Chapter 42: A True Adventurer, Part Three

{Rin}

"Ready?" Rin asked.

"Y-Yes," Xhez nodded, taking a deep breath. "I am slightly nervous."

"So am I," Rin replied. "But, this is the only way we'll know."

And, with that, she opened the door and the two of them walked out of Rin's room.

Rin had given Xhez some of her own clothes a little while ago. The sprite was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt and brown pants, which, due to her skin's watery outer layer, were wet. To Rin's eyes, she definitely looked the part, but there was always the chance she was being overly optimistic.

Standing out in the hall, there were no students nearby. They were alone for a little bit because of that, unable to see if Xhez's disguise had worked.

"These, ehm, 'shoes', you called them? They feel so strange."

"You'll get used to them," Rin replied as she kept watch. "Hm... Come on, anyone, we need to know."

They waited there for a while, to the point where Rin wondered if there was some sort of event that she hadn't been made aware of. However, soon, someone did appear at the end of the hall.

And, Rin's heart nearly stopped.

Cara walked up the stairs leading to her floor, and rounded the corner, looking up and seeing Rin.

[... Crap.]

If the disguise wasn't working, this was about to take a horrible turn. However, Rin didn't voice her concerns, instead. She just crossed her arms, took a deep breath, and tried to pretend like nothing was happening.

Cara walked over to her, and her eyes briefly went from Rin to the disguised water sprite next to her, before settling back on the adventurer.

"Rin, has Sye come to talk to you?"

"... No," Rin shook her head. [Okay, so far, so good.]

"Hm. Well, she was looking for you earlier, so she's probably going to come to talk to you at some point. If she does, be careful. We don't know if the Mages Guild can be trusted yet. She might not have the best intentions."

"Oh. So, if she wants to hurt me, uh, what do I do?"

"Run," Cara shrugged. "Look for me, if you want. I'll be in my office for most of today. You know where it is?"

"Uh, don't remember."

"First floor, last room to the left," Cara replied. "Okay..." She cast one last look at Xhez. She narrowed her eyes a little but didn't say anything. "Just wanted to let you know."

"Thanks," Rin said and with that, Cara walked away.

Xhez, who had been silent the entire time, blinked twice and then looked over at Rin.

"So... Did the disguise work?"

And, at that, Rin grinned.

"Cara's one of the strongest people in the city, so... I think it did."

---

{Xhez}

{Sometime later}

"Welcome to Libera," Rin told the sprite as the two walked out of the Academy. The brunette spread her arms wide, gesturing grandly at the human city that was standing right in front of Xhez's eyes.

She couldn't believe this moment was happening, honestly. But, it was. Her, Xhez, a lonely water sprite from a distant land, was standing in a real human civilization.

It was almost enough to make her cry. She felt shivers going up her arms, as she took her first steps deeper into Libera. Her shoes didn't let her fully experience the architecture, but the solid, firm, ground differed heavily from anything she could find in a forest.

Her legs shook as she walked. She couldn't help it. A mixture of excitement and anxiety danced inside of her relentlessly.

However, as Rin wrapped an arm around her back, those feelings all left Xhez's mind and she looked to her right, up at the human. Rin was smiling down at her kindly.

"Don't worry," Rin said. "I'll be with you every step of the way."

That statement touched Xhez's heart.

"R-Right!" Xhez nodded and the two of them proceeded to walk down the street. There were other people there, some of which gave them strange looks, but Xhez was too busy staring back at their outfits to care.

There were so many different kinds of clothes! Colors that were rare in nature, "shirts" and "pants" of various different lengths and designs. Xhez felt like she was in a dream.

"Oh, oh, what is that?" She asked, pointing ahead at a large wooden structure rolling on two circular pieces attached to its sides.

"It's a carriage, people use it to get around."

"And that?"

"Oh, that thing's a mailbox. People have their letters  delivered to them there."

"AND THAT!?"

"That's... Just a lamppost. It lights up at night."

There was all manner of contraptions and creations that Rin highlighted. Some of them were strange, like the objects some humans were wearing to keep the sun from getting in their eyes. Some of them were creative, like the bows on the backs of some humans, which Rin told her were made to shoot out projectiles at enemies.

However, it was all interesting to her, and she committed everything she saw to her memory.

"Maybe we can head down to a food spot and grab a bite to eat," Rin suggested. "But... Well, I don't have much money, so hopefully, we can get something cheap."

Xhez looked back at Rin and smiled.

"I am willing to go wherever you take me," she stated.

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"Uh, it's probably best not to have that attitude with anyone but me, by the way. Just saying."

"Hm? Who else would I treat that way?"

"Well," Rin stopped in front of her. "You're in the city, and..." she lowered her volume, looking around. "Your disguise worked, so, you might end up making a friend or two, you know? If you do, just be careful out here."

