They were approaching the village when Lein said something to Rume.

“Rume, don’t tell anyone anything about the glade, okay?”

Rume could comprehend the reason for why Lein asked for her to keep it a secret. Apparently, dragons were a big deal. Also, there were some strange things there too, like the giant tree, the Vilicus, and the orbs of lights. It would be bad for the people in the villagers to know about them. Besides, Rume doesn't have any form of trust towards them.

“I understand.”

“You do, huh. Okay then.”

“But is it okay to tell Mr. Esmon about it?”

“Uh, hm,” Lein contemplated. “I think it’s best for you not to tell him. None of the villagers, or anyone for this matter, should know about the place we visited. It will be very bad. I’m sure you know how horrible most people are when they see something hard to understand or something to fear.”

Rume nodded. She, after all, experienced the horror caused by the villagers firsthand.

“... Understood. But what should I tell him? I mean, what we have been doing in the forest.”

“Well, you can say we toured around the forest, watched some cute animals. We talked and got to know each other. Played around with some harmless cute animals. That should be fine enough as an alibi...”

“Yes. I’ll tell him that when he asks.”

When they entered back into the village, as expected, everyone they came across gave them strange gazes, some stood aside, and some gave Rume cursing glares. Once again, all Rume could do was cast down her head while gripping her own hand.

On the other hand, Lein was casting her gaze towards everyone. No, it would be more accurate to say she was looking at them with hostile glare. If anyone would shift their eyes towards her, she would directly meet them back with a glare of her own. Lein has lost hope for these people. 

They are wretched scums that should be wiped off from the face of the world. That was her feeling. She began to loathe them — no, she loathed them now. But she understood that she was just being too emotional about this, surely there were a few nice people around. But still, they were a bunch of scumbags.

In addition, as an outsider, and a person walking beside the so-called daughter of a demon, a few gave her reproachful and somewhat scornful stares. They might be starting to think something strange about her.

Her opinion towards them only decreased even further.

Suddenly, Lein realized something.

“By the way, Rume. Do you have something to eat for dinner? Wait, this reminds me, we never ate lunch. Aaaagh, how could I forget.” She placed her palm on her forehead.

“I have some fruits to eat, also Mr. Esmon often brings me some meat and other ingredients.”

“You know how to cook?”

“Simple things. Mama taught me a little. Mr. Esmon taught me mostly of what I know.”

“I see. In this case, how about I take you to eat? Making up for our missed lunch. And I mean right now.”

Rume was surprised and a sense of reluctance evident on her face.

“But, is that okay? I mean… the people around us might not take it kindly seeing you being involved with me.”

It might damage Lein’s image when everyone sees her eating with Rume. Plus, if the word spreads, it may cause a negative impression towards Lein from the villagers. Rume didn’t want that.

“I don’t care about what they think.”

“Huh?”

“Listen, Rume.” Lein stopped and kneeled down to Rume’s level, then whispered. “I don’t even know these people, so there is no reason for me to care about them. Amongst the residents in this village, you are the only one that has meaning to me, that means, I only care about you. It doesn’t matter what they will think about me. They are...irrelevant.”

As Rume locked eyes with Lein, Lein’s gaze was stern and severe. Not a single trace of faltering. In addition, somehow, at this moment, Lein was giving off an entirely different kind of vibe.

Then as though nothing noteworthy happened, Lein immediately formed a broad smile. Patting Rume’s head as she stood back up.

“That’s what I have to say. So, why don’t we grab something to eat?”

“Okay…”

As she responded, she had a blank face, still confused by the sudden change. But she later shook it off her head. There was no point in contemplating more about it. It was not like it was something significant.

“I still don’t know a lot about this place. But I suppose we could dine at the inn where I stay.”

“If that is what you decide.”

“Then it’s decided. Okay, then follow me, little Rume.”

“Mm-mm...”

 

Dining to fill their stomach was not the entirety of Lein’s reason for choosing such a public place as an inn to dine. But it was also to show to those with eyes that the little girl named Rume was not in any sort bad. Nothing demonic, nothing evil and so on.

That said, Lein did not expect much from it. One could say it was just her side objective. That was because she saw no hope for the village folk. Every now and then, everytime someone gives Rume a nasty look, Lein couldn’t help but feel irritated. But she knew she must keep her composure, otherwise she might accidentally vaporize the entire village.

Though that may be an exaggeration. 

But is it?

In any case, the goal at the moment was to fill Rume’s stomach and Lein intends to give her some top-notch cuisines. Although, she must not expect much from a village. Perhaps something considered as high-class here will be fine.

Now, if only this innkeep would stop acting irritatingly odd.

“So, Mr. Innkeep, mind taking our orders?”

