I was on the brink of death. No, I hadn’t battled with a formidable foe. And I wasn’t sick. The reason was I had simply used up all my money for traveling expenses and was hungry.
“Ugh… I’m starving… They were right when they said the humans of the capital are heartless…”
This was the capital city of the largest kingdom in the human realm, Kars Kingdom. After arriving at the gates of the city, I had collapsed near a fountain at a public square a little way off from the city entrance. The amount of money I’d brought was supposed to be enough for my traveling expenses here, but the city had been farther than I expected. I’d been scraping by on water alone for the past three days.
The next thing I knew, my surroundings had grown dark. As I sat there with a vacant look in my eyes, the people passing by gave me cold stares, keeping their distances. The humans have this saying: The wise stay well away from danger. But I thought it was pretty extreme they would take it so far as to abandon a pretty girl like me.
I hardly even had the energy to be mad about it. I was almost at my limit. To think I’d left my hometown on a faraway journey in pursuit of my dreams, only to die of starvation. Didn’t get much less cool than that. Mama down there in Hell, I’m sorry. I’ll be coming to be with you soon. So this is how my adventure ends, bathed in the light of the moon—
“Um…are you all right?”
“Leonie, stop.”
“We can’t just leave her like this, Nor.”
“But look at those black eyes and hair… She’s a demon.”
“Precisely why we should help. As the daughter of a hero, I cannot discriminate against her.”
I heard the voices of two girls. Mustering the last of my strength to look at them, I laid eyes on a worried-looking girl with a white color scheme and a cowardly-looking girl in light blue.
“H-help me…,” I pleaded.
“Are you injured? Sick?”
The girl in white who the other had called Leonie knelt down next to me and began to inspect my body. The girl in light blue—Nor—looked on with worry.
“—gry.”
“Hmm? What was that?”
Rrrrrumble.
“…I’m so hungry.”
“…Huh?”
I saw Leonie’s expression gradually change from one of worry to one of exasperation. Ugh… I’m so lame. But there’s nothing I can do about it now. Even humans say you can’t fight on an empty stomach, right?
“Please…feed me something…”
“…Sigh… Wait here a moment. Nor, keep an eye on her, please.”
“Ah, wait, Leonie…!”
Leonie left us behind, appearing to head in the direction of a nearby street stall. I say “appearing” because my vision had gone blurry, and I couldn’t really see what was going on. Ugh, this is the pits.
“Here, please eat this.”
I sensed that Leonie had returned, and I grabbed the thing she handed me. In that instant, an intense aroma pierced my nostrils, jolting me back to reality. Before I knew it, I had scarfed the whole thing down. A salty, savory flavor filled my mouth. Was there anything in this world more delicious? It brought tears to my eyes.