a place like this?” Lily muttered.

“It’s no village. That’s the bandit camp. They set up in this valley so that they can’t be seen from the highway. If it were a real village, they would have at least cut a road through the grass.”

“I see.”

“This is a tough one. They’re a bigger operation than I figured. For there to be three buildings that big means that we could be facing a gang of as many as thirty bandits. I had hoped the group would be small enough for me to handle it by myself, but this is too much for me.”

Lily thought back to the incident with the Flaming Wolves. Although she had already forgotten the names of the hunters who had guarded the carriage, she knew there had been three C-rank hunters there. Even so, when they were ambushed, they had been forced into a surrender by no more than ten-odd bandits. Veil, meanwhile, was a C-rank hunter, the same as those three men. If he was at the same level of strength, then he was vastly outnumbered.

“If we can at least figure out what merchant they plan on attacking, we can get out ahead of them and warn them. Lily, can you guess?”

“Sorry, I don’t know. Even though I’m the one who wrote the memo…”

Even if she knew the surrounding geography and remembered the number of wagons that had passed through the gate, as well as the times they had departed, there was no way of knowing what towns they were headed to. And, of course, it should go without saying that she had no idea whom the bandits intended to target.

Veil gritted his teeth, grumbling, “I figured I could manage if it were five guys or so, but this is impossible.”

Nothing was worth sacrificing one’s life on a reckless battle. Trampled flowers didn’t bloom, and being taken hostage would just cause more trouble for the guild. Being a hunter was a job—it didn’t make you a philanthropist. If you were dead, you couldn’t spend your wages, no matter how much you had earned.

“Grr…”

“I know you feel bad for the merchants, but I don’t think there’s anything we can do about the attack tonight. We can at least rush right back to the guild and report this.”

Indeed, hunters were not philanthropists. However…

The heroes that Lily admired in the stories that she once read went above and beyond. There may or may not have been money to be had from it, but if there was someone who needed their help, these heroes would always jump into the fray, and if they could prevent a tragedy before it happened, they would stand up to those who would do evil. Why? Because to be a hero meant being an ally of justice. And so…

“Okay, let’s hurry back. Lily… Lily?”

She was gone. The little girl who had been right beside him had suddenly vanished. Veil looked straight ahead. Lily was already running down the hill—at full speed, without hesitation.

“L-Lily?!” Veil shouted, forgetting to lower his voice. Lily looked back, waving at him with a grin.

“I’m gonna go ask the bandits not to attack anyone toniiight!”

“What…uh?!” A strangled noise emerged from the pit of Veil’s throat.

He would never make it in time. Even if he started after her now, Lily was going to make it to the camp before he could ever catch up with her.

“Veil, you wait right theeere!”

But Lily Lockwood knew nothing about the boy named Veil. She knew nothing of what inspired Veil, who’d been born in the slums, to live so earnestly. She didn’t know that unlike those orphans who came before him, who came of age and left the slums behind, Veil had resolved to remain there as an elder, looking after the smaller children. And she did not know of the feelings he held for the girl named Mile, who had provided him with training because of the kind of person she knew he was. Of all this, Lily knew practically nothing at all.

“If I leave her here, I could never face Mile again…”

And so, within a few seconds, Veil had reached his decision. After a moment of being stunned at Lily’s recklessness, Veil pelted desperately after her.

“Dammit, I can only take on seven guys, maybe eight…”

Lily, meanwhile, having reached the bottom of the hill, rushed right up to the door of one of the buildings and flung it open.

“Excuse me!”

Inside, ten-odd bandits, who had been in the process of gearing up, all turned to look at the little intruder who had suddenly barged in.

“Huh?”

“Hm?”

Just as Veil had surmised, there were roughly ten bandits in this building, in which case, one could reasonably guess there would be around thirty in total. Though this was rather large for a bandit troop, a group this size was by no means extremely unusual.

Lily put her hands on her hips, glaring at all of them, then puffed out her chest proudly and cried, “Mr. Bandits, please don’t attack those merchants!”

One bandit furrowed his brow.

“Wha…?”