"But... Why would I need to be careful if you will be there to help me?"

"I might not always be here, Xhez. I'm an adventurer, after all," Rin told her with a slightly sad smile, and those words slowly sunk into her head. "I'm not saying you have to, you don't have to do anything, but if you do end up in a situation where you're out here on your own, yeah. Be safe."

Xhez looked away. She hadn't even thought of exploring any human-related places without Rin. Even now, after having learned those spells from the woman, she felt like such a thing was suicide.

"... I will keep that in mind."

As they walked, the sprite continued scrutinizing every inch of the city. [How can so many humans fit in such a small place?] She wondered. [The buildings made her feel so small. How do they remain standing like this? Are those all just homes?]

Most of what she saw made her marvel, but one thing confused her.

As the duo continued, Xhez saw a person with a large wooden stand in front of him, selling things that looked fairly similar. Xhez poked Rin in the left shoulder and asked:

"What are those?"

Rin stopped. She looked at what Xhez had pointed to and her brows raised. Then, she narrowed her eyes at them.

"I don't really know, uh..."

Xhez looked back at them and got a bad feeling from it. Still, she walked toward the man, just to check.

"T-These..."

When Xhez saw what they were, she felt her throat tighten.

"These are..."

"Yep!" The man said. "Prime water sprite hairs. Buy a couple and you won't need to buy any water again for a loooong time! Only one gold coin each."

When Xhez heard that, her heart dropped. Every memory she saw from the spirits of other sprites flashed through her mind. The knowledge that her parents had shared with her about how her kind was hunted down. She looked back at them. Many different hairs of different textures, sizes, and colors. [H-How many...?] She knew about them. She knew the fate of the average sprite but, still, it saddened her.

It was suddenly hard to breathe. She couldn't tear her eyes away from them. [Is...] She looked around. [This is normal...]

A tear threatened to spill from her eyes.

"Oh, uh, shit," Rin muttered, dragging Xhez away from there. "Hey." Rin reached up and wiped one of her tears away with a thumb.

"Those are... They were..." Xhez mumbled. She felt cold. She couldn't tear her eyes away from them. Every cluster of hair strapped to that man's wooden counter was like a corpse that Xhez was facing. "How, why...?"

"... Sorry," Rin whispered.

Xhez gulped. She looked around again. The humans passing by. None of them paid this much attention. The remains of multiple sprites were casually set out in the open and none of them seemed to care. [If they saw their own bodies out, dead, and reduced to severed limbs, would they still be so apathetic?]

She looked down.

"Xhez?" Rin asked with a soft voice.

The sprite shook her head.

"I... I do not think I wish to keep walking."

"O-Oh, okay, where do you want to go?" Rin asked.

"Can we go back to, what was it? Your 'room'?" Xhez asked.

"Sure. Of course." Rin responded.

They retraced their steps and went all the way back to that large building with the field of grass and the metal gates. Xhez couldn't stop thinking about them. Questions that she knew were useless to think about kept popping up in her mind, but she couldn't force them out. [How did they die? Did it hurt? How many? How long has this been going on?]

None of the humans paid them much attention as they passed by. Rin and Xhez remained in complete silence throughout the entire walk back. When they returned to Rin's room, they stood outside in the hall, alone as the other humans all walked either downstairs or upstairs.

"So..." Rin started. "Yeah, Xhez. I'm sorry you had to see that."

"No. I..." Xhez paused. "I had to see that."

"What?"

As Xhez formulated a response, the memories stung like an old wound. She looked up at Rin with determined eyes.

"I... I believed that maybe those humans who did these things to my kind were a minority. That their cruelty was not representative of all of you." Xhez looked down. "But... It appears to be more common than I had believed."

"Xhez," Rin started. She placed her hands on the sprite's shoulders, basically forcing her to look up into her amber eyes. "I think, I dunno, I think most people just," she paused, "they don't understand that sprites are, well, people."

"What?" Xhez asked.

"When I met you, I assumed you were just another monster too. It took actually getting to know you for that to change."

"What do you suggest then?" Xhez asked.

"I don't know. I don't know if anything can be done about it. That's just how things are." Rin shrugged.

"I see." Xhez sighed. [Does she believe this is simply something to be ignored? No, no. I do not believe Rin to be so cruel. But... Well, there has to be something that can be done.]

"... Fuck it," Rin said sharply and pulled Xhez into an embrace. Xhez felt her skin grow hotter as Rin wrapped her arms around her. They remained in that position, and then Rin let go. "Sorry. Again, I, I don't want you to think I don't care. It's... It's horrible. I just, yeah, sorry."

As the human hugged her, Xhez returned it and gave a little smile.

"I know. Thank you, Rin. I am glad you are different, at least."

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