one of whom was dragging a wriggling bundle in a sack.
"Damn it people, how many of us do you want to sell on ?!" she shouted angrily and ran towards the men, throwing the rod at the next person's larynx. He broke down with a gasp and grabbed the place where his windpipe had been pressed in panic.
"You have no idea what you are talking about, catwife!" Shouted one of the men and pulled a dagger from his belt. "Come on men, she is alone, we will not miss this catch!"But the next moment he collapsed and, screaming, grabbed his thighs, from which Villiano casually pulled his Silenquedea.
"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you."
Ghiauna nodded to him with a grim smile and thundered her staff into the man's neck.
"You shouldn't have done that, he was out of action!" Said Villiano, pointing to the corpse at her feet.
She only gave him a single cold look. “The enemy was careless and I took my chance. People don't deserve mercy.” She turned to Ryu who was trying to open the knot on the sack: “Where are the other three?
"Fled into the forest - ah, finally open!"
"Are you all right, are you hurt?", Ghiauna asked and leaned over to the disheveled thing that came out of the sack. But in the next moment the smile on her face froze, because in front of her there was no Neko, but -
"A human?!"
Confused, she stared at the girl who was sitting on the forest floor in front of her and looking at her with big sky-blue eyes ... she couldn't explain what, but the eyes seemed strangely wrong to her in a certain way.Long blonde hair fell over her shoulders and she wore a simple green plaid dress.
"A human ?!" repeated Ghiauna and anger simmered in her. "A girl! We saved a filthy human girl here ?!" Her pupils narrowed into slits and her eyes glowed yellow as she raised her solid metal rod, ready to smash the girl's skull.
"Stop it Ghiauna, Nagusame is not a human!", Ryu shouted and held his arm protectively in front of her.
"Are you trying to tell me she's a Neko ?!"
"Well ... no, she's not either. But she's not human either ..."
"What do you mean, she is neither human nor Neko?"
"That's what she means," said Nagusame, tucking a strand of hair behind one ear - a pointed cat ear!
Ghiauna looked at her in disbelief. "Ears? You ... you have cat ears?"
"And a tail."
"But ... you have no grain, no claws ... you look like a human, how can that be?"
Now Villiano joined the conversation again."I think I've heard of it before: Neko are half human. Hence the similarity. One of your parents must have been human."
"Yes," Ryu confirmed, "after my father died, my mother fell in love with someone and you can see what the result is here."
"Mom went into the woods a few years ago, but she never came back."
"And we've been looking for her ever since, just - aaargh!"
Her face contorted with pain, she grabbed the laceration and fell forward to her knees.
"Ryu!"
Villiano reached into a bag of bandages that he had around his neck and wanted to take care of the wound, but Nagusame held him back.
"I `ll do it."
She knelt next to Ryu, closed her eyes and put her hands on the laceration. At first nothing happened, but then the air began to hum around them very softly. The sound swelled until one could clearly hear a repeated ringing. A light slowly gathered around Nagusame.Bright green. Beneficial. Lively. Trampled blades of grass and scattered flowers stood up, trembling in the light.
"VITA!"
The words echoed between the trees. Suddenly a warm wind came up and with it the light passed over to Ryu. It shone brightly one last time and finally disappeared.
A new layer of skin had formed over the laceration - it was healed!
"You have mastered the art of healing! A rare gift."
Nagusame just nodded silently and looked up at Ghiauna again and suddenly she realized what looked so wrong in her eyes - they were puppetless! Blue through and through, but without a puppet.
How could she see with those eyes? ...
"... I see the world differently than you do. With different eyes," whispered Nagusame, as if she had read her mind.
Suddenly Ryu jumped to his feet, briefly rubbed the place where the laceration had been and gave her a juicy headbutt.
"Aaauuuaaaa !!!""Idiot, if you had been more careful earlier then we would not have been attacked, then we could have saved ourselves all that! But you fool has to stroll through the forest singing out loud!"
Nagusame gave her a pouting look before she said, “It was a beautiful song!” When the days get shorter and the wind is blowing from the north. When the laughter has subsided and you stand by the window. When the pointers beat louder and it runs through your Haaahaaand ...! ""
"Shut up!" Ryu called and gave her another headbutt.
"... Ueeeeeh !!! Stop hitting me!"
She clung to Ghiauna and looked up for help at her and Villiano, who had previously watched the whole thing in silence and were now a bit puzzled.
"Tell her to stop hitting me!"
"Tell her to stop singing!"
"I can sing whenever I want!"
"Then I can hit you whenever I want! And if you start again I'll kill you!"
"... you don't do it anyway, because you love me, otherwise you wouldn't have saved me!""Just don't imagine anything! I wasn't quite right in the head, I got hit on the head beforehand!"
"... but of course you love me!"
"I haven't! I hate you! Now shut up!"
Reluctantly, Villiano inclined his head to Ghiauna and whispered:
"Don't you think we should interrupt them before this gets out of hand?"
"No. Shirai always said that one should let siblings argue because ...-"
Nagusame pricked up his ears.
"Who is Shirai?"
"Man don't keep asking about things that are none of your business!" Ryu shouted, but it didn't sound very convincing.
But - especially to Villiano's surprise - Ghiauna smiled. A happy smile.
"Shirai. My beloved Shirai with the red eyes. He is the greatest fighter in Mangolth."
"Uiii and you love him or what?"
Her smile broadened. "Yes."
"I don't want to interrupt you now, but ...," Ryu scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.
"Well we don't know exactly where at the moment, we got lost in the forest," she pierced Nagusame with her gaze, "It's all your fault! ...Well, but can we walk a little with you guys? "
"But always, not Ghiauna?"
Villiano grinned briefly from the side and at that moment it was as if the world would stand still for a moment.
Was that just ... Shirai? ...
She nodded in agreement. "Yes sure."