Swordsmaster Fox-girl

…The carriage ride wasn’t at all comfortable.

Really, considering how affluent and influential House Leinfall was, I was expecting the carriage to at least be good-looking. But no, it felt and looked like a normal wooden wagon with a roof.

It was so bad that bandits began attacking Ria and me. Since we were alone, and there were no guards attacking us, it would’ve been a tough situation.

However, it seemed that Ria’s face was more known than I thought, since as soon as the bandit leader saw her face, he shouted for his underlings to retreat.

The little fiasco with the bandits aside, the trip was mostly peaceful. I laid on top of the wagon, lazily looking up at the ashy sky, gray clouds, white snow, and…black smoke?

Startled, I jolted up and saw where the smoke came from: Behind a mountain pass.

“Ria, what’s going on?”

Ria, who was driving the wagon, bit her lips.

“I-It must be our destination. But to think the situation has gotten this bad…”

Even without Ria telling me, I knew what was going on. After all, I could smell the familiar scent of burnt corpses.

“...They must be burning the dead.”

“Yes. Young miss, are you sure you want to go? Once we get through the mountain pass, we won’t be able to get back so easily.”

“...I’ll go. Ria, if you don’t want to, you can leave.”

“What? No! I won’t leave you alone!”

“...Alright.”

Despite the fact that we both had artifacts that made us immune to diseases like this, Ria was still worried about me.

That was to be expected. After all, the closer we got to the village, the more putrid the smell of burnt corpses became.

It’d gotten so bad that I even dived into the wagon, which was full of herbs.

“Ria,” I said as I buried my head in a mound of herbs. “Do you think the other wagons made it to the other villages?”

“Yes. The other villages are closer to the mansion, so I think they’d already arrived.”

“...That’s good.”

Soon, we passed the mountain pass and entered some kind of forest. Not long after, we exited the forest and saw the village.

The first things that caught my eye were wooden fences that wrapped around the entire village. These fences were abnormally tall; high enough to keep beasts out, but conversely, also high enough to keep Humans from escaping.

There was one gap in the fences, and it was blocked by a sturdy wooden gate with two fully-armored soldiers standing in front of it with spears in their hands.

As our wagon got closer, they crossed their spears right at the entrance.

“Stop! Who are you?!”

Ria stood up on the wagon and shouted back,

“I’m the Head maid serving the fifth Wife! Please grant me access!”

Hearing this, the soldiers exchanged glances with each other before shouting,

“Are you sure you want to come in here?”

“Yes.”

“Then, follow me. Leave the wagon there for now.”

Ria nodded and got off the wagon. Then, she helped me off the wagon and followed the soldier. 

I thought that we were going to enter the village, but I was mistaken, since as soon as we approached the gate, the soldier made a sharp turn to the left.

As I walked pass the remaining soldier, I ordered,

“Look after the wagon carefully.”

Though there was no change in his expression, I was sure that he’d heard my command and was ready to carry it out.

Satisfied, I followed the other soldier to some kind of barracks a little bit away from the village. I was led into the biggest barracks.

“I can’t give you permission to enter the village,” the soldier that led us admitted. “You’ll have to ask the commander herself.”

Then, he went back to his post, leaving us alone.

‘Wow, what a waste of time.’

Sighing, I pushed the entrance of the barrack open. Inside was not what I’d expected. 

Instead of beds or anything similar, there were only tables and alchemy tools occupying them. Honestly, this could be mistaken for an Alchemist shop.

As I was still scrutinizing the inside of the barrack, a woman wearing a white coat approached us from behind the tables.

She had brown hair, green eyes, and her overall vibe reminded me of Ria. In fact…I thought that her face looked a bit like Ria’s; minus her messy hair and the dark circles around her eyes, of course.

‘Is she—’

“Hannah?! Why are you here?”

The woman blinked a few times, as if waking herself up from her trance. Then, she stared at Ria with widened eyes.

“I’m supposed to ask that. Why are you here, my dear little sister? Why did a Maid like you stray so far from your pretty mansion?”

‘Oh, so she’s Ria’s sister.’

I guessed that serving House Leinfall just ran in their blood.

Before Ria could say anything, I intervened.

“I’m the one who asked Head maid Ria to accompany me.” I bowed.

Hannah crossed her arms and stared at me.

“And you are?”

“Nova Leinfall; daughter of the fifth Wife.”

“I see…” She muttered. “...So, you’re here to try to cure the disease, correct?”

“...! How did you—”

“Spare me with the questions. You’re not the only one who wants the backing of the people. Your sisters and brothers all tried. And as you can see, they all failed.”

Then, she turned her attention back toward Ria.

“I have to say, you’re craftier than I thought, little Riri. To think that you’d use a five-year-old child to—”

“Don’t utter another word.” I stopped her with a growl. “I’m the one who wanted to come here. Ria just accompanied me out of worry for my safety.”

