The Beastkin Lying by the Roadside

Cui Ciyou had been riding the white horse Carl had given him, traveling alone toward Roa for three days.

"Carl really was a good guy!"

"He looked so rough and bold, yet he was unexpectedly thoughtful and considerate. Thanks, Carl."

"I wonder if Dak can become strong... become a 'hero.'"

Weighing the heavy purse in his hand, he thought of Carl and Dak with gratitude.

Carl had said that when traveling alone, food and money were the most important things.

Carl was also an experienced adventurer, an advanced North God Style swordsman.

Advanced rank was already enough to serve as a member of an S-rank adventurer party.

In the original work, the leader of an "S-rank adventurer party" was generally only Saint-level.

His destination was clear—Roa, where he would apply to become Eris Boreas Greyrat's tutor.

By becoming a tutor, he could read more books and gain a deeper understanding of the world of Jobless Reincarnation.

The white horse proceeded at an unhurried pace along the somewhat desolate dirt road.

Half-man-high withered yellow grass lined both sides of the road, while rolling hills and sparse woods stretched into the distance.

The air was exceptionally fresh, carrying the fragrance of damp earth and grass after the rain.

As he traveled, Cui Ciyou's eyes were drawn to a sight in the roadside grass:

About ten meters away, a figure lay on the ground on her back.

The sunlight shone directly on her bronze skin, making her outline somewhat glaring.

Someone had collapsed there? A corpse by the road?

He immediately pulled on the reins, and the white horse obediently stopped.

Squinting for a closer look, Cui Ciyou saw that she appeared to be a woman. Her conspicuous beast ears and fluffy tail revealed her beastkin identity.

"Beastkin... This is the first nonhuman race I've seen with my own eyes since coming to this world."

"Still, thank goodness this is another world. In my previous life, I'd have had to wonder whether to help or not."

He mused curiously to himself, while also becoming more vigilant and slowly urging his horse closer.

As the distance closed, the person's appearance gradually became clear:

Bronze skin, dulled by dehydration and grime; gray hair, thick and disheveled like a male lion's mane.

And an exceptionally distinctive—or rather, exceptionally revealing—adventurer's outfit: a bikini-like leather breastplate and waist skirt.

The outfit outlined her powerful, athletic body, though she was now terribly emaciated.

That appearance... It's far too familiar!

Cui Ciyou's heart shook. "Th-this can't be... Ghislaine?"

"The Black Wolf Sword King—Ghislaine Dedoldia?"

Although she was in terrible condition, with sunken cheeks, cracked lips, closed eyes, and the appearance of someone on the verge of death...

Her distinctive gray hair, beast ears, tail, and the exact same outfit she wore in the original anime made him almost certain that she was Ghislaine.

How did a Sword God Style Sword King, an S-rank adventurer, end up in this state?

Was she starving to death? That outfit... seeing it while she's on the verge of death somehow makes it feel even more... well, striking.

Cui Ciyou silently complained to himself.

Perhaps hearing the hoofbeats and sensing a human approaching, the beastkin woman who had been lying motionless on the ground suddenly twitched one furry ear ever so slightly.

Then her tightly shut eyelids trembled, and she struggled to open them a sliver.

"Ugh..." An extremely faint groan escaped her throat. She still had a trace of life left.

Cui Ciyou immediately dismounted, moving lightly as he crouched beside her.

A smell mixed with sweat, dust, and a certain scent of weakness entered his nostrils.

He looked into Ghislaine's barely opened eyes. They were clouded and vacant, nearly devoid of focus, holding only a deathly gray darkness.

"Hey," Cui Ciyou said, doing his best to keep his voice gentle and nonthreatening. "How are you feeling right now? Are you okay?"

Ghislaine's eyes moved with extreme slowness. It seemed to take all her strength before she could focus her gaze on Cui Ciyou's face.

Looking at this black-haired young man who had suddenly appeared, dressed in strange black clothes and riding a white horse...

There was not the slightest ripple in her eyes, as though she were looking at a stone by the roadside.

After several seconds, her cracked lips finally moved slightly, producing several hoarse, broken syllables:

"...I... am... going... to... die."

Her voice was low and rough, carrying an almost blunt frankness. She sounded as though she were merely stating an established fact.

Cui Ciyou was momentarily choked by her answer, which was so blunt it was nearly rude.

What kind of person starts talking about dying the moment she opens her mouth?

Cui Ciyou steadied himself and continued asking, "What happened to you? Were you injured? Or..."

"...Hungry." Ghislaine spoke again, slightly more coherently this time, though she was still weak and breathless.

"...Poisoned... probably... I no longer... have the strength... to live..."

She closed her eyes again, as though even keeping them open had exhausted her beyond measure.

"You... don't worry about me... let me... quietly..."

This Sword God Style Sword King now sounded like a dying person who had completely lost hope, expressing her wish to refuse help.

Her spirit seemed to have been utterly crushed by days of hunger, illness, and despair.

Seeing how determined she was to die, Cui Ciyou frowned.

"What a... depressing person," he muttered under his breath.

"Give up? What a joke."

If I hadn't encountered her, that would have been one thing. But now that I have—and she's Ghislaine...

How could I possibly stand by and watch her starve to death here so pathetically?

"Hey, don't give up so quickly." Cui Ciyou raised his voice slightly.

"Dying isn't easy."

"Besides, starving to death is far too ugly, isn't it? Aren't you an adventurer? How can an adventurer give up on life just because she's hungry?"

As he spoke, he untied the ration bag beside the saddle.

"Forget it. Whether you want to or not, you need to eat something first."

"Only after you have some strength can you think about what comes next."

At the words "eat something," a faint glimmer flashed through Ghislaine's dead-gray eyes.

She forced her eyes open again and blankly watched Cui Ciyou take something black and hard from the bag... food, black bread.

A primal desire—the desire for food and life shared by all living creatures—struck her nearly stalled nerves.

"...You..." Her throat moved as though she wanted to say something.

Seeing that fleeting desire to survive in her eyes, Cui Ciyou felt somewhat reassured.

Holding the black bread, he poured some water from his waterskin into the small iron pot Carl had given him. Then he broke the bread apart and soaked it in the water.

"How long have you been hungry?" he asked while working.

"If you've been starving for too long, eating something hard like this directly is bad for your stomach. It could even kill you."

"You can only have liquid or semi-liquid food first."

Ghislaine did not answer. She merely stared blankly with her dull eyes as Cui Ciyou worked.

She watched him patiently soften the hard black bread, then slowly stir it with a small iron spoon until it became a paste.

A very distant feeling vaguely surfaced from the depths of her memory—was this... the feeling of being cared for?

If you can't survive on your own, you can teach others swordsmanship, Ghislaine. Just like you taught Paul.

Keith's sharp, cutting words, cruel yet piercingly accurate, seemed to echo beside her ears.

Ghislaine said hoarsely:

"...Since... you're treating me to food... then... I'll teach you... swordsmanship."

She raised her head and tried her best to look at Cui Ciyou, her eyes filled with sincerity.