The person who had kicked me was a young girl. Her face was decorated in a red paint that brought flames to mind, and she was dressed in strange cloth. The clothing didn’t leave very much to the imagination, and my eyes were at first drawn to her tanned skin, but I was quickly taken by something else entirely: her forehead.
The girl had a blue horn protruding from it.
I stared at it as it glowed blue in the light, and it was as though I had completely forgotten how to speak.
“Who the heck are you and what the heck are you doing here?!”
As I stood without responding, this was the question the girl aimed at me, along with a glare, her eyes as red as fire. Her silver hair shook with her every word, and the jewels braided into it echoed as they collided. It was a most beautiful sound.
“Don’t just stand there; answer me!”
Her voice was high and sharp, and filled with an enmity I could feel prickling my skin, but I was at least relieved by the fact that she still hadn’t reached for the bow on her back. And if she was here on what appeared to be friendly terms, then it was only fair of me to answer her question.
“Oh,” I finally uttered. “I am called Dias. As for what I’m doing here, well, as you saw for yourself, I was sleeping.”
“Why were you sleeping here?!”
“Because I didn’t have anywhere else to sleep. I took a drink from the river, sat down to rest, and then I got sleepy, so I slept.”
“Are you a complete idiot or something? Or wait, is it some kind of illness? Is that why your eyes are blue like that?”
“Uh...it’s not an illness. As for the idiot part...well, I can’t really deny it. I’ve never been educated.”
“Then tell me why you came to these grasslands and what you plan to do now that you’re here.”
“I came here because I was brought here, and because I was told that I’d be living here from now on. My plans are, uh, well, now that I’ve found a river, I have to find a source of food, a place to live, and then avoid dying, I guess?”
“And let’s say you find yourself a place to live. What then?”
“What then? Hm... Now that you mention it, what do I want to do next? For starters, I’m going to live. I really don’t want to die. Hm? Er, hang on a sec, no need to reach for the bow! What do you mean ‘answer me seriously if you don’t want to get shot’? I’m being serious, I really am! All right...so I want to live by the words my parents left me. I want to be useful to people, and I want to protect the weak.”
“Why aren’t you lying to me?”
“Huh? What do you mean? I’m not lying to you because I don’t have a reason to lie to you.”
“Are you an ally or an enemy? Which is it?”
What is up with this girl? All these questions that don’t make sense to me. What does she even want?
Every time I answered a question, the girl’s horn let out a blue light, but at the same time, her face grew sterner. I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. More importantly, that ally or enemy thing wasn’t something you ask someone you’d just met, was it? How was I even supposed to answer? I mean, I could safely state that I wasn’t her enemy, but that didn’t mean I could easily say I was her ally.
“I’m not sure I understand,” I told her. “Look, I don’t mean you any harm, so I’m not your enemy, I can assure you of that. But I don’t even know your name, and we’re literally meeting for the first time right now. How am I supposed to say I’m your ally? Isn’t that odd? Is it okay to say that I’m neither ally nor enemy?”
“No! Ally or enemy! Answer me clearly, right now!”
The girl’s eyebrows raised as she put a hand to her bow and glared at me. I didn’t know what she didn’t like about my answer, but I could tell she was losing her patience with me. I could have just played along and said that I was her ally, but I knew that this girl wasn’t going to be satisfied by some superficial response. In fact, that would only make it clear to her that I was definitely her enemy.
I knew I wasn’t a smart guy, but I didn’t want to make the girl any angrier, so I thought as hard as I could in search of the right answer.
Am I her ally or her enemy?
I pushed my brain to its limits and thought harder still...and then I arrived at a realization. This was my domain, and this girl in front of me was standing on my land. That meant that she was one of the “subjects” that I’d been told about. The official had told me that the job of the domain lord was to protect their people. Now I was sure—I could tell the girl that I was indeed her ally.
It also made sense to me why she was reaching for her bow—if the domain lord couldn’t tell his own people that he was their ally, of course they’d be furious. As for the strange horn sprouting from her head and the light coming from it, I figured that was a problem I could ignore for the time being. What mattered was that she was my subject.
I looked the girl straight in the eyes, took the feelings of my own personal pledge to do my job to the best of my ability, and put them into words.
“I am your ally!” I answered. “And no matter the enemy, I will protect you!”
The girl’s eyes widened in shock at my reply, and a strong blue light shone from her horn. It was so bright I was forced to squint.
“Why? Why is this light so blue?!” exclaimed the girl, even though it was coming from her own person. “What is this powerful light?!”
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