After finishing the last potion, she wiped her mouth and looked up at Arthur with a satisfied look on her face. Her aching body recovered a good chunk of energy back and closed many of her small scratches and bruises. She wasn’t fully back to normal, but the girl felt a lot better.
“… Thank you.” She finally said after much contemplation.
“Don’t worry about it. Now, do you trust me a little bit more?” Arthur laughed jovially.
“… Maybe.”
“Maybe?” He raised an eyebrow as he asked.
“… I still don’t fully trust you. I don’t know your intentions.” She shook her head. Although she was grateful to Arthur for helping her, she still couldn’t simply trust this boy that easily. After all, she had already tasted the bitterness of trusting someone who wanted to harm her. She was not ready to make the same mistake again with another person… At least not until she was fully convinced that he was indeed a good person.
Arthur noticed those subtle emotions and he was even more confused. ‘I wonder what she went through to be this skeptical. Well, it’s not like I would instantly trust someone if they gave me clothes and potions… She has a good point.’
“Ok, can I at least know your name? I’m Arthur, by the way.” He said as he tapped his chest.
“… Sora.” She replied.
“Sora? That’s an interesting name. So, why were those people chasing you, Sora?”
His question made the girl look down at the dead corpse of the man with a deep frown on her face. The sheer depth of her hatred towards that man was apparent in her eyes. She definitely despised them to the bone.
“I was imprisoned by these people… And I escaped. They were going to capture me if you didn’t appear.”
“Why were you captured?”
“… Because I’m useless.”
“Useless?” Arthur’s eyes widened slightly. From all the potential reasons he thought of, this was not one of them. “What do you mean?”
“My family got rid of me because I’m useless… And these people captured me.” She replied as she slowly stood up. “I tried to run away several times but they would capture me every single time.”
“Wait, hold on a second. Your family got rid of you? What kind of ridiculous reason is this?”
‘Her family threw her away because she’s useless? What does that even mean?’
“It doesn’t really matter and it’s none of your business. Thank you very much for helping me, I will never forget this.” Saying that, the girl turned around and started walking away.
“Hey, wait.” Arthur snapped out of it as he called for her. “Do you have a place to go to?”
“… I’m leaving the city. I don’t want to stay here or they might search for me.” She replied.
“Outside the city is a death sentence in your current condition,” Arthur replied. He didn’t know why, but Arthur couldn’t just move on and forget about this girl. Something about her was very weird and yet he couldn’t really find what it is.
‘I rarely feel this way about someone. Who did I come across?’ Arthur muttered.
“A death sentence?” The girl stopped and looked at him.
“The world outside is very dangerous. You would be attacked by monsters or die due to extreme weather. I don’t recommend that unless you know where you’re going, which doesn’t seem like you do.”
“…” Sora pursed her lips. She already had a hunch that the world outside the city was dangerous. She had never left the city herself, but she had heard a lot about it and how threatening it was. Still, that didn’t make her hesitate too much.
“I have no other choice. If I stay here, I will be caught sooner or later. I would rather die outside than get captured again.”
“…”
‘She would choose death over getting caught…’ Arthur didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at that simple yet profound statement. It told him a tale about how horrible it must’ve been for the girl for death to be the better outcome.
‘Should I even stop her at this point? There is really no reason for me to do that.’ He thought to himself.
But, still, his heart didn’t agree with that at all. He should’ve been unbothered, but he wasn’t and he didn’t know why.
“If you don’t have anything else, if you will excuse me,” Sora said and turned around to leave.
“Wa-”
[Ding!]
At that moment, Arthur received a notification.
[Darkmoon had sent you a message.]
“Hmm, a message from Isla?” Arthur raised an eyebrow as he tapped on the notification.
[Where are you? Meet me at the gate.]
The brief message was through the game’s Direct Message function. Arthur recently discovered it in the settings option where he can also send friend requests to other players. The function was quite useful in many cases so he made sure to connect with all the team just in case.
“Hmm, at the gate huh? Hey, wait!” Arthur called for the girl again as he realized something.
“Huh?”
“I will get you to the gate. I’m already going there.” He approached her.
“… Really?”
“Yeah, I have nothing to lose. My friends are waiting there, we might find a solution to your problem if we can.” Arthur replied. “Now, let’s go. What are you waiting for?”
He moved ahead, leaving the girl a little stunned. ‘So weird…’ she thought to herself. Arthur was perhaps the weirdest person she had ever met. Nothing about him was normal and she had barely met him a few minutes ago.
Yet, she couldn’t feel a single negative feeling against him. This was something she had never experienced with another person. She was wary, but her heart never told her to run away or to fight as there was no threat to begin with. Arthur was not a threat.
‘… I can’t just let my head wander on its own. Let’s see what he’s talking about.’
***
The two walked through the streets of the city in silence. Sora kept a comfortable distance between her and Arthur while making sure she wasn’t too far away in case someone finds her. Arthur understood that and decided to keep his senses alert and careful.
A few minutes later, they reached their destination where they found Isla and the others waiting patiently.
“Where have you been, man? I thought you would get into the game a little later.” Herculia said.
“Hahaha, yeah, I was exploring the city.”
“Hm? Who’s that little girl with you?” Emmy asked.
“This one? Her name is Sora. She was being chased by a bunch of guys so I beat them up.” He said.
“What? Just like that?” Danny raised an eyebrow. “Do you even know the full context of the situation to barge into it?”
“Hm, they seemed like scumbags so I just beat them up. It’s pretty simple, honestly.”
“… This guy…” Danny facepalmed as he struggled to keep his calm. He already knew that Arthur was that reckless but it still baffles him how he finds trouble so fast on his own. It was like he was a trouble magnet that could never stop attracting disasters everywhere he went.
“Arthur, can I have a moment with you?”
“Hm?”
Turning around, Arthur noticed that Isla had a serious look on her face.
“Sure.”
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3