Helen

Everyone followed the sound and looked over. A short distance away, a young woman of about seventeen or eighteen was walking toward them. She wore a sunhat and a dress fit for a noblewoman going out, with spotless white gloves on her hands. Her shoulder-length brown hair swayed as she walked. From a distance, she certainly looked like a noblewoman.

Unfortunately, the dress did little to flatter her figure—or rather, she was simply too "full-figured" for it. Her body, round as a barrel, strained against the dress, making her look rather comical. The fat beneath her chin wobbled with every movement, drawing the eye.

The well-dressed man from earlier was following behind her at a jog, sweating profusely and speaking in a low voice. The two attendants trailed behind them with their heads hanging, looking utterly dejected. Two bright red handprints were visible on their faces.

"Which bastard dared to take my carriage?"

The girl stopped in front of the three, thrust out her chest, glared at them, and shouted between gasps. She clearly had no intention of waiting for an answer. Lifting her chin, she looked straight at the driver.

"Don't you dare leave! Don't take these people anywhere, do you hear me? That's an order!"

"How can you be so unreasonable?"

Lize couldn't hold back any longer.

"This is the carriage we rented. How can you—"

"Shut up! Who do you think you are, talking to me like that?"

The girl's furious shout cut Lize off. Then she planted one hand on her hip and pointed at the three of them with the other.

"Just you wait, fat pig, ugly woman, sissy! You dared to cross our family, so you'll regret it for eight generations! Just watch what I—"

The girl didn't get to finish. Rhode suddenly raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.

"...!!!"

No sound came from the girl's wide-open mouth. Her eyes bulged as she clutched her throat with both hands, her lips opening and closing like a fish stranded on shore. Her once rosy complexion gradually paled.

Perched on Rhode's shoulder, the Soul Bird stared fixedly at her, a faint magical glow emanating from its eyes.

"Miss! Miss, what's wrong? Miss!"

Seeing the girl like this, the man beside her rushed over in a panic. But before he could get close, he slammed into what seemed to be an invisible wall and fell heavily to the ground.

"...!!...!!"

The girl's body began to tremble. Her limbs flailed wildly, her mouth opened wider and wider, and her eyes bulged so far they looked as if they might fall out.

"M-Mr. Rhode?"

Lize looked at the girl uneasily. She didn't know what had happened, but she could guess it had something to do with Rhode.

In fact, Rhode hadn't done anything, and there wasn't much he could do. As a creature formed from wind elements, the Soul Bird had some control over air currents. All Rhode had done was seal off the air around the girl. That might have been difficult against adventurers, but against an ordinary person with no strength at all, it was no trouble.

"...!!!"

Just as the girl was trembling all over and about to roll her eyes back, Rhode lowered his right hand. At the same time, the Soul Bird looked away.

"Gasp!!"

Only then did the girl collapse to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Her face was deathly pale as she gasped for breath, and it took her a long while to recover.

"M-Miss! Are you all right?"

The well-dressed man hurried to her side. He was secretly relieved, too. Thank goodness he hadn't gotten into a conflict with that young man earlier. If Rhode had snapped his fingers at him, he might have died without even knowing how.

"Cough... cough, cough..."

Sitting on the ground, the girl took a long time to catch her breath. She looked up and raised a trembling hand to point at Rhode.

"You, what are you doing? Ben, kill him! Hurry up and kill him! Hurry—"

Unfortunately, she was never going to finish that sentence. The Soul Bird perched on Rhode's shoulder looked at her again, and her face turned pale once more. She rolled around on the ground, unable to make the slightest sound.

"Please, please spare her, sir! Miss Helen is young and ignorant. Please don't hold it against her..."

"I prefer a little quiet."

Rhode gave the well-dressed man that brief reply, then turned and climbed into the carriage. Lize cast a troubled glance at the girl, who had once again collapsed on the ground, panting for breath. After hesitating for a moment, she followed Rhode aboard. Only Mace gave the woman a gloating look, hummed a jaunty tune, and leisurely climbed into the carriage.

"Mr. Rhode, was that really wise?"

Lize asked uneasily, a hint of worry in her expression. She wasn't angry over the woman's earlier rudeness. She'd been a mercenary for a long time and had met all kinds of people, from all over—contemptuous ones, harassing ones, and lecherous ones. At first, Lize had been furious with them, too, but after all these years, she'd learned how to deal with them.

"I heard they're from Deepstone City. Once you offend nobles like that, things can get very troublesome."

"You've got it wrong, Miss Lize."

Mace snorted dismissively from beside her.

"Mr. Rhode doesn't need to pay attention to a third-rate little noble family like theirs. And after the way that woman behaved, Mr. Rhode, you might as well forget about them altogether."

"Let's wait a little longer."

Rhode glanced at the sky outside the window.

"We'll leave when the time comes. Whether they show up or not is their business, not mine. But since I already agreed, I won't go back on my word."

Mace had nothing more to say. He turned away and muttered complaints like, "I hope they never show up." It seemed he really did hold a grudge.

