Eroia Trading Company.
Named after Eroa, daughter of the goddess of beauty, it was a merchant company aimed mainly at women. From luxury cosmetics to silk clothing, shoes, ornaments, and other miscellaneous goods, it dealt in all kinds of things.
Eroia especially moved a great deal of clothing. That was mostly what the man supplied as well, and he had been under contract with Eroia for quite a long time.
“Mr. Sonen, you’re here. You’re a little late today.”
The company employee who always handled their transactions looked displeased.
“My apologies. Something came up on the way here.”
He was only about fifteen minutes late, but to a man who did business, time was as good as gold. Bowing and scraping, Sonen set down the clothes he had brought.
“If this happens again, it’s going to be a real problem. You know that, don’t you?”
What the employee meant was the temperament of the company owner.
Strict about time and obsessed with control, the owner was a born genius when it came to tormenting people. If even the slightest thing slipped off schedule, he would fire employees without mercy or keep prying into why they were late until he personally felt satisfied. Once he got his claws into a single mistake, it was no exaggeration to say that person’s life in the trading company was over.
The employee checked the clothes with brisk, practiced hands.
“Why is there so much dust on the things in this sack?”
“S-sorry. I think the mouth of the sack must’ve come open a little on the way here, so some dust got in...”
“You’re usually so meticulous. What’s gotten into you?”
Sonen answered the employee’s irritation with a weak smile and kept his mouth shut until the inspection was done.
After checking every last item, the employee tilted his head. Sonen immediately stepped forward, picked up one of the perfectly decent-looking garments, and tore open the pocket. Inside was a packet of white powder.
“How many pairs of pants were there?”
“Twenty in each sack.”
“All right.”
After finishing the count, the employee scribbled something into the ledger, then handed over gold coins.
Sonen’s mouth stretched wide.
“Thank you for your work.”
“No, no, not at all. Then I’ll see you again next month. Thank you, thank you.”
“We may be relocating this branch.”
“What? Relocating where?”
Startled by the sudden news, Sonen jolted.
“The company’s grown enough now. Shouldn’t we start seriously expanding overseas too?”
The employee gave a little grin. Sonen’s heart began to pound.
“I’ll give you a heads-up later, so you should start getting acquainted with some sailors. That’ll make things easier for you down the line, won’t it? There’s no one as precise as you, Mr. Sonen, so I’m only telling you this as a special favor. I barely managed to persuade the owner.”
That was practically the same as saying they were willing to take him in as one of Eroia’s own people.
Sonen eagerly nodded, delighted.
Escorted out by the employee, Sonen left the company building and began hopping in place with excitement.
“Looks like it’s finally time to grease the old stomach again!”
Beaming, he went around the early-open shops and bought meat, fruit, and vegetables, then headed for the house he was renting temporarily.
He moved so often it was like he changed homes for every meal, but he had been staying in Delfona for quite a long time now, so the house had accumulated a fair number of things.
And in that house, sitting motionless like a sack of cargo, was Sonen’s son.
Maybe it was the shock of his mother leaving home. Or maybe he had simply been born that way. Sonen’s son, Roden, hardly spoke. More than that, he seemed to have no will to work and no will to live. His face was blank, but his eyes always looked like they were crying, and sometimes just seeing those eyes made Sonen feel like he was going mad. The wife who had abandoned them had looked at him with eyes exactly like that.
“You little bastard! Your father’s home, and you don’t even move?!”
Sonen slapped Roden across the face with a hand as broad as a pot lid.
Smack!
“...”
“You cold little bastard!”
Roden only curled in on himself as he was beaten, without making a single sound, and by now Sonen found it almost disgusting.
He threw the black bag he had been carrying at Roden. Thud. The things inside burst out against Roden’s side—red apples, sticky rice cakes, pork, vegetables. Sonen picked up the apple that had rolled across the floor and bit into it without even wiping it off, then squeezed his eyes shut.
He folded down onto his knees in front of Roden and lifted his son upright.
Tears quickly welled in Sonen’s eyes. Hot tears rolled down his lined cheeks.
“Roden, my son. Can’t you stop blaming me now? Your mother leaving was something I couldn’t help. When you sit around like this doing nothing, your father feels like he’s losing his mind.”
“...”
“Use this money and do something, would you? Hm?”
“This kind of money...”
“...What?”
Sonen’s face turned terrifying. Roden repeated himself.
“This filthy money...”
“...”
“It’s disgusting...”
“Roden. Without even knowing how hard your father worked to earn that money...!”
Sonen lifted his foot as if he meant to stomp on him, then covered his face with a tortured expression. A moment later he pulled Roden into his arms.
