Chapter 35 Kirikiri (3)
“Uhhhhh…….!”
As soon as she opened her eyes in the morning, Kirikiri was tormented by a headache that seemed to crack her head.
The High Seeker was surprised to see that.
He’s never seen anyone in the world suffering from a hangover after drinking two glasses of wine.
‘It’s because she’s a rabbit.’
The High Seeker became a little regretful.
Had he known this, he would not have recommended wine.
He poured it little by little for her to taste it.
“Ukukeuk…!”
In the wake of the morning commotion, the innkeeper, who was sleeping in the room, came out alone.
As soon as the innkeeper saw Kirikiri, he was greatly moved.
The owner of the inn, who grew up hearing stories about rabbits from an early age, was amazed that a rabbit stayed overnight in his inn.
He had come late in the morning, so after hearing the High Seeker’s explanation that he had given him his room, he nodded his head saying that it was really good.
The innkeeper, who had been searching the kitchen for a while, left to visit the market.
In the inn hall, only Kirikiri and the High Seeker were left.
Kirikiri gripped her fiery hair and suffered, but did not lift her vigilant gaze from the High Seeker.
The High Seeker laughed inwardly.
She was observing himself with an openly suspicious eye, so she looked funny rather than offensive.
To him, it was like seeing a child pretending to be very serious.
The High Seeker was worried.
He thought they had become close enough yesterday morning, but that rabbit’s vigilance was quickly restored.
‘What should I do?’
The High Seeker was worried.
Do we have to be friends again from the beginning?
He gave away all his sugar yesterday.
What should he give her this time?
When the High Seeker was struggling with such a thing, he saw the sword calling out.
[Uh-huh, this is why you’re single even when you’re old.]
He suddenly hit the pit of the High Seeker’s stomach.
[Look carefully at what I can do!]
The sword was full of confidence.
The High Seeker handed the sword to Kirikiri as the sword had said.
The High Seeker thought it was a good opportunity anyway.
If she was going to accompany him, she should know the sword as well.
Otherwise, she may see himself talking to the sword from time to time and mistake him for a strange person.
Kirikiri looked at him with puzzled eyes, asking why he suddenly pulled out his sword.
She was very suspicious.
As soon as Kirikiri took the sword, she was startled.
As soon as she grabbed the sword, a voice began to ring in her head.
[Heyyo! I’m Aubutz hing! Nice to meet chuu!]
It was a lively greeting.
Kirikiri was startled and frozen for a moment, then looked at the High Seeker with strange eyes.
To avoid misunderstandings, the High Seeker had to explain that it was not his own ventriloquy
Kirikiri’s strange eyes moved towards the sword again.
“Is the person in here a rabbit by any chance?”
Kirikiri asked.
The High Seeker told her that the sword spirit contained within the ego sword was of ordinary human origin.
Kirikiri returned the sword with an uneasy expression.
“Eh… tell him my name is Kirikiri. To that… human sword.”
The High Seeker shrugged and took the sword with embarrassment.
[…….]
The sword was also silent for a long time, as if embarrassed.
* * *
High Seeker and Kirikiri were able to become friends again soon.
It wasn’t a big trigger.
While eating the food prepared by the innkeeper, they became friends while he taught her how to use a knife and fork.
The rabbit quickly regained vigilance, but it was easy to get acquaintanced again.
The two had a conversation.
It was a story about travel.
He looked at the map, checked the route to the city, and calculated the time it took.
For the most part, the High Seeker explained, and Kirikiri nodded her head in agreement.
The High Seeker asked Kirikiri how she was planning to purchase pearls.
Pearls are precious gems.
It was unlikely that a rabbit living on an empty plateau would be able to purchase several pearls.
[Idiot, all rabbits are rich.]
The sword said to the High Seeker.
As if to prove that statement, Kirikiri took out a large stone from her bag.
“I can buy it with this.”
The thing that Kirikiri took out proudly was shining blue.
It was a magic crystal.
“Is this enough?”
“Yes, that will be enough.”
The High Seeker could be sure.
The magic crystal that Kirikiri drew out was very large.
Even the High Seeker had never seen such a large magic crystal.
‘If that is released in the market, the magic towers will be in an uproar.’
To the wizards, magic crystals were like extra lives.
In order to obtain that crystal, wizards would happily sacrifice their disciples’ lives, if not their own.
He’ll have to think carefully about where to sell the magic crystal.
He looked around.
The innkeeper was watching the hall.
Neighborhood children watching Kirikiri while clinging to the outside of the inn window.
They all had eyes to see.
The High Seeker told Kirikiri to put the magic crystal in the bag.
It is said that it is better not to show it outside as much as possible.
It is not good to blindly doubt people you do not know, but it is also bad to believe blindly.
The wisest thing to do is not to give the people around them the opportunity and circumstances to become evil.
Kirikiri said the trip had no deadline, but the High Seeker wanted to get the pearl and return as soon as possible.
