Chapter 6: Departure

　I packed the bare necessities into an old suitcase, said goodbye to my landlord, and headed toward the lower town.

　I had sold nearly all my furniture long ago to support myself. Only a simple bed remained, and the house was practically empty.

　Chelsea, the girlfriend of Elliot’s colleague Kevin, lived in the lower town.

　Even when I could no longer obtain work or go shopping, Chelsea remained considerate and cared for me until the end. Without her, I might not have managed to survive until today.

“Flora…? You’re dressed for travel, and you have luggage. Are you going somewhere…?”

　Chelsea was startled to see me in traveling clothes. With the knights having only just returned in triumph, her surprise was understandable.

　Unable to answer properly, I smiled and evaded the question, then decided to begin with the reason I had come.

“Chelsea, I have nothing with which to repay you. If this will do, would you please take it?”

　I offered her the wedding dress I had once sewn but never worn. Perhaps it was a little inauspicious for a woman who had just been divorced to give someone such a thing.

　Still, she could earn some money by selling it. I had nothing else with which to repay Chelsea for everything she had done.

“Oh, no… This must be precious to you!”

“…I don’t need it anymore.”

　Clever Chelsea seemed to understand much of the truth from those words alone.

　She led me into the living room. When I told her what had happened that morning, she wept many angry tears for me.

　My emotions seemed to have vanished somewhere that morning, so Chelsea’s tears on my behalf brought me a strange measure of comfort.

“Flora, please wait here a moment.”

　Chelsea rose, retrieved a small box from the kitchen, and overturned it. She gathered the silver coins that spilled out and placed them before me.

“I’ll buy the dress. This is all I have…”

“…This is the money you were saving for your wedding to Kevin, isn’t it?”

“It’s such a beautiful dress that this amount is nowhere near enough. I’m sorry I couldn’t think of anything else to do. But… you’ll need money for your journey, won’t you?”

　Her tearful words made me realize I had completely forgotten about traveling expenses.

　I had been so consumed by the need to leave the city that I had thought of almost nothing else.

　We had lived together for only a very short time after marrying, and we had no children. Under this kingdom’s laws, I was therefore entitled to no compensation, and I had almost no money.

“I meant to repay your kindness, but in the end, I remained indebted to you until the very last moment.”

　Chelsea’s tears drew out my own, and my voice broke into a sob at the end. I felt relieved to discover that some emotion still remained within me.

“It’s all right. This time, find happiness somewhere else. Then you can come back and repay me.”

　Her words felt like a promise that I would go on living.

　I hadn’t considered where I would go or what I would do after leaving the city. But I knew I must repay Chelsea someday, and that thought made me feel a little better.

　When we parted, Chelsea embraced me tightly.

　Strangely, my steps felt lighter than they had when I left home.

　—Since I’m leaving the royal capital anyway, I should also go and see Mr. Dolph.

　Mr. Dolph was a blacksmith who lived in a village approximately two days by carriage from the royal capital.

　About four years earlier, when Elliot became a knight, Mr. Dolph had forged the sword I gave Elliot to commemorate the occasion.

　—I wonder what that man did with the sword.

　After obtaining the holy sword, had he given my gift to someone else, or was it stored away somewhere?

　I remembered Elliot faithfully caring for that sword every day. When my vision blurred, I looked up at the sky and hoped the wind would dry my tears before they fell.

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