Ten minutes later, I walked out, wearing the clothes I had come with from earth this time.

While Joshua and John must already have suspected that I might have some storage treasure from where I pulled out the Healing Potion I gave John, I still didn’t want to risk being seen in different clothes.

Unfortunately, the only other choice was for me to go commando. Of course, I could ask John or someone else for some of their spare clothes, but I didn’t want to go through all that trouble or look helpless, so I just wore them.

The moment I walked out, I saw a young girl with pigtails, probably 12-13 years old, standing there with reddened eyes and tears of grief streaming down her cheeks which she quickly wiped out upon seeing me.

I recognised her. She was Mika and lived in a hut not far from mine.

"What is it, Mika?" I gently asked.

"Big Brother... Mom’s injured and Dad’s gone. So, can you... please help us pack? We don’t want to be left behind." Mika said, staring at me with those big teary eyes.

I felt sad for her. Such a small kid shouldn’t worry about survival but should be carefree and enjoying life.

I knelt on one knee in front of her, gently wiped her tears and nodded with a smile, "Of course, I can. Let’s go."

I offered my hand and she took it hesitantly.

As we walked toward her home, I tried my best to make her laugh and forget the pain she was feeling, but maybe it was just too much or I wasn’t good enough in consoling people, her mood didn’t improve much.

Still, whenever I said something, she responded out of courtesy and respect and this, I could see, lightened her mood a little.

’Luna would have consoled her better.’ I thought because I had noticed she was a very empathetic person and people tended to feel comfortable around her.

We reached Mika’s home a short while later.

"Mom, I brought Big Brother Eren—" she called out while pushing open the door.

Swoosh!

My pupils constricted when I saw the scene inside and quickly covered Mika’s eyes before hugging her and closing the door.

Unfortunately, while I had reacted very fast, Mika had caught the glimpse of the scene and she went still in my arms for a few moments as her mind comprehended what she had seen.

Then...

"MOM!!!" she let out a heart-wrenching cry and began struggling to free herself from my embrace.

I glanced around and saw some of the neighbors had come out after hearing her. I signaled them with my eyes.

While a few went back inside their homes after hesitating, three people, two elderly women, around 40-50 years old and a 30 or so years old man walked over.

I handed Mika over to the ladies, then told them in a low voice, "Her mother... she hanged herself."

The man closed his eyes and sighed while the woman lamented, "Ai, why did she do that? She left this child alone. How selfish of her!"

My brows furrowed in displeasure.

It wasn’t that I disliked what she said, but the fact that she had spoken out loud enough for Mika to hear.

As expected, Mika sobbed harder. Then she pushed her away and glared at her in anger. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"You... insensitive old hag! How dare you talk badly about my Mom! She wasn’t selfish... she wasn’t. Wahhh... Mom~" She wailed.

The man and the other woman glared at the woman who, instead of feeling bad for saying, was looking at Mika with a displeased look.

Then another woman knelt in front of Mika and gently pulled her in her embrace and began caressing her back soothingly while saying, "Yes, Mika. She was in just too much pain."

As for the man, he coldly said to the insensitive woman, "You aren’t needed here."

"Hmph!" The woman snorted, then walked away while grumbling to herself. "She was selfish. Why else would she kill herself when she had a daughter? How will this poor child survive now? Truly weak and selfish..."

...

While Mika cried in her neighbor’s embrace, I and the man, who introduced himself as Wilkon, entered the house and pulled Mika’s mother’s body down and laid it on the ground.

Wilkon covered it with a sheet, then smoothened her frozen facial expression so Mika wouldn’t feel too much pain when she looked at her.

A moment later, we brought Mika in.

Mika fell on her knees beside her mother’s body and once again started bawling her eyes out.

I couldn’t bear to watch this scene, but I couldn’t walk out since Mika needed as many people around her as possible at the moment.

After she had cried for a minute, the woman grabbed her and gently said, "Say your goodbyes to her, Mika. We need to bury her so she can depart from this world. And stop crying, child. She would feel more pain seeing you like this."

Mika tried to control herself, but she couldn’t stop crying.

How could she?

She had lost her father to the Dark Beasts just earlier, now her only remaining family was gone too.

How could a young child bear this sorrow?

"I’ll go bring shovels to dig up the grave." Wilkon nodded at me when the woman managed to pull Mika away and walked out.

I thought for a moment and decided to bury her within the house itself since everyone was leaving anyway. So, I asked the woman to bring Mika out.

Soon, Wilkon returned. He wanted to help, but I said it was alright and thanks to my increased strength, in just a few minutes, I finished digging up a grave where we laid Mika’s mother to rest.

Wilkon called Mika in and had her put a fistful of soil in the grave as the final goodbye. Then we filled up the grave and finished the burial by putting down a stone as the grave marker.

...

One and half an hour later, I walked to the Village Plaza while holding Mika’s hand. She had finally stopped crying, but she now had a lost look on her face and hadn’t said a word since burial.

Sigh!

I let out a helpless sigh.