Departure

On the last day of the first month since his awakening in this world, Leo woke up at dawn and quietly slipped out of the Orphanage while everyone was sleeping after leaving something behind.

'I'm sorry, but… this is necessary.'

He slightly hesitated on his way out as he imagined Ria's face when she read the letter he left by her bed. In the end, however, he steeled his heart and walked away.

While he knew that he was a necessary part of this Orphanage, Leo could dally no longer. At the very least, the coins he left alongside the letter should remove the financial burden from Ria's shoulder.

'I will make sure to come back later.'

Unlike his 'brother', he wasn't bound by the author's plans. It was necessary for him to leave, but that didn't mean he couldn't come back later once his matter was finished.

In reality, Leo didn't want to end his happy days in this nameless town, but the current him wasn't capable of protecting these days, not to mention reaching the epilogue.

Considering the nature of Ray's growth, danger wasn't that far away from his first home. Saving the Orphanage once extended its days, but didn't guarantee endless protection. Since the protagonist's 'reverse scale' still existed thanks to Leo's interference, there were likely others who would come to poke at it in due time.

'They are no longer alone in any case.'

Just as Leo was thinking about one more positive change that he influenced, he bumped into a familiar face as he was making his way to the town's stable…

'Maybe I should have thought of a mountain of gold instead.'

"You are leaving already?"

Looking at Crane who smiled at him while drinking tea, Leo questioned Crane's way of hiding things. After all, it wasn't exactly normal to drink tea at dawn, specifically in the tea shop situated in the same street as the stable.

He had merely hinted that he might be leaving early soon, but once again, Crane proved to be meticulous when he was serious, although his cover wasn't particularly bright.

"Fancy seeing you here at this time."

"Right? If I didn't wake up early today for a change, I might have missed you."

Shamelessly going on with his act, Crane sipped his tea calmly. Leo almost couldn't connect the current him and the old grumpy Crane…

"Well, you already know that it's hard for me to leave otherwise. You also know I can't stay here forever, especially in my current state."

Trying his best not to laugh at the clumsy contrast, Leo sincerely conversed with Crane. While the time they spent together wasn't much and they even had a rough start, Crane could be considered the first friend that Leo had made in this world.

"I know. I know. You don't need to explain anything, it's not like I want you to stay anyway. Rather, with you gone, I'm finally free from slaving around for you!"

'A tsundere?'

Leo smiled at Crane as a thought popped into his mind. Perhaps only Crane's nature as a 'side character' could explain his quirkiness.

"Hah! Don't get happy too soon. I will make sure to come back for more swords later. Also…"

After throwing the joke back at Crane, Leo's smile faded as he hesitated to continue. In the end, he walked past the tea shop, only finishing what he wanted to say when his back faced Crane.

"Do take care of them if you can."

Not waiting for Crane's answer, Leo quickly walked into the stable, putting everything behind him…

`~~~`~~~`~~~`

As one of the things he prepared for his departure, Leo had already rented a simple horse carriage from the town's stable for a maximum of six months for a dozen gold swords. Since Leo wasn't sure how long he would be away, he paid extra just to be safe, the deposit was refundable anyway.

While it seemed more sensible for Leo to just rent a horse on its own, Leo wasn't traveling package-less, he simply couldn't on the horse's body to carry all of his luggage. Most importantly, Leo's current small body would simply suffer if he spent such a long time on horseback, although a medieval carriage wasn't that much better, it was an improvement nevertheless.

Fortunately, horse-riding was one of the 'hobbies' that Leo had tried before so he read quite a bit about it. As such, when it came to carriage driving, all it took him were a couple of days of training at the stables to safely reach his first destination without a problem, the forest.

It was a bit rough to drive in a forest, but Leo needed to go there first to pick up the stuff that he prepared for his journey over the last few days. Thankfully, the carriage was neither big nor fancy, so it didn't pose too much trouble.

"Here we go."

By the time Leo finished loading his luggage and tidying them, the sun was already shining brightly, its golden rays illuminating the sky and emphasizing the majestic sky-piercing sword.

Taking one last look in the direction of the Orphanage, Leo climbed into the driver seat and firmly held the horse's reins, calmly driving it through the shortest path out of the forest.

As much as he was unwilling to leave, Leo was also full of will to reach his end destination. After all, as long as he arrived there, there was a big chance that he could 'repair' his body!

No matter how much he enjoyed the breeze of normalcy that he went through, Leo was ultimately a 'reader' deep inside. As a reader, it wouldn't be normal if he didn't at least try to get a hang of the supernatural power that he could read about yet not acquire!

'It's worth looking forward to.'

Neighhhhhh!

Shedding away his regrets with anticipation, Leo's horse carriage made its way through the direction opposite to the nameless town, the horse's neigh announcing the beginning of a long journey...