Prologue: Sunsets

Yawn…

I blearily opened my eyes and turned to look out the back of the carriage.

The sky was cast in a brilliant orange. Long, thin, and wispy clouds glowing in the light of the setting sun, their presence casting shadows, longer yet, upon the slopes of the blue-grey mountains in the east. The dark green color of the tall conifers along the edge of the nearby forest contrasting wonderfully with the scene. We were travelling westward to Orario and so I couldn't see the sun itself dipping below the horizon, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

A bit strange, waking up from a long rest and seeing the sun setting instead of rising, but there isn't much to really do other than sleep when you're shackled to the bed of a carriage.

All alone too.

Nobody to talk to…

Sleep, and the gentle dreams that always seem to accompany them have been one of my few sources of solace—I think that's the word?

Sigh…

I love sunsets. I love watching nature too. Lying on my belly and looking out the back of this carriage at the world around me as we pass it by, just appreciating the beauty it has to offer; it was one of the few simple joys afforded to me in my predicament.

I used to do something similar back home.

…

I miss home. I miss the people more than anything. My time spent together with the other children at the shrine makes up some of the happiest memories I have. Along this journey, whenever I have thought of better times, images of Mikoto and the others are the first things that pop into my head.

I wonder if they miss me too? I hope they do… I wouldn't be able to bear the loneliness if they didn't.

…

The thing I miss the second most is the sunsets.

Or maybe it would make more sense to say I miss the memories of sunsets.

I had always wanted to come to the continent. Being from an island nation, I had a distinct sense of distance from the place where so many of the stories I love took place. Compared to the tiny and mountainous land I called home, everything about the continent, and Orario especially, seemed larger than life.

I, oh so wished to go there, but found I seldom got the chance to step beyond the walls of my uncomfortably lavish abode. Even beyond that, the continent was a literal ocean away!

Well, perhaps less an ocean and more a few week's trip by boat if I remember my journey correctly. The one or two tales I heard of the lands that supposedly lay across the waters EAST of my homeland seem even more incomprehensibly distant, yet I've never felt much of a desire to travel in that direction. Is that a sign that I lack adventurous spirit? Or given that I wished to go to Orario, the land where heroes are made, instead, does it mean the opposite?

Hmm… Well, I most certainly don't wish to relive the seasickness; and if travelling east of the Far East means untold time on the ocean, then I'll have to pass.

Oops! I'm getting really off topic. Wait… why does that matter; I'm not talking to anybody but myself.

My goodness! I really am lonely!

Ahem.

However, even in that rather luxurious cage of mine, I always did whatever I could to make time in the evenings to watch the sun set. The ephemeral beauty of the setting sun and the ever changing skies are something I always found indescribably lovely. Of course, being nobility, we had our gardens—painstakingly cared for by servants—Bless them. But the orderly and handcrafted beauty of manicured lawns and gardens could never compare to the ever-changing skies above; capped off with the setting sun, always drawing my attention toward the west.

Thinking about it, just about everything I'd ever wanted lay west of my home, from the distant Orario with tales of adventurers and the continent—to places nearer, such as the shrine to Takemikazuchi and the other gods where I got to spend time with Mikoto and the others.

All those times Mikoto would sneak me out to play, she'd always carry me westward. The few times I travelled east were on my return trips home, always accompanied by the melancholy of good times coming to an end.

Perhaps that is why I never felt a desire to head eastward?

…

I suppose that makes my feelings on the present rather complicated.

Ironic, is it not, that I—finally free from my old life and travelling farther west than I ever could have hoped I'd have the chance to—am shackled, and even more restricted than ever before?

Currently being carted halfway across the world by a pair of bandits, my first taste of the land I'd always dreamed of is through a proverbial looking glass.

"Think that's a village up ahead?" one of the bandits asked, startling me from my reverie. Perhaps that's enough waxing poetic for now.

"Hmmm…" the other strained, I could just picture him hunching his head forward and squinting, his eyes focused far off in the distance. "Looks like it. Thinking we stop there for the night?"

"Roll up by the tavern if they've got one. Maybe they've got an inn and we could sleep in some beds for a change."