“………”

“Who are you to—?”

The bandits were bewildered—and understandably so. A little girl had suddenly appeared in their secret hideout, blustering about plans no one should have known about, and moreover, she was declaring that they should abandon their night’s labor. To put it simply, they had no idea what was going on.

“Hey, little lady, what’s your name? Are you a hunter?”

“Oh, my name is Lily Lo—er…Als… It’s Lily! I’m not a hunter, just Lily!” Realizing that it might cause trouble for Lafine if she gave her family name, Lily stopped herself short.

“Have you told anyone else about this attack?”

“N-no, not yet…”

It was not a lie to say that she had not told Veil about the attack, as he had been the one to inform her.

“Well, that’s good,” said the bandit, before asking, “So, um, little lady, you bring anyone else with you? You come here alone?”

Lily thought. She couldn’t cause trouble for Veil, either.

“Y-yes, of course I’m alone.”

“How many of you are there?”

She’d been found out! How?!

Just then, Veil appeared in the doorway. The bandits all readied themselves at once. Veil muttered, his forehead furrowing, “There’s too many of them…” Still, he drew his sword and bravely declared, “No one move! I’m a hunter. Drop your weapons. The guild already has this base surrounded.”

The bandits held their breaths, panicked. Both sides stared at one another, trying to gauge each other’s intentions. In this world, there was no honor in following one’s master to the grave. There was merely defeat. Whether you were bandit or hunter, all you could do was throw yourself upon the mercy of the one who was, objectively, the strongest.

Veil was betting on this.

He would spook the bandits into dropping their weapons, negotiating with them from a position of advantage, and then wait for an opportunity to grab Lily and make a break for it.

Lily, meanwhile, was looking up at Veil, her eyes sparkling with innocence.

“Whoa, Veil, you’re amazing! When did you call in the other hunters? Wait, can you use magic, too?”

Veil went pale as a sheet. Welp, that’s the end of us, said his face. The bandits, by contrast, grinned wide.

“My, what’s wrong, boy? If you’ve got so many friends out there, why don’tcha go ahead and call ’em in?”

“Yeah! We still haven’t dropped our weapons—go ahead and call ’em.”

“No need to hesitate on our account.”

Lily clenched her fists, adding confidently, “Yeah, call them, Veil! Um, Veil? What’s wrong?”

“Can you be quiet?” Veil grumbled, his face contorted in a pained expression.

It was then that Lily realized what she had done. Veil had told the bandits that they were surrounded in order to put them at an advantage in the negotiations. As she realized this, she spoke without thinking.

“Huh? Wait, what you were just saying—was that a…lie?”

“………”

“Ah… Ah ha ha… I get it. So that’s what’s going on here. I see. Okay, okay… Umm! I’m really sorry!”

Lily bowed in apology, her hair swaying. I’ve done it now! I did something irresponsible again…

“So!” The bandits approached with axes wielded, interrupting their conversation. “What was it you were gonna do to us, kid?”

In an instant, the edge of Veil’s sword crossed the wrist of one of the approaching bandits. Sword swinging, he lifted a leg and kicked straight into the bandit’s stomach. Blood spurted profusely from the man’s wrist as he flew back, rolling across the floor.

“Guh…! Wha—?! Ow! That hurt!”

Veil grabbed Lily by the wrist and pushed her behind him, shoving her out of the door with his back. The small girl had no means to resist and tumbled out of the building.

“Hey!”

“Run, Lily. Get up and run.”

Lily looked up at Veil’s back from where she still lay on the ground.

“Huh?”

“Hurry!”

There was no honor in death and none in self-sacrifice. But there was someone present who needed guarding, and that made all the difference. If Veil were to peacefully surrender here, he would probably be taken hostage, a ransom would be collected from the guild for his safe return, and he’d be released. Killing a hunter would make any bandit a clear enemy of the guild, which could be quite inconvenient.

However, the same could not be said for Lily. She was a young girl and not even a hunter. If she were taken, only the most dreadful of lives awaited her, whether she was kept for the bandits’ amusement or sold off as a slave.

