“Naru,” Elena said sternly.
Though doing so made her want to cry, she lightly slapped the boy’s cheek.
“Huh?”
“Don’t do such things,” she told him. “You worried everyone. What if you got hurt? We’d all be sad.”
Naru understood what was allowed and what wasn’t, but couldn’t distinguish right from wrong. He was only three, but more than that, he had no adults to teach him. Chaco and Neu, desperate just to survive, couldn’t teach him either.
Elena hugged the boy tightly, hoping to reinforce the lesson. “I’m really glad you’re safe,” she murmured. “And thank you. You’re a fine boy.”
“I’m sorry, Lena...”
She wasn’t sure if Naru truly comprehended what he’d done, but he hugged her back, crying. Within moments, he fell asleep, likely from relief and exhaustion.
“Lena, we should go,” Ron said as he approached. He’d already taken out the caterpillars and had just been waiting for Naru to calm down.
“Yes. Thank you for waiting,” she replied.
Ron gave a small smile but averted his gaze. “I mean, of course I’d wait.”
Elena’s smile widened slightly. “Right.”
Now all that was left was to go back. As the two began to return the way they came, the residents they’d encountered earlier moved to block their path.
“What do you want?” Ron asked, stepping forward to protect the other two. His hand moved to the hilt of his blade.
The residents, seemingly intimidated, backed away—but the middle-aged man from before stepped forward.
“Y-You guys are strong, right? Kill the monsters around here!” he demanded.
“Yeah! There’s monsters in town too!” another resident added.
“I ran from there, but there’s more monsters here!”
“Yeah! You’re strong! Do something!”
The grimy rabble were all pleading now.
“Seriously...?” Ron muttered.
Though the group could surround and kill individual monsters, they weren’t brave enough to face groups and had grown used to running away. They’d even gone as far as using children as bait. Now they performed helplessness to foist responsibility onto the strong.
Ron clenched his fist in anger, but before he could say anything else, Elena spoke up. “Ron. Wait.”
Her tone sent chills down his spine. “Lena...?”
Elena’s smile had turned cold as she handed the sleeping Naru to Ron, then stepped toward the group.
“Why should we help you?” she asked, her usual measured tone replaced by something more forceful, matching that of the residents.
Ron and the group all gasped.
“Defeat them yourselves,” Elena said.
“Easy for you to say! W-We can’t, all right?! We’re not strong like you! I mean, is that even your kid? Why are you helping him? Help us instead!”
“No.”
The immediate answer seemed to freeze the air around them for a second.
“This boy wanted to help me and my companions. He did his best. You people interfered, and now you want help? Why do you think we’d help you?” she asked incisively and matter-of-factly.
A ruler protected her people and showed no mercy to her enemies.
Sensing the cold determination in her words, the group fell silent.
Elena smiled sweetly. “Whose town is Cutlass? Yours, no? If you don’t protect it, who will? Is this not your home?”
“I-I... I mean, we...”
The man’s eyes wavered with confusion. He hated this town—even just living here was painful. He wanted to escape it someday. But the word “home,” spoken with such a gentle smile, stirred a long-forgotten warmth in his heart.
Suddenly, a new voice said, “You know, I’d prefer it if you didn’t rally them.”
Startled, Elena and Ron turned around. There, looking down from atop the rocks, was a hooded man. Though his face should’ve been visible at this angle, it was obscured by the backlighting. Still, they were certain he was smiling.
“Who are you?” Elena asked.
“You, Mercenian. Are you the one they call Rose? Or are you her friend?” he asked. “Either way, my orders say to kill you if I ever run into you. Just in case. You know, I swore they were messing with me, but nope. You really do exist.”
Elena didn’t respond. This man was very chatty—either by nature or because he was sure he had the upper hand. He sounded sadistic, almost.
Several other Krus people emerged from behind him. “Boss, you shouldn’t talk so much...”
“What? I figured the lady wants to know why she’s gonna die, yeah?”
All of these people were Rank 2 or above. The chatty man’s power couldn’t be discerned with precision due to his cloak, but Elena had enough experience from the dungeon venture and everything else she’d gone through to estimate him to be around Rank 3. According to him, they were here not to capture her, but to kill her “just in case.” In case of what? If his words were to be believed, something had to be happening—or was about to happen—in town.
Elena pondered whether she and Ron could defeat this group. In close combat, their chances were low; Ron could probably use sorcery as well but probably couldn’t defeat any of these people in one hit. While Elena could use lightning spells, at this distance and with her skill level, they’d lose power and disperse. She could use ice spells for instant kills, but they were slow and could be dodged from this far away.
An opening... Is there an opening...?
Ron could distract them with magic, but she couldn’t communicate this to him, and they weren’t attuned enough for her to convey it silently either.
But before she could figure anything out—
Whoosh.
The hooded man looked up at the source of the sound, just as a small arrow pierced his right eye. “Ngh! Ack!”
“Ice Javelin!” Elena chanted.
Her spell pierced the man’s heart. His hood fell back to reveal the dusky face of a dark elf just as his body tumbled from atop the outcropping.
The man’s companions looked around in shock. “Wha—”
Only Elena knew where to look. She turned to see a girl with hair the color of burnished iron holding a small crossbow, breathing hard, atop an opposite rocky outcropping.
“Sorry for the wait,” the girl said.
“Impeccable timing, Alia,” Elena replied.