Chapter 68

Chapter 68. Please Do Not Lie (8)

I returned to the room and changed clothes.

I deliberately chose a shirt and pants with many belts attached.

I also took out a robe.

After finishing changing, I was about to leave, but I turned my head and looked for a moment at Rene, who was sleeping soundly while hugging a pillow to her chest.

I am sorry.

With a bitter smile, I quietly opened the door and went outside.

When I passed through the dark hallway and stood before the stairs, that fellow’s leisurely voice sounded again.

-Will you go as Han Reed, or as Kal Marion?

“Han Reed. I will no longer put your name first.”

After saying that, I went down the stairs and headed to the study. The study lights had not been turned off, so it was bright inside.

I walked to the bookshelf Rene had told me about earlier and slowly looked over the scrolls.

As expected, they had tags attached.

Though because they were written in Elvish, I had to fully display my poor language skills.

After barely choosing several of the ones I wanted, I tucked them into the belts on my pants and shirt.

Then I put the robe over them and went outside again.

“What time is it?”

-It is two in the morning.

After hearing his words, I turned my body toward the door.

I was about to go outside when I stopped in place and slowly looked around at the tables and furniture lit by moonlight.

“Are you going to stay here?”

At my words, a creaking sound of metal rubbing against metal came from the darkness for a moment, followed by the distinctive clanking footsteps of armor.

I turned my head, grabbed the door handle, and walked outside.

Outside the door, it was bright enough to distinguish objects thanks to the full moon.

And it was quiet.

Though the occasional monster’s scream ruined the mood.

I raised one hand behind me to pull up the hood attached to my robe.

At that instant, something glittered beside me and caught my eye.

I reflexively turned my head quickly toward the reflection that dazzled my eyes.

Beside the door, at the entrance, there was a long bench. It was a small consideration of ours, so guests could sit comfortably when they wanted some cold air.

And right now, Exel in human form was sitting there as he had before, wearing a long coat with his legs crossed. He held his gun blade in his hand and was wiping it with a towel.

I quietly looked at him without saying anything.

At that, Exel stopped moving, grinned, and said this.

“You are a little late.”

“What are you doing here at this hour of the night?”

At my words, Exel rose from his seat and lightly placed the gun blade, which was as tall as Luna, on his shoulder.

“I could ask you the same thing. Instead of warmly holding Miss Tarsis after she kicked off her blanket, where are you going at such a late hour?”

He said that with an incomprehensible smile, and I made a slightly bitter expression before waving my hand and going down the front steps.

“I could not sleep, so I thought I would take a walk.”

“I would like to join you on that walk.”

I turned my head and glared slightly at Exel, but he only smiled.

Damn it! It seems I was the last one to learn the truth.

For some reason, I feel like an idiot.

I pulled the hood over my head and took out the scroll I had tucked into the belt of my shirt.

“Do as you please.”

-I hope you give me something interesting to watch.

That was what the fellow said. Before I knew it, he was standing in front of the entrance with his arms crossed.

After glancing at him, I turned my head again, checked the tag on the scroll once more, and opened my mouth.

“Did you not say you were tired of watching fights?”

-I am tired of them. But if one does not watch for a while, the flavor of watching becomes different. Do your best. I will watch.

After saying that, he made a clattering noise as he walked over to the bench where Exel had been sitting a moment ago and sat down.

Exel, who had been standing in front of it, slowly came down the steps with a completely unconcerned face.

Strange.

I do not remember introducing that fellow to him.

Exel walked toward me with the gun blade over his shoulder, looked at the scroll, and smiled.

“How convenient. That is a scroll, is it not?”

“Aren’t you going to ask?”

“Ask what?”

Exel made a face that seemed to say, About what? I raised my hand and pointed at the black armor that could hardly be seen in the darkness.

At that, Exel smiled faintly, adjusted the strange-looking belt he was wearing over his long coat, and opened his mouth.

“I was sitting here waiting for you when that armor walked out of the armory and spoke to me. It was so fascinating that I chatted with it a little. Is that strange?”

I erased the face with which I had been staring blankly at Exel, smiled faintly, and shook my head.

It was fascinating, so you chatted with it?

“No. Now, hold my hand.”

When I held out my hand, Exel held the gun blade in one hand and took my hand with the other.

Cold.

Did he wait for quite a while?

I feel unnecessarily sorry.

“How long did you wait?”

“About an hour? It would not have happened, but if you had not come out, I intended to go by myself.”

“This has nothing to do with you.”

At my words, Exel grinned and slowly raised the gun blade.

The sword light that broke apart in the moonlight was very cold and beautiful.

“It has nothing to do with me? Not quite. Shutting oneself in a room and only reading is bad for the body. One has to do some light exercise from time to time to keep the body from stiffening.”

So, to put it simply, he merely wanted to fight.

