Enri staggered as she made her way through the crowded streets of the capital. As someone who grew up in such an unassumingly remote part of the world, the sudden change of environment was frankly a bit overwhelming. The small, shoddy houses she knew now stood as large behemoths that towered over her, intimidating constructions of stone and wood dawning intricate and elegant designs. The alleyways, paved with chiselled stone, spread around them like a maze; some so narrow that only one person at a time could pass, others large enough for three carriages to ride side by side with room to spare. The only thing she could find similar to her home was the general filth that seemed to envelop itself at every corner, but even that wasn't the same: it was not the gathered dust of an old place where the residents couldn't afford to properly maintain, rather it was the garbage and mud that unfailingly followed every mass gathering of people.
But it wasn't the unfamiliar look of the city that unnerved her, nor the constant sounds and smells she couldn't recognize assaulting her with every step, but rather it was the liveliness of it all. Everywhere she looked, the scene was bustling with life: from the merchants who were loudly trying to sell off their products to housewives hurrying on their way, mumbling about their chores or their drunk husbands, to the children rummaging around with their feet bare and without a care in the world. So many different people gathered together here, each living independently from the other yet somehow blended together seamlessly in this rowdy, chaotic landscape. Some of them were weary plain clothes, not unlike her own, others were wearing rags that could barely pass as cloth, others fabrics so finely made it reminded her of the robes Lord Ainz was wearing. Perhaps the strangest out of all was the colourful cloaks and plate armour that she spotted a couple of people in. She had been confused by their appearance at the beginning, but a closer look at the exotic weapons, ranging from swords and weirdly shaped polearms to wooden staves and wands, immediately clued her into their identity: adventurers. Famous warriors that she grew up hearing stories of were now just casually running around her without a care in the world. It was a surreal sight, one that she hadn't managed to get used to at all in the two weeks she had lived there.
Finally managing to get past the sea of people pushing her in every direction, she arrived at her destination, groceries still intact. She was quite proud of herself that she managed to buy them at such a cheap price, especially since in the beginning she would always get scammed by the craftier street vendors that realised they could take advantage of the clueless country bumbpkin. As always, Nemu was waiting for her outside, ready to pounce on her the moment she caught sight of her. Her younger sister had taken to the sudden move even worse than herself, so she wasn't quite comfortable making her way in such crowded places just yet. Not that it stopped her in the beginning: the first couple of days she had utterly refused to be apart from her big sister for even a moment, clinging to the helm of her dress like a lifeline for survival. It wasn't until she had almost gotten lost once that Enri was forced to leave her home, much to the dismay of both of them. Enri herself was ashamed to admit that she couldn't feel at ease apart from Nemu
"Nee-chan, welcome back!" the young girl greeted her as Enri struggled to hold on to the bag in her hands, almost dropped due to the sudden attack.
"You have to stop jumping on me every time, you wouldn't want what's inside this to spill, would you?"
"Have you brought the cherry pie you were talking about last night?" the young girl beamed, unable to contain her excitement at the mere thought of such a delicious pastry.
"Maaybe, depends on if you were a good girl or not while I was away!" she responded with a teasing smile on her face.
"I was, I was!" Nemu viciously nodded. "Jackie and Alice were teaching me this game where you throw a rock and you have to skip on one foot to pick it up, it's really fun, you should play with us!"
"I'd love to join you next time, but know it's almost lunchtime and Nfirea's grandma is waiting on me to deliver the ingredients to her, so we should hurry up inside. Besides-" she added after a small pause "-the pie might get cold at this rate."
"Yaaaaay!" the girl exploded, her joyful smile enough to melt Enri's heart.
After what had happened, she didn't think she would ever see her smile like that ever again. Her ever-so-cheerful little sister had become a shell of her former self, holing up inside herself and refusing to talk to anyone but her. Enri was on the verge of that cliff, only managing to hold on to it for Nemu's sake. She didn't doubt that people around her were able to see past the smile she forced herself to wear all the time, but it had worked. Ever so slowly, those empty blue eyes had regained some of their former innocence. That's why she had been so happy when two girls around their age had moved next to them: those white-haired little troublemakers had immediately taken a liking to Nemu. Despite her previous wariness of strangers, the walls that she built around herself were unable to withstand the boundless energy and sheer cheerfulness that their mere presence emanated. If you looked at them now, you would have thought they had been friends all of their lives. Enri knew that the pain of that experience was something that will never truly go away, but time had already begun to heal the wound, leaving nothing behind but the ugly crevice of a scar.
