I stopped and turned back. The two men who’d been quietly locking horns halted, rigid.
"Give me a minute alone. I need to talk to Leobin."
Varen looked so shocked his jaw slowly fell open. He stood there, mouth agape, unable to say anything, so I kindly closed it for him.
"It’ll just take a moment."
"How long is a moment?"
"Don’t talk back. Go on ahead with Kallen."
Varen planted himself like a dignitary and refused to move. In the end I had to kick him in the backside before he trudged off.
When I turned back, kneading my stinging instep, Leobin was beaming like he’d won the world.
"Sir Ceryl, I knew it. I knew you’d choose me."
"Choose, my ass."
I screwed up my face. A memory I’d forgotten resurfaced.
Between the yellow-haired idiot and the brown-haired fool, Leobin was the dimmer one. A difference of acorns, but still.
After I confirmed Varen had gone a decent distance, I matched pace with Leobin. For someone limping on crutches, his walking speed was brisk.
"How’s the walking? Anything hurt?"
"I’m fine because you treated me, Sir Ceryl. But—when did you learn medicine?"
"Well, I studied from books."
A three-hundred-page textbook.
"As expected, you’re remarkable, Sir Ceryl. You’ve loved books since you were little."
A word that came out naturally snagged in my ear.
Since you were little. So he’d served Ceryl from childhood, then.
"Right. I liked books, and you liked the sword."
I tossed the bait; Leobin snapped it up.
"Haha, I didn’t like it. I trained because I had to. Still, thanks to that I can guard you, Sir Ceryl."
"...Did you. I didn’t know."
"Margon liked swords more than me. The bastard turned rabid the moment he picked one up."
The pointed name stabbed into my left chest.
I could still see that brown-haired back, clear as day, facing down a dozen Dragon Hunters alone.
"Do you think Margon’s alive."
"He’s definitely alive. He’s tough."
Even with his carefree face, I couldn’t smile.
Leobin and Margon always moved like a set. If so, maybe Margon bore this magic too.
Thinking of that brown head roaming the forest like a corpse with orders to find me tightened my throat.
"Leobin. About the magic on you."
"What magic?"
"...Huh?"
"Yes?"
The yellow-haired idiot only blinked, vacant. Faced with that sheet-white look, the words stuck in my throat.
"Ah... I mean someone put a spell on you. A recovery spell."
"Really? No wonder I’ve felt so full of strength!"
I was restoring him through my life force, so it wasn’t exactly a lie. I nodded awkwardly and faced forward again.
My head felt like it would split. Leobin was under a horrific spell that wouldn’t let him die at will. Its endpoint was tied to me.
And he didn’t even know about the curse? Who on earth had done this.
"You always save my life, Sir Ceryl."
"...Do I."
"Since you saved me, my life is yours, Sir Ceryl."
Pure, undiluted loyalty made my brow pinch. Promises to guard me didn’t feel reassuring.
"Why is your life mine. It’s yours."
"You don’t understand. Wherever you go, even to the end of hell, I’ll follow and protect you."
My mouth went dry. That pure heart was for Ceryl—not for me.
The truth I’d never told anyone but the Spirit felt like it would spill out.
"Leobin, the truth is..."
I was about to begin when Kallen’s high voice, far ahead, speared my ears.
"I said I’m only going as far as Triven! How many times do I have to say it!"
Kallen was bristling her orange hair and snapping at Varen. After all that cautioning, they were making a racket in broad daylight.
"Then ride Elfera and go alone. You’d get there in a day. Why are you coming with us."
"Ha, please. I’m not here because of you, okay? I’m with Sir Ceryl."
"Ceryl doesn’t need you."
"Ridiculous. Sir Ceryl can’t last a day without me."
"You’re the ridiculous one. All Ceryl needs is me."
In the blink I looked away, the adolescents had started a fight.
Sigh, what am I supposed to do with those two. If I tied them together for a day, would they get along.
"Hey, hey, I told you not to fight. Keep it up and I’m leaving you both."
I loaded the nag and headed their way. Varen and Kallen turned to my voice at the same time. In that instant—
Shwick—an unfamiliar wind-sound brushed my ear. At the same moment, Varen thrust a hand toward Kallen.
