Chapter 2 - Situation

I picked up his rifle and reached into the pocket of his robe, finding a small rifle bullets case containing sixteen rounds.

Since he was shorter than me, he was more practical to carry on my back. His weight wasn't sickening either. I used the leftover of dogbane's leaves as straps.

Rag bag in my left hand, rifle in my right, I walked along the shore following the man's instructions.

///|||\\\

In less than two hours, I caught a glimpse of the house in question.

The house was surrounded by a two-meter-high wire fence, inside which could be seen a well with its drawer. There were also some trees, stacked barrels of unknown contents, a clothesline with animal skins hanging from the strings, and what appeared to be an arrow trunk with two arrows stuck on it.

The house itself is quite harmonious with the surrounding area. It was a rectangular building except the front door on the left side which is slightly jutted out.

The walls consisted of wood that had been painted white, along with polished planks attached around the house. The roof was a green tile with a chimney and a small triangular window and a large one on the jutted fronts. Above the windows stood a golden eagle decoration who flapping its wings proudly.

The house faced the river, just a few meters away from it, while the front gate was a metal pushed fence. I could see a metal stick stuck beside its front with a black button attached to it.

I was about to press it when something flew towards me from above the front. Without much effort, I stepped aside to dodge. That something stuck to the ground a few tens of centimeters away from me. If I didn't dodge, it would've hit my head without a doubt.

'An arrow, huh?'

I turned to the direction it came from. Although it was brief, I could see a little girl behind the small triangular window on the roof.

'An attic?'

Based on my opinion, the size of the house would not be enough for a building with multiple floors. But if it's just an attic, I guess it's still acceptable.

The little girl had backed away from the window as soon as she noticed me dodge the arrow. I opened my mouth.

"I'm harmless. I was an acquaintance of your father, and came here at his request as well as to deliver his remains to you."

The little girl poked her head back into the small triangular window on the roof. She looked like a twelve or thirteen year old girl, short and small in stature, black bob cut hair, and a cute but stern face. She examined me with serious eyes, then said.

"A strangely dressed person like you? I didn't know that my father is acquainted with some freak."

'Hey! Watch your mouth, little girl! Also, why are you judge based on my appearance alone? Don't you know it doesn't make any sense? Well, whatever.'

I sighed.

"Are you gonna let me in or what?" I said a little loudly.

"Sure." She agree just like that, and pulled back her head from the window and walked somewhere.

'That simple? Seriously?' I was a little flabbergasted.

In less than a minute of waiting, the wooden door of the house opened to reveal the little girl, dressed in a gray furry jacket and jeans. She walked through the stone carved path on the ground to the opening fence.

"You were probably requested to escort me, right?" She guessed as she walked along the paved stone path.

I raised my eyebrows slightly, puzzled. But then I realized.

From her attitude, which wasn't one you could call careful, and could even be said to be very careless in my eyes, I drew a conclusion.

The Infected riot happened not too long ago, it happened just this dawn, to be precisely.

Most likely, her father went out to make acquaintances in these mountains to check on the situation, only to encounter an Infected bear and die from it. Before that, he had probably told his daughter his plan and ordered her to escape the hunter's house at the appointed time in case he did not survive. And one of the things he said was to send his acquaintance to escort her to a place I didn't even know about, or just go there by herself.

She most likely thought I was this acquaintance her father was talking about, though I had to question her blind trust in her father. After all, it's a matter of fact that my appearance is incredibly suspicious.

However, despite all those thoughts, I kept my mouth shut. It'll be just pain in the ass if she knew I wasn't the person she expected to be. Though, I'm technically was requested by her father.

That said, there is still a problem. If she knew that I didn't even knew where our destination was, it'll be better to just state my 'situation'.

When I was about to open my mouth, she beat me to it.

"Enter first."

The girl said as she opened the iron gate with the tablet in hand. I couldn't see clearly what she was doing since the tablet was at my back.

'That sure is convenient.'

And as a bonus, that surely made me suspicious.

"The note, right?" I asked just to confirm, having no intention of stepping foot inside.

The girl gave a small nod, and spoke. "I'm the only one who can access it, and that's also the only way I can confirm whether the figures who came to me are really my father's acquaintances, from whether or not they know about the existence of the note itself."

I was even more confused after hearing that.

"Then why did you just let me in? Even though you haven't confirmed that I'm really your father's acquaintance."

She looked into my eyes, expression flat.

"To kill you."