"How much'd that be, though?

"Ehh… We could pawn off something in the back for a night's stay and some drinks… Suppose we should probably buy at least something for the girl while we're at it, Orario will buy her up for far less if she's nothin' but skin and bones."

"Sounds good." The conversation at the reins died.

Food? How long has it been since my last meal?

I think it was two days ago?

I don't really get that hungry even. Or maybe I'm just used to it by now. Perhaps I just have a really slow metabolism?

I heard a sharp sound and some neighing from up front followed by a distinct increase in the speed of the carriage. Accompanying this, the eclectic assortment of items and lifted merchandise that served as my only company in the back began to clatter around. Likely exacerbated by the weakened suspension courtesy of the bandits never bothering with even the slightest bit of upkeep.

The carriage I was originally picked up from had broken down long ago. After that happened there was a significant period where we had travelled on horseback. It was actually quite nice; those were some of the few times I got to see a proper sunset here on the continent as well as, without the presence of a carriage's covering, some of the few times I got to really enjoy being in the wide-open spaces I'd heard it was known for.

The whole experience was marred slightly by the fact I was handcuffed to a bandit's arm, but when it comes to natural beauty, I'm an optimist.

It lasted only a few weeks though, before the pair had managed to rob another merchant for all he was worth, carriage and all.

While I wasn't really fond of their methods, I had to admit they could be quite clever at times. Trying to recreate the circumstances that landed them the aristocrat's carriage I'd been in the back of; once they'd marked him, they snuck a few monster lures under the carriage bed and stalked him from a distance. Once the poor fellow had been forced to abandon his wares by the roadside one of them raced past on horseback to lure them away while the other removed the lures and threw them into the forest. The lures split the pursuing monsters into two groups and the bandits killed off the ones that kept following them. From the debacle, I saw they'd gained a whole carriage filled with a variety of merchandise and a couple monster drops as well.

From there, it was back to being shackled to a carriage bed. The only times I get to leave are once in the morning and once in the evening to relieve myself. Not the most comfortable of experiences since they follow close behind me fearing I'll run away.

Though really, I've long since given up hope of escaping. I'm a weak girl who knew very little about the world around me even back home in the Far East. I'd be lost beyond hope if I set off into the wilderness here on the continent; likely dead within a day or two. Most of the time I'm shackled down and so my muscles have atrophied like crazy. My stamina is likely non-existent by this point. When I've gotten really bored, I've found that from time to time, I'll use some of the heavier and more suitable items in the back as makeshift training weights to try and regain some strength. As far as I can tell though, it has had no effect whatsoever.

Just then, I felt the carriage slowing to a stop.

Maybe I'll get to eat soon.

That'd be nice.

It was getting pretty late, and I wasn't quite sure where Gramps was.

It wasn't often that we left our little village, but an old piece of equipment we needed to make a living had finally gone and kicked the bucket. As such, Gramps and I made the two day trek to the neighboring village.

Unlike our village, too small to be placed on just about any map, the neighboring village was about ten times the size. Closer to a small town than a village, really. Though Gramps says that compared to Orario even the moniker of town is far too much for a settlement as small as this one. Nonetheless, I consider it a town, and due to its greater size, it had many facilities our village simply lacked, among those being a fairly reputable blacksmith in the area whose help we needed to fix the thing.

Far more interested in wandering the streets of a, by comparison, large settlement, I left the boring repairs stuff to my grandfather and headed off to do just that. There wasn't too much a ten year old boy could get up to in a town like this, so he was fine with me, in his words, 'getting off his back for a bit'. I don't think he meant anything bad by it though, I know I can be a bit talkative from time to time.

And so, I found myself wandering the town and ended up stopping by quite a few places. Gramps didn't give me any coin to spend, not that there was much a ten year old boy would be interested in spending it on in a place like this, but that did mean I couldn't go off and get something to eat which left me feeling a bit hungry.