I looked at his face and smiled bitterly. Then I cut the string binding the scroll in my hand with my teeth.

After that, I grabbed the end of the scroll, unfurled it with a sharp motion, and spoke quietly.

“Teleport Warp.”

FLASH!!

Particles of light rising from the scroll wrapped around our bodies at high speed.

When I lowered my head, large circles and strange diagrams were spinning under our feet in opposite directions. Then white light surged up at once.

We were swallowed by the light in an instant.

---

They have gone.

He sat there like that, quietly staring at the ground where they had vanished, then closed his eyes.

Then, as he watched the scene shown through another pair of eyes, the corners of his lips slowly lifted.

‘Show me many interesting things again this time. That is why I accepted your opinion. And if possible, it would be best if you returned quickly. If you are late, your beloved wife will be sad.’

With his arms crossed, he sat leisurely on the bench and became a diligent spectator, beginning to watch a spectacle that could not be bought with money.

At the same time, there was another person watching the sight of them disappearing through a window.

It was the elf woman Rene Tarsis, who had accepted him as her husband because she had fallen for his quiet, warm heart.

Once they disappeared, she silently turned away from the window.

Then she crossed the room, opened the door, and slowly walked barefoot down the hallway.

The coldness of the wooden floorboards in the hallway stimulated her feet, but she belonged to a race that originally walked barefoot through the forest, and because of her complicated feelings right now, she did not care about such things.

The sight of a beautiful elf woman walking down the hallway with her hair let down, wearing only a light shirt and moving her white legs, created a slightly strange atmosphere in one sense, and an air that made her seem impossible to touch carelessly in another.

However, because her face was expressionless, more than half of that elegant impression was cut away.

Rene slowly descended the stairs and entered the kitchen.

She walked over to the place where the crates of wine bought from the market were stacked, glanced at them, then took a liquor bottle from the cupboard. It was the one Han drank from in small glasses whenever he had a headache.

The piece of paper attached to the bottle had been almost completely torn away, so its name could not be known.

However, one could tell that the liquor was strong just by pulling out the bottle stopper and briefly smelling it.

Rene felt dizzy and staggered a little before barely regaining her balance.

Realizing for the first time that one could become intoxicated from smell alone, she held the liquor bottle in one hand, took two glasses, and went back up to the room.

As she climbed the stairs, she suddenly stopped on the final landing.

Then she quietly looked at the two glasses in her left hand and smiled forlornly.

‘I only need one.’

She carried them forward and stopped in front of Luna’s room.

That was because she heard a scratching sound from inside, along with the sound of something moving around.

‘Is she still awake?’

She turned her head and looked for a moment at the door to Luna’s room, then smiled faintly.

A small wooden board was attached to the door, and on that board, words like these were written in Elvish.

‘May a curse be upon whoever opens this door.’

Rene looked at it for a moment, then reached out and gripped the door handle to pull it open, but stopped.

Because she did not want Luna to see her current appearance.

Rene raised the hand she had been about to place on the door, looked at it for a moment, slowly lowered it, and turned around to walk toward the room at the end of the hallway.

After reaching the room, she placed the liquor bottle and glasses on the table, went back, and closed the door tightly.

Returning to the table and sitting down, Rene sat there in the moonlight without even turning on the light, staring outside the window for a while.

“Haaah…”

Rene let out a sigh that could be called rather large, then raised her hand, opened the bottle, and filled a glass with clear blood-red liquor.

After setting the bottle down beside her, Rene lifted the glass, held it up to the moonlight, and smiled brightly.

‘What a pretty color.’

Then she poured it into her mouth in one go, frowned deeply, lowered her head, puffed out her white cheeks, and barely managed to swallow it.

Rene looked at the glass with a face as though she might vomit and muttered softly,

“How does anyone drink this? Ugh! It tastes awful.”

Saying that, this bold elf lady tilted the bottle again and filled the glass. Once again, she frowned, puffed out her cheeks, and barely swallowed it.

“Whew… hic?!”

Perhaps the alcohol was gradually rising in her, because Rene hiccupped and quickly covered her mouth with one hand, looking around with a startled face.

Like a girl drinking alcohol for the first time after hearing her parents open the door.

However, Rene was an adult elf responsible for her own body.

So, to Rene herself, that behavior was somewhat difficult to understand.

Of course, Rene only knew in theory about the harm alcohol caused to the body.

Therefore, she needed a little time to realize that her body was actually reacting to alcohol, and that her judgment and reason were slowly being numbed.

And after filling the third glass, Rene smiled and, unlike the second time, smoothly swallowed it before lowering the glass and smiling brightly.

‘So this is why people drink alcohol.’

Thinking that, she lifted the fourth glass, and her face under the moonlight was flushed red from intoxication.

If her parents back in her hometown had seen her like this, they would have foamed at the mouth and collapsed.

