Chapter: 06
Emilia took a public carriage to the neighboring territory.
It was the only place in the area with a railway station.
Standing in front of the ticket counter, she swallowed hard.
‘It’s expensive…’
She had only ever seen Cedric off at the station and had never ridden the train herself, so she hadn’t realized.
Then again, the trains here were powered by mana stones, so naturally the fare was high.
“Um, miss?”
The station clerk called out, and Emilia gave an awkward smile.
“Ah, could I have the earliest ticket that’s still available?”
“Certainly. Please wait a moment.”
A short while later, after listening to the clerk’s instructions, Emilia left the ticket counter.
She looked up at the large clock tower in the center of the station.
‘Departure isn’t far off.’
She entered the waiting room and sat down on one of the long benches.
She intended to rest for a little while until the train arrived.
But inside the waiting room, a strangely sticky and uncomfortable atmosphere seemed to drift through the air.
‘What is that?’
Naturally, Emilia turned her gaze toward the source.
“Mmm… Honey, stooop…”
A couple was plastered together in the opposite corner.
“W-What if people see us?”
The woman shyly pretended to push the man away.
“Ah, who cares?”
Instead of backing off, the man clung to her even more and became increasingly affectionate.
Embarrassed, Emilia quickly looked away.
‘What are they doing in a public place?’
Smack. Smack.
The shameless kissing sounds made her face heat up.
If no one had been around, it looked like they might have gone even further.
“Ahem! AHEM!”
Just then, a middle-aged man sitting nearby made his disapproval known with an exaggerated cough.
But the couple’s determination proved stronger.
“Tsk… Young people these days…”
Unable to watch any longer, the middle-aged man left the waiting room.
As he passed by, he even shot Emilia an annoyed glance.
‘Wait… Why am I getting that look?’
It felt unfair to be lumped together with them.
Meanwhile, now that the “interruption” was gone, the couple became even more absorbed in each other.
Emilia decided she’d had enough and hurried outside.
She shook her head, trying to erase the awkward scene from her mind.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Fortunately, it wasn’t long before the sound announcing the train’s arrival echoed through the station.
People had already formed a long line on the platform.
Emilia quietly joined the back of the queue.
As she waited for the line to move, she heard a commotion from the front.
‘What’s going on?’
She leaned sideways to get a better look.
The source of the noise was quite far ahead.
A child was desperately clinging to a man.
The child’s appearance immediately stood out.
A robe so oversized that it completely hid the face, and clothes covered in dirt and dust as though the child had been rolling around on the ground.
Perhaps because of that, the man looked at the child with obvious disgust.
“What in the world are you saying? If you’re begging, go do it over there! Everyone here is busy!”
The man waved his hand dismissively, shooing the child away.
The child glanced around before reaching out to another passerby.
But no one paid any attention.
After seeing what had just happened, everyone seemed to assume the child was simply begging.
Emilia watched the child carefully.
‘It doesn’t feel like ordinary begging… Did they get separated from their parents?’
She stepped out of the line and walked closer.
Then she realized something.
The child was desperately trying to say something.
“[Please help!]”
But the language being spoken wasn’t Imperial.
‘This is…’
Searching through the many languages stored in her memory, Emilia soon found the answer.
‘It’s Hifri.’
The Holy Kingdom of Hifri was located at the edge of the continent.
Because of its isolationist nature, it had almost no interaction with the Empire.
That was why no one here could understand what the child was saying.
As for Emilia, she had become interested in Hifri several years ago.
‘I learned it while trying to figure out how to make legal terminology easier for Cedric to understand.’
Long ago, the Holy Kingdom of Hifri had dominated the surrounding nations and held tremendous influence.
As a result, Hifri had become the origin of many legal terms, leaving behind traces that still remained today.
Emilia approached the child and spoke.
“[What’s wrong?]”
She wasn’t fluent in Hifri since she had never studied it properly.
Still, hearing someone speak a familiar language caused the tear-filled eyes beneath the hood to widen.
The child quickly turned and looked up at the woman, then asked with hopeful eyes,
“[You… can understand what I’m saying?]”
“Understand… speech.”
She could roughly grasp the meaning.
Emilia nodded immediately.
The child’s face lit up.
Apparently overwhelmed with relief, the child immediately began speaking rapidly.
“W-Wait!”
Emilia crouched down to stop the child.
“I can’t understand you if you talk so fa— Ah… ‘[Slowly. Slowly.]'”
Fortunately, the child understood and nodded right away.
After thinking for a moment, the child gave up on complete sentences and instead blurted out several words.
“[Medicine! Cure! Wound!]”
At the same time, the child pressed both hands against the stomach and grimaced.
‘Ah… Does that mean they have a stomachache and need medicine?’
“[You? Sick?]”
The child shook their head vigorously.
‘Then what?’
Growing frustrated, the child stomped their feet.
After pondering for a moment, the child pointed at themselves before crossing both arms into an X.
‘Ah.’
So it isn’t them.
It seemed someone traveling with the child was injured and needed help.
“[Together… person… hurt?]”
“[Yes! Yes!]”
The child clung tightly to Emilia’s sleeve as though it were a lifeline.
In truth, before losing consciousness, the child’s companion had given one strict instruction.
There was a dangerous person aboard the train, so the child was to stay hidden and absolutely not move.
But the child had been too worried that the companion might die.
After agonizing over it for a long time, the child had secretly slipped off the train when it stopped.
No matter what, they had to find someone who could help.
But no one outside the train understood the language.
Worse, everyone they approached was cold and indifferent.
Even though so many people were gathered here, not a single one had listened.
Then, like a miracle, they heard the woman’s voice.
“First, calm down a little…”
Emilia gently held the child’s damp hand, slick with nervous sweat, and knelt down.
At that moment, however, the child’s head shifted, causing the hood to slip back slightly.
‘Wait… Those eyes…’
Seeing the glimpse of the child’s irises, Emilia froze.
A sudden suspicion crossed her mind.
“…Excuse me for a moment.”
Carefully releasing the child’s hand, she gently pulled back the hood.
“Ah…”
A quiet gasp escaped Emilia’s lips as she confirmed the eye color.
They were brilliant golden eyes, almost as bright as pure gold.
Such eye color was extremely rare within the Empire.
