Long carriage rides were always boring for Kuro, but riding the cart was something else. For a few days now, he and Milly spent most of it pedaling northwards towards the city of water with not so much as another town in sight. Only the occasional road sign confirmed they were on the right track. Still, their supplies were running low and daily foraging kept them afloat. Most days Milly spent filling Kuro with small facts and discoveries while he returned the favor with adventuring necessities.
"So the method you were talking about before, the steps were question, hypothesis, experiment, and analyze data?" asked Kuro while driving.
"Simply yes, but the experiment portion needs to have a consistent procedure so it's repeatable with no unknown or extra variables. Otherwise, your results might lead to a false outcome. After that, if it has a consistent result after each experiment, then you can theorize that it will happen all the time. Kind of like if I hold up an apple at a certain height and drop it from there, as long as nothing affects its falling then it will always drop."
"I see, I see, so all in all that's what makes you nerd…" teased Kuro.
"I'm not a nerd! Why does knowing all that make me a nerd?" Milly pouted.
"Why is being a nerd a bad thing? I think having something you're excited about is good!"
"It just doesn't sound cool. Like you're making fun of me!"
"I promise I'm not. It's a compliment!"
Kuro patted Milly on the shoulder. She seemed to settle in the seat next to him, but her pedaling slowed a bit making Kuro have to push harder making his legs burn a bit from the hill they were on. He flipped the switch behind the wheel and a current of energy shot through the wheels to run the cart to the crest. Looking from atop the hill, a small wagon was pulled off to the side of the road.
Noticing the strange transport speeding down the hill, a girl with emerald green hair ran to the middle of the road and began to jump while waving her arms. Kuro’s heart jumped out of his chest as he slammed on the brakes. On instinct he put his arm out to hold Milly back in her seat for her to let out a strange "wafaaa!" Dust swirled in the air with the strange girl lying on the ground. She groaned loudly for Kuro and Milly to look at each other in panic.
"We didn't hit her right?" whispered Milly as she leaned closer.
"I don't think so… at least it didn't feel like it." Kuro whispered back. "Why is your face so red by the way?"
"No reason! Go check to see if she's still alive!" Milly shoved Kuro out of the cart.
"I definitely need to install some sort of device to hold us in case of sudden stops when I have the chance…" she thought while watching Kuro walk over.
Standing above the girl, the bad feeling Kuro had in his gut came to pass. Her simple robe was covered by an ornate emerald cloak adorned with symbols of the church of the One True Goddess. She was strewn about and was covered with dirt lying motionless on the ground. Without a second thought, Kuro pulled the black cylindrical object from his pocket and extended it into an arms-length stick. Of course, the next step would be to poke the side of the girl to see if there was any life in her.
"Oi! Is that the first thing you do to someone you ran over!?" The green-haired girl yelled as she sat up.
"It looks like you're fine to me," reasoned Kuro, returning to the cart.
"There’s no way I'm fine! Agh! My back hurts! What will you do if I die out here on the side of the road? Won't you feel guilty about leaving a member of the church in need?"
"I think you'll live," Kuro shrugged from the cart. “Now if you’ll excuse us…”
The girl leaped on all fours on the front of the vehicle with a crazed look in her eyes. Her breath was ragged and desperate as she crawled closer to Milly and Kuro’s chilled nerves.
“You apostate! You’ll be guilty of committing blasphemy if you don’t help me! At least spare a few coins for a tithe!”
Kuro tried reversing the vehicle but she held onto the metal bars to keep from falling off and letting them go. Even turning around her didn’t help as she fell back to the ground and feigned more pain. The song and dance continued until Kuro had enough.
“Look! Do you need a ride to the next town or something!?” Kuro burst out tapping on the steering wheel.
“I’d be happy if you could!” the priestess jumped up from the ground.
She scrambled to grab her belongings and tossed them onto the cart. Chomper jolted at the vibrations in his area and popped his head out of Milly’s bag. Immediately noticing a stranger, he began shaking out of excitement and jumped onto the new person. She began laughing at each of Chomper’s licks.
“Puppy! So cute! I could scoop you right up and take you to live with me at the church!”
“Please don’t…” Milly sighed as Kuro turned the cart back onto the road.
