Chapter 16 - <8>
The next morning, Anna was woken by a soft tap, tap, tapping sound against her window.
"What's that noise…"
She mumbled in a sleepy daze before she finally registered where she was.
"Oh, a bed."
She had no memory of walking back on her own yesterday. The last thing she remembered was tapping Franz on the shoulder when he had been so tense he couldn't see what was around him. It seemed she had collapsed right there.
Come to think of it, I remember feeling incredibly sleepy at that moment.
And yet, the time had flown past evening and into the next morning. She had another blank spot in her memory. On top of that, she was in a bed at the Goddess's Palm Inn.
That meant Ritz must have carried her again. She had selfishly insisted he put her down and that she would help, but in the end, Ritz had saved her. She was all talk.
What’s more, she was frustrated to have missed out on one of Philia’s delicious meals.
"I'm so useless."
At this rate, Ritz might think of her as a burden again. She wanted to be helpful, but nothing seemed to be going right.
Still, her mind and body both felt quite refreshed now, and she didn't feel weak like she had yesterday. It was probably because she had slept so well. Indeed, sleep was the best medicine.
When she moved her arms and legs slightly, the faint, numb sensation from yesterday was gone. Lifting them, she felt no stiffness at all. It seemed the poison was no longer in her system.
Now she could really move again. If she was going to be useful, it would have to start today.
As she secretly steeled her resolve in bed, she heard the tapping sound at the window again. Remembering that it was the sound that had woken her, she looked around the room to find its source.
The first thing she saw was Franz, fast asleep next to her as if he were dead. He must have been exhausted after doing something he's not used to, she thought. If Franz had collapsed along with me, what would Ritz have done? It must have been tough for him.
No matter how strong he was, carrying both Anna and Franz would be hard work.
"I wonder if Ritz is okay…"
She whispered to herself, then carefully slipped out of bed so as not to wake Franz and tiptoed toward the window. Perhaps in preparation for the coming winter, heavy curtains were drawn, leaving the room still dim. Anna opened them with both hands.
Dazzling morning light flooded the room through the lace curtains.
"Whoa… It's so bright…"
Anna, who had involuntarily squinted, noticed the lace curtains swaying gently. The window was shut tight, yet the curtains seemed to be fluttering in a breeze.
Looking closer, she realized something was moving inside the curtains. It was what was bumping against the glass, making the noise she'd been hearing.
Every time the small thing moved, the curtains rippled as if blown by the wind. The little creature was apparently trying to get outside, repeatedly bumping against the glass.
Anna realized what it was.
"An Aerial!"
Anna pulled back the lace curtains as well. There, shimmering in a transparent, faint green, was the Aerial. Its translucent body seemed as if it might dissolve into the morning light, looking like something you could touch but couldn't. And yet, when her fingertips drew near, she felt a faint breeze.
The Aerial danced in the air before her, tracing a circle. A small whirlwind ruffled Anna's bangs.
"Wow, you're all better!"
It wasn't often she got to see an Aerial this close. Aerials were inherently free-spirited wind spirits, and while Anna had often watched them from afar, she could never get near them.
When it came to the higher-ranking Sylphs, she couldn't even approach them. For Anna, a water spirit user, that was just the nature of wind spirits.
The Aerial stared at Anna with its wide, transparent eyes, and then seemed to say something to her.
"You… saved Aerial… you good person."
A whisper like a gentle breeze conveyed the message to her, haltingly. It seemed the spirit remembered her help from yesterday.
"'Good person,' you're making me blush!"
Anna laughed, embarrassed.
Human spirit users had established a hierarchy for spirits, and Aerials belonged to the lower ranks. They were said to have the intelligence of a three-year-old human child. They couldn't count, and basically perceived numbers as one, two, and a lot.
Even so, Anna could carry on a proper conversation with such a spirit. Her experience caring for the children at the orphanage wasn't for nothing. She prided herself on being able to talk even with toddlers who were just learning to speak.
"Ugh… Too bright…"
Franz, who had been dead asleep until now, let out a groan. He was not a morning person. When he woke up, his usual scowl was even more pronounced, and he was in a foul mood.
