Narrator's POV.
"Mooooom~ I brought you some sweets~!"
The young 12 year old noble with silver hair entered the room with some effort, her hands carefully holding a steel tray that had a plate with some pastries over it, she pushed the door with her foot to close it and then she walked over to the bed.
On the bed sat her mother, her silver hair tied in a thick braid that drapped over her shoulder, her blue eyes looking somewhat empty though she still smiled seeing her daughter approach with the sweets.
"Thank you, dear" the woman smiled.
"I heard you were feeling worse today..." The young girl said offering her a pastry. "I thought some sugar might help..."
"I like the thought, but don't you have to study?" She accepted the sweet and gave it a little bite.
"It'll be fine~ dad said he'd be too busy with work so he'll postpone the start of Merchant Training" a small proud smile formed on her face.
The woman stared at her for a few seconds before smiling and leaning over to kiss her daughter's forehead. "You should still study, what if you make a mistake later?"
"Mistakes? I'm too good! Dad should just put me in charge already, I'll make us three times richer!" Her small hands moved to her hips as she puffed out her chest.
"Don't be so overconfident, sweetie" the mother laughed softly and flicked her daughter's nose, though a green crystalized barrier stopped her. "Oh...you're wearing the necklace?"
"Hehe! Yes!" She pulled the neck of her dress slightly down to pull out the necklace, proudly showing it off. "I'm never taking it off!"
"Heh, you should take it off for bathing though"
"Uhm...yeah I guess I should do that" the young girl cleared her throat. "Are you...feeling better mom?"
"Seeing you always makes me feel better, sweetie" her hand gently rested on the top of her head making her daughter smile. "So yes, I'm feeling better"
"I'm glad~" She smiled enjoying her mother's tact.
"You'll start your training soon, so do your best okay?"
"I will!"
.....
"I want to ask you a few things"
The rain poured endlessly outside of the Manor and inside of the office of the Lord of the Manor, the young Silver-haired girl looked directly down, her hands clutching the front of her dress letting it bunch in her fingers and in front of her, on the other side of a wooden desk, her father stared at a few documents.
"How much money did I give you?" He asked seriously.
"...5 thousand gold coins" the young girl answered.
"But you were confident in your abilities and wanted my trust in a particular investment so you asked for more, right?"
"Yes, I asked for an additional loan of 10 thousand gold coins...but I..."
"You lost it all" He set down the document and glared at his daughter. "You lost 15 thousand gold coins in the span of a few days"
"I-I thought it'd work out, I'm sorry dad" her voice came out low and a little scared.
"...Get out of here"
"...eh?" She finally looked directly at her father.
"I said get out of here" Lord Treasdia repeated as he stood up from his seat. "You no longer live here"
"W-What are you saying dad?..."
"From this point onwards, you're not longer part of the Treasdia Family"
The man walked around the desk and towards his daughter making her flinch and give a step back before he grabbed her wrist tightly starting to pull and drag the young silver-haired girl, opening the door and walking out of the office taking her with him.
"W-wait! Dad! You're hurting me!" She struggled a little trying to free herself from the grip.
"You will not use our name anymore, you're not allowed into this house anymore, this is no longer your family" He spoke coldly still dragging her across the halls.
The Lord of the house pulled and dragged on his daughter across the halls, reaching the main door a short time he opened the door and immediately threw the girl out through it, letting her fall down the stairs, bruising a little and letting the rain already start to soak her.
"Dad! W-Wait! At least let me see mom!" She tried to get up as quick as possible.
"That woman is not your mother anymore" He said starting to close the doors. "If you want to come back to this family then you better bring back 10 times the amount of money you lost us"
"N-No! Dad please!"
She stood up and ran to the doors, but her father had already closed them on her face, letting her hands slam on the door trying to make her father open them but after a whole monite of trying to have tbe doors open, she stopped and gave a step back.
"...I'm sorry" she apologized lowly.
Her hands moved to the neck of her dress, pulling out the necklace her mother had given to her she held onto it tightly as she turned around and started to walk away trying to stop the tears from dripping down her cheeks.
Her steps took her out of the Manor grounds, the gates closed behind her as she looked around, her eyes closing a little as some water fell on her eyes, her silver hair got wet from the rain and her dress and shoes got stained with the mud of the dirt roads outside of the Manor.
