The outskirts of Pindos.
　Oltia and I were looking at the autumn leaves dancing in the wind.

''Beautiful....''

　Ortiz showed a rare expression of emotion as he looked at the autumn leaves.

''Thank you, Hermes-chan, I'm glad to see this.''
Did you get your wish in life?
'Yes!　Thank you so much!

　Oltia's smile was her usual carefree, bright smile.
　When I went to the whorehouse, she asked me to ask for the favor of a lifetime again, and I got defensive, but all I wanted to do was see the fall colors, so I brought her here.

　It wasn't much of an effort, and yet I was glad to see Ortizia's nice smile.
　As I was looking at the fall foliage with Ortizia in this way - a tactless sound interrupted their world.

　It's the sound of horse hooves, and it's not on the level of one or two.
　When you turn towards the sound, there are lightly more than a dozen of them, and they are coming towards you in a cloud of dust from across the horizon.

What is that?
Get behind me.
Yes.

　I hid Ortiz behind my back and quickly stepped forward.
　I brace myself for some rough stuff, but the guys on horseback are riding past us.

"I guess they weren't here for us.
Yeah. But he had a change in blood. What's going on?
I don't know.

　As Ortiz and I were twisting our necks, one of the horses in the back of the pack suddenly came to a stop.
　And with that, several of the horses ahead of us stopped with a whimper as their riders pulled on the reins.

　A large, bearded man at the back of the pack looked at us.

"Sweetheart?　Or is it whore and guest?
That's about it.
Well hey, give them your horse.

　The man with the beard said to another man.
　The man who was told looked troubled.

'Shh, but. If you do a horse--'
f*ck you!

　The man with the beard yelled loudly.
　It was quite powerful, and Oltia behind me freaked out.

''Have you forgotten what your brother taught you!
Hey, hey!

　The man who had been yelled at huffed, jumped off his horse and came toward us, pulling the reins of his horse.

'Use this, you can ride, right?'
What does that mean?
Get on it and run, okay?

　The man with the beard told me so, and then he pulled the reins and drove his horse.
　Another man who had given us a horse jumped on his mate's horse and rode off the same way with two of us.

　We got our horses, and we saw them off.

'What's the matter with you?'
...the evil spirit is coming.

　I said as I looked behind me - in the direction the men had run.
　Over the horizon, something that emits quite an evil spirit is coming towards me.

''An evil spirit, a monster?''
Yeah, I think he's running away from it.
But why did you give us a horse?
Let's go after them and ask them.
Yeah!

　Despite being a prostitute with no combat skills, Ortizia's curiosity won out over the fear that would normally be there.
　I rode my horse with such Ortia and chased after the men.

　It was a pretty good horse that they gave me, and even with two people on it, it ran like a windbreaker.
　Soon, I caught up with the men.

'Hey,'
Don't get too close or you'll get in trouble.

　Involved?　What do you mean?
　No, more importantly.

"Why did you give us a horse?
You guys look like bandits or something.

　Ortia asked as she put her arm around my waist.
　Without saying it, he asked, "What do bandits do to help people?

'It's what our brother, the man who was the head of this gang, taught us. We steal and rob, but we don't kill. If someone is about to get killed, we help him. That's our policy.
Oh.

　I was strangely impressed.
　No, can we call it admiration?

　I'm not your average thief, that's for sure.

"That brother is down too. You should get the hell out of there.
Why do you run away? Don't you want to get revenge?
I would love to, but...

　The bearded man bit his lower lip in frustration.
　Teeth dug into his lip with such force that he felt like he was going to bleed.

My brother's orders were to get out of there alive.

　Despite his frustration, the man with the beard doesn't stop running away.
　If you look closely, you can see that the other men on the horses look uniformly frustrated.
　They're frustrated, but they're running away because "it's my brother's last order".

　I see.

"You better run away too.
Hmm?
I saved you partly because of what my brother taught me, but also because I thought you were like him. So make sure you get away.
Okay.

　I pulled back on the reins and slowed my horse down.
　I got the story.

　I walked away from the men as they were. When they were almost out of sight, I turned my horse in the opposite direction - the way I'd come.

'You're going to do it, Hermes,'
You're... what?
"Don't hide it, don't hide it.

　Ortiz laughed and patted me on the back.

It's that kind of crunchy feeling, you know, letting those people go. They're outlaws, but they're good-natured people.

　I chuckled.
　It was that obvious.

'I could see that, if I knew you, Hermes,'
Oh, yeah. Well, there you have it. You know, they're just as dangerous as we are, but they kept their dead brother's word and let a bunch of strangers like us get away with it. Those are the people I don't want dead.
Yeah.
So, you're gonna pretend that you didn't see what I'm about to do.
You really need to stop hiding things, Hermes.
I'm asking you for a lifetime.
Oh, come on, Hermes!

　Oltia protests with a pout of her lips.
　It's a light exchange of words, but I'm convinced that this way Ortia won't talk.
　She's that kind of woman.

　I've stopped talking, and after waiting for a while as it is - here it comes.

　From across the horizon, a massive red-copper-colored body approaches with a thumping sound of the earth.

"An ogre, huh?
What are you going to do about it, Hermes? You're unarmed.

　Where was the lightheartedness of my earlier comment, Ortiz asked me with a frightened look on her face.
　As it should be, the Ogre was so large that the perspective seemed a bit strange.

　It's about one size larger than a two-story house.

It's a good thing you don't have any weapons. On the contrary, it might be an advantage.
What?
Because...

　The ogre loomed in front of us, and we were completely covered by a shadow made of a huge body.

　I raised the club that the ogre is holding - immediately after.
　The body was torn in half from the waist.

''Eh?''

　Ortizia is surprised, and my right arm is swept out.
　And the claw-like attack marks on the cut surface of the ogre's body.

''Eh, eh, eh!
'This is the first time I've done it and it works. This is going to look like a fight between monsters.

　I'm not sure I'm going to be the only one who can see the body of a fallen ogre, the body of a doomed man after it has been torn apart by its claws.

　I'm sure you're not going to be able to get away with it.
　Yes, this is what we're going to do from now on.
　If something happens, we'll tear it apart with our claws and make it look like we're monsters.

　I'm convinced of this approach, and I'm a little pleased.

'Bah, blah, blah, blah.'
What?

　I turned around at the voice that I suddenly heard.
　There was the man from earlier - or rather a group of bandits.

　They had pulled back before I knew it and were comparing me and the Ogre's corpse with a shocked look on their faces.
　They saw........they found out!

　No, more than that.

"Hey, why are you back?
Because you looked like my brother... and you had a mean look on your face. I didn't want to overlook that...
Oh...

　I looked at Ortizia.
　It's the same argument I made earlier with Oltia.

　I know it well enough to know that I'll do something on my own instead.

'And yet when you come back.......wow.

　It was like she was watching me.

Oh...

　Apparently, me and their brother were very much alike.