I'd spent most of the late afternoon wandering about the edge of the forest that bordered the town and doing some sightseeing from the higher vantage point offered by the slope it sat on. Our village was pretty sparse. There were exactly forty people living in the whole settlement: Me and Gramps, alongside around six other families of varying sizes. It was quite close-knit, everybody knows everybody there, I'm sure it's the same here in this town too, it's not THAT much bigger. Still pretty big, though. We have maybe ten buildings in our village, this place has around thirty or forty, I couldn't see everything from my forest overlook, but that seems like a fair guess.

Way off on the far side from where I was at I could see the prominent smokestack of the blacksmithing workshop Gramps had gone to. Between my vantage and the workshop was a stream that ran through the heart of the town, a small tributary off of the main river, originating up in the north-eastern mountains, that carved out the valley both my village and this town rested in. It had a gentle, smooth current and the water that flowed through it was clear as crystal.

I was honestly a bit jealous. The water in our village came from a simple well, nothing much to look at compared to the beautiful stream and the picturesque waterwheel of the town mill. Stuff like this kind of makes me want to ask Gramps if we can just up and move here instead. I mean sure we'd be leaving behind the community of our old village, but I'm not really that close to any of them. I used to have a close friend back when I was seven, but we started drifting apart in recent years. He says I'm too childish. Not sure what that's supposed to mean when he's a year younger than me, but he prefers hanging out with the older kids now, so I'm pretty much on my own in the village. Just Gramps, and the Dungeon Oratoria for company.

I really wouldn't miss much.

Maybe I'll start pestering Gramps about it again.

The main road through the town passes from north-east to south-west; the stream flowing from north-west to south-east. A stonework bridge marks the intersection of the two and on its north side lies the town square. The land on the south side, downstream of the bridge is mostly farmland. There they grow wheat and pretty much nothing else. Closer to the main road is where they keep the livestock, and on the north side of the road lie buildings like the storehouse and the blacksmith. North of that is just forest, I'm currently sitting on an outcrop in the hilly part of the forest north of the river.

The eastern quadrant of the town is where most of the people live, although a few live in the small northern quadrant, and just south of my vantage is the tavern/inn, a fairly popular stopover for people travelling along the main roads north-east of Orario.

Speaking of, a carriage just pulled up to it off of the main road.

Overall, I quite like this town, and right now, with the long, gentle shadows of twilight, I feel right at home. I could spend hours here on this hilltop, listening to the quiet, distant bustle of the sleepy town, hearing the last chirps of the birds and watching the heavens roll on by above me.

…

Shoot, how much time has passed?

Did I fall asleep?

Looking up, the full moon is bright and set low in the sky, the stars clearly visible alongside it. It's definitely long past twilight when I fell asleep.

Gramps is probably out looking for me. It was already pretty late before I fell asleep, I can't imagine how long he's been waiting now.

I get up and stretch, my eyes going fuzzy as blood rushes to my extremities.

Once my eyes readjust I look down from my vantage to see if I can spot him wandering around.

Looking along the main road, I can see, in the combined light of the full moon and the sparse usage of magic stone lamps, that it is completely deserted. The lights I'd normally see down at the blacksmith are out too, he probably finished up quite a while ago.

Where could he be?

Maybe waiting for me at the start of the path toward our village?

Hmm, what's that?

Looking down the hillside toward the backside of the inn, the nearest building to me, I see a shabbily dressed man walking out of the tavern and behind toward the carriages. He's wavering quite a bit, he's staggering more than walking if I'm honest; he's drunk, or at best really hungover, Gramps gets like that sometimes. But, what's most strange is that he's carrying with him a small plate from the restaurant with what I think is a loaf of bread and a half-eaten piece of chicken. He's holding it in one hand, and I'm honestly worried he's going to drop it. More than that, in his other hand is a glass of water that looks like it's already been spilled once before.

He arrives at the carriages and clambers into the back of it. I can hear him saying something, but I've no idea what. Is someone in the back of the carriage? Sure, maybe they couldn't afford rooms for everyone at the inn, but why's he bringing them food in the dead of night?

He gets out of the carriage, hopping out and just barely managing not to faceplant. It's honestly kind of pathetic.

My interest had been piqued, so once he'd stumbled his way back into the tavern, I made my way down the hill to see who was inside.