Reaching the south gate, she stopped walking and stood underneath the gate, the stone arch above her stopping the rain, letting her hug herself because of the cold, a little breath came out of her and she walked to the side, resting her back against the stone wall breathing on her palms to warm herself up.
"Hey"
She flinched and looked forward, seeing The Guard on the outside side of the gate, a dark cloak and hood covering his helmet and most of his armor from the cold rain falling around him.
"What are you doing just standing there, brat?" He asked side-eyeing her.
"...I'm...waiting for the rain to stop" she answered shaking a little from the cold.
"You'll be waiting for a while then, it looks like it'll rain for days" He answered pulling the hood low. "Just go home and drink something warm"
"I can't..." A few tears leaked out of her eyes. "I don't...I don't think I have a home"
The Guard remained silent seeing the girl start to cry, apparently not knowing what to say in the situation, but he just sighed and walked underneath the stone arch of the gate, standing in front of the crying girl he grabbed his cloak and took it off before getting down on one knee.
"Fine, then at least have something to keep yourself warm" He said dryly.
His hands managed to wrap the cloak around the young silver-haired girl, clipping it around her neck and pulling the hood over her head, letting almost her entire face be covered by it due to how oversized it was.
"Here, this should stop you from get any more wet" He said standing up.
"....T-thank you" she said pulling the hood up a little to stare up at The Guard. "I'll pay you back one day I-I swear"
"No need to, brat, it's just a cloak" He let out a sigh and looked out at the outsides of the city. "Don't stress yourself, you'll get green hairs"
"But you have green hair, sir..."
"That's because my work stresses me out too much" he said quickly tilting the visor down to cover his face and the strands of hair.
The girl looked up at him and she pulled the cloak around herself a little more, adjusting the hood to cover her head without covering her face and looking outside of the city.
"Are you leaving?" He asked looking down at her.
"I have to...but I'll come back one day"
"Don't take too long, I might forget your face and won't let you through unless you have identification" he said before walking out of the stone arch and standing on his spot. "And believe me, only a shadow would slip past me"
The young girl smiled softly and quickly brushed the tears off her face and started to walk out of the gate, the rain falling on her again though this time it was stopped by the dark cloak covering her, and as she walked away from Hartasna, The Guard just looked at his own gauntlet as the rain fell over him.
"Ah great...the armor will get all rusty"
.....
"Take everything into the vault! And count every single coin perfectly"
In the depths of the Treasdia Manor, The Shadow stood silently as she saw various servants taking the hundreds of thousands of coins she had dropped on the front yard a few minutes ago.
"I'm a few thousands short, he won't let me come back right now with this money, but maybe giving him what I got so far will be enough to help the Hero and let me see my mom..." She thought in her head inhaling softly to prepare herself.
"You sure took your time"
The Shadow flinched a little and immediately turned around to bow her head slightly, respectfully greeting the Lord of the House who stopped at some distance away from her, Lord Treasdia just stared at her up and down before talking again.
"It's been 10 years, hasn't it?" He asked plainly making her body her head slightly.
"Y-Yes, 10 years, 2 months and 14 days" The Shadow said nervously.
"Lord Treasdia, here's the total amount that the young lady brought" a servant approached handing over a document to the man.
Lord Treasdia carefully read for the document before he frowned lightly. "You're still missing money"
"I-I know I'm missing a few thousands, I decided to bring all I had gotten these years because I wanted to ask you for a favor" she gave a little step back brushing her left arm a little with some shame.
"A few thousands? What you brought us barely over a tenth of what you owe" he said leaving the silver-haired girl briefly stunned.
"...eh?" The Shadow remained silent for a few seconds before her stuttering voice came out. "W-what are you saying dad?! I-I brought a little over 10 thousand golden coins and some silver and copper, that'd only be 5 thousand left!"
"15 thousand was the initial amount you had to bring back, But what about the interest?" He asked coldly making his daughter give a step back. "You spent 10 years and 2 months out there without paying your debt to the family, you think yourself part of this family, but you forgot about that?"
