【Cut her down and charge this system】

Paper-chan was like the demon who tempts the hero in an anime, whispering something horrifying into my head in a voice utterly devoid of emotion.

“...I’m not that cruel. No matter what, I can’t cut down a helpless girl.”

【Then what are you going to do? She knows who you are now, and she’s following you】

“I...”

I put my hands on my hips, glanced over at the girl trembling in the rain in the distance, and shouted.

“Hey! Get home already! Why are you following me?!”

“Eep!!”

Just like before, she looked at me with fear in her eyes, then suddenly lowered her head and spoke in a voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz.

“I... I don’t have anywhere... anywhere to go...”

“Nowhere to go?”

We were more than ten meters apart, but I could clearly hear every word she uttered. Was it because I had a skeleton’s body? My hearing had improved dramatically.

“Aren’t you afraid of me?” I raised my bony hand and spoke loudly, as if to drive the point home.

“I’m a monster. Aren’t you afraid of me?”

“I...”

She looked up at me, then shook her head firmly.

“Are you sure?” I strode toward her without a care in the world.

“Ah... Ah!! Don’t...!”

She was so frightened that she dropped straight to the ground. She clutched at her soaked clothes, trying to hide herself. Her petite body huddled beneath the shadow, and muffled sobs came from the ball of rags she’d curled into.

“Ugh...”

I hadn’t expected such an extreme reaction. Somehow, I’d ended up looking like the bad guy who made a girl cry.

And my own head was a mess, too...

What a pain.

“Anyway, stop following me! Nothing good will come of following a monster! If you’ve got nowhere to go, find a stable or a granary or somewhere to shelter from the rain. You’re soaked through.”

With that, I turned and walked away without looking back.

...

…

Damn it...

Tap-tap-tap. Light footsteps.

What the hell had I done to deserve this today?

Purple lightning tore through the curtain of rain. A tiny figure ran through the darkness with long strides, trying to catch up with the strange, terrifying monster in the distance.

“Sigh...”

I gave up, and I was getting a little angry, too.

“Hey!!” I turned around and roared.

“Eep!! I-I’m sorry! I...”

“I told you to stop following me! Come after me again and I’ll kill you!!”

“I-I’m sorry!! But... but I... I don’t know where to go...”

My jawbone twitched.

“Why not go back to that village from earlier?! If you help out, you can at least ask for a place to sleep! Is that so hard?! Or are you afraid of those Necromancers? They’re your companions, aren’t they?!”

“N-no, that’s not it!!”

I was growing impatient. I stepped toward her and glared as I demanded an answer.

“Then why?!”

“Eep!”

She was clearly terrified. Clutching the front of her clothes, she answered me in a timid voice.

“I... If I go back... they... they’ll beat me to death...”

“Huh?”

Beat her to death? A little girl?

Why? Had she caused the tragedy we’d just seen?

Suddenly, the villagers’ angry shouts from earlier echoed in my mind.

[I told you not to let that half-elf into the village!! We’ve been cursed!!]

[Find her! Burn her alive!!]

“Huh...?”

A half-elf...?

I pointed at her and awkwardly used [Information Gathering].

“Uh, Ascertain?”

A brief character menu suddenly appeared in my field of vision.

【Ding-dong】

【Ailrinni】

【Race: Fairy】

【Age: 14】

【Class: Necromancer】

【Level: LV16】

【Combat Power: Unlock the [Combat Power Assessment] system to view】

【Current Status: Under the Moon God’s Gaze】

【Notes: A cute and pitiable fairy girl, the last orphan of the ancient Moon God】

Huh? A fairy?

The races here seemed a lot like the ones in Western fantasy games. But what did it mean that she was the last orphan of the Moon God? Was that some kind of hidden bloodline?

But leaving all that aside, she wasn’t the half-elf the villagers had been cursing. So what was she afraid of?

“Hey! You’re a fairy, aren’t you? What are you afraid of?!”

“Huh...?”

But my matter-of-fact words only earned me a look of complete confusion.

“What... is a fairy?”

“...”

Seriously! What was this girl’s deal?

I scratched my skull in frustration and walked toward her.

“Ah! Um! Did I... did I say something that made you angry...? Please, don’t hit me!!”

Just like before, she dropped onto her bottom, covered her head, and screamed as if she’d completely broken down.

“Enough! How long are you going to keep this up?!”

Riiip!

I grabbed the robe and hat she was wearing and yanked them off in one go.

“Eek!!”

The girl’s frail, petite body was suddenly exposed, along with the inhumanly long, pointed ears on either side of her face.

“This...!”

Real, fairy-like ears!

First a skeleton soldier, then some Necromancers. I’d walked into a scene that looked like a battlefield, and now this strange girl kept following me while insisting she wasn’t a fairy!

What the hell was going on in this world?

But the girl in front of me wasn’t embarrassed by having her body exposed. Instead, she broke down screaming, clutched her ears tightly, and curled into a trembling ball on the muddy road.

“Don’t... Don’t hit me... I... I didn’t do it on purpose! I didn’t bring disaster! I... I don’t want to die!! Don’t burn me!!”

“...”

A skeleton in the rain had stripped a girl of what little clothing she had left, then forced her to kneel in the cold, wet mud. No matter how you looked at it, I seemed like some scumbag who bullied girls...

【You’re acting like a villain who bullies little girls】

Even Paper-chan couldn’t watch anymore.

Her crying put out most of my anger. After hesitating for a moment, I draped her clothes over her again.

But judging by her reaction just now, she really seemed to think she was a half-elf—some kind of being that brought disaster?

And she was a half-baked Necromancer, too.

This was seriously weird.

“Anyway, don’t follow me this time! If you come after me again, I’ll kill you! I don’t want to travel with a half-elf! Got it?!”