Silence took all the passengers on the cart with only the sound of the pedaling and trees rustling around them. Kuro and Milly exchanged looks avoiding words on how to deal with their new passenger and played rock, paper, scissors, to see who would break the tension in the air. It was an age-old game that Kuro had confidence in winning, but out of three rounds, Milly ended it by holding a fist to his two fingers that shot out.
"So… where are you headed?" asked Kuro.
"I'm glad you asked, this beautiful priestess is on a pilgrimage around the empire to renew people's faith in the One True Goddess! Now that the hero is on his journey, faith is needed more than ever! If you could drop me off at the nearest town the Goddess will surely bless you! Say, won't you sign this letter of renewed faith to pledge your heart and soul to the church!"
"Uh, I'm good thanks…" Kuro pushed the paper away.
"How about you, Miss?"
Milly took it in her hands and looked over the slip of paper. She went line by line and each one she scrolled through made her face sour. By the time she reached the bottom, her hands were shaking until she pulled it apart.
"Miss!" the priestess cried.
"What do you mean regular offerings and unquestioned support for church officials? It's like you're asking us to financially support your lifestyle!?" Milly roared.
"Well naturally, it's the sheep's duty to provide for the shepherd so they can take care of them better!"
Milly pulled the emergency brake between them and made the girl with the triumphant look tumble onto the cargo space floor. It was then that Kuro could have sworn Milly had a slightly satisfied look that she tried to hide away while turning her face toward the trees.
"So what's your name, Priestess? I'm Kuro by the way and this is Mia."
The stranger dusted herself off as she sat back up, "The name is Karen! Pleased to meet you!”
Disgust made Kuro and Milly shudder in their seats at the sound of that name.
“It’s just a coincidence, right? There’s no way it could be that ‘Karen’ Violet mentioned before,” Kuro recalled in his thoughts. “What would be the chances, after all?”
“That’s a very interesting name, could you show me how to spell it here?” Karen requested.
“Sure, it’s K-U…”
Something snapped in Kuro at the sight of the pledge paperwork in his hands. Donations of all available income to support the church in its crusade against the demon king, housing provided upon request to all clergy, unquestioned support for the church’s decisions, all of it in Kuro’s hands now made Milly’s outrage justified. He crumpled up the paper and threw it as hard as he could into the side of the road.
“Now, now no need to be so shy,” Karen tried to pass off seeing her attempt fail once again. “All I need right now is a ride to the next town and I’ll be on my merry way.”
Riding along the road they came across a fork in the road. One way led to Evanstone which was 250 miles away, while the other sign pointed to Northfield only 15 miles away. Kuro and Milly shot each other a look knowing that they would not last a week with Karen in their care, much less another hour. It was the easiest decision they made all day and stopping in another town would save them the trouble of having to camp out for another night. Immediately, Kuro turned towards Northfield when Milly reached across and pulled the switch behind the steering wheel. Energy kicked into the wheels pulling the vehicle at top speed. There was no time nor electricity to waste if it meant being free of Karen’s proselytizing.
Kuro kicked himself into high gear pedaling even harder to get to their destination even faster and within less than an hour a small farming village came into view. It was surrounded by wide open fields in contrast to the woodland area that bordered its western and southern edge. Riding down the rolling hill helped them to the entrance within minutes with not a moment to spare. Whatever power they had left in the energy tanks ran dry and it would take some time to charge for the next leg of their trip.
“That was some ride!” Karen smiled as she gathered her things. “I can’t believe how quick we got here!”
“Yeah, it sure was, I’m still glad you enjoyed all that speed, it’s a lot of fun, right Milly?” said Kuro painfully out of breath.
“Yes, now we should be going, we have to make some arrangements after we get to the inn,” Milly chimed in, also wheezing.
“Very well, I must thank you for the ride, I have a small present for you and if you happen to stop by the church please come and say hello!” Karen smiled, handing Kuro a package.
“Thank you! It was our pleasure!” Kuro said, taking it in his hands.
Karen hopped off the back of the cargo area and gave Chomper a pat on the head before taking a few steps toward the town. She turned and gave Kuro and Milly a small bow before waving to them goodbye. In a way, Karen made their afternoon more interesting as her presence was a small change of pace. Kuro smiled and began to open the package at Milly’s insistence to see what they got. In a flash, their smiles turned upside down for Milly to viciously grab the contents of the package and whip it away as hard as she could. Papers marked with the Church’s logo flew through the air while Kuro pulled further into town.
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