The two sisters made their way into their new home, an unassuming small wooden building that greatly stood out from its more polished neighbours. A weared-down sign hung by one of the windows, the potion depicted on it barely visible. Nfirea's grandmother, Lizzie Bareare, was a well-known potion maker, so the first floor of the house had long been rebranded as a pharmacy. Despite the renown, the older woman had gathered throughout the years, the shop had apparently barely changed since she was but an apprentice working here. The place wasn't quite considered old yet, but it was on its way to earning that qualification. The floor slightly creaked when a larger person stepped on it, and the furniture was a bit chipped in the corners. The various glass vials and drawers for medicine that filled the room however had been preserved to perfection, to the point that the most likely decade-old instruments looked almost brand new. Enri later learned that Nfirea had been made to clean them daily since he could barely walk, any imperfections in his work being rewarded with a hefty strike with the broom's head.
As the tired-out bell announced their entrance, the two figures standing at the counter turned to greet them. The first one was Miss Bareare, her wrinkled face sporting a small smile at their arrival. The elderly woman was dressed in her usual work attire, a badly patched-up brown dress over which she wore a beige apron tied at her waist with a red string, and a green piece of cloth covering her whitened hair. The usual frown on her face gave off an unapproachable atmosphere around her, but the woman hadn't been anything but kind to the two of them, offering them a place to live in less than a heartbeat. The other woman was someone she was much less familiar with, but the smile on her face didn't lack any of the warmth of its counterpart. She was the kind of beauty that would immediately make everyone in the room turn their heads. her long, white hair with pinkish accents flew unrestrained along her back. Her neck was covered by a strange belt resembling a collar, that nonetheless suited her perfectly. She wore a dark dress with hints of blue that perfectly highlighted her cat-like, slender figure, even while being hampered by the brown cloak she wore over it. A cat; Enri felt like it wasn't quite accurate, but it was the closest comparison she could think of. It would have been impossible not to recognize her, as far as memorable people went she was up there with the likes of Captain Stronoff and Lord Ainz.
"Welcome back girls!" Their new neighbour, Miss Atalanta brightly greeted them. "Please don't mind me, I was just here to ask for some spare case books Miss Bareare might have lingering around."
"Hello Miss Ata-" there was as far as Enri got before realizing her grocery bag was no longer in her hands. She blinked owlishly; before she knew it, the luscious woman in front of her had closed the distance between them in an instant.
"A child should not carry such heavy baggage alone." she lightly admonished her. "Next time, I shall be more than willing to accompany you shopping if your load proves too heavy."
"Ah, thank you!" Enri could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. Being treated like a small kid by such a beautiful woman was more embarrassing than she was ready to admit.
"H-Hello M-miss" Nemu managed to stummer. As soon as she had caught sight of her, her little sister had hidden behind her, shyly poking her head to look at their guest.
Atalanta knelt in front of her, using her now-only free hand to gently pat her head. The small child slightly jerked at the touch, but didn't back away.
"Hello there Nemu! How are you? Have Jack and Alice been playing nice with you? she asked in a sweet, mother-like tone. At the slight nod of her head, Atalanta's smile widened. "That's great! I'm very happy the three of you have been getting along, back when we moved here I was worried those two won't have anyone their age to interact with."
Enri couldn't help but suppress a smile. It was quite easy to see how much the woman in front of her loved children. It was to the point that every time she met her, she was always reminded of their mom, the memory of her bringing with it a slight twinge in her heart. She wondered if her sister was the same.
"What do you need the case books for?" she asked.
"I am running out of space for my photo album." she promptly answered. "I thought five volumes would be enough to last for the month, but two days ago Jack spilt some cream soup on herself and she just looked so cute running around with little smudges on her face that I ended up taking 60 photos of just that. Oh, and then yesterday when I was looking around the city I found this little dress that would fit Alice perfectly so that took an entire album's worth of space."
Enri had no idea what a photo was, but she got the just of it. In the last couple of days, she had found that Atalanta was quite... intense when it came to her children. She would lie to say she didn't find it just a little bit disturbing, but it was also quite sweet, especially when she found out they weren't even blood-related. While the colour of the hair might have fooled her in the beginning, the three of them shared almost no other resemblance to one another. When Nfirea's grandma had unashamedly asked about it, the woman had revealed that she had adopted them after finding them on the streets. It honestly warmed her heart to see the two children showered with so much love by a woman that wasn't even their birth mother. If some jealousy also made its way in there, Enri squashed it immediately.
"I think I have one or two of those things lying around here somewhere, I'll look for them after preparing the meal." Miss Bareare told the woman. "Would you like to join us? We have enough space for a table of seven."
"I wouldn't want to impose..."
"Nonsense!" the old woman cut her off. "You're always helping the girls with one thing or another-" Enri remembered a man getting a bit too close to her, before backing away at the woman's infuriated snarl. If she didn't know any better, she could have sworn the cat-like woman was preparing to rip him apart with her bare hands.-"so think of it of us paying back the favour."
"If you'd have us." she politely bowed.
"Let me help with the meal!" Enri offered
"Don't worry about that, if you want to help out bring down that damned grandson of mine from his room," she responded, gesturing towards the stairs with an annoyed expression. "I swear if we let him be he would rather starve himself to death in there before leaving," she mumbled, mostly to herself.