"B-But I'm your daughter! The Treasdia Family's tradition is to not demand interest from its own family members even if they marry into other families!" She defended herself but after speaking her eyes widened a little more and she looked down and a realization hit her. "But...I stopped being your daughter"
"The amount you still owe amounts to a total of 93,940 gold coins and it will go up 750 every month you don't pay it" Lord Treasdia said making The Shadow flinch and clutch her hands.
"I-I understand...I'll get the money, I promise" her voice came out soft and weak. "Can I at least see my mom-Lady Treasdia?"
"That woman died years ago"
"...ah?" Her eyes dulled out for a second. "You're lying right? Y-You are just scaring me because you're a shitty father"
"She succumbed to her illness 4 years ago" The man spoke frowning at her insult. "She begged again and again for me to send out people for you, she even used money from the vault itself to hire people behind my back, as smart and diligent as she was, her body couldn't keep up with her"
"No...no, no, no" her hands moved to her neck to tightly hold the green necklace. "It can't be..."
"That woman died before she payed back the money she practically stole from me" his eyes narrowed as he stared at his daughter. "So I'll take that necklace"
His hand moved towards The Shadow's neck, ready to grab the necklace and yank it off her, but before his fingers reached her the green barrier of the necklace stopped his hand, making him give a step back.
The Shadow remained rooted on the spot, her father's words and intention to take away the necklace had stunned her but the sudden appearance of the necklace's barrier brought her mind back to ground.
"M-mom?..." Her blue eyes filled with tears stared down a the necklace in her hands, then she looked around her at all rbe servants and guards staring, before her gaze locked onto the exit of the massive room.
Imagining what his daughter was thinking, Lord Treasdia frowned. "Don't do anything stup-"
The Shadow immediately started to run directly at the exit.
.....
"Looks like something happened"
Inside of a decently sized room in an inn, The Hero remained sitting on a chair while staring outside of the window, looking down at some guards with the Treasdia Family symbol walking around, apparently patrolling.
"Do you think something might have happened to that woman?"
Looking back behind him, he saw the metal box on the floor, the lid opened letting The Demon King peak his head out of it resting his chin on the edge of the box.
"Who knows? It's not exactly my problem..." He spoke dryly.
"How is it not your problem? Isn't she your wife?" The Demon King said with a little grin.
"Maybe I have to start cutting off your tongue each sunset as well" he looked at the blonde Demon with his single golden eye.
"Hey, I'm just following your mother's wishes, besides, that woman is supposed to help us"
"That's a fair point, if she gets arrested she can't help us anymore" He said standing up from his seat.
"Yeah Hero~ go save your woman from impending doom!"
The Hero just stared emptily at the Demon King for a few seconds before he walked right up to the metal box, forcing the limbless Demon into the box closing the lid, locking it and then turning the metal box upside down.
"H-Hey! You bastard! Blood will go up to my head!"
Instead of saying anything about the blonde demon's complaints, The Hero simply ignored him and walked out of the room, eventually coming out of the inn and starting to walk around.
With the sun setting on the distance, his steps were somewhat slow as he moved across the roads of Hartasna, his single golden eye looked around like if he were about to find her walking calmly in between the people or the guards of the noble family...but his ears managed to barely hear a few sobs coming out of an alley.
He stared at the dark alley for a second before walking inside, there wasn't much, just a few bags filled with trash, one single rat running out of the alley...
And the young woman crying and hiding behind a few boxes.
The Shadow was sitting on the ground, her knees pulled up to her chest, arms wrapped around them as she cried hiding her face on her knees with the hood of her dark cloak pulled up around her head.
"Here you are..." He said looking down at the crying girl.
"I'm sorry...I-I'm not exactly in a mood for talking" she said in between sobs. "Can you come back later?..."
"The guards of the noble family are looking for you aren't they? They'll find you if you stay here" he said getting down on one knee in front of the crying woman.
"Let them find me...I'll...I'll find a way out, don't worry" she continues crying not looking at him. "You can leave Hartasna, they're after me, not you, you have to get to Rune City don't you?"
The Hero just looked at her for a few seconds before a sigh came out of him, his hands reached out for her, the green barrier of her necklace briefly appeared as if to stop him, but before his fingers touched the barrier, it simply dissapeared, letting him wrap an arm around her back and the other one behind her knees, picking her up on his arms.
