“She will be fine, she's just sleeping. She'll probably fully recover in three days. Roff!”

“I see… What did she have?”

“Lack of mana. Roff!” 

If she had been exposed for one more second to that child… Kurone don't even want to think about what would have happened!

The boy with dog ears told the diagnosis of the carriage to the young man. He swallowed hard as he looked at the motionless body of Amelia in the carriage.

In that world, a lack of mana was synonymous with death. It was like a fuel that moved humans, however, there were anomalies that could live without mana, like Dora, or that had almost nothing, like Rory, and of course, there was the greatest abnormality of all: Kurone Nakano, an unlimited source.

It was not surprising that the boy was not affected by the little girl with a blindfold, even having touched her for so long. Speaking of which, the little girl became very attached to him. No, it was not a metaphor, she was literally stuck to him and would not let go!

“…!”

“Hey, what are we going to do with that monster? She's dangerous,” Rory made the insensitive comment, pointing to the little girl next to the young man.

“We can't leave her here.”

“So you want to take that thing to the city? And if it kills us? It's definitely my natural enemy.”

“Using ‘thing’ and ‘that’ isn't helping!” Kurone scolded the arrogant loli.

At that moment, the carriages were about three hundred meters from the fire. The two vehicles completely deviated from the path.

Luckily, in the other carriage there was a boy with dog ears and a doctor's work. He helped to mitigate the damage to Amelia's body, making a mana transfusion from Kurone to the coachwoman. ‘But now we've separated from the convoy,’ the boy sighed discreetly.

“Hey, Nakano, someone wants to talk to you!” Orcus's loud voice invaded the interior of the vehicle.

“Alright, I'll go out now. Rory… keep an eye on the little girl and Amelia.”

“Who do you think you are to give me orders? Hey, come back, don't ignore me.”

The attempt to detach himself from the girl was futile. With no other choice, Kurone had to take her along, knowing that she would be the target of the crowd's gaze.

Outside the carriage, there was the familiar face of the peasant woman he had met at the wildfire. She looked tense and a bit pale, but forced her voice anyway:

“M-mr. Orcus told us that you're someone important in Andeavor… p-please… can you help us?”

“D-don't kneel down!” Kurone shouted, completely red. “Orcus, you gossiper!…”

“Please! We have nowhere to go!” A middle-aged man next to the peasant woman also got down on his knees.

“We can't go to Eragon. We are not welcome there,” explained a young man in his twenties, behind the kneeling pair.

“We can't go back to Andeavor anymore, not to mention that we only have two carriages. Roff!” interjected the childlike-looking doctor with dog ears.

“No problem. We're all used to traveling long distances on foot. We just need a place to stay when we reach Andeavor,” explained the middle-aged man.

“All of you…”

“Hm?” The representatives of the crowd looked confused at Kurone, who continued:

“…are demons, aren't you?”

“Not exactly.” The peasant woman looked hesitant at her companions before continuing: “We're hybrids, just like your coachwoman.”

“So,” the middle-aged man concluded: “we're not human or demons. Similarly, we're not welcome in either land. Probably those who burned our village were religious humans. It's not the first time this has happened…” The sentence ended with the middle-aged man's mouth closing into a bitter smile.

‘Amelia is a hybrid and not a demon?’ Kurone wondered whether to ask, but decided to leave it for when the carriage girl was awake. He hoped it would be as soon as possible!

“Can you help us?” The peasant woman turned pleading eyes to the young man. How could he deny shelter to people in need?

“It's not much, but I have a place in mind: the lands of the deceased Marquis Soul Za. It's very, very, very far away, but there you'll be safe.”

“Ahhhhh! Thank you, thank you!” The peasant woman suddenly hugged the young man, making him almost fall on the girl clinging to his arm.

“W-whoa there!”

“A thousand apologies, a thousand apologies!”

“It's okay, cough, cough. Anyway, when you reach Soul Za lands, look for a girl named Brain and tell her… Ah! Tell her: 'Kurone Nakano sent me to settle his debt'.”

“What does that mean?”

“Haha…” The embarrassed young man ran his hand through his black hair. “Actually, I stole that line from a movie and she won't understand a thing. For sure, Brain will get irritated and curse me a lot…”

“Isn't that bad?!” the middle-aged man shouted.

“Don't worry, with that she'll know you were sent by me and won't try to kill anyone. From there, just explain the whole situation.”

“I understand! Thank you so much, Mr. Kurone!” The peasant woman thanked and ran to tell the news to the others.

“By the way,” Kurone called the attention of the young hybrid preparing to leave too, “don't drink any tea offered by Brain.”

“O-okay” The hybrid nodded, confused, and joined the crowd.

“With that we have solved the problems with the half-breeds, now all that remains is to meet the other carriages. Roof!”

“Indeed” Kurone agreed with the boy with the dog ears.

 

…

 

Once again, the sky changed from its bluish glow to the vast darkness of night. Kurone's group had not moved throughout the day.

“Aren't you going to eat? Roof!”

“I had some soup earlier, I'm not hungry.”

“Well, I'm going to eat, and then I'll sleep, but if anything happens to Miss Amelia, you can wake me up. Roof!”

“Okay, thanks for all the help, Nui.”

Kurone stared at the carriage exit until his back and canine tail disappeared, then turned his attention to the sleeping coachwoman. The almost nonexistent chest of the girl in her uniform was slowly rising and falling. That scene was torture for the young man.

“Did I interrupt your perverted acts?”

“Who the hell does that to a person in a coma?” replied the arrogant loli, in his usual manner.

“You never know, you're quite the pervert. You think I don't see you messing with my hair at night?”

“That was only once, and you were lying on a piece of shit! By the way, I can still smell the stench, by the way, you don't take a shower by any chance?!”

“Huh!”

The young man cracked a wicked smile when he saw that he had beaten the little girl. Conversations at that level, for them, became a competition of insults and slander. Only the strongest and foul-mouthed would prevail!

“What are you doing here?”

“I want to sleep. It's not your carriage, so if you're going to pervert the trough, keep quiet.”

“I told you I'm not a pervert!”

“If you say so. But don't forget to sleep too, or you'll look like a zombie when you get to Eragon.”

“Are you worrying about me? That's so cute.”

“Of course not, you stupid dog. Recognize your place. You don't think you're too much, do you? Have you looked in the mirror? If you don't get some sleep, they'll mistake you for a monster and kill you.”

“Argh! That was unnecessary!” shouted Kurone.

‘But I know you only do that when you're embarrassed!’

“Anyway, go to sleep so you don't get killed. I don't want to lose my mana source. Then I'll end up getting killed too. Are you so excited because you've never seen the body of a comatose girl?” The little girl pushed the strange logic aside and changed the subject, pointing to the trough.

“Actually… I'm distressed exactly because I saw a person I liked in a coma. In the end, I lost her.”

“Ew. Your face looks horrible when you are sad. Don't ever touch that subject again, and go to sleep. The coachwoman will wake up, you don't have to make a disgusting expression like that. That's weird.”

“I know you're trying to console me, but you don't have to curse at me so much!”

“Do you think I'm trying to comfort you? Oh, God. I'm going to sleep. You're too disgusting. I'm going to throw up.”

Rory threw the rifle she was carrying on the floor of the carriage and lay down beside where Amelia lay.

“Sweet dreams, Rory,” the young man said in a low tone and was ignored completely. ‘Hmpf, loli tsundere.’

“Argh!” he screamed as he was hit by the little girl's punch. Telepathy was always on for moments like that, since Rory was a nemesis of the word ‘tsundere’ so often used by the young man.

Such a troubled day ended in one punch.