Chapter 28: Meeting the Shota Merchant

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A voice that seemed to belong to the coachman boy echoed through the peaceful town.

“W-w-wait! Somebody stop this thing!!”

Looking over, a wagon had lost control and was tearing down the street at full speed. The horse was terrified, its eyes wide and frothing at the mouth. Luggage flew out from the back of the wagon as pedestrians screamed and leapt out of the way.

“What the—what happened?”

Lloyd immediately stood up and checked the situation. In the driver’s seat, a small boy—at least he looked like one—was desperately clinging to the reins, but he was nowhere near controlling the wagon and looked seconds away from being thrown off.

“T-this is bad!”

Lusha let out a voice that was practically a scream. Her eyes were fixed on the wagon’s path. To be precise, on the old man who had collapsed by the roadside. Maybe he had been pushed and fallen, or twisted his foot. The old man struggled, unable to get up. At this rate, he was in danger.

“Lloyd! The old man—!”

“Yeah, I see him.”

The situation was the worst possible. To save him, Lloyd would have to get ahead of the runaway wagon. For a normal person, that was impossible.

But… Lloyd could do it. If he unleashed the power of the 〈Malice Glyph〉, catching up wouldn’t even be difficult. Normally, this would be the kind of situation where he’d hesitate, fearing the 〈Malice Glyph〉’s berserk rampage, but—

“Lusha. Can you prevent this thing from going berserk in advance?”

Lloyd turned toward Lusha and showed her the mark on his right hand. Because standing next to him was the White Saint. If it was her, she could suppress the Curse Mark’s rampage entirely.

“Of course.”

Her answer was immediate. Lusha smiled softly and placed one hand on Lloyd’s back, while the other traced a cross in front of her chest.

“O Mother who governs the earth…Grant this one Your holy protection and salvation.”

With her sacred incantation, the light of 〈Luxuria〉 wrapped Lloyd’s entire body in a gentle glow. It was warm, comforting and filled with undeniable power. In this state, even if he unleashed the mark, it wouldn’t run wild. Strangely, Lloyd felt a firm certainty about that. As if to support that belief, Lusha smiled at him tenderly.

“It’s done. You’re safe now.”

“…Thanks. I’m going.”

Lloyd steadied his breathing and focused his awareness on his right hand. Black miasma burst from the mark, instantly enveloping his body. Usually, the miasma would freely run rampant through him as its medium. But this time was different. He felt as if he had become a tamer controlling a violent magical beast. This thing would obey him. His instincts told him so.

“Haaaaaaah!!”

With a shout, the miasma surrounding him compressed and was sucked back into his body in an instant. The power of the 〈Malice Glyph〉 spread through every corner of him, filling him with overwhelming strength. His vision sharpened, and the world seemed to move slower.

“Hah!”

Lloyd kicked off the ground. A single step carried him ten times farther than a normal person could manage—practically flying. With terrifying leg strength, he slipped between the fleeing pedestrians and, using that momentum, leapt—vaulting ahead of the horse.

“Wh-what is that guy!?”

“He’s faster than the horse!”

“Is he even human!?”

As the townspeople shouted in shock, the coachman boy called out to Lloyd.

“H-hey, you! Don’t just stand there! Get the old man out of the way! It’s dangerous!!”

He talks weirdly mature for a kid, Lloyd thought absently—and then was surprised at himself. To think he could entertain such irrelevant thoughts in an emergency meant his mind was incredibly sharp right now.

“…The one in danger is you. Hold onto something.”

Saying that, Lloyd drew his magic sword Rukuud from his waist. He aimed at the connector that bound the wagon and horse. Without any hesitation, he slashed the connector. With a clean, silent cut, the mechanism snapped, freeing the horse from the wagon.

“Sorry about this, but you’re gonna take a little nap.”

Lloyd leapt beside the horse and tapped its neck with the hilt. The horse collapsed on the spot and lost consciousness. He couldn’t kill someone’s property, but letting it keep rampaging wasn’t an option either. The wagon, now without a horse, toppled sideways and came to a stop. Some of the cargo scattered, but the coachman boy had been holding onto a rope and escaped with only minor scrapes.

Lloyd sheathed Rukuud and let out a breath.

“A-amazing…”

The boy stared up at him, stunned. The townspeople also gazed, dumbfounded. Lusha, who had finally caught up, rushed over to the old man.

“Sir! Are you alright!?”

“Ouch… My leg. My leeeeg…”

The old man groaned as he clutched his leg. Only now did Lloyd notice the old man’s leg was bent sharply in an unnatural direction. He must have been knocked down during the chaos and stepped on.

“It’s alright. Don’t move, just breathe slowly.”

Lusha soothed the panic-stricken old man and began her prayer.

“O Mother who governs the earth… Heal this one’s wounds.”

As she chanted, the old man’s leg glowed softly, and the broken bone mended in an instant. Color returned to his face as strength flowed back into him.

No way.