She didn't say anything, small sobs came out of her and she pulled the hood lower on her face to not let him see her crying even as she leaned onto him, the Red-Haired man didn't say anything either, he just jumped high reaching the roof of a house starting to jump from roof to roof until they reached the inn.
Quickly jumping from the roof into the room through the open window, The Hero looked down at his arms, seeing The Shadow completely asleep on his arms after crying for probably various minutes, keeping himself silent he just walked over to the bed and carefully set her down on it, pulling a blanket over her.
"What happened to her?" He thought watching her sleep. "Demon King, are you awake?"
"Always, I feel my head pumping blood now instead of my heart" the voice of the blonde Demon came out of the upside down metal box.
"Don't exaggerate" The Hero walked towards the box and turned it around again, opening the lid. "We'll be leaving Hartasna"
"Already? You didn't get anything" his eyes managed to see the sleeping woman. "What happened to her?"
"I don't know, I found her crying in an alley"
"Why didn't you ask?"
"It's not my business, whatever happened is something she has to deal with on her own" He spoke before walking over to the chair on the other side of the room sitting down on it.
"I believed humans had something called Empathy" the blonde Demon deadpanned at the Red-Haired man.
"Bold words coming from a Demon"
Some mild rustling made both of them stay silent, staring at the bed on the other side of the room they saw The Shadow slowly sitting up on the bed, pulling the blankets down a little.
"I-I'm sorry...I wasted your time, I don't think we can get that information you wanted anymore, my fami—the local noble family controls the information network" she said looking away, not wanting to directly look at him. "I don't think they'll help us..."
"I see..." He narrowed his eye a little. "I think I understand"
The Demon King immediately stared at the Hero "You mean that this girl is actually a nob—"
"Shut up" The Hero cut off the Demon.
"No no, he's right..." The Shadow sighed and brushed her arm. "I...was the Treasdia Heir a few years ago, normally in the Treasdia Family children are indoctrinated as merchants, they take training and lessons on negotiation, deception, mathematics and their instincts and eye are trained to value any kind of wealth...but I messed up and ended up losing a lot of the family's money, so I was kicked out, disowned and forced to pay back a debt if I wanted to return"
"That's scummy, even for me" The Demon King spoke first. "I'm a father too, I wouldn't do that to my children"
"Why do you want to return to that family? If it were me, I'd stay as far away as possible" The Hero said next.
"I loved my mother...she has always been sick but she always gave me all the love she could and I always gave that love back to her the better I could" her eyes started to water as she continued speaking. "I wanted to see her again, I wanted to be with her but...but she's gone and I wasn't there for her..." Some tears slowly started to drip down her cheeks as she clutched the necklace around her neck.
"...how much money do you owe?" The Red-Haired Hero asked after a second.
"Hey, idiot, let the girl cry"
"It's okay..." She sobbed a little and quickly brushed the tears off her face. "I owe the family 93,940 golden coins...and it'll go up by 750 every month I don't pay" she said making The Hero narrow his eyes at that.
"With that kind of money, someone could buy half the continent..."
"I know, but I have to find the money if I want to return..." She pulled her knees up to her chest wrapping her arms around them.
"But why return? If you wanted to go back to your mother but she's already..." The Hero stopped himself from continuing the sentence. "Why go back?"
"I-I don't know..." She admitted hiding her face in her arms. "I don't know if I have somewhere else to go"
The room remained in silence for a short time, The Demon King looked at The Hero, making the Red-Haired man stare at him with his golden eye, the blonde demon's eyes loved slightly to signal at the silent woman which made the other man burrow his brows in some confusion prompting the Demon King to next swing his head towards The Shadow's direction before making a face at him which seemed to finally make The Hero understand.
A heavy sigh came out of the Red-Haired man. "You can...come with us"
"...W-What?" The Shadow looked forward to stare at him.
"Do not misunderstand, this is not a marriage proposal and it WON'T be a romantic journey, having you around will be useful, if you were really trained the way you described, then that alongside your thief skills might be useful under certain circumstances"
"Hey! You didn't have to say it like if she were just her skills you know?" The Demon King raised his voice a little at him. "Show some more tact!"
"What am I supposed to do? It's the first time I deal with a crying woman" The Hero defended himself looking down at the Demon.
"Oh really? I'm impressed you are not making women cry!"
