Part Thirty-Nine — What She Offered, What I Actually Wanted

　"The situation I've got going," Aria said slowly, like she was turning the offer over from every possible angle before trusting it, "I don't think I really have a choice. But――how would I even repay you? You saved my life. Gave me food. I don't have anything."

　"If you want to repay me," I said, "it's easy."

　I watched something shift behind her eyes at that――a specific kind of calculation, wary and resigned at once, the look of someone who'd already learned, somewhere along the way, exactly what men usually meant when they said something like that to a girl with nothing left to bargain with.

　"I'll pay with my body," she said, quiet, like she'd already braced herself for the answer before I'd even clarified.

　"Not happening," I said immediately, probably faster and more forcefully than the moment called for. "I don't need your body. That's not――no. Since you're human, you can actually help me with a few things. That's all I meant."

　She blinked, visibly recalibrating.

　"...Oh."

Yeah. Oh. I promise I'm not that kind of person, whatever kind of person you've been forced to expect by now.

　"You said 'since you're human,'" she said, slower now, studying me properly for the first time since she'd woken up. "Are you not human?"

And there it is. Same question, different mouth.

　I felt the familiar instinct to deflect rise up, old and practiced by now.

　"I'll answer that when the timing's right," I said.

　"...Okay, master."

　"Please don't call me that," I said, wincing. "I have a name. It's Kai."

　"Okay," she said, something almost like the beginning of a real smile crossing her face. "Nice to meet you, Kai. What do you need my help for?"

　"I need information about something," I said. "Do you think you'd be able to help me out with it?"

　"What kind of information?"

　"About the Church."

　She shook her head, apologetic.

　"I'm afraid not. I don't know anything about the Church."

　"Ah, that's alright," I said, and meant it――it had been worth asking, even without much hope attached. "One more thing, then. Can you help me get some actual ingredients? I'm getting a little tired of eating food that's not up to two percent of its actual possible taste."

　That got a small, genuine laugh out of her――the first one, I noticed.

　"I can help with that. But how?"

　I told her about a town not far from the edge of my domain, gave her rough directions, and explained that some of the coin I'd carried since my time with Doran was still on me――more than enough to cover clothes and ingredients both.

　She agreed easily enough.

　"Just in case," I added, as she gathered herself to go, "you could also ask a few people around town if they know anything about the Church. Long shot. Doesn't hurt to try."

　"Did the Church do something to you?" she asked.

　I felt my own expression go somewhere I hadn't fully braced for――something in my face simply emptying out, all the easy warmth of a moment ago gone in an instant, replaced by something colder and older than I usually let anyone see.

　"Maybe," I said. "Maybe not."

　The air around us went very still.

　The specific stillness of a held breath, of pressure building somewhere just under the surface of things, though I hadn't consciously called any of it forward.

　Aria went pale, visibly, like she'd just realized exactly how far outside her depth she actually was.

　I caught it a second later, and pulled it back――the warmth returning to my face, the smile settling back into place like it had never left.

　"Will you help me? Please?" I asked, gentle again, like the moment before hadn't happened at all.

　She swallowed hard.

　"...Alright."

Sorry about that. Some things still get away from me, even now. I'm working on it.