Chapter 55

Chapter 55. "What the Dead Feel Toward the Dying." 15

“Where are you going?”

“I have to find my lady. You come too, bastard.”

“Give me a reason why I should go.”

Jeff crossed his arms as he spoke.

He had been growling nonstop for a while, and only now had he finally calmed down.

Kal bared his teeth and said,

“What did you say?”

Jeff shrugged and said,

“We failed to complete the commission, so under the terms of the contract, I am no longer your employee. And to be honest, I do not particularly want to find Narsh. So this is a matter Narsh has to decide. She probably thinks we have been captured by the Lizard Men.

She must be hesitating. Whether she should live, or whether she should bring that thing back and save us. This is Narsh’s problem.

If she wants to live, she will return when morning comes. And if she wants to die, she will come looking for us to return it. I am not moving. Go by yourself.”

Jeff’s words meant that he would respect Narsh’s own decision.

However, Kal and I turned to look at Jeff as though we were seeing something incredibly rare.

“What? Then what happens to us if my lady wants to live? What about this place? Everyone will die—”

“Then we risk our lives and drive a sword into the bastard’s sole. Together with this wolf.”

Jeff looked at Exel, who was sitting on a tree.

At that, Exel bared his teeth and smiled.

These lunatics.

As Exel inserted small pieces of metal into his gun blade, he asked Jeff,

“I am glad to meet a comrade who shares my thoughts, but I am curious. Why will you not look for her? Is there another reason?”

At his words, Jeff glanced briefly at Kal, then sat down on the ground and looked up at the sky.

Then he smiled faintly and opened his mouth.

“I said all that earlier, but truthfully, I do not know either whether the path is something we make or something that has already been decided. That is why I want to watch Narsh. I want to see whether she truly makes her own life or not. If she returns to us tonight, then Narsh will have quietly chosen her fate. If she does not, then she will have chosen to make her own path.

I want to see that. Then I will be able to have conviction too. And if she chooses to make her own path, then in place of the viewing fee for that spectacle, I will drive this sword into the sole of the bastard who tries to throw her back into fate.”

Is that so? But depending on how one heard it, that also seemed rather cowardly.

It felt like saying he would feed something to someone else first because it might be poisoned, then eat it himself afterward.

I turned my head and looked at Rene.

She had briefly erased the somewhat displeased gaze she had been showing me and was looking at Jeff with an amused expression.

After hearing Jeff’s words, Exel smiled with his eyes, grinned, and pushed that cylinder back into the gun blade.

CLICK, CLACK!

“Interesting. Good! Then perhaps I shall watch that spectacle too. Miss Tarsis, we will go ahead to the king in the north. If you find Narsh, come there.”

After saying that, he stood up.

Then he looked down at Jeff, who was sitting on the ground, and said,

“There is a suitable place to watch and pay the viewing fee. Follow if you like, or do not. Do as you please.”

With that, he slowly walked north.

Only after Exel had completely disappeared into the forest did Jeff seem to understand his words. He quickly rose to his feet, grabbed Iriyad, and ran forward.

On the way, he looked back and spoke to Kal.

“Kal. I will watch what kind of choice she makes. If you do not like my actions, you may curse me. But I have to see it.”

After leaving those words behind, he pushed through the forest that Exel had entered and disappeared inside.

Kal fell silent after hearing Jeff’s words.

I thought I could understand, at least a little, what he was feeling.

He must have wanted to follow them. But his reason must have stopped him.

Even if no one else did, he had to remain here and search for Narsh.

Kal sighed with the face of a man who had given up on everything, then strung his bow.

After plucking the string a few times, he fastened the quiver at his waist and said,

“What will all of you do? I intend to search for my lady.”

At his words, I looked at Rene beside me, and Rene was looking at me as well.

Rene once again said with a face that seemed slightly displeased,

“We have only just settled down. I do not want to leave.”

“Ah, then of course. Mr. Kal? Let us go together. We should find Miss Narsh.”