Indeed, the bandit who Veil had wounded cried from the ground, “Gah, ow! This friggin’ hurts! Don’t let that little girl get away! She’s gonna be mine!”

“And what about the brat here? Take him alive?”

“Don’t bother! If we catch that little girl and shut her up, we can whack the kid, bury him, and the guild’ll never know! Long as they don’t find the body, they’ll just figure he got eaten by monsters!”

Hearing this, Lily frowned.

“You can’t do that! No!”

Naturally, the bandits were not interested in her protest. Murder in their eyes, the men rushed the door at once.

“Gaaaah!”

“——!”

There was a metallic sound. Veil shouted as he caught the sword of the bandit at the head of the pack with his own blade.

“Run, Lily!” he yelled again.

As Lily tried to make her way back inside, she was once again forced out as Veil stepped backward, blocking the entrance. Keeping his position at the door limited the number of opponents he would have to deal with at once. Though, of course, this would only work until the bandits in the other structures overheard the commotion and reinforcements came. Beyond Veil’s back, the sounds of blades clashing rang out into the night.

“Veil!”

“I’m fine! Get out of here!”

“Okay…”

Veil caught another bandit’s blade, repelling him and shoving the man away with a kick to the gut. From beside him, a massive bandit swung his hatchet down.

“Our axes are gonna break right through that dinky little sword of yers!”

“Damn it.” Veil traced the blade of his sword with his fingertip. “Magic Blade!”

At once, the fearsome swing of the man’s great axe was repelled.

“Guh!”

There was a roaring sound, and sparks flew…but though Veil was driven to one knee by the interrupted force of the blow, his sword did not break. Rather, the blade of the sword began to shine, appearing even stronger.

“Ha! I learned this trick from a certain infamous mage in the capital. My blade won’t break that easily.”

“A magic swordsman?! You little bastard!”

The sword was fortified by magic, but still, this stance put Veil at a disadvantage. Before he had a chance to stand, the massive bandit swung wildly at his neck.

“Die!” the man yelled.

“Air Shot!”

A simple type of wind magic. The blast of compressed air that shot out of Veil’s left fist crashed into the massive bandit’s gut.

“Gwah…?!”

Incidentally, this was the same magic Veil had used against Gren, A-rank hunter and leader of the B-rank party the Roaring Mithrils, at the graduation exam of the Hunters’ Prep School. It was one thing to use such a trick against a man like that—but a garden-variety bandit stood no chance against the wind magic. The bandit, struck in his solar plexus by the blast, was unable to even brace himself in time and instead fell to the ground facedown, losing consciousness as a mixture of spittle, bile, and blood spewed from his mouth.

“Pity. I can’t do much, but I can throw a spell or two.”

“Y-you little…!”

The remaining bandits hesitated. In that moment, Veil got back to his feet and again brandished his sword. He was still in this. It was too soon to run. Considering the length of Lily’s legs, there was no way she could have made it safely out of range. So, he had to buy her a bit more time, Veil thought, steadying his breath.

“Whoa, Veil, you’re amazing! You handled that big guy like he was nothing!”

Lily was clapping her hands casually.

“Wha—?! Wait, seriously—you’re still here?! Why didn’t you run?! Didn’t you say, ‘Okay’?! I thought you’d already…” Veil trailed off, losing all steam—because Lily was still smiling innocently at him.

“Well, I mean, this all started because of my mistake, so there’s no way I could just run away and leave you behind,” she explained. “I’m not going back home unless you come, too. Okay?”

“That’s if we still can… Oh, jeez.”

Veil let out a long sigh. He could hear the footsteps of other bandits, who seemed to have heard the commotion and were approaching from the other buildings. Before they knew it, their exit was blocked.

“What’s with these two? New recruits?” asked one.

“Don’t be stupid! They’re intruders!”

“Dunno about the girl, but this brat here’s a hunter. He’s got some magic, too. Be careful.”

The bandits, who had been hesitant to attack, returned to full force with the arrival of their reinforcements.

“We can’t let ’em get away. They know where the base is now. If the guild finds out, our operations here are through.”

