This was the sort of thing Varen could shatter the moment he touched it, but a stubborn streak rose up in me.
Back at university, when other undergrads were grunting over these, I’d pop them open with ease. I’d even lecture that you must never brute-force this kind of device, that it was all about technique.
The technique didn’t work. I clenched my teeth so hard my soft lip split with a pop.
“Here? If I press here?”
Then a hand much smaller and paler than mine slipped in below. With a light push, the spring plate that hadn’t twitched went straight down. Squeeeak—the trap yawned open.
“Goodness, how scary. Do you think there are more of these in the forest? We need to be careful.”
“......”
The dragon, not hurt a speck, pulled his ankle free. Then he bent and lifted the trap.
He turned it this way and that, then, without using the mechanism at all, opened and shut it with grip strength alone.
“Sharp. It would certainly be dangerous for you, Ceryl.”
“......”
“Ceryl, you don’t look well.”
Worry filled the clear faces peering down at me.
In that instant, a realization came over me.
“Kallen, you carry the pack. Don’t make Ella suffer.”
“Ah—yes!”
“Varen, give me a piggyback.”
“Okay.”
This was no time for me to be worrying over them.
***
Varen’s back was like a stone slab. Broad, but without a single soft spot.
The position was uncomfortable, but I slept like the dead. A body at its limit let go of every last tension.
When I woke from that deep sleep, we were in a new cave. It seemed they’d found a hideout on their own without being told.
Off to one side sat a dented aluminum pot. Inside was something similar to Kallen’s last horrifying {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} hodgepodge.
Whatever else, I decided I should be the one to handle the food.
“Haa... urk....”
“Kuoooork, hic... hmm... kuoooork.”
Varen was still sweating and groaning, and Kallen was sawing logs.
Even though I’d finally slept, my whole body felt like lead. For some reason I could barely twitch a finger.
Even so, to confirm the safety of this fresh hideout, I crawled my way out of the cave.
Outside, as ever, the moonlight was bright. What kind of cosmos did this world have that it gave us a full moon every night? Even seeing it daily, it amazed me.
A cool night breeze brushed past. I sat at the entrance, let my eyes relax, and enjoyed the quiet.
Only for a moment. I took out the map and checked our current position. We were detouring the route, but our speed was good—thankfully.
At this rate we could clear the forest within a week. Then avoiding Dragon Hunter raids would be easier.
They said the west was dry desert, the north a land of blizzards. The east was mild in temperature but rich in dangerous monsters.
Which way should we go? Which path would take us safely to Eterna Nest?
“Hiyung!”
Rami popped out of my pocket to greet me. She twitched her long tail and spun in place.
“Rami, are you feeling good?”
“Hiyung!”
“Me too. I slept well for the first time in a while; I’m in good shape.”
I mixed in a small lie; I couldn’t worry the baby.
When I traced a fingertip down her back, Rami’s handspan body shivered. She promptly flipped over to show me her belly.
What kind of lizard does a flop. Smiling at the cute display, I stroked the damp belly skin as well.
“Prrr.”
Ella, for once, came to find me. At night she was usually busy patrolling here and there.
“Ella, are you resting well? Not too tired?”
“Prr, prr.”
But something was off. Ella swept her long neck to one side and stamped a forehoof in small beats.
“Hiyung!”
Rami was just as excited. She spun in place and then sprang up on all fours.
Two monsters were staring at the same thing. Something in the dark forest that a human eye couldn’t see.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Hiyung!”
“Prrr.”
At their strange reactions, I narrowed my eyes, following their gaze. Not that squinting was going to make anything appear.
“Hiyung, hiyung! Hiyuuung!”
Rami even grabbed my collar and tugged. Ella kept bobbing her head the same way.
If they’d seen danger, they would have warned me. This wasn’t their usual behavior.
Far from a warning, it felt... welcoming.
Hounded by the two, I finally got to my feet. I glanced into the cave for a moment. I couldn’t wake the sleeping kids, so I moved quietly.
I let Ella lead me into the forest. Serif was quiet, which meant there were no dangerous humans nearby.
The moonlit forest was still. The chirr of grass insects, the susurrus of leaves rubbing in the wind.
And the soft rustle of my steps through the grass—the only sound.
Leaving the hideout alone at night. If Varen or Kallen had done it, I’d have read them the riot act; now I was the one doing it.