Kal nodded and took the lead.

Like that, we headed in the direction where the Huria had entered earlier.

We spent quite a long time searching every part of the nearby forest.

However, we could not find Narsh.

Because we were inside the forest, the moonlight could not reach us, and we eventually became unable to move any farther.

At that, Rene summoned a light spirit.

We sat down on the ground to rest for a while and exchanged opinions as we watched the light spirit dance above our heads.

“We will not be able to find her like this. Rene, what do you think?”

“I can see even at night, but Han and Mr. Kal are the problem. For now, I will create several Light spells, and we will continue searching.”

“I am worried about my lady. Where could she have gone? Since Mir and Kali are with her, most monsters will not dare attack her, but I am still worried.”

Kal spoke with a sigh mixed into his words.

After hearing him, I had a thought and turned my head to look at Rene.

“Rene, if you were in Miss Narsh’s position, what would you do?”

At my words, Rene looked at me with a slightly displeased face.

Then she seemed to think carefully, and slowly opened her mouth.

Honey, please stop frowning.

“Well. If it were me… there is nowhere suitable to go nearby, so I would have returned home. There, at least, I would have a hateful but loving husband, and it would be a place that could comfort me when I was flustered and frightened.”

Hateful…

After hearing her words, I smiled bitterly and turned my head to look at Kal.

He was also looking at me.

“What do you think? The Huria and Lizard Men are searching for her here, so why do we not search in our own way? There is nothing to lose.”

Kal nodded.

“That is true. It is possible. Let us go.”

After settling on that decision, we rose from our seats and turned toward home.

For me and Kal, who kept tripping over tree roots, Rene cast three Light spells in succession and made them circle around us.

We were able to walk forward escorted by masses of intensely bright light.

Of course, we also searched as we went.

However, that search was nothing more than a reproduction of a primitive method.

I once again shouted loudly.

“Miss Narsh!! Where are you?”

“My lady!”

“This is Kal!! My lady, where are you?! I have something to tell you!! Where are you?!”

We called out like that for quite a while, but aside from a Huria passing nearby, no one answered our shouts.

The Huria crawled(?) out from behind a tree with a face that said we were noisy and her ears covered. When she saw us—me and Kal—she frowned, approached our group, and spoke to Rene, who was standing beside me.

“It seems we are searching for the same person, but she is not near here. My companions are currently heading south past the Spirit Spring. Could you search a little to the west?”

“What about the east and north?”

At Rene’s question, the Huria, whose black hair was loose down to her waist, raised her tail and pointed north and east as she spoke.

The way the tip of her tail bent left and right was quite interesting.

“Kan and his clan went north. And we asked the Aruma at your house to handle the east.”

“I understand. Then we will go west.”

“Then I will leave it to you. If you find her, go straight to that place in the north. There is no time.”

After leaving those words behind, the Huria slid quickly into the forest and disappeared.

Kal, who had been watching her back, let out a sigh.

“If we had not done such a thing, they would not be wandering through the forest this late at night, would they?”

“Yes.”

Rene did not offer any half-hearted consolation.

Doing so would not change anything.

Kal looked at Rene, who was silently watching him, for a moment, then grinned and began walking again.

“Let us find my lady first. She said west, but we are still going back to the inn, are we not?”

“Yes. And west from here is where our house is, so we will not really be ignoring their request. Ah, not that way this time. This way.”

Rene said that while raising her hand and pointing in a certain direction.

There were no roads inside the forest, so once the sun set, there was no way to get out.

Unless one had memorized the forest paths like this.

Kal glanced at the place Rene was pointing, nodded, and moved his steps in that direction.

Rene, who had been watching his back, now turned her head toward me.

Then she continued looking at me with a somehow displeased expression, and I smiled faintly as I said,

“Honey, why do you keep frowning? Relax your face a little. You will get wrinkles.”

“Elves do not get wrinkles.”

Rene snapped that back, then raised her hand and placed it against my chest.

