After waking up, I went and washed my face. For some reason I was surprisingly energetic. I think it might be because when I got here, everything happened so fast, and I’ve seen so many new things that I got tired physically and mentally as well.

  Now that I settled myself a bit into this unknown place, leaving behind my country bumpkin title and changing it into an awed tourist, not to mention how I successfully finished my first trial, I might have relaxed and could have a nice sleep at last.

  I picked myself up, took a few coins out of my sack, just in case put the sack away to a very-very secret location of mine in this room (since you can say this sack of coins is literally my lifeline for the coming week), and then left for downstairs.

  Rika and Collins were nowhere to be seen; I thought they might have something to do before the next trial or just be looking around the capital. As such, I sat down, asked for a sandwich, and after finishing it, left the inn myself as well, making good use of my time and tourist status.

  —|—

  "...my bag! Thief!"

  As I walked the wide streets, humming to myself, I heard shouting coming from behind me, so I looked there reflexively. A man, whose face was covered by a hood and an intricate mask, forcefully took a woman's bag and tried to bail before the guards could arrive. The thief might have noticed my reaction, as it stopped for a second, and instead of coming in my direction, it turned left and waltzed into an alley.

  It didn't take much for me to run after him. As I turned into the alley, the man was still quite close to me. After sensing my presence behind him, he tried to clutter the way towards him with anything he could use, knocking over vases and the like, just to gain some distance. Happily for me, they weren’t much use, and most of them only took a few short jumps to get through, so the distance between us just got shorter as he turned right.

  I followed, and what I saw was the man being cornered into a dead end, but instead of turning back, he gained speed and approached the wall towering in front of him. After getting close enough, he jumped up, put his legs against the wall, and with rapid movement, pushed himself upwards, digging his foot into the stone wall. He did this twice, thrice before reaching the top and climbing to the other side.

  That... was not something I could replicate.

  I had agility, but climbing a wall like that would be impossible for me. Pushing yourself upwards once? I can do that. More than that? I find that impossible even when it happened in front of me. I'm quite sure that was some kind of weird magic.

  Although I didn't give up my chase and instead started thinking about what to do until I noticed something in the wall and a box on the side. I thought back about how many trees I climbed before and prayed for my luck. I gained speed as well, but instead of jumping towards the wall, I jumped up, planted my left leg firmly on the box for a second, and then propelled myself forward, getting a higher footing on the wall.

  Just because of the box, I wouldn't be able to reach the top, but that's where his trick or magic comes into play. As I jumped against the wall, I planted my foot onto the same place where the hoodie man pushed himself up and did the same as him. His skill technique, whatever that might have been, dug into the stone wall, which actually gave me a way to reach the top as well. With a few sweat-inducing searches with my foot for those holes in the wall, I masterfully scaled the wall ahead of me, catching the top with my hand.

  "What?!"

  The man apparently didn't expect that I could follow him, as he was lazily walking forward, digging through the bag that he stole. After he noticed my head sticking out from behind the wall and then me landing on the other side, he stopped rummaging through the bag, and the chase continued, now onto the main streets.

  —|—

  "Hah, hah, hah..."

  This cat-and-mouse game just didn’t want to end, and we ran for quite a while around the capital city, and it seems like both of us are at the limits of our stamina.

  "Aaa!"

  Suddenly, instead of running, the thief slammed a box out of a girl's hand and grabbed her from behind. I was less than four meters away from it but stopped when I noticed how he tried to take out a dagger from a sheath on the back of his waist.

  Until now I just chased him, but it’s a different thing if he wants to use someone as a hostage. I can’t just act rashly and get someone hurt in the process.

  "Hah, hah..." The man was out of breath, clearly exhausted from running through most of the capital. "Don't you dare get any closer, or else this gi—"

  "Kyaaa!!"

  While the thief still searched around his back for a hilt, unexpectedly the girl screamed up, bowed forward, and, sadly for the poor fella, kicked backward reflexively. Forgetting to protect his weak spots, the precious jewels of the thief took a critical hit.

  I didn't hesitate using this chance. While the thief tried to hold the girl down and regain his composure and posture, the next thing he saw flying towards him was me, with a clenched fist going straight for his face.

  I planted my foot onto the stone street and gave my all into this punch, swinging from full body. The hit connected, and with a loud cracking sound, the porcelain mask got smashed into tiny pieces. The same can be said about his nose, which is most likely broken now. The man was flying backward, then rolled around on the ground, clutching his face.

  "Hah, hah..." My breathing was heavy from running; my lungs were burning up. One thing is for sure: this man was not someone you could call unfit. He made me work for that punch.

  "You there!"

  Suddenly, four guards appeared around the corner and rushed to us. They tried to puzzle together what might have happened until I heard a familiar voice.