If Han had seen her, he would have opened his mouth wide, snatched the bottle away, and begged forgiveness.

Because he was that kind of human.

Rene raised her hand and touched her own cheek.

It was warm.

She smiled softly at that bizarre sensation and raised the fifth glass to the large full moon, which seemed to be wearing a worried face.

---

“What is wrong?”

“No, nothing. It just felt like someone called my name.”

At my words, Exel tilted his head.

I grinned at him, then turned my head and frowned once more at the dreadful sight before us.

The defensive fort of the Serpiz Border Guard was symbolic in meaning.

Therefore, unlike an ordinary castle, it could be said to serve only as a wall.

And one section of that wall had completely collapsed, as though something enormous had passed through it.

Several parts of the wall were also badly broken, as though they had been torn apart by explosions.

And despite the late hour, soldiers carrying torches were running around here and there, moving wounded soldiers and casualties.

The sturdy guard captain who had been watching that scene with a frown spat phlegm onto the sand.

Then he briefly glared at the gate, one side of which had fallen away, and spoke to us, who had entered through it, in fluent Merses language.

Exel and I let out meaningless sighs.

“Travelers?”

“That is correct. What happened here?”

His eyebrows twitched, and then he suddenly took off the turban on his head, threw it onto the sandy ground, stomped on it several times, and kicked it toward the pile of collapsed stones.

Panting with anger, he spat out his words as though chewing them.

“That rotten dragon!”

Exel and I looked at him with different expressions. After performing that self-harming(?) act for quite a while, Mustafa spoke with a face that seemed a little less angry.

“About an hour ago, a monster presumed to be a dragon came through and left this place like this. According to one of my men who was nearby, its body was already dead. Damn it! A zombie dragon? How does that make any sense?!

But what are you two? If you came here asking for food and lodging, I will crush those pretty faces of yours right now.”

I faced his words with an expressionless face and asked,

“Is there a village nearby?”

After hearing my question, the guard captain frowned deeply and glared at us.

I received his gaze with an expressionless face.

Sorry. I would like to help a little, but I have something to do.

When my expression did not change, he sharply turned his back, openly kicked the sand, and spoke while facing away.

“There is one about two hours to the northeast. Be careful on the night road. Sho-pen often appear on the roads near there.”

After saying only that, Mustafa immediately picked up the shovel stuck in the ground, slung it over his shoulder, and walked toward the collapsed pile of stones.

I turned my head and glanced at Exel.

At that, Exel smiled faintly and slung the unsheathed gun blade over his shoulder.

“Poisonous scorpions are called Sho-pen here. As expected of a desert, even the things that appear are different. But Reed, have you been here before?

As far as I know, ordinary Teleport scrolls take you about 10 kaimeck (10 km) in the desired direction if you do not know the place.”

I began walking forward first and nodded at his words.

“Ah, I remember coming here once for work. That is why, just in case, I headed here first since it was the closest place. And sure enough. Damn it!”

“In any case, it certainly destroyed a lot.”

He said that while looking around at the completely smashed guard barracks.

I lifted my head, looked once at the moon floating in the sky, and quickly moved northeast.

At that, Exel tilted his head and followed me.

I looked forward and made a bitter smile.

“It would be best if we left quickly. If we keep receiving those piercing gazes, it will be bad for our health.”

“Hm?”

Exel looked around once.

After finding the guards sending cold gazes at us as we passed by without helping, he also smiled bitterly and walked beside me without saying anything.

Like that, we walked to a place suitably far from the wall and tore open another scroll.

“Northeast would be that way, right?”

“Ah, if the village the guard captain told us about has not changed its name yet, it should be a city called Shatmo. It is fairly large.”

At my words, Exel looked quietly at me while placing a hand on my shoulder and said,

“Did you live here?”

“No.”

“Then did you come here on your honeymoon?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know it so well? I can understand the Border Guard, but even the village name?”

“I told you. I came here once. To Serpiz.”

After saying that, I untied the knot on the scroll in my hand and unfurled it.

“Teleport Warp.”

FLASH!!

The same light and symbols as before wrapped around us once more.

In an instant, Exel and I were on the gallery atop the wall surrounding Shatmo.

And in front of us was a guard with a rather startled face. He was about to open his mouth and call for his comrades.

So, because it was urgent, I reached out and lightly struck his solar plexus.

“Huh? G-Galio… kegh?!”

The guard leaned his body against my arm.

That was close.

I leaned the guard against the wall and laid him down. Exel, who had been watching that, lowered his gun blade and pulled out several small metal slugs from his strange belt as he said,

“That friend is quite lucky.”

“What do you mean?”

At my question, Exel placed the gun blade on top of the wall and fixed it in place, smiling softly.

“We arrived just in time. As you said, it is very nice timing.”

From far away in the darkness, the sound of heavy thuds came together with a pitch-black shadow.