Chapter 3. Reminiscing
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Her attention snaps to me, and I must give her credit, she didn't make her surprise as obvious this time. She graces me with a smile and bows her head slightly at me as what I assume is a gesture of thanks.

"Hello Haille, I am Aria Acquarone, oldest daughter of Count Acquarone. I am truly thankful for your help, would you mind joining us in the carriage for a moment?"

Grande seems to have wanted to say something, but he stopped himself before he made a sound. I suppose he is not as keen at having a dangerous stranger close to his charge, even if I was the one to save them in the first place. A professional cautiousness, I suppose. On the other hand, I noted that there is someone else in the carriage with her, but that's hardly a reason to refuse.

I respond with a brief, "Of course", and head inside after her, where I find her already seated, and a cute boy sitting beside her. While he's still identifiable as a boy, unlike me, he does have somewhat soft features, and a nice slim build, his height similar to that of Aria. His blond hair is short, styled like a military cut that was grown out for a few months. His clothing, clearly belonging to that of a young master, consists of a white shirt, coupled with dark blue trousers and a vest of the same colour. He also has a nice ring on one of his fingers, my mana sense letting me know it is magical in nature.

Glancing back at Aria, I notice that while she lacks a ring, she does possess a lovely bracelet, also magical. My glance is then directed outside and, seeing Grande has no intentions of following, I close the carriage door behind me and sit across from the two of them.

Before I even decide to ask for the boy's name, Aria decides to take the initiative and introduces him herself.

"This is Alonso, my twin brother. Sadly, he is yet to acquire the social graces expected of his status, so do forgive him if he offends you by accident."

Alonso blushes and looks to the side, so I guess he might have done something like that in the past. Still, it's curious that she is this open about it, even normal families don't usually make fun of each other to strangers, much less a noble one. Maybe it is because of how old I look? Well, whatever.

"That is no problem at all Miss Aria, I do not care much for formal etiquette, I am much more used to talking in a casual manner."

A genuinely happy smile replaces the politely grateful one from before, and even Alonso smiles a bit as he looks back towards me.

"In that case, just Aria will do fine, otherwise I will have to start calling you Miss Haille."

I let out a playful huff and relax my straightened back, leaning my back into the comfortably cushioned seat.

"I guess that's fair. Well, what can I do for you, Aria? Somehow I doubt you invited me in here just to give directions and send me on my way."

Aria makes a small sigh, while Alonso glances between the two of us, apparently he hasn't been informed of her intention.

"Skipping past the small talk and straight to business, as you wish. As thanks for helping us, I would like to invite you to our estate as a guest. At the same time, till we reach our estate, I would like to hire you as a guard, and I can guarantee that you will be rewarded properly by my father once we reach our destination."

Not a surprising request, I figured it would be something along those lines. Still, the wording regarding the reward is quite vague, I suppose that either an appropriate reward is beyond her authority to promise, or she does not even know what a proper reward for this service would be. Either way, she is throwing the ball into the Count's court, making him deal with it. A clever enough solution, not that she needed to try particularly hard with me.

"Sure, that works for me. How much further to your estate?"

Now that I accepted, she also leans back into the seats, visibly relaxed, though her brother stays as he is, looking a bit awkward.

"It is near noon now, so it would be around three and a half days I believe, though the last two days of the journey should be safer as we would be in our territory then."

Seems like a good time to do an ambush, once the target relaxes believing themselves to be safer, but I suppose I see the logic in her point, not everyone would dare to operate in the home ground of their enemy. Speaking of which, I doubt those were just some casual bandits...well, I'll find out eventually.

"Not too bad then. We can get going once your guards collect the spoils, yes?"

Alonso opes his mouth slightly at the question, while Aria blinks and responds with curiosity in her tone.

"The way you say it...you don't plan to take your part of the spoils?"

Ah, so it's a culture of getting the spoils of your kills, at least as far as outside parties go, that's good for me. Still, their gear isn't really that impressive, and I don't want to clutter up my inventory before I set up a domain.

"My own equipment is superior to theirs, and as much as I enjoy collecting, it is a fact that I hardly have the space to carry all of that with me.", Seeing her hesitate slightly, I add on a little to my statement, "If you want to be fair about it, consider it me selling the spoils to you, and the payment will be given together with the reward for escorting you."

She nods at that, satisfied with the compromise. Courageous and fair, not a bad combination. While I haven't learned more about her yet, something tells me that she is the heir candidate instead of her brother, unless her family is a strict patriarchy in terms of inheritance. At the same time, I notice her slightly look me up and down with a curious gaze. Is she only becoming curious about my looks now?