But why did I keep feeling certain it was fine? The closer I got, the stranger the sense of elation that rose.
I walked like that for about thirty minutes. I hadn’t felt a trace of other life that whole time.
Then, all at once, a smell stabbed up my nose.
“...Blood.”
What Varen had said in the daytime came back. If a human could smell blood this strongly, the distance was close.
Once I was sure it wasn’t a Dragon Hunter, my steps quickened. Ella moved lightly at the fore, and on my shoulder Rami’s tail never stopped swishing.
Then, far ahead, a figure began to show. Through the moonlight, a corpse was walking toward us.
No—corpses don’t walk. To be precise, a human who looked like a corpse.
It gave off a dense reek of blood that was hard to stomach, and its limbs were twisted at odd angles. Even so, it trudged on, limping but persistent.
It passed through closely grown conifers and stepped into the domain of the moonlight.
What was matted with dirt and blood was no longer a yellow head of hair.
“...Leobin!”
I recognized the face and ran to him at once. At the sound of my voice, Leobin lifted his head slowly. Even that small motion creaked like a broken machine.
“Leobin, Leobin! You’re alive!”
Back when Jed had grabbed me, he was one of the idiots who’d risked his life to save me.
He’d shoved me into a carriage with no explanation and called me my lord. He’d driven the horse like a madman and fled, then charged with a longsword saying he would protect me from the dragon.
And with one light flick of his eyes, Varen had blown Leobin away. That was the last I’d seen of him.
“Ce... ryl... kulk....”
Leobin recognized me and smiled faintly. His corpse-like body wavered. I barely caught him before he fell.
Up close, the smell of blood was nauseating. His face was ashen; his eyes were unfocused.
“Leobin, stay with me. Don’t let go.”
“Sir... al... ive... khuk....”
“Stop. Don’t talk.”
The bright yellow hair, soaked in blood, looked the color of tawny straw. Leobin wrung out the last of his strength.
“To fetch... kak... I came... to fetch... you....”
He collapsed, leaving words like a will.
Like a robot with dead batteries. Like a puppet with its strings cut.
***
So that was why they were acting out of character—these good monsters still recognized a Facility staffer and were glad.
With Ella’s help, we got Leobin back to the cave. So he wouldn’t strain, Ella walked very slowly, carefully.
When we arrived, Kallen and Varen were awake.
Varen in particular crossed his arms and looked at me with cold eyes. But I didn’t have the leisure to listen to a teenage dragon’s grievances.
My own condition was awful, but I couldn’t just sit on my hands with a patient in front of me.
I laid Leobin down in the cave at once and began assessing his state.
“Hhk... uhuuk, Leobin... hic....”
Kallen recognized him and sobbed, big heaving cries. They hadn’t been close, but she was overwhelmed to see a lone survivor when she’d thought everyone at the Facility was dead.
“Don’t cry—get me cool wet cloths. And check my bag for clean cloth, bandages, and scissors.”
“Hic... y-yes... ah—h...”
I shook my head at Kallen, who was gasping tears with her breath.
Tsk. Not with that head on your shoulders—how are you going to be a doctor.
First I checked the patient’s breathing and felt the pulse at the side of the neck. His face contorted with each breath, as if it hurt to breathe. His pulse was beating very slowly.
With the scissors Kallen found, I cut his shirt without hesitation. Then, seeing Leobin’s bared torso, I lost my words.
“Ah!”
Kallen even squeezed her eyes shut and screamed. Even I wanted to look away; it was that horrific.
The right chest was abnormally caved in. And something sharp had punched out from the inside along his flank.
With each thin breath, from the place where bone had pierced through, blood-bubbled foam fizzed out.
In contrast to his paper-white face, his lips were slate-blue, and his nails were bluish-purple.
A classic pneumothorax. So severe it looked beyond treatment even if we transferred him straight to an emergency room.
I took up the scissors again and cut his trousers this time. The legs weren’t much better.
A fractured tibia had torn through the skin, and his ankle was bent at an impossible angle. That was why he’d walked like a corpse.
“C-Ceryl... w-what do we... do...?”
I wanted to calm terrified Kallen, but the hand holding my scissors was shaking too.
I’d never had a critical case this bad. And certainly not a human.
I set the scissors down and curled my hand into a tight fist. I let out a long breath and shook off the tension.
Stay calm. Right now I had nothing to lean on except the truth that humans are animals too.
“First, give me clean cloth.”
