Chapter 54

Chapter 54. "What the Dead Feel Toward the Dying." 14

After hearing my words, Rene lifted her head and looked around.

Then she discovered the Huria and Lizard Men, who were watching us with very amused gazes.

Rene stared at them for a moment, then raised her head again, looked up at me, and said,

“Because of my tears, I cannot see anything. Hhh!”

Now she was even hiccupping.

Where did that murderous intent from earlier go?

I wrapped one arm around Rene’s waist and used my other hand to brush her hair back as I said,

“I will kiss you. Do not cry.”

At that, Rene wiped the corners of her eyes with her sleeve, then smiled through her tears and wrapped both arms around my neck.

She was impossible to handle.

“Then do it… mm?!”

Before she could finish speaking, I lowered my head and stole Rene’s lips.

Rene seemed a little short of breath and lightly tapped my shoulder with her fist, but I paid no attention to that.

They said one gave candy to a crying child, did they not?

This was a little indecent, but I wanted to believe this was the only way to make her stop crying.

The surroundings were silent.

They were probably dumbfounded.

I pulled my lips away. Saliva clung between us, and a white thread connected her lips and mine.

Rene hiccupped and sobbed, but as promised, she no longer shed tears.

After the kiss ended, she looked once at me as I smiled softly, then lowered her head and quietly tried to stop her hiccups and sobbing in my arms.

It seemed she had now returned to being Rene Tarsis, wife of Han Reed Kalmarion.

Whew! I never knew soothing someone could be this difficult.

A short while later, when Rene’s crying had stopped and her hiccups had mostly settled down, I watched her as she roughly tidied her disheveled hair and clothes.

She untied the string binding her hair, combed her messy hair down roughly with her fingers, then tied it tightly again with the cord.

Then she stood up and brushed the dust and leaves from her clothes with a few pats.

I was sitting there watching her when I turned my head at the sound of a voice from behind me.

“That was quite the grand marital quarrel.”

“Exel? What are you doing here?”

“Mm, first of all, I have lived here for quite a while, so most things that happen in the forest eventually reach my ears. Reed, have you ever had the rare experience of getting goosebumps all over your body while reading a book? You probably have not. After all, you and books are not exactly on intimate terms.

In any case, it was a strange feeling. Based on my experience, I felt something like this when I encountered something extremely powerful. To put it bluntly, when one meets a dragon, it generally feels like this.

But what was a little strange was that this feeling was accompanied by an unpleasant sensation. Do you understand what I mean? It means something extremely unlucky is in this forest. For example, something like an undead.”

I opened my eyes wide and looked at Exel, who was speaking so leisurely.

Exel the werewolf. He was a reader and a cold-tongued cynic.

The one who had received the red cap called Friend from us.

But he had felt what?

“Um, listen. I did not feel anything. I did think it was a little strange when I saw the animals fleeing, though.”

After hearing my words, Exel raised a finger, pointed at his own chest, then turned his hand and pointed at me as he spoke.

“I am a cowardly werewolf. And you are a fearless human.”

Ah, so that was it.

I nodded at his words.

At that moment, Rene, who had been straightening out her clothes in front of me, walked toward me, bent at the waist, and held out her hand.

Before taking her hand and standing up, I looked up at Rene’s face, but because of the sunset, her face was in shadow, and I could not see her expression.

I let out a small sigh, took her hand, and stood.

When I stood up, Rene did not let go of my hand. Instead, she held my arm and stood pressed closely beside me.

I tilted my head, but simply accepted it and smiled softly.

At that moment, Exel, who had been sitting nearby, spoke again.

“I roughly understand what happened. However, there is no time to press him about it now. First, finding Narsh and returning the Dragon Heart she has to its original place is more urgent. You should have the rest of this conversation after returning home once everything is over.”

I turned my head and looked at Rene.

Rene still kept her mouth silently closed, but she slowly nodded. I smiled a little bitterly.

Oh dear. Was that conversation not already over?

I slowly walked over to where Exel was.