"You say your equipment is superior, but..."

Ah, that's why she was inspecting me, makes sense. She didn't finish her sentence, but the meaning is clear enough, so I giggle lightly at her, noticing at the side of my vision that Alonso blushes very slightly from the sound...which, in retrospect, does remind me of the fact that I actually giggled! If nothing else, it would seem my mannerisms adapted very fast. Granted, they aren't that far from how I behaved, they're just...more?

"No, I don't have any weapons hidden under my dress, though you're certainly free to check."

I give her a wink at that, this time Alonso blushing harder, but Aria, on the other hand, had looked intrigued at the offer, something to keep in mind for the future. I continue on with my explanation regardless, showing my open palm and then closing it.

"I just have my own methods of keeping my possessions around."

At this I open my hand again, revealing three small berries which I pulled out of my inventory. Both of their eyes widen at the relatively simple showing of my inventory power, causing me to smirk lightly. I take one of the berries with my other hand and put it in my mouth, and then move the rest towards them, offering them to take one, something they do after only a brief hesitation. The two of them literally moan at the taste, Alonso letting out a quiet 'wow' afterwards. Very quickly afterwards he blushes, and even Aria gets a hint of red on her cheeks. I laugh at their expression and with, what I assume to be, a very cheeky smile on my lips I look straight at Alonso.

"Well, I finally get to hear your voice, I started wondering if you are mute. Glad to hear the two of you enjoyed that."

The blushes certainly don't go away at my comment, Alonso looking like he wants to hide in a corner from the embarrassment. I try my best to not laugh again, but I can do nothing to stop my amusement from showing on my face.

"W-ha", Aria starts and stops, forced to clear her throat slightly before continuing, "What was that?"

"Imeávë -o i taurë enyalie"1Fruit of the forest memory I reply, the words in the Fae language smoothly leaving my lips. I tilt my head slightly to think for a moment, after which I continue, "I believe they are known as Pixie Fruit in the common tongue."

They are both gaping at me now. Alonso is hardly a surprise, but it seems I managed to break past Aria's noble demeanour as well. It takes a few solid seconds for Aria to compose herself, she takes in a deep breath and slowly lets it out, looking at me with a peculiar look in her eyes.

"Moving past you speaking a language I do not recognise at all, I have not heard of Pixie Fruit either, and considering the taste, they should be known quite well, don't you think?"

I shrug casually, not minding the fact she slightly furrowed her brows at that.

"In the region they come from, the pixies have a tradition. Any traveller that they meet which leaves a good impression on them will receive one of these fruits, and only one. Meeting them is difficult enough, and leaving a good impression is even harder. It happened often enough over time that the surroundings learned about it and gave it the name Pixie Fruit, but not often enough for it to spread far and wide.”

Aria looks like she is about ready to give up. She slumps in her seat, looking up at the ceiling with a look of defeat on her face.

"So you are telling me that you acquired at least three of these fruits, that are apparently only given out one per person, from the pixies?"

Hmm, at least she knows of the pixies, so this world should either be the same or at least close enough that there are such similarities. Good, I enjoyed the fae aspects of the game quite a lot, it would have been a shame if I was thrust into a world populated only by humans. As far as the question goes, I just hummed lightly in affirmation, the message clearly getting across as Aria just closes her eyes, and eventually talks again with them still closed, slightly changing the track of the topic.

"Fine then, why did you not have a reaction to the fruit like we did?"

To give her credit, she asked that without a single infliction, apparently getting over the incident, unlike Alonso there who looked down at his feet upon the mention of it.

"The reason that normally only one is given, is simply because the taste only appears for the first time. If you were to eat another one after that, it just has a slightly sweet taste and that's it. In other words...I cheated"

Aria snorts at the last part, apparently relaxed, or defeated, enough to not bother keeping up a lady-like manner. Well, even though I cheated, I actually feel slightly jealous. After all, despite having technically eaten it before, I didn't get to actually taste it at the time. Before I get the chance to start pouting at that fact, I hear someone approaching the carriage, causing me to glance in that direction. Soon after, Grande's voice sounds.

"Miss Aria, we have finished collecting the spoils. What should I do with the portion belonging to Haille?"

Aria opens her eyes and tilts her head in the direction of the door, but does not bother sitting up properly.

"Haille will be accompanying us to our destination as a temporary guard and has decided to leave the spoils to us. Pack everything up and move as soon as possible."

"As you command, Miss Aria."

I hear him moving away and telling the others to pack everything up and burn the bodies. Hmm, I recall that in most human lands cremation is how bodies are usually treated to prevent them being raised as undead, be it naturally or because of a necromancer. Only nobles or rich merchants spent the money to have bodies treated with light magic and buried.