When she had struck me with her sword earlier, the bandages had been cut away, so right now, I was wearing nothing on my upper body.

Rene placed her hand against my chest and gently touched the long scar across it.

I felt three sensations at once: warmth, a strange feeling, and ticklishness.

As she touched my chest, she opened her mouth with a slightly sorrowful face.

“You are cold, are you not? If you at least had bandages wrapped around you, it would have been somewhat better.”

I smiled softly and placed my hand over hers.

“No, I am not particularly cold. And honey, do not worry so much. The thing on my back can be carved again. It would not be bad to go on a trip outside for the first time in a while, would it?”

“But what about Luna?”

“Well, we can take her with us. It would be a good opportunity to introduce her to the old woman.”

After hearing my words, Rene smiled softly.

It was a beautiful smile.

She touched my chest like that, then came a little closer, pressed her long ear against my chest, and closed her eyes. Since she and I were similar in height, Rene had to lower her head a little.

Rene stayed like that for a moment, then slowly raised the corners of her mouth and said,

“Hehe. I can hear your heartbeat now.”

I answered her words with a soft smile, and since she had come into my arms anyway, I hugged Rene and kissed her cheek.

Rene shrank back with a ticklish expression, but I wanted to give whatever affection I could right now to my kind, beautiful, and lovely wife, who had made my heart beat again.

Because of that, I heard Kal’s dignified cough as he looked back at us from some distance away, but in response to that cough, I took Rene’s hand and walked forward.

“Haha! Ah, I am sorry. Did we keep you waiting a little?”

“Ahem, not at all. Let us hurry.”

Kal pretended not to have seen what we had just done and quickly walked ahead.

Rene and I looked at his back and smiled softly.

Like that, we headed straight home.

At night, monsters usually ran rampant even more, but now it was quiet. No, there was not even a single one.

It seemed they had all sensed something and hidden themselves somewhere safe.

Thanks to that, however, we were able to move quickly, and we reached home at twice our usual speed.

By the time we arrived near the house, a large full moon had already risen above our heads.

It must be around midnight now.

When I lowered my head, I saw that all the lights were on in the house below the hill. Luna must be there.

In any case, how glad I was to see it!

The two-story house under the moonlight was the most precious thing to Rene and me.

Because it was the place that gave us somewhere to return to.

I was the first to slide down the slope, and Rene and Kal, who was gasping for breath, followed behind me.

The three of us descended the slope and approached the firmly closed door. Soon, the three of us were able to stand side by side in front of it.

When I turned my head, Rene was erasing the Lights that were circling around us.

“Spell Cancel.”

At her single phrase, the white orbs of light vanished soundlessly, and darkness pressed in around us once more.

After doing that, Rene came and stood beside me. I turned my head and glanced at Kal.

It seemed he was also glancing at me.

We had to open the door, but a silent battle of nerves was taking place over who should open it first.

For now, Rene and I were the owners of this place, but the person we were looking for was Kal’s companion.

In any case, while Rene smiled quietly at us and we watched each other’s reactions, I could not stand it anymore and raised my hand first to grasp the handle.

At that, Kal let out a small sigh and gave me a look.

Pull it open quickly.

I nodded to him and slowly pulled the door open while imagining an exhausted Narsh sitting in the hall.

Light poured out through the opened door.

Kal, who was not used to such light, reflexively covered his eyes, but Rene and I opened our eyes wide and looked ahead.

And we were able to smile bitterly before Kal did.

Inside the hall, just as I had imagined, Narsh was sitting in a chair with a very tired face, wearing clothes dirtied here and there with soil.

Beside her stood Luna, holding out a teacup she had brought on a small tray.

Beside them, I also saw Jimant, who was holding a large block of wood in his hand and carving it with a knife, as well as the two golems standing with their backs against one wall.

At that moment, Luna, who had been holding the teacup out to Narsh, saw us and frowned as she said,

“We already ate dinner ages ago. Are you telling me to make it again?”