It's Important to Say Thank You

Some part of me hesitated.

What if Malmitres did come back to possess Daisy? What if I was walking into a trap?

But I knew if I didn’t go after Daisy, I’d never forgive myself.

She was more vulnerable than she’d probably ever been. And I wouldn’t abandon her to that fate.

I moved up the hill where the barn was near. 

It took me a while to find her, but in the end… she hadn’t gone far.

She was at the edge of a cliffside, knees tucked close, overlooking a valley dotted with migrating birds.

The wind stirred her hair gently, wild strands cutting through the golden light. There was a moment—just one—where the wind lifted her hair, and I swore I saw her nobility.

Daisy didn’t look up as I approached.

“The only good thing near East Gate is the nature,” she said flatly. “And the animals, I guess. But that’s probably just ‘cause East Gate's not bothered to ruin it yet.”

She sounded vaguely… Scottish? Well, not entirely. It was clear that her Asianatic roots had crept in. 

I looked closer at her face. She had a permanent half-lidded stare… like she’d mastered the art of looking unimpressed and somehow made it cute.

“It felt like… like that was me talking, back there,” she continued. “I owned it. Everything she said, everything she did—it fit. Like the mask wasn’t a mask at all.”

She took a shaky breath.

“It felt good. Not just normal-good. Just… like I wasn’t broken for once.”

Her eyes didn’t meet mine. She was trembling, but not from cold.

“For as long as I can mind, I’ve had this gnawing. This urge. To play with someone’s life. To bend it. Twist it. Watch it squirm. Now I know why. I am just a piece of a larger mosaic of a soul more terrible than I can possibly imagine.”

A bitter laugh escaped her lips.

“It’s sick. I am sick.” She buried her face into her knees. “D’you think I was ever sweet… once?”

I stepped closer.

“I don’t know if I can answer that, Daisy.”

“Maybe I deserve to remain sick.” Her head finally lifted toward me. Her eyes were swollen red, cheeks streaked with tears, but her expression held a strange calm. She choked out a laugh after a while, interspersed between real coughs. “It’s either the adventurers kill me or the Chills. Either way… no harm done.”

I knelt beside her.

“Then both of them are going to have to get through me first,” I said.

Daisy blinked. The wind caught her hair again, brushing it across her face like soft lashes.

She gave a small, reluctant smile.

“…You dork. We barely even talked at the orphanage, and now you’re—now you’re sticking up for me? Wh-What are you doing…?”

Without hesitation, I responded. “Saving you from a bad decision, you fool.”

“Do you know how weird it feels to be seen… and not have the other person flinch?” Her laugh this time was small and dry, a bit unhinged. “You’ve got guts…”

Well, that was an unnerving way of phrasing your sentences. 

No take-backs now though.

She clutched my hand as we headed back together.

\\

People were raring to go.

Kids were already piled onto the cart, bundled in cloaks and blankets. Some looked new—but most were the same scratchy linen from before.

We stopped walking when heard a rather disconcerted voice.

“We waited for you for so long—only for you to show up with her?”

I raised my hands slowly, palms open. Beside me, Daisy stiffened. I wasn’t about to let her regret trusting me.

“We weren’t about to leave someone behind,” I explained.

It came from a red-haired girl who looked like hell—but that didn’t stop her from making her distaste known. “That’s not a someone! That’s not even a something! That’s a walking explosion spell waiting to go off!”

“Quit your jibber-jabbin’, Alexandria,” said the ranger I’d seen earlier, stepping between us. He came out of nowhere! “The Crystal made the right call. Dying of exposure isn’t a fate I’d wish on anyone.”

For some reason, I felt compelled to trust an expert more than some snotty brat.

The knight up front clapped his hands. “Everyone accounted for?! Mount up. We’re burning daylight here!”

Daisy let go of me as she went up the carriage. “I will take the back corner. Better for both of us if I was alone.”

Before I could even say anything, she was already off.

