Chapter 37
Melissa had never shown such a vulnerable expression.
Nelly knew something was wrong and quickly pulled the hero to continue walking forward as if nothing had happened.
But the owner of the voice chased after them relentlessly, continuing to call from behind, “Is that you? Melissa? Melissa!”
At this, the surrounding pedestrians all turned to look.
Nelly clearly heard Melissa take a deep breath. Then, the silver-haired girl stopped, turned around crisply, and her beautiful hair flew up in the air. She gave a smile that seemed a little too enthusiastic. “Oh? It’s you, Bella? I didn’t expect to see you again.”
The other person was a young girl wearing a plain-colored headscarf and a navy blue linen dress. The freckles on her cheeks made her already childish features look even more innocent, but her expression exuded a worldly and smooth air. Bella smiled without showing her teeth and didn’t lower her voice. “You left so suddenly back then. I was worried for a long time! Actually, Mrs. Schwen didn’t mean to punish you at all. It was just a few loaves of bread. It’s no big deal. By the way, you look like you’re doing well now?”
The passersby, hearing “stole bread,” all showed knowing but contemptuous smiles.
Melissa’s ears were beet red, but she just chuckled foolishly a few times and didn’t refute. Seeing this, Bella sneered and seemed about to speak again.
Nelly couldn’t bear to watch any longer and interrupted, “It’s getting late. Why don’t we come back and find your old acquaintance after we’ve finished our business?”
Without waiting for Bella and Melissa to reply, Nelly took Melissa’s arm and continued to walk toward the city center.
Melissa was silent all the way. Nelly was unsettled by her unusual quietness and frequently stole glances at her expression.
“I never thought I’d actually be able to enter the Red Keep. I never even dreamed of it before. I heard that the kitchen inside is two stories high and has hundreds of chefs working day and night to prepare delicious food. I wonder if it’s true.” Melissa suddenly spoke, and she became even more talkative, chattering to herself nonstop. “Oh, by the way, what kind of person is the Lord Chamberlain? I saw His Majesty the King from a distance at a festival a long time ago, but I’ve never seen the Lord Chamberlain…”
Nelly didn’t know how to respond and could only reply drily, “The Lord Chamberlain will definitely welcome Melissa.”
“That’s true. After all, I’m the great hero.” Melissa touched her nose as if nothing had happened and giggled, but the unnaturalness in her demeanor was too thick to hide.
Nelly hadn’t wanted to pry into Melissa’s past.
Some of the heroes chosen by the goddess, like Nelly, came from other worlds, while others were just ordinary people from Wildia, each with their own story. As a guide, she had always followed the principle of “if you don’t say, I won’t ask.” There was probably a hint of self-protection in this—just like with the other characters, Nelly didn’t want to invest too much personal emotion in the hero. After all, they would have to say goodbye one day. It was better to spend less effort. Otherwise, she really didn’t have the mental fortitude to go through a hundred partings…
But this time was different.
Perhaps the previous events had forced Nelly to admit that her fate was already deeply intertwined with this world, and she actually felt a genuine concern. No matter what kind of past was weighing on Melissa, Nelly didn’t want to see the optimistic and cheerful hero force a smile. She would rather this seemingly rough-around-the-edges girl cry her heart out.
Nelly tugged on Melissa’s sleeve. “There’s a great tavern in Waterwheel Alley next to the Red Keep. The stew there isn’t as good as in the novice village, but it’s also very delicious! How about we take a rest before entering the Red Keep?”
Melissa was silent for a moment, then gave a slightly sad smile. “Thank you, Nelly.”
Her eyes were beautiful, reflecting the sunlight of Mez like violet petals covered in morning dew. When she was quiet, her face looked delicate and elegant, and she even had a certain air of pampered delicacy, one that could only be nurtured by a noble, carefree life.
“But let’s go see the Lord Chamberlain directly. That way, we might even get to have dinner at the Red Keep!” Melissa blinked, trying hard to look full of energy.
But Nelly turned her head to look at the sun peeking out from between the rooftops and shook her head. “Let’s rest first.”
Melissa’s lips moved, but before she could object, Nelly had already grabbed her.
Nelly rarely acted so assertively. She pulled Melissa’s sleeve and walked forward without looking back, in the opposite direction of the magnificent palace.
“Two stews, please,” Nelly said, pulling Melissa into the dwarf tavern in Waterwheel Alley and shouting to the waiter as soon as they entered.
Even though night had not yet fully fallen, the dwarf tavern was almost full. A bard was leaning against an oak barrel, strumming a lute and singing a ballad in a clear voice. Nelly and Melissa sat down in a corner, and two bowls of steaming hot stew were soon placed in front of them.
Melissa held her wooden spoon and stirred her bowl, but she didn’t start eating.
Seeing this, Nelly gently nudged her with her elbow and said with a straight face, “Don’t play with your food!”
“Mm, mhm, mhm!” Melissa was stunned for a moment, then lowered her lashes and sullenly stuffed a large spoonful of stew into her mouth. She was taken aback for a moment before she said indistinctly, “Delicious!”
Nelly smiled at her, then turned to her own bowl of stew, and the curve of her lips gradually disappeared.
