Ch. 203
“I have a great idea!”
I wedged myself between Enk and Gale as they studied the map.
“Miss Geenie.”
“Let’s stop wasting time here and follow the canyon. Then we might run into Chad around here, right? If we meet in the middle, getting to the capital will be much easier. Look, there’s even a bridge.”
“It’s a good plan, but… are you sure you’re okay? Your internal injuries were serious. That’s why Chad went to bring a doctor.”
“No problem. My recovery’s going well. I’ll be able to ride by tomorrow.”
“That’s good, but leaving already… Well, you did look fine earlier while eating.”
“Exactly! So let’s stop dawdling and leave tomorrow! How about it? If we delay a whole week, we might miss the duel.”
The capital of Heidrike, Helikke, was quite far from here.
Riding diligently, it took ten days, so normally you’d have to leave with at least two weeks of buffer. And the duel was less than three weeks away.
Even after arriving, we’d need a few days to secure lodging and tickets. The place would be overflowing with people—if unlucky, we’d waste an entire day just waiting to enter the city.
The gates of the capital never allowed people through freely. They checked everyone’s identity one by one.
If we had a noble with us, it’d be different, but right now none of us had a status we could openly reveal.
With every day counting, spending a week waiting for a doctor who might not even show up was too much for my impatient nature.
“The schedule ‘is’ tight, but Miss Geenie’s health is more important.”
“Right. You shouldn’t push yourself. Rest comes first.”
“Of course. Even if we miss the duel, Miss Geenie is more precious than our lives.”
…What’s with them?
This wasn’t the reaction I expected.
These were the same idiots who said they’d die if they couldn’t see the duel, yet now they were suddenly acting all heartfelt and worried. My stomach churned. I hated this kind of stuff—too mushy.
“Shut up. ‘I’ am the patient. I’m telling you I’m fine. You want to see the duel too!”
“A patient and a doctor aren’t the same. Miss Geenie, only a doctor can diagnose you.”
“Leaving before you’re recovered is absolutely out of the question!”
These fools must’ve lost their minds after nearly dying.
Frowning heavily, I noticed Enk and Gale desperately signaling toward something behind me.
Behind? What about behind me?
Behind me was the empty house we’d been using as shelter—and in there was Ash… Oh.
I pointed silently toward the house and raised an eyebrow.
Enk and Gale immediately nodded and stared at me with pleading eyes.
So that’s why they were acting weird.
Ash had a habit of fussing over everything related to me. And despite his gentle look, he was extremely hard to persuade.
Normally, he stayed neutral and heard everyone out, but when something clashed with his beliefs or sense of justice, he was immovable. If he thought something was wrong, not even Lox or Chad could change his mind.
Convincing Ash to do something he believed was wrong was harder than killing him.
Well—until he kissed me, that is.
He gave in to temptation, kissed me, and then spent half a day drowning in guilt.
‘Leave it to me.’
I flashed them a victorious thumbs-up and headed lightly toward the house.
“Ash?”
“I heard everything.”
“Good, then this’ll be quick! Let’s go, okay? Let’s go! Let’s go.”
Ash sat with his back to the door, but it seemed he had heard everything.
Enk and Gale clearly knew this and deliberately spoke against their real intentions.
I immediately clung to Ash’s back.
“You’re coming, right?”
I hung my weight on his shoulder, begging him to leave.
Ash let out a quiet sigh and rubbed his forehead with his large hand. His usual gesture when thinking.
“…Convincing you is nearly impossible.”
“Knew it. Our Ash. Smart and reasonable. You understand me.”
I pressed myself against his back and whispered into his ear.
He was so easy to fluster—it was impossible not to find him adorable. I hugged his neck tightly, and he already looked defeated.
“As long as we don’t push ourselves, fine. But we cannot leave tomorrow. The day ‘after’ tomorrow.”
“What! Every day counts!”
“You woke up just yesterday.”
“You didn’t see me eating earlier?”
I’d eaten three bowls of soup myself, plus a leg each of bird, rabbit, and boar, and tasted every type of fruit.
The boar leg was so big it was actually exhausting to finish alone.
“That’s why I’m agreeing to leave at all.”
“…Fine. I’ll accept that much.”
Without Lox around, decision-making was much easier. Maybe because I saved their lives, Enk and Gale were suddenly very obedient too, and Ash… was obedient in a different way.
He yielded so easily.
Perhaps he simply realized he couldn’t stop me.
“Geenie, do you really want to see that duel that badly?”
“If I don’t see Rovenin lose, I feel like my internal injuries will relapse.”
“Hah, as if.”
“I’m serious! And there’s nothing to do here. It’s boring! I like the city. I want to go to the capital.”
As I grumbled, Ash let out a small laugh and handed me something he had been fiddling with all morning.