“Uh huh…” Hannah nodded; though, it was clear the she wasn’t entirely convinced. “Still, you’d better turn back. A kid like you shouldn’t see what’s beyond the fences.”

“I’m staying here, and it’s final.” I crossed my arms and firmly planted my feet on the ground.

Hannah muttered in annoyance, “What did I even expect from Nobles?” 

Then, with a heavy sigh, she cleared a table and patted a chair nearby. “Sit here, princess. I bet you have soooo many questions.”

As I was about to go, Ria whispered,

“Young miss, I’m sorry for my sister’s behavior. She’s a—”

“Don’t worry, Ria. It’s not your fault. Besides…” I gave Hannah a glance. “...I’m not particularly offended. I’d do the same thing as her if I saw a five-year-old child here.”

No, I wouldn’t. I knew how absurd this world could be, so a child coming up with the cure for an incurable disease wouldn’t be impossible.

Of course, not knowing this, Ria smiled softly at me and ruffled my hair.

“Are you done whispering cunning plans to each other? I’m waiting here, you know?”

Hannah had to ruin the mood. I bet she was very popular in banquets.

I sat down on the chair and was about to open my mouth. However, Hannah interrupted me with a quick sigh.

“No, there’s no Healers. The advisor in charge of this region can’t get in touch with any, so he sent the next best thing, an Alchemist, to here.”

Reining my anger, I asked, “And you’re the Alchemist?”

“What an excellent observation. Here, have a pie— Oops, it seems that I don’t have any. Must’ve fed it to the terminally ill children. Poor souls, crying in happiness after having a mere slice of pie, when there are haughty children living in luxurious mansions.”

‘This bitch…!’

She was even worse than Avaron! Seriously, how could someone like her be Ria’s sister? Wasn’t she treating me too much like a child?

‘Alright, calm down now, what she said also made sense.’

If she were an Alchemist, then it made sense that she didn’t know the cure for this disease. After all, Alchemists were mostly focused on making combat and Healing potions, not actual Healing like Priests and Healers.

However, it still didn’t explain why the advisor didn’t know about the cure.

‘Maybe he’s incompetent. Knowing Herald, it wouldn’t be a surprise.’

{No, it

would be a surprise. That snake-like bastard wouldn’t let someone so incompetent be in that position of power.}

‘What do you know?’

{Yeah, sure, keep ignoring my words. We all know how well it went in Arylist.}

‘...Don’t remind me of that.’

Bringing my hands together, I said,

“What if I told you that there’s a cure for this disease?” 

“Yeah, sure, a five-year-old child curing a disease that even the best Alchemist of House Leinfall can’t. I’m sure the Bards would love to sing that kind of fairy tale in taverns.”

‘...I can’t wait to see this bitch’s face get bashed in.’

“Do you want to make a bet, then?”

“Yeah, sure. What’s in it for me?”

Hearing this, I almost smirked. 

“Anything. The winner can make the loser do anything.”

“Anything?” She frowned. “Are you sure?”

“I’m certain.”

“Hmmm…anything…” Hannah tapped her chin as she fell into thoughts. Eventually, her eyes lit up as if she thought of something, and she eyed me like a hungry beast.

My ears twitched at this sight.

‘I-Is she going to request something bad?’

And my hunch was correct…somewhat.

“Okay, young miss. If I win, I get to play with your ears and tail as I like.”

‘That’s not as bad as I thought.’

There were basically no stakes for me now. So, I confidently told her my side of the bet.

“If I win—

.

.

.

.

Finally, we were given access to the village. On our way there, Ria asked me with concern.

“Young miss, are you sure you want to make that kind of bet with Hannah?”

“If I lose, I’ll have someone other than you and Mom petting me for free, so there’s no need to worry.”

“Still…to request Hannah of that…”

“Ria,” I squeezed her hand. “I’m doing it for you. Don’t question the sincerity of your liege.”

“...Okay.”

Actually, if Hannah had something that I wanted, I’d have made a different request. However, since she was literally useless to me, the only thing I could make her do was m—

“Young miss, we’re here.”

“Mhm.”

‘Right, no need to worry about that. I’m going to win, anyway.’

The soldiers guarding the door opened it as soon as they saw us.

“We’ve already taken the wagon inside,” they said.

Nodding, I entered the village with Ria.

However, the “village” looked more like a town with its tall buildings and paved roads.

“Ria, do all villages here look like this?”

“No, this is a special case. This village is particularly wealthy because of its Monster fur trades, but…” 

“Yeah, I get it. They can’t exactly trade now, can’t they?”

“As expected of the young miss!”

{Wow, I bet you love getting praised for noticing obvious things.}

‘No, I don’t. I like the pats that comes with it.’

Tapping on Avaron to shut her up, I made my way to the wagon to start producing the cure.