  "Oh, it's you! My friend!"

  His voice was pretty much unmistakable and very memorable not to remember. I saw the guards with protectors covering most of their faces, but I knew the one that stepped forward was the gatekeeper I met when I got here.

  "Matteo?"

  "What happened, kiddo?" asked the jolly-sounding guard.

  "Ah... I was chasing this thief who stole a bag." I pointed towards the man on the ground, who was now holding his nose, trying to stop the bleeding.

  "Ah, so you were the one that got reported? People said that there is a young lad running around chasing someone; I didn't expect it to be you."

  The other three guards ran over to the man and asked the girl for more details. After a bit of talk, the guards picked up the man and walked away with him.

  "Well, boya..." started Matteo again. "...this is when I should ask ya questions that I don't want to, so I won't do it. I'm finally off from the guard duty at the gate all day, so I'm in a good mood, ya see."

  ...Shouldn't you actually do your job? Actually, what took so long to reach this point? I was running around for nearly an hour...

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  Before I could speak up, the guard turned around and walked away.

  "Bye, kiddo. Don't do bad things while here. Ah, what I would give to relive my younger days. I would be an adventurer, unstoppable. Everyone would respect me and..." With such rambling thoughts said out loud, he disappeared into the distance.

  Also, I just realized now, didn't he say last time that he actually doesn't want to be an adventurer due to being a guard giving a stable life? What's his problem? Why is he so weird...?

  In the end, I felt like this whole situation got solved in a confusing way.

  —|—

  "Can I help...?"

  I walked up to the girl who, after talking with the guards, was now picking up the content of the box, which was mostly different fruits.

  Previously when I punched the thief, I didn't take a closer look at the girl being captured as a hostage, but now it was obvious who she was. Or at least what she was.

  "Sister...?" I asked questioningly.

  "Elena. And yes, I gladly accept your help; thank you." answered the girl, looking up at me.

  Her skin was smooth and soft-looking. She had a golden blonde, straight hair. She looked my age, maybe a little older. The top of her head had a tiara-shaped white fabric cloth on it, while her fragile-looking body was enveloped with double-layered clothing of black and white, which I was familiar with. It looked slightly different than what I’d seen before in the village, but it was obviously the cloth of a cloistress. A nun.

  The nun, with soft and graceful movements, put her right palm over her chest, right at her heart. She slowly bowed forward a little as she closed her eyes, then put up her left palm facing towards me. I’ve seen this many times before, but never like this. These were the movements of someone who trained these motions to perfection.

  ?My name is Kanda.” I said, imitating the movements a lot clumsier. ?Our paths intertwined this very moment. May yours lead you onward to the very life you wish for.”

  ?You don’t usually say it, right?” Elena chuckled.

  ?N-no, not really.”

  ?Maybe you were just taught like that, but the gesture is enough. Other cultures use different quotes of their own, and it’s more common to see it used for contracts or vows, so hardly anyone says the lines anymore.”

  ?...”

  I felt embarrassed. Actually, I have a feeling my face might be a bit red. She was right. Berkham as a village wasn’t very religious, so no one really used these greeting gestures. Because of that, the only time I’ve seen it used was when the nun came to Berkham to teach us things. That means we might have only known the most formal version of it, not what someone would use in everyday life.

  Yet what made any word that I might have wanted to say next stuck in my throat was her face. As she looked at me, straight into my eyes, I noticed how her eyes were a radiant golden color that I had never seen before anywhere in my entire life. Her face was pale, but not what you might be able to call sickly looking. It wasn’t anything that you could compare to snow white; more likely she just had naturally fainter skin color. The expression she made as she looked at me was innocent; I felt like the smile she made could melt any heart, including mine. Gracious, pure, humble. Many words came to mind, but neither could describe how I felt about it.

  "Hm?"

  "...nothing."

  She looked at me, most likely thinking I might have something to say, but instead I cut myself short and started picking up the fruits into the box.

  "Ah." Suddenly, the girl hopped in front of me.

  "W-what?" I felt kind of awkward as she looked so resolutely at me.

  "Your hand is bleeding," she said.

  "Does it?"

  I looked down, and yes indeed, it was bleeding. Actually, it was bleeding quite a lot; how did I not notice this? I thought back and ended up at the conclusion that the thief's mask was made of some kind of porcelain, so as it broke, it might have cut up my hand in some places. Still, it didn't change the fact that I had to do something with my hand.

  "Let me see."

  The one who made me come back to reality from my thoughts was the girl, Elena, looking at me intently. I said nothing and held my arm out in front of her obediently, trying not to get too close to her, as droplets of blood might drop onto her clothes.

