GalaxyTL
* * *
The “Sea Breeze Inn” – a warm lodging with the light of magic lamps spilling out.
Like the other buildings, its stone exterior exuded an aged quality.
It was the most popular inn in the town of Yoshanka, famous for dishes using meat and eggs from the massive Togūdo birds.
Its main clientele were adventurers and traveling merchants, lacking opulence but offering a cozy, down-to-earth atmosphere as part of its charm.
And the innkeeper was a bright, cheerful woman.
She was supposed to warmly welcome any guest.
“Now get out of here at once! Trying to run me out of business!? Folks like you are just bad for business!”
Those were the words of the plump innkeeper Harinna as she came out to the entrance, grabbing Emi – the black-haired, black-eyed traveling girl – by the scruff of her neck and flinging her out into the cold autumn night winds.
After leaving the Adventurer’s Guild branch, Emi had visited the Sea Breeze Inn intending to secure lodging for the night.
At first, despite the late hour, Harinna treated Emi with polite hospitality.
She even expressed sympathy towards the young girl traveling alone.
However, the moment she noticed Emi’s black hair peeking from under the cloth wrapping, her demeanor changed drastically.
In an instant, Emi found herself expelled from the inn, left to wander the nighttime streets of Yoshanka.
The fierce winds characteristic of Yoshanka howled relentlessly, chilling Emi’s body.
Afterward, Emi tried other inns, eateries, and grocery stores, but received similar treatment everywhere she went.
Unable to even have a proper dinner, Emi eventually took a rest break at a park in central Yoshanka.
Her judgment had been naive.
If she had properly concealed her hair, this may not have happened.
With just a single cloth, it was difficult for Emi, who lacked a mirror, to completely hide the black locks extending past her shoulders when alone.
She should have cut it shorter before coming to town.
Emi reflected on this mistake.
But her beautiful black hair was so nice, she had felt it was a waste to do so.
Having been treated like a normal person at the baron’s estate, Emi had somewhat forgotten just how much rejection her black hair and eyes would provoke.
By the end of this day, news of Emi being a cursed child must have spread throughout Yoshanka.
Cutting her hair now would be too late to change anything.
Well, there was no use dwelling on it further.
Emi puffed out her cheeks, letting out her feelings before deciding to sleep for the time being.
Finding a spot beside a hedge that could shield her from the sea winds, Emi used her backpack as a pillow, the cloth as a makeshift blanket, and settled in to rest.
The cold, rough stone pavement didn’t particularly bother Emi, who was accustomed to camping outdoors.
Free from worries of monster attacks, this park could even be considered a decent bed.
* * *
“…Hey, wake up. Wake up!”
How many hours had she slept?
It was still dark out.
Prodded forcefully on the cheek by something like a rod, Emi’s eyes fluttered open.
The one who woke her was a young man.
The cloudy night sky obscured most of the stars, but Yoshanka, though small, was still a town with public streetlamps dimly illuminating the man’s figure.
He wore cheap-looking armor and carried what seemed to be a police baton.
The same attire as the gatekeeper stationed at the town’s entrance.
“…A guard?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Got a report about a vagrant sleeping in the park, so I came to check it out.”
It seemed someone had noticed Emi and alerted the authorities out of concern.
The world isn’t all bad, Emi thought.
“But I can’t just leave a vagrant be after getting a report. Now come on, get up. Over here.”
Prodded insistently by the guard’s baton, Emi was led back to the town gate.
The guardhouse beside the gate still had its lights on.
Though annoyed at being abruptly woken, Emi considered it fortunate if they let her sleep at the guardhouse.
“Damn, why’d a vagrant have to show up during my graveyard shift…”
Yawning, the guard noisily unlocked a door.
But it wasn’t the entrance to the guardhouse.
It was a small side passage next to the main gate. That was the door he opened.
Byuuu.
As the passage opened, wind rushed out from inside with an audible whoosh.
“There.”
Huh?
Wasn’t I going to be given shelter?
Allowed to sleep at the guardhouse?
Emi was still groggy from being woken.
That’s why she had envisioned such a convenient fantasy.
But as always, reality was harsh for Emi.
Grabbing her by the scruff of her neck, the guard casually tossed Emi out through the side passage like discarding trash.
