Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Robe Girl (2)

Anagin tilted his head.

A mage, confident in her laundry skills…?

It wasn't that he looked down on laundry. He hated to admit it, but he'd just lost to laundry, after all…

Still, he couldn't figure out what laundry had to do with magic.

"Seeing it once is better than hearing it a hundred times. Just wait and see, see."

Robe Girl stood up confidently and walked over to the pile of laundry.

There were two piles in total.

One was laundry that hadn't been washed yet, just soaked in water,

and the other was the laundry Anagin had washed by hand until it was practically in tatters.

"Wow… Do you run a clothing business or something?"

"Do I look like a merchant to you?"

"Going by your tone, no. But you just have way too many clothes."

"These are all things I've worn. You have to change your clothes once a day."

Robe Girl looked at Anagin with surprised eyes. She found it fascinating that he could say something so spoiled out on the open road. She wondered if he was some kind of young lord.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"It's just… You're the first rich person I've ever met. Buying this many clothes must have cost a lot of money."

"I picked them up for free, so it's fine."

"You picked up clothes?"

"I beat up some unlucky bastards, stripped them, and took these. So yeah, I picked them up."

"……"

"What are you staring at? Anyway, aren't you going to do the laundry?"

Anagin waved the chunk of meat in his hand. It meant he'd leave once he finished eating it.

At the awkward turn in conversation, Robe Girl let out a single sigh and slightly lifted her robe.

When she pulled up the robe, her legs were revealed. They looked slender yet nimble.

She stepped into the stream just like that and began washing the laundry.

Splash. Splash.

'Nothing special.'

Anagin thought as he watched Robe Girl doing the laundry.

She was carefully washing the water-soaked laundry by the stream, but honestly, it didn't look much different from what he'd done.

That was when it happened.

[Out, stain! Sook-sook—! Out, stain! Sook-sook—!]

Robe Girl, who had been scrubbing the laundry by the stream, suddenly began chanting a strange incantation.

It had a melody to it, so at first it sounded like a song, but Anagin soon realized it was an incantation.

A feeling, maybe?

Whatever it was, Robe Girl was using magic to do the laundry.

No wonder she'd been so confident—she really was a mage.

"Do you know anything about magic, oppa?"

Robe Girl, doing laundry while draped in her cumbersome robe, suddenly threw out a question.

Anagin thought for a moment before answering.

"A little."

Magic. He'd heard about it roughly from his Master. A power that twisted the world's laws by using an unknown force called 'Yeom.'

Robe Girl giggled.

"That's the worst case—knowing just enough to not know anything."

"?"

"With magic, it's better to not know it at all than to know it half-baked. If you only half-understand it, you start thinking it's something grand, and that actually gets in your way."

"You mean it's not as big a deal as people think?"

"Correct!"

Robe Girl stopped mid-wash and pointed her index finger at Anagin.

Her sharp nail, still wet, glinted in the sunlight.

"Put grandly, it twists the world's laws. Put differently, it's throwing a tantrum… You consume mental energy—will, desire, wishes, things like that. In other words, anyone with even a little talent can use it, and it can be used for any purpose. Like this!"

Robe Girl pulled out the laundry and snapped it open.

Fwaaang!

As she vigorously unfurled the wet cloth, water droplets sprayed everywhere, and the clothes—now spotless as if brand new—shone brilliantly in the sunlight.

They had become clean as literal new clothes.

"…No holes."

Anagin marveled at the intact clothes. When he'd washed with all that care, they'd ended up riddled with holes, yet Robe Girl's were perfectly fine…

He wondered if laundry discriminated between men and women too. Son of a bitch!

"It's not discrimination, it's a difference in skill. If you just scrub blindly with brute force, of course holes are going to appear. You've never done laundry in your life, have you, oppa?"

"I don't do trivial chores like that."

Anagin declared shamelessly.

"Now I see why you ruined all the laundry… Anyway, how about it? Is this enough to make putting up with me worth the hassle?"