"I'll get him!" She said with an 'it-can't-be-helped' type of smile, before turning towards her sister. "You don't mind if you stay here to help set the table, do you?"
Nemu's expression told her that she would definitely mind, but she still reluctantly agreed. "Good girl!" she praised her before heading towards the narrow set of stairs.
The living quarters were less impressive than the shop downstairs, consisting of a simple hallway, three rooms and a bathroom. The one on the right was her and Nemu's, nothing more than an oversized closet repurposed as a dormitory. When they moved in Nfirea had tried offering up his own room, but Enri didn't want to impose on him more than she already had. She also didn't mind the narrower chamber, it reminded her of when she and Nemu were sneaking off to play in the small attic of her old home, spending hours in there and often falling asleep in each other's arms.
Enri battered away the memory, before heading towards the room in the middle. As always, she lightly knocked on the door. As always, no response came. With a small sigh, she twisted the doorknob and entered the giant pile of junk masquerading as a living space. Scattered pieces of paper and broken glass covered almost the entire room, including the bed. The only relatively empty space had been near the chair Nfirea was currently sitting on, too absorbed in his work to notice her. In front of him, the table had been completely filled with different types of vials and plants Enri couldn't recognize, spread around in a chaotic pattern that only could make sense to him. She clumsily made her way through the sea of garbage and placed a hand on Nfirea's shoulder. At the sudden touch, the boy squirmed as if struck by lightning, falling off his chair and nearly knocking over the table.
"E-Enri! W-when did you g-get here?" he managed to get out, his pale ears quickly turning a violent shade of red.
"Sorry to bother you, but the food is almost ready and your grandma was wondering whether you wanted to come eat with us." She answered mechanically. By this point, this exchange had become a routine for her.
"Oh. Is it morning already?" Judging by the closed-off curtains, his dishevelled state and the massive bags visible under the eye not covered by his bangs, she could tell he had pulled an all-nighter again.
"Noon, actually." she corrected him." I can bring it up to you if you're too tired, you look like you could really use some sleep."
"I-I'm fine!" he protested, trying to get up, only to stumble and nearly fall over again. "Just feeling a bit under the weather, that's all."
"I know what you're working on it's important, but you really have to take better care of your health." She put her hand over Nfirea's forehead, checking if he has a fever. At the sudden touch, the young pharmacist squirmed and hit his knee on one of the table's legs.
"I am!" he weakly protested, lightly massaging his injury. "Is just that I feel like I'm so close, it's just that I can't figure out what's missing!"
Enri looked over where he pointed at the table. Her attention was immediately captured by the small vial sitting in the middle, the crimson-like liquid shining beautifully under the nearby candle's light. She instantly recognized it as the potion Lord Ainz had given her, a potion whose potency far surpassed any known mixture known so far. It was an item far too valuable for someone like her to hold on to, so she had figured she would show it to Nfirea as thanks for letting them stay with them. Knowing he took after her grandmother, she figured he would at least take an interest in it, but ever since he laid eyes on the miraculous elixir the boy had been downright obsessed. For the past two weeks, he had almost completely shut himself in his room, studying it over and over in a desperate attempt to replicate its effect. More than once had she rushed over when the sound of a small explosion resounded throughout the house, only to find Nfirea covered in soot, a sheepish expression on his face as he stared at his burnt desk.
"Look!" he said, grabbing another vial at the edge of the table before proudly displaying it. Enri's eyes slightly widened at the contents' colour. Purple.
"Just by studying it so far, I managed to replicate almost 40% of its potency." Unbeknownst to Enri, downstairs Atalanta's head slightly twitched in their direction. "If only I had a larger sample pool, I could create a hybrid a lot closer to the original. Although-" his shoulders slumped at the declaration. His voice had perked up, carrying an almost religious piety.-"I doubt I would be able to make a one-to-one product. This brew is far more than just plain medicine, it's a work of art in it of itself."
"You sell yourself short." Enri objected. "I know I'm not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to the subject, but I don't think there are many people who could have made something even half as good as you did. I think that's amazing!" At that moment Nfirea felt like he could have cooked an egg on his face. "But you're not going to accomplish anything if you stay here and continue to rot. So what do you say, how about you come to eat something with the rest of us and then we can clear this room up a bit?" She pushed aside the curtains, letting a refreshing breeze rush inside the room.
"I...would like that," he answered, a small smile on his face.
The lunch that followed after was a pleasant affair. Safe for the sight of a little girl jumping on top of the table and starting to juggle little knives that Enri had no idea where had she picked them up from, she could say she had fun. Despite the hardships she had endured thus far, the former village girl couldn't help but look hopefully towards the future.
Author's notes:
I've never cared for football, but my roommate is a huge sports fan, so I kinda ended up getting hyped for the World Cup through osmosis. Weird.