After another two-day trip, we arrived back at the walled-off city that was our home just past noon. As we passed through the gates, the citizens who noticed our return cheered. Most of their attention was directed at my father, Dan.
“Oh! Sir Dan has returned!”
“The city’s hero!”
“He must have taken down more monsters.”
“It’s all thanks to the holy knights that we can live in peace.”
“Ha ha ha! Thank you, everyone, but this time it was my son who took down the monster!” Dan rode his horse over to me and patted my shoulder.
“So it was Sir Al!”
“They say his skill with the blade has already surpassed Sir Dan’s.”
“Sir Dan must be happy to have two outstanding sons.” The townspeople just said whatever came to mind.
“Oh, Sir Al, huh...”
“I’m sure he’s strong, but...”
“To be honest, compared to Sir Robert, he’s...”
“That black hair is a little...” Some of the women whispered rude things about me, but I wasn’t going to let that discourage me. Even with a bad first impression, all I needed to do was earn enough favor to turn things around.
“Pay them no mind, brother.” Robert tried to reassure me.
“Pay what no mind? I’m busy thinking of ways to make them fall for me. Quit interrupting. Don’t even look at me with that sparkling smile. It hurts my eyes.”
“A-Aha ha ha. That’s just like you, brother.” Robert laughed awkwardly for some reason, but I didn’t really care.
As I was talking with my annoying brother, another set of voices reached my ears.
“Who’s he calling his son? Al’s an orphan.”
“Leave it to the town’s hero to take in a filthy brat from the slums.”
“Wish he’d bother helping us if he has the time to play saint of the trash heap.”
Dan was known as the city’s hero because that was a title he’d earned. But that didn’t mean everyone mindlessly worshipped him. People who made snide remarks like that were everywhere—probably even in Heaven. There was no point in letting it get to you. I just made sure to remember their faces...just in case I needed to pay them a visit later.
“Gah!”
But that didn’t end up being necessary. A series of pebbles hit them in their faces so hard that they got knocked out before they realized what was going on. My hands were clean, this time. My trusty steed Viola, on the other hand, had skillfully kicked a bunch of rocks at them as she walked.
“Ha ha ha! Thanks, Viola.” Viola snorted back at me as though to say, “What an annoying bunch!” I patted her head in an attempt to calm her down.
“You know, Viola might have been a human in her past life.” Robert’s statement caught me off guard.
“Whatever she is, she’s the best partner I could ask for.”
Suddenly, Viola came to a stop.
A few steps ahead, Dan’s horse had also stopped moving. “Huh?”
From the looks of it, a girl around five years old had jumped into the middle of the road. That was a close one. She might’ve just been a kid, but a girl’s life was still precious. Give her another fifteen years and she’d grow into a fine lady. By that same token, an old woman had once been a beautiful flower. They were all to be treasured. The lives that didn’t matter belonged to annoying brats and dirty old guys—in other words, men.
“What are her parents doing?” I wondered aloud. “Shouldn’t they be worried about a kid her age wandering around alone?” Even at her age, she should know better than to run into the middle of a busy street. Thankfully we were used to that kind of thing, so nothing bad happened.
Dan got down off his horse and picked up the little girl. “Are you all right, young lady? It’s dangerous to run in front of horses.” It was hard for me to get a good look at her with Dan in the way, but I got a glimpse of the girl’s face. Something was off. It made me feel uneasy. And then it happened.
The girl started struggling in Dan’s arms, jumped at him, and then bit him. Although Dan immediately pulled her off, blood was dripping from his ear. “My goodness, what a rambunctious young lady.”
“Hey! Something’s wrong with that girl!” I shouted.
“Father! You’re bleeding!” Robert sounded worried.
The girl’s eyes were devoid of life, yet her mouth was moving vigorously. She was trying to bite at Dan, paying no mind to the drool dripping from her mouth. She swung her arms wildly, almost like she was trying to scratch at the sky. It was readily apparent that she wasn’t okay.
“I-I’m so sorry!” A man who seemed to be the girl’s father rushed over.
“It’s quite all right. Kids will be kids. Though I must ask, is she well? She seems to be—”
Before Dan could even finish speaking, the man interrupted him and snatched up the girl. “I’ll make sure she behaves!” Leaving only those words, he hurried off like he was fleeing the scene of a crime.
“Hey! Take your daughter to the church if you really care about her!” I called out after the man, but he didn’t even bother acknowledging if he heard me. Even in her father’s arms, the girl was still flailing just as she had been before. “Tch...” I clicked my tongue. “You should head to the church too, old man.” I spoke to Dan from horseback as Robert dismounted to inspect his wound.
“No need to worry, you two. It’s only a minor injury.”
“I’ll make the report. Get to the church already. And I’m not just saying that because I’m worried about the wound.” Churches were home to holy women, people who were capable of using healing magic. Ordinary magic required an innate talent and few people were capable of using it, but the magic used by holy women was granted through faith in a certain god. That meant there were quite a few of them. I’d heard that holy women were even capable of exorcising curses—not healing them, just exorcising.
“What, you think I’m cursed? You think that girl was an undead or something? She felt warm when I picked her up, and her body wasn’t rotting away. Besides, holy women only have magic capable of returning the undead to death, not curing someone who’s been bitten. If that girl really was an undead, I’m already done for. Ha ha.” Dan brushed me off.
Undead. Also known as walking dead or living dead—it all meant the same thing. The cause was unknown, but there were cases where someone who should’ve been dead would come back to life. However, it wasn’t a complete resurrection. They hungered for the blood of the living, even as their flesh rotted and their bones shattered.