"Anna, a little warning before you open the curtains…"
Lacking the energy to even sit up, Franz simply ruffled his hair in irritation. His protest, however, didn't reach Anna's ears.
"Franz! Hey, hey, the Aerial is all better!"
Anna leaped onto the grumpy Franz's bed. With an overt display of irritation, Franz pulled the blanket over his head.
"Franz, hey, Franz!"
Desperate for him to see the recovered spirit, she got on top of the bed and grabbed the collar of his nightclothes, shaking him.
"I'm awake."
Franz growled in a deep voice. Then, he sluggishly sat up. The word 'grumpy' was written all over his face. But Franz was the only other person who could see the spirit and share in her joy, so she needed him to look.
"Franz, the Aerial, it's all better! Look, look!"
Getting a little impatient with his lack of interest, Anna kept shaking him by the collar. Franz's head and neck bobbed back and forth.
"Anna, just let go…"
When Franz groaned his request, she obediently let go. Then, Anna yanked his blanket off completely. That would surely wake him up for good.
Anna's plan worked perfectly, and Franz finally sat up on the bed. But he didn't look at her, instead groaning and pressing a hand to his forehead.
"Franz, the Aerial!"
She said excitedly, but Franz raised a hand to stop her and spoke in a low voice.
"Go get Ritz…"
"Oh, right!"
She'd completely forgotten. Just because he couldn't see spirits didn't mean he shouldn't be here. She had to share this joy with Ritz, too. After all, without Ritz's advice, they couldn't have saved the Aerial.
"Okay, I'll go wake him up!"
With that, Anna darted out of the room. With the same momentum, she flung open the door to the adjacent room.
"Ngh? What the…"
Ritz, apparently woken by the noise, groaned in a low, sleepy voice and pulled the covers over his head.
Ritz was an incredibly light sleeper on the road—so much so that Anna could never tell when he was sleeping or awake—but when he was at the church or staying at an inn, he was strangely hard to wake up.
"Good morning, Ritz!"
Seeing that Ritz had no intention of getting out of bed, Anna jumped on top of him with a burst of energy.
"Ugh! You!"
Ritz shouted in alarm. It looked like she had really startled him. But something wonderful had happened, and she had to tell him right away.
She straddled Ritz over the blankets and bounced up and down. The Aerial that had been on the verge of death yesterday was now full of life; there was nothing more wonderful than this.
"Good morning, Ritz! Listen, the Aerial, the Aerial!"
As Anna began to speak excitedly, Ritz poked his head out from under the covers and yelled with a disgruntled look on his face.
"Where do you think you're sitting?!"
"Huh? On your stomach?"
"I told you before, don't just jump into a man's room in the morning!"
"Oh, right. Hehe. I forgot."
"Honestly… And what do you think you're doing on top of me?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"…Look, I'm telling you now. A girl shouldn't be straddling a guy who's just woken up, in her nightclothes, all excited like this. Don't blame me if people get the wrong idea."
"The wrong idea?"
She had no idea what he was talking about. As she tilted her head in confusion, Ritz let out a deep, heavy sigh and muttered.
"Guess a little kid wouldn't get it."
"Calling me a little kid is one thing, but 'little kiddo' is just mean!"
"Argh, whatever! Just stop it, it's improper. Got it?"
"? …Okay."
"And when you wake me up, just call my name normally. I'm not Franz, I'll actually wake up."
Rolling the still-straddling Anna off him and onto the bed, Ritz got up and started to get dressed. Watching his back as he changed, Anna couldn't help but murmur reflectively.
"Ritz, you're really like a father."
At that one comment, Ritz's shoulders slumped. His hunched back made him look even older.
"I told you, stop with the 'father' thing. It makes me feel ancient."
"Hehe. Sorry."
Though he grumbled, Ritz quickly got ready as usual and came with Anna to her room. By that time, Franz had already changed as well.
It turned out that Anna, the one who had been making all the fuss, was the only one not ready.
"Get dressed before you come get us. You're a girl, aren't you?"
Ritz lectured her pointedly, as she was still in her nightclothes with her hair down.
