Erika’s wrist burned. It wasn’t just the physical pain that hurt, but also an emotional pain in her heart— the pain of betrayal and having lost something. Aside from Tabitha, Ian was the person she was closest to because of his persistence.

Now, things would never go back to the way they had been.

When she reached the inn again, she filled a bucket of water and submerged her wrist into it. The marks had already darkened into five dark bruises, one for each of Ian’s fingers.

Her pounding heart slowed to normal, and after a while, she decided it didn’t really matter how long the bruise lasted. She took the water and dumped it along with the rest of the used dishwashing water.

Ronja watched her from the door with a scowl on her face.

“Did Ian leave that? How could he do such a thing!” She looked like she was about to go start ranting in that rapid-fire speech of hers, but Erika didn’t want to talk about it. She shook her head, halting Ronja mid-sentence.

The older woman pursed her lips and sighed as Erika passed her on her way back out to the inn’s dining space.

When Erika first came in, she had been so angry that she didn’t pay attention to anything around her, so she hadn’t noticed the traveler sitting at a table. Now, with her head cleared, she saw Marian hovering over a document. It probably wasn’t something confidential since she was reading it in public rather than her inn room, so she walked over.

When she saw the text scrawled all over the parchment, she realized something that was a huge obstacle to her plans. She was illiterate. The neat writing on the paper meant nothing to her eyes. A stone dropped to the bottom of her stomach as disappointment set in. If she lived here for the rest of her life, it was okay if she couldn’t read, but a life in the village wasn’t what she wanted. If she set her eyes on a future away from this place, reading was an essential ability. That vision burned to ashes before her illiteracy.

As she considered wallowing in self-pity, an idea came to her.

She saved some coins from the work she did helping Ronja. If she used those coins to learn the basics of reading from Marian, she might be able to figure out the rest by herself in the future once she left the village. Erika didn’t consider herself stupid. Progress would be slow, but if she persisted, she could do it.

After a moment, Marian looked up, her sharp eyes staring into Erika’s. There was a soft, serene smile on her face. At the same time, the smile seemed a bit empty.

“Anything you want, miss?”

Butterflies in Erika’s stomach fluttered. What if she got rejected? What if she didn’t have enough money to pay Marian’s price if she agreed? She shook those doubts away, boosted her courage with a deep breath, and blurted out her request. “Please, ma’am, will you teach me how to read and write?”

Soldiers valued brevity and clarity of speech since every second mattered on the battlefield, so being blunt might leave a good impression.

Marian tilted her head, granting her a layer of charm. “Why do you want to learn?”

“I don’t want to stay here forever. I believe that literacy is necessary if I ever leave this village.”

The traveler ran a hand through her hair, but then she shook her head. “The outside world is nowhere for a girl like you. Don’t you know the only reason why this town hasn’t been overrun by monsters is because of the perimeter of fairy rings? Yet, this place is much safer than a simple journey from here to the next village.”

A girl like you… Erika squeezed her fists tight. She understood what Marian meant, but it was no less frustrating to hear that said to her over and over again.

“I know. I still want to learn if you’re willing to teach me. I know you’re a traveler, but I’m a quick learner, so please, I promise it won’t take much of your time! I don’t have much money, but I’m sure...”

Marian shook her head again, cutting her off. “It’s not a matter of money or time. I simply will not enable anyone to risk their life. Even if you’re a man, for example, like your boyfriend, I still won’t teach you.”

“H-he’s not my boyfriend! Besides, I can do many things, and if I can read, it will be easier for me to join a group of travelers passing through on their way to a city!” Only then did Erika realize she was raising her voice. To think that the traveler thought that Ian was her boyfriend. She closed her mouth and rubbed the wrist that Ian squeezed. The bruises didn’t hurt anymore unless she put pressure on them.

Marian looked at the bruises, then back at her face. “You’re misunderstanding. There is a fundamental difference between you and me. You lack a basic ability, or a tool, that allows you to function outside of the boundaries of settlements.” She folded the paper and stuffed it into her pocket. “Come with me.”