After dinner, Melissa didn’t have her usual interest in chatting with people. She stared at the patterns on the table for a long time without speaking. Nelly grew even more worried and said in a gentle voice, “You must be tired from the boat trip, right? The inn is right across the street.”
This time, Melissa didn’t object. She reached out and rubbed her brow. “Mhm, I’m a little sleepy too.”
After settling in at the inn, Melissa was still a little dazed, as if after the brief, stress-induced excitement, she didn’t even have the energy to pretend to be down. Nelly silently made the bed and tugged on the hero’s sleeve. “Melissa?”
She woke up as if from a dream, sat heavily on the edge of the bed, and lowered her head, unusually indecisive, wringing her fingers for a while. She suddenly looked up. “This might be very abrupt… but can you listen to me talk about my past?”
Nelly was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously nodded. She silently sat down beside Melissa and patted her shoulder comfortingly.
Melissa stammered out a few syllables, and it took her a long time to form a coherent sentence. “I… I lived in Mez for nearly two years before.” She let out a long breath, her hands clenching and unclenching. “I originally came here to learn swordsmanship, but…” She paused with difficulty. “Something happened in the middle, and I had to leave my teacher and make a living on my own.”
The silver-haired girl said, scratching her hair awkwardly, “During that time, I did all kinds of jobs… maid, cook, laundress. Any job I could think of to earn a living with my own two hands, I did it.” She gave a faint, almost self-deprecating smile, her violet eyes sparkling. “But that year, there was a famine. I still couldn’t get enough to eat. I was so hungry all day I didn’t look like a person. I couldn’t fight anyone, and I couldn’t get any food. Without food, I became weaker, and it was even harder to find a job, and then…”
She clutched the hem of her clothes and lowered her head, her voice dropping. “The feeling of hunger… it’s like the whole world is being sucked in and slowly collapsing. Not to mention garbage, the fields around Mez were all ruined by heavy rain back then. There was nothing. Did you know? If you pull open a tree root, the white stuff inside is actually delicious. But if you eat too many roots, leaves, and bark, your whole body will swell up, and you can’t even move…”
Melissa suddenly stopped. “Sorry, I’m talking about such unpleasant things.” She twitched the corner of her mouth. “Anyway, I survived… I was saved by the people from the temple.”
This hero’s unusual obsession with food and her rare, devout faith in the temple were all explained.
“The temple was also very poor at that time, but they did their best to help the disaster victims. I was lucky enough to get my turn. Some people fell into the ditches by the fields and never got up again.” Melissa trembled, as if she were soaked in muddy water again. “After that… I was assigned to Mrs. Schwen’s house to do some odd jobs.”
The Schwen family? That seemed to be the client Bella had mentioned. Nelly’s brow couldn’t help but furrow slightly.
“Mr. Schwen is a key member of the bakers’ guild, so their bakery never ran out of food. So I finally didn’t have to worry about food…” Melissa curled up her back like a child who had done something wrong, staring at her knees, her voice getting lower and lower. “That time, I really just wanted to save those few kids at the corner of the street. They were so hungry their whole bodies were swollen. If they didn’t eat, they would really die…”
Her slender fingers dug into her palms. Melissa looked up at the opposite wall. “I did steal the bread, and I should have been punished. But when Bella found out, I panicked and just ran away.”
She curved the corners of her eyes. “Fortunately, the grain from the south finally arrived at that time, and I survived again.”
The tall, silver-haired girl stretched, as if to relieve her discomfort. “Then I wandered around, and finally came to Nafaray and worked at an inn there.” She suddenly gave a bright smile and snapped her fingers. “Suddenly one day, a messenger of the goddess descended before me and actually said that I was a hero favored by the goddess, destined to fight the Demon King to the death.”
Her violet eyes lit up as she spoke, a pure hope and joy that Nelly had never seen before. “At that moment, it was as if I had finally woken up from a nightmare, and reality was even more beautiful than a beautiful dream.” She smiled. “I’m really lucky. Thank you, Nelly.”
At this, Nelly became embarrassed. She pouted, at a loss for words for a moment, and could only stammer, “N-no, not at all… I should be the one thanking you for taking care of me.”
Melissa tilted her head back and fell onto the bed with a thud, her arms and legs spread out. “Phew, it feels so much better to say it out loud. Time to sleep, time to sleep. We still have to see the Lord Chamberlain tomorrow!”
Nelly replied with an “mhm,” got up and blew out the candle, but she didn’t go to sleep immediately. Instead, she stood by the small window of the attic for a while. A blurry figure was reflected in the dirty glass. At first glance, Nelly couldn’t even tell it was her. It was more like the elongated black shadow of some monster, floating on the surface of the Waterwheel Alley at night, adding a sinister, ghostly air to the quiet street scene. She was a shadow lurking in the dark, a shadow that could bring danger with a single thought.
At that moment, Nelly made up her mind. She finally had the courage to be completely sure that her previous choice was not wrong. This world had countless living people like Melissa. They were as small as ants before the high fortresses, but they had their own lives and hopes.
She couldn’t sacrifice them for her own sake.