Even if Anton asked him to look after me, he doesn't have to treat me like such a child, she thought to herself. But then she considered that if one of the kids from the orphanage did what she just did, she would definitely scold them.
When she really thought about it, she was in the wrong. She scurried to a corner of the room to change. Ritz and Franz paid her no mind, watching the Aerial instead. Once she was ready, Anna hurried over to them. The Aerial, which had been looking up at Franz, did a little spin, and the curtain fluttered.
It really did seem to have recovered.
"I'm so glad, Aerial. You're really all better."
When Anna smiled at the Aerial, it spun around again. The curtain swayed softly.
"Better."
"I was so worried."
As Anna conversed with the Aerial, Ritz, who had pulled over a chair from the bedside and sat down, let out a small sigh.
"I can see Water Dragons and Fire Dragons, though."
Noticing his disappointed tone, she turned to Ritz and stared into his eyes. His dark brown eyes held a trace of sadness. It hit her then—Ritz was a member of a spirit clan who possessed absolutely no spiritual power.
"You can't see the Aerial at all?"
"Can't even sense its presence. To someone who can't see spirits, a wind spirit is the same as not being there at all."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. Those of us without spiritual power only know the wind is blowing because we can feel it, see the trees swaying, and hear the sound. We can't see the wind itself."
"…I see."
When the wind blew strongly, Anna would sometimes see Sylphs or Aerials mixed in, dancing at the forefront of the raging gales. Of course, there were times when there were no spirits in a normal breeze, but she could still sense the breath of life in it.
"Water Dragons, Fire Dragons, Earth Dragons… I can see them. They have physical forms. But spirits without physical forms, I can't see them."
"Right."
It was true; a Water Dragon was a mass of water, a Fire Dragon a mass of flame. She hadn't encountered any other dragons yet, but as Ritz said, she imagined an Earth Dragon would be visible.
"To someone who can't see spirits, even if a place is teeming with raging Sylphs, it's just a strong wind."
"I see."
For Anna, to whom seeing spirits was normal, Ritz's invisible world was almost mysterious. But did Ritz feel some kind of sadness about not being able to see them?
She wondered for a moment, but when she looked back into his eyes, the faint trace of loneliness that had been there was completely gone. Had she just imagined it?
"Sorry. Go on with your talk with the Aerial."
With a look that said he'd been rambling, Ritz gave a wry smile, shrugged, and prompted Anna to continue. She obediently followed his lead.
"So, Aerial, where did you come from?"
"Mountain."
"A mountain… But there are lots of mountains."
"Mountain, high, high, high mountain."
"I see… a mountain."
Perhaps losing patience with the slow conversation, Franz took over the role of questioner.
"Why did you come to this village?"
The Aerial tilted its head.
"Friends, many brought here. Aerial, did not want to come."
"How were you brought here?"
"Put in bottle. Aerial, scared, cannot escape."
"What's that? What's it saying?"
When Ritz asked, Franz spoke up.
"Apparently, it was put in a bottle and brought here from the mountains."
"Packed into a bottle…?"
"Yes."
"I see. So those are the bottles the village chief said the men were setting on stakes."
"Probably."
"Which means those men were lying about being from Sears. The mountains near Sears are reasonably high, but they aren't 'very high mountains.'"
"Really?"
"Yeah. If we're talking high mountains, it's probably the Central Mountain Range. The winds blowing down from the range can be pretty strong depending on the day. If you head towards the mountains from here along the highway, capturing an Aerial would be possible."
The Central Mountain Range Ritz mentioned was a massive mountain range towering even further north than Vishnu and the Ciedena Forest. This range stood in the center of the Eneonea Continent, dividing it into north and south.
Vishnu and Ciedena both belonged to the vast plateau that spread at the foot of this enormous mountain range. Saradio was located further south, down from the plateau.
"Then why would they mention the Royal Capital?"
Ritz shrugged in response to Franz's question.
"This far from the capital, they figured they could get away with some shady business by just saying it's the 'latest technology from Sears.' The village chief fell for it hook, line, and sinker."
"That's awful!"