I glance at Alonso and see him mostly back to normal, by which I mean shy and slightly awkward, but hey, at least he's not blushing. Of course, I must fix the state of things. With a teasing smile, I shift from sitting to laying down, my dress riding half way up my thigh. The attention of the two is captured easily, Alonso trying to hide his glances, while Aria does not even bother and looks at me with a raised eyebrow. I shift my posture so that I am lying on my back now, looking up at the ceiling of the carriage with my fingers locked together behind my head. Aria's voice sounding soon after.

"You know, in the beginning, I believed that you also come from a noble family, but now I think even the most relaxed ones would not act towards strangers like you are doing."

I close my eyes, thinking of a phrase I recalled from the game. My lore knowledge and memory skills quickly helping me find it.

"Sanguis fluit a corde."2Blood flows from the heart. I say calmly in old imperial.

Before I have the chance to wonder about whether I need to finish the quote myself or not, Aria does it for me.

"Sic dic mihi, habesne nobilis cor?"3So tell me, do you have a noble heart? she gives a slightly annoyed huff and then continues in common, "Famous quote from the Ancient Empire, taught to young nobles to encourage a good character. Were you expecting me to be impressed by that?"

Hmm, strangely confrontational, did my teasing provoke her? Well, whatever, at least now I have basically confirmed that this world is indeed Durion, since she knew the quote and about the Ancient Empire. Lore continues pumping me with knowledge. Granted, knowledge I already learned before, I quite loved how detailed it was in-game, but at least this helps me recall it more accurately. As such; I snort in response to her question and with a smooth tone, I began my small storytelling session.

"That was just the Ancient Empire protecting their reputation, and later on nobles trying to seem cultured by embracing old wisdom. The origin of the quote was from Odoacer, the last Ahlen. As the greed of the Ancient Empire grew, so did their ruthlessness. Odoacer united the tribes, becoming the Ahlen, and marched on the empire, laying waste to it. Eventually, they were surrounded by the imperial troops, which were led by the same man who encouraged the ruthless behaviour of the empire, and was the most bloodthirsty one when expanding the territory."

I have a mocking smile on my face now, reminiscing how I laughed when I first read about it.

"As that man went on a tirade about his noble blood and how they are all inferior and all that, Odoacer gave him a savage grin and said those words. They were not words of encouragement, but those of a taunt laced with threat. Afterwards, he spat on the ground and hefted up his axe, continuing his speech. 'If you do not have a noble heart, then who are you to ridicule me? If you do have a noble heart, then all I have to do is take it.' In the end, both of them died, the tribes were defeated, the empire entered a decline it never recovered from, and some enterprising fellow tried to use those words to slow the collapse of their home."

I open my eyes again and tilt my head to the side, facing the two of them.

"He was quite well-spoken, no?"

Alonso looks at me with...wonder? Respect? Hard to say. Aria, on the other hand, has a look of intense curiosity as she looks at me. She straightens up her posture somewhat; still leaning backwards, but at least she doesn't look like she collapsed onto her seat.

"There was a small mention of the united tribes being one of the reasons for the Ancient Empire collapsing but that is the only thing I can relate to your story. While our library is far from the best, that amount of detail you said would still require well-kept records not accessible to most."

She inspects me from head to toe as if trying to dissect me with her gaze, eventually, she looks back up at me and asks in a tone that is a mix between curiosity and caution.

"I must ask...who are you?"

Looking at the cautious way she is asking, I can't help but burst out laughing. The two of them clearly don't understand why I did, but that hardly stops me. I continue laughing for a short while before I decide to calm down.

"Look at you, sounding so cautious. True, prying into the secrets of mysterious strangers can be a risky endeavour. However, I don't exactly seem like someone trying to hide, no?"

Aria is a bit speechless about my retort, but I don't give her the chance to think of a response and continue on.

"As far as your question goes...well, how about we make things interesting, hmm? You get to ask three yes-or-no questions and I will answer each of them truthfully."

Aria looks interested in the idea, but still furrows her brows slightly as she asks.

"What do you get out of it?"

It's not like I demanded anything in return for the previous tidbits of information, but maybe she considers this different since I presented it as a game of sorts. Well, since she asked, I might as well go along with it. Hmm...oh, I know.

"How about, for each time the answer is 'no', you give me a kiss?"

Languages:
The first one is Quenya, one of the Elvish languages from the lord of the rings. I tried to have the writing down in Tengwar, but scribblehub didn't like it and I am too lazy to think of a workaround.

The latter two are both Latin.

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