The Gentle Hero

Eventually, he managed to pull himself up off the ground and set his chair back upright. He finished his glass of water and carried the empty glass with him as he made his way towards the stairs that led to the attic. He passed by the kitchen and Lunoire stood in the doorway, he handed her his empty glass and she gave him a small nod and wished him a pleasant night's sleep before returning to the backroom. He wished her the same as she walked away and made his way to the staircase to head to the attic for the night.

He ran up the staircase two stairs at a time until he reached the last few steps before he slowed down. As he had walked up the last flight of stairs to the attic, Yuril could see Syr sitting on his bed with her back to him while she looked out the small circular shaped window towards the moon. Once he took the first step onto the actual floor a board creaked under his foot and she turned her head around to look at him "Yuril! I am glad that you got here so that we can still spend some time together before my break ends! Did you get the answer you wanted from Chloe?"

Yuril's mind quickly flashed with the image of the black haired catgirl leaning forward and licking his cheek after asking to touch his bottom, he let out a small nervous laugh and scratched the back of his head, averting his eyes from Syr. "Y-yeah… I suppose that you could say that..." he said as confidently as he could as he walked towards Syr, moving around the bed before sitting down next to her.

"That's great, Yuril!" Syr said happily as she leaned towards the young boy and he blushed slightly as she did, turning his gaze away from her and fixing it on the moon outside the window while he swallowed the growing lump in his throat. "I brought you some leftovers, want some?' Syr asked him as she stretched her hands out and presented him with a small plate of food that she had gathered for him to eat. On the plate was half a piece of bread with some slivers of meat on the side with a small bowl filled with a steaming stew.

"Thanks Syr, I appreciate it…" Yuril accepted the plate for the grey haired young woman and started with the piece of bread, dipping it in the stew to try and soften it so that it was not as hard as a rock.

"I know you do Yuril." Syr said softly in his ear before resting her head against his left shoulder and humming a soft tune for the two of them while he ate. Several minutes passed with the two of them sitting in place with each other before sitting back upright with a small smile on her face as she cupped her cheeks with her hands. "Oh Yuril, I almost forgot about your surprise!"

Syr quickly stood up from the bed and made her way a few feet over to the wooden nightstand. Using her right hand, she pulled the door open and reached inside with her left to retrieve the item. She pulled it out of the drawer before closing the nightstand as she did, spinning around and keeping the item behind her back to keep it a secret. Yuril took his empty plate and bowl and set it down on the floor next to the bed and looked up at Syr as she stood in front of him with her arms tucked behind her back. With the moon's glow peeking into the attic through the small window directly behind Syr in the background, Yuril, for a moment, was mesmerized by her beauty, a beauty that could even rival that of a Goddess of the Lower World.

"Syr… you didn't need to get me anything, you have already offered me so much after al—" Yuril was silenced as she reached out her right hand and placed an index finger over his lips to silence him for a moment.

"Now you just shush...I am doing this because I want to, silly, isn't that reason enough?" Syr asked with a slight innocent smile that made Yuril crack a small smile in response and slightly nod his head as her finger was still in place over his lips. "Good, now guess what it is!" Syr said with a cute slight tilt of her head as she closed her eyes and retracted her hand from out in front of her and back behind her body.

"I-I don't know… maybe… is it another pair of boots?" Yuril said in a joking tone with a slight chuckle to try and lighten the tense mood.

"Nope."

"Is it… a potion… or something like that..?"

"Nope."

"Then I give up… can you just tell me…?"

"Nope."

"Than how—"

"I'll just show you." Syr moved her arms from behind her back and presented the item she held in her hands to the albino boy that was sitting on the edge of the bed. It took less than a second to realize what the item was but it took him even longer to believe what he was seeing was true, he had to reach out with both hands and graze his fingertips over the item to make sure that it was real. He picked it up with his hands, seeing that the item was indeed real and not just his eyes playing tricks on him he pulled the item from its leather case.

A knife.

Just a simple kitchen knife, it was not special in any significant way. It had only a simple edge that curved slightly towards the tip of the blade, it had a simple wooden handle that had several small stains from years of use executing vegetables and fruits. Despite being a simple blade it felt rather sharp to Yuril as he lightly ran his thumb along the edge of the knife, he could see his reflection in the side of the knife.

"It was an older knife from the kitchen, Mama Mia says that you can only make the highest quality food with the highest quality ingredients and tools! So she was going to get rid of it soon enough anyway and get some new ones."

"..."

"I know that it isn't as good as the knife you were probably looking at today, but once you get some more money you can buy yourself a better one!"

"..."

"I-is something wrong Yuril? Y-you don't like it, right…?" Syr softly spoke as she reached out to touch his shoulder, since she had handed him the blade he had not looked up from the knife and started to shake slightly. Soon he started to whimper softly and several tears fell like raindrops from his eyes and landed on the side of the knife, coating the blade with tiny puddles of moisture.

Suddenly as Syrs fingers were about to touch the sniveling and sniffling albino boy he dropped the knife which fell into his lap and he stretched his arms out and trapped Syr in a tight hug. "W-whoa, Y-Yuril!" Syr was taken off guard by the sudden action and let out a small yelp but upon seeing him and his trembling form hugging her torso she quickly relaxed in his hug. She wrapped her arms around his head as she settled in his grasp, starting to comb his hair with her soft petite fingers and stroking his head gently. His face was mushed up against her chest and dampened her light green waitress uniform with his tears as he squeezed her tenderly. He cried for several minutes, the two standing still in the attic as if the world around them was frozen solid.

He mumbled muffled words into her uniform and despite not being able to clearly understand their real meaning as they were illegible. Syr could make an educated guess as to what he was trying to say to her.

He was thankful.

He was beyond thankful for everything that she had done for him, someone that, not long ago, was a complete stranger. Despite being shadowed in darkness and depression since he had arrived in Orario, there was one beacon of light. She was similar to a torch in the dark of night, guiding lost souls in the right direction and getting them back on the correct path. A single ray of sunshine that broke through the dark rain clouds hovering above his head and extended a warm hand for him to accept. A simple waitress who worked at the Hostess of Fertility, to her he was truly thankful.