As Anna fumed, Franz muttered in a low voice.
"But what if it really is the latest technology, and they're doing it on the King's orders? If they stole the herbs for some specific purpose, there's nothing we can do."
That was true. To Anna, the King was a being far beyond her reach; she didn't even know what kind of person he was. If the King had a reason, that reason would be beyond her comprehension.
As Anna got lost in thought and Franz's face grew serious, Ritz laughed as if he found it funny.
"No way that's happening. The King's not that kind of guy."
"But, but, he's the King! If it's true, we'd be in trouble, right?"
"That's why I'm saying it's fine. If it were him, he'd come out here himself instead of doing something like this."
"Huh…?"
Anna tilted her head, confused by Ritz's strangely familiar tone when speaking of the King. She seemed to recall him saying he worked as a mercenary and wasn't in this country much.
But Franz nodded as if he completely understood.
"If Ritz says so, then it must be true."
"Huh? Why?"
"The current king is an acquaintance of Ritz's, apparently."
"What?! Really?!"
She couldn't help but shout, and Ritz just scratched his head with a wry smile.
"Well, yeah. Haven't seen him in thirty-five years, but a person's personality doesn't really change, right?"
"Wow…"
Somehow, Ritz seemed like an incredible person. As she looked on in admiration, Ritz shrugged.
"Never mind about me. For now, we know everything the herb thieves said was a lie. And since they didn't come from Sears, they'll either head out to Saradio or the neighboring Glein Autonomous Region via the highway."
"Right."
The Glein Autonomous Region was the district next to Saradio. Anna knew the name, but not what it was like. She'd heard that if Saradio was a district thriving on commerce, Glein was a place known for agriculture and livestock.
"But they haven't gone to Saradio or Glein. The highways are watched by merchants, so there's no way they could have gone south to Sears. None of the merchants gathered here two days ago saw any of the herbs, either."
Ritz explained calmly, his gaze directed towards the Aerial he couldn't see. The Ritz I know is just one part of him, she thought. He might know a lot more, and be keeping a lot of things to himself.
"In other words, it's highly likely the herbs are still somewhere around here."
Ritz looked from Franz to Anna.
"Now it's up to you two to ask the Aerial if it has any clues."
"Okay!"
"Understood."
This was the main event. How had they managed to steal only the Arlie from this village?
"Aerial, how did you pick the Arlie leaves?"
At Franz's question, the Aerial trembled.
"Narrow, put inside, scary, scary."
The memory seemed to frighten it. As the Aerial trembled in fear, Anna coaxed the story out of it. Piecing it together, it seemed they were transferred from the bottle into a transparent stake. The number was unknown.
The Aerial couldn't count.
So that's why the men had been placing the bottles on the stakes one by one.
With every piece of information they coaxed out, the three of them compared notes. Ritz, who couldn't hear the Aerial's voice, skillfully facilitated the discussion.
Such was the wisdom of his years.
"And then what happened?"
"Wanted out, struggled, leaves, whirlwind, flew."
When it tried to get out, it must have unconsciously unleashed its power. That power affected the outside of the stake, not the inside. The stake might have the ability to amplify spiritual power outward.
"Then, what happened to the leaves?"
At Franz's words, the Aerial shook its head as if to say no. It was too frightened to speak. Anna stepped in between them. She had to calm the Aerial down.
"It's okay. It's not scary anymore. We're here."
"Scary, scary."
To the still-frightened creature, Anna spoke earnestly, trying to make it understand.
"Listen, if any scary guys come, we're actually really strong, so we'll beat them up! So, there's nothing to be afraid of."
"Scary, strong, don't understand."
"It's okay! We have someone who's strong in brute force, at least!"
She couldn't help but say that about Ritz, who couldn't see spirits. At her words, Ritz pouted, looking displeased.
"'Brute force, at least'… that 'at least' was unnecessary."
As she worked hard to persuade it, the Aerial seemed to calm down.
"Whirlwind, leaves, flew. Leaves, disappeared, don't know."
"The leaves flew away?"
"Power, taken."
