Chapter 280: Spending Time With Remilie-san I (1/2)
When the abrupt compet.i.tion with Remilie-san concluded, we dealt with the remaining undead, then it was time for me to do Remilie-san a favor.
As a result, I found myself inside a tent, sleeping on the same futon as her. I laid down on my left, while Remilie-san hugged me from behind like a body pillow. Because of the difference in our height, a pair of softness landed gently on the back of my head.
“Why are we in this situation?” [Ryouma]
“Because you broke the rules and lost, of course. You’re a boy, so I thought you’d be happier.” [Remilie]
“It’s true that you’re young-looking and beautiful, but I don’t know if I can afford to be happy about this.” [Ryouma]
I’m sure that most men would find this situation enviable, but while I might look like an elementary school student from the outside, deep inside, I’m an over 40 year-old man. Moreover, the only contact I’ve had with women were either with my mother or at my job. Being suddenly put in a situation like this is honestly troublesome. Also, while I don’t really think it’ll happen, the possibility of being accused of s.e.xual hara.s.sment is still scary.
“You really don’t budge, do you… But if you’re that stiff, then you probably can’t sleep. Well, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about anyway.” [Remilie]
As she said that, Remilie-san started rubbing my head.
“What did you want to talk about? And what are you doing?” [Ryouma]
“Hmm? I had a little brother a long time ago, and whenever he couldn’t sleep, I would do this, and he would fall asleep right away.” [Remilie]
“Oh, I see. So you had a little brother.” [Ryouma]
“Yeah, back at my hometown. I left my village a long time ago though and haven’t back since, so I don’t exactly have the right to call myself a big sister… It doesn’t make for a fun topic, but hear me out for a bit. We’ll make this a part of your lullaby, and I’ll answer your questions too.” [Remilie]
Then Remilie-san started talking.
“I live in the cities nowadays, but I was born at a village with only dark elves. It was a place that never changed. Ryouma-chan, have you ever met an old person who always talked about how things were in the old days?” [Remilie]
“Sure did.” [Ryouma]
“Humans find it hard to accept new things as they age, but that’s even truer for a village made up of long-lived people.Humans treat their young as adults by the age of 15 to 20 years old, but for us dark elves, the earliest is 50 years old. Until then, our young will live without change under the adults that have lived even longer. By the time our young have become adults, they are no longer as accepting of change, and they won’t even question that. I hated that, so I left the village before I became an adult and became an adventurer.” [Remilie]
“That must’ve been difficult.” [Ryouma]
“It would be a lie to say otherwise, but there wasn’t any of those cliché stories of a young girl leaving her village and being tricked. I was a young dark elf, after all. I was past 30 by the time I left my village, and I was strong enough to kill anyone who approached with ill intent.” [Remilie]
“I see…” [Ryouma]
“Leaving the village was actually harder. They chased after me and searched the mountains, so I hid myself in the bushes and the caves during the day and moved only during the night. I wanted to go to a city as far away as possible.” [Remilie]
…The adults were probably just desperately searching for a missing child, but to her, it must’ve felt like they were out to get her.
“I did well as an adventurer. I would go to one city after another, see new sights, eat new food, it was really fun… Until ‘that time’.” [Remilie]
Suddenly, the tone of her voice changed.
“My life as an adventurer was going well, but really, it might have been going too well. I hunted monsters and bandits with my magic and made a name for myself, and before I knew it, people were envious of me.” [Remilie]
“…So what did you do?” [Ryouma]
“Nothing. I was just that good, so I just ignored them and lived my life. What can they do? Like I said, I killed anyone that approached with ill intent. I was really on edge back then〜” [Remilie]
Remilie-san’s voice sounded happy yet grim.
“I lived alone however I pleased like that, and before long, those envious eyes transformed into eyes of fear, and I was given the name, Witch of Death’s Shadow. The magic I specialize in is shadow magic, a combination of light and dark magic. It’s good for a.s.sa.s.sinations and for fighting other people, so I often received jobs along those lines…
The roads taken by the Witch of Death’s Shadow was ever littered with corpses. For the Witch of Death’s Shadow took pleasure in the killing of life. Monsters and bandits were merely convenient targets, preys that could be killed without offending the law… Or so the rumors went.
I didn’t really mind, though.” [Remilie]
“Huh… Those were some terrible rumors, though.” [Ryouma]
“It was certainly underhanded, but back then or now, I don’t think I did anything wrong. In fact, I really didn’t do anything wrong. If anything I got rid of the dangerous elements, so people had no right to complain, really. Anyhow, I got more job thanks to that.” [Remilie]
I don’t know if I should praise her for having a strong mentality or not.
“My activities around this time started to get interesting. There’s almost no one who wanted to work with me. Even my clients who kept up appearances obviously didn’t want to be involved with me if they could help it. So despite working as an adventurer, I spent more and more time on my hobbies, and my work ethic suffered. Then the people that didn’t like me finally couldn’t stand it anymore and set traps to try and kill me. Thinking about it now makes me laugh.” [Remilie]
The contents were heavy despite the tone of her voice.
What’s so funny about them trying to kill her?
“Oh, the laugh is meant for the traps. Obviously, them trying to kill me isn’t funny.” [Remilie]
“…Okay? I don’t think I can relate to a funny trap either, though.”
“I guess it’s better described as a situation rather than a trap? As I was saying, I took mostly subjugation jobs and did whatever I wanted. I’ve hunted plenty of bandits and crushed plenty of Dark Guild members, resulting in the arrest of plenty of corrupt n.o.bles. There were a lot of people that hated my guts. I’ve worked as an a.s.sa.s.sin plenty of times, and I knew that the odds were against me normally. One day, I was called to the guild on short notice, and they pretty much forced a job on me. Given the urgency of the job, it wasn’t unusual that the compensation would be so big. There was no helping it, so I tried going, and lo and behold, there was an ambush waiting for me. Interestingly, they were all stark naked.” [Remilie]