“Mr. Kiltz.”

“Just call me Kiltz.”

Even if you say that…It would not be easy to suddenly speak so informally. Asha’s lips moved for a long time, then finally gave up.

As she closed her eyes, she felt a sudden surge of sorrow. What would happen to her now? Attracted by the hand of a man she had never seen before, she left without knowing her destination.

Her Dad said she could be the daughter of an aristocrat, but Asha knew that was a lie. A few years ago, when she went to the bar to find Janir. She heard him complaining that there was something called slavery in Southern Izumikan, and that he would rather sell her there.

If he really had her in order to get a reward, he wouldn’t have said that he would rather sell her as a slave. So it must have been improvised words to send Asha off with.

Asha did not know exactly what a slave was, but she knew the weight of ten Anitz gold coins. Favors without cost did not exist in this world. Once you owe something, you would have no choice but to pay it back.

Asha opened her eyes, pledging to herself. Then she looked around and was suddenly surprised.

The man, Kiltz, was staring at her. As soon as Asha made eye contact, he hurriedly avoided her gaze.

“….?”

Asha asked carefully, touching her cheek.

“Is there something on my face?”

“No.”

The man covered his mouth and coughed insincerely. His eyes were looking forward, but occasionally looked sideways at Asha every now and then.

After blinking his eyes in a calm manner for a while, he asked solemnly, as if he had finally made up his mind.

“What’s your name?”

Asha replied in a small voice.

“It’s Asha. Asha Konak.”

“Asha. Is it Asha? Asha…”

Kiltz seemed to dwell on her name again and again in his mouth. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Asha plucked up her courage and asked what she was most curious about.

“Excuse me… Why me?”

“Why… you?”

He asked back as if he had no idea what she was talking about. Asha struggled to explain.

“There were other kids in the village besides me… Still, I’m glad it was me. Thank you for giving the gold coins.”

“Why is that something you would be grateful for?”

Asha replied with a face that was natural.

“Because if you have money, you can be happy.”

Kiltz looked down at her with a puzzled look on his face. A little child, only about ten years old, was treating herself like an object.

Then the expression disappeared from his face, as he realised the meaning behind Asha’s words.

Asha, terrified from his change of face, quickly apologized.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not something you have to apologize for.”

Kiltz rubbed his face furiously, as if trying to stop his anger. A muffled  voice leaked out between his covered face.

“I should have killed them…”

Asha felt like all  her hair was standing on edge. Seeing the anxiety in the girl’s big eyes, Kiltz hurriedly shook his hands, perhaps realizing his mistake.

“I-I’m not talking about you, no, yes, but I’m not mad at you… Damn it.”

The man who was talking gibberish eventually shut his mouth with a swear word.

Asha fiddled with her fingers. She didn’t feel like she would get along well with this person.

Kiltz sighed deeply and eventually changed the subject.

“I haven’t explained to you where we are going yet.”

“Is it Izumikan?”

“What?”

He seemed perplexed for a moment, but soon replied coldly.

“No.”

Asha now wanted to cry. She couldn’t figure out why the man was angry with every word she said. Apparently he seemed to just hate her talking.

“We are going to the Carinthia Mountains. If we don’t meet any trouble, it will take two months. Wagons aren’t a great way to travel long distances, but this is the only way to cross the prairie*. Do you know where Carinthia is?”

*(Also called temperate grasslands, these habitats have evolved over thousands of years to withstand wind, storms, torrential rainfall, fire, and grazing by large animals.)

Asha shook her head quietly. The only world she knew of was a small village and a hill overlooking the sea. She was curious, but she did not want to upset the man by saying useless words.

“Carinthia is a neighboring country of Nermaz, and it would be more accurate to say that it is more of a dominant territory separated from Caldrogen rather than a country. There is a village called Liez on the border of the prairie. We’ll stay there today and get enough supplies…”

The man blabbered on about the surrounding area to Asha who was completely oblivious to all of it. Listening was more boring than she thought, so she soon fell asleep.

Asha’s head, starting to doze off, touched the man’s shoulder. Kiltz’s voice, which was explaining, suddenly stopped. After a while, Asha could feel a blanket covering her body with a rustling sound.

Asha fell asleep. The voice of Kiltz was heard in her drowsiness. It was an unimaginably warm voice that came out of the man’s mouth.