"They extracted only the spiritual power from the spirit out of that stake, and used that power to make the leaves fly…"
Franz muttered.
"So, the Aerial was put inside that stake and had its spiritual power drained. That stake seems to be something that amplifies spiritual power outwards. Inside the stake, the Aerial went berserk, its power escaped, and it created a tornado in the Arlie field. The tornado, along with the Aerial's spiritual power, swept up the Arlie and disappeared somewhere… That seems to be what happened."
"I see…"
Ritz nodded in understanding and fell into thought. Anna and Franz waited quietly for the silent Ritz to speak. Eventually, Ritz looked up.
"Is there any connection between the crystal bottle the Aerial was in and the stake?"
"A connection?"
"Think about it. If they just wanted to make the Aerial go berserk, they could have captured it in an empty stake from the start. What was the point of putting it in a bottle?"
"Hmm. I wonder why."
"And where did the wind even go? If it just flew off in any random direction, they wouldn't be able to steal the Arlie."
"That's true…"
Anna crossed her arms and tilted her head. If they couldn't control where it went, there was no point in stealing it.
"You said its power went berserk inside the stake, right? Then why was it fine inside the bottle?"
At Ritz's words, Anna blinked. Come to think of it, it had said it was carried from the mountain in a bottle. If the mechanism was similar to the stake, it should have gone berserk and died.
"The fact that it arrived here safely means the bottle has a different role?"
Franz murmured.
"Even when it went berserk, it didn't disappear… Aerial, on the way here, did you struggle inside the bottle?"
"Confused, struggled, not tired."
At the Aerial's answer, Franz sank into thought.
"Even when it used its power, its power didn't decrease… so the power doesn't escape to the outside… I see."
Ritz nodded at Franz's whisper-like words. The two of them seemed to be on the same page. Feeling left out, Anna asked the two deep in thought.
"I don't really get it. Can you explain in detail?"
"The more power a spirit uses, the more exhausted and weaker it gets, but that didn't happen inside the bottle. In fact, just by going berserk once after being moved from the bottle to the stake, this Aerial was on the verge of death."
In place of the thoughtful Franz, Ritz explained. It was a little sad that Anna, a spirit user, couldn't understand something that Ritz, who wasn't, could grasp. But this was no time to feel down.
Then, a question suddenly popped into her head.
"The stake and the bottle are a set, right? Is there a way to use them together?"
"A way to create a synergistic effect by using them together, huh…"
Ritz grunted at Anna's question. At the same time, Franz let out a small sigh and fell into thought. Anna, who had voiced the question, found her own head growing more confused.
And how did the Arlie fit into all this?
As Anna worried and Franz held his head in his hands, Ritz spoke up. It seemed he'd thought of something.
"There's a stake that amplifies the spiritual power working inside and sends it outward, and there's a bottle that stores the power inside…"
"Huh?"
"What if the stake and the bottle call to each other?"
"Call to each other?"
As she stared at Ritz, he explained it in a way that was easy to understand.
"The stake has the effect of amplifying spiritual power, and the bottle has the property of collecting it. The stake and the bottle are connected by magical power, and the magic amplified by the stake is collected and stored in the bottle, don't you think? In other words, the Arlie leaves swept up along with the Aerial's power are drawn to the bottle that's absorbing the magic, heading straight for it. So, all the culprit has to do is wait with the bottle open, and the Arlie collected by the rampaging Aerial will fall right into their hands. That's the plan."
After Ritz finished, Anna was speechless. Franz seemed to be at a loss for words as well.
"…You guys get it?"
When Ritz asked, Anna nodded emphatically.
"Wow. You're amazing, Ritz, how do you come up with that?"
When she said that, thoroughly impressed, Ritz gave a wry smile.
"I haven't lived for a hundred and fifty years and come from a spirit clan for nothing. But hey, this is all just speculation, you know? Well, at this point, it's the only thing that makes sense."
Living a long life is an amazing thing, Anna thought, truly impressed. Since she would probably live a long time too, would she be able to gain as much knowledge as Ritz? As she was feeling impressed, Franz next to her sighed.
"It's just like the magically enchanted tools Master has. Though his are all failures."