“Rebuilding our base again from the ground up? No thanks. Damn it, I’m a bandit, not a carpenter!”

“Ha! In that case, let’s handle this like bandits do!”

At this point, there would be no more last-ditch hopes. Veil had made a wager, but Lily had not cashed out by taking the opportunity to escape while she could. Now, any resistance would merely lead to a futile death. Normally, this would be the point at which they ought to surrender immediately. However, the bandits had already made it clear that was pointless by saying, “If we catch that little girl and shut her up, we can whack the kid, bury him, and the guild’ll never know!”

They had no interest in taking hostages. Rather than demand any ransom money from the guild, the bandits were electing to stay undercover, which meant that Veil and Lily were fighting for their lives. The only question at this point was really which one of them would fall first.

“We’re pretty much screwed.” Veil murmured with a heavy sigh.

“We are?”

At the very least, the situation they were in was not something that an independent, party-less C-rank hunter could be expected to handle. Lily, however, could not comprehend this. She had, after all, lived most of her life in a fairy-tale world and believed that most people were fundamentally good. Alas, Lily Lockwood was a very poor judge of character.

“It’ll be fine,” she said lightly. “Now that all the bandits are here, we can just ask all of them nicely to cooperate.”

“Wha…?”

Lily drew in a deep breath.

“Um! Hello, bandits! Please call off your attacks for today! And then, why don’t you all dissolve this bandit gang and go find some proper jobs? You’ll be able to make some money, and there won’t be any worry of getting arrested! It’s a really good deal!”

There was silence but for the sound of the night wind blowing. Everyone, Veil included, stared at Lily, speechless.

“With this many of you guys, you could all work together quite effectively! If you can be bandits, then I bet you could be hunters, too!”

“B-but being a bandit is a proper job!” one of the bandits shouted angrily.

The others broke out into raucous laughter. They pointed at Lily, jeering.

“Ha ha ha! This is killin’ me! Is this li’l brat your mom or something?!”

“I mean at ’er age she’d have to be a little sister! Bwah ha ha, she’s too much!”

“Ga ha ha, I’m about to bust a gut! Hee hee, someone help me!”

Lily tilted her head, her expression sincere.

“Oh, does your tummy hurt? Are you okay?”

Veil slapped his hand to his forehead. As the bandits simmered down to giggles, one of them pointed at Lily and asked, “You really think you’re in a position to tell us what to do?! You do realize that negotiation can only come about when both sides are on equal ground, right?”

“Huh, really? Thanks for telling me!”

“Little lady, are you slow or something? Maybe you should just sit down and let us capture you. It’ll be way less painful for everyone involved.”

If we were on equal ground, they would listen to me, Lily thought. Well then, that’s simple enough.

Lily let out a thought pulse all around her.

Mr. Nano, are you here?

YES, MISS LILY, I AM EVERYWHERE. CAN I HELP YOU WITH SOMETHING?

How much power would I need to challenge these bandits?

WELL, THERE ARE SOME SLIGHT VARIATIONS AMONGST THEM, BUT IF WE WANT THEM TO CONSIDER NEGOTIATION WITHOUT KILLING ANYONE, STRIKING ONE OF THEM IN THE SIDE OF THE HEAD WITH AN ABSOLUTE MINIMUM-STRENGTH FIREBALL SHOULD AT LEAST BE ENOUGH FOR THEM TO START LISTENING.

What? But that sounds really painful.

IT HAS TO BE ENOUGH TO DEMONSTRATE YOUR STRENGTH. ALSO, TRUTHFULLY, THE TRICK TO NEGOTIATION IS NOT TO STRUGGLE AGAINST AN EQUIVALENT FORCE BUT TO COME AT IT FROM A PLACE OF FAR SUPERIOR POWER.

I see. Thanks.

THE PLEASURE IS ALL MINE.

She would need about thirty of her smallest fireballs, assuming that she could avoid killing any bandits. While Lily considered this, the circle of bandits tightened around them.

“All righty now, if we’re done here, just go ahead and drop yer weapon, boy.”