Beside me, Rene matched her steps to mine as she walked.

I looked at her for a moment, but Rene was holding my arm and walking while looking straight ahead.

What is she thinking?

“What are you thinking about?”

Exel looked at me with a strange gaze as he spoke, and I smiled awkwardly while scratching my head.

“No, nothing. But have these two still not woken up?”

I said that while looking down at Jeff and Kal.

At that, Kan, who had been sitting carelessly beside them, turned his head, lifted his tail, and struck Jeff’s chest hard as he lay beside him.

That must hurt.

THUMP, THUMP!

“I already know, you are awake. How long will you stay like that? Get up, already, human.”

“Cough, cough!! Ugh! You damned lizard! Are you trying to kill a man?!”

Jeff reflexively sat up and lunged at Kan.

However, he froze in the very posture he had taken to grab Kan by the throat and twist it.

Kan, who was lightly pressing the tip of his shortsword against Jeff’s neck, slowly opened his mouth.

“If you don't want to die, then shut, your mouth, human.”

“Y-you damned bastard!”

“Now, now, Kan? Leave it at that. This is not what is urgent right now, is it?”

That was Exel speaking.

Kan glanced back at him, then turned his head again and withdrew his sword.

Then he placed his palm against Jeff’s face and shoved him backward.

At that, Jeff fell on top of Kal, who had been lying behind him, and Kal opened his eyes with a choking gasp.

He soon discovered Jeff rolling on top of him. His eyebrows twitched, and he grabbed Jeff by the collar, threw him aside, and sat up.

Jeff rolled to the side and muttered as though he had been wronged.

“Why does everyone hate only me?!”

“You bastard! What is this—”

Kal shouted angrily as he raised his upper body.

Then he closed his mouth tightly when he saw Kan glaring at him, and tried to retreat in alarm.

Seeing that, I let out a small sigh, knelt to meet his eye level, and explained the current situation to him.

But Rene? Why are you still stuck to my side?

I told you, I am not going anywhere!

“…That is what happened. Do you understand?”

Kal stared at me with his mouth wide open, then looked at Kan and Exel sitting beside him, as well as the Huria treating the Lizard Men ahead.

Then he turned his head and looked at Jeff, who was just as surprised beside him.

He blinked his eyes, then opened his mouth.

“I was truly resentful and indignant that you were a human like me. That is why I decided not to acknowledge you. Whenever I dealt with you, I thought of you as nothing more than a puppy barking outside the house. I feared that your hideous aura might somehow transfer to me or my lady.

But now that I think about it, that may have been a truly inhumane thought. So, I will give you a chance. If you answer my question, then you are certainly a human like me. No, I will think of you that way. What did Mr. Han just say?”

“Woof, woof, woof, woof?!”

Jeff barked like a dog while scrunching up his face, and Kal’s eyebrows twitched. Then he tilted his head back and placed a hand on his forehead.

Seeing that, Jeff sat cross-legged on the ground, crossed his arms, snorted, and said,

“Aaah~ damn it! Since we failed to complete the commission, I suppose we will only get the advance payment. Damn it! Business is ruined. I had no idea there was such a story behind that thing. Hey, Kal? What are you going to do?”

At his words, Kal, who still had a hand on his forehead, clenched his teeth and said nothing.

After a moment, he lowered his hand with his eyes bloodshot red and opened his mouth.

“There is nothing we can do. I did not know there was such a story behind it. Everyone, I am truly sorry. This was my negligence. To think I committed such an act without properly looking into it… Please forgive me.”

Kal lowered his head as he spoke.

At that sight, Kan bared his teeth, and Exel smiled faintly.

Then Rene, who had been quietly sitting arm in arm with me, looked at Kal and opened her mouth.

“Raise your head. This is not over yet. It is gradually getting dark. We must quickly find Miss Narsh and retrieve the Dragon Heart. If we cannot return it to its original place before the morning sun rises, the king will awaken. If that happens…”

“Well, in that case, we will have a bout with the strongest creature on the surface. I look forward to it.”