Lein said in a warm and friendly tone, but only superficially. Originally, Lein saw this innkeep in good light for he was surprisingly kind at first they met, but that light was slowly overwhelmed by an ominous darkness.

If this keeps up, I might have no choice but to burn off that darkness.

“Uh. Um. I have to ask though, is she with you?”

The innkeeper’s eyes went to Rume then to Lein a couple of times.

“Yes, and do you have some kind of problem with that? Are you not going to serve a humble customer?”

“Yeah — well.”

“Come now, I am also staying in one of this inn’s rooms, is there any reason to hesitate?”

“Yes, but, lady, do you know who this girl is?”

The guy appeared to be forcing a smile.

“Indeed, I do. I see no issue here. So why don’t you tell us what’s the most expensive item on the menu? We are starving.”

“The most expensive… Our most expensive one costs one silver and five copper coins.”

Lein was surprised for a second. Well, it has to be expected that the most expensive here costs that much. The ingredients used must be locally harvested. Plus, if they made the standard price more expensive, most of the villagers would be unable to buy anything. In addition, there were barely any visitors or traders here. Villagers here have to trade or export their goods to other towns or cities. Fortunately enough, there was an inn here to stay.

About that price, you could buy the cheapest meal in high-class restaurants with that amount. So, I can’t really complain.

“And what would that be?”

Then the innkeep told the food’s name and what was in it. From what Lein heard, it was meaty. This village values meat so much along with vegetables and fruits. But Lein only cared about the meat.

Well, meat is delicious after all. Plus it fills the stomach more than mere...plants....

It was not like Lein hated vegetables and such. It was just that, if she had to choose between meat and vegetables, she would choose the meat. Who would love to always eat plants anyway?

Not me.

“Perfect, then I’ll take two.”

“T-Two?” The guy shifted her eyes towards the bowing Rume. “...Got it.”

“Much appreciated, then we will wait over there.”

Lein went over to a free table and the two of them sat at either side, facing each other. The innkeep then went to the back of the front desk. His wife must be there for cooking and went to tell her about the new order.

This will take a while.

Rume, in front of her, still had her head low. Well, there was nothing she could do. All of the customers, hanging out and some dining were staring at their table cautiously. No, perhaps she could do something.

Well for example unleashing a blinding light and blind them all — well, the thought crossed her mind. She could do it though, but she better not stir up trouble. There was another option, and that was to talk to Rume.

But this begs a question. What should they talk about? Well, she could just ask if the little girl ever ate in a place like this. Or what kind of food do they always eat? But Lein felt it was not a good idea to go into those topics.

Firstly, the first question she could already imagine the answer, and it would be no. Why eat in here when you can cook something cheaper and much more delicious at home? Then the second question can lead the topic straight to Rume’s mother. The same thing could be said for the first question. There was no need to sour the mood now, is it?

Perhaps she should just give up.

No, why would I give up for just not having anything to talk about? I’m the adult one here!

How hard could it be to think of a topic? Especially when talking to a child.

Suddenly, something struck her mind, causing her to lose confidence.

Ah….. That’s right…. I was never a talker kind of girl….

If she had a choice whether to be quiet or noisy, she would choose the former. Well, business talk was one thing, but socializing is a whole nother thing. Not that she doesn’t like conversing, she just prefers to be the listener. Very rare it was for her to initiate a social conversation, might as well say she never initiated one.

Though maybe at first impression she was a good talker, in truth she would struggle to think of something to talk about. At most, her conversations would be short. Incidentally, it would have been different if she was in a group. But in a one on one conversation, she got to wish herself good luck.

I wonder if everyone always struggles to think of a topic…

Somewhere in her heart she wished she wasn’t alone.

Nevertheless, faced with all the struggle, she still mulled over what topic to take. Due to the rush and her desperation, she finally got an idea after a minute.

“Hey, Rume. Want to talk about magic?”

Rume’s ears perked up as though she heard something interesting. She immediately lifted up her head and looked directly at Lein’s eyes.

Oh, she is really interested.

“You want?”

“...If that’s okay with you.”

“Alright, then, I should tell you about the person who can cast magic,” Lein smiled. “They’re called, in general terms, a mage. It is a word used by the common masses. But there are still more to it.”

“What do you mean?”

Lein felt good seeing Rume eager to listen.

“Well, here in the northern part of the continent, we classify different mages based on their level of abilities. But I’ll teach you the specifics of magic levels next time. Therefore, I’ll tell you the different levels of mages.”

Lein paused for a moment before continuing.

“The beginner is called just a mere “Mage” meaning you can only use beginner magic. Next to it is “High Mage”, then “Sorcerer”, following that is “High Sorcerer'', and finally “Exalted Sorcerer”.

Rume’s eyes lit up.

“Wow. Then which one are you, Miss Lein?”

