Marina
My journey to Aarom was smooth-sailing, all things considered.
Sure, I was attacked by a giant eagle and a pack of mountain wolves, but they were nothing that I couldn’t handle. They barely caused a delay in my journey.
I arrived at the city faster than expected, as the sun was still up on the sky when I did.
When I entered the large gates, I was greeted with a crowd, enough to give the impression that it was a busy city indeed. Not as busy as it could’ve been perhaps, seeing how it was already almost night, but there were still people walking to and fro, with carriages and stagecoaches passing through occasionally. Naturally, I walked on the side of the large road, to avoid getting run over by them.
Those people carrying around axes and swords… they must be adventurers…
The group currently walking in front of me drew my attention, as they dressed differently compared to the merchants and ordinary travelers. There were four of them—one man wearing what looked to be leather armor, with a sword sheathed and secured on his belt, and three women, each wearing the stereotypical clothing associated with their vocations. One was a warrior, with a large axe slung to her back. She wore a series of skimpy armor that exposed a lot of her skin with a mini skirt that barely covered her rump. The cleric wore a long white robe, while the mage—obvious from her pointy hat and the staff that she carried—wore a mage’s robe with a long yet high-slitted skirt.
Two front-line fighters, one healer and one mage. I say it’s a pretty balanced party.
I looked around and saw there were other folks walking around wearing similar outfits. However, the mage’s long ears were unique as she seemed to be the only elf around.
Elves. She was already used to their presence from her times at the academy. Though there were certainly not that many of them compared to human students, there would always be one or two in every class. And just like the common myth said, they were all good-looking, with unblemished skin and slim bodies. Back at the academy, every elven student seemed to have at least one or two admirers going after them.
I followed them for a while, thinking that they might be heading to the Adventurer’s Guild building that existed in the city. I had overheard them talking about how they wanted to hand over a quest there. I thought I would go there and take her own quest before resting at an inn for the night.
“You filthy Hobbit!”
Huh?
A loud, crass yell broke her out of her reverie. It came from across the street, where there seemed to be a crowd forming.
I glanced back at the group of adventurers. Well, whatever. I could just ask around for directions later.
Crossing the road, making sure to look both ways beforehand, I walked over to the scene.
“You think you can trick me, you little s***? Just because you look like a little girl doesn’t mean I’m going to just let you go! I know how your kind works, deceiving people with your looks!”
I waded through the crowd, and saw a little Hobbit girl sitting on the ground, while a clearly angry man stood in front of her. The Hobbit was teary-eyed, and she seemed to be apologizing profusely about something.
“I-I don’t know, Sir! I swear! I-I’m not trying to sell you fake jewelry! I-I don’t even know they were fake in the first place!” She pleaded.
The girl was dressed in a green knee-length skirt with a white long-sleeved shirt under a yellow shirt. She had auburn hair and blue eyes.
Hobbits. There were also a number of them in the academy. Even rarer than the elves, they seemed to always avoid the spotlight, shrinking into the background where no one would notice them. Well, except for that one Hobbit… Ah, I had forgotten to tell Hugo about him completely… Or to be exact, I had forgotten about him until now…
And, just like the man demonstrated, they had a certain prejudice associated with them. Like how elves were supposed to be arrogant, Hobbits were supposed to be untrustworthy tricksters and thieves, using their youthful appearance to deceive others
“You little brat!” To my horror, and the crowd as well, judging by the gasps, he slapped her right on her face, hard enough that blood gushed out of her nose. “I was about to hand you over the guards, but I think I got a better idea! I’ll give you to those slavers so you could spend the rest of your life as a slave!” He now held her up with her hair, making her scream in pain as tears and blood ran down her face.
“Enough!”
Without hesitation, I blasted the man’s hand with a wind spell, making him drop her to the ground. Then, I ran over and stood in front of her, giving the man the most angry look I could muster. It was quite the easy feat, seeing how I was already absolutely furious towards him
“What? Who is this? Another little brat coming to the rescue?”
“I’ll ask you to stop, Sir. She is clearly already sorry for her actions.”
“Hmph, you don’t seem to be a Hobbit. You’re just a human girl.” His eyes looked at me all over. “Hmm? Wait, that wand… and that wind blasting my hand… you’re an adventurer, aren’t you?”
“Yes, Sir.” I replied. “And I had to ask once again to let this Hobbit girl go.”
“How old are you? Twelve? Don’t you have school to attend instead?”
“Yes, Sir, but I’m currently in my—”
“Hah! Of course you don’t! Your parents can’t afford it! And that’s why they let you become an adventurer in the first place!”
To my disgust, he started to laugh at his own joke—his belly bouncing in the process.
