Yukihi shifted uncomfortably.
Haru stopped looking out the window. He turned around. He put his hand on her forehead.
It was hot, a sign of a high fever.
"Shit..."
He looked back at the window. Isabela was leaving the inn, alone. Heading towards the market.
Haru hurried downstairs. He went to the tavern on the ground floor.
The guards were sitting there, drinking beer.
"You guys. Go up to room 3. Take care of the child. Don’t let anyone in. Understand?"
The guards looked at each other.
"Mr. Haru, we—"
Haru left the inn and followed Isabela.
She noticed, turned her head.
"Why are you following ?"
"I’m your personal guard. Have you forgotten?" Haru replied, catching up to her. "Not to ntion that we need dicine. Yukihi has a fever."
Isabela stopped.
"...Yukihi?"
"Yes. Yukihi is her na."
"You... gave her a na?"
"She told ." Haru lied without blinking. "The night before, before you arrived."
Isabela looked at him suspiciously.
"...She called you Papa."
Haru was silent for a second, then smiled slyly.
"You can be Mama if you want."
Isabela quickly turned her face away. "I... I didn’t hear anything," she muttered, pretending she hadn’t heard.
They kept walking.
On the way, Haru organized his thoughts.
"Running away now would be stupid. Worse: it would be suicide."
"In the original ga, the Celestial Fox (Yukihi) only appeared in Chapter 3 onwards. After the players had already arrived at the Academy. They had already ford guilds. They already had absurd power creep."
"But..." He reconsidered. "I’m assuming that NO ONE knows. But... what if I’m wrong?"
"What if other players also spawned early? Like ?"
He rembered Arwin Corvus.
Level 10. Right from the start. He already had a complete build. He already knew exactly what to do.
"Arwin wasn’t exploring. He was executing a plan. As if he already knew everything."
"A fanatic player. Who morized every quest. Every NPC. Every exploit."
"And he wasn’t the only one."
He closed his eyes.
"I only managed to kill Arwin because I died 500 more tis. Farming experience in an infinite loop. If it weren’t for the ti loop... I’d be dead. Arwin would have crushed ."
He opened his eyes.
"What if there are players who ca BEFORE ? Who had months, not days, to farm?"
"What if there’s soone who ALREADY knows where Yukihi is... and ca to get her..."
He took a deep breath.
"Then I don’t have an information advantage. I just THOUGHT I did."
"Shit."
He looked at Yukihi ntally.
"But even so... run away now? She would die on the way. High fever, malnourished, no resistance."
"So the plan stands: two days. She recovers. Isabela buys what she needs. And then we leave. Quickly. Discreetly."
"But if soone shows up before that..."
He clenched his fists.
"...I’ll have to fight. And hope that my team loop is enough."
The Ashvale market was chaotic.
Wooden stalls scattered haphazardly, rchants shouting, the sll of fish, spices, and sewage mixed together.
Isabela stopped at a clothing stall, picked up a small, simple white dress.
"Will this fit her?" she asked Haru.
Haru looked at it.
"...I think so."
Isabela bought two more dresses and so small shoes.
They went to the fruit stall. Isabela picked up apples, oranges, and pears.
"She needs to eat right," she said, putting everything in a basket.
Haru didn’t complain, she just followed.
They stopped at a toy stall.
Isabela saw a rag doll. Yellow wool hair. Red dress.
She picked it up. "Every child needs a toy," she said, not looking at Haru.
Haru smiled weakly.
"You’ll be a good mother."
Isabela blushed again.
"Shut up!"
She bought the doll anyway.
Last stop: the apothecary, where they bought herbs for fever, ointnt for wounds, and clean bandages.
Haru carried the bags.
They returned to the inn.
They climbed the stairs, reached the second-floor hallway, and stopped. The door to room 3 was ajar, and there was blood on the floor, dripping under the door. It ford a small puddle.
Haru calmly put down the bags. Isabela drew her sword. Haru slowly pushed the door open.
The room was empty.
But it wasn’t as they had left it.
Two bodies on the floor. The guards.
Throats slit, blood flowing, eyes open, empty. Bed rumpled, blanket on the floor, window open (it had been closed).
Isabela dropped the bags.
"N-No..."
Haru didn’t move. She looked around, analyzing.
Small footprints on the floor. Made with the guards’ blood. Yuki had stepped in the blood. Large footprints. Leather boots. Male. Heavy. Light drag marks (had she tried to resist?) Window open. But no signs of climbing from outside.
She concluded:
They ca in through the door. They killed the guards. They took Yukihi. They left through the window.
Haru crouched down, touched the blood on the floor with her fingers, waited. Nothing.
[Touch of the Goddess] didn’t activate.
"It’s not her blood. Just the guards’."
Relief mixed with tension.
"She’s alive. At least... for now."
Isabela stood still. Looking at the bodies. Desperate.
"They... they were good n..." she murmured. "They had families... and now..."
Haru stood up and turned to her.
"Isabela."
Haru pointed to the ground, to the large footprints.
"See? Large footprints, she didn’t run away, she was taken."
"...Who... who would do that?"
Haru didn’t answer out loud. He just thought:
"A player. It has to be a player. What NPC would know about her...?"
He looked out the open window. Outside, the city was still noisy, as if nothing had happened.
Haru went downstairs and headed straight for the counter.
The innkeeper was cleaning glasses. Haru grabbed him by the collar. He pulled him over the counter.
"WHO BROKE INTO OUR ROOM?!"
The owner’s eyes widened, and he dropped the glass.
"N-No one! I swear!"
Haru pulled him closer, his eyes cold.
"Liar. Two guards are dead upstairs. And the child is gone. WHO. WENT IN?!"
The owner began to sweat.
"I... I..."
Haru tightened his grip on the collar. The man began to choke.
"I... I saw a man!" he stamred desperately. "Black cloak! Hood covering his face! He... he gave 100 gold coins! He said he was the child’s uncle! That he wouldn’t kill anyone! That you had kidnaped her!"
Haru stopped squeezing. But he didn’t let go.
"He... he had a symbol on his cloak. A broken moon, I thought he was a nobleman! I swear! I didn’t know that—"
Haru let go of him.
The owner fell back behind the counter, coughing and clutching his throat.
Haru stood still. Thinking.
"Broken moon..."
"I don’t know that guild. But if he’s a player... he must be soone who ALREADY knows who Yukihi is."
On the other side of the tavern, Isabela was with the other two guards. They were sleeping on the table, drunk. Empty bottles were scattered around.
Isabela shook them.
"WAKE UP!"
One of them snored, turned his head, and continued sleeping.
Isabela banged on the table. Hard.
"WAKE UP NOW!"
The two jumped up, startled.
"W-What?!" said one, his eyes red from drinking.
"Were you drinking while two n died upstairs?!" Isabela shouted, furious.
The guards blinked. Confused.
"...Died?"
"They killed them! And took the child!"
One of them got up and ran to the room. The other remained silent, processing.
"...We... we didn’t see anything, miss..." one of them muttered, with a mixture of sha, guilt, and anger. "We were... sleeping..."
Isabela clenched her fists, wanting to scream more, but she knew it was useless. She turned her back and went to Haru.
Haru was still standing at the counter, thinking.
The owner, still afraid, spoke softly:
"S-Sir... if you’re looking for sothing... or soone... you can always talk to Vandris."
Haru looked at him.
"...Vandris?"
The owner nodded nervously.
"Yes. He’s... the best at finding things. People, rare objects. He’s a collector. If anyone knows where the child was taken... it’s him."
Haru frowned.
"Vandris..."
"Where is he?" asked Isabela, looking at the owner.
"He... he has a warehouse. At the port. Warehouse 7. That’s where he... does business... Or very early tomorrow morning in the square, he does business there too."
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