Before it could hit its target, the arrow smashed against the iron-like back of his hand and fell to the ground, snapped to junk.
"What the—"
"Sir Ceryl, down!"
Before I could parse it, Leobin braced the back of my head and took me to the ground.
That split-second of falling stretched like slow motion.
Varen turned his back and wrapped Kallen; Ella struck forward with her forelegs and let out a great cry. Overhead, a beat late, a screech ripped the sky.
Each frame etched into my corneas in order.
Thud—my body hit the ground. Leobin had covered me with his whole body, so it didn’t hurt.
Flat on my back, the sky filled my vision. From a cloudless blue, a downpour crashed.
No—look again. It wasn’t rain, it was arrows. Dozens of arrows fell at once and the air tore with the sound.
"Aaagh!"
I shielded my face with both arms and clamped my eyes shut.
So this is how I die. They say a life flashes by at the moment of death; all rumors, apparently.
No past—only regrets for the future. I wanted to let Varen meet his family. I wanted to set foot in dragon habitat.
If I’d come to a fantasy world, I wanted to meet every monster that lived here. If there were dragons and unicorns, weren’t there stranger, more wondrous ones?
Ah—right. Berry might be here somewhere. If not, if you’ve crossed the Rainbow Bridge and you’re waiting for me. Berry, I’ll come soon.
"Whinny—eeeee!!!"
Ella’s ringing cry cleaved the arrow-sound.
The gentle thing that could never do more than prrrr, prr now screamed like the world was ending.
Then even lying on the ground I felt as if I were falling upward through empty air. Like a roller coaster plunging from a height.
With hoofbeats, the ground began to tremble. The slow cadence quickened and quickened.
Da-ga-dak, da-ga-dak, da-ga-dak, da-ga-dak.
"Whinny—eeeee, whinny—eeeee!!!"
Now the only thing I could hear was what Ella was making. My breath seized tight and my whole body shook. Nausea churned and I bit down hard on my lips.
Through a sliver of an eye I’d barely cracked, I saw pebbles lift. Lighter grains of sand swirled and streamed upward into the sky.
Gravity was flowing backward.
"Haa—! Hah... huk..."
The breath that had jammed burst free in an instant.
I jerked my head up to the sky. The hundreds of arrows that had been pouring down only wavered in midair, frozen in place.
Before relief at being alive could land, I felt what was weighing me down.
Leobin. He’d taken me down and cradled even the back of my head.
"Leobin, Leobin! Stay with me!"
"Ghk... kh—"
"Don’t black out! You can’t pass out now—up!"
I dragged the staggering Leobin and got to my feet. I didn’t have the bandwidth to check a patient’s condition.
Half-carrying him, I ran like mad. Even so, I ground my teeth.
As Leobin’s condition dipped, I could feel strength draining out of me. Close like this, it was unmistakable.
"Damn it—everyone okay?!"
At my shout, Varen straightened from the waist he’d been bending.
And beneath him, Kallen lifted her head. Her young, whitewashed face was a blotch of tears.
Ella’s crystal horn was blazing with enough light to equal a hundred fluorescent lamps.
"You—are you—"
"Ceryl. Come to me."
The moment I got close, Varen yanked my wrist. I lost my grip on Leobin I was barely supporting. His corpse-like body flopped ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) to the ground.
Varen didn’t care; he pulled me into his chest and locked me tight in his arms. A dragon’s pulse ran faster than a human’s even at rest; now it hammered.
Caught in his arms, I laughed hollowly. Something in my head was clearly wrong.
Otherwise, how could I feel safe in this situation.
"ScreeeEEEeee!!"
Serif’s cry, louder than ever, snapped reality back. The fist-sized blue sparrow cut the sky and beat its wings, telling us to follow.
I seized the instant to take stock of the party. The only one who couldn’t move was Leobin.
Think. Think. How do I save everyone.
No second volley came. The hunters were gauging things too. They’d been tailing a dragon only; they wouldn’t know Elfera was here.
Ella’s crystal horn was dimming. She’d blown all her mana at once to stop those dozens of arrows.
This light was our golden time to run.