“No point in that. I’m gonna end up dead either way, so I may as well just let loose, all or nothing.”

“Idiot. What are you gonna do against thirty of us?”

Veil adjusted his sword grip and firmed up his stance. Beside him, Lily looked up into the air.

“Um, some fireballs? Thirty, please?”

She radiated the image of fire up into the air. With a poof, a ball of flame manifested above her head—just one. Lily knew nothing about traditional fireball spells. She could only imagine what she thought they must be like, based on the name. Thus, she defaulted to the only type of fire spell she knew. An image of something like the sun came into her mind, only this time far smaller—about fist sized.

Poof, poof.

It was as the second and third orbs appeared that both Veil and the bandits suddenly noticed this new source of light piercing through the darkness. The bandits pointed at Lily, again roaring with laughter.

“Huh? The hell is that? A little kitchen spell? I’m surprised you can use magic, but are you about to cook us a feast or somethin’, little cutie?”

The bandits—and Veil, for that matter, assumed that Lily had summoned a flame-type spell, used primarily for cooking.

“Lily…?”

However, that was not what this was. The heat contained in each orb was nothing to scoff at. After all, this was Lily Lockwood’s special fire magic, made in the image of the sun that appeared in Miami Satodele’s books. It was not the real thing, of course. If it were the real sun, the heat would be radiating constantly outward, but Lily knew nothing about emissions. These flames boiled only inwardly with heat, its temperature climbing over time until it reached an apex. Naturally, she had not imagined nuclear fission for this false sun, so technically speaking, it was just a regular fireball that happened to be unusually hot.

Poof, poof, poof.

The flames above her head continued to increase in number.

Poof, poof, poof.

“Ha ha ha, ha ha…ha…?”

The bandits’ laughter slowly petered out, and their brows began to furrow. No matter how weak this low-level fire magic might be, being hit with that many fireballs at once would mean getting burned.

“Oy! Girl! You stop that!”

A bandit stepped out to grab Lily by the collar, but Veil moved forward to block him. The tip of his sword was aimed at the bandit’s chest. Ignoring all of this, Lily continued to manifest more flames.

“Oh, I think I’m starting to get the hang of this.”

Poof, poof, p-p-p-p-p-poof!

“Ha ha ha, this is actually kind of fun!”

The balls of flame above her head increased even further. Now, there were roughly thirty. They began swirling in a circle around Veil and Lily, as though to protect them. Standing at the center, Lily looked back to the bandits.

“Um, so, bandits, if I hit every single one of you with one of these, will you consider negotiating?”

“The hell we will! I don’t care how many you’ve got, you couldn’t possibly strike us all down with those tiny little things!”

One of the bandits slashed his sword at the eddy of fireballs.

“Hi-yah!”

The instant the bandit’s blade touched one of the balls of flame, the metal began to glow red, liquefying before melting entirely and splattering across the ground.

“Wha…?”

The metal that had once been a sword was bubbling on the ground, and the flame ball, which should have dissipated, still floated in the air, unchanged.

“Eep! M-my sword!”

The bandit who had swung at Lily stared at the remaining half of his beloved sword and lost all will to fight, stumbling back onto the ground.

“H-h-how?! Th-those are just some cooking spells! Or like, some fireballs!”

“Should I hit you with this now?” Lily asked innocently. “There’s a lot of these, so it’s a little hard to control th—Aah!”

Two of the flame balls smacked into one another, warping. Then, they both exploded, unleashing a dreadful wave of heat on the area. That instantaneous explosion alone was enough to singe the hair on all the bandits’ heads, the surrounding grass looking as though it had been struck by a bomb blast.

“Gyah!”

“It’s hot!”

Lily scratched her head, smiling bashfully.

“Ah, sorry. Magic is really tough. I better make more of these… Need enough for everyone.”

Poof, poof. Two more appeared.

“Now then, shall we?”

Lily lifted her right pointer finger, swinging her arm up into the air. However, before she could swing her finger back down, one of the bandits hurriedly abandoned his weapon, dropping to his knees and bowing his head to the ground.

“Wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-waaait! If you hit us with that, we’ll all be dead before we can even negotiate!”

Immediately, all of the other bandits followed suit, dropping their weapons and raising their hands. This was no longer merely a question of superiority of strength. There was not a single soul who would not bow before such power, the likes of which even most mages in this world could not aspire to summon. Even a court magician might find this impossible.

“Huh? Wait, this would kill you?”

“Yes! Yes, it would!” a bandit screamed. “That thing’s so hot it melted a metal sword in an instant!”

“P-p-p-please stop this!”

Well, goodness! Lily thought peevishly. That would kill them. You lied to me, Mr. Nano.

WHAT? THIS ISN’T MY FAULT. I DID TRY TO REMIND YOU TO HOLD BACK. BUT, HEY, IT LOOKS LIKE THEY’RE READY TO NEGOTIATE WITH YOU.

“W-we get it. We’re breaking up the band, starting today. So, please! Please spare us our lives! We’ve got families! W-we’re only doing this for them! Please, we’ll leave the country even, just let us go!”

“Families… I see…”

The bandit who had spoken grinned to himself, face still to the ground.

This number was sensible for a gang of bandits, but they could not possibly all band together as hunters. Here in the base was a mountain of all the food and money they had amassed. After this little mage and the C-rank hunter were gone, they could just gather it all up and vanish from the capital region, starting up again near another town somewhere else in the country. It was hard to assess the hunter, but the mage was clearly clueless. It would be fine. They could deceive her.

However…

“What should I do, though? I don’t know how to get rid of this spell…”

“Huh?”

The bandit lifted his dirt-smeared face.

“Oh, I’ve got it. You won’t be using those anymore, so I’ll just toss it into them.”

Lily swung her arm down, pointing to the three buildings behind the bandits.

“Hi-yah!” she said with pretend innocence. And the thirty balls of flame that had been swirling protectively around her and Veil rose up, following her finger. Then, once they had reached a certain temperature, they took off like shooting stars, raining down around the valley. Lily gasped in awe at the glowing trails they left behind in the night sky. “Whoa! Pretty!”

Impact. Explosion. Blast. Inferno.

The flames rose as the area began to glow brighter and brighter with an orange light, gravel scattering everywhere, the heat contained within the spell spreading swiftly along with a black smoke.

The mood had completely shifted; the camp was now a portrait of Hell. The bandits’ screams, already swallowed up in the heat waves and the roar of the flames, morphed into cries of anguish as they were blown back, consciousness fading.

It was a massacre.

The three buildings were burnt down without a trace, or really, they were annihilated, the land scorched barren and even the grove on the other side of camp turned to ash.

Lily froze, still pointing. A bead of sweat dripped down her cheek. The power that had been released from each of those tiny suns was nearly as much as there had been in the much-larger single orb she had thrown. And there had been thirty of them.

What happened, Mr. Nano?

YOU MADE THE FLAMES SMALL, BUT YOU ONLY SHRANK AND COMPRESSED THEM. AS A REACTION, THIS MADE THE BLAST FROM THE IMPACT ALL THE MORE POWERFUL. UNLEASHING THIRTY OF THOSE AT ONCE IS ENOUGH TO ALTER TERRAIN. THANKFULLY, YOU DID NOT FIRE THOSE TOWARD THE CAPITAL.

And so, in an instant, the bandits lost their horde of cash, loot, and supplies, along with any means of escape. Thus, Lily closed the curtain on the frequent merchant-wagon disappearances that had been happening around the capital.

It should go without saying that Veil was shrewd enough to drag two of the unconscious bandits back with him to the capital in order to collect a reward.

A reward that he split with Lily.

 

***

 

This was how Veil, a C-rank hunter and one of those people who had been party to the incident, told it:

“I was concerned about someone who appeared to be in danger accepting a job from the slum broker without having a sense of the potential danger, and so I tailed her, but…” He paused, clearing his throat, and looked at Lily beside him. “Well, in the end, it really turned out that she herself is dangerous. Considering this incident, I have determined that I need to keep a close watch on Lily from now on.”