As I approach the carriage I don't hear a sound. I look around to see if anyone might spot me and think I'm a thief. Nobody; and so I peer inside.

Inside, I see a fox girl, I think her race is called a renart, daintily eating the loaf of bread with two hands. When she spots me, she straightens up immediately, her ears following suit in an adorable way. She's thin, not skin and bones thin, but she definitely lacks musculature. Her face is just the slightest bit sunken, but it's clear that if she got some food in her, she'd be a very beautiful girl.

She looked like she wanted to say something, and she tilted her head.

"A bunny?"

"A bunny?" I said out loud.

Wait, no. This is a boy, and I haven't heard of there being such a thing as rabbit animal people. Actually he has normal human ears. Definitely a human. But the rubellite eyes and the snowy white hair definitely give a strong impression of being a bunny.

He's cute like one too.

I had just finished eating the chicken the bandit had brought me and was about to start nibbling on this delicious loaf of bread when he poked his head in.

"A girl?" He tilted his head.

He seemed confused. I suppose that makes sense, if I poked my head into the back of a carriage and saw a twelve year old girl, chained up and nibbling on a piece of bread in the dead of night, I'd be a bit confused too.

Maybe introductions are in order. That's something I definitely know how to do.

Carefully I sat my loaf of bread down, with a longing glance, before turning toward him again. Sat seiza style, I straightened my back.

"Ahem. My name is Haruhime, how should I address you?" I said. Hmm, perhaps a formal greeting might be even more confusing, on second thought.

"Uhh… My name is Bell Cranel." He looked around in the back of the carriage, only becoming more dumbfounded in the process. "What is it you're doing here, uhh, Haruhime?"

What am I doing here? He asks. Hmm… What AM I doing here? Let's see… I became embroiled in a strange almost comedic debacle over holy rice cakes. I somehow ended up disowned by my parents as a result. I was handed over to an aristocrat and then kidnapped by bandits who promptly set out to cart me half-way across the known world to sell me to the highest bidder in Orario.

"I suppose… I'm simply being taken along for the ride." I cryptically ended up saying out loud.

"By that, you mean…"

Oh goodness, I'm really just making this worse, aren't I?

"I… Well, what are you doing here?" I asked. It would take me a while longer to sort my thoughts out. I hadn't had to communicate a situation across to another person in months now.

"Are you just going to keep dodging the question?"

I-I! What should I say? Thankfully he seemed okay giving me some time.

"Well, something on our farm broke down, so me and my grandfather made our way to this town to get it repaired. I was bored, so I wandered the town for a while and fell asleep on a rocky outcropping on a hill just behind this carriage." He began, "when I woke up it was the dead of night. I was worried about leaving my grandfather waiting, but I saw that guy come into this carriage, and it piqued my interest. I looked inside and here we are."

Okay. I think that makes sense. Much simpler than my situation. Okay I think I'm ready to explain.

...

Once I'd finished explaining how I'd gotten from the Far East to here to Bell, his expression finally shifted to something other than being utterly confused. He seemed like he was about to say something, but I ended up interrupting him before he could.

"I-I'd hate to keep you from meeting up with your grandfather, but… Would you mind staying to engage in conversation with me for a while longer." I only barely managed to get out. "It's been so long since I had someone to speak with…"

She's smiling at me like the main character's love interest in a fairy tale. I force a smile and nod. How could I refuse when she asks me like that?

"Thank you so much!" She smiles from ear to ear and bows down to the floor again, her fox tail is happily wagging back and forth.

Haruhime asks me about every little detail of my hometown, including even the most miniscule of things. I can't even imagine what purpose she'd want to know some of these for.

Her expression changes with every answer, hanging on to every word.

Are there many humans there?

What kind of view do you have of the mountains?

Along with so many other questions I've never even thought about before. She's so happy listening. It's like talking to a really interested child who's never ventured beyond her own house. She runs her fingers through her golden hair, clearly enthralled by my answers.

She was clearly even more sheltered than she had let on in her story.

And now, this girl is on her way to be sold as merchandise to Orario. Being treated no differently to the myriad of odd items scattered about the rest of the carriage.

