"Erida Morgrain... from the Hasht language it translates to something like the song of the skies?"
Morvian's question merged with the chirping of birds that flew high in the orange blue.
The sun peeked out from the horizon and cast its warm colors across the sky.
While a light breeze rustled the shiny green carpet after the rain.
Erida, who was walking beside him, shook her head.
"Not really, but you were close. My name translates to, heavenly song. However, you are quite well-read. Are you from the nobility?"
Morvian's face didn't change, but he ignored the girl's question as he continued walking through the emerald field.
He thought for a few seconds, then looked at Elias walking beside them.
They looked at each other for a moment, after which they began to laugh.
If Morvian's laughter from behind the girl's body seemed like the singing of angels, the monster's laughter seemed like the scraping of metal, but the note of mirth was still evident.
Erida looked at them strangely, clearly perplexed.
"Why are you laughing?"
Morvian still laughed for a couple moments, but quickly calmed down and exhaled.
"It's just quite ironic that your name translates that way."
Erida raised an eyebrow and a note of indignation flickered through her eyes.
But it was soon replaced with uncertainty and Erida began to rub her fingers together, muttering something under her breath.
"N...is my name weird?"
The girl's voice was almost shaky and quiet. Completely unlike her previous one, which was brimming with energy.
An awkward pause hung in the air due to the girl's unexpected reaction.
Elias came to his senses more quickly and decided to dilute the situation.
'That's not what we meant. It's just that your singing...'
'Disgusting,' Morvian finished.
The monster threw an angry glance at his comrade, but the guy in the girl's body ignored him.
Erida, meanwhile, lowered her gaze and remained silent.
Morvian, however, was not done speaking.
"Actually, I've only listened to other people sing a few times and can rank them by skill. You'll probably be third."
Erida raised her gaze back to Morvian and looked at him in anticipation.
"The second will be the howl of a stray dog that lived on my street in the slums. And on the first perhaps the song of a drunken man in a bar. Although no, wait... there's also the singing of a band of kids in church... second."
Erida listened to all of this with an emotionless expression on her face, while Elias waved his hands awkwardly in front of Morvian. Who seemed determined and enthusiastically continued.
"Children come first in the church, unequivocally. A drunken man will still lose to the howling of a dog. So the animal comes second, and you third. After all, the old man was already wasted after all."
After he finished speaking, Morvian snapped his fingers for a couple seconds, as if trying to remember something. But in the end he nodded his head satisfactorily, as if summarizing a scientific conference.
Erida stood silently for a while, staring at the floor with her eyes, muttering something. Then she began to chew on a nail on her finger, thinking about something.
After a few long seconds, she raised her head and laughed haughtily, pointing a finger at her companions.
"You guys are funny! Let's also keep joking around with each other, and then we'll play board games to bond. And in the evening, there will be sitting around the campfire with a guitar and singing songs!"
The wide smile that reached almost to her ears trembled slightly. And the outstretched finger and hand remained in the air, waiting for the others' reaction.
Morvian and Elias didn't know how to react to this, so all three of them stood silently for a while. And Erida remained in her pose.
The clouds slowly drifted across the sky, unaware of worries. While wild animals were running around in the neighborhood.
A light breeze blew across the green field, rustling the grass and the dew on it.
The blue-haired girl's body began to shiver slightly from maintaining this pose for so long, but she stood her ground diligently.
Morvian squinted slightly, looking at that overly wide smile.
In the end, Elias was the first one who couldn't stand it.
'Erida... what are you even talking about?'
"He meant to say... "what the fuck was that just now?"
Elias already wanted to refute his comrade's words, but he didn't.
They both ended up staring at the already sweating girl who maintained her ridiculous pose.
They stood like that for a while, after which Erida finally stood up normally, though she sank back down again.
Drops of sweat fell from her face onto the grass, and Morvian and Elias walked on toward the city.
Erida quickly regained her senses and followed them.
When she caught up with them, she first approached the guy in the girl's body and opened her mouth to say something, but didn't. However, after a second she opened it again and closed it.
This went on for a while, after which she fell behind the group again, muttering under her breath and biting her fingernail.
After a while, she made another attempt, but she had already approached the tall monster, but also without success.
Meanwhile, Morvian and Elias had long since realized the reason for the girl's behavior.
'She's a total zero at talking to people!' they thought in unison.
After a while, Erida finally finished her unsuccessful attempts to speak and simply followed them in silence.
Morvian looked at her obliquely, pondering.
'Her communication skills are truly abominable. But that goes against the fact that she is an aristocrat. After all, communication is one of the most important skills of the upper class. So why is she so bad at it?''
Morvian did not deliberately muffle his thoughts so that Elias could join his musings.
A pleasant voice blossomed in the boy's mind, adding to his thoughts.
'The presence of the relic proves its high status. Is there any chance... that she stole it?
Morvian shook his head, dismissing the idea.
'That's not likely. Do you really think an aristocrat who was supposed to be trained for a trial would so easily let her weapon be stolen?'
Elias thought for a moment, then agreed with his comrade's reasoning.
'But then what of her?
Morvian shrugged, continuing to walk.
'That's the wrong question. Should we coddle her? She may have the relic, but will it do us any good? Besides... we can take it away with just the two of us.''
Elias looked sullenly at Morvian, judging his thoughts. But the boy in the girl's body showed no sign of remorse.
They wanted to continue their conversation, but they reached the boat.
They could finally swim to the city of Pyr, to which hundreds of slaves were being taken.