Return

On the way back, she has been very quiet. Still, she kept up with Bythos on the way.

Judging that she needed some time, Bythos didn't trouble her.

After some time, they reached the city, whereby Bythos immediately headed to the Adventure's guild.

"I'm hear to turn in the quest." Bythos said to the receptionist, and proceeded to describe the various things he saw on the way.

"Interesting. Anything else?" the receptionist asked.

Hearing this, Bythos took out the ogre heads and placed it on the table, the blood of which has long since dried up.

"Are those what I think it is?" the receptionist said, and without waiting for Bythos' reply continued, "the difficultly of ogres are rated at that of silver ranked adventurers. That means you now quality to rank up."

"Great."

While handing the silver tag to Bythos, the receptionist noticed the little girl by his side and asked him about it.

"I found her in the cave I was talking about. She was the only survivor there." replied Bythos.

"I see. If you find it inconvenient, there's a orphanage in the city further north."

Hearing the receptionist's words, Bythos turned to look at the little girl, who looked at him with pleading eyes, as if to say "please don't abandon me.

"I'll take care of her for now. I suppose that's all?"

"Yes, that's all." the receptionist replied.

Bythos received his reward and headed straight for the church to get healed.

"You always surprise with your injuries," the vicar said, "how did you manage to get an open fracture?"

"Not much, got hit real hard by an ogre when I tried to block its attacks." Bythos replied.

"You must have bad luck then. It's not common for an adventurer of your rank to get heavy injuries." the vicar said while examining Bythos' hand.

"I had always assumed that the lower ranked adventurers get injured more often." Bythos said.

The vicar began healing Bythos' arm. In the mean time Bythos simply stared at the protruding bone slowly crawl back into and under his skin.

"Believe it or not, the adventurers who tend to get bad injuries are those of middling rank. The ones of low rank are either too timid or too cautious to get into any serious injuries, and the ones who are of high rank are experienced enough to not get them as often. The ones in the middle tend to be more foolhardy and often overestimates their abilities." the vicar said, in response to Bythos' previous statement.

As Bythos prepared to leave, he turned and said, "Say, do you have any idea how to take care of children?"

"A little, why?"

Bythos gestured and said, "Come with me and I'll explain."

Bythos led the vicar out of the church where the little girl patiently waits at the entrance.

"I found her during a quest I was doing and she seemed to be abandoned. It would be wrong to continue leaving her there so I brought her back, but I have no idea how to take care of her as I've never had kids before." Bythos explained.

The vicar pondered for a moment then said, "Sure, I could help."

"Great." Bythos beamed, "where do we start?"

"Let's go buy a change of clothes for her first, then the both of you can get a bath. You're covered in filth." the vicar said.

...

The vicar picked two dresses for the little girl, which she evidently likes judging by her reaction. For some reason it's much more expensive than the male clothes in the store.

Bythos isn't very picky and just took the cheapest clothes for himself.

They then proceeded to the bath house, where Bythos sat in a wooden tub alone while the vicar and the little girl went in together.

...

"What's that you're wearing on your neck?" the vicar pointed to the little girl's necklace.

"It's something my mother gave to me." the little girl replied.

"If you don't mind, can I have a look?" the vicar asked, to which the little girl simply nodded and took it off for her.

On the necklace hangs a pendant, which was engraved with the image of a double headed eagle wielding a sword and buckler, with a big crown covering both heads at once. Inside is a picture of an older woman, presumably the little girl's mother.

While the insignia looks familiar, the vicar can't quite recall what it is for.

Upon further inspection, it would seem that it is some sort of magic item, which gives some hint as to the background of the little girl.

Not wanting to hold onto it for too long, the vicar returned the necklace, and they both went into their wooden tub together.

While the little girl doesn't talk much before, she is much more open now. Aside from knowing her name is Alice, the vicar also managed to get some other information, like the environment she used to live in, and why she didn't talk to Bythos before. She'll keep some of it to herself though.

...

Bythos sat in the wooden tub scrubbing hard at the blood and mud stains on his body, having already changed the water a few times. Once he's done, he sat in a fresh tub of water and relaxed himself.

Bythos looked at the reflection of himself in the water, and noticed how much he's changed during his time here. His previously black hair now has streaks of grey within it, and his body is covered in quite a number of scars.

Usually he would be too busy to reflect too much, but now he has more time to relax, especially since he will be taking a break.

All these while, Bythos had thought very little of the world back home, which was in some ways quite surprising to him.

Perhaps it's due to the nature of his work? Even so, he has no complaints.

Bythos also used this time to plan out what to do next.

There are not much to do when winter comes as it is probably too cold, but Bythos don't intend on laying about doing nothing. Maybe he can go to one of the larger cities up north to find some things to occupy his time with.

He could probably also bring the little girl along too. There's bound to be something she'll find interesting there.

As Bythos was thinking, he fell asleep.

...

The vicar and Alice walked into on Bythos and noticed him asleep in the tub. They snuck close and suddenly shook Bythos hard, jolting him awake.

"Oh, I fell asleep." Bythos said while rubbing his eyes.

"Alice and I have been waiting for you for a while. Quickly finish up." the vicar said to Bythos with a hint of annoyance.

"Hmm?" Bythos said, while stretching his arms, "all right, get out and let me put my clothes on."

...

After hearing some tips from the vicar, Bythos and Alice headed back to the village, where the village elder was surprised, but not at all unhappy, with the new addition.

In fact, he was visibly happy, and threw a mini celebration. Bythos doesn't understand why, but older folks are usually quite delighted when seeing young children. Perhaps he will understand when he is old and grey himself.

After chatting for a while, everyone went back to their own homes, along with Bythos and Alice.

Since the house is big enough, Bythos assigned Alice her own room to sleep in, and proceeded to sleep.

Just as he was about to fall asleep, Bythos felt something tugging at the side of his blanket, turned around and saw it was Alice.

With the moonlight shining in, Bythos saw that she was quivering, as she opened her mouth and said, "Can I sleep next to you? I'm scared."

As the she still still small, Bythos replied, "All right, there's still room." and slid further towards the corner and tucked her into bed.