A Girl and Her Wrath

I HITCHED A RIDE from Tetra with a cargo wagon headed for the next

city. The weather was so beautiful and clear that, after my gargoyle-filled

sleepless night, I couldn't help but yawn.

"Hey, sleepyhead… You sure you can defend us?"

"Sorry," I muttered.

I'd agreed to act as guard for the duration of our journey. While I

would have agreed in exchange for the ride, I'd been assured an additional

payment of three silver for seeing the middle-aged merchant and his load

safely to his destination. So, hell, why not? I was confident in my ability to

handle run-of-the-mill bandits and monsters.

On the other hand, if a crowned beast showed up—one of those rare

monsters with names and special skills—

the smartest tactic would be to make the merchant drop his cargo and make

a break for it.

"How strong are you anyway, young man?" the merchant called back

again. "I gotta say, you don't look all that tough."

"I can handle myself," I said. "I'd say I'm about as strong as a rookie

holy knight."

The merchant bellowed with laughter at my reply, doubling over and

clutching his stomach. He shook so hard that he yanked the reins and scared

his horses. "Oh, you're a riot! The same level as a holy knight?! You

shouldn't go saying that crap out loud, especially not where we're headed."

"Why's that?"

"Because the city we're going to—Lanchester—it's holy knight

territory. They hear you talking like that, and they'll lop your head off for

disrespect. Your loose tongue could even get me into trouble!"

Off with both our heads, huh? Just imagining laws that draconian

sent a shiver down my spine. I made a mental note to watch my tongue

around any holy knights I met. When we arrived in Lanchester, I'd need

lodgings and a place to relax. My time in Tetra had turned out to be

anything but relaxing. I'd visited home, yes, but that ended with me taking

on a ravenous swarm of bloodthirsty gargoyles. This time, I wanted to avoid

any unnecessary fights—outside of any feeding I needed to do, of course.

"What better way to test your strength than against a holy knight?"

Greed chuckled. "Bring one down, then sleep the deep sleep of the

Gluttonous. That's the life, I tell you."

"If I did that, sleep would be out of the question! All the city's guards

would be after us."

"You're not thinking big enough, Fate. If that happens, you take the

whole city. Conquer it. Then you make the whole city your bed and sleep

that sweet sleep of the Gluttonous. I'm telling you, that's the life!"

"That's the greediest version of a good night's sleep I've ever heard

of."

Just as I was tiring of Greed's outlandish schemes, the wagon came to

a grating halt along a mountain road. Huge boulders bordered us on both

sides.

Hm? What's going on?

I glanced about the area. Men stood on the jagged rocks. Lots of men.

They all brandished weapons with an eager glint in their eyes that made it

clear they were not here to be our friends. I checked behind us to find that,

sure enough, the men had blocked off the path by which we'd come as well.

Bandits. We were surrounded. By the grins on their faces, it was clear

they'd been waiting for us.

This was bad… I hadn't even noticed the ambush. Some bodyguard I

was. Well, it wasn't too late to get the upper hand. I unsheathed Greed from

his scabbard and jumped down from the cart, ready to defend my client.

I quickly scanned the nearby men with Identify. Their stats weren't

anything to worry about, but like the gargoyles, there were more than thirty

of them. If I had to take the bandits on one by one, I might not be able to

protect the merchant.

I could use Greed's First Level secret technique, Bloody Ptarmigan,

to take them all out at once…but the sheer power of that attack would be a

massacre, and it'd take out this section of the road with the bandits. I

wanted to avoid that if I could, and not just for our journey's sake either.

These bandits were out to steal from us, yes, but I didn't want to become

the kind of cold-blooded killer who slaughtered people at first sight, no

questions asked.

As I tried to formulate my battle strategy, the merchant grabbed hold

of me and wailed. "We're dead! We're so dead! Fate, you're as strong as a

holy knight, right?! Right?! Do something!"

"I will, but you have to let go of me so I can fight!"

One bandit sneered down at us from his boulder and cackled. Their

leader, by my guess.

"Did you hear that, fellas?" he said. "This skinny young'n says he's

as strong as a holy knight. That's so stupid, it's funny. I think these guys're

so scared, they've lost their little minds."

The surrounding bandits laughed. They'd done this before. They

flaunted their advantage to intimidate their victims. As if on cue, the

merchant quaked with fear. I was afraid that, with a little more pressure, he

might wet himself.