“Hey, what’s going on here?”
Our confrontation was interrupted by the arrival of a squadron of guards, who immediately shooed the bystanders away. Each of them were clad in their armor, and their leader, a middle-aged man who looked terribly bored by his job, took the lead.
“Oh good Sir! Please! This Hobbit, Sir! She tried to scam me by selling me fake jewels! And not just one or two, but a whole box of them!”
Just like that, his personality completely transformed. Now he was a perfectly good and honest citizen, not someone who would slap a child so hard that she bled out of her nose (well, she might not be but judging from her reaction, she acted just like one).
“And this human girl, right here! She’s her accomplice! While I was distracted with her Hobbit friend, she tried to steal from my shop! I was fortunate enough that I noticed her and stopped her before it’s too late.”
…Wait, what?
The guard sighed. “Alright, you two. Come with me to the station.”
“Wait, no, please! I was the only one in the wrong! She hasn’t done anything wrong!” The Hobbit pleaded, tugging his arm with her hands.
“I’ll hear your words there, okay? Not here. Street’s too busy to really listen to anything you’re saying.”
That wasn’t true however. After the crowd dispersed, it had gotten quiet enough that we could nicely hear each other just fine.
But judging from his disinterested face, he clearly wasn’t interested in that.
“It’s alright,” I bravely told the Hobbit. “We’ll go.” I then told the guard. At this position, the best thing to do would be to keep calm and explain our case nicely to him, or whoever would end up interrogating us. Then, we would surely be released in no time at all. Well, the Hobbit might get a fine or something though. Ultimately, she had a part of the blame for the incident, as much as it displeased me to think so. If she had sold the jewels to an inexperienced trader or customer instead, they would still end up with fake jewels, even if she didn’t know that they were fake.
Hehe, if Sherry’s here, she’ll probably have beaten up the man to a pulp. Just a single punch from her to his face would send him flying with all his teeth knocked off.
Hugo though, he probably would have run with the Hobbit instead of confronting the man (he’s pretty fast on his feet after all), which was what I should’ve done in the first place. Sometimes I felt he had a clearer head than even me, who’s five years older than he was.
I just couldn’t help myself. Such an act of cruelty… how can someone do that to another person? Even if she really was a con artist who tried to scam him on purpose, he had no right to do that to her, especially after she had apologized like that.
Not to mention the fact that he just lied so that I would get arrested as well. Now that was the definite proof
As we left with the guard, I gave another glare towards the man. “Benedict’s Beautiful Jewelries” was written on the nameplate above him. Ah, so that’s his name. Only from a distance that I noticed how big his store was. So he must be pretty well-off. No wonder he insulted me by saying that my parents were poor. Merinda used to say that too. She would brag about having a large mansion employing many servants, while saying how I was just a country bumpkin from nowhere. So I was already used to it, in a way.
“I-I’m so sorry! B-because of me, you—”
“Shh, I don’t want to hear that. I did it because I wanted to. That’s all.” I gave her a smile. “Oh, and let me heal that wound of yours.”
I pointed my wand to her nose. “Oh blessed light! Heal my wounds!” It was just a simple beginner-level healing spell. Minor Heal was its name, I believed. For any actual combat wounds, it wouldn’t be enough, but to fix a bloodied nose, it worked like a charm.
“O-oh! It feels better already! Thank you!” She smiled.
“Stupid brats… they don’t know who they’re messing with,” the guard leader mumbled under his breath. He was clearly not happy by the relatively calm way she and I were taking the situation.
“Who are we messing with exactly?” I couldn’t resist asking.
“Oh, nothing important. Just one of the richest and most influential merchants in town, that’s all.”
My heart sank. Did I just bite into something that I wouldn’t be able to chew?
—-
Alan
Goddamnit, Marina. You just arrived and you already got yourself arrested? And it has to be Newt Benedict too that you pissed off.
I thought you would be fine after you took care of those monsters on your own without breaking a sweat. But here we are now, with you getting arrested, just because you wanted to play hero with a Hobbit girl you don’t even know about.
Well, that’s just what I would expect from a child of mine. I’m proud of you, my daughter. But still, couldn’t you have handled it a bit better, somehow?
Knowing Benedict, that bastard would definitely try to get you jailed for real. And with his influence, he certainly can.
Argh, I have to pull some favors with Eriol then. God, I hate meeting that guy.
Hang on Marina. Father’s going to get you out real quick, alright?
—-
Marina
I can’t believe it. They’re actually keeping us for real.
No matter how many times I tried to correct the story, they still kept with the official version that the shop owner told them, that the hobbit was genuinely trying to trick him with her fake jewels and with myself being her thief accomplice.
