The Lost Lamb

After leaving the cathedral, Frieren remained as confident as before.

"Follow me."

She headed straight for the left side of the street, crossed the central square, and continued along a street paved with white stone bricks. Then she turned left at an intersection, passed a small chapel, and turned right into a somewhat narrow alley.

The streets of the Holy City were complicated to begin with, and many of the houses were built from similar white stone. After going around a few intersections in succession, Lorenzo soon felt a little disoriented.

Frieren, on the other hand, never stopped walking.

She did pause at crossroads to look around, but she usually chose a road without hesitation after only a moment. She gave off a reassuring impression that she had everything under control, until the two of them passed a small statue of a goddess holding a water jug.

For some reason, Lorenzo thought the stone statue looked familiar.

"Haven't we been here before?"

"You're imagining things. The statues of the goddess in the Holy City all look alike."

Frieren answered quickly, and her explanation seemed to make sense.

Another quarter of an hour passed.

They went down a street selling religious souvenirs and saw the statue of the goddess holding a water jug again. This time, however, an orange cat was crouching beside it, licking its paw.

"Pineapple buns, a Holy City specialty! Pineapple buns blessed by the goddess!"

The vendor selling pineapple buns nearby had apparently recognized them too, and a welcoming smile appeared on his face.

"You two are back again? This is the third time you've passed by. Since fate keeps bringing us together, how about buying one? I can give you a discount!"

Lorenzo stopped, and so did Frieren. An awkward silence fell over them both.

"Frieren, are we lost?"

"How can you call it being lost? We're in the Holy City. In the local way of speaking, we've become lost lambs."

Frieren replied with a perfectly straight face.

Put that way, it suddenly sounded quite religious. If some monks heard her, they would probably come over at once and ask whether they wanted to learn about their god and the great works their god had created.

But just as an ordinary pineapple bun was still an ordinary pineapple bun after "blessed by the goddess" was added to its name, it was completely useless. Come to think of it, hadn't they been advertising honey bread as the Holy City's specialty before? How had it become pineapple buns now?

"The Holy City has changed too much."

Frieren explained, trying to salvage some of her dignity.

"I remember there used to be a road here that led straight to the east gate, with a bell tower beside it."

"Where are the road and the bell tower now?"

"Of course, they're both gone."

Why can you say that so confidently?

"Let's go back to the cathedral and ask that monk from earlier to arrange for someone to guide us."

"That's too embarrassing. I don't want to."

Frieren refused without hesitation.

There had been no sign of that perfectly normal sense of shame when she'd walked around the same block three times.

"Excuse... excuse me, do you two need any help?"

Just as Lorenzo was about to keep trying to persuade her, a young girl's slightly hesitant voice came from behind them.

They both turned around.

A little girl who looked no more than ten years old stood a short distance away.

She had long, light green hair and wore a plain dress, with an apron speckled with bits of thread tied around her waist. She held a basket full of pieces of fabric that had already been cut.

She was probably a child from a nearby tailor shop, but why did Lorenzo have a feeling of familiarity?

The little girl looked at Lorenzo, then at Frieren.

"Are you looking for somewhere?"

"We want to leave the Holy City through the east gate. Do you know how to get there?"

Lorenzo asked the little girl in front of him.

"I do. The east gate is that way."

The little girl raised her hand and pointed in the opposite direction from where they had been about to go. It was hard to say whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, but if she hadn't stopped them, they would probably have gone the wrong way again.

"The roads over there are a little complicated. The tailor shop my sister and I run is nearby. If you don't mind, you can come with me first. There's a map of the Holy City at the shop, and my sister often delivers clothes near the east gate."

The little girl continued. She really was a kind little girl.

"Wouldn't that hold you up?"

"No. I was going back to the shop anyway."

The little girl shook her head, then held the basket in her arms a little tighter.

"My name is Übel."

What was her name?

For a moment, Lorenzo could hardly believe that this shy, kind little girl before him was the dead-eyed scissor girl who would go on to kill countless people.

"My name is Frieren."

"Lorenzo."

Übel's gaze lingered on Frieren for a moment. She seemed to have heard the name before, but she didn't seem particularly surprised like the monks at the cathedral had. She simply nodded.

"Please follow me."

With Übel leading the way, the two of them finally left the block.

The little girl clearly knew the nearby roads very well. In just a few minutes, a small tailor shop appeared before them.

A wooden sign hung above the shop entrance, bearing a picture of silver scissors crossed with a needle and thread. Several newly finished garments were displayed in the window. Though plain in color, they were exquisitely made.

Übel pushed open the shop door, and a bell rang out.

"Sister, I'm back."

The shop was full of fabric and clothes racks. Spools of thread in various colors were neatly arranged in a wooden cabinet against the wall, and the air was filled with the distinctive smell of new cloth. Several unfinished garments lay in a corner.

A young woman sat behind a worktable, cutting fabric.

She looked somewhat like Übel, though she had a gentler air about her. When she heard the voice, she put down her scissors and looked up at the door.

"Welcome back, Übel."

She looked at the two strangers following her younger sister.

"Who are these two?"

"They seem to be lost and want a map of the Holy City."

Übel answered truthfully.

"I see."

After listening, the young woman got up and walked over to a wooden cabinet.

"The roads in the Holy City are rather complicated. Several blocks have been redeveloped in recent years, too, so people who aren't familiar with the place can easily take a wrong turn."

Although it wasn't Frieren's first visit to the Holy City, the city's layout from her last visit was quite likely a thing of the past, so there was nothing wrong with that statement.

The young woman took a neatly folded map from a drawer and handed it to Frieren.

"This was drawn just this year. It shows the Holy City's current main streets and entrances and exits."

"Thank you. How much do I owe you for the map?"

The young woman paused briefly, then smiled gently.

"There's no need to pay. The merchants' guild gave these maps to nearby shops for people's convenience. I happen to have an extra one."

"I see."

Frieren nodded.

After thanking the young woman, the two turned to leave the tailor shop.

Before leaving, though, Lorenzo took some money from his purse while she was arranging the fabric and quietly slipped it beneath a spool of thread in the corner of the counter.

After all, she had taken the time to give them directions and had even given them her last spare map. Leaving without giving her anything in return felt a little inconsiderate.

Übel, who was standing nearby, seemed to notice what he had done.

Lorenzo put a finger to his lips, gesturing for her to keep quiet.

The little girl blinked and didn't expose him, merely turning her gaze elsewhere without a word.