Alright, so in this book, I am trying to go off of the manga as much as possible, but I am sorry if it's still a little bit off. The biggest issue I think that'll arise from that is the timeline of Gowther going to Ordan and disguising himself as Armando and working for the mayor? Yeah, that's not happening here. (Although he does use the name as an alias) You'll see what I mean pretty soon, because it happens in this chapter. I hope y'all enjoy nonetheless!
The downpour began as soon as the sun had set on the night Rize's father died. She remembered sitting in the chair in the corner with a book in her hand, watching the fat raindrops slide along the glass. From the bed at the other side of the room, her father coughed lightly. The sound of it made Rize wince. She knew he didn't have much longer. She'd have known it even if the doctor hadn't confirmed as much that very morning.
A lightning strike lit up the tiny bedroom, illuminating his sickly face for a moment. Noticing the scarlet red of blood smeared on his chin, she set her book aside and got up, taking the ratty washcloth from the bowl of warm water place on the nightstand. She used the cloth to gently wipe away the blood, trying not to disturb what little rest he could get. After she had done all she could, she set the cloth back down in the bowl and returned to her chair.
She tried reading by the light of the oil lamp next to her, but she eventually grew too tired. She closed the book and curled up in the chair, laying her head against the wall. She couldn't gauge how long she was actually asleep before the sound of her father's coughing awoke her again. This coughing fit seemed worse than the others he'd had before.
She stood up and made her way to his side. Seeing even more blood dripping down his chin, she reached for the washcloth again, but a thin hand shot up and grasped her wrist before she could. She started, looking down into her father's hazy brown eyes that had settled on her.
"Rize..." He wheezed.
"Father?"
"I'm dying,"
Rize resisted the urge to cry, instead lowering herself onto the bed and stroking the sweat soaked hair from his face, wrapping one arm around his neck in a hug. "I'm here, Father. I won't leave you alone."
"I love you, Rize." He coughed again, and his eyes closed once more. If not for how close she was to him, she wouldn't have felt the last of his air leave his lips. She stared at his now totally motionless body before slowly reaching out to take his wrist, pressing her fingers to the place where a pulse should have been. Just as she'd feared, she felt nothing.
Her father was dead. He had died in her arms.
Rize grabbed the money pouch cinched to her belt, finding the amount of money she owed for the dagger. After tossing the old merchant the money, she grabbed her new weapon and hooked the sheath to her belt as well. "I can't very well stay defenseless while traveling, can I?" She muttered. "Thank you."/p
"Fine choice, Miss! Tell me, though, what's a fine-looking woman like yourself want with such a weapon?"
Rize grabbed the money pouch cinched to her belt, finding the amount of money she owed for the dagger. After tossing the old merchant the money, she grabbed her new weapon and hooked the sheath to her belt as well. "I can't very well stay defenseless while traveling, can I?" She muttered. "Thank you."
"Come back whenever you want!" The merchant called after her as Rize turned to leave the marketplace. It was a gloomy afternoon, and not only because it was the morning after her father's death. The gray clouds seemed to loom closer to the ground than normal, and even the few people around her seemed out of sorts. But maybe that was just her imagination.
Traipsing back across the village to her house, Rize took the small notebook she hadn't let go of since her father's last breaths and flipped it open to the first page. "Property of Mina Briar," She read aloud, softly to herself, then sighed and closed it, lowering it down to her side. It was the only thing left of her mother, the only thing she had to even know she had existed once.
Her father had never spoke about her. There were no pictures of her in their home, and he refused to answer any questions Rize had ever had about her. She'd found this notebook when she was a little kid and had kept it a secret for as long as she could remember, but after she made the decision to leave home and start searching for her, she knew she had to take it along.
She was just about to turn down the road that led back to her house so she could grab her bag when something down the main street caught her eye. She saw a glint of light, like the sunlight was reflecting off of a window, except there was nothing on that road but mud and puddles of dirty water from the previous night's storm. Intrigued, she spun around and started running towards where the light had come from.
As it turned out, she wasn't the only one who had noticed it. The mayor's son, Pelio, was crouching in front of the form of an unconscious man. The sound of her shoes squelching in the mud alerted Pelio to her arrival, and he jumped up immediately. "Rize! Rize, you gotta help, this guy won't wake up!"
"What happened to him?" She asked, shocked as she took in the extent of his injuries. Deep lacerations covered almost everything that wasn't covered in mud, except for his face, which looked oddly feminine. A pair of glasses rested sidelong on his nose. They must have been what caused the light that had drawn her over there.
"I don't know, I just found him here! Rize, what do we do?"
"He needs a doctor, fast." Rize tucked the notebook into her belt and bent down to roll the man over onto his back. Blood stained her hands from the wounds. "Help me carry him to Doctor Garrick, Pelio."
"O...Okay," Together, they managed to half carry, half drag the unconscious man to the clinic of the only doctor in their tiny village. Once they made it to the clinic, Rize sent Pelio ahead to retrieve the doctor while she got the mystery man to lay down on the bench in the corner. Moments later, Pelio and the doctor came into the room. Doctor Garrick sent Pelio to go let his father know what had happened while he bent over to begin examining the strange man.
"Is he going to be okay?" Rize asked.
Doctor Garrick nodded after another moment had passed, taking a wet cloth from the desk at the front of the room and beginning to clean up the mud from the man's cuts. "He will live, thanks to you and Pelio. The cuts could have gotten more serious if he hadn't been treated soon. There." He finished with the cloth, and began wrapping gauze around the wounds. Once he had finished with that, he stood back up and sat down in a chair next to the bench. "We'll need to get him to a bed soon." He mumbled before facing Rize. "What happened to this young man?"
Rize shook her head. "Pelio found him on the outskirts of the town. I was walking home when I saw the light reflecting off of his glasses, and ran over to help. Then we carried him here when we saw how injured he was."
"I see." Doctor Garrick sighed before standing again and gesturing for Rize to do the same. "Come now. Help me get him to a bed in one of the rooms."
"Of course." After much struggling, they managed to lay him down in a bed in one of the few rooms at the back of the clinic. While the doctor busied himself checking him over, Rize pulled the blankets over his prone form. She reached over to take his glasses off, setting the carefully on the nightstand beside him.
"His clothes are ruined." She stated, taking notice of the state of his large jacket and slacks. They were worn, torn, and even looked somewhat burnt, as well as covered in mud.
"He seems about the same size as you. I'm sure he wouldn't mind borrowing something of yours?" The doctor asked. Rize nodded.
"I'll go get something. And, uh...do you think it would be alright if I came back to wait until he wakes up?"
"That's perfectly alright, Rize. I'm sure the youngster would be delighted to know the one who saved him wanted to stay to be sure he was alright."
"Thanks, Doctor." Rize took a deep breath and moved towards the door to head home to grab her bag and the clothes for the man, but Dr Garrick called out to her before she could leave.
"Rize?"
She turned, one hand on the doorknob. "Yes?"
"I wished to express my condolences. About your father, I mean."
Rize frowned, turning away. "Thank you, Doctor. I...I appreciate that." Then she left the room, shutting the door behind her.
With a sigh, she shoved her hands into her pockets and started walking back towards her house. "Honestly?" She muttered to herself as she walked. "I just want to get away from here."