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“A-A girl…!?”
“Fuu—!!”

From a low, crawling stance she glared at me with a sharp, feral look. She looked like a middle-school girl with scrapes all over her arms and legs. Her hair was chopped roughly to shoulder length, dirtied by the ground but blazing red as if on fire; she bared her canine teeth and growled like a wild child.

What stood out most was the horn on her forehead. Lit by Master’s fireball, the jet-black horn gleamed like coffee jelly.

“You—why aren’t you dead!?”
“Huh? It pricked, but it didn’t really hurt that badly.”
“She must’ve poisoned it. Too bad it won’t work on Momo.”
“You’re acting like I’m some kind of monster.”

Now that I thought about it, after the knife touched my neck my glove had felt slightly warm. Maybe it was purifying the toxin. If so, that would be a really handy ability — you could make slightly spoiled ingredients edible.

“You’re probably thinking something stupid, so take this as a warning: stop it.”
“It’s not stupid! You said food was important, didn’t you, Master!?”
“All right, all right. Now, could you explain what this wild child is?”
“S—sorry… she’s our princess. She’s the one who leads the folks who were left behind on this land.”
“Hiss—!! All of you, what’s going on here!?”
“Hey, calm down for now. First, let us hear what this so-called princess has to say — why you attacked us in the first place.”

――――――――…………

――――……

――…

“I see. So you came to check on your companions when they didn’t return, only to find them captured by us.”
“Uuugh…!”

The princess was still growling at Master, but with me and the bandits standing between them, we somehow managed to keep the conversation going.

Her name was Corvus — a girl who’d lived her entire life in this place, and apparently the only one born here.

The story went that these people had found her abandoned as a baby and raised her, and before long, everyone had started calling her “Princess.”

“I understand her background now. But there’s one thing that bothers me… that horn of hers. What exactly is it?”
“Huh? You don’t know either, Master?”
“I don’t know everything, you realize. I’ve never heard of a normal human growing something like that.”
“Rrgh!! Don’t touch it!!”

When Master reached out toward Corvus’s horn, she quickly ducked behind one of the older bandits.

Even from a distance, it was clear the horn was growing directly from her skull — sturdy enough to make me worry about what her bones and brain must look like.

“We don’t rightly know either. Ain’t caused her no harm, though, that’s for sure…”
“Then maybe it’s fine? What do you think, Master?”
“…I could form a hypothesis, but I don’t have enough evidence to say it with confidence.”
“Wow, that sounded like something a detective would say for once.”
“Grrr… you, the big one and the small one — who are you two, really?”

While we were still discussing her mysterious horn, Corvus spoke up again, suspicion thick in her voice.

To her, we must’ve looked like reckless outsiders headed straight for a cursed city.
But… just how much could we tell her?

“We’re headed for Fomalhaut for… certain reasons. To be precise, we’re looking for something hidden within the city.”
“Food?”
“No. It’s a building. I can’t tell you the details, but do you know anything about it?”
“Know anything? Only that anyone who goes near the sea’s a fool or a lunatic.”
“That’s right. Anyone but me dies if they get close. The curse twists their bodies all up.”
“I thought so… What do we do, Master—wait, ‘anyone but me’?”
“That’s right.”

Corvus nodded like it was nothing, while the bandits around her covered their faces as if realizing she’d said too much.

“Tell me more. You can get close to Fomalhaut?”
“Grrr—!!”
“Master, I think she really doesn’t like you.”
“She doesn’t dislike me; she’s just hungry. Oh well, it wouldn’t be fair for her to go without, even if our supplies are limited.”
“Grrr—!!”

Master pulled a small loaf of bread from his pack and held it out to her.
But she slapped her hand away, sending the bread tumbling to the dirt.

“H-hey, you little—!”
“Hey! You mustn’t waste food!”
“Gr—!?”
“Momo, that’s not the point to get angry about.”
“It absolutely is! Wasting food is terrible—terrible!”

I hurriedly brushed the dirt off the bread and stuffed it into my mouth. Mmm, still good! Three-second rule, three-second rule!

“Mffmgh mgh mmgh fmmgh! Hmgh mmmf mmmffmgh!”
“Eat or talk, not both.”
“Y-you… that’s dirty, eating that.”
“Mmmf— it’s not dirty! It’s precious bread! You guys were starving, weren’t you? Throwing it away like that is such a waste!”
“Uuuh…”
“Whoa, the princess is getting lectured…”

Ah, crud. I’d lost my temper over food and ended up scolding her like a cranky old lady.
Now Corvus looked completely cowed, clinging to the bandits’ backs for cover.
This was bad—if I didn’t fix this, I might ruin our whole negotiation.

“Momo, just keep talking. If it’s you asking, she’ll probably open up.”
“Ehh, but…”
“It’s fine. From what I can tell, this ‘princess’ of theirs has a hierarchy mindset closer to a beast’s. Now that you’ve scolded her, she’s probably realized who’s on top.”
“I see, so you weren’t disliked, Master—you were just being looked down on.”
“Would you like to establish our hierarchy while we’re at it?”
“Corvus! There’s something I’d like to ask, if that’s okay!”

That was close. My mouth almost slipped. If I didn’t steer the conversation fast, Master would absolutely follow through on that threat. I had to get something out of Corvus before that happened.

“W-what is it, big one!? What do you want with me!?”
“Not ‘big one’—I’m Momose Kaguya, and this here is my master, Laika Galactica! Nice to meet you!”
“Uh… n-nice to meet you…?”

When I offered my hand, Corvus hesitated for a second before reaching out her own. I grabbed it with both hands and shook it enthusiastically—handshake complete. That made us friends now.

“So, please tell me—can you actually go to Fomalhaut, Corvus?”
“Y-yeah, I can! I can guide you all the way there!”
“But that land is said to be tainted by a curse, isn’t it? Why are you so sure you’ll be fine?”
“I’ll be fine, I said! Because I was born there, that’s why!!”