"Raphtalia hurry up or else we'll be separated"
"Alright Naofumi-sama"
Great, of all the days to hold a festival, it just had to be today. Apparently, the king was having a kingdom-wide festival for a battle that he had personally lead that caused Melromarc to become victorious over a neighboring kingdom.
This festival is messing up my business, I thought. I was going to sell some medicine to the shopkeeper and get some silver to get Raphtalia new equipment, however, there are so many people on the streets and I don't want to risk the chance of getting called out in public. I had a cloak on hand that I wore over myself, and Raphtalia also had a cloak on. Kidnappings weren't out of the picture tonight, and I'm not going to risk losing a party member.
"Move out the way you street punk! Can't you see who's walking here?" A large man shoved me out of his way.
"How about you watch where you're going, fatty!" He's possibly a nobel in the area, he wore some gold based rings with gems in the middle that shined brightly.
I had to get out of this town quick, as I was starting to get pissed off, and that man wasn't helping at all. I could take the alleyway, but Raphtalia and I recently had just finished hunting for monsters, and she was clearly exhausted. If we were going to get mugged, then I would rather have Raphtalia fully awake.
"Raphtalia were moving out, let's go!" I turn to see her slowly being pushed away from me as more people walk towards the castle.
" ! Where are you!?" she stood in the streets looking around for me.
"Over here" as I grabbed her hand and pulled her close to me.
"For now stick close to me, and don't let go of my hand until we are in the clear, got it?"
"Okay " she grabbed my hand tightly, I was going to tell her to not hold tightly, but I can't blame her. She's only 10 years old, and being surrounded by this many people must be nerve racking for her, even though she fights monsters often.
We were walking for what felt like hours as we went against the flow of people heading towards the castle. I looked back at the castle with disgust, before quickly looking back forward. If I kept staring at that monolith any longer then it would only serve to make me even more pissed off.. That's when I felt a tug on my arm.
"Um, -sama, can I let go now or do I keep holding on?" I look around quickly and see we were at the entrance gate that had a few people laying around, mostly drunks who were sleeping on the streets or walking back from the party completely wasted.
"You can let go now, we'll head over to the inn and try selling these medicines tomorrow. If there are these many drunks I wouldn't be surprised for the increase demand of medicine to try and cure the hangovers that these people would get."
"U-understood" Raphtalia said weakly, she sounded as if she was on the verge of bring knocked out right were she stood.
Seeing her this tired I quickly grabbed her hand and walked with her alongside me, from a distance it seemed as if a father was walking his kid home after a long day. We got into a fairly empty inn - I would rather not have drunks make noise in any nearby rooms and wake up Raphtalia. I took her up to our room and take her shoes off then proceed to carry her to bed.
god why am I doing this? I should've just splashed some warm water on her face so she can do it on her own. I thought, Whatever there's no point in doing so since she is in deep sleep already.
I placed her on the bed, then went to the desk in the room to craft some more medicine. I looked back before I got too into my work and see Raphtalia grasping for something, she must be near to getting a nightmare soon. I decided to it would be in my interest to not have s screaming kid this late and turn off the candle and lay next to her. My back was facing her, but I felt her holding onto it tightly, I hear her breath calm down as she slowly released my back. I chuckle to myself and proceed to sleep as well.