Telling Faruk About Her

"Hey, now... your grumbling won't do anything to that monster there," said Faruk tilting the iron ball a bit. "Show me what that fool taught you. Go get that rabbit."

"Huff... okay."

Despite being heavily disappointed, Oria undertakes the command from her master. She turns at the rabbit, grabbing her wand, and then transforms it into a magical knife.

"I should kill it, right?"

"Hm. Take care to not get hurt by it if possible."

"O-Okay..."

The horned rabbit is yet to detect the presence of the young girl. For some reason, it is sniffing through the grass and eventually ramming its horn stuck to a root of a tree.

"U-Uh..."

"Oh, you look at that," Faruk took a closer look at it. "Poor creature, it got itself stuck... well, lucky for you, Oria. This is your chance to slay it without receiving any damage."

"G-Got it!" Oria half ran towards the rabbit, holding the knife of light in hand. She holds the knife high above her head. A bit of tremor coursing through her arms, but she grips tighter and executes the rabbit monster in one powerful thrust to the back.

"Haaah!"

As the radiant knife punctured the monster, it screeches in deathly pain. Its blood sprays out, besmirching her tiny hands in red stains. She watches as the monster's life blows away.

The Observer ball floats low near her. "Are you okay?" Faruk asked.

The little girl stands up in a slight grim look on her face.

"Y-Yeah, I guess," Oria said. "I... I never killed a monster before, so this is the first time I did it. It's kinda tougher than I thought, haha..."

"I won't blame you if you felt that way. Though, if you are training to become an adventurer, you'll be the worst one to ever exist."

"...Adventurer?"

"Oh, I've yet to tell you that, didn't I? Well, adventurer is an occupation that many youngsters would take. They're mostly working on monster-hunting, but they also do some hospitable things like helping people in need."

"So, they're good guys? I mean, monsters are evil creatures, right? And adventurers go and slay monsters while helping people in need."

"Not quite. Some adventurers are vehement in helping people voluntarily. Yes, you can call them the good guys. While some... are just taking their jobs based on requests they wanted to take."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Money, Oria. Money. Adventurers, is, without a doubt, a job that grants payment. There are people working as an adventurer BECAUSE they want to help people pure from the heart. And there are also people who works as one... because they needed the money."

"O-Oh... s-somehow, it reminds me of the slave camp... where some of us were taken away by scary people when the guards were handed a handful of coins..."

"Grk. A-Ah, let's not dive into that matter, shall we? Hm. There's a river nearby, let's go there and clean your hands there."

Faruk floats ahead of her, leading the way towards the river not so far from their location.

Oria pulls out her light knife and reverts it back to wand. She stands up, nodding to the dragon's words. "...Okay."

About a minute from the dead rabbit monster, there's a river flowing calmly. The sound of serene waterflow colliding with the rocks by the riverbanks creates a peaceful atmosphere. There, Oria washes her hands from the monster's blood.

"(Good thing the blood didn't sputter on her dress. It'll be troublesome if we had to take a detour to Fred Village...)"

"I'm done, Faruk," Oria said showing her hands.

"Hm. Good."

"But... ugh... it kinda smelled terrible."

"It seems your nostrils can differ which one's a good and bad smells, eh?"

"Huh... now that you say it, yeah! I think it's because of Miss Katze's bath the other day."

"Miss Katze... (the woman that Dux told me about, huh...?) It's wonderful that she bathed you. Though, keep in mind that survival is no short of the stench of blood. Better get used to it."

"Oh, no, no, I don't really mind the bad smell!" Oria denied. "I mean, I'm quite used to the smell of blood back when I was a slave, so—!"

Suddenly, a flash of memories of that woman who allowed her chance to escape flood into her mind.

The sight of rusted handcuffs, prison cells, and the dizzying damp smell. Blood. Blood and more stains of blood. It all comes back to her brain. Ultimately, Hilda's bleeding face reveals itself to her hallucinating eyes. That smile of her... that sincere smile of hers materializes again.

"Hil...da..." Oria moaned her name. She grabs her amulet and look at it momentarily. Shortly, the worst slowly creeps into the tension. She's shaking in her shoes, ready to collapse at any moment.

"H-Hey! (Argh, can we not accidentally step into her horrid past?) Get ahold of yourself, okay? Breathe in, breathe out... come on, now."

Faruk stresses about how he and Dux keep on steering her into remembering her past again and again.

"(I won't let her faint here...!) C-Calm down! You're going to be okay, alright? (I won't let her fall here. No, I must NOT let her faint here. No one's going to carry her back. We've been quite far from our starting point... there's no way I'm going to summon my dragon body here...!)"

But Faruk's struggle proves to be redundant. Oria's legs are seen no longer quavering. She holds the amulet tighter than ever, clutching it near her heart. The dragon's voice suppressed as he's watching her change unfolds.

"It's o... kay..." she lamented, holding herself together. "Remember, Oria... Hilda will always look at you...!" she continued. "She will... always... and always be... with you."