Robe Girl's red lips curved into a confident smile.

It was a smile that seemed to ask, "Surely you don't still think you don't need me?"

Anagin looked over the laundry she'd washed once more.

No holes, and even the old grime had been lifted clean.

"…Fine. I'll take you to the village."

"Yay!"

"So, wash all the laundry over there."

"Huh?"

Robe Girl, who had been cheering with both arms spread wide, went blank and looked at the pile of laundry.

There was a lot to wash.

"Now? Right now?"

"Yeah. Yeah."

Anagin affirmed twice in a row. From the start, he'd agreed to let her tag along because she was good at laundry.

Robe Girl let out a scoff.

"This is going to take a while. What are you going to do, oppa?"

"Finish eating the meat, and laze around watching you do laundry."

Anagin said it as if it were the most natural thing, waving the last piece of meat in his hand.

He could beat down as many field-wrecking beasts as he wanted, but things like cooking, farming, foraging, and laundry—he had no intention of doing such annoying tasks.

This was Anagin's proud rule.

"Got a problem with that?"

"No, not at all!"

Robe Girl rolled up her sleeves and answered, then reached for the remaining laundry.

He could hear her muttering, "I really picked the wrong guy!" but he decided to pretend he hadn't heard.

---

[Out, stain! Sook-sook—!]

Robe Girl did the laundry exactly as she'd said she would.

Chanting her song-like incantation, she tore through the piled-up laundry in no time.

'Her stamina and strength are impressive.'

Anagin thought as he watched Robe Girl.

Despite her small frame, she had good strength and stamina.

Thanks to magic, the laundry came out clean, but that didn't mean she wasn't using her body.

Magic was support. It helped the laundry come out clean—it wasn't magic that did the laundry for you.

In other words, the physical labor that went into laundry remained the same.

And the strength and stamina laundry demanded was no joke.

He could say that because he'd just tried it himself.

Considering that, it was clear that Robe Girl's strength and stamina were far from ordinary.

"Phew~! Oppa, do you have any rope or something?"

"Why rope?"

"I need to hang these to dry, obviously. You're not going to carry them around wet, are you?"

Fair point.

Laundry wasn't over just because you'd washed it. It was only truly done when you dried it fluffy and folded it clean. If you failed at drying, it would smell awful and you'd have to start all over.

Anagin pulled a rope from his subspace bag.

A short rope with an iron band around its center. It was the magic tool he'd picked up from Diodia's gang hideout—the 'Stretching Rope.'

"Looks too short for hanging laundry."

"Watch."

Anagin grabbed both ends of the rope and pulled.

Crrreeak.

The rope began to stretch out from the iron band at its center. It looked as though new rope was being born.

Anagin tied one end of the stretched rope to a tree, then pulled hard to stretch it further.

Crrr…eee…ak……!

Just as Ponytail had said, the more the rope stretched, the stronger the resistance became.

Not that it made much difference to him.

Grip!

Anagin tied the stretched rope to a tree on the opposite side, and a makeshift clothesline appeared.

Robe Girl, who had been watching, hung the wet laundry on it as if she'd been waiting for exactly that.

Drip. Drip. Falling water droplets.

It looked like it would take at least a full day to dry.

"Ah, waiting around is such a pain."

"It won't take long, so just wait a bit."

When Anagin muttered, Robe Girl scolded him not to whine.

Did she know some magic to dry things quickly?

Robe Girl walked over to the campfire, which had nothing but bones left around it, and held her hands over the flames.

Fwoosh—!

The campfire surged, and in that state, Robe Girl blew out a breath with a "Hoo—!"

The heat of the campfire, intensified in an instant, followed her breath and swept toward the clothesline across from her, drying the laundry hanging on it in the blink of an eye.

"Fluffy, isn't it?"

Robe Girl proudly held out the warm, dry clothes to Anagin.

