“...Haa... y—es...”
“Got it. We’ll go to the Belzena Mountain Range.”
Varen couldn’t even hold himself up. Even sitting, his upper body listed and twisted.
I pressed close at his side and took his weight with my whole body. After easing him down to the ground, I took the herb bag from Kallen and set it under his head.
“Se—cough...”
“Don’t talk. Lie still for a moment.”
I gently took Varen’s blood-wet fist in mine. Looking down at his pained face, I sank into thought.
A symptom that hadn’t existed appearing now meant a new pathological change had occurred.
When short on mana, Varen burned with high fevers. So burning the forest wasn’t the etiology.
Taking dozens of crossbow bolts was physical trauma. Falling temperature and hemoptysis pointed to internal injury—exclude that as the primary cause.
Was it Jed’s injection? An unknown drug—antidote or not, side effects were unpredictable.
But that didn’t sit right either.
It had been hours since the antidote. With no issues until now, the odds of a sudden late explosion of symptoms were low.
If not that, then what. The reason Varen developed new symptoms...
“...Ah, damn.”
Staring at my palm stained red, the cause hit me.
Right before he spat blood, Varen had kissed me.
He hadn’t been well, and he’d passed me far more life force than usual.
He’d handed over even what he needed for self-healing, crossing the threshold.
Still mired and shocked by my own conclusion, Kallen’s sharp voice hauled me out.
“Ceryl, get up! We don’t have time to sit!”
Right. This wasn’t the time to collapse.
I sprang up and cast my gaze far.
“Kallen, how long to the Belzena Mountains?”
“On foot, half a day is plenty.”
“Too slow.”
Half a day on foot. Carrying Varen would make it slower.
I let out a hard sigh. Seconds mattered and I had no good plan.
“Grrrr...”
Tymer, who had brought Kallen and Margon and stayed by us the whole time, rumbled low.
As if announcing her presence.
I looked at Tymer with a complicated face, then scrubbed my hands over my face.
“Haa... I’m really sorry, Tymer. Can you help us just once more?”
“Grrrr.”
“Arrrr.”
As if to say not to worry, the cub lifted its head too.
“Please. Kallen, ride the cub, and Varen and I will—”
“Ceryl, I have no idea what’s going on.”
The interruption was Margon.
I’d forgotten him completely with all my nerves fixed on Varen.
I glanced at Margon’s frustrated face, then at the forest where the flames still hadn’t died.
There was much to ask and explain to Margon. But I couldn’t waste time that could save Varen.
I’d freed him from Jed’s tower. The debt was settled.
I shook my head firmly at Margon.
“Margon, you don’t need to follow me anymore.”
I kept my voice cool and clear.
Margon looked like he’d heard a foreign language, not understanding at all.
Maybe that vacant look would be a fond memory someday. I let out a dry laugh and said it again.
“There’s no contract between us now. So live your own life.”
It was only a hunch, but he didn’t seem bewitched like Leobin.
If that damned curse had him, he would have come after me even with an arm gone and his limbs bound.
Margon’s double-lidded eyes blinked slowly. He dropped his gaze to the ground for a moment, then lifted it again.
“What... do you mean?”
“I’m heading for dragon habitat now. It’s a dangerous road, and it’s something you won’t want. So don’t force yourself to come.”
The road was long, and we were racing time.
I didn’t have the leisure to persuade a man hostile to monsters and drag him along.
Goodbyes weren’t my specialty. Even so, in my way, I put some kindness into it and patted his left shoulder.
At my touch, Margon knit his brow and groaned low.
“Ah, right. Your clavicle’s off. Don’t use that arm for a while, and don’t overdo it.”
“Ceryl, what do you mean... I...”
“Don’t make me say it twice. I mean it.”
“......”
“Thank you for everything. Don’t throw your life away for just anyone. Stay healthy.”
Margon looked between me and Varen lying there, disbelief written all over him.
Then in a trembling voice he spoke.
“A—are you... abandoning me?”
“Why say it like that? I never owned you, so I’m not abandoning you. I’m giving you freedom.”
“I don’t need freedom. My life is to guard you!”
Tch. I wanted a clean break. This will get long.
I clicked my tongue and turned to Varen. With Kallen’s help, we raised him from both sides.
The mother Tymer came and lowered her head.
Grunting, we heaved a body well over a hundred kilos onto the monster’s back—thud, something heavy hit the ground.
I glanced back; a body nearly Varen’s size was on its knees.
“It’s because I’m useless now, isn’t it? Because I can’t wield a sword anymore, so—”
“That’s not it, you idiot.”
It’s because you’ll drag me down if you cling.
I didn’t voice the honest truth. Instead, I focused on getting Varen onto Tymer.
Gods, heavy. Even one of his legs weighs like a sack of rice.
“Kh... Ceryl! Please... please take me back!”
Another thud.
Now Margon had his forehead to the ground. He’d done nothing wrong and still he was prostrating like a penitent.
When he snapped his head up, his face was a mess of tears. Watching a big, dark-skinned grown man sob made my face pinch.
“Ever since you s—sniff—saved me at thirteen... my life—kh—has belonged to you...”
Mm. The story between the original Ceryl and Margon wasn’t ordinary, clearly.
“I sw—swore—hic—to guard you with Leobin... If I leave like this—hic—I won’t be able to face... that bastard’s... uu...”
I shouldn’t have used the Leobin card. It softens me.
With Varen’s torso barely settled across Tymer’s back, I gripped his thigh and hesitated.
Kallen, looking between me and Margon, pulled another handkerchief from her pack. She went to Margon and dabbed his tears.
“Ceryl, I can ride the Tymer cub.”
“......”
“That means there’s a seat left for Margon.”
I understood without the extra explanation.
I looked, displeased, at the soft-hearted orange-haired girl. Kallen only shrugged and hoisted Margon up.
In the end, I raised the white flag and exhaled a long sigh.
“But don’t hinder us going to dragon habitