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“Sorry, ma’am!!!”
“I won!”
“Yeah yeah, good job, good job.”

There had been plenty of bandits, but somehow, I managed. Even if they were all called bandits, they were nothing like Mr. Nova’s group.

I tore their weapons out of their hands and snapped every one of them in two. Those who still came at me got a good, hard slap—and that was enough to make them surrender.

“I thought my neck was gonna pop off… I swear it was gonna pop off…”
“It hurts… my face feels like it’s on fire…”
“My hoe… my poor hoe just snapped clean in half like a twig…”
“Well, as you can see, they’re just a rabble. No coordination whatsoever. No resolve either—one bit of pain and they come to their senses.”
“And then a little girl starts hitting us with perfect logic…”
“You brought this on yourselves. Please, don’t do things like this anymore.”
“We don’t wanna do this either! But what choice do we got!? No money, no food for tomorrow!”

Indeed, when the firelight fell on their faces, none of them looked remotely healthy.
Their cheeks were sunken, eyes wild, clothes torn to rags, and the arms poking from their sleeves were little more than skin and bone.

“Then first things first—we should get them dinner, Master!”
“No. Our supplies are limited. We’ve got no guarantee of resupply ahead.”
“Then take it out of my share!”
“Are you serious? These people are strangers—bandits at that.”
“Even so… this is what I want to do.”
“Haaaaaaaah…”

With an enormous sigh, Master pulled a pot from her pack and set it over the fire.
She tore up some black bread and dropped the pieces in, then poured in water and started to boil it.

“If you haven’t eaten anything, start with this soaked bread soup. Don’t expect it to taste good.”
“R-Really…?”
“I despise this, but Momo won’t shut up otherwise. She said she’d use her own share, so I’ve decided to yield.”
“Thank you, Master!!”
“Yeah yeah, fine, now stop yelling, stay back, and don’t hug me.”

――――――――…………

――――……

――…

“There used to be a village around here… we lived there…”
“Down in a hollow where a river ran — it was a peaceful little place.”
“It was destroyed, by the curse of Fomalhaut.”

When Master served the bandits the soup made from bread boiled to mush, they cried and told us their stories. The broth barely had any texture at all, but everyone was so hungry the pot was emptied in no time.

“Hey — you’re eating too.”
“Ah, it just looked good… any seconds?”
“No. I’ve said it before: food is precious. Don’t expect to find much in this cursed place.”
“Right….”

All I could see in the firelight within our little circle was bare, exposed earth. The few plants we found were either withered or an unhealthy color, not something you could eat — and if they were edible, the bandits wouldn’t be in this much trouble to begin with.

“The curse of Fomalhaut has been eating into the land over time. It probably poisoned the drinking water and the crops.”
“Aye. Folks went through things worse than death. That place was a living hell.”
“I snapped the neck of my wife’s newborn child. It could no longer be called alive — there was nothing I could do…”
“……”
“The curse from that ghost ship is grotesque, keeping on killing the land to this day. But there’s no point clinging to ruined soil forever, is there?”
“Still, this is where we were born. We can’t just abandon it.”
“Aye. And the curse might lift one day.”
“I just stole from another town and got exiled here.”
“I woke up drunk and found myself dumped outside the town.”
“I’ve done so many things I can’t go back.”
“Momo, some of these folks are pretty hopeless — are you sure we had to help them all?”
“Uhh… well… I guess…”

Master’s questioning made me waver a little, but I didn’t regret saving them. Leaving them there would have felt worse. And once people had learned from a painful lesson, maybe they’d change — probably.

“Fine then. You can repay us for the meal. To be specific, I want you to guide us to Fomalhaut.”
“H-huh!? Even if you’re our saviors, that’s asking for too much!”
“Aye! The lass there’s plenty strong, sure—but you can’t just throw your lives away!”
“And besides, what’ll the Princess say!?”
“Princess? You mean there’s someone else with you?”
“Momo, get ready to dodge.”
“Huh?”

Almost at the same moment Master said that, something scattered our campfire, snuffing it out in an instant.

My eyes, used to the light, were suddenly swallowed by darkness. I couldn’t see a thing—but whatever was happening, it definitely wasn’t good.

“Y-your Highness! Wait! These people aren’t bad!”
“There’s someone there!? Who—”

That was when something pricked me in the neck—

“Uwahhh!?”
“—!”

The instant I felt it, I instinctively slapped it away.

There was a sharp impact, like I’d struck something solid, followed by the sound of metal clattering across the ground.

I could also feel whoever had been behind me leap back, quickly putting distance between us.

“‘Light up’. Momo, you alright?”
“Master… you could’ve lit that sooner!”
“Hahaha, sorry, it was all so sudden I didn’t have time to react, I swear, hahaha! Anyway, I’ve got eyes on our assailant now.”

Thanks to the glowing orb Master conjured, I could see again.

At my feet lay a short-handled knife—that must’ve been what pricked my neck.

And then there was something else… no, someone. A girl glared at us from within the circle of light.

“Princess…!”

The one the bandits called “Princess” had a small, jet-black horn on her forehead—like it had been carved from dark crystal.