He’d been sorting worn papers one by one. Come to think of it, he’d been doing that since yesterday.
“We’ll leave the day after tomorrow. And here.”
“What’s that?”
“…It’s yours.”
“Mine?”
I’d never seen it before.
I took it, and it turned out to be a bundle of wet papers he had dried and rearranged.
I genuinely didn’t recognize it. I stared, confused.
Ash looked a bit hurt by that.
“You gave it to me before the dungeon collapsed. Told me to hold onto it.”
“Oh…? Oh, ‘that’ thing!”
Right. That happened.
In the chaos, I’d forgotten entirely.
I’d grabbed a few books from beside the dungeon master’s corpse and handed them to Ash and Chad. None of them were important.
Yet he’d saved something even I forgot about.
This man was no ordinary one. He must’ve held onto it because I had given it to him.
“The situation didn’t allow me to take many. And everything got soaked, so I dried them while you were unconscious, but… there aren’t many readable parts.”
“Ash…”
“If only the books had protective magic.”
“No, thank you.”
“I don’t deserve thanks.”
“I’ll give you a kiss.”
“That’s really not nec—”
“Then a real kiss?”
“…T-then… the cheek… please…”
Cute. So cute.
Why was Ash so lovable?
Wasn’t this close to what people call ‘liking someone’?
I smiled and kissed Ash’s cheek before darting outside again.
I saw him reaching out to grab my hand and failing, but asking why he reached out would’ve been silly, so I just left.
“Guys! We’re allowed to go!”
“Oh!”
“We got departure approval!”
I immediately delivered the good news to Enk and Gale.
The three of us cheered, danced a bit, raised our arms, then reopened the map.
We needed to go to a place Chad was likely to pass; otherwise, we’d miss him.
“Let’s follow the canyon up! Then we’ll meet him roughly here. There’s only one path, so if all goes well, we’ll meet by the third day.”
“Here! Let’s wait at this rest spot.”
“No way we’ll miss each other, right?”
“There’s only one route to Hirillike. Hard to miss.”
Very satisfying.
That was more like Enk and Gale. Kids should grow up doing what they want.
“Oh, before we leave, there’s something you need to know. I’ll say it once, so listen carefully.”
“What? Important?”
“I told Ash already, but I’m currently in need of protection. Guard me with your lives. If anything happens to me, ‘he’ll’ kill you. So you’ll die either way.”
[If you retreat, you’ll be chewed to death!]
Rai had been freed from pot form.
I wanted to keep him that way longer, but he was my only weapon right now, so I needed him close.
“Protect? Us? Protecting ‘you’?”
“You ever seen a dog guard a tiger? Or maybe I should say an ogre.”
“If you’re comparing yourself, can it be a dragon instead?”
“…You do have the confidence for it… After all, what we saw really was incredible. Honestly, after seeing that, I wondered if you’re actually pretty humble.”
Gale finally seemed to see people properly.
“It’s because of the internal injuries, right? Just because ‘we’ have internal injuries doesn’t mean we can’t swing swords, so it’s different.”
So Gale was the smarter one compared to Enk. I nodded.
“Exactly. In my profession, not being able to move mana is critical. Even basic attacks become impossible.”
“I see…”
“We overdid it that day, so things won’t be normal for a while. Since this is because of ‘you’, you’ll protect me for now. I don’t trust easily, so feel honored.”
By tomorrow, I’d be able to summon Undine, but holding back was better for full recovery.
“It must’ve been rough. Hearing that, you almost seem human.”
“…I still don’t see it. Isn’t that something only archmages can do? You’ve long surpassed normal human level.”
“Mages can’t do that. That kind of magic doesn’t exist. Lox said magic requires formulas, unlike spirit arts.”
“…Formula? What’s that?”
Enk was only useful for his face.
“Uh… you know… like how to build a pulley… something like that?”
Even Gale, the educated commoner, struggled to explain.
It was hard to grasp abilities you’ve never experienced—like tasting unfamiliar food.
You don’t know if it’s good or bad, whether all food in that category tastes like that, or whether it’s poorly made.
You lacked the baseline to make any judgment.
Likewise, people couldn’t understand spirit mages.
Swordsmen were common, so people had references. Mages, not so much.
And spirit mages were even rarer, so unless the other person worked in the same field, you couldn’t expect them to understand.
“I learned some things from Lox. He’s seen real mages, right? He said someone at your level might appear once or twice in a whole country. Even among mages, you’re hard to find.”
“Oh, please. I’m only ‘that’ good.”
“He said we were unbelievably lucky to have traveled with you. That you were wandering with us out of some whim, and you could leave anytime. So he told us not to get too attached. That you weren’t really one of ‘our’ people.”
Gale spoke casually, but he looked a bit bitter.
Lox, that bastard. How dare he describe me like that?