His intuition was still on that plateau.
Rejecting the innkeeper’s request to make Kirikiri’s portrait, the two left the inn.
It would be convenient to ride a horse-drawn carriage like when the High Seeker came here, but there were no horse-drawn carriages in this small town.
The carriage the High Seeker was riding in had already gone back.
So they walked a little out of town.
Kirikiri was depressed as she looked back at the village and the green mountain ranges that were gradually moving away.
Even then, when she saw the sunshine for the first time, she realized that she liked the light.
The High Seeker soon learned that this rabbit was simply very emotional.
“Huhuhu, stop.”
It was a bandit.
A bandit appeared as if it was natural.
‘If you want to live, give up all you have!’ They didn’t say anything like that.
The boss who smiles slyly.
There were a few grunting bastards following the boss.
Some were holding weapons with tense faces.
They knew.
The fact that Kirikiri has expensive jewels.
It was clear that they had been chasing the two of them from the village.
Considering the weapons they had, it wasn’t a big deal.
A long stick attached to a sickle.
An axe whose blade resembles ones that had been diligently cutting down trees until this morning.
There was also a hammer.
The High Seeker sighed.
It is not easy to meet a thief in such a remote place.
A robbery basically requires the presence of a victim to be established.
Even if they want to be a robber in a very deserted place, they couldn’t be.
Their occupation could not be robbery.
A woodcutter who lived in a nearby village, a hunter, and a farmer plowing the fields.
They must have impulsively heard about a man and a woman holding a large jewel in the village.
Maybe this isn’t the first time.
But it must have been like that in the beginning.
An impulsive crime.
The High Seeker was worried.
He doesn’t know how to deal with them
If he was young, he might have subdued them and then given them a whole bunch of lectures.
To live a good life.
It is not right to live by causing harm to others.
But now he knew that such lectures were not very effective.
If he gives them such discipline after suppressing them by force, they will leave only the thought that they failed because they attacked someone with strong power.
If he was young, he would have subdued them all and dragged them to a big city.
Because it was a time when he had a high reputation, all the criminals he had captured went straight to prison.
It was also not a wise move.
When entrusting punishment to an official, a due process must be followed.
Administrative powers should always be minimal and flexible.
Therefore, it would not be correct to take them and arrest them, claiming they were thieves, without any evidence.
There was also no guarantee that the city’s prisons would function properly.
Repentance and punishment are not easy things.
Prison facilities were usually among the most underdeveloped facilities in the city, and were an area full of petty corruption and absurdity.
[Isn’t it okay to just beat them? You are still frustrated. No, I think you’re getting more frustrated as you get older.]
The sword kept talking, but the High Seeker did not stop worrying.
It may be a meaningless worry, but the High Seeker did not give up.
Thinking that one day he might find a ‘correct answer’ that would satisfy everyone, he pursued the best way to do everything.
As soon as the High Seeker stood still, Kirikiri stepped forward.
She took a step forward, and Kirikiri, who hid the High Seeker behind his back, shouted.
“I’ll protect you!”
Very confidently.
The High Seeker felt a strange feeling.
It was somehow touching.
It seemed like it had been a long time since he had heard someone say that they would protect him.
No, he wondered if he had ever heard of it in the first place.
The High Seeker was always on the side of protecting someone.
The High Seeker grabbed Kirikiri’s shoulder and tried to stop her.
At that moment, Kirikiri’s body disappeared.
The High Seeker’s hand, which was holding Kirikiri’s shoulder, floated in the air.
The High Seeker and novice thieves were silent for a moment as the person suddenly disappeared.
“Aack!”
One of the bandits grabbed his crotch and fell.
He was the one who kept talking dirtily.
“Some, something hit me!”
Confusion began.
The thieves looked around, but couldn’t see anything.
Hit.
“Uh… uh…?”
One of the thieves grabbed his stomach and made a dazed sound.
There’s a hole in his stomach and he’s bleeding.
The thieves who saw the blood now began to feel fear.
They tried to block the invisible enemy by swinging their arms in all directions, but it was in vain.
One by one, holes began to form in the thieves’ bodies.
“It’s a curse…! It’s a fairy curse!”
Someone screamed and ran away.
When one escaped, all the thieves started to run away in confusion.
The thief, who was the first to be hit between the crotch, had no one to help, so he had to crawl away by himself.
Even the High Seeker was as perplexed as the thieves.
The High Seeker could notice an archmage’s invisible magic and a secret assassin’s hideout at a glance.
He still didn’t understand where Kirikiri was and how she got out of his senses.
After a while, as the bandits fled far out of sight, Kirikiri reappeared.
“Hng!”
A loud snort was heard.
Kirikiri was right next to the High Seeker.
A small sword was in Kirikiri’s hand as she stood dignifiedly like a general who defeated the enemy, and looked to the side where the thieves had escaped.
It was a sword shining golden.