All of us stared at him with blank faces.

Exel shrugged as though asking what the problem was, and I gave him a look that said it was absurd as I spoke.

“If that happens, it probably will not be a good thing. And Kal, I am truly sorry. I could not help you.”

“It is all right. As expected, it seems one cannot oppose Lady Skuld, who governs the future. Changing a predetermined fate is quite difficult. Hahahahaha~”

He began laughing.

It was not a happy laugh at all, but one of hollow resignation.

Beside him, Jeff was frowning as he muttered,

“He has gone mad. Where is there such a thing as predetermined fate? It is something we make. Nothing is predetermined.”

At his words, Kal stopped laughing. Then, with the typical expression of a man who had given up on everything—a faint smile on his lips, somewhat unfocused eyes that seemed ready to generously forgive any prank the world might play, and nostrils that occasionally flared from shock—he turned his head and looked at him.

“Is that so? That is a different philosophy from mine now. I thought the same thing until just now, though. It was predetermined. That child’s fate, mine, yours, and theirs.”

At his hollow words, Jeff finally exploded.

He crawled across the ground, grabbed Kal by the collar, glared into his face, and spoke rapidly.

“Damn it! What exactly is predetermined?! Listen here! You said that Dragon Heart has the power to cure a person’s illness! That is why we came into this Forsaken Forest.

You said that up to this point, you thought life was something one made for oneself, did you not? Then why are you suddenly thinking such nonsense now? Predetermined fate?

If something like that really exists, then I suppose it was predetermined that my mother and I would be abandoned by the man who was my father! And that my poor mother would be hit with a liquor bottle and die because of that drunken, violent bastard?

Are you saying this damned world runs entirely according to what has been predetermined? Like hell it does! Nothing is predetermined! If it were, we would not have even come in here! You would have quietly nursed the dying Narsh as the butler of that house.

Narsh would have lived for a while and then died. And I would have met some other client, or else I would have been leisurely selling clothes in the market while exchanging jokes with that old man!

Damn it! Do you want to hear what I think?! That dragon bastard may be dead, but he is still a living creature.

We can just kill him one more time and take it, can we not?! Then you can save that Narsh girl you say is like your child. That is what truly ‘making’ something means.

So why are you spouting useless nonsense about predetermined fate and impossibility? That is exactly the sort of useless nonsense spewed by idiots who believe in predetermined fate and shut themselves away in their rooms.”

He was right.

After finishing his words, Jeff shoved Kal backward. Kal fell on his backside and sat there, staring at him with a blank face.

Rene and I were busy observing each other’s actions, so we had not paid that much attention to them, but it seemed Exel had been watching closely.

He looked at Jeff and Kal, then turned his head toward me and opened his mouth.

“When something blocks the path a human walks, he does not go around it. He destroys whatever it is and passes through. That is the true ‘human way.’ What do you think? Am I right?”

I smiled faintly at him and nodded.

Those were the words Exel had thrown at the guards while causing a scene when we overturned the auction house.

I had thought he was not wrong, but to think there was a human here who proved his words true.

I turned my head toward the person receiving Exel’s amused gaze.

Jeff rose to his feet while breathing heavily, then looked around and said,

“Narsh?! Where is that girl?! Surely she has not shut herself away somewhere in the forest again, trembling while regretting whether what she did was truly right or wrong?!”

He seemed almost out of his mind.

And Rene, who was standing beside me and tightly holding my arm, seemed a little out of her mind too, though I felt a bit sorry saying that.

Honey? Let go a little. I am not going anywhere.

---

His words were true.

Narsh was sitting near the Spirit Spring not too far away, wrapping both arms around her own shoulders and trembling.

Beside her, the golems were sitting miserably.

The one with the golden trim was named Kali, and the one with the silver trim was named Mir.

And right now, Narsh was sitting wretchedly between Mir’s legs.

She lifted her head and looked up at the night sky, which had now grown dark.

“Mir. Am I really doing the right thing?”

“Grrrk?”