Watching that, Lloyd involuntarily sucked in a breath. What Lusha had used was the basic form of holy magic,〈Heal〉, but its effect was far from ordinary. Bone fractures were serious injuries, and even 〈Heal〉 usually took time. Lloyd had certainly never seen a broken leg heal instantly. As expected of the White Saint. The quality of her magic was on a different level entirely.

“Hey hey hey, who are these two!? They’re incredible!”

“What are they!?”

“They’re heroes!”

Now that the situation had calmed, cheers erupted around Lloyd and Lusha. Lusha gasped softly and hurriedly pulled her hood down low. Thankfully, no one had gotten a clear look at her face. It really was a good idea to buy that hooded cape.

“P-please forgive me! You really saved me. Thank you!”

The coachman boy ran over and bowed deeply. He had brown hair with tiny, girlish braids and striking dark-violet eyes. He had an overall appearance that looked almost more like a girl than a boy. Yet despite his appearance, he seemed unusually composed. And he had been traveling alone with that much cargo. No one would leave that to a child… So what was going on?

Noticing Lloyd’s puzzled expression, the boy let out a small gasp.

“Ah, right. Introductions first. I’m Cron from the Barmasty Trading Company. I may look like this, but I’m an adult… Actually, I’m probably older than the two of you.”

“…Older than us? No way.”

Lloyd frowned. Lusha gave a startled “Eh!?” and stared at Cron. He looked like he was only slightly older than ten. As they were puzzling over it, one of the townspeople said.

“It’s true. Cron’s thirty.” 

Others nodded. Apparently, it was true.

“Haha. Embarrassing as it is, I never grew much since childhood and somehow reached thirty looking like this. People even rumor I drink some kind of youth-preserving potion, but really I’ve just stayed baby-faced all my life. Being childlike makes animals underestimate me too… And when it’s a horse I’m not used to, well, things end up like this. Quite the problem, really.”

Cron shrugged and looked at the collapsed horse. He explained that he had recently purchased the horse, and it wouldn’t obey him at all. He usually used a different horse for business, but today—since he was only traveling within town—he let his guard down, and this disaster happened. Apparently even horses changed behavior based on their rider. Lloyd couldn’t help but sympathize.

We shouldn’t stay here too long.

Lloyd glanced at the gathered crowd and sighed internally. They had stood out too much already. Lusha had used holy magic in public. If her identity was exposed, it would be bad. Leaving quickly was the safest choice. He met Lusha’s eyes, and they both nodded.

“Well, as long as you’re safe. We’ll be going—”

“Ah—wait, wait.”

Cron stopped them and rummaged through the collapsed wagon, pulling out a large cloth bag.

“This is a token of thanks and compensation. You really saved me.”

What he handed them was a heavy bag of gold coins. Lloyd exchanged a look with Lusha.

“…No, this is way too much.”

“He’s right. We didn’t do it for a reward.”

“No, no! You saved my life, and in the end nobody got seriously hurt except a broken wagon. I owe you a lot. And—”

Cron narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice so only the two of them could hear.

“You two… Have circumstances, don’t you?”

Their eyes widened. Lloyd’s hand subtly moved toward his sword.

“W-wait! Not in a bad way!”

Cron thrust both hands forward in a desperate “hold on” gesture. He really seemed intent on showing he meant no harm.

“It’s just, I’m short on manpower. If you don’t have steady work yet, would you consider doing something like an ‘odd-jobs service’?”

“Odd-jobs?”

The unexpected offer made Lloyd blink. Lusha also looked confused, mirroring his reaction. Cron continued.

“Yeah. Because of my position, people ask me for help with all sorts of problems. But I’m busy with my own work, and when I try to handle things myself… Well, accidents happen, like today. I could really use people to take care of tasks for me. What do you say?”

“…Depends on the job.”

If he agreed too easily, he might end up being asked to do something criminal. And they wanted to avoid drawing attention. Right now, organizing their living situation was the priority.

“Of course, you can refuse depending on the request. If you want the job, come to my office. Think of that reward as an advance payment.”

“That makes it harder to refuse.”

“Haha. Feel free to pocket it if you want. I’ll trust your conscience. Don’t worry, I won’t give you anything illegal. It’s basically just helping people.”

“Helping people, huh…”

Lusha murmured softly. She seemed weak to words like that. And Lloyd didn’t dislike it either.

“If you ever feel like helping others, come to my office anytime. Just ask for the Barmasty Company Office. Anyone in town can direct you.”

After saying whatever he pleased, Cron began rallying townspeople to help clean up the cargo. Taking the chance, Lloyd and Lusha slipped away. On the way to the furniture shop, Lusha asked.

“…What should we do?”

“Hmmm, what should we do…”

A completely unexpected lead for their new life had fallen into their laps. But Lloyd still couldn’t fully trust him. And it bothered him how Cron had instantly seen through that they had circumstances. Ideally, he would have asked about that right then, but there were too many eyes around. A deeper conversation would have to wait.

“For now, let’s take it back and think it over. We’ve got money now, so there’s no rush.”

“Okay!”

And so, not only did they resolve the runaway wagon incident, but they also unexpectedly gained a new option—working as odd-jobbers. Ever since meeting Lusha, nothing in his life had stopped changing.

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