The night was eerily calm.

After all the chaos lived in the last five days, I was exhausted. To think it had not even been a week since Sebastian appeared at my house’s front door and bought me from my parents under threats. To think it hasn’t even been two weeks since I recovered the memories from my past life.

As Mio, did I ever pass through so much distress and hopelessness? Did I ever found myself in a situation where every second was critical, and one wrong decision or misstep could lead to my ruin? I had no idea if normal people, that is, people like Mio, with a job and bills to pay and a family she visited every Sunday, had to live through this kind of thing outside of TV shows or movies.

But why was I thinking of that in this moment? What was the point of thinking of my past life? Or better yet, what was the point of recovering my memories at all?

I was sure thanks to that I managed to survive this far, and the story was already deviating from the original plot of the manga, but what about it? How did that affect me? The only thing I wanted was to go back home and sleep for a week straight. I had no interest in meddling in the affairs of the main characters any longer.

That was the reason I decided, in the end, not to tell Lucas anything about the heroes coming.

I was sure Lucas would be much more receptive to what I had to say than Mathias had been, but I could not shake off the feeling that trying to force my way further into this matter would no doubt only bring more stress to my life. Meaning, I did not trust the heroes, not after Mathias and Adela anyway. What if they asked for compensation? What if they did horrible things to us as well? I didn’t want to take my chances; it was too difficult getting to this point, no sense in trying to ruin it unnecessarily.

Not taking into account that, even if we did search for the heroes, what were the chances of us finding them and arriving just in time to help Mathias do whatever he had in mind? I didn’t know what he wanted to do or how, but I was sure that, no matter what it was, it was something he wanted to solve by himself first.

Part of me was also thinking maybe he didn’t have any intention of getting out of it alive.

Lost in my thoughts like I was, and with the weariness accumulated from five days of pure stress, I closed my eyes for just a moment, letting my body relax. Not enough to fall asleep, but just to rest a little.

Must have been too much relaxing as I had no idea when I fell asleep, but when I woke up, it was to the abrupt halt of the carriage. The horse let out a high neigh, and the force of it shook me with such strength my head collided with one of the boxes.

“Auch!” I rubbed my head, slowly sitting up and looking at Lucas. “What’s wrong? Why did we suddenly stop?”

The answer came without Lucas having to say anything.

A group of men, around five or six, surrounded the carriage. They all had weapons; swords, crossbows, and axes. I saw their faces, dirty and covered with scars, as well as their malevolent smiles.

Of course. Of fucking course.

“What do we have here? What is a pair of brats doing all alone in the woods in the middle of the night?” one of the men, I wouldn’t be able to discern who, spoke with a raspy voice. I closed my eyes, gathering my wits in order to come up with a plan. They were obviously thieves, fortunate enough to run into a pair of kids with a carriage full of cargo to steal from. What could we possibly do to prevent that?

“What do you want?” Lucas asked with a frown, his voice stern and unfriendly. You know, the way you talk to people with weapons trying to robe you... NOT.

“Oh, look at that! This one is dressed like one of those fancy nobles!”

“Eh! Is he a noble?”

“Too young. The only noble ‘round here’s the viscount, and his only son has black hair.”

“You sure? Looks too much like a rich kid to me!”

“Wandering far from home aren’t we?”

Just what the… what are they saying? Only son? Mathias? Come on! Even if Lucas’ not the heir…

Wait, now it’s not the moment to think about something like that!

I looked at each of them, trying to identify their faces in case… in case what? It’s not like we could do much of anything to keep them from robbing us. Two puny little things against five grown adults and a speck of a child…

Huh, didn’t notice the child there.

As soon as my eyes fell on him though, my brain and all bodily functions halted. How long was I asleep again? Did I ever manage to tell Lucas the direction to my house? Where were we going anyway? A town? Deeper into the woods?

However, none of these things mattered, because right there, in front of me standing as if called over by a superior force, stood a rather wild looking child, with spiky silver hair that shone under the strong moonlight and blue eyes with a purple tint to them. The characteristics most common to those of Magi descend.

That’s right everyone, the protagonist, the hero, the absolute ruler of this world was here.

