When Henryk opened his eyes the next morning, the first thing he saw was a girlish face towering above his own. It was Filip's niece, Irin, staring at him with a stony expression, as if nothing had happened. Her face was neither pretty nor ugly, but what caught Zielczyk's attention most were her blood-red pupils. He was slightly surprised, but he didn't flinch. He didn't want to seem strange to the child he'd just met.
"Excuse me," Irin said calmly. "But how long do you intend to laze around like this, you lazy lazybones? The sun had long since risen.
The young man stood up, unsure how to respond to the kid who had just called him lazy.
"I say 'good morning' too."
Henryk rose to his feet and began to gently stretch. The girl watched him without comment. When he finished, he looked around for Philip and spotted him a few meters away. He was lying in such a bent position that the boy thought he'd had a drink after their conversations yesterday.
"What happened to that one?" Zielczyk asked Irin, pointing a finger at Philip.
She didn't answer.
"Oh, yeah, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Henryk..." Henryk, setting aside the prejudice he usually had against children Irin's age because of their loud behavior, decided to make a friendly face, raising his right hand to shake the girl's hand.
However, Irin didn't respond and made no move, leaving Henryk as he stood. She remained still, examining the boy's disheveled appearance and clothing.
[Insolent, brat.] Henryk thought, irritated.
"Hmm, well..." He coughed artificially, looking intently into the girl's bright red eyes, which reminded him a bit of the Sharingan from the Naruto anime, only without the black tomoe. "You're Irin, right? Your uncle told me you help him with his work from time to time. Can you tell me what it's like in general?" he asked, trying to find something to talk about.
But the girl remained silent.
[Damn, maybe she's mute.] Henryk thought, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, but it didn't last long, cursing his short memory. [Jesus, don't be stupid, Henryk. She called me lazy as soon as I woke up, and you think she's mute. What an idiot I am.]
While he was wasting his time, wallowing in his thoughts, Irin suddenly took Henryk's hand and led him to the sleeping Philip, who was snoring like a bear. As the boy scowled at him, he felt a gentle hand on his back for a split second. Irin pushed him, and he landed on Philip.
The man woke up instantly. Only his and the boy's screams could be heard.
"Fuck, Henryk, what are you doing!?"
"It's not me, it's her!" Zielczyk replied, immediately getting off the angry Philip.
The red-eyed girl looked at this scene with a mischievous smile and then started laughing loudly at her uncle and Henryk.
Philip stood up, dusted himself off, and sighed deeply at his niece's behavior. He didn't have the usual, ambitious expression the boy had seen last night. He had dark circles under his eyes and his jaw was slack. At that moment, Henryk learned that his older sister, Daria, had been the same way when she was picked up at school after the launch.
"Okay, kids." Philip clapped his hands. "Before we leave, I'm going to go into the woods for a bit, so don't kill each other until I get back."
"What was he doing there?" They asked simultaneously.
Philip presented Someryn's body, covered in a blanket, and then appeared where the small forest had appeared, uttering a simple sentence.
"We have to say goodbye to this poor guy, right?"
.......
Left alone, Henryk and Irin began cleaning up the camp so they could set off immediately after the funeral when Philip returned.
The young man didn't know where they were going, but he still wanted to leave Count Korin's territory, fearing that, like some stupid anime protagonist, he would, in a fit of rage, try to confront an enemy who surpassed him in authority and power.
[Someday I'll get revenge on that fat pig, but for now, I have to survive the next few days. Even though Philip told me he used some magical rings, he didn't mention their specific firepower.] He thought about it while cleaning up the fire pit. [It might turn out that that bastard could fry me with a huge fireball and poof... I'm gone. I have more important things to worry about right now. I have to find a way home and how to rescue the slaves. I hope they're going to Wojtyn.]
"Hello! Are you there?!" Irin's voice suddenly caught his attention, drawing him out of his reverie.
"Well, our mermaid Ariel can talk again." The boy scoffed, loading a single crate into the carriage.
The red-eyed girl didn't understand Henryk's words, but she could tell from his tone that he was mocking her. With a scowl, she jumped onto the carriage with the crates to be as tall as he was.
"Do you have a problem?" she asked, raising her eyebrows, which Henry found comical, but he didn't show it.
"No. I don't have a problem."
"So why are you laughing at me?"
"When did I ever laugh at you?" he asked, playing dumb.
"Just now!" Irin twisted her lips in displeasure, then sighed in resignation. "I don't think I'll like you."
"That's fine," the boy said with a disinterested shrug. "I'm not looking for friends. I just want something to eat. I don't need your sympathy."
"You're boring and gloomy." The girl pouted, looking down.
"I know," he replied dejectedly. "It's one of the many things I hate about myself, but that's just how I am... Oh, okay, listen, I may not want your sympathy, but I'd like you to tolerate me. After all, we'll be in the same boat most of the time... So, what do you think?" He asked again, holding out his hand to her. "My name is Henryk Zielczyk."
For a brief pause, Irin looked at the boy in surprise, but after a moment she smiled and shook Henryk's hand.
"I'm Irin," she said, showing a mischievous smile. "Nice to meet you, Henryk."