Emi was a vagrant, a cursed child.
Not to be treated as a human being.
Clang. Clang clang.
The door was shut and locked behind her.
Left alone outside town in the dead of night, the cold night winds mercilessly battered Emi’s small frame as she blankly stared up at the gate.
The night wind of Yoshanka was cold.
The world really wasn’t so kind, Emi thought.
* * *
The town of Yoshanka was surrounded by high stone walls.
Walls to protect the town from the fierce sea winds, and more importantly, to guard against monsters spilling out from the Kaise Forest nearby.
A common structural feature for towns situated close to demon realms.
Beyond that spread a barren wilderness where the strong winds prevented tall trees from growing.
Buffeted by the night breezes, Emi aimlessly wandered that wasteland along the town walls.
Now fully awake.
Byuu.
An especially strong gust of wind blew.
Chillingly cold.
Piercing body and soul alike.
Expressionless, Emi let out a sigh.
The stone walls of Yoshanka.
Those towering ramparts seemed to reject Emi’s very existence, yet in truth posed no real obstacle to her.
She could scale them with 【Silverfish】.
Leap over with 【Grasshopper】.
Or simply smash right through if she wished.
Such feats were well within Emi’s diminutive 7-year-old capabilities.
But there was a wall Emi could not overcome with mere physical power.
A wall of the heart? Of society, one could say.
In Yoshanka, another impregnable barrier confronted Emi, preventing her from truly integrating with the town in any meaningful way.
“Grrrr…..”
Mingling with the howling winds, the growls of beasts could be heard.
Turning away from the walls, Emi saw a pack of wolves behind her.
Relatively large wolves with green-colored fur.
The voice in Emi’s mind identified them as Prairie Wolves, a species of monster.
Quite a sizeable number too.
Hard to make out the exact count in the darkness, but there must have been around 30 of them – a massive pack.
To sustain such an overgrown group required an abundance of prey.
Which is likely why they ventured this close to a human town, a place they’d rarely approach.
To them, while small in size, Emi represented an easier nighttime meal than going completely hungry.
“Grrrrr…!”
“Grrrawf, grrrawf!”
The wolves bared their fangs menacingly at Emi, drool dripping from their jaws.
Yet Emi remained utterly expressionless, unfazed.
This girl had already dealt with something as overwhelming as a Topopolock stampede alone.
A mere 30 wolves was nothing to be concerned over.
In fact, she might as well thin their numbers a bit.
That thought idly crossed her mind.
Nonchalantly picking up a rock, she casually flung it.
That single motion exploded one wolf’s head, the others in line behind it were impaled by the same projectile and thrashed about in agony.
“…….”
Emi’s expression remained blank as ever.
And yet, somehow…she felt a tinge of exhilaration stir within.
Without warning, she charged into the panicked pack.
Kicked a wolf soaring upwards from below.
Pummeled another relentlessly.
Slashed with her hand’s edge or invisible magic threads.
Letting loose as she pleased for a few dozen seconds.
That was all it took to completely annihilate the Prairie Wolf pack.
This went far beyond simply thinning their numbers a bit.
Blood and viscera was strewn about the area in a gruesome scene.
“…….”
Standing alone amidst the carnage, Emi basked in the afterglow.
A dim sense of elation washed over her.
…It felt good.
Unleashing her power freely, without restraint or thought.
It was an immensely liberating, invigorating experience.
But she soon came back to her senses.
What kind of expression was she making just now?
Could it be she was wearing that same repulsive grin as the Lovely Bunnies from earlier?
A chill ran down Emi’s spine.
More than anything, she detested such an abhorrent smile.
That face deluded by a sense of superiority, believing its power entitled it to torment prey at its leisure.
It was utterly loathsome to her.
Using her bloodsoaked hands, Emi felt her own cheeks.
Her usual expressionless demeanor it seemed.
No sneering.
A small relief.
No, this won’t do.
This can never happen again.
She had to be more careful.
After slapping her cheeks to regain composure, Emi set her mind to more immediate concerns.
First, cleaning off the filth.
Then finding a place to sleep for the night.
Once more, Emi set off plodding aimlessly through the windswept wilderness, buffeted by the relentless night breezes.