As a result, I was now kept inside a holding cell, with them telling me and her that we should wait until they finished their investigation.
I had a feeling that they wouldn’t actually be doing that though.
The cell was damp and dirty, with only a single bed inside and a hole on the floor that we could do our business with. It was easily the most unpleasant place that I ever had the unfortunate fate of being kept in.
And yet, I was still fortunate that I was kept on the cell in the station, and not in the dungeon below the castle. I still had a window—albeit a tiny, barred one up, that kept the circulation of the air going. Or else it would smell even worse than it already was.
Of course, I could just break out if I wanted. They took my wand, yes, but I didn’t need it to escape from such a lightly guarded place. But that would truly make me and her be an actual criminal, wouldn’t it? So I decided to be patient, at least for now. I had requested that I would be allowed to send a letter back home, so I could ask for Father to help. He worked under the Baron, right? Maybe he could persuade him to set me free.
Urgh, I hate having to do that though. This was supposed to be me proving that I could become an adventurer on my own. But now I’m in this mess that I can’t get out with my own strength. How humiliating.
When I was in Mira, I got Alincia who acted as my guide, telling me where I should go and where I should not go. And there were certainly no evil shop owners around that I had to stand against. Or at least, I was fortunate enough not to meet any.
“S-sorry… Again, because of me…” the hobbit spoke.
I was now sitting on the bed with her beside me, looking all sad once again.
“I told you not to apologize, didn’t I?” I gently grabbed her hand, giving her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll get this sorted out soon enough.”
“Uwaaaaaa!” Without warning, she hugged me, before sobbing right into my stomach. “I knew there was something fishy about that dwarf! Those jewels shouldn’t have been that cheap!”
And then, she told me who she was and why she decided to start on her journey.
Her name was Sophie Bramblewood, and she had departed from her homeland Hobbiton two months ago, starting her journey as a traveling merchant.
Hobbiton. The land of the Hobbits. Located to the southeast of Marchen, it was always considered to be somewhat of an unimportant, even irrelevant land. Technically, it was a vassal of Marchen, but it was usually left alone by the kingdom’s higher-ups, seeing how they had better things to worry about like the other kingdoms to the west. As long as they paid their usual tributes, mostly in the form of wheat, potatoes, and fish, they had basically what amounted to full independence.
“I… I thought I could be like grandpa. He’s a brave merchant and an adventurer as well. When he returned back home, he brought so many riches our family immediately became one of the wealthiest in the land. But I… I’m just a failure… I should just go home and get married like my father and mother wanted…”
So she’s already at a marriageable age… How old is she really? Well, I suppose it would be rude to ask…
And one of the wealthiest in the land… The Bramblewood clan… Hobbits have clans, right, if I remember my books correctly…
Hmm… I don’t recall anything ever written about them… If it’s her grandfather who lifted her clan to fame and fortune, then there should be enough time for the information to be entered in history books…
Then again, not a lot of books seem to write about them in the first place… They’re basically an irrelevant race. They never have great empires or strong warriors or mages… They’re just kinda there, I suppose…
I gently pat her back, wanting to comfort the poor girl. She might actually be older than me, but it didn’t matter. I couldn’t just leave her be. Not like this.
“Being tricked once doesn’t make you a failure, you know.” I told her. “Or twice. Or thrice. Or even the fourth time.”
Sniffling, she looked up to me. “I-if I get tricked for the fifth time?”
I smiled. “The only thing that makes you a failure is if you give up. At least, that’s what I believe.”
“…You know, I have a little brother back home. And just recently, he had been training his swordplay and magic, just to beat his older sister, who’s far stronger than him. And it took him several tries and an entire year of diligent training to do that. He never gave up, not even once.”
“That’s amazing!” She brightened, her eyes sparkling. All of a sudden, she sat up, wiping her tears away. “I would never be able to do what he did! Training to fight like that… urgh, not for me at all…”
“You have a dagger with you though,” I pointed out. Just like my wand, it had been confiscated by the guards.
“That’s just for self-defense! I’m not intending to go around slaying monsters like normal adventurers!” She fumed. “Us Hobbits don’t enjoy doing stuff like that you know!”
Thinking about it, she might be right. I don’t believe that there had even been any period in history where their race started a war with another. They never had any military either. If an invader ever manifested, the best they could muster were militias and any mercenaries and adventurers they could hire.
That made them a weak nation, unfortunately. Throughout history, they always had to become a vassal to another, stronger state, even migrating far, far away if need be. Such was the nature of this world where the strong ruled.
“Oh, that’s right! I never asked for your name! Oh how impolite of me!”
“Marina. Marina Greenwood. Pleased to meet you, Sophie.”
A/N:
Sophie Bramblewood.