With that, I turned and walked away again. After a few steps, I glanced back to make sure she wasn’t following.

The girl was still kneeling in the mud, lost in thought.

She must be freezing.

【Are you sure about this? You’re leaving her alone in a place like this, in the pouring rain】

“Hey, hey. You were the one who said we should cut her down. Why are you sticking up for her now? Don’t tell me you’ve got feelings like ‘compassion’ after all?”

【This system merely believes that abandoning a helpless girl in these conditions would be inhumane. Though this system still prefers the option of cutting her down to recharge】

I shuddered. Maybe this AI had a yandere personality...

“Either way, the fewer people who know who I am, the better. And honestly, if I travel with a girl everyone thinks is a half-elf, I’ll probably get chopped to pieces in no time.”

You could tell from the villagers’ anger earlier that they hated half-elves. I still didn’t know why.

“First, I’ll look for some clothes I can wear, then I...”

Splash!

“Huh?”

A heavy splash sounded behind me, like someone had fallen into a pool of water.

I turned around. The girl who’d been kneeling on the ground was now lying in the water. Her small chest rose and fell rapidly, her face was flushed, and she groaned in pain.

“Hey! Are you okay?!”

I ran back despite myself. Forget everything else—at this rate, she’d drown in no time!

“Where does it hurt? Tch, you’re burning up!”

Her body was so hot! She trembled nonstop as the rain beat down on her.

She had a fever! And a really bad one!

“I’m cold... so cold...”

The girl’s lips were deathly pale, her face red as if it had been burned, and her delicate body curled into a ball as she panted for breath.

Tch. Why did I keep running into trouble all day long?

【What now? This is a matter of life and death. If you leave her here, she might not survive the night. Or we could just cut her down】

“...Can you stop being so violent?”

【Then what are you planning to do? Take her with you?】

I scratched my skullcap, agonizing over it for a long time.

“Ah!! Seriously!!”

Why did I have to deal with such a pain in the neck?!

...

…

“Mmm...”

It was even later now. If I were on Earth, it’d be 3:20 a.m.

I carried the frail, feverish girl on my back as I searched the road for signs of people.

The girl named Ailrinni had strikingly long silver hair. Beneath the night sky, it looked like a bouquet of silver hair. But she was so light that carrying her barely affected my movements. She weighed no more than a feather.

“Are you awake?”

“Mmm... I’m cold...”

A soft, heart-tugging moan made me shiver inside.

“D-don’t move around! And listen, I’m not carrying you because I care about you! It’s... right! I couldn’t live with myself if I left a little girl there to die!”

But my long, self-directed rant got no response. The girl opened her eyes a little, drowsily hunched her shoulders, and mumbled in a childlike voice.

“Mom...”

Her breathing grew low and steady. Her heavy eyelids couldn’t fight off sleep and illness; after mumbling a few more words, the girl drifted off again.

“...”

I sighed.

“Honestly... she really is just a kid. Huh? What’s this...?”

A broken-down carriage suddenly appeared by the side of the road. It looked like it had been in an accident, and its cargo was scattered all over the ground.

“What happened here...? And where’s the driver?”

【No signs of Life detected within a 200-meter radius. The driver either ran off or is dead】

“What the hell is up with this world? Are there really so many terrifying things out in the wild?”

【A group of Necromancers must have just slaughtered the villagers. According to the database, Necromancers are a bunch of antisocial fanatics who toy with corpses, spend every day plotting to resurrect evil gods and destroy the world, and attack anyone they come across】

My jawbone twitched.

What kind of mook backstory was that...?

【So we should still cut this girl down. Necromancers shouldn’t be left al—】

“Anyway, let’s see if there’s anything useful here. No point letting it go to waste. Since it’s already wrecked, I might as well make use of it.”

I ignored Paper-chan, gently set the girl down, and started rummaging through everything.

...

…

“This armor’s so hard to put on... I should change her into these clothes, too.”

After fastening my full-body armor, I tore off the tattered black robe from the girl and helped her change into a clean white dress.

【I can’t believe you can look at a girl’s body without reacting at all. Your mind should be perfectly preserved in your soul flame, so desires like **that** shouldn’t have weakened, right?】

“I’ve seen this kind of thing often enough on the battlefield. Pair a naked girl’s body with a gaping abdomen and entrails spilling all over the ground, and you won’t think it’s cute anymore.”

【……】

“All right, that’s done! At least, no one should be able to recognize who I am just by looking at me now!”

I found a small pool of water and turned to inspect myself. The light reflected off the cold iron shimmered beneath the moonlight.

Gone was my previous indecent look with nothing on. Now I was clad in a full suit of black armor that was, by every measure, ridiculously badass and cool.

Its smooth lines looked sleek and form-fitting, and could deflect arrows and thrusts with ease. Every piece fit together perfectly, covering my body from head to toe. The just-right touches of red made the predominantly black armor look even cooler.

She, meanwhile, wore an off-white dress, a little pair of earmuffs, and a big women’s sunhat.

Everything had been stolen from this pile of cargo.

“Ha… Mom… don’t go…”

I bent down and felt the girl’s forehead. She was still burning up, and she’d been mumbling in her sleep for a while now.

“Forget it… I’ve already come this far. I might as well find her some medicine and treat her first.”

I clasped my hands and bowed to the shattered carriage, seeking a little comfort for my conscience. Then I hoisted the girl onto my back and set off again in search of signs of human life.

A long while later, the torrential rain had long since stopped, and morning dew gathered on flowers whose names I didn’t know.

At last, as the horizon began to pale, the morning mist drifted through the woods, and the air was heavy with moisture.

At the end of the mountain path, a wisp of smoke rose alongside the first light of dawn.