There's no way in hell I can just leave her here to her fate…

If I went back to Gramps and told him I just left the poor girl here, he'd have my head. Or at the very least, he'd never let it go. I wouldn't be able to let go of the guilt either.

"That's it." Having sat down to talk with her, I climbed to my feet and made my declaration. "Haruhime. I am getting you out of here."

"Huh?!" She seemed legitimately surprised by my declaration. That only made me more determined. This poor girl had given up hope so long ago that not even me entering and providing her with the perfect opportunity to escape was enough for her to even realize this was a possibility.

I clambered over some of the odds and ends within the carriage to take a look at her shackle.

"You! You can't!"

"Why not?"

"You…" It seemed like she only now was processing the fact that she had a legitimate opportunity to escape, a good ten seconds after I'd just declared that to be the case.

Grabbing the shackle around her wrist, I slipped my thumbs in between her skin and the shackle itself and did my best to try and pull it apart. No dice. Of course that wouldn't work. I'm ten years old and it shows in my physique.

Looking around a bit more, I spotted the piece of the carriage bed the shackle was chained to. Looking closely, an idea hit me and I promptly ran out of the carriage.

I sat there at a loss as Bell suddenly fled the carriage. I could hear his foot falls passing around the side of the carriage before fading into the distance.

What am I going to do? What is he going to do? I hadn't even considered escape as an option.

I feel like an idiot.

…

How long has it been?

He IS coming back, right?

Just as I thought that, the covers at the back of the carriage moved. The first thing I saw was a sharp blade, a very large hatchet was in Bell's hand as he clambered up into the carriage with me once more.

Bell stood proud in the entryway with the head of the hatchet resting on his shoulder.

"I'm here to save you, Haruhime!" He declared once more. In that moment, the boy, a good 5 celch shorter than me, the meek little rabbit, held himself with the poise of a Hero straight out of the stories I adore. His face illuminated brightly by the lantern he now held in his hand. Though…

"Where in the world did you get that hatchet from?"

"Oh, this?" He asked, lifting it from his shoulder and extending it. "I… Uhh… I just borrowed it from somebody."

"Pfft." There goes that heroic poise.

Bell sat the lantern on the ground near the entrance of the carriage and came to the front of the carriage bed.

"I value saving your life more than I value some farmer's hatchet going missing." He said, before positioning the hatchet. Then with a swift strike he broke the wooden plank I was shackled to. A second strike on the other side of the chain and the piece of wood broke free. Bell then took the chain and wrapped it around his forearm. Once it was fully secured he took me by the hand, picked up the lantern and said.

"Let's go."

I really had found myself a Hero.

Lantern in hand we ran together down onto the main road and east across into the residential part of town. Looking off into the distance I could see dawn breaking. As we slowed to take a corner, Bell sat the lantern down and picked me up into a princess carry as he made his way off into a side path just past the easternmost wheat fields.

As we ran down the road, in the light of dawn I could make out a rotund man with a huge white beard leaning against a small broken down signpost.

The man turned to us and hollered, "Gods damn, Bell, what took you so long?! The sun's coming u-!" He looked down toward me. "And who might this young lass be, Bell?" His tone instantly changed from disgruntled to playful, a smirk growing on his face.

"Sorry, grandfather, I was saving a damsel in distress." Bell joked, although it was basically true. "This is Haruhime." He said, setting me on my feet again.

"H-Hello…"

The old man, Bell's grandfather, began practically cackling with laughter, a loud and jovial belly kind of laugh. "That's my boy!"

Bell looked to the ground, a light blush creeping onto his face as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

Bell's grandfather walked up to me. "Well I've no problems waiting if it's to help a lass like you." He then grabbed the shackle on my wrist and with a swift and seemingly practiced motion, broke it in two. The shackle that had held me in place for nearly a year now had finally been removed.

A wave of realization finally hit me as I fell to my knees.

I was free.

Truly free.

Freer than I'd ever been in my life up until now.

I looked up, tears blurring my vision and could see the sun breaking past the horizon. The white light casting the whole world in silhouette.

You know, as much as I love sunsets.

Sunrises aren't bad either.