Erika obediently followed her out of the inn, but Marian didn’t stop there. Instead, she approached the entrance of the village, where Erika froze. Before Erika could stop her, the traveler stepped over the fairy ring boundaries.

“Wait…!”

“Follow me,” Marian ordered, shushing her. “If you can’t even do this much, it’s pointless for you to even dream of ever leaving this place.”

“But…”

“The people of the village leave all the time. It’s fine as long as you don’t go too far into the forest, so why are you so worried? I know you have too, so why are you so scared all of a sudden?” Marian asked. She turned and crossed the short treeless region between the fairy ring boundary and the start of the forest.

Marian was right. Boys from the village often went beyond the ring, and Erika herself sometimes went too.

However, this time was different; Erika felt something from the forest. It was like when she sometimes felt the gazes of boys on her, but the feeling was much clearer. There was definitely something out there. It was like a predator had her in its sights, ready to hunt her down… 

She swallowed and looked at Marian, whose expression didn’t change. It should be impossible that an experienced traveler Marian could not feel this menacing presence, but Erika refused to believe that she was hallucinating.

Perhaps this was the fundamental “difference” that Marian had mentioned. At the same time, Erika didn’t think the ability to not be afraid of the unseen predator could be considered fundamental.

Erika stepped over the fairy rings, legs shaking, and the terror she felt of that unknown thing almost froze her in place. She took a second to harden her nerves before chasing after Marian. It didn’t take long before she caught up with the traveler, and all the while, the presence came closer and closer, suffocating her.

As she joined Marian’s side, Erika found the origin: the legendary monsters that roamed the forest outside the village. The fairy rings kept them out, but it didn’t stop the monsters from isolating the village from the outside world.

There it was: a lithe shadow leaping from tree to tree. Its cat-like silhouette against the sky looked enormous, yet it barely disturbed the branches it stepped on as if it was no bigger than a squirrel. It was so fast that following the monster’s movements left Erika dizzy. 

Strangely enough, now that she could see the monster, the feeling she had became a little less intense, but she was still terrified.

Marian glanced at her with a new look of respect in her eyes.

“You can actually track it…?”

“What do you mean?” Erika asked. “It’s so big and this feeling it’s giving off… anyone can feel it and track it, right?”

Marian frowned. “What feeling? Are you feeling fear? No, that’s not it….” She cut herself off and shook her head. “Never mind. Watch closely and see our difference and the reason why you will never set foot outside of this village in your life without immense luck. What you lack is this. Watch.”

The monstrous panther kept circling them, and through a combination of her eyes and that strange feeling she felt, Erika managed to keep up. Even knowing that what she was doing was useless and that the panther could tear her to shreds in an instant, she refused to turn her back on it. By now, she was regretting her decision to follow Marian out here. 

Before she could think any more idle thoughts, the panther stopped and sank into a half-crouch. The weird feeling that Erika felt seemed to sharpen until it became a spearpoint aimed at her heart.

Beside her, Marian drew her sword and pointed it toward the lithe panther. “Awaken.”

The same feeling that Erika had felt from the panther burst forth from the woman’s body, almost knocking Erika over. When Erika looked at Marian again, the longsword in her hand had been replaced with a large greatsword.

But she had no more time to admire Marian’s new weapon that she had conjured out of nowhere. 

The monster was almost upon her. It had come for her first, the weaker link.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

Am I going to die here? Even though I haven’t seen the world yet? The morbid thought flashed through her head.

The cruel claws almost reached her when Marian shoved her aside and met them with her sword. The impact created a burst of sparks as Marian completed her swing, sending the monster flying back. 

Unwilling to be deterred, the monster spun in midair and landed against a tree, claws digging into the bark, snarling.

Without a speck of emotion on her face, Marian jumped after it in hot pursuit, moving so quickly she vanished from Erika’s sight. By the time the young girl’s eyes caught up to the wanderer, Marian was already pulling her greatsword out of the tree with one hand and holding the head of the panther in the other. Erika didn’t even see what happened in between.

