Things Better Left Alone

After leaving the inn and heading south, the smell of incense in the air grew fainter, replaced by the scent of damp earth.

A light rain had fallen last night, leaving shallow puddles in the gaps between the paving stones. Our boots made squelching sounds as we stepped on them. Church bells rang behind us, closer than they had sounded last night. It was probably time for morning prayers. There weren't many people on the road. Now and then, a few priests in white robes passed us, prayer books in their hands and words murmured under their breath.

Eris walked half a step ahead of me, her right hand resting on the hilt of her nameless sword, ready to draw it at any moment. She had been like that throughout our three years on the Demon Continent, her hand never more than three inches from the hilt. Rujierd had taught her that; it never hurt to be on guard.

"The innkeeper said the refugee camp is south of the city. Follow this road straight through the gate, then walk for about half an hour."

The city gate was a white stone archway, carved with the cross emblem of the Millis Faith. Two guards stood at the entrance, their silver armor gleaming in the morning light. They glanced at us, their eyes lingering for a couple of seconds on Eris's red hair and the sword at her waist, but they neither questioned nor stopped us. It was less trouble than I'd expected.

Beyond the gate, the road turned to dirt. Some kind of pale green crop grew in the fields on either side, its leaves broad. I didn't recognize it. In the distance stood a cluster of low, drab tents made from old canvas and coarse burlap. People moved between them, and cooking smoke rose from several places before the wind scattered it.

That had to be the refugee camp.

When we were still about two hundred paces away, I heard crying.

Muffled sobs came from behind a thicket by the road. Eris stopped in her tracks.

A woman sat behind the bushes.

She was curled up beneath a small tree, hugging her knees, her whole body drawn into a ball. Gray beast ears drooped against her head, almost flat against her scalp. Her tail was wrapped around her legs, its fur bristling. She wore a coarse-cloth dress with mud on the hem, and her bare soles were covered in scratches and blood.

She was crying so hard that her whole body trembled, but she was very quiet, as though afraid someone might hear.

Eris walked over.

"What happened?"

The woman looked up. Her eyes were red and swollen, tear tracks marked her face, and her lips were pale. Her body stiffened for a moment when she saw Eris, and she shrank back again when she noticed the sword at Eris's waist.

"My child... my child..."

Her voice came in fits and starts. She spoke the human language with a heavy accent, and there were a few words I couldn't quite understand. But I got the gist.

Her child had been abducted. Last night, five beastfolk children had been taken by traffickers while they slept in a tent on the outskirts of the refugee camp. The guards had said they would investigate, but there had been no news by this morning.

"Five children." Eris looked back at me.

I knew that look all too well. On the Demon Continent, she wore it whenever we found ourselves facing a fight: pupils slightly narrowed, lips pressed into a line, jaw set.

"Five beastfolk children. Traffickers. This isn't the Demon Continent. This is the Holy Country of Millis. There are guards, laws, and a church. Fighting without authorization is a serious crime in Millis. Besides, we don't know how many traffickers there are, whether they have weapons, or whether anyone is backing them. Most importantly, we're not from here. We're just adventurers passing through, looking for Paul. If we get involved, we could end up in trouble."

I opened my mouth.

"It could be dangerous."

Eris glanced at me. Her look reminded me of the way she used to look back at me after beating someone up on the Demon Continent, with an impatience that said, You're really stating the obvious.

"Rudeus! When did you become such a coward?"

"I just want to be careful."

"Being careful is good, but those children can't wait."

She turned around and crouched down to face the beastfolk woman. Her voice softened, unlike the blunt tone she usually used with me.

"Which way did they go?"

The woman raised a trembling hand and pointed west.

"West... west. The old warehouse district. I saw their carriage going that way."

Eris stood and brushed the dirt off her trousers.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go."

She was already walking away, striding quickly over the muddy ground.

I stood where I was.

"Go? Go where? We don't know anything. How many traffickers there are, whether they have swordsmen, whether they have magicians, whether there are traps. The Holy Country of Millis forbids unauthorized fighting. If we're caught, we'll go to prison. And we haven't even seen Paul yet. Three years. He's been waiting for us at the search party's base near the refugee camp, waiting for three years. I finally made it all the way from Zant Port to Milishion, finally found his message, finally got this close to him."

My feet didn't move.

Eris had gone a dozen or so paces before she realized I wasn't following. She stopped and turned around.

She didn't urge me on or say anything. She just looked at me.

Morning light shone on her deep red hair, its edges glowing gold. She stood there, waiting for my answer.

"Rujierd once said something. During our second year on the Demon Continent, we passed through a village that had been raided by bandits. Everyone in the village had been killed, except for a few children who had hidden in a well. Rujierd pulled them out one by one and carried them more than ten li to the nearest town. I asked him why he bothered. He said, 'Protecting the people who matter to you doesn't take strength. It takes resolve.'"

I closed my eyes for a moment.

"Resolve. Resolve also means choosing not to look away when you see something you shouldn't have seen. In my three years on the Demon Continent, I learned a lot. I learned to track footprints with earth magic, to judge danger with the Demon Eye of Foresight, and to work with Eris in battle. But the most important lesson was one Rujierd taught me. When you see someone suffering and happen to have the ability to help, don't look away."

I started walking and caught up with her.

