Chapter 73

Chapter 73. Please Do Not Lie (13)

-Wait.

Exel tilted his head and looked at me.

“Wait for what? Did you not say you had to go back early?”

“That was not me.”

We looked at each other’s faces and made strange expressions.

Then, after coming to the absurd agreement that ghosts appeared even in the desert, we looked around with fierce eyes.

And far in the distance, we saw a bluish, human-shaped mass of light approaching at great speed.

I thought I had heard wrong.

“Are you afraid of ghosts, by any chance?”

“I live with one. What about you?”

“I am more afraid of Rene when she is sulking.”

We looked at each other’s faces, nodded, and then turned our heads to look at the ghost. It was only a guess, though.

Judging by the size and shape of its body, it looked exactly like a girl around Luna’s age.

It wore a simple one-piece dress, and around both arms, it had something like blue, translucent scarves wrapped around them.

Its overall appearance was that of a pretty girl with long hair that suited the fluttering scarf ends trailing behind her very well.

The girl was dragging a strangely shaped sword as tall as herself in both hands.

Even though she was dragging a sword that seemed to weigh more than she did, she showed no sign of struggling at all.

That is definitely a ghost.

“Huh? That is my sword, is it not?”

“The important thing is that what is bringing that sword is a ghost. What a kind spirit.”

Before we knew it, the girl had approached us.

She looked at us for a moment from a short distance away, smiled brightly, and held out the sword she had dragged over to Exel.

A pretty girl who looked like a ghost slowly approaching and offering a sword would normally act as extreme terror to an ordinary person, but since there were no normal ordinary people here right now, no such thing happened.

Exel bent down without the slightest resistance, accepted his sword from the girl, and smiled with all his teeth showing.

“Thank you, young lady.”

At his words, the girl showed a faint, adorable smile, turned, and this time approached me.

Only now did I see that this child was floating slightly in the air. Since she was a ghost, perhaps that was obvious.

So that was how she could come running at such tremendous speed earlier.

The girl approached, quietly looked at me, and then made a slightly unexpected expression. She looked a little surprised.

However, the girl soon smiled radiantly again, pulled her collar forward, and put her hand into her chest.

I tilted my head at her action, but when I saw what came up in her hand, I could not help but be astonished.

The Dragon Heart?

Exel, who stood beside me, also looked slightly surprised.

Why does she have the Dragon Heart…?

However, the little girl paid no attention to our expressions and lifted the Dragon Heart, which she was holding out in both hands, several times as though telling me to take it quickly.

With a blank face, I accepted what she offered.

“Ah! Th-thank you. But why this…”

At my words, the little girl smiled adorably and stepped back a little.

I quietly looked at her while suddenly thinking that I wanted a daughter.

After moving a suitable distance away from us, the little girl neatly gathered both hands in front of her and bowed politely at the waist.

-My name is Silestine. Thank you very much for helping that person. May the blessing of wind always be with you. Please be happy.

Her voice was as pretty as her face, and after leaving those words behind, she disappeared like the wind itself.

Exel and I stared with our mouths open at the place where she had been standing. Then we hurriedly looked around and searched for her, but the girl was gone.

“This cannot be! Was she really a ghost?”

At my words, Exel, whose face still held lingering surprise, closed his eyes and let out a sigh. Then he changed his expression, smiled softly, and shook his head.

“No, she was no mere ghost. Today is truly a lucky day. To think we would meet someone so noble.”

“Someone noble?”

“Silestine. Among wind spirits, she ranks just below the Spirit King. I knew she took the form of a person, but I did not know she would look like a child.”

Just below the Spirit King? That child?

I made a startled expression and looked at the whirlwind rising from the wall, then lowered my eyes to the Dragon Heart in my hand.

Let us think of this in a good way.

I looked down at it, smiled softly, then lifted my head and looked at Exel.

He had the gun blade slung over his shoulder and was quietly watching the sandstorm. Then he turned his head, grinned, placed a hand on my shoulder, and immediately broke the metal ornament of the scroll with his teeth.

At that, white light escaped from the scroll, and shapes and several letters were drawn in the air. Then light burst out.

FLASH!

We returned once more to the house in the Forsaken Forest.