No more time to hesitate. My mind was made up. These bandits

clearly intended to kill us. In that case, why was I still worried about killing

them first?

As I started transforming the black sword into the black bow, the

bandit leader shouted from upon his rock. "Your prey shivers in fear!

Everybody in! Kill them!"

They're coming! I readied myself for their attack.

Instead, there was an unexpected interruption. Explosions tore

through the air, punctuated by bandit screams.

"Aaaaaaahhh! What the hell is that?!"

The very boulders upon which the bandits perched crumbled beneath

their feet. I knocked away pieces of flying rock and fought off stray bandits

as I defended the merchant and his wagon. What the hell was suddenly

shattering these massive rocks?

The reason made itself clear soon enough.

"It's…a girl?!"

The figure of a young woman appeared, striding over shards of fallen

rock with an expression of pure calm. Her skin was tan, her body decorated

with white tattoos. The giant black axe she carried didn't match her petite

frame at all.

I'd seen her before. She was the Galian girl I'd briefly met at Lady

Roxy Hart's family estate.

The once confident bandits now flailed on the ground around the girl,

their arms and legs broken, sprained, or twisted at odd angles. The girl

appeared entirely uninterested in them. She didn't even glance in their

direction. Instead, she stepped on any of the wounded men in her way, as if

they were merely part of the road she walked. The bandits may as well have

been pebbles on a stone path.

Behind me, I heard more shouting. These shrieks of fear belonged to

the remaining bandits, the ones who had blocked off the road behind our

wagon. The destruction unfolding before them, caused by one emotionless,

white-haired girl, was more than they could handle; they ran off screaming

like frightened rabbits.

The Galian girl slowly walked to the front of the wagon, staring at me

the entire time. She stopped directly in front of us and did not budge.

The merchant, who clearly didn't want to stay here even a second

longer than he had to, called out to her. "Er… Thank you so much for

saving us, Miss. I'd really very much like to leave immediately, so…would

you mind stepping aside?"

"If you give me a ride, I'll do it."

I suspected that if the merchant didn't agree, we'd end up one more

shattered wreck on the road. This was less a request and more of an order.

Threat emanated from her like an aura: If you don't let me on, I can't be sure

what this axe might do next…

The merchant immediately capitulated. "Uh… Of course. Please, hop

on board. You've uh…you've got some real guts, girl. You look so young,

but you wield such unbelievable power!"

A perfect example of hitching a ride via intimidation. But the

frightening aura probably didn't matter to the merchant so long as his

journey went peacefully. Much better to let the girl ride on his wagon than

to lose all his goods to her wrath. After all, she'd demonstrated an amazing

strength. At this point, she probably seemed more helpful than I did.

I took in the bandits left lying on the road. They were scattered across

the ground, moaning and twitching. None seemed dead, but all of them had

broken something. Maybe take this as a lesson and give up banditry, I

thought, and returned my gaze to the girl.

With a cute grunt, she swung her black axe onto the cart.

"Whoa!"

The wagon tilted wildly due to the immense heaviness of the axe.

"You're going to break the wagon! Get it off! Please, get it off!" the

merchant shouted.

"Oh, right," the girl said. "Sloth, it's okay now. You can go back to

normal."

The girl gently tapped the black axe, and the wagon suddenly stopped

tilting. She'd apparently done something—magic, perhaps?—to adjust the

weight of the weapon from "insane" to merely "absurd." The merchant

laughed awkwardly at this unimaginable sight.

But, to me, it was not entirely unimaginable. That black axe of hers

struck me as eerily similar to my own weapon. Greed had the ability to

transform into a sword, magic bow, and scythe. It wouldn't surprise me to

learn that there were also magical weapons that could change their weight.

At any rate, the wagon could well have toppled over and collapsed,

so it was a relief to see it wouldn't when the girl set the newly lightened axe

down. She jumped into the wagon and took a seat—right next to me.

"We meet again," she said.

"Indeed…" I replied.

This meeting didn't feel like chance. Frankly, it felt like an ambush—

like this strange girl had been waiting for me the way the bandits had been

lying in wait for passing merchants.

As if sensing my suspicions, the girl spoke. "I'm Myne. I had a

feeling you'd be heading to Galia around now. I still don't know your name.

Will you tell me?"