I shook my head.

\\

The wagons creaked down the mountain path. The kids huddled under their cloaks. Daisy continued to remain curled up in the back corner like she promised.

For a while, nothing happened. Just the pristine wilderness you’d expect from an unclaimed fantasy land. 

Grey mist rolling over pristine snow-covered hills. Streams and rivers the color of the sky... as waterfalls fell off cliff faces and mountain tops. 

I now understood why so many have the masculine urge to die in a place like this. Dying in a hospital bed would be so utterly depressing in comparison.

My hopes for a quiet trip back to town, however, were soon dashed.

When the gryphon was wary, then you knew something was definitely up. “Ah… something ain’t right here.” 

The ranger leapt off the carriage and took stock of the road ahead. “What’s up?”

“You hear that?” the gryphon gestured.

At his recommendation, the ranger jogged ahead.

The second I watched him physically recoil as he stopped, I felt goosebumps on my skin. When a seasoned ranger saw something was up, you listened.

He motioned two fingers up, then down.

Didn’t take a genius to know what he meant.

Halt!

The carriage soon stopped.

I heard one of the kids whimper. “Wha—what’s going on?”

The kid’s answer would come soon enough. 

Terrible figures of all shapes and sizes appeared over the ridge in a loose, ugly line.

Goblins, orcs.

Returning from whatever hellish raid they'd unleashed, most likely. Patched leather, teeth on strings, greenish skin slick with sweat.

Two orcs carried a pole. Three dead sheep hung from it. Another goblin dragged a broken fence post like a trophy.

But it was the ribbon knotted to the goblin’s ear that made me sick. It was blue, crafted with care. It used to belong to someone with hopes and dreams. And those dreams were struck away by the hands of these fetid creatures.

I swallowed. The knight did too.

"Shields up," he whispered. "We got this."

The adventurer’s party soon moved in sync.

Soon enough, the goblins spotted us and grinned. Man, all those movies and anime don’t do these things justice. Those teeth were gnarly.

I heard the younger ones in the cart whimper and start to cry.

Those damn creatures started spreading out soon later.

But that was when, quite unfortunately, we felt the air shift.

A massive shadow poured over the ridge, and every ugly head tilted skyward in the same slow, stupid motion.

I heard wings. Massive wings beating overhead; the ripples it cast were so strong enough it could’ve knocked me over!

Out from the cloud cover above us: a dragon!

Monumental wouldn’t even begin to describe it! It was probably bigger than a city block!

Unfortunately for us, its jaws were opened, making a beeline straight for us.

Just our luck we were on the receiving end of two impossible odds in one day. And so soon into my isekai journey too…

"This is the end," the knight breathed.

I closed my eyes. I felt the heat of its flames creep closer and closer… I smelt ash from the burnt grass and tensed my muscles to brace for the flames—!

…

Why weren’t we dead yet?

I opened my eyes back up.

Indeed, I saw hellfire.

But it seemed like it wasn’t directed at us?!

Yes, fire had erupted from the dragon’s throat—not a stream but a wall of destruction.

It roared past us, like the sound of every summer day compressed into one terrible moment. And it was slamming straight into the raiding party!!

You don’t easily forget those screams of terror… and how they suddenly cut off all at once.

The aftermath was obvious. Nothing could’ve survived that.

The hill soon turned black.

Nobody moved.

For the longest time, we forgot how to breathe.

I couldn’t help it. I got on my legs and did the stupidest thing possible.

"WOOHOO!" My fists shot up before my brain caught up. "Thank you!!"

"Sit back down!" the knight barked, yanking me by the shoulder as I fell.

I paled as I realized what I'd just done. My new life up until this point felt like I was experiencing events through a fly-screen. Everything felt a little unreal.

And now, as the dragon's cathedral-sized head angled down, that fly-screen was about to be broken in.

Its gaze found me like a pin finds a map.

Color drained from the world. I just directed its attention straight at its newfound dinner.