"Papa, what are you drinking?" Leah looked at me with puzzlement. I had a cup in my hand and blew on the water inside. I replied, "Boiled water. Do you want some?"
"Boiled water?" Leah looked at the water in my cup with curiosity and then asked, "Wouldn"t it burn if you drank hot water?"
"You"ll be fine once you"re used to it. Drinking it like this makes you feel warm."
It"s tough to be able to have this cup of boiled water in a place like this, that doesn"t offer breakfast. If you take the cold water from the well and boil it over a fire then use it to wipe your face and neck, it"ll feel like your frozen blood vessels have dilated again, bringing warmth back to your body. After having a cup of hot water, my frozen fingers also came back to life and made me feel warm from the inside out.
However, it looks like I"m the only one who has this idea of drinking hot water. Veirya and Leah didn"t seem to shiver as I did in the morning. Veirya was emotionless, while Leah was lively as usual. It looks like I"m the only one who"s afraid of the cold. Veirya is a human, so why isn"t she afraid of the cold?
"Cloak."
Veirya descended the stairs and then placed my cloak that had been folded neatly in front of me. Leah jumped up and looked at us with suspicion. I quickly looked to Veirya, not knowing what to do and afraid that she would say something she shouldn"t. I hoped that Veirya would maintain her unique silence and not say anything she shouldn"t.
Veirya was, indeed, very good. She didn"t say anything pointless, instead, sitting down to one side. Leah then s.n.a.t.c.hed my cloak up and raised it up to her nose to sniff it. She then angrily exclaimed, "It"s covered in her scent!"
"Because I just wrapped myself in it."
Veirya responded before I could. She looked at Leah then shook out her cloak and asked, "Do you want to wrap yourself in one too?"
"Why… Why was your cloak with her, Papa?!"
Leah jolted and then turned her gaze to me to vent at me. I smiled helplessly. I honestly didn"t have an answer for her question.
"What am I going to tell Leah? What, "Veirya took a bath and I didn"t want others to see her naked body so I covered her with my cloak"?"
I bet Leah would explode if I said that. I must provide an appropriate response in this situation.
"Because a normal girl wouldn"t carelessly reveal her body."
Veirya responded on my behalf and I was just about ready to kill myself with my cup. Leah immediately understood what happened. She aggressively tossed me my cloak and then raged, "Papa, you! Hmph!! You don"t care about Leah"s feelings at all!"
"Leah! I do! That"s not…!"
Veirya watched me who was struggling to find the words and Leah who was angry. She felt it was interesting or something. I looked at Leah who was angry, like a kitten with all its hairs standing up. It wasn"t a good time to go touching her with my hands. I bet she would bite my hand hard. I stood up and asked, "It"s not early anymore. We have to go to work now. Veirya, take me to see the Chief. Leah, do you want to come along?"
"Uhm!"
Leah nodded firmly then quickly grabbed my arm and stood up. Veirya saw us and stood up as well. She walked over to my side and grabbed hold of my hand.
"Heeeeyyy!!!!"
Leah looked at me shocked and screamed. Veirya looked at her. She extended her hand out to Leah and asked, "Do you want to hold hands too?"
"No!!"
Leah grouchily slapped her hand away. Anger can sometimes overwhelm fear. Also, Leah is no longer so afraid of Veirya, after living together. Both of them don"t say much when we eat together every day, after all, so Leah wouldn"t run away because of her now.
When Leah slapped Veirya"s hand, Veirya quickly grabbed hold of her hand. Leah shrieked and then Veirya pulled her over. Leah cried as she reached her hand out and I quickly grabbed her other hand. In the end, Veirya and I ended up on both sides of Leah, with her holding our hands.
When we got to the door, the boss at the door snickered and asked, "My gosh, you"re obviously a family of three, so what are you hiding the fact for? What, a heroine can"t get married or something?"
Veirya turned her head to look at him, looked at him seriously and said, "I haven"t married, and we aren"t a family."
"Fine, fine, fine."
The boss didn"t seem to be willing to say any more to Veirya. Indeed, those who interacted with Veirya were never willing to go back-and-forth over anything with her because she wasn"t someone who could hold a conversation.
Leah was very upset. Though she held my hand tightly, she was desperately trying to wriggle her other hand out of Veirya"s grasp, as if she was using a sulking technique. However, I told her that today"s business was important, so the sensible Leah won"t cause any big ruckus. It"s just that Leah, who was very displeased, occasionally kicked me. I, however, could only chuckle hopelessly. Veirya insists on making sure what she does is successful.
Hence, Veirya and I both held Leah"s hands. Leah kept shifting toward me, but she couldn"t escape from Veirya"s strength. As a result, Veirya led Leah and Leah led me as we headed to the military camp.
The city was very boring in the morning. Maybe dead was a better description. I didn"t see a single hawker along the streets. They may be just a hawker, but they are, indeed, an important part of the liveliness of a city. They can be considered a part of the city"s merchants.
"Just how dead is this city? Outside is the refugees" cemetery while this place is the cemetery of the citizens here. Life here is the same as death. There wasn"t a single soul or the sound of armour moving. Surely there are residents in the buildings on both sides."
I couldn"t see any signs of people living there, though.
We reached the entrance of the military camp. The guards looked at us somewhat shocked this time. They looked at Veirya with confusion, "Lord Veirya, what business do you have here today? Our Chief is currently in the room on the third floor. You just need to head up and you will see him. You are making it hard for us by coming and going from the camp here."
"Uhm." Veirya nodded and then indicated for me to respond. I looked at the guards and asked, "Is your Chief free right now?"
The guard looked at me with curiosity and asked, "Are you the one who wants to see him or Lord Veirya?"
I nodded and then replied, "Lord Veirya has put me in charge of discussing a matter with the Chief."
That"s a perfect response. I think that the guards won"t let me see him, if I say that I"m the one who wants to see him, since I"m a stranger to them. Veirya on the other hand is a warrior. Once these sorts of guards get suspicious, they won"t let me enter. If I say it"s for Veirya"s business, then they"ll be even more adamant about denying me pa.s.sage. Veirya doesn"t have what it takes to discuss this with him.
My response made it clear that Veirya was the one who wanted to see him, but she couldn"t discuss what she wanted to discuss, so they had to let me through with her.
They cleared their throats after hearing my response and looked at me with distrust. One guard cleared his throat gently and replied, "You do not have any weapons on you, do you? You must disarm completely, before you see the Chief."
I raised up both hands and opened my cloak to show I wasn"t armed. Veirya obeyed and pa.s.sed the guard her sword. It looks like seeing the Chief unarmed is an order in the military. That must be why Veirya obeyed and disarmed.
When the guard took the sword, he almost dropped to his knees. He looked at the long sword in front of him completely stunned. There"s nothing unique about Veirya"s sword. The guard muttered, "Is this… the sword that was used to slay the Demon King?"
Veirya nonchalantly replied, "No. My previous sword snapped long ago. I used the Demon King"s sword to kill him. His sword is currently with Her Majesty."
"You s.n.a.t.c.hed the Demon King"s sword from him empty-handed and then killed him?!"
"It wasn"t hard."
Okay, okay. One-slash Girl Veirya"s concepts are different to ours.
The guard hugged the sword to his body and then made way. Moved, he trembled, "I… I… I will definitely protect… I will use my life… to protect this sword… I… I……"
"All right." Veirya nodded earnestly and then added, "Protect it well!"
"Roger!"
"It"s just a normal sword and there"s no need for you to do that now, is there…?"
But that was, indeed, how Veirya was as a person… I"ll just not mind this sort of stuff.
l