The corner of Eris's mouth moved. It wasn't quite a smile, but it did turn up just a little. Then she turned around and kept walking.

The old warehouse district was west of the city.

It was called a warehouse district, but it was really just a collection of old buildings that had been abandoned for a long time. They had probably once been used to store grain or goods, but now they were dilapidated. The roofs of several buildings had half collapsed, and moss and vines covered the walls. The windows were all black, nothing but dark, gaping frames.

There were hardly any pedestrians on the road. Every now and then, a ragged vagabond or two would poke their heads out of an alley to look at us, then duck back inside.

I crouched down and pressed my right hand to the ground.

Earth magic, detection.

Mana seeped from my palm into the soil, spreading in every direction like countless thin threads. The structure of the ground gradually took shape in my mind: layers of soil and gravel, underground water veins, and...

Hoofprints.

Two sets, one behind the other, about three meters apart, both heading northwest. The wheel tracks matched those of a standard two-wheeled freight carriage, and their depth showed that the carriages carried quite a load. The hoofprints were shallower than those of horses bearing a normal load, which meant the carriages were being pulled by light, swift horses rather than heavy draft horses.

The traffickers used light, swift horses to pull their carriages, specifically for making a getaway.

"Two sets of hoofprints mean at least two carriages. If there were three people and a few children in each carriage, that's at least six people. We can't rule out others waiting at the warehouse to meet them."

I stood up.

"Northwest. Follow me."

Eris nodded without asking any more questions.

We followed the hoofprints for about ten minutes. The dirt road turned to gravel, and the buildings on either side grew increasingly rundown and shorter. The air smelled of mold, with a hint of sour, rotting wood.

The hoofprints disappeared in front of an old, two-story warehouse.

The warehouse doors were shut. A rusty iron sign was nailed to one of them, with a few faint words that were no longer legible. A sliver of dim light showed through the gap between the doors. There was a window on the second floor, its curtains drawn, but light flickered through a gap in them.

Someone was inside, and more than one person at that.

I pulled Eris behind a low wall at the side of the warehouse and lowered my voice.

"I'll use earth magic to check how many people are inside and get a sense of the layout. Don't rush in."

Eris looked at me, and the corner of her mouth moved again. The smile was still barely noticeable, gone in a flash.

"You handle the scouting. Leave the fighting to me."

"...Okay."

I crouched down and pressed both hands to the ground. Mana seeped into the soil again, reaching upward through the warehouse's foundation and into the building.

Seven people on the first floor. They were of different builds; some were sitting, while others stood and moved back and forth. I detected metal: at least three swords, and possibly daggers as well. In a corner were five small life signs, huddled together. Their body temperatures were lower than normal, probably from fright.

The five children were still alive.

Three people on the second floor. One of them was huge, weighing at least a hundred kilograms, and sat motionless. The other two were beside him, apparently guarding something.

Ten people in all. Seven on the first floor, three on the second.

I told Eris what I had detected.

She was silent for three seconds after hearing me out.

"I can deal with the ones on the first floor who have swords in three breaths. The ones without swords will be even easier. You take the three on the second floor."

"Wait."

"What are we waiting for now?"

"Let me check whether those three upstairs have crossbows or bows. If they have ranged weapons, you might get hit when you charge in."

She was silent for another two seconds.

"All right. Tell me when you've checked."

I used earth magic to scan the second floor again. I detected no long objects near the three of them, no curved shape of a bow, and no mechanical structure of a crossbow. But there was a small wooden box beside one of them, containing irregularly shaped metal objects.

Possibly throwing weapons, like throwing knives.

"No bows or crossbows. But there's something like throwing knives on the second floor, so be careful."

Eris drew the sword from her waist. Its blade glinted in the dim morning light as she tightened her grip on the hilt.

"I'll kick in the door on the first floor."

"Wait."

"What is it now?"

"I'll go around to the side and use a Rock Bullet through the window to block the stairway on the second floor, so the people upstairs can't rush down. You take care of the ones on the first floor, and once you're done, I'll deal with the second floor."

She thought it over.

"All right. You have thirty seconds."

"Twenty will be enough."

I went around from behind the low wall to the side of the warehouse. There was a small window high up on the side, but I could see most of the first floor through it. I concentrated mana in my right palm and aimed at the stairway leading from the second floor to the first.

Rock Bullet. Compress. Spin. Fire.

A muffled bang. The Rock Bullet struck the floor at the stairway with precision, blasting a fist-sized crater and sending shards of stone and dust flying.

All seven people on the first floor turned toward the stairway.

That was the moment.

The warehouse doors were kicked open. The panels slammed against the walls with an enormous crash.

Eris stood in the doorway, sword in her right hand, left hand resting on the doorframe. The wind blew her hair back as she swept her gaze across the entire first floor.

The kidnapper closest to the door hadn't even had time to draw his sword before Eris was in front of him.

One horizontal slash struck the scabbard at his waist, cutting straight through the sheathed sword and splitting it in two. The metal at the break hummed in the air.

"Whoever moves first dies first."

Her voice wasn't loud when she said it, but every word was like a nail.

The five beastfolk children huddled in the corner, eyes wide as they watched the red-haired swordswoman in the doorway. The youngest was still crying, but much more quietly, perhaps frightened into forgetting how to cry.

"Twenty seconds was enough."