I couldn't put my finger on its source, but a strange weight, almost

like her odd axe's power, radiated from Myne. She spoke quietly, soft in

tone, but behind her words I sensed a tension, one that suggested a failure to

meet her requests would be met with scornful fury…

I wondered whether it was Myne's eyes that put me on edge. They

were a deep, warning red that forced me to avert my gaze. Her crimson eyes

reminded me of the unending pit of hunger into which I feel whenever

Gluttony dropped me into a starvation state.

"Are you listening? What's your name?" she asked.

"I'm Fate Graphite."

"I'll remember that. Fate of Gluttony."

What?! My eyes widened just the smallest bit. But I haven't said

anything about Gluttony yet!

Myne leaned close to me, so the merchant couldn't hear what she

said next. "Of course I recognize another bearer of a Skill of Mortal Sin.

The fact that you don't simply shows how new you are to this."

"I see… You say 'another'; what's your skill, then?"

"I'm a bearer of Wrath. It's in the same class of skills. Has Greed told

you nothing of this?"

Myne tilted her head to the side, staring accusingly at the black

sword. No, Greed hadn't said a thing. In fact, I was fairly certain he made a

point of not telling me more than he absolutely had to. I gripped the hilt of

the black sword and tried asking him directly about Myne's words, but my

question was met with silence. In fact, ever since the bandit attack earlier,

Greed had been silent.

Was the braggart black sword pretending to be asleep?

Skills of Mortal Sin… Wrath… Was the power Myne wielded similar

to Gluttony? I wanted to ask, but just as I worked up my nerve, the

merchant poked his head back to check on us. As long as he was around, I

suspected it was a bad idea to chat about the subject any more than we

already had, no matter how curious I was.

Despite my silence, Myne seemed to catch the curiosity in my eyes.

"You'll learn more about me in time, Fate. Besides, you still owe me for my

last favor. Until you pay me back, we'll be traveling together."

Her last favor? Did she mean the kobolds at the Hart family estate?

Back then, our only interaction had been when she said she'd give me the

kobolds, and that I owed her one for them. I'd battled the kobolds,

completely annihilating them and the valley they came from, and…had

essentially gotten her blamed for the damage, since she'd been a foreigner

glimpsed passing through that day.

So yeah, okay. Any way you sliced it, I definitely owed her one.

"I don't know if traveling with me is a good idea," I said. "I'm going

to Galia."

"I know. That's where I'm going, too, so it's perfect. We'll go to

Galia, and you can pay me back there."

Myne's words made it seem as if it was my choice, but her intense

stare said, You don't get a say in this, by the way. If you refuse, there's still

time for you to meet the same end as those bandits.

In any case, Myne and I were heading in the same direction for now,

and there really was a lot I still wanted to know. Traveling with her struck

me as a good idea, threatening aura or not.

"Okay. Together, then."

"Great. I'm counting on you, Fate."

With that, Myne dropped immediately into a deep sleep beside me.

The speed with which she fell asleep astounded me. I recalled something

Greed had once said, that first-rate adventurers learned to rest whenever the

opportunity arose. If that was true, Myne was probably a couple levels

above first-rate. If there was a speed-sleeping contest, she would win hands

down.

And then there was her mysterious skill, the Mortal Sin of Wrath…

She had pulverized towering boulders, along with the bandits who stood on

them, without breaking a sweat. From what I could tell, she didn't pull any

punches against anyone she considered an enemy. However, her peaceful,

sleeping face showed not even the slightest hint of her furious fighting

style.

Seeing that my conversation with Myne was over, the merchant

glanced at me with relief. "Doesn't look so scary when she's sleeping, huh?

But, uh…is she a friend of yours? You gotta tell me if you know her."

"Not a friend, no. We've crossed paths before, but other than that,

she's a stranger."

"Even so, at least she's friendly to you. Did you see the way she

looked at me? Almost pissed myself on the spot…"

The wagon rumbled along. Though I was on edge the entire ride, I

was thankful that we didn't encounter any more bandits or monsters. The

rest of the journey passed so peacefully that I had to wonder if the quiet was

the lull before an oncoming storm.

"Hey, look, you can see it!" The merchant pointed ahead. "That city

over there is where we're going. Lanchester! It's run by a holy knight."

"Whoa…"

From the outside, Lanchester looked as strong and sturdy as the

Kingdom of Seifort itself. It was a fortress surrounded by towering white

walls, as if the city itself were a gleaming reflection of the very holy knights

who governed it.