Noah of Kreuztal.

And he was trying to robe us along with his group of mercenaries.

Well, strictly speaking the mercenaries weren’t his, he’s a part of the company. The Black Lion Company to be more precise, where our heroes start before branching off to do their business on their own.

I can’t believe we would actually find him, find them without even trying! Just after taking the decision of not getting involved with any of the mains ever again!

Was this the supreme force of the world pushing Lucas, one of the main characters, to find the heroes so they could save his brother now that the plot had changed? In that case, it would have been better for us to part ways! I would have preferred getting lost in the forest than running into the protagonist himself!

Noah of Kreuztal, hero extraordinaire! Another future pain in the ass!

“Eh? You know her Noah?”

“Don’t know no young miss, only our lady back in camp” answered the young boy to his, I assume, superior’s question. Eh, did I say his name out loud without realizing it at the shock? Must be the case, seeing how everyone is looking at me funny, including Lucas.

“Psss, whatever, hand over your goods kids! No need to get violent if you behave!”

So they’re going to ignore a strange girl knowing the full name of one of their members in favor of stealing.

Fair enough.

“Stop joking! Why should we do that?” Lucas stated, standing up on the driver’s seat and trying to look intimidating. He actually managed to a little when electricity crackled from his fingers.

It’s all bark and no bite though. I know he can’t do much more than that with his magic.

Unfortunately for us, the mercenaries had an ace up their sleeve. Namely the one child there with the protagonist halo. Although the older men chuckled and rolled their eyes at Lucas’ bravado, Noah seemed to take his threat a little more seriously, as he raised his arm, and with a swift flick of the wrist, an explosion enveloped us.

It was not strong enough to cause harm, but it did turn over the carriage, broke the ropes attaching it to the horse, and threw us off balance, causing us to land on the slightly humid ground, boxes and other hard objects slamming down on us. Due to the explosion and subsequent commotion, the horse ran away, disappearing in the distance, while me and Lucas could do nothing but lay on the ground trying to recover from the aftermath.

“You brat! Look what you did! You scared off the horse!” the same man from before shouted, followed by a smack.

“Ouch! Why are you hitting me?! I managed not to kill anyone this time, you should be congratulating me!”

“Why you even do that?!”

You see, Noah of Kreuztal had a particular characteristic about him. He was sociable and bubbly and a little on the dumb side, but unlike other stock shonen heroes, he had something else going for him than his unending determination.

That was lots of power. Like, a lot of power.

Much more than he could control anyway.

A big part of his character development was learning how to control and use all of his power effectively. But in the first few tomes of the manga, he was a walking disaster everyone was wary of. Adela also helped him in the correct management of his magic once she joined the heroes, acting as a teacher of sorts for him. And like that, by the end of the manga he not only had enough power to rival a god, he was also wise and just after all of his experiences.

But there was a long way to get there yet.

“Argh, forget it! Let’s take what we can now and just return later! The kids won’t be able to run away anyway without a horse!” the man said when Noah was opening his mouth to, no doubt, retort with something as equally incredible as congratulate me for not killing them by accident.

“Why don’t we want them to run away?”

“Because they’re obviously some rich brats that ran away from home! We can get a reward if we take them back to their parents!”

Like fuck you’re going to do that! And…! Wait, Lucas, what are you doing going over there?!

I grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “What do you think you’re doing? You wanna die?!” I whispered, staring at him with a frown.

“I thought of something, just let me talk to them for a bit” Lucas whispered, trying to disentangle himself from me. Of course, being the intelligent person I am, I did not release him.

“What kind of plan? Just let them take what they want! Let’s use this moment to run away!”

“I don’t think that would work too well, though…”

“What are you two whispering about?”

We turned around abruptly, coming face to face with Noah, who was looking at us curiously. When did he approach us? Why didn’t we realize he was so close?!

Whatever, let’s distract him.

“Nothing! We were just…!”

“What did you mean when you said the viscount had only one son?” Lucas interrupted, finally taking his arm away from me. I wanted to scream. What do you think you’re doing?!

