Why Would You Sell That?
The place where Sharti and Ren arrived via Shukadi’s teleportation magic was a mountain peak quite far from Sedipia Village. This was to avoid being spotted by the noble procession coming up from below.
And inside the pocket of the fur coat was a note that must have been hidden there at some point. It was a note written late at night by the Krofl Mercenary Group with the location of food they had hidden for the two of them. Thanks to this, they didn’t need to worry about provisions for the journey back.
“At least the wind isn’t too strong yet, which is fortunate. When the snow and wind are severe, it becomes difficult to secure visibility.”
“Sha, be careful where you step.”
“Yes. Don’t worry.”
However, just because Sharti stumbled once in the snow piled up to her ankles, she had to be carried by Ren as before.
“This actually seems more dangerous……”
“Are you seriously saying that?”
Though they bickered over trivial things here and there, there was no pointless stubbornness or dampening of spirits like before. The time spent exchanging small talk with Ren was comfortable.
Now that Sharti no longer avoided conversation or felt awkward, Ren actively led their discussions.
“—That little doctor seemed mature for his age.”
“Ah, you mean Tein’s way of speaking?”
Ren was interested in Sharti, especially in her surroundings.
He tactfully didn’t ask when or how she came to know the Vireta family, but he wanted to know about the people around her to whom she had opened her heart.
“When Tein was younger than now, Grandmother’s colleagues would often visit the house, and back then the rookie mercenaries would make quite a fuss about meeting Grandmother, who was called a legend among active mercenaries.”
Seeing the mercenaries acting all pumped up in front of Vireta, young Tein’s eyes would light up.
And he would ask:
[Misters! Is Gwandma scawy?]
At the pure child’s question of whether they were afraid because his grandmother was so strong, the rookie mercenaries shook their heads in unison. They stroked the child’s small head and whispered as if imparting great wisdom.
[We show respect because we admire her, little one.]
Whether that one teaching had left a deep impression on the young child’s values, from that day on Tein earnestly practiced using honorifics.
The child admired his strong grandmother, the older sister who raised him on her back, and his clever teacher. Perhaps because of this, he began to consistently use honorifics to show proper respect. And before long, Tein’s speech had taken on a maturity unbecoming of a child.
“Grandmother said that unlike other families, there’s no adult man in the house, so it seems like Tein is unconsciously trying to become an adult man who can protect Grandmother and Virena.”
“That makes sense. He’s a thoughtful child.”
Tein had a strong sense of responsibility and was more perceptive than other children his age, enough for Ren to acknowledge it.
“But children are allowed to be selfish.”
Being perceptive meant he was constantly reading the room.
“Grandmother always feels sorry that she couldn’t create an environment where he could act spoiled to his heart’s content.”
Tein had never once asked why they had to move as if fleeing, what kind of people his parents were. He never questioned why Sharti, who wasn’t family, lived with them, or how she got burned and her voice ruined.
Growing up receiving love from his grandmother and older sister instead of his parents, Tein had matured too quickly.
“Are both siblings like that?”
“Yes. Virena is similar to Tein. The two are exactly alike.”
Sharti giggled.
Even though they were half-siblings, perhaps because they strongly inherited their mother’s blood, Virena and Tein were similar in their stubbornness and way of thinking. The older sister earns money for her younger brother, and the younger brother studies for his older sister. And Vireta becomes a solid fence for her grandchildren.
The heart each had for the family’s happiness was something Sharti could never feel herself.
“Do you move often, relocating your base?”
“Mm, we’ve moved quite frequently so far. After all, if we stay too long, personal information tends to become known.”
“Then that small log cabin you’re staying in now might also be left behind someday.”
“Well……. It’s a small village on the mountainside, and there’s currently no doctor or strong person in the village. So they hope we’ll stay for a long time. We’re receiving various kinds of help since Grandmother revealed she’s a mercenary.”
Of course, situations requiring escape don’t come with advance notice, so they couldn’t be at ease.
‘The day after we got the small log cabin, we immediately made a refuge in the cave just in case.’
Come to think of it, she remembered that they hadn’t made a new refuge yet. With everything being so hectic, she had completely forgotten about the refuge issue.
‘……Ah, the sword!’
Suddenly the sword buried in the ground near the collapsed cave weighed on her mind.
‘Is there any need to show that sword to Ren, who says he won’t search for his memories?’
It was originally his, so it was right to return it, but she felt strangely reluctant. The sight of Ren showing talent in swordsmanship enough to face the Krofl Mercenary Group members felt as uncomfortable as a thorn stuck in her throat.
‘I don’t want to put a sword that harms people into the hands that picked flowers for me.’
She liked Ren holding a needle and thread that didn’t suit his large hands. She liked Ren preparing ingredients, saying he’d help with cooking. She liked Ren handing over fruit he’d gathered with clumsy axe work.
She didn’t want to put back into Ren’s hands a life where he couldn’t let go of the sword until the moment before death.
“Um, I haven’t mentioned this before, but I have something of yours, Ren.”
But Sharti didn’t have the right to arbitrarily dispose of his belongings.
Sharti added in a passing tone as if it were no big deal.
“When we first met in the cave, it was something Ren had before losing his memory, and I’ll give it to you when we get home.”
