Lurking in the Dark

I helped clean up the dishes and scrubbed the pot.

"Use this for water."

She handed me a small water magic stone.

I gripped it with both hands and channeled mana into it. Water flowed from the stone into the bucket below.

It didn't produce a huge amount, but it was plenty for three people's worth of dishes.

"Huh, you've got a lot of mana, Azu. For that much water to come out of a stone that size…"

"Guess I've grown more than I realized."

That was what I told Kazusa-chan, but I could feel the Water Elemental reacting.

It was probably the spirit's blessing more than any increase in my own mana.

I thanked it silently and finished the washing up.

"I don't have anything to do today, so let's just hang out. You're staying over, after all."

"What should we do?"

This was my first time hanging out with a friend.

What did people even do?

"The last settlement gave me some breathing room, so I tried buying this."

What Kazusa-chan pulled out were stones painted red and white.

Fifteen of each. She gave me the white ones and took the red.

"It's a stone-capturing game, but it's a bit different from the usual kind."

"Different how?"

"You'll see once we play."

Kazusa-chan picked up a red stone.

"I'll explain the rules, so I'll go first."

"Sure."

She walked me through the rules.

You placed stones on a grid, taking turns. If one of your stones got flanked by two of your opponent's, they captured it.

Simple in concept, but tricky in practice.

If you tried to grab an opponent's stone right away by placing next to it, they'd just take yours on their next turn.

You had to think ahead.

Unfortunately, Kazusa-chan had the advantage of experience and was much stronger. I couldn't win at all.

But I was having too much fun to care.

By the end, I'd managed to push her to the brink, but I never actually pulled off a win.

"Ready for dinner?"

I'd been so engrossed that I hadn't noticed the sun was about to set.

Leo-kun was curled up asleep near the wood stove, which had been lit for warmth.

Kazusa-chan draped a blanket over him.

Then she lit a candle and fixed it to a wall-mounted holder.

A warm, amber light filled the room.

She did the same in a couple more spots, and the room that had been on the verge of sinking into darkness came into full view.

It made me realize how well-lit Master's shop was, even at night.

Come to think of it, back in the home where I lived before becoming a slave, they never prepared a light for my room at night. Fuel was too precious, they said.

An unpleasant memory.

But one I'd never have to return to.

The wood stove put out plenty of heat, but the building was so large and the dividers offered so little insulation that the chill still crept in.

I pulled on my jacket to ward off the cold.

To save on dishes for the evening, dinner was kept simple.

Bread with cheese, vegetables, and dried meat sandwiched in, eaten alongside leftover stew.

Leo-kun, still groggy from his nap, kept dropping the bread's fillings onto his plate, while Kazusa-chan grumbled and fussed over him.

Maybe that was why she'd chosen an easy-to-eat menu.

She really did think of everything. I was impressed.

Watching Kazusa-chan made me realize how much I left decisions to others.

Whether that was good or bad, I still didn't know.

After the meal, Leo-kun fell properly asleep.

"The bedroom's this way. Follow me."

Kazusa-chan put out the wood stove, carried Leo-kun on her back, and moved to another room.

I grabbed a candle holder and lit the way as I followed.

We passed through several dividers before reaching the bedroom.

It was simple. Just one large bed and nothing else.

She laid Leo-kun down in the middle.

"You didn't bring a change of clothes, right, Azu? Use this."

"Thanks."

She tossed me a set of wool pajamas.

There were spots where fraying had been carefully mended.

They were a touch small when I put them on, but not enough to be a problem.

On top of that, the insulation was surprisingly good. The cold stopped bothering me.

"Oh, a little small, huh? Those are my old ones."

"It's fine. They're warm."

"Good. If you wear those and wrap up in a thick blanket, cold like this is nothing. Your feet will still get chilly, though, so here."

She produced what looked like round canteens. Three of them.

She must have prepared them while I wasn't looking.

She handed me one. It was warm. No, hot, even.

"I put water inside, then drop in a tiny Fire Elemental shard. A shard this small will only heat the water to around bath temperature. Then in the morning, you can use the hot water to wipe down. Handy, right?"

"Huh, that's clever."

"Perks of the job, they're easy to come by. Shards this tiny don't sell for anything, so it's easy to claim them during splits."

Kazusa-chan opened a stone container to show me. Inside were several elemental fragments of various attributes.

Every one of them was far smaller than the ones I'd seen in labyrinths. More like particles than fragments, really.

I could see why they'd be worthless as merchandise.

If our party came across these, we'd hand them over if asked, sure.

Actually, we probably wouldn't even pick them up. Might not even notice them.

After that, I climbed into bed with Kazusa-chan, and the three of us settled in together.

Thanks to the hot-water bottle at my feet, the cold was a non-issue.

I wanted to adopt this back home.

It might even work as a product.

"Well, goodnight."

"Yeah. Goodnight."

We chatted a little so as not to wake Leo-kun, then closed our eyes.

The wind outside was a bit strong, rattling the windows faintly, but otherwise it was quiet.

Two sets of steady breathing reached my ears.

Perhaps because of that, I fell asleep with surprising ease for being in someone else's home.

Still, the habits of an adventurer meant I'd wake at the slightest sound.

Most of the time it was nothing, and I'd just close my eyes and go back to sleep.

But what my eyes landed on this time was a man in dark clothing, trying to climb in through the window.

Panic nearly seized my mind, but my body moved first.

I rolled off the bed and planted myself between him and us.