Lily looked up at Veil, protesting, “But I’m not dangerous. Not any more than anyone else.”

Lafine massaged her temples, as though trying to stave off a headache. They were in the Alstea family home, and Lafine, Lily, and Veil were sitting in chairs with a simple table between them. Lafine was in the process of questioning them about what in the world had happened to keep them out all night.

Lily had not come home the night before, after going out to look for work early in the morning.

On top of this, the capital was in an uproar.

Something had happened in the forest near the capital last night—some kind of natural disaster or elder dragon attack or who-knew-what. Whatever it was had lit the night sky over the slumbering capital like the dawning sun, even sending out tremors. Everyone living within the capital was shaken awake, flooding from their homes to stare up at the burning sky. Now, this morning, it was all that anyone in the capital was talking about…except for Lafine, who had had a very, very bad feeling about it.

“I see. So, this was your doing…”

“Yeah, I kind of messed up.”

Lafine stood from her chair, grabbing Lily by the ear.

“What the hell were you wandering around doing?! Do you not think anything through?”

“W-w-well…”

Veil stepped in to assist.

“I-I was surprised as well, but thanks to Lily, a lot of lives were saved, so I think you should forgive her.”

Lafine glared at Veil.

“Your name is Veil, right? You haven’t yet made a report about this to the Hunters’ Guild, have you?!”

“N-no, of course not. Actually, I don’t really know how I should report this. I guess we can say that a meteorite came down from the sky and just happened to strike near where the bandits’ base was located…”

Lafine sighed, sitting back down. “People will see through that. It’s too implausible.” She leaned her elbows onto the tabletop, burying her face in her hands.

“I-I’m sorry I let this happen,” said Veil.

“Whatever. Let’s just count it as lucky that no one else has found out about Lily’s magic.”

“Thanks.”

With that, Veil and Lafine came to an agreement, leaving the culprit herself entirely out of the loop. A thick silence settled across the Alstea household which situated in an out-of-the-way corner of the part of the city occupied by commoners.

Veil cleared his throat and then looked at Lily.

“By the way, Lily…”

“Hm?”

Lily looked up at Veil, who sat beside her.

“I know this is a bit sudden, but have you thought about becoming a hunter? With your magical skills and a bit of training, I think you could be really good. Naturally, you’d still run the risk of forgetting to hold back, but I think that hunting would provide you with the perfect opportunity to master your skills.”

Lafine’s face was still buried in her hands, and before she could open her mouth, Lily had answered, her response practically exploding out of her.

“No way.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m going to be a hero.”

Both Lafine and Veil went slack-jawed at this odd, unfamiliar word. Lily, by contrast, was smiling as innocently as she always did.

“You see, in the stories written by my favorite author, Miami Satodele, there are always these super amazing allies of justice. They’re strong, and kind, and they save adults and children and men and women—well, everyone!”

“Is that what a hero is?”

“Yeah!”

Lafine’s shoulders drooped, her expression skeptical. “Okay, but while you’re off doing that, who’s going to be bringing home the bacon?”

“Uh…”

Once more, Veil threw Lily a lifeline.

“I’ve got a proposal to make. If I could have Lily’s help with more jobs like the one last night, I can pay her handsomely.”

“Hm?”

Holding up a hand to stave off Lafine’s objections, Veil continued. “There would be terms. The first being that you agree to never take any more jobs from that place.”

“You mean the slum broker?”

Veil nodded. “Yeah. I’m sure you’ve already guessed, but only the worst kinds of jobs go through him.”

Lily nodded back. “I figured. But then, what am I supposed to do from now on?”

“Basically, I’ll accept jobs through the Hunters’ Guild and then you’ll help me with them. Depending on the work you do, I’ll give you a percentage of the money I receive from the guild. That way, we can keep you—and that dangerous magic of yours—under my watch, and you’ll be able to work.”

“But I’m not dangerous! I’m normal. It’s not like I’m gonna bite someone!”

Ignoring Lily’s protests, Lafine stood up from her chair and clasped Veil’s hand in her own. Her eyes sparkled—no—glinted with hunger.

