Vella ran on the sand, chasing after the fleeing man.
Terrified of Vella's twin swords and out of other options,
the man leapt into the sea.
A moment later...
The harsh current pushed the man back to shore.
Vella
Never thought you'd see me again, did you, scumbag?
Now tell me, where did you kidnap me from?
Mysterious Man
You... you don't know?
The man seemed taken aback.
He chose his words carefully.
The story went back to when she was a little girl.
Vella was from a town by the sea. She liked visiting
the mercenary groups that stayed at the town.
She admired how they lived. They were free,
not held down by anything.
One time, one of the youngest mercenaries she'd ever met
handed her a rice ball.
Mysterious Man
I made this for you.
Vella didn't really want to eat it.
Mysterious Man
Aw, c'mon. It's just a rice ball.
Consider it a farewell gift.
In retrospect, she should have listened to her gut.
Vella
Fine.
She would take a small bite to be polite.
But what Vella didn't realize...
... was that one bite was more than enough.
She bit into the rice and fell into a deep slumber.
The man was a member of a group of kidnappers who
disguised themselves as mercenaries.
When she woke up in the carriage and realized
what had happened...
Vella managed to escape.
But by then, she was already far, far away from home.
By a stroke of luck, she ran into a band of treasure
hunters. They let her tag along.
That's when Vella discovered she had an unexpected talent.
She had good instincts, which was crucial for
treasure hunters.
When Vella had a hunch about a place, it was
bound to be flowing with treasures and artifacts.
So she decided to be a treasure hunter and travel
the world.
She figured she'd find her home someday, if she just
kept moving.
However... She found countless ruins and artifacts,
but she never found her home.
And today, she finally learned why.
Mysterious Man
After you, uh, left, the mountain bandits ransacked your
village and burned it down. There were no survivors.
Vella
Ha! You really think I'm going to fall for that?
Mysterious Man
But it's true! I swear!
Mysterious Man
They killed every last person, even the other kids we were
scoping out.
Mysterious Man
If you think about it, I saved your life...
Please don't kill me!
Vella held the man by the collar.
Vella
Then prove it. Take me home.
With the man as her reluctant guide.
Vella finally found her way home.
Vella
Is this...?
The village of her childhood memories lay in ruins.
Only the sea was the same. Everything else was
weathered and gone.
Mysterious Man
I'll just be going now...
Vella didn't even look in his direction.
She had traveled all this time, searching for her home.
And this was all that was left?
She felt a twinge of sorrow, but she also felt oddly free.
Vella
What to do now?
The world lay open before her.
She was bored of treasure hunting. Maybe she should
pursue her childhood dream of being a mercenary.
Sure, there were scumbag mercenaries who kidnapped
children, but that didn't bother her.
She'd just join the best mercenary group out there,
then it wouldn't be an issue.
She knew what to do.
She'd trust her gut.
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