“Roden. I’ll be both father and mother to you. All right? The people left behind have to go on living too, don’t they?”
Barely swallowing his rising anger and resentment, Sonen coaxed him, seized Roden’s resisting hand tightly, and forced a smile. An awkward smile settled onto his good-natured face. He even kissed Roden on the cheek before starting to cook.
All he really did was grill pork and fry tomatoes.
Still, the house soon filled with the rich smell of food.
***
After eating, Sonen fell asleep, snoring loudly through his nose. Roden sat curled up in the corner, glaring at him.
The quiet of the morning passed, and the clamor of the street outside began to drift in.
“Ughhh.”
Still deep in sleep, Sonen flung an arm out in his dreams and banged his elbow into a piece of furniture. He woke with a beastlike groan.
“Guh!”
Rubbing the arm he’d hit, Sonen smacked his lips as he looked at Roden, as though something had occurred to him.
“Roden, go buy your father just one bottle of liquor. Actually, something good happened to me today. I’ve got something to say about your future, too. It’s early, but let’s have lunch as well.”
Belching loudly, he searched inside his clothes for money when suddenly someone began pounding on their door.
Bang bang bang.
It sounded like they were trying to break it down. Roden’s face remained blank. Sonen yanked the door open with a furious expression.
“Who the hell is making this racket first thing in the morning?!”
He shouted angrily.
Hm?
Confusion touched his deeply furrowed face. When he opened the door, what met him was not the face of the person knocking, but a broad, massive chest. Sonen awkwardly lifted his head.
Standing there was someone whose eyes were anything but ordinary.
“W-who are you?”
He had never seen the man before.
No matter how he looked at him, he was clearly no ordinary person. The stranger was wrapped in a reddish-brown cloak. Sharp eyes fixed directly on Sonen.
Then the man spoke.
“I have something I need to ask you.”
***
“I said no, didn’t I?! Use your damn ears and listen!”
Bang!
A rough male voice cracked against Ren’s ears.
Startled by the loud noise, Ren’s eyes flew open.
An unfamiliar ceiling came into view. A low ceiling bound with iron bars. Ren rolled his eyes around.
What is this place?
He blinked for a long while. His ears were still ringing from the sound of the heavy door being slammed.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness around him, people gradually came into view. There were boys and girls around Ren’s age, and others who looked much younger or much older. All of them were curled up with their hands and feet tied with rope. Raw, chafed skin around their eyes. Sunken gazes. Mouths clamped shut. Faces straining to hold back tears.
Clunk.
Not long after, the whole thing lurched.
Move out!
Hurry it up!
Harsh voices rang from outside.
Still unable to understand what was going on, Ren only blinked. No one paid him any attention.
A swaying body. Bound limbs. Ren felt nothing but dazed confusion over what kind of situation this was. It didn’t even feel real enough to be frightening.
What was I doing again?
But the memory did not come back right away.
‘Ah!’
He remembered.
He had left Tempesto Village alone, walked aimlessly until he couldn’t anymore and collapsed, and then... a kindhearted older man had let him ride in his cargo wagon.
Then when he woke up, he had been lying in some wagon, and an older guy he had never seen before had gently explained that the man had gone off to take care of some business, that the man had only given Ren a ride out of kindness, and that just like that man’s kindness, he was looking after Ren for a little while too...
Even though Ren had stayed on guard the whole time, that older guy had treated him kindly, fed him, and helped him remember a place he might want to go.
‘The sea...’
Ren followed the thought blankly. He had talked with that man about all kinds of things. Probably more than he had ever talked with Temar in his life.
The man had said he didn’t have parents either, and that he had one younger sibling.
‘You... really don’t have to take care of me like this.’
‘You remind me of my little brother.’
‘...You have a younger sibling?’
‘Yeah. A younger brother about your age.’
When he talked about his little brother, the expression on the man’s face had looked so happy that Ren, for one brief moment, had felt jealous.
He hadn’t said that out loud, though.
“Your brother?”
The words came out before he realized it.
Honestly, it all felt a little dreamlike. Didn’t it? Boys and girls with their hands and feet tied up. This feeling of being hauled somewhere. What even was this?
Little by little, he began to feel the cold of the floor against the cheek pressed to it.
“Ugh.”
“Are you stupid?”
Someone sounded angry at what Ren had said.
Ren, his body stiff, forced himself to move and turned only his eyes toward the voice. He was still lying stretched out on the floor.
What he saw was a boy with a face that looked like it had been beaten, his long, narrow eyes flashing sharply.