He touched them to check. Fluffy, warm. They'd dried perfectly.

"Not bad."

Anagin put on one of the clean garments, then stored the rest in his subspace bag. The Stretching Rope too.

After packing everything up, he slung the subspace bag over one shoulder and looked at Robe Girl.

"Got anything to pack?"

"No."

"Good, then let's go."

Though it was a promise, Anagin told Robe Girl to come along with him far too naturally.

Without asking a single question—where she was from, what her name was.

Robe Girl followed beside him.

---

The unexpected addition of a mage.

At a glance, nothing had particularly changed.

It was just one more person.

But it did affect Anagin's journey to some degree.

For good reason—their pace had slowed.

It wasn't for nothing that he'd refused her request to come along at first.

People have different stamina and walking speeds, so naturally, when traveling together, you have to match the slower one. The slower party can't match the faster one, so it was simply unavoidable.

That was exactly why he'd been reluctant to let Robe Girl join.

He had a Monster Merchant to go crush—he wasn't about to slow down for no reason. If it hadn't been for the laundry, he would have ignored her to the very end.

The one saving grace was that Robe Girl wasn't as much of a hindrance as he'd expected.

Despite being draped in a robe that didn't match her frame, Robe Girl skillfully kept up with Anagin's pace and stamina.

Thanks to that, Anagin could travel more freely than he'd thought, and before he knew it, they'd left the deep forest paths and come out onto a road where people were gradually moving about.

"Looks like something's going on."

Robe Girl, who had been silently following beside Anagin, said as she slightly lifted her robe.

Beneath the slightly raised robe, golden eyes looked toward a distant gathering of people.

Something had happened—travelers and what looked like merchants were sparsely gathered. No, more precisely, someone had set up a checkpoint and was inspecting them.

"This will only take a moment. Please cooperate."

As Anagin and Robe Girl approached, they heard men armed with swords and clubs speaking.

They didn't seem to be… bandits. Just a village militia, it seemed.

A self-organized security force that caught thieves sneaking into the village.

They were stopping travelers and asking for their cooperation.

"Your daughter, you say?"

"That's right. And who might you two be?"

"We're from a village nearby. Could we see your faces for a moment?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"A thief girl ran off, and we're checking. It'll only take a moment, so please cooperate."

The man who appeared to be the father showed his displeasure, but when the large local glared at him, he faltered.

Anapic. And on the road, no less—he knew it would be trouble to pick a fight with a local. Even if a brawl broke out here, there'd be nowhere to lodge a complaint.

In the end, he cooperated reluctantly.

"Thank you for your cooperation."

True to their word, they didn't cause any unnecessary trouble—they just checked the girl's face and sent them on their way.

Seeing that, the other travelers seemed relieved. Everyone except Robe Girl.

She fidgeted restlessly, as if something was making her uneasy. In particular, something moved around her rear, making a rustling sound.

"You two, please cooperate as well."

Before she knew it, the militia had come up to Anagin and Robe Girl.

Perhaps because they'd explained it countless times already, they reached out to check Robe Girl's face without preamble.

Just as they moved to push back the robe and check—

Clap.

Anagin grabbed the wrist and stopped the militiaman.

"? What are you… doing?"

"What are you doing?"

The militia flinched at Anagin, who questioned them with an imposing air rather than being intimidated by their scowl.

Instinctively, they realized he wasn't ordinary.

One of the militia explained.

"Ah… We're conducting a search for a thief girl who stole village property and ran off. Please cooperate. We just need to see her face."

"We're not her. Go check somewhere else."

"What?"

"The only people here are me and my companion. Stop bothering us and go look somewhere else."

"Excuse me! How are we supposed to believe that?"

An incredulous reaction. Anagin felt the same way.

"Then how am I supposed to believe you? Whether you're here looking for a thief girl, or whether you're actually bandits… What am I supposed to trust that would make me cooperate?"

Anagin expressed pure skepticism.

