[Ch. 7] Walking With No Direction

After tidying myself up, I glanced at my emaciated image in the reflection of the river. The long silky black hair neatly hung down the middle of my back, framing it in a seductive manner. My porcelain skin held no imperfections except for the faded dark circles under my eyes. The symmetrical androgynous face stared back at me. My attention was drawn to the eyes that drooped slightly, giving off a coy appearance.

The inky eyes staring back at me were as dark as night filled with only emptiness.

Who are you?

I turned away from the reflection and stood up. I fixed the stitched robe that hung loosely on me without expression. I returned back to Sylvia who had finished cooking edible plants she had found specifically for me. I noticed blood on the hem of her cloak and gave her a knowing look.

She explained, "There was a corpse nearby. I took care of it."

I nodded and sat down. "Thank you." I tried to sound gracious, but my voice turned sarcastic instead.

I munched on the few bits of herbs and berries until they were all gone. It was a meager meal, but it was adequate. Sylvia sighed, "I wish that you would allow me to catch fish. This isn't enough for you."

I shook my head, "I refrain from eating meat."

"But why? When it is a matter of survival, why would you still be so picky?"

"I'd rather not survive if that was true."

She frowned at this and wanted to argue further, but I didn't give her the chance to. I stood up and walked away from the abandoned house. She quickly followed after me, "Where are we going?"

"Nowhere."

"..Nowhere?"

"Mmn."

"Do you have any plans?"

"None."

She frowned as she limped behind me, "None? What about finding the culprit behind your return?"

"Not interested."

"Then… What about finding the person who framed you for the necromancy attacks?"

"Not interested."

"But-" I shut her up with a fierce glare. She frowned and looked to her feet, "Then… What are we doing?"

My dull eyes turned to look ahead once more, "Nothing."

"...Nothing? But… What's the point then?"

I let out a dark chuckle, "There is none."

There's never been one.

We continued to walk for several days. I only stopped after Sylvia pestered me to the point where I couldn't stand her chatter any longer. I continued to eat berries and herbs without any desire for anything more. My chest still ached from the pain before I awoke in this body.

My steps hesitated as I frowned at the road ahead. Sylvia noticed something wrong and spoke, "What is it?"

I spoke quietly, "How often do people use this road?"

"Not very often. It's rare that someone is brave enough to travel outside a city."

"And the safety of this road?"

"I would say it's safer than most, but there are usually a few corpses wandering around occasionally. The beasts stay away since it's close to the city."

"Mmn."

Without explanation, I turned to the forest and quickened my pace. Sylvia followed me quickly with obvious confusion on her dead face, "What is it?"

I motioned to the broken plants, "Someone stumbled through here."

"Oh… Probably a corpse."

"No. It's human."

"How do you know?"

I pointed to a leaf with a speck of blood, "This blood is fresh. Corpses blood smells foul. Whoever ran through here was hurt and trying to run away from something." Distant shouts seemed to answer me as if they had heard me. I turned to Sylvia, "Go."

"Yes." With superhuman speed, she took off running in the direction of the voice. It almost seemed as if her limp had disappeared, but in truth, it was the reason behind why her speed was slower than usual.

However, it was only a thing I would have noticed. No one would have known that she was much faster when both of her legs were functional.

I followed quickly, but struggled to keep up with her speed. It was clear the body I was in didn't have much endurance, nor were the berries and herbs enough to give me much strength to run. I caught up to Sylvia and saw that she had already killed three corpses. I looked around and noticed they were surrounding a tree, but there was no one in sight. My gaze turned up to see a wounded man in the tree, gasping for air.

I motioned to him with an apathetic face, "You can come down now."

He took a deep breath and shook his head. His voice squeaked, "Who are you?!"

"Fellow travelers."

"Yeah right! You probably just want to eat me! But you won't get the chance! I won't come down!"

My face twitched. Eat him? Sylvia suddenly appeared at my side and whispered to me, "There are reports of those who can't take refuge in the cities have resulted to cannibalism."

Disgusting.

I scoffed and turned around. I didn't care whether he came down or not.

I spoke over my shoulder to him, "Stay in the tree then."

Seeing us walk away, he suddenly panicked. "W-Wait! Don't leave!"

I didn't stop despite his desperate pleas. He scrambled down the tree and rushed after me and Sylvia as we walked back to the road. I glanced at him, finally looking at his appearance. My eyes widened.

Why does he look like someone I know? It's not him… But they look so similar.

I decided that I didn't care enough to ponder it. Sylvia snickered under the cloak, "Weren't you scared we would eat you?"

He glanced at Sylvia who quickly lowered her head in order to hide her bandaged face. Her body nor face could be seen under the cloak. He spoke nervously, "Forgive me… But most people on the road can't be trusted. The two of you were naturally suspicious. You are hiding under a cloak while your friend is an Easterner. Surely you understand why I was distrustful."

Sylvia muttered in annoyance, "And yet you still follow us."

He coughed awkwardly, "I-I decided to take my chances. If I stayed in that tree, more dead would follow. It was either that I died from you or I died from them."

My dull eyes glanced at him, "Why are you alone?"

His expression turned grave, "I wasn't. Those Monsters suddenly attacked and my bodyguards were killed. I was forced to run."

Sylvia looked at him from under her hood, "Bodyguards?"

Hearing her interested tone, he explained enthusiastically. "Yes. I am going to the Scholar's city for the festival. I was in charge of transporting a few jewels to present to the Hero's at the banquet. I am also supposed to attend the festival in place of my father."

I glanced at him, "Festival?"

Has there ever been such a thing before?

He stared at me suspiciously, "You don't know?"

Sylvia cut in, "Of course we know. The festival is to celebrate humanity's triumph over Moao's darkness. We honor those lost from the Great War and those we lost over the years. We fully know the details behind the festival. It's just that we've never been."

He nodded in understanding, "I see. That makes sense. Most cities probably wouldn't let you two in." He snapped his fingers, "I know! I can bring you two inside the city as payment for escorting me there."

Sylvia's voice betrayed her distrust, "Escort?"

He nodded quickly, "Yes! I can easily get you inside. No one would question it if I said you escorted me there. I can also give you the payment that was meant for the other men."

"That…" Sylvia turned to me, "What do you think?"

I gave an uninterested nod, "Let's go."

It's not like I have anything else planned.

The man was thrilled, "This is great!! By the way, my name is Hatsuyo."

I recognized the name at once, "Phoenix nation?"

He nodded proudly, "That's right. My father- OH! I just realized I never asked for my savior's names!"

Sylvia opened her mouth and froze. I quickly cut in, "My name is Mo Zao and this is my traveling companion Sivvie."

Sylvia cast me a sharp look, but didn't comment. Hatsuyo nodded with a large grin, "How wonderful! I am extremely grateful that you both saved me. Lady Sivvie and Lady- er… Sir Mo?"

I forced on a smile, "Sir Mo is correct."

He let out the breath he had been holding, "Phew… At first, I wasn't really sure. I didn't want to offend."

I looked ahead without an expression, "You wouldn't be able to offend."

Once Sylvia had a moment, she came to me and whispered quietly so that Hatsuyo wouldn't hear. "Mo Zao?"

I smirked, "Just take out the Z and what do you get?'

She thought about it for a moment and shook her head, "Are you sure that name is wise? Wouldn't someone be able to figure out who you really are?"

"It has Eastern origins so no one will be able to refute it. I also doubt someone will make the connection. We will go by these names from now on."

She nodded, "As you wish."

章節 7: [Ch. 7] Walking With No Direction

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章節 7: [Ch. 7] Walking With No Direction

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