“What do you mean what do we mean… eh” Noah rubbed his nose, tilting his head. “The viscount has only one son. He was… ehm… it started with M…”

“Well, that’s not true. Viscount de la Rosa has two sons.”

“Lucas, we should-”

“Never heard that before.”

“My name is Lucas de la Rosa, and I’m viscount de la Rosa’s second son!” Lucas exclaimed loud enough for the other men to hear.

Nooooooooo! What are you doing?!

“What, so, like an illegitimate son or something?” Noah asked, for some reason not doubting his words. Another man approached us, the one who scolded Noah earlier for scaring off the horse.

Lucas frowned, looking offended. “I’m not illegitimate! My mother was the viscountess! I’m as legitimate as my brother Mathias!”

“Sorry to burst your bubble boy, but if your existence isn’t known, chances are you are a bastard” the man said with a drawl, crossing his arms. His eyes narrowed as he inspected Lucas from head to toe. “Could be a possibility though. Nobles do like hiding their mistakes. Can’t never be flawed.”

“I am not illegitimate!” Lucas shouted, determined and with fire in his eyes. I looked at him, examining the possibility as well. Lucas was never too close with his mother, he even said she didn’t care much for him, and coming to think of it, while Mathias was known to us as our liege’s son, word never got around about a second son. I knew of his existence only because of the manga.

Plus, Lucas looked nothing like the woman in the coffin. Could it be then…?

“Don’t get worked out boy. So, what’s your goal revealing your lineage?”

“Hmph, I want to make a deal with you” Lucas crossed his arms, lifting his chin haughtily. None of the present, including me, was amused.

“Deal?”

“Right now, in this moment, my brother Mathias is in danger. I want to hire you to help me rescue him. In exchange, I’ll pay a good sum.”

Eh… do I have a say in this matter? Meh, we’re already sunk, may as well see where this leads us.

The man exchanged a look with Noah, before they both burst out laughing.

“Oh my! Do you think we’re mercenaries or something like that?” Noah said between laughs.

“Yeah! Why should we do what you say? Besides, even if we do what’s the chance that you are actually the viscount’s son and will pay us?” the man continued.

Lucas deadpanned, annoyed, and I just raised an eyebrow.

“What are you saying? You are mercenaries. The Black Lion Company, no?” I said, confused. “Besides, you are already on a mission from the Duke of Sellan to kill the viscount and retrieve his son.”

That shut them up. They looked at me with shock, while Lucas gaped at this new information.

“The Duke of Sellan? My uncle?” he stepped closer, his hand on my shoulder. “Elaine, is this another of your visions of the future?”

And in that moment I realized what I said.

Way to dig my own grave.

“Visions?” Noah repeated, getting close enough until our noses almost touched. I pulled my face back, but he only got closer and closer. “I can’t sense any magic on you. Then… a gift?”

Before I could push him away myself, Lucas stepped between us, using an arm to keep Noah at bay while covering me with the other.

“Don’t get close to her” he ordered with a much harsher tone than was necessary.

“Easy boy, not gonna bite” Noah said with a big smile, though his eyes were focused solely on me, perusing me like an article in the supermarket. Then, before any of us could say anything else, he turned to the man. “August! I like her! Can we keep her?”

What’s with everyone treating me like a dog nowadays?

“Not our decision to make, but the gift of clairvoyance would sure come in handy” the man, August apparently, pondered while rubbing his chin. Then, as if taking a decision, he grinned. “We were going to take them anyway. Let’s just ask captain what he thinks.”

“Alright!” Noah shouted, jumping with a fist up in the air, as if he had just gotten his parents to say yes to keep the stray dog that followed him home. I winced, seeing the men and child go over to our turned over carriage, collecting the boxes and arguing among themselves who would pull the carriage now that the horse was gone. They wanted to make Noah do the job, but taking into account his small frame as well as the possibility of him doing something out of place with his magic again, they finally settled in a man, build like a bear, to take the two lateral planks protruding from the carriage and pull it with him.

In the end, we could not escape, and were dragged behind them. Lucas wasn’t much help either, as he was simply glancing at the ground, a sullen expression and mutters of “not a bastard” repeated over and over.

So much for not wanting to meddle with the mains anymore.