The surroundings were quiet.

Aside from the moon having tilted a little farther than before, nothing had changed. It was a quiet late-autumn night.

Then, out of nowhere, a voice broke this quiet atmosphere.

-Only now?

“Ah.”

Answering like that, I handed Exel’s clothes in my hand to him.

“Today was amusing in many ways. Then I will be going back now. Be careful slipping into the sheets without being discovered.”

I gave him a bitter smile.

Exel grinned, glanced at the armor sitting in the chair, lifted a hand slightly toward him, then immediately turned and began walking toward the forest.

I watched Exel’s back as he slowly walked through the yard under the full moonlight, then turned my head.

There, I saw the fellow slowly rising from the chair.

With clanking sounds, he descended the front steps, came to stand in front of me, and firmly crossed his arms.

-It was an amusing fight to watch after such a long time. But it seems the wall has broken.

“There was no helping it. Ordinary strength would not have worked.”

At my words, he stood silently for a while, then slightly lowered his head and looked down at the red jewel still in my hand.

-Is that the Dragon Heart?

“Ah. She gave it to me.”

-I will give you advice. Break it.

At his words, I immediately frowned.

“What?”

-Break it, and bury half of it in the forest again. If you do, you will be able to prevent this forest from disappearing.

“What? What are you talking about right now?!”

At my question, he lifted his head and looked at the full moon as he continued speaking.

-The reason a large-scale forest like this was born and maintained for so long was thanks to that dragon’s corpse.

To be more precise, you may assume that it was because of the Dragon Heart you are holding.

So if you want to keep living here with your wife, bury it in the ground. You may do as you wish with the remaining piece. That is probably why the dragon handed her heart over to you.

“You are saying Aiarunit gave this to me to keep the forest from disappearing?”

-Is there any other reason you can guess? If you doubt my words, enter Rene’s study, go to the twelfth bookshelf on the right, seventh shelf from the top, fourth book from the right, and read page 284.

After saying that, he slowly turned around.

Then, receiving the moonlight, he entered the armory.

I looked at his back for a moment with a bewildered face, then quietly looked at the Dragon Heart in my hand.

To keep the forest from disappearing?

I slowly moved my body and roughly shoved the robe wrapping the scrolls under the long bench beside the door.

I could not bring it inside as it was.

Then I took off my shirt as well.

When I held the shirt up to the moonlight, it was deeply soaked with blood.

Rene will cry if she sees this.

I shoved that under the bench as well and shook out my pants a little.

That day, I learned for the first time how difficult it was to shake out pants without making a sound.

After roughly shaking out my pants like that, I walked to the door, grasped the handle, and slowly opened it.

Fortunately, there was no one in the hall.

I let out a small sigh and slowly moved toward the bath.

My entire body was covered in sand, and if I entered the room like this, Rene would discover me immediately.

Then, when I entered the kitchen and came out with a towel, I heard a sound that made my heart stop.

“Ding~ ding~ ding~ ding~”

Hah!

It was the bell?

Whew! Wait. Then is it four in the morning now?

Only two hours have passed?

Mm, I thought it was about six.

In any case, that is a relief.

Holding the towel in my hand, I went down to the bath and washed myself as quickly as possible.

Only after washing my hair about five times did I stop feeling sand in it.

On top of that, because my hair was long, I had no idea how much trouble I had drying it.

When I wiped my body and looked at the towel, there was no blood on it.

That is a relief.

If there had been, I would have had to wait until it stopped again.

As for the Dragon Heart, I wrapped it in my pants and placed it high inside the wardrobe.

There are many things I have to do secretly from Rene this morning.

Like that, I found a gown in the wardrobe, put it on, and staggered out of the bath.

My body smelled a little of soap, but that was something I could somehow gloss over if I insisted stubbornly.

I barely managed to control my body as I climbed the stairs, walked through the corridor, and stood in front of the bedroom door.

My heart is pounding.

It is not a bad feeling.

It is only that I am afraid of what comes afterward.

I grasped the door handle and slowly pushed it open.

Inside the dark room, everything was quiet.

A sigh escaped me on its own.

Thank goodness.

Hm? What is this smell?

“Hic! Honey, welcome baaack.”