“Here, take a look. ” The traveler tossed the head at Erika, who was still on the ground where she had been shoved. 

Erika stared at the head wordlessly. The glassy eyes of the panther stared up at her, its lips still pulled back in a fearsome snarl.

“Do you see now? They call us Rovers. All, or most, travelers that pass through here are Rovers. Because you don’t possess the abilities that all Rovers have, even if you learn to read, you can never leave this place. You were born here, and you will die here.” There was a sad look on Marian’s face, and she looked away. When she spoke again, her voice was quiet. “Now, if you still wish to learn to read even after knowing this, I will teach you….”

Erika was speechless as the traveler swiftly skinned the panther and hurled the remaining meat deep into the forest. Her greatsword and she walked past Erika, dragging the bloody pelt of the monster toward the village.

In a daze, Erika followed her back, digesting what she had just seen.

 

The rest of the day passed in a blur. Erika knew that she worked during lunch and dinner, but she couldn’t remember what she did. She forgot if she smiled while serving or what her replies were when someone talked to her.

She considered visiting Tabitha to help her take care of her children, but what Marian said that morning in the forest dominated her thoughts.

“Now, if you still wish to learn to read even after knowing this, I will teach you.”

Instead of going to her friend’s house, Erika found herself taking out the coins she had saved over the years. When she went back to the inn, she bought some tea from Ronja. No matter what, a good impression was a must when asking for a lesson.

“Erika!”

Erika paused on the stairs. She recognized the voice already, and she didn’t want to see him, but she turned back anyway. Ian stood at the entrance of the empty inn, breathing hard.

“Erika, I looked for you at Tabitha’s, and you weren’t there, so….”

“I have something to do today, so I decided to not go this time,” Erika said coldly and continued up the stairs.

“Wait, Erika. I want to apologize for what I did today. It was out of line. It’s just that I was so excited, so I wasn’t thinking,” Ian said. “I want to ask you for forgiveness, so I made you this… I only had enough time for one try, so…” he trailed off and held forward a rose of iron.

Erika pressed her lips together. “I can’t accept it. It’s my dream to go beyond the village’s boundaries; I don’t want to stay here for the rest of my life. You should keep that flower for another girl that will cherish you,” she said quietly but firmly. “I’m not the right person for you.”

“You’re going to leave? A-are you going up to see that traveler? There aren’t any others living here right now!” Ian shouted.

“Yes, I am! So what if I am? Why do you care who I go to see?” Erika shot back, the red mist from that morning flooding back.

“What is it that I lack?” he asked. “I can offer you a stable future! Why is it that you’d rather leave than be with me? Why can’t you accept me?”

“Like I said, it’s not you. It’s always been my dream—” Erika’s words cut off as Ian brought his hand back and threw the steel rose.

It flew through the air, straight at Erika’s face.

Erika barely had time to register Ian’s look of realization and horror, or her own, before the rose crashed into her cheek right below her right eye. The pain blinded her, and she covered her eye. She dropped the tray against the stairs with a loud thud.

The mug hit the wooden stairs, and the contents spilled out, soaking into her shoes. It rolled hollowly before coming to rest again, clacking against the railing on the stairs.

Erika looked at the steel rose on the floor.

The surface of the metal was pitted. The quality of the iron wasn’t high to begin with. However, each petal was beaten thin and bent into shape with care to breathe life into the metal. Now, several of the petals were bent out of shape from the fall.

“E-Erika, I’m sorry! I-I didn’t mean to,” Ian started toward the stairs. “I just…”

“Stop right there, Ian Antonas. Don’t you dare come any closer,” Erika growled. She uncovered her pain-soaked eye and picked up the fallen objects near her, but she left the rose. She straightened, standing tall on the stairs, and glared down at him.

Something dripped down her face, and it wasn’t just the tears from the pain.

“I don’t want to hear another word. From now on, stay away from me.”

Gripping the tray so hard her fingers turned white, she walked up the rest of the staircase and then turned into the hall with the guest rooms.