.
Julia Tisdale, a forr royal guard. A person who never thought of herself as soone who would be in her current situation as she was currently carrying cheap-looking sleeping bags that she had brought from the village head's ho.
She was born and trained as a noble. Julia had never thought that one day, she would be under the care of such commoners which was why she never really put them in her eyes. This situation was caused because of the new master she was forced to serve.
She looked at the night sky as the village head and herself went back to the orphanage with the stuff they recovered. With the things that happened just on her first day of service, she had yet to really reflect on her current situation.
The hero Kazuya was an enigma to her. He was clever and ruthless yet, he had surprised her with his deanor ever since he had arrived in this village. Julia subconsciously thought about it but tried to imdiately deny that he and the princess were kind of similar.
"(Is this the real him… or?)"
A shooting star drew a line as she gazed towards the sky.
"(May the princess remain in good health.)" she sighed. This was the only thing she could do for her forr liege now.
"Are you alright miss?" Gain saw the lancholic look Julia was showing as she gazed at the night sky.
"My apologies, I am just feeling a bit anxious over the unknown future." She hastened her pace to catch up to the village chief.
"You're still too young to be agonizing over the future. From my own experience, life always has its ups and downs. I know that the events that happened to you and your companions had been quite hard on you, but you'll never know when tragedies turn out to be blessings in disguise. I experienced that myself." He gave a aningful laugh.
Though Julia wanted to scoff at his remark, she couldn't. If her intuition was correct, this man indeed had the right to say those things.
"Are you really soone from the Valentine family?" she couldn't help but ask.
"Oho… it isn't every day that my last na gets recognized. Which Valentine family are you speaking of?" the village chief was intrigued.
"The line of one of the great sages from the past. The family that established the lost kingdom of Bathara." Julia replied.
"You're quite knowledgeable. I haven't heard soone ask about that in years." Gain smiled. "What do you think?"
"I think it is a guess that is farfetched. I don't sense any strong mana that would make you related to the line which was once known for dominating over a nation that had been once comparable to the Zweifel kingdom." Julia honestly replied.
"Your assumption would be the sa as every person who had co to after hearing of my na. This is why my family has been left alone in the midst of the era where the church of light is as powerful as it is." He smiled.
"Then why keep this na?" Julia asked curiously.
"For the sa reason why you might not want to abandon yours." He imdiately laughed after seeing Julia's reaction.
"Don't look at like that missy. An experienced eye could tell that you had been raised as a noble. I won't ask for your circumstances or why you seem to serve the boy who doesn't seem to be in your circle but I would appreciate it if you wouldn't spread the na of my family lightly."
"I…" she could only frown.
"No need to think too deeply about it. I'm just rely an old village chief." He laughed. "We should hurry back. The injured lad needs these cushions to recover well."
Julia silently followed Gain back to the orphanage. However, the scene they encountered as soon as they entered was sothing that both of them didn't expect.
"This…" Gain's eyes imdiately fell on the hands of his daughter whose hands were holding the boy whom he had just t this evening.
Gale had been concentrating so she had yet to notice the return of both her father and Julia, smiled as she stared at Kazuya. Never in her wildest dreams would she have known that there could be a person who was swiftly learning what she took a few years to achieve.
"You're really a fast learner like you said! I wouldn't have believed that you weren't a healing magician if I hadn't seen your improvents firsthand!" she grasped the hand that was healing the injured person and excitedly shook it.
This was the first ti she had t soone in her age group that did not give her a strange look and even shared the sa interest in support arts. Though she had been suspicious of him at first, Kazuya's reasons for learning healing magic from her was so that he could prevent his party mbers from suffering from the injured man's current state.
Initially, she had doubted she could teach this strange boy. Even though one had the desire, it didn't an that one necessarily had the talent. Healers were even more scarce than magicians because they have to et specific requirents.
Who would have thought that the boy who was asked to try out support arts would suddenly learn at a pace that could potentially, surpass Gale in a few weeks at most. How could she not show interest and surprise at such a talent?
"Ehem…" Gain cleared his throat loudly and made sure that the two were aware that they had co back.
"Dad!" she let go of Kazuya's hand in a hurry. "Why are you sneaking around!?"
"Sneaking around…" Gain couldn't help but sigh. "Listen here, you were the one who didn't notice our return. You were too busy holding hands to even…"
"Holding hands? Wrong! Dad, you didn't know this but this guy is actually even more talented than I am in healing magic! I didn't believe it at first when he asked if he could learn so healing spells from but with his help, their friend could recover in just a few days."
"What!?" Gain looked at Kazuya in shock. "You know healing magic!?"
"I learned a few things from your daughter just now. She told that she would help learn in the next few days so that I could heal my companions when they get injured next ti." Kazuya explained.