She formed a smug on her face.

“My rank is “High Sorcerer”!”

“Amazing! You’re amazing, Miss Lein!”

“Riiight? I’m amazing, indeed.”

She felt really good receiving that compliment. It was always good to feel delighted after your hard work.

Well, a lot of thanks to Galeila.

“Is it hard to learn magic?”

“Hm, I can’t really say it’s hard. Sure there are some struggles. Most problems lie in it being time-consuming. Often, some spells take a lot of time to learn.”

“You must have done a lot of work. You must be important.”

“Oh yes, I believe I am. Well, being important means you have responsibilities. Of course, if you do so accept it. In my case, I accepted it.”

It wasn’t like she had any other choice.

Lein wanted to talk about what she will teach Rume. However, specifically mentioning she would teach magic to a girl who was regarded as a demon’s child wasn’t a good idea.

“There must be a lot of mages then?”

“Oh sure there are a lot of them in the Northern Alliance.”

Just then, Lein recalled a tragedy which resulted in the loss of an enormous number of mages that only happened recently. What a grave loss of talented individuals. Lein couldn’t fully comprehend how it truly happened. Something like that was supposedly impossible.

It was not like she felt anything special for them. She was not particularly close with anyone in that organization. Still, what a loss of talent.

“There are plenty who are as powerful as I am. Also, so few who are more powerful than me. Needless to say there are many who are less powerful than me.”

It may sound arrogant, but it was a fact. Many were weak because they were still young mages. A few were strong because some were naturally blessed.

“Northern Alliance… Why is it called that?”

Rume asked. Lein already expected she didn’t know anything about it.

“The Northern Alliance, the largest allied countries in the entire continent. Meaning many countries are friends and have united as one. Incidentally, all countries in the north are part of it. Such a peculiar and impressive feat I should say.”

“That is interesting…”

“It is. But with our dear friend out there, I’m sure she’ll take us to something more interesting than the cities here.”

Lein was always in the impression the cities here were just like any other. Big buildings, large crowds, unique goods and so on. Also with only but a few noteworthy things like unique architectures, tourists spots, traditions and a few more. Still not intensely thrilling when you have already experienced all of those.

That said, it could be a different case for Rume who never went anywhere else but here in this small village. With rotten people at that. But Lein believed Galeila would take them to some interesting places.

Rume nodded happily after hearing Lein.

“I’m… I’m excited.”

Lein formed an amused smile. For some reason Lein found Rume adorable as she acted shy and hesitant to say what she wanted to say. Unable to resist the urge, she patted her head gently. It invited some unwarranted stares from people around them, but Lein couldn’t care less. They should just mind their own business.

A short moment passed, and their meal had finally arrived. Lein ate gently and elegantly like a proper lady, she trained hard for this. Rume ate slowly at first, likely because of the uncomfortable stares coming from irritating people, but she gradually picked up the pace.

After finishing their food, Lein walked Rume home, now a bit dark. Lein’s first impression at seeing her home was lonely. Quite an average house, but considering that the little girl was the only one living there brought a heavy sense of loneliness. The front yard still looked clean nonetheless which shows that Rume cleaned it occasionally. What a diligent child.

After saying their goodbyes and goodnights, Lein watched Rume enter her home. It was then Lein remembered something. It must be so dark when the deep night strikes, so she called out to Rume before she closed the door.

“Rume, wait!”

She went past the small gate and stood in front of the door. She took out something from her pocket. A tiny capped jar with some sort of stone within. Rume was puzzled upon seeing it and what sort of reason Lein had for showing something like it.

“Take this.”

Lein offered it to the little girl.

“... What is this?”

“It must be dark inside when it is deep at night. Thus, this tiny item will illuminate and drive away the darkness. That should keep shining for a couple of weeks.”

Rume was apparently dumbfounded at what she heard. She must have realized it was some sort of magical item.

“Gently shake the jar.”

Rume shook the jar, and gradually the stone within began to glow. At every second that passed it grew brighter and brighter until it reached its maximum brightness. That much brightness should be enough to gently light up an entire living room.

The little girl was astonished, apparent to her wide eyes.

“Now then, if you so wish to shut off the light. When it is at its maximum brightness, shake it again.”

Rume shook the jar again, and slowly the light turned dimmer until it stopped glowing altogether.

“It’s yours, Rume. Use it as you wish.”

Rume smiled broadly. She was gazing at Lein with gratefulness. But there was something more in her eyes, something with a deeper meaning. It was like she had seen Lein in a different light. 

Something beautiful. Not by appearance, but by something else entirely.

“Thank you very much! Thank you for this amazing item!”

“You’re welcome. Now then, I’ll be going. Goodbye again.”

“Goodbye!”

“I’ll be coming here in the morning, okay?”

“Okay!”