On the road, unless you knew someone by face, you had to be wary of everyone.

So how was he supposed to trust people who suddenly claimed to be hunting a thief girl? Trust what, exactly?

Perhaps it was an unexpected question, because the men stammered and couldn't say a word.

Then one of them gritted his teeth and shouted.

"If we were bandits, we'd have used force right away!"

"That's exactly why I'm not using force. Want me to start?"

Anagin tightened his grip on the wrist he was holding.

The militiaman screamed and dropped to his knees from the pain, as if his wrist would be crushed.

"Agh! Aaah…! W-wait…! It hurts!!"

The self-proclaimed militia cringed.

Anagin released his hand immediately.

The freed militiaman, clutching his wrist, glared at Anagin. The comrades around him raised their guard and gripped their weapons.

"Hold on!"

Just as they were about to draw their weapons, the man who appeared to be the leader stopped everyone.

He'd judged that they had no chance of winning after seeing Anagin's strength. Good judgment.

At the leader's gesture, the militia stepped back and opened the way.

Anagin walked through them as if it were only natural.

"What are you doing? Aren't you coming?"

Anagin said, looking at Robe Girl.

---

Evening, when the sun had set and darkness had fallen.

Anagin stopped moving and sat down under a tree to rest.

Robe Girl gathered suitable branches from the forest into a pile, then snapped her fingers.

Ting—!

A spark ignited between her fingers and the branches caught fire.

The campfire painted the surroundings red.

Anagin and Robe Girl were tinged with red as well.

"Catch."

Anagin tossed Robe Girl something to eat.

Dried bread, fruit, and jerky. A fair amount.

"This is too much."

"If you're not going to eat it, give it back."

"That's not what I meant…"

Robe Girl tucked the food Anagin gave her inside her robe. She was stockpiling it in case of an emergency.

Anagin, in contrast, put all the dried bread, fruit, and jerky into his mouth.

It was enough to last several days if rationed, but he just ate it all. For Anagin, no matter how much of this kind of food he ate, he stayed hungry—so he had to eat like this just to feel like he'd eaten something.

"Aren't you eating too much? You should save some."

"It's fine because there's plenty."

And indeed, the dried rations were on the plentiful side.

Thanks to the not-inconsiderable stock of preserved food they'd picked up from the Bander Peddler Band and Diodia's gang.

Their first meeting hadn't gone well, but thinking about it now, they all seemed like decent enough guys. Like a tree that gave without holding back, maybe?

"Hmm…. I feel like you're thinking something scary. Anyway, thanks. For helping me earlier."

"What the hell are you on about, out of nowhere?"

"You really need to fix the way you talk. You're way too harsh."

"I can be a little harsh with little shits who scheme."

Flinch!

The robe draped over Robe Girl twitched.

"…Did you figure out that I'm the thief girl those guys were looking for earlier?"

"Are you a thief?"

Anagin looked Robe Girl straight in the eye. She didn't look away.

"…No."

"Then why?"

"They're definitely after me…. Aren't you curious why?"

Robe Girl asked, as if she couldn't understand it.

Normally, anyone would be curious about the reason when they saw a person using magic, or a woman wandering the forest alone, or someone being chased—but Anagin had none of that.

He wasn't pretending not to care. He genuinely seemed not to.

"Did you do something bad and run?"

"Hmm…. No. At the very least, I haven't done anything I'm ashamed of. A slight difference of opinion, I guess?"

"Then it's fine. You don't have to tell me. I'm not interested."

"……."

"I'm just keeping my promise. The laundry, the village. Understand?"

"That's refreshing, at least."

"Of course, I don't care what happens after that."

"You should talk less too. My gratitude's starting to wear off. Still, thanks."

"No, you should save your thanks for later."

"?"

"We've got company."

After dumping the dried rations in his hand into his mouth, Anagin turned his head.

When Robe Girl followed his gaze, she could see a group approaching from beyond the darkness.

The pursuit party had caught up.