“I was hoping you’d call me Kiltz…”

* * *

Asha couldn’t take her eyes off the scenery that she saw for the first time. The brick road and the two-story buildings lined up from side to side was an amazing view to her.

Kiltz, driving the wagon along the boulevard, said.

“Riez is always crowded with travelers because it is on the border of the prairie. It’s not a busy city, but there’s a lot of people coming and going, so there’s probably a good inn.”

Somehow, his definition of ‘busy’ seemed to be quite different from that of Asha.

The wagon stopped in front of a nice shop. Asha thought it was the inn that Kiltz was talking about, but when she saw the sign, it was a boutique.

Kiltz said.

“Before that, I have to buy you clothes first.”

Asha’s face heated up. She had been paying attention since they entered the town. She looked closely at the passersby, but none of them wore clothes as worn out as hers.

“B-By the way.”

“By the way?”

After wandering for a long time, Asha finally bowed her head.

“I have… no money.”

It was even more embarrassing for her to say that to Kiltz, who carried a mountain of Anitz gold coins, but she really didn’t have even a penny.

Kiltz replied seemingly puzzled.

“I’m paying for it.”

‘Then my debt will increase!’

Asha screamed inside. Asha already had a debt that she couldn’t pay off even if she worked her entire life. Asha couldn’t afford to increase that amount anymore.

She shook her head and grabbed Kiltz’s arm.

“It’s okay. I really don’t need it.”

“Do you have any change of clothes?”

Asha replied, trying to cover the torn sleeves as much as possible.

“No, I have none. Still, I can just wash it clean and wear it again.”

Kiltz asked again with suspicious eyes.

“What are you going to wear while your clothes are drying?”

“That’s…”

“That’s enough. Come here.”

“I-It’s really okay! Really!”

In the end, he decided to buy clothes for her as if nothing had happened. Kiltz asked a passerby for directions and parked the carriage in front of a large inn.

After leaving the reins to the coachman, Apparently, the inn used all of the first floor as a dining hall and had rooms on the remaining floors.

The hall was already full of people. Asha was nervous to be in a place she visited for the first time, but when she looked closely, there were also travelling families, so she was relieved.

Kilts walked straight to the counter and told the owner.

“Two rooms.”

“There are options. If you only want to sleep, it’s 80 cope, and a better room is 3 Ritz.”

“Give me one of each and we’re going to eat.”

Holding the keys, the two went upstairs. The 80-cope room could hardly be called ‘simple’ in a good way. When Asha walked to the end of the hall and looked at the other room, there was a pretty spacious room with a decent bed.

Of course, Asha thought the first room was hers, but Kiltz called Asha to bring her bag over.

“Please take a break. I will go out and come back soon.”

He quickly went down the stairs without hearing her answer.

Asha, left alone, was confused. Isn’t the key wrong? He will come back shortly  when he realises the mistake. Thinking so, Asha sat down silently and waited for the man.

After a while, as she expected, the door opened again. However, it was not Kiltz, but a woman with a round face wearing an apron.

“I brought bath water, can you wash yourself?”

“T-This is not my room….”

“Huh?”

The woman pulled her head out, checked the door plate of the room, and shrugged her shoulders.

“The black-haired brother asked me earlier to send it to you, aren’t you with him?”

Perhaps it was not a mistake that the better room was assigned to Asha. The woman put down two large steaming hot water bottles on the floor and left, saying Asha had to use them before the water cooled down.

Asha stared at the steaming bath water. She had never washed with hot water indoors before. After hesitating, she dipped her finger in it, and the water that Asha thought would be hot felt very good and at just the right temperature.

If others had seen it, they wouldn’t know if she was hitting the water or trying to wet the floor, but she somehow was able to wash herself alone. Asha was wiping the water off her hair when she heard a woman’s voice outside the door.

“Hey, I have also received this change of clothes. He said that you should wear this and come down.”

“Yeah? Yes.”

Asha opened the door slightly and took the clothes. Compared to the new clothes, the clothes she was wearing just now definitely smelled bad. Asha wondered what the problem was a while ago, but on the other hand, she was grateful for his consideration.

The clothes the lady handed over were a sturdy linen shirt and wide pants made for boys. The pants were shaped to tighten the bottom by wearing boots, but they were just fluttering.