  She looked at it for a bit, held out both of her hands, and stopped them on both sides of mine, just a little bit taking her from touching my hand. Then, she closed her eyes.

  "Great goddess, deep in slumber. Show your goodwill, with which I can protect many from harm in your name."

  I furrowed my brow as I didn't really understand what she was doing until my hand started heating up. A burning sensation ran through my hand, yet at the next moment it disappeared, and a comfortable coldness took over. When that ended as well, the girl opened her eyes.

  "There. You can wash your hands now."

  I did as I was told. After looking around, I noticed a fountain close by, walked up to it while murmuring a small apology for using it to wash down the blood, and after I finished, there was no bleeding anymore. There wasn't even a scratch that might have been able to bleed, so I figured out what happened fast.

  "Ooo!" As the awing tourist I was, I couldn't hold in a short but unnecessarily loud voice. After that, I ran back to the girl and grabbed one of her hands with both of mine.

  "Eh?" She was surprised and jumped a little, then looked at me, confused.

  "That was magic, right? The sister in our village couldn't do such things; it must have been. I’ve never seen magic that can heal before. Actually, I’ve never seen many types of magic to begin with..."

  As I started rambling about different things, the nun composed herself before addressing me again.

  "Y-yes, that was magic, but not something to get so excited over. Many people can do at least this much. Ah, I didn't mean it that you shouldn't be so happy about it, though. I appreciate your excitement..." Countering my rambling was a soft murmuring from her.

  But I know now. I'm sure of it. A pure and innocent personality, in the clothes of a nun with gentle, mystical golden eyes. I was sure of it now. She can't be human. She has to be an angel, told us by the sister at Berkham in many stories. There's no other answer to how someone could be so kindhearted, soft-spoken, and attentive.

  After that, we had some small talk as we picked up the fruits. She thanked me, picked up the box, said her farewells, and started walking away. Yet, a strange feeling welled up within me. I felt like I better not let this meeting by chance end here.

  "Sorry." As such, I ran up to her. "Can I carry that? In exchange for healing my wound."

  —|—

  After walking around a bit, we ended up near the high walls at the outskirts of the capital, right before a small church. Elena opened the big, old doors, ushered me inside, and showed me where I should put the box. From the main entrance, we went into the main chamber where lots of benches were lined up, and on the right, we entered a kind of dining room.

  "This church is pretty empty."

  As I looked around while coming inside, it really was, so I couldn’t hold back commenting on that. I was never in a church before, so maybe it was normal.

  "It's quite rowdy here, actually.” giggled Elena at my comment. “It’s a church but functions more as an orphanage, if anything. It's still early, so the kids are most likely playing around while the sister is looking for them."

  "Oh? I see." I looked around inside of the church again, and indeed, there was no one here besides us. But then something hit me. "So the sister is there. I thought you might be young for one. Are you an apprentice maybe?"

  "It's a little bit more complicated than that." The girl smiled as she opened the box and arranged the fruits into different plates and bowls. "Just like the children away playing, I'm actually an orphan, living here at the church like the others. Or at least, I was. In the last four years now, I started helping out the sister with her work as well, doing small chores, taking the deliveries like now, and the likes. I help her where I can."

  "That's quite admirable."

  "You think so?" The girl giggled after hearing me say that. "The sister helped me a lot so that I could be here today; I want to repay that in the ways I can."

  After she finished arranging, we left the dining room and were just outside the church again.

  "Um..."

  From behind me, the girl, Elena, started fidgeting around.

  "Yes?"

  "Can I ask a question?"

  "Of course, don't hold back. If I can answer, I will."

  "Are you not from around here, by any chance?"

  "I... just arrived a few days ago, yes."

  People looked at me sometimes, so I already expected that I was looking out of place a bit, most likely thanks to this high-quality sword on my waist as well, but hearing it said to you hurts a little. I mean, I was a tourist at the moment, but still. Maybe I should look for some more fitting clothes after the trials end so I don't stick out that much.

  "That's perfect." Elena clapped her hands together, looking quite happy. "I was actually thinking for a while about how to repay you for helping me out with that thief, as healing your wound was just me doing what I should have done. Did you see the capital yet?"

  "I looked around a bit in the academy district, but honestly I still feel lost at times. Most times..."

  "Hum-hum, I can see that. This is a big city with many districts, so it's not surprising if someone new gets lost." she bobbed her head, her hands resting on her waist. "I'm actually finished with my chores for the week, so what do you say if I give you a tour around the city tomorrow? Showing all of them might be too much, but I can guide you around the academy district. I can show you some interesting places and some that you should know where to find. If you are free, of course. I don't want to be a bother."

  How could she ever be one? I couldn't deny that her generous offer to help me get to know a bit of the city made me happy, so I accepted the offer rather fast.