“Will that really be possible? Um…”

“Veil. I’m a C-rank hunter.”

Lafine nodded.

“C-rank. All right, yes, sounds good, Veil. Ah, but I do have one condition myself, if I’m gonna be lending Lily to you.”

“Lending…?” Lily muttered.

Ignoring her once more, Lafine jogged into the bedroom, returning with a mask-like item, something that would hide only the eyes. Without waiting for Lily’s approval, she affixed it to the girl’s face.

“Wh-wh-what?! What are you doing?”

The mask was a bright purple and looked like a strange butterfly.

“Just shut up and wear it! I don’t care if you make money as a hero or a hunter, but anytime you do work for someone, you’re gonna wear this! And don’t tell anyone your name! Not Lily or Lockwood!”

The moment she uttered these last words, Lafine covered her own mouth with her hands. Nervously, she looked to Veil, who was looking back at her, creases forming on his forehead.

“Lockwood…? Like the Margrave Neiham Lockwood?”

She had messed up. Lafine slapped her palm to her forehead, face falling. Seeing this, Veil frantically shook his head.

“Oh, no, um, no need to answer that… But, well, I see. So that’s why you want to hide her identity.”

Veil pondered this. As far as anyone was aware, the Lockwood family had two children, but neither of them was named Lily. Perhaps Lily was the child of some mistress Lord Neiham had picked up in town.

“As I am a hunter, allow me to at least make one thing clear. Lafine, you are not allied with those who attacked the Lockwood manor, are you?”

“O-obviously not! What are you thinking?! Let’s get this straight—I used to work for the Lockwoods!”

Veil looked to Lily, questioning. Lily nodded. “That’s right. She’s been with my family for a long time. She’s famous among the servants for not doing much work.”

“Why you little—you shut your mouth already!”

As Lafine put her hands around Lily’s neck, shaking her back and forth, Veil watched pensively. If Lily was the daughter of a mistress, and it had been necessary to conceal the very fact of her existence, she had surely had a difficult life until now.

Of course, Veil didn’t quite have the full story, but neither Lafine nor Lily would ever tell him that. Having come to his own conclusions, he nodded.

“It’s fine, Lily. Though they don’t come from as important a place, there are a lot of kids where I live in the same position as you. No need to worry. I’ll help you hide your identity.”

“…Thanks?”

So, the three of them came to an agreement. Lily would get to be an ally of justice. Lafine would be able to benefit from the money she earned, while still ensuring Lily could hide her identity. And Veil would be able to keep an eye on Lily, who, he insisted, was an exceedingly dangerous person. Their goals aligned, the three of them shared a series of firm handshakes across the table. And thus, a mysterious masked hero was born—one that was soon to be seen all over the capital of the Kingdom of Tils.

“One more thing,” Lafine added. “You were out all night, but nothing happened between you two, right?”

An awkward silence spread throughout the room. After a few beats, Lily tilted her head curiously at Lafine. “What do you mean?”

Meanwhile, Veil was frantically shaking his head. “It didn’t! It wouldn’t!”

“Then we’re all set.”

Lafine stood up on the seat of her chair and planted one foot forcefully atop the table, her long brown hair draping across Veil’s face from above. She lowered her voice, curving her spine to bend down as she smiled coldly, and then whispered, “Because if Lily somehow ends up damaged goods, I will kill you. She has the makings of one of the most powerful mages in the world, and one day, I’m going to marry her off to a prosperous noble or a wealthy merchant. Actually, if all goes well, I could probably get her betrothed to a royal. Heh heh heh… I’m sure you understand why she is not to be touched by the likes of some two-bit C-rank hunter!”

“I-I’m telling you, I won’t! M-my heart already belongs to someone else!”

Lafine lifted her head, her long hair sweeping back behind her. Her face had already returned to its usual bored expression—though she was still standing on the table.

“Okay. That’s good, then. Make sure you look after her.”

“I will…”

“Hm?” asked Lily Lockwood, nine years old.

She stared back and forth between her two protectors, totally oblivious.