Chapter 15
“Lord Ciel, should we just turn back? Elves is extremely unsafe. Let’s say I was unlucky and leave it at that.”
“We’ve already come this far, so let’s look a little longer. It’d be a shame to have run all that way for nothing.”
“But….”
“You said it was something you valued more than almost anything else.”
Eris glanced at Ciel to gauge his reaction, but he merely gave her a faint smile before turning his attention forward again.
Perhaps because sunlight barely reached this place even at the height of noon, the air was damp and stale, carrying a musty odor that stung her nose.
Eris occasionally visited Elves to conduct business on the black market, but of all the hidden black-market districts scattered throughout the kingdom, this was easily her least favorite.
However, Ciel seemed completely unfazed by either the smell or the filth. He simply kept looking around without so much as wrinkling his nose.
With his appearance and attire, he couldn’t have looked more out of place on these streets.
The scenery was familiar to Eris, something she had seen countless times before. Yet somehow, watching Ciel’s back as he walked ahead of her made it all seem strangely different.
“Aagh! Let go of me!”
They had been moving carefully, keeping their footsteps quiet, when the sound of an argument suddenly rang out from somewhere nearby.
The instant she heard the scream mixed into the shouting, Eris slowed her pace and placed a hand near the dagger concealed at her waist.
Most of the people who had made this district their territory were closely connected to criminal organizations, so avoiding unnecessary entanglements was always the wisest course. That was especially true now, when she was in the middle of an assignment to protect Ciel.
“I hear something.”
“Sounds like a fight. We should probably just leave.”
“Does this happen often?”
“Yes. This place is mostly frequented by people who need somewhere to hide.”
“Hmm….”
Ciel rubbed his chin lightly, seeming to consider something. Eris glanced around before whispering again, hoping to persuade him.
“Lord Ciel, there’s absolutely nothing good that can come from you being somewhere like—”
That was when it happened. The sound of running footsteps rapidly drew closer, and a moment later, someone came hurtling straight toward Ciel.
Eris reacted on instinct. She grabbed Ciel by the arm and pulled him behind her, and a young boy crashed into her instead before tumbling to the ground.
“Ugh….”
“Are you all right?”
Eris only spared the boy a brief glance as he lay groaning on the ground before turning to check on Ciel.
He stood perfectly unharmed with his arms crossed, merely raising an eyebrow to indicate that he was fine.
“You little rat. I swear, the day I catch you, I’ll bury you alive…!”
“P-please, spare me.”
The boy was in terrible shape. His face was already bruised and smeared with blood as though he had been struck several times, and his clothes were half torn to shreds.
“Please… help me.”
In the boy’s hand was Eris’s money pouch. She recognized it immediately from the Ves insignia embroidered into the lower right corner.
The man who had chased him down looked easily five times the boy’s size. With a vicious expression, he seized the fallen child by the scruff of his neck and hauled him to his feet in one motion.
Without caring in the slightest that Eris and Ciel were watching, he slapped the boy hard across the face.
“Hand it over!”
…Was he seriously trying to steal the boy’s money? When the actual owner of that money was standing right there?
The absurd situation left Eris speechless. She let out a sigh before glancing back at Ciel.
Still standing with his arms folded, Ciel had been watching the entire scene before his eyes shifted toward her.
“Miss Eris, aren’t you going to help? At this rate, that boy might actually die.”
“But….”
“Or do you just want to leave?”
“…Yes. Let’s get out of here.”
She was in the middle of a mission.
If she stepped in, she could save the boy, but Ciel might end up dragged into trouble because of her. The situation was pitiful and absurd, and anger was already beginning to flare inside her, but Eris forced herself to endure it.
“If you’re holding back because of me, you don’t have to. Go ahead and help him.”
As though he had seen straight through her thoughts, Ciel tilted his head and smiled.
Behind them, the sound of the boy being slapped and his pained cries continued without pause, making it increasingly difficult for Eris to think straight.
“Miss Eris.”
His pure, gentle smile could not have been more out of place in the grim atmosphere. Eris pressed her lower lip tightly between her teeth as she studied his face.
“If I’ve misunderstood you, then we can just leave. It’s not as though he’s one of my countrymen anyway.”
“Then please wait here for a moment… I’ll finish this quickly.”
Having made up her mind, Eris turned around.
She drew the dagger concealed at her waist and pressed the blade against the neck of the man who was still mercilessly beating the boy.
“Enough.”
“Wh-what the hell is this? You were watching just fine, so why are you suddenly sticking your nose into it?”
Eris had subdued him so quickly that the hand he had raised to strike the boy again was still suspended in midair.
“Don’t you think it’s pathetic to beat up a kid just to steal a few coins from him?”
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