"Healing magic…" only Julia's reaction was different.
For her, it was the farthest role that would fit soone like Kazuya who didn't even blink at the loss of life. Yet, it sounded like one of the things a person who cared for his own life more than anything else would take the initiative to learn.
"Thank you for the equipnt." Kazuya helped Gain organize the stuff and placed the injured trainee on one of the sleeping bags.
"Think nothing of it. You can make use of this place for the ti being. You should rest up because I'd be expecting your help tomorrow uh…" Gain felt embarrassed as he continuously forgot to ask for their nas.
"You can call Kazu. This one here is Julie" Julia's eyebrows twitched after hearing her nickna from Kazuya's mouth.
"We are grateful for your kindness." Julia followed up.
"Think nothing of it. I will be counting on your assistance early tomorrow morning. We start gathering an hour after sunrise."
The father and daughter duo excused themselves. Gale was a little reluctant to leave and hesitated but after seeing that Kazuya had put his attention back to their injured comrade and started to cast the healing spell he learned from her, she followed her father out.
"Not bad." Kazuya turned to Julia as soon as he sensed that Gale and Gain had left. "I thought that you would have acted like a spoiled noble." He smiled.
"What do you know about ? Do you really think that I'm in a position to be looking down on commoners?" she retorted.
"At least, that was how you acted until you returned with the goods. Did sothing happen?"
Kazuya felt a little confused, the Julia he knew had always looked down on commoners. The events that happened today should not have been able to change that part of her which he hated when they had interacted with commoners in the past.
Though there was no way he could learn more about it now, Kazuya's curiosity about the period of ti which should have passed before he had arrived had increased more. Though Alicia's nature seed like it hadn't changed, Julia, in contrast, was like an entirely different person in comparison. What had happened in just a few months that made this girl different from the person he once knew?
"I asked if Gain-san was part of the lost Valentine family who had been lost in history." She answered truthfully.
"And?" Kazuya's interest was tugged.
"He neither confird nor denied it. He did notice and was convinced that I was a noble though."
"Well, that's pretty obvious to anyone who has been around nobles long enough." Kazuya scoffed at her last remark. He was more interested in the fact that he had learned sothing that he hadn't about Gale's family in the past.
"Is it really that obvious?" she talked as she took out the food she had bought from the town. They hadn't had a single bite since they took a break in the afternoon, so she was quite hungry.
"Yes. Take your choice of food for example…" Kazuya pointed at the at Julia bought from the villagers.
"What about it?"
"Do you think that regular adventurers could afford to buy so much at just for a single al? We may not lack any funds at the mont but, you probably didn't even think about saving funds when you buy stuff. This is a common trait among young nobles. I don't think I even need to ntion the way you carry yourself." Kazuya barraged her with facts that made her frown as they continued to eat.
"I got it already! Geez!" this was probably the first ti she had ever felt embarrassed about being raised as a noble.
"I don't think I need to remind you, but if you have any thoughts about looking down on people based on their statuses, you should rember the crest that is ingrained in your body first and foremost. I may not have t beast races or demons yet, but I have no intention of looking down on them."
"…" Julia remained silent.
His reminder of her status as a slave made her a bit gloomy. Though he had yet to treat her as such, the fact remained that it was her status. No amount of sugar-coating can change that fact. She was under his beck and call and will always be under those around Kazuya who do not bear the sa status as her.
"It has been a long day so you should rest after the al. As promised, we would be helping Gain starting tomorrow." He noticed her gloomy expression and changed the topic.
"Help out? What are you planning?"
"We currently lack information, so I want to wait for this guy to wake up." He pointed at the unconscious trainee.
"Besides, I've taken an interest in learning about healing magic now that Gain-san's daughter said that I had the talent. That should save us so ti in case we end up with injuries." He replied.
"We…?" she was a little surprised as he had included her.
"What are you so surprised about? You're my subordinate so of course, I would treat you if you were injured. Who would protect if I overuse my soul weapon?" he grinned. Kazuya felt a little strange about unintentionally comforting her, so he imdiately took it back.
"I'm not your at shield!" she was imdiately annoyed.
"Oh, but you are!" he laughed. "Don't worry, after I learn what I can from the girl earlier, I'd be able to heal any injuries you may suffer while protecting ."
"Annoying! Still, who would have thought, a hero like you would turn out to be interested in healing magic."
"What about ? I think it suits perfectly. I can provide ranged support with my weapon and with the help of this new skill, my support prowess would increase even more."
"Whatever! I'm going to bed!" she buried herself inside her sleeping bag and turned her back towards Kazuya.
"(Would this count as tornt?)" Kazuya couldn't help but wonder as he reexamined his current relationship with this woman. "(Whatever… I'll decide what to do with her when the ti cos.)"
-
Reviews
All reviews (0)