“…….”
There was no particular reaction from Ren.
Wasn’t he even curious what it was? Sharti glanced at Ren, who was steadily climbing the snow-covered mountain path while holding her securely.
“It’s—”
As Sharti fidgeted with her bag strap to explain, Ren suddenly stopped walking.
Ren, who had been looking only forward, looked at Sharti.
Only then did she notice Ren’s crooked smile.
“Seeing as I’ve been getting along fine without it, it doesn’t seem like a particularly important item.”
His true feelings were clearly readable—why suddenly offer something she’d been hiding all this time.
Their gazes tangled in midair.
“……Don’t you need it?”
“I don’t.”
Ren flatly refused without a moment’s consideration.
For him, the lost memories had now become a forgotten past, holding no lingering attachment whatsoever.
Sharti rubbed her cheeks with her clenched fists. It was obvious that the corners of her mouth and her cheeks kept tickling and trying to twitch.
“Ah, does it seem like something valuable?”
“Hm? Well……, it did look that way, but I’m not sure if it’s okay since it’s been buried in the ground for quite a while.”
The sword was heavy, and the scabbard, blade, and handle were all caked with dried blood. Still, there were no particularly damaged or broken parts.
When Sharti nodded, Ren chuckled.
“Then it should be fine to sell it.”
“What?”
Sharti asked in surprise.
“Wh-why would you sell that?”
“If I’m not going to keep it, isn’t selling it the right thing to do?”
Sharti blinked, at a loss for words.
If she argued about what he meant, it was true that selling unused items was correct. Especially if it was a decent item that could help financially.
“N-no! Still, that’s……. Shouldn’t you not do that……?”
Unable to find words to refute and nearly convinced, Sharti grasped at the last thread of reason she had left.
Either way, it was a sword that felt wrong to sell.
“Then I’ll accept it.”
At Sharti’s lukewarm response, Ren readily reversed his decision.
“If I sell it, there’s no problem, right?”
“…….”
At Ren’s simple change of thinking, Sharti realized how truly pointless all her worrying and concern had been.
Sharti laughed softly.
“The money from selling it can be used as Ren’s emergency fund.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to use it for house repairs?”
Setting aside the value of the sword buried in the ground, Sharti and Ren continued their idle conversation.
They shared plans for getting through winter, discussed lacking medicinal herbs that needed to be stocked up, and exchanged their opinions about modest travels.
Ren’s smile became more natural than before, and Sharti’s laughter increased a bit more.
In the pure white winter landscape, Sharti and Ren focused only on each other.
It was a peaceful moment.
****
As the day waned, the snowfall became severe as feared.
Before visibility became difficult due to the snow and wind, the two found a place to hide early. Luckily, there was an abandoned cabin.
Due to the long absence of human touch, the cabin had collapsed in places—both the roof and interior—but for the two of them, the mere fact that there were walls was sufficient comfort.
“It’s definitely colder at night with the snow falling.”
The mountain’s cold was more severe at night. The coat that had been fine against any cold during the day seemed to lose its function as soon as night fell, with the cold seeping into their bones.
Sharti trembled while continuously exhaling white breath.
“Sha, come here.”
Ren, who had laid out several layers of blankets on the floor where less snow had accumulated, seated Sharti first.
“Did you turn on the mana stone?”
Sharti nodded and held out her hand. The mana stone charged in Sedipia Village was giving off warm heat like new.
Ren wrapped the remaining blanket around Sharti’s body with relief.
“What about you, Ren?”
“The coat is thick, so I’m fine.”
Sharti glared at Ren’s halfhearted excuse and stood up abruptly. Then she wrapped the blanket around Ren and seated him first as before.
“When it snows, body temperature drops so quickly. Say something that makes sense.”
Grumbling with a cold glance, Sharti sat in the space between Ren’s legs with her back to his upper body. Ren, who flinched slightly for a moment, seemed to catch on since they’d been in this position before and bent his upper body to wrap his arms around her. Sharti, who had been inserting the mana stone into the lamp, visibly flinched when her back touched Ren’s chest.
“I-it’ll get warm soon.”
“……I see.”
At Ren’s slightly lowered bass voice, Sharti seemed to swallow quietly, then quickly passed the warmly heated mana stone into his hands.
“T-today I’ll sleep first.”
“Sleep well, Sha.”
Thump thump…….
As a gentle light and hot warmth spread between the two, the sound of someone’s heartbeat—impossible to tell whose—echoed in their ears.
Through the pitch-black dark night, past dawn, and until the morning sun finally rose, neither the howling snow and wind nor the swaying tree sounds could disturb the two’s time together.
When Sharti and Ren opened their eyes early in the morning, the long first snow had ended.
“Wow, the snow…… piled up way more than expected……?”
The problem was that the snow that had accumulated overnight had piled up to Sharti’s thighs. In the end, on the second day and the third day too, Sharti had to be carried by Ren to move.
Just when Ren’s stamina was becoming a concern due to the continuing poor sleeping arrangements and cold, finally a small cave was discovered.
“Ren! Let’s stay here today……!”
Rumble—
Along with an ominous sound from the sky, plop, raindrops began to fall.
It was the beginning of the heavy rain that Ashu’s grandfather had foreseen.