He was probably talking about the junk he sold at the morning market. It was certainly labeled as a magical tool. Apparently, Orphe bought and sold those things all over, steadily increasing his collection.
In contrast to the thoughtful Franz, Ritz wore a carefree smile.
"Whether my guess is right or not, we'll find out when we check the criminals' hideout."
That was true, Anna thought, about to nod, when she suddenly remembered something important.
"Ritz, how are we going to find their hideout?"
"Ah, crap… right."
So engrossed in figuring out the magical tools, Ritz and Franz had completely forgotten about that. They collapsed in exhaustion, slumping over the mostly cleared table.
"Back to square one, huh."
Just as the three of them sighed, the Aerial, which had been silent and staring into the distance, spoke up abruptly.
"Aerial, knows smell. Knows bad guys."
The three of them exchanged glances, and the Aerial spoke as if it had made up its mind.
"Friends, not here, gone. Will help."
"Really?"
Franz's eyes went wide. He was probably surprised that a spirit would offer to help on its own. Ritz, who couldn't hear, guessed where the Aerial was and waited for Franz or Anna to explain.
"The Aerial said it will help us! It can tell by the smell, so it knows who the culprits are."
Anna answered in place of Franz, who was still staring at the Aerial. Finally seeing a sign that they might be able to solve the case, she couldn't help but feel excited.
This means we can act immediately, she thought, but as she eagerly started to stand up, Ritz, who had stood up first, gently tapped her on the head.
She looked up, wondering what was wrong. Ritz stretched languidly, then looked at her with a confident smile.
"Alright, let's take it easy today and start searching early tomorrow morning."
"Huh?"
The unexpected words made Anna stare at Ritz. It was still before breakfast, so the day had just begun. Just when they had found a clue, putting it off until tomorrow didn't sit right with her.
"We're not going now?"
Sharing Anna's sentiment, Franz looked at Ritz discontentedly. But Ritz, though smiling wryly, stubbornly refused to nod.
"But Ritz, I want to solve this as soon as possible! Everyone's in trouble!"
"I know that, of course."
"Then!"
As Anna pressed on, Ritz let out a deep sigh.
"Think about it. What if the ones who stole the Arlie are a formidable gang of thieves?"
"I'll do my best to get it back! Stealing is wrong, isn't it?"
If they didn't, no one could be happy, and she couldn't repay the Roubaixs for their kindness. The village chief was in trouble, too.
"What you're saying is right. The thieves are definitely in the wrong, and we're getting it back. But what if they're veterans? What good will it do for you two to go there when you haven't fully recovered your strength?"
Anna was at a loss for words. That was right. Where the Arlie was, there would undoubtedly be the people who stole it. But that didn't necessarily mean they had to fight.
Anna looked up at Ritz.
"Maybe they'll understand if we talk to them?"
"…Huh?"
"If we try our best to persuade them, maybe they'll understand and give the herbs back."
"…Are you serious…?"
Ritz groaned, dumbfounded.
"I am! Right, Franz, don't you think so too?"
She asked Franz emphatically, but he just sighed and shook his head slightly. It seemed he wasn't going to agree with her.
"Because there are no truly bad people in the world! I'm sure they had some reason, and if we talk to them, they'll understand."
Despite her impassioned plea, both Ritz and Franz fell silent with exasperated looks on their faces. Sure, stealing the herbs was wrong, but maybe there was a reason. If they sincerely repented, properly apologized to the villagers, and returned the Arlie, wouldn't that solve everything?
As she stared at Ritz and Franz, Ritz let out a big sigh and scratched his head.
"Your straightforwardness is a rare quality, but there are some things in this world that can't be settled that way, you know?"
Franz gave a small nod in agreement with Ritz's words and looked at Anna. It seemed they were both of the same opinion.
"But my adoptive father said that there are no truly bad people…"
Stared at by the two of them, Anna's voice of protest grew smaller. She had always believed that, and she wanted to keep believing it. But Ritz's eyes were quite stern, and it felt as though he was completely denying her belief.
Sometimes, Ritz exuded an intimidating presence that was almost frighteningly impossible to defy.