"Maybe I should start cutting off your tongue as well"
Watching the two of them start to bicker and bark at each other, The Shadow's blue eyes opened a little before she stared down at the necklace around her neck, her hands slowly held it, thumbs brushing against the green gem adorning it before she smiled.
"Okay" she spoke outloud making the other two shut up. "I'll go with you" Pulling the blankets off her, she stood up from the bed, standing in front of The Hero. "I did promise your mom I'd stay close to you..."
"Congratulations on the marriage" The blonde Demon said.
"Shut up" The Hero frowned down at him.
"If we'll travel together then we'll need money...I kinda gave it all away to the Treasdia Family to pay my debt, so I'm a little broke right now..." She let out a nervous giggle.
"Then take it back" The Hero said making her flinch a little.
"Ah?"
"You're a thief aren't you?"
.....
A few hours later, a guard fell on the floor completely unconscious, The Shadow slowly walked past him standing in front of the massive vault door in the depths of the Treasdia Manor, at her side, The Hero walked and stood alongside her with the metal box already on his back.
"So...what now?" The Hero asked to the woman making her flinch a little.
"I-I don't know, this was your idea" She said a little nervous, though the gaze of the single eyed hero made her sigh. "Okay I get it, I'm the thief here...the vault door can't be opened, unlike the outer gate and most doors that are enchanted to open freely to ANY Treasdia, the Vault door an only be opened by the head of the house"
"Can we force it open?" The Hero asked dryly.
"Not really...the Vault door is also enchanted to resist strikes" she said signaling at the necklace on her neck. "It has the same enchantment as my necklace, it'll generate a barrier to absorb force, as far as I know, it can even stop siege weapons, it blocked a Ballista bolt from impaling me..."
"I'll try to break it" he said walking over to the vault door.
"Ah? D-do your best?..."
The Hero stood in front of the Vault door and pulled his right arm back, closing his hand in a fist he gave a step forward and threw a punch directly at the door making a green crystalized barrier appear to block the attack.
For just a few seconds, accompanying the sun rising on the distance, the city of Hartasna was hit by a mild earthquake, one that made some houses tremble slightly, silverware falling off shelves and tables, people lost their footing briefly.
And a cinematic showdown was rudely stopped on the south gate of tbe city.
While in the depths of the noble house, The Shadow just stared in pure silence, a nervous, slightly scared smile plastered on her face as she stared at the green fragments of the shattered barrier falling and disappearing on the floor.
The door of the vault had also been completely punched off its hinges, having been throw directly inside of the vault and inserted on the opposite wall, leaving a free way to the wealth inside.
"All yours" The Hero said giving a step to the side.
The Shadow just stared at him for a few seconds before reacting and moving into the vault with a smile, her hands reaching down to grab her magic bag to open it and let it quickly suck in all the coins and gems in the vault.
And in a short amount of time, they were already escaping, The Hero basically tackling a wall to make a hole through it, his boots landing on the soft grass of the garden immediately alerting the near y guards, The Shadow walked out of that same hole and looked at the guards around them.
"Huh?...d-do we fight?" She asked a little nervous.
"Not now, I'll throw you, don't panic"
"Wait what?"
The Hero's hand closed around her wrist, yanking her towards him before immediately throwing her up to the air, her body flying up and away due to the insane force he had thrown her with making her scream out of pure unadulterated fear though The Hero immediately jumped up towards her, catching her in his arms midair.
"Don't do that ever again!" The young woman screamed.
"I have it all under control"
Both of them fell on a mostly empty road of the city, but The Hero immediately jumped up again, this time managing to take both of them outside of the city walls just as the gates closed, The Shadow looked at the city for a few seconds, her eyes closing a little before she looked forward, seeing the sun rising in the distance.
"I love you, mom...and I'm sorry" she thought as she relaxed on The Hero's arms. "Hero..."
"Yes?"
Her eyes looked up at him, her hands softly clutching onto his dark clothes while her blue eyes stared directly at his face, remaining silent for s second before a warm smile formed on her face, leaning on him just as The Hero landed on the ground and jumped a third time to make more distance between them and Hartasna.
"...Thank you" she smiled up at him with a soft blush on her cheeks.
"...don't look at me like that, I'll drop you"
★ ★ ★
A/N: I might have locked in a little too hard.