I briefly thought my hearing had shorted out, but quickly dismissed the possibility. I stared at the passing line of iron gates that didn't look any special.

"Could it be that you intend to kill me with a trap of some kind should I pass through the gate?"

She nodded, "Yes."

I put on a complex expression.

"Why?"

"To test you."

She fiddled with her tablet again.

"And now that I know you're really my father's acquaintance, you can come in."

'You didn't tell me this, aren't you, Mister?'

Nonetheless, I set my foot inside anyway. As soon as I entered, the girl asked with a grim expression.

"What caused my father's death?"

"Black bear encounter." I answered simply.

"Black bear?" She repeated, her expression full of doubt.

From the look on her face, it was likely that black bears did not live in this area. While she was lost in thought, I interrupted her with my words.

"What should I do with your late father's body?"

She was snapped back to reality and looked at the corpse behind my back with complicated expression. Then she cast her gazed at the side of the house, where there is one medium sized tree stood.

"Could you... please put my father's body there?"

I didn't ask her why as I complied with her request. After I laid him on the ground, I asked. "Need me to help you bury it?"

For some reason, she seemed embarrassed as she nodded slowly. I pondered for a moment before saying.

"It's just my thoughts, but... do you feel guilty as of how you treated me earlier?"

She bowed her head, "Yes, I apologize."

I waved my hand, indicating not to worry.

"It was most likely your father who ordered it, wasn't it? I can't blame you if that's the case."

I asked her for a shovel, and she brought it to me in hurry.

'Time to work, I guess.'

///|||\\\

"What are you planning with your father's belongings?" I asked as I sit on a wooden chair.

After burying the girl's father, we enter the hunter's house. The room inside is spacious enough to fit two wooden chairs with a table in the center and a carpet underneath as well as a candelabra hanging above, to the right of which is a sofa seating two in front of a fireplace, a number of paintings displayed on the wall, and a shelf containing various books to the left of it. Behind the right was a chest-high wall that showed what you would call the kitchen space, while behind the left stood two doors at the back and left walls.

I couldn't see the stairs leading to the attic anywhere, not even the roof of the rooftop, where no noticeable differences could be found.

The girl in front of me pondered for a while, rubbing her chin while looking down slightly before opening her mouth to answer.

"I think you can have it."

I could tell that her cold nature at the beginning was now softening. That's a bit of a relief to me, it would be troublesome if she hate me and then complain a lot on the way to escort her later.

"With pleasure."

I simply nodded in acceptance of the girl's suggestion, then changed the topic.

"So, where do we need to go?"

"Arakawa." She answered immediately.

'Arakawa... Am I at Wanakurayama mountain, perhaps?'

"We'll follow the upstream until we hit Obora River, and follow the shore up to the north until we see Oboragawa Bridge and Arakawa River beyond. Then, we go to east along Arakawa River until our destination at a certain shore city."

'How convoluted,' I thought.

"Do you know the situation out there?" I asked.

From her choice of words, it was obvious that she wanted us to simply walk to our destination. I also knew from what I had heard in the White Room that the situation out there was so chaotic that it was to be expected that the majority of public transportation or vehicles were inaccessible. That made it necessary for us to walk on foot.

The girl looked confused, tilting her head to the side. "The situation out there? I don't really know, but my father said to try to avoid human settlements as much as possible until we reach our destination."

'That's really suck,' I found myself frowned at her answer. I asked another question to confirm what I had just guessed.

"Before your father came out to seek me, what did he do before? Actually, when exactly did your father go to seek me earlier?"

She was visibly overwhelmed by my barrage of questions.

"Uh, well, let's see. I think he sought you out at seven, and before that, he went around at dawn to check the surroundings. It was a habit of my father's, and once a week he would wander around quite far in the mountains for a few hours. The walk that happened this morning was the later, by the way."

'This is undoubtedly suck.'

The situation may be more worse than I thought it would be.

If her father told this daughter of his, who I would say is quite capable, to stay as far away from human settlements as possible, then it can be guessed that those settlements are already filled with 'them' so much to the point that you can't expect to find much help there. The man could probably tell that from the locations high up in the mountains to check the state of the city through his binoculars, which were now on the table.

'Well, what did I expect, anyway?'

I sighed.

"Let's just prepare for today. We'll go tomorrow." I said, getting up from my chair.

The girl nodded her head vigorously.

'I'll leave tomorrow's problems to tomorrow's me.'