She takes a deep, deep breath, and let it all out in one calm blow through her mouth. That post-traumatic disorder syndrome of hers has faded, for now. Oria opens her eyes, looking at the worried Faruk. Noticing him worrying over her, she promptly shakes her head and waves her cute tiny hand at him.

"Aaah, I'm so sorry! I've made you worry, didn't I? Oooh, I'm so ashamed of myself..."

Glaring at her, Faruk lets out a relieved laugh.

"Heh... haha... it appears you've discovered how to get ahold of yourself, eh? That majestic amulet in your hand did quite the trick."

"Huh? Oh, umm... well, it's Hilda's."

"Who's Hilda? If you don't mind me asking, that is. If it is too hard for you to tell, I shall refrain from prying into your past."

"Ah, it's okay, Faruk. Actually, I already told Master Dux about her. And um... I guess I haven't told you about Hilda, have I?"

"Hmph. So, you've told Dux already while I wasn't told. Guess I was left behind, huh."

"Waaah! No-no, please don't think ill of me. I didn't mean to leave you in the dark like that, uhh..."

"Haha. I jest. Clearly, you have your own reasons as to why you haven't told anything about her to me. Heheh, though, your whimsical reaction is always an amusement to me."

"Oooh, Faruk! Please stop that..."

"Fine, fine. So, are you going to tell me about this Hilda woman?"

"Hhm. It's not like I'm hiding anything. You deserve to know, I think."

"I see. Well, let's talk about it on the way. We've stopped quite for some time now."

Oria nods, "Oh, right."

With that, they continue their journey, walking through the forest. Along the way, the young child tells everything about Hilda. She told him she's the one that orchestrated a plan to escape from the slave camp, but sadly met her demise in the process.

"...I see. She's a wonderful person, I believe."

"Oh, yes, she was more than just wonderful! She taught me many things. Even her words back then gave me idea of the name 'Argentora'."

"Really?" Faruk got even more interested.

"Yeah! When we first met, she called me an argent-haired child. That's where I got the idea for the name."

"(Hm... Grabbing a name on a whim, I see. Well, I do not denounce her way of naming, given that she's a human child, moreover a former slave.)"

"At that night... she gave me this beautiful amulet for her. She said that she always wanted to see the outside world, but uhh... her status as a slave prevented her from achieving that."

"Hm. A luminary dream, indeed. Hoping to undergo such grand adventure, I see."

"Though... In the end, she just wanted me to bring this amulet with me wherever I go as I got out of the camp. She said that she'll always be by my side, watching me closely, telling me that I will never be alone."

"(That woman undoubtedly lied to you, Oria. Though... it was not a destructive lie. It was meant to give her the willpower to move onwards. Now that I thought about it, she's actually able to overcome her fears of her past when she holds that amulet.)"

After a long thirty minutes of walking, they reach a meadow where there's two large-rooted trees. Oria have to climb up the roots that heighted around a two-story building.

"Can you climb?" Faruk asked.

"Hm. I think I can," Oria replied as she approached the climbable part of the root meshes.

"Take care not to fall."

"Understood."

Oria journeys her way to the upper level of the tree. After a while into climbing the roots, her right hand grabs a weak part of it. The weak tree roots snaps, causing her to lose balance and fall.

"Eek!"

"—Ooop!"

Fortunately, the Observer sphere is right beneath her. Surprised, Faruk immediately halts her fall the moment she lost grip with the iron ball. The size of the ball is large enough to break off her fall.

"Guh! Sh-sheesh. Didn't I told you to be careful, Oria?"

"Ah... ahaha, I'm sorry."

Faruk slowly pushes her upwards, allowing her to grab one of the roots mesh again, "What a pain... Oria, watch what you're gripping! If you feel like its weak, then switch immediately to another one."

"Got it."

"Phew, good thing I was beneath you. If I was far above you, I might need to call off our survival mission, you know?"

"Ahhahaha... I'm sorry, Faruk. I'll be more careful next time."

"Hmph. You better be. We're lucky that we're not far from each other. If I was still at the bottom, your butt might hurt a lot, you know!"

"Ehh... ehehehe... (W-What a fussy dragon he is...)"

As she continues to climb up again, she thinks about Faruk.

"(But that's why I like him. Unlike those scary guards back then, who would shout at me for not doing work properly, calling me lazy, stupid, a troublemaker and such. They would hit me whenever I did things wrong, hurting me and my heart.

But Faruk... he's different. I can feel a kind warmth flowing from him, even when he's fussing like that. Somehow... it gives me a sense of nostalgia in a way. What is this feeling...? Teehee. I guess it's the same feeling when I was with Hilda. Heehee. I feel safe with him near me.)"

She ends up climbing with a cheerful and happy smile across her face.

Meanwhile, there's Faruk, still following her from below, murmuring in his thoughts.

"(Please don't fall again. Please don't fall again. PLEASE don't fall again!)"