In the awkward silence, only the Aerial danced, creating a small whirlwind. The breeze occasionally rustled Anna's bangs.
It was Ritz who broke the long silence.
"Alright, I get it. Let's do this. When we encounter the thieves, you judge whether they're the kind of people you can persuade. If they don't listen and are just selfishly stealing the Arlie the villagers have treasured, then I'll settle it."
"…Settle it?"
"Yeah."
If she left it to Ritz, a mercenary, wouldn't things get scary?
"Um, Ritz… it won't get scary, right?"
Anna looked straight into Ritz's eyes. But his eyes were smiling softly, and she felt a sense of relief.
"Well, that's the plan. What would you do?"
"Huh…?"
"If a selfish gang of thieves who don't consider others ignore your warnings, what would you do?"
In that case, Anna's course of action was clear.
"If a bad child won't listen, they need to be disciplined. You have to teach them until they understand properly."
It was the same with the children at the orphanage. Very rarely, there would be a child who thought nothing of hurting others. With such a child, you had no choice but to take the time to teach them about other people's pain.
"Then it's settled. Get a good night's sleep today."
"Wha-what?!"
Somehow, the conversation had looped back to that, and Anna was dumbstruck. She felt like they had been talking about something different, so why had they returned to this point?
"It's no good if you collapse after using a big technique like you did yesterday. The enemy won't be concerned about you when you're down. If you're the one doing the punishing, you should be preserving your strength, right?"
"Ugh…"
She had no counterargument. It was perfectly logical, especially given the events so far. Anna had nothing left to object to.
"But, but, I want to see Philia and the others smile again soon…"
"Then should I go settle it myself? It'll be over in a flash."
Ritz said, mimicking the motion of drawing the sword he always carried on his back. Anna silently shook her head. She really didn't want things to get scary like that.
"Anna, Ritz is right. We should fully recover our strength first."
Franz shrugged and said. Anna reluctantly nodded.
Besides, if they met people who wouldn't listen to reason, they would end up fighting against humans. A person-to-person fight would be her first, so Anna had no idea what might happen or what the situation would be like.
To avoid getting in the way of the experienced Ritz, the best thing Anna and Franz could do was to get well so they wouldn't be a bother.
"Well, I'm going back to sleep, so don't wake me up."
Perhaps thinking the discussion was over, Ritz waved a hand dismissively and nonchalantly returned to his room without looking back.
Until now, Anna had somehow felt like she was on equal footing with Ritz, but his firm attitude left no room for argument.
As the door closed, the image of the greatsword on Ritz's back overlapped with his retreating figure, and a sense of fear slowly welled up inside her.
Fighting humans. Since the opponents were human, there was a chance of injuring them.
And maybe even something worse…
"Franz… what kind of job… is being a mercenary? It's different from the private mercenary group in Saradio, right?"
Anna still didn't know.
But Ritz was a man who had been a mercenary captain in the only place on the continent where a war was being fought.
"…A mercenary's job is to trade lives for money."
"Trade lives…?"
"That's right. They get paid to go to a battlefield and fight."
"A battlefield…"
Trading lives… meant killing people.
And that also meant Ritz had been in a situation where he could have been killed at any moment.
"Ritz doesn't seem like that kind of person at all."
"I agree. If anything, he seems more like a slightly air-headed traveling adventurer."
Just as Franz said, Anna couldn't possibly see Ritz as someone who had done such a job. This was especially true because she had seen him playing with children and doing farm work.
His cheerful smiles and lighthearted banter at those times didn't seem like they could belong to someone who had been in such a situation, but…
"Franz. I'd rather not hurt anyone if we can help it."
The words slipped out of her mouth. Her voice was firmer than she'd intended.
It wasn't that she didn't want to hurt anyone. To be honest, she didn't want it to come to killing people.
She was sure he understood, but Franz deliberately echoed her sentiment in a similarly firm, almost whispering tone.
"I know. I feel the same way."
"I hope Ritz… feels that way too…"
What is Ritz thinking? Anna's thoughts drifted to the other side of the door through which Ritz had just disappeared.