The Pole

Kotori awoke, parched and tied to a pole.

A rough fiber rope had bound her to it.

The rope had rubbed her wrists raw and she stood up so they no longer rubbed at her wrist.

When she looked around she saw that she was in the village. In the same clearing that the man was previously. Although the other man was gone which she thought was weird until she remembered that one of the count men who cut down her family last night said that he escaped

[I hope he's at least doing well]

It was unlikely that he was able to get away unscathed. There was very little chance he could run from the village, and even if he did, she knew the nearest one was quite far away. The village her family was a part of was on the border between the northern countries of Faramouth and the southern country of Atlea. The village she lived in was located on the Atlea side.

Their village was rather isolated since most of the villages in the country were clustered together near the capital. Anyone who tried to leave would likely have to navigate through hordes of bandits and wildland that hasn't been settled by anyone.

This tended to serve as a natural border between the two countries and thus they rarely had any conflicts.

[My arms hurt]

Kotori, whose arms were raised as a result of being bound. Felt sore, unfortunately, unless she held them up they would hang against the rough fiber. Her wrist was already getting raw from being bound against the rough rope. She tried to raise her hands to alleviate the pain, but that would mean that her arms would also get sore.

Kotori only did the bare minimum to avoid the pain. Her thoughts were filled with thoughts of her new family. She already saw her father and mother killed in front of her eyes. She wasn't sure where her brother went. The mere thought led her hearts to fill with grief and anger.

It was so unfair.

Her family had done nothing wrong and were punished for her own stupid actions. Kotori regretted ever helping the man. She now realized why the karma cost to help the man was so high. It indirectly caused her family to be eliminated.

She repeatedly cursed herself. Kotori had finally understood what it meant when people said "the world is cruel"

In her previous life, she had never really struggled. People let her do what she wanted and making inventions was simple for her. As a result, Kotori had grown up rather spoiled. She never understood the sort of people who would bemoan that the "the system" was unfair". Kotori wasn't malicious but she had realized how disconnected she was.

Kotori spent the rest of the day hanging on the pole and ruminating.

The villager who still walked the street hurried along finishing their business and left her alone. No one passed her a glance, Not that Kotori cared anyway. She viewed this as punishment for her own actions and didn't even bother thinking of a complaint.

The day grew long and soon the sun began to set. The Count's men who came with him all began to retire to their respective homes. People began to disperse and go home to their families.

It would've been a calming scene if Kotori had a family left to go back to, but she didn't.

The night came and she was still tied to the pole. Kotori didn't have any hope anymore and resigned herself to death at the pole and hoped it wouldn't hurt when her soul was erased by Gabriel.

She closed her eyes and waited for death.

.

.

.

"Hey are you still awake"

Kotori jolted at the sound of a voice.

Opened her eyes and saw the man she had saved earlier looking at her. She was surprised, she thought he had already run away.

"Why are you…" Sher coughed and was unable to speak. She hadn't drunk anything all day.

The man quickly put a water skin to her mouth and she drank greedily the cool water invigorated her.

He handed her a small rucksack, his wrists were scarred from the ropes.

"I'm Roland. I heard what happened to your family. I would offer to shelter you but if the count heard we would be in trouble."

He then bowed deeply

"Thank you for the food, consider this payment for the kindness you showed me when no one else would"

Kotori coughed

"What… About… You"

He smiled,

"Ah that, I'm currently hiding in the basement of my house with my daughter Suzie. I can't go out but it's not like the count's men know where to look for me."

Kotori understood what he meant. The only information the count's men had was that he had run away. They didn't know where he would go too. It makes sense for him to stay in town when the new count would only be here for another year.

She felt another pang of sadness at the fact she had no one left to go to. There was no one here to shelter her.

He quickly cut her bindings and pushed her along.

"Run, away towards Faramouth. I wish I could help you more but I've already got a target on my back, and we can't support another person"

"Isn't that the longer route?" She asked

"They won't chase you across the border it would be an international incident"

He hurried her along and put a long thin package in her hand,

"I know you haven't eaten yet. Once you get away far enough that you are safe, open this"

Kotori nodded and began to run away in the direction that Roland mentioned she had no clue how far she would get, or if she couldn't even get away but for now she had a chance.

She ran through the forest without care for her body. Branched whipped her arms and scratched her legs.

There were no trails to follow and she could only use the waning moonlight to guide her way. Although, Kotori was strong than the average child from doing farm work she was still a 6-year-old kid.

Kotori didn't know how long she ran for. She kept waiting for pursuers but nobody seemed to come for her. It seemed that her 4-7 hour head start was enough to make any would-be pursuers far enough away that they easily gave up.

As the sun began to rise, and she could no longer run any longer. She took a small break. Her stomach grumbled and she was beginning to feel faint since she had not eaten since the night she was taken and her parents were killed. She quickly opened the package and found a rice bun along with a small reed flute.

Tears came to her eyes. It was her father's flute, Roland must've somehow known that her father was a musician and retrieved it from their house before he rescued her.

She played the flute softly, She didn't know a sad song, her father only taught her happy and joyful ones. Despite this, she still began to play. Almost, without effort, she saw that her flute began to play a mournful tone. A beautiful song began to erupt from her father's flute. The sound was much better than her old flute. It was her father's flute after all still, Kotori had surprised herself. She was playing a song that she had never learned or heard before and yet it was a beautiful song. She only played for a bit before she realized that her mana was depleting.

That was when Kotori realized that she was using [Magical Musician]. Apparently, it seemed a skill that allows her to infuse the song with mana. Whether or not she knew how to play the song was irrelevant and the mana infusion would let a song that perfectly encapsulates her emotion at the time of playing.

She quickly stopped the song. Since she had not been playing for long she hadn't used much mana.

She quickly ate the rice bun and kept running. To where? She did not know but she knew that it was her only lifeline.

She had to escape

Escape to live,

Escape to grow stronger,

Escape to get revenge.