2
“Th-This is…!”
“He’s a big shot, right?! This man’s hitting us! He’s trying to kill a kid!”
“Will you shut up?”
The director’s massive hand clamped over my mouth.
“Mmph!”
I flailed my arms, but there was no way this small body of mine could overpower a man as big and unruly as him.
“Arsen! Take Maya inside!”
“Wah!”
Perhaps because there were eyes on him, the director didn’t dare throw me aside. Instead, he shoved me irritably toward Arsen.
Arsen barely managed to catch me and nodded. With the number of scoldings and beatings already piled on him, he looked as though he no longer had the will to resist.
“M-Maya. Let’s go. If you don’t listen, you might get hit even more…”
Whispering urgently, Arsen grabbed my hand and tried to drag me back toward the room we had fled from.
I couldn’t let myself be taken like this. Arsen had nearly been beaten because of me already—there was no way that man would let us off easily.
The shop—open the shop, now!
I shouted desperately in my mind, and just like before, a translucent window appeared before my eyes.
But every item required points.
And I had none.
Useless…! What kind of service is this supposed to be?!
Of course, choosing to stay here instead of keeping a perfectly healthy body had been my own decision, but still!
My rapidly darting eyes locked onto the man again.
“Please help us! You saw everything!”
“M-Maya. Please, let’s just go back…”
The man had been standing there the entire time, arms crossed, watching everything unfold.
Glossy black hair fell straight down, his bangs long enough to nearly stab his eyes. Behind them, crimson irises gleamed, as if steeped in blood.
His clothes looked casually worn, yet the fabric itself was unmistakably high quality.
And the knight standing behind him—he clearly looked like an escort.
That man was undoubtedly of noble status.
My instincts screamed that he was the only one here who could stop the director.
The director stepped forward, blocking my view.
“I told you to go back! You’re so disobedient—”
He bent down and whispered into my ear.
“If you don’t go quietly now, you’ll get beaten even worse.”
Arsen’s hand tightened around mine.
“Let’s go, Maya. I—I’ll do whatever I can to stop them from hitting you.”
Only then did I truly notice Arsen’s body. Through the gaps in his clothes, bruises of red and purple peeked out.
How could someone that big do this to children…!
But I didn’t have the luxury of indulging my anger. The director shoved us from behind, forcing us toward the room.
“Interesting.”
A low chuckle reached my ears.
It was him.
“H-Hik—!”
At that single word, the director froze stiff. I wrenched myself free and ran straight toward the man.
“Th-This—!”
Behind me, I heard the director’s flustered shout. As he tried to follow, the man raised a hand, stopping him.
Then he looked down at me with an arrogant expression.
“I’ve already helped you once.”
“So you’re saying you won’t help me now?”
“How bold.”
The knight behind him widened his eyes in alarm, but the man’s lips curved faintly. I couldn’t back down now.
Even if he really had helped me before, it was help I didn’t even remember.
If he turned away now, we would never survive the director’s hands.
“We’re children!”
“And what does that have to do with anything?”
Look at that—completely unmoved by a child’s plea.
Listening in on our conversation, the director broke into a servile smile and rubbed his palms together.
“Ah, yes! Maya, you wanted to thank His Excellency, didn’t you? But His Excellency is very busy, so just say hello and go back inside, hm?”
His voice turned sickeningly sweet. He was clearly trying to curry favor with the man.
He must be afraid I’d anger him.
“Is that really the issue right now?”
“Maya!”
The moment I finished speaking, Arsen shouted my name.
“T-That man…! He’s the one who jumped into the water and saved you when you fell in…!”
“…!”
No wonder my body had felt so strange when I came to.
I looked up at the man, who seemed relaxed to the point of laziness. He was so tall my neck started to ache.
“Then please save us one more time.”
“Oh? No thanks before the request?”
“Thank you. So—one more time, please!”
“How shameless.”
“When death is right in front of you, who has time to worry about manners?”
“Death, you say.”
The man glanced once at the director. With that single look, the director staggered back as if struck by a blade of cold wind.
“Do you really think he’d kill you?”
“Not just me! My friend… no, all the children here!”
Each time I spoke, the director—who had been trembling—raised his voice.
“Y-Your Excellency…! Surely children from a place like this are hardly—!”
“You’re being noisy. We’re in the middle of a conversation.”
“N-No! I’ll introduce you to a better place! H-Hik…!”
The man stared at the director with icy eyes. The knight behind him placed a hand on the hilt of his sword and stepped forward.
“I-I’m sorry!”
“You should have been from the beginning.”
The man stroked his chin, deep in thought. Then he looked down at me again.
Unlike the look he’d given the director, his face was calm and emotionless.
“What’s your name?”
“Maya.”
“Maya… I see. …Feil.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
“Prepare some clothes.”
At once, the knight called Feil entered the adjacent room and returned with a cloak.
Before I could even process what was happening, he draped it over my shoulders.
The fabric was unbelievably soft. Even when I clenched it in my hand, fine strands slipped between my fingers, tickling my palm.
“Wow…”
As I absentmindedly stroked the fur, a satisfied chuckle sounded above my head.
“From now on, you are Maya Featherway.”
“…What?”
“W-What?!”
The director screamed so loudly my own voice was drowned out.
“T-That— I mean, are you taking that child with you?”
“Is there a problem?”
“N-No! Not at all! Ahaha! A truly excellent choice! That child is remarkably clever—she’ll surely accomplish whatever Your Excellency desires!”
As if nothing had happened, the director stepped closer again, rubbing his hands together.
Feil stopped him.
“Keep your distance.”
“Y-Yes! Of course!”
“Then I’ll prepare the contract immediately.”
“A c-contract?”
“We’ve already brought one. We’ll proceed with that.”
At the man’s words, Feil moved at once. The director looked utterly confused—and so did Arsen and I.
That’s right—Arsen!
“Sir…?”
“Call me Father.”
…Suddenly?
I nodded anyway.
Right now, following this man seemed like the best possible choice.
“F-Father… can you take him too?”
I pointed at Arsen. His eyes went wide.
“M-Maya?”
“One heir is enough.”
An heir?
Had he come here to take in a child with no family or background as his successor?
My eyes rolled in confusion, and then I met Feil’s gaze as he came out of the room.
Unlike how sharply he’d treated the director, Feil smiled gently at me and nodded.
The man hesitated, then looked to Feil. Feil seemed to understand at once and examined Arsen.
“He’s still young. And because he’s still young, he has many opportunities to learn. How about raising him as the young lady’s guard? Even if not through adoption, we can enroll him in the knight order and raise him there.”
“So he says.”
The man stared at me intently. His expression seemed to ask if I was satisfied.
I nodded vigorously.
As things resolved with startling speed, Arsen stood stiffly frozen—then suddenly ran toward me.
“Maya, you—you’re taking me too?”
“Yeah. If I leave you here, who knows what that man would do to you.”
As my pointing finger shifted from Arsen to the director, the director’s face flushed red, then blue.
“Y-You little—!”
But that was all. He couldn’t say anything more to me.
Because I would probably become this man’s daughter.
