Yusha and Arakawa had finally left the infirmary, but they were wandering the streets of Livenburg with no money at all. The family had paid the treatment costs and gotten rid of them as quickly as possible. Yusha thought to himself: Is this how they repay us for saving their lives? They could have shown a little more gratitude. But then he stopped himself. Gratitude was perhaps the rarest thing in this world. People remembered you when they needed you and forgot you the moment they felt safe.
Right now they were walking through the streets of Livenburg, but an idea had started to form in Yusha's mind. He could sell the clothes he was wearing. There were bloodstains and a tear from an arrow, but from the outside it was still a finely made and valuable piece. The same was true for Arakawa. Even the black gloves he occasionally wore back at the palace could fetch a good price.
He talked it over with Arakawa. He couldn't just make plans on his own. Besides, the old man was walking slowly. He had recovered, more or less, but what they had been through had left a permanent mark on him. Some things heal.
Old aide Arakawa must have already sensed that Yusha wanted to bring this up, because he reached into his pocket and quietly held out something. It was a pocket watch. It shone as if it were made of pure gold and had been very well kept all this time. It had small problems like not closing properly and a few scratches on the surface, but those didn't make it worthless. If anything, they were the marks of something that had been through a great deal. It was still very valuable.
If they could sell this watch for a good price, they could cover a place to stay and their basic needs. They didn't plan on staying there long anyway. The plan they had talked about was simple: once things calmed down, they would return to the palace. They had to go back. They couldn't just leave everything behind and start from zero. Do you have any idea what it means to build everything from scratch? It meant taking on a burden that was almost impossible to carry. When they returned to the palace, they would continue their lives without drawing any attention. He was sure that there were people who had survived this disaster back at the palace. That small handful of people would be more than enough to put everything back together.
It was starting to get dark. The streets of Livenburg were slowly emptying, and as the sun went down the cold was beginning to settle in just as it always did. Yusha and Arakawa finished their conversation and walked into an inn. Since Yusha couldn't read or write, Arakawa had to take care of everything. On top of that, they even managed to get a discount on the pocket watch they sold to the innkeeper. Luckily the innkeeper had a fondness for antique things like this, otherwise he wouldn't have let them in without money. And on top of everything else, the innkeeper gave them 3 gold coins and 2 nights of accommodation in exchange for the watch.
Yusha couldn't quite figure out why the man had been so kind, but he quietly made his way toward their room. Aide Arakawa, on the other hand, knew exactly why the man was so happy. The innkeeper was a completely greedy bastard. If Arakawa had tried to bargain with him, the man would never have let them in. The moment he saw the watch, he had understood its real value — it could be sold for far more than what he had offered. And now he was going to take it and sell it at the highest price on the market, smiling the whole way.
— Bastard!!
The next morning, Yusha had woken up early from his bed.
He couldn't quite understand the reason, but he felt suffocated. Besides, that night he hadn't slept properly either. Arakawa, being an old man, was still dozing.
Yusha left without waking Arakawa. At this early hour of the morning, the streets should have been empty. He had woken up very early, but there was nothing he could do about it—this feeling of suffocation inside him had become unbearable, and he couldn't wait any longer.
As he left the room, he was very careful to be quiet. If Arakawa caught him, he would never allow him to go out. They had only just escaped the danger of death. There were still killers—the heirs of the Holy Heroes—on their trail, those who had decided to kill them. The less they were seen, the less attention they drew, the better it would be. They couldn't reveal themselves.
He had discussed this with Attendant Arakawa and himself. But he still couldn't keep his word.
He slowly pushed the door open and stepped into the cold morning air.
Yusha walked through the cool morning air.
Despite the clothes he wore, he felt a slight chill—perhaps the cold wasn't just from the air. He stepped through Livenburg's wet, broken streets, drawn deeper into the town despite himself. He needed to clear his head. They had escaped the danger of death, yes, but would he just sit at home and hide like anyone else? Wouldn't this destroy him from within?
Yes, he was still afraid. But they were safe now, weren't they? They were safe, weren't they? He tried to convince himself of this.
When these thoughts came to him, he took a deep breath. He wrinkled his face and pushed these feelings aside. He wouldn't destroy himself with them. He continued walking.
As he wandered through the town's charming atmosphere, exploring his surroundings—this carelessness had drawn him into the town's deeper, more desolate streets. In the humid air, there was a strange smell mixed with the scent of blood. There was an uneasiness in the streets, a weight that seeped into every corner like a darkness.
Thank God there was no one around. But this smell of blood... Yusha had never seen anything like this before. In his mind, only the thought formed that this place smelled strange and foul. His instincts were warning him, but his curiosity was too strong. He continued forward.[1]
By the time he realized he was lost, it was too late. Every street, every corner looked the same to him. How did the townspeople tell them apart? How did they find their way? It was astonishing.
The moment Yusha realized he was lost, a cold sweat gripped his body like never before. His heart had begun to race. This time, the danger wasn't just imagination—he was lost, alone, in a place no one knew about.
[1] The further he went, the deeper he would sink into the town's vastness, the more lost he would become. If something happened to him, they wouldn't even find his body. They would give up searching for him in Livenburg's winding streets.