A few minutes later, the carriage door finally opened again. The plump young woman appeared in the doorway. Her face was pale, and she glanced warily at Rhode, who was leaning back in his seat with his eyes closed, then bit her lower lip. Truth be told, she really didn't want to get in—especially after her attendant, Ben, told her that the young man was powerful enough to kill every one of them. The thought had nearly made the plump girl's heart leap out of her chest. She wanted nothing more than to flee from that demon as far as she could...

But when she remembered that her father would be back in three days, she had no choice but to give in. There weren't any spare carriages in a small village like this, and it would take two days to reach Deepstone City. If she missed this carriage, her sneaking out to have fun would surely be discovered. If her father found out she'd slipped away, she'd definitely get a scolding—and might even face worse punishment. After weighing it all up, her father's authority finally overcame her fear, so she had to steel herself and climb aboard.

Poor girl—she'd been spoiled all her life and had never encountered anything like this. She wanted to speak, but was afraid of losing face. Yet sitting silently in the carriage, looking as if she'd been chased away in disgrace, would be just as embarrassing. She opened her mouth again and again, but didn't dare utter a word. She looked absolutely pitiful.

Mace, on the other hand, couldn't help quietly laughing at the plump girl's miserable expression. Merchants and nobles were never truly cut from the same cloth. Though they often worked together, they still looked down on each other in private. Nobles thought merchants reeked of money and had nothing but wealth; merchants thought most nobles had too much time on their hands and put on airs for no reason. If Rhode hadn't been there, Mace would have loved to mock this idiot woman and see if he could make her jump out of the carriage. That would have been even more entertaining.

"Hello, I'm Lize Noelle. May I ask your name, miss?"

Lize saw how awkward the atmosphere in the carriage had become and had to break the ice. She'd done this plenty of times before, and compared to dealing with those lecherous, unruly young nobles, a plump girl was practically a delight.

"I-I'm Helen Keller."

Helen spoke so quietly that her voice was barely audible. She cast a frightened glance at Rhode, afraid that if he became displeased, he'd use that "evil spell" again and leave her half-dead. Helen had never experienced anything like this. She'd thought she was really going to die—and then had nearly died twice...

That seems like the wrong expression?

"Helen Keller?"

At the name, Lize paused, as if it reminded her of something.

"Are you from the Keller Family, the one that controls the Naland Mine?"

"That's right, that's right! You know us?"

Helen immediately perked up at that. She was about to say more, but when she glanced at Rhode beside her, she instinctively lowered her voice again.

"Yes. Our mercenary group is based in Deepstone City, and I've heard of the Keller Family. I heard you made your fortune in ore and became one of Deepstone City's leading mining families in just over a decade."

"Of course! Dad's amazing."

A woman's mood could change as quickly as the weather in June. As soon as the conversation turned to her father, Helen started chatting away with Lize, no longer constrained and nervous as she had been before. She still occasionally glanced at Rhode out of habit, but she was much more at ease than when she'd first boarded, when she'd looked as tense as someone about to be kidnapped and sold.

Rhode and Mace naturally had no interest in the two girls' conversation. But now they exchanged a surprised glance, both seeing the astonishment in the other's eyes.

The reason was simple: Lize had actually managed to find common ground with Helen!

Conversation might seem easy, as though anyone could do it. In truth, it was a skill. You needed to find a topic, catch the other person's interest, get them to speak freely, and make sure both of you enjoyed the conversation. It wasn't simple. Rhode had met plenty of women who were beautiful enough to pass for saintesses, yet stammered when they tried to talk. Either they had nothing to say, or they didn't know how to say it. In the end, even the prettiest face was no help; as soon as they opened their mouths, the truth came out. Or they'd have nothing in common with the person they were talking to, and no topic would go anywhere.

Of course, there were plenty of silver-tongued mercenaries who could strike up conversations with nobles. But no matter how engagingly they spoke, nobles usually listened with an air of superiority, as if they were merely being entertained. Most of what the mercenaries discussed had nothing to do with noble life. It was like ordinary employees discussing celebrity gossip with a company director. The employees might chat about it with great enthusiasm, only to discover later that the celebrity was lying in their boss's bed. The reverse was also true: a boss might be interested in hearing employees discuss sales on certain goods, but wouldn't care that much. After all, he could buy them without a discount. Why worry about a few coins?

That was more or less how the gap between classes worked. Topics that interested mercenaries didn't necessarily interest nobles.

But now Lize was happily chatting with Helen about the mundane details of a noblewoman's daily life. That was certainly intriguing. Lize was a mercenary; by rights, she shouldn't have had any chance to attend the social events of noblewomen, such as balls and tea parties. Yet there she was, happily discussing "rose tea" with Helen...

Rhode frowned. Could Lize's background be more complicated than it seemed?

Then again, perhaps that made sense. Most angels on the Dragon Soul Continent belonged to the upper classes, and the status of a Half-Angel wasn't all that different.

But if her status really was so high, why had she become a mercenary? That made no sense.

With that thought, Rhode looked at Lize beside him and suddenly felt the urge to get to the bottom of it.