The second I realized the boy was still breathing, I heaved him onto my back. He was as heavy as a horse, and I was awfully glad he wasn't one of those macho men I used to see with the knights in Catania.

Somehow I managed to find the barracks. We had ran quite a distance away. Fortunately the knights had ran away, probably back to the capital.

I entered the building, the scent of metal and blood-drawn sweat filling the air.

The barracks were quiet, unlike the town outside, and there were only a couple soliders resting, including a little white pup sleeping in the corner of the entrance. A guard dog, most likely.

"Excuse me, soldier?" I called out to the two men playing a game of checkers.

The cleaner-looking of the two moved his finishing piece. The other man cried out in defeat and then faced us.

"Yes, missy?" His eyes traveled to the giant slug on my back. "Bagro? What happened to him?!"

The other man jumped from his chair and took the soldier boy from my back. "He's not dead, is he?!"

I shook my head.

"No, no. He just had a little accident pacifying an angry customer," I lied, "The guy threw his sword and it bounced off his empty head."

The soldier not holding the boy frowned, but he looked much more relived than before. "That's good. Who'd say what the captain would do if Bagro died on duty."

That last comment sent shivers down my spine. This soldiers didn't have to know everything, right?

"Then I'll be taking my leave." I smiled, bowed, and went to make my leave. I didn't want to test my luck with these two any longer.

"No, miss, you must stay!"

"Yes! Let us treat you for saving our comrade!"

I pushed them away. "No — I really must be going!"

"Please!"

"On our good name as Yuvri's soldiers — !"

And that was how I found myself sitting in the barrack's kitchen, eating one of the many snacks the soldiers had probably snuck in against boarding rules.

I sighed, fully enjoying the berry-flavored snack.

"I wanted to leave before they found out the knights were after me," I mumbled, "But it looks like that isn't going to happen."

The other soldiers had left to tend to their wounded comrade. I was alone, except for the pup sleeping like a baby in the corner.

A tiny smirk slowly crawled onto my face.

No one would miss me if I took my leave now, no?

I dusted my mouth free of crumbs. Out of habit, my hand moved to back.

"I'll have to stop at a smith before I leave, however..."

Without waking the pup, I hurriedly headed to the entrance.

However, I heard someone call out after me, and I turned around, finding the soldier boy standing on the far side of the entrance.

Bandages were around his head, and the armor and sword were gone from his body. He looked much smaller now. It felt rather pathetic, actually. It was like he was a different person from the one who tried to save me from the knights.

"Please!" he called out. "You have to help me!"

A different person? Why did his voice sound so shaky? And when did his eyes change from gray to red?

"You were the one who brought me here, right?!"

I blinked. This was the soldier boy from before, no?

"My name is Yamayachi Guchiro!" He was closer now, and his eyes were certainly wider than before. His hair was also more unkept, but that was probably from the bandage... right?

"I... I thought your name was... Bagro?" I remembered the soldiers calling him by that.

"Ba — Baguro?" He looked more confused than me. "I don't know of anyone called that! But please! I honestly don't know where I am!"

He grabbed my hands and brought them up like he was praying.

"Please help me! I come from a place called Japan! I don't where that is compared to here. Can you take me back home?!"

Yeah... I'm totally confused.

Where's Japan? And what kind of last name is Guchi-whatever?

"Calm down, um, Yama... Yama..."

"Yamayachi Guchiro!"

"Yeah... that..."

Maybe it'd be better to call him by his last name...

"If Yamayachi is too hard, please, call me by my first name! Guchiro!"

I'm sorry, what?

You're telling me someone named their kid Guchrio? Like, they had a choice?

"Okay, Guchiro..." Yeah, I'm not getting used to that. "What do you mean, you don't know where you are. This is Yuvri. You work as a soldier here, no?"

I tried speaking in smaller sentences to calm the boy down. Unfortunately, his frantic eyes that looked like volcanoes seemed to have finally burst.

"I — I don't know! Please — !"

He looked ready to cry.

"Oh, jeez..." I pried my hand from his grasp and soothed him by softly caressing his head. "Don't cry. I'll — I'll help you, I guess."

As long as he didn't cry, I'd somehow manage this. Most likely, this was just a simple case of possession.

In this world, magic isn't that uncommon, but it's not practiced often in Heldom, the human-ruled kingdom. In other countries, a certain type of it, called possession, is often restricted from apprentices and students of magic. It's a more advanced technique, but many youngsters try doing it at parties or by dares.

And most of the time, they end of failing. In a summary of things, the student possess a body anywhere from ten to thousands of miles away, and the magic wears off in a matter of a few days.

That probably explains the shakiness of the boy and his weird name.

"You'll help me? Really?" Guchiro's face brightened tenfold. "Thank you!"

I have to admit though, Guchiro made a smile look much better on this body than the soldier, Bagro, did.

"Well, it's only because you helped me before."

"I did?" Guchiro looked confused.

No you didn't, but your body's original owner did.

"And because I'm helping you as freelancer, you will have to pay me!"

"What?! But I don't have any money!"

I had to hide my laugh, and I smiled.

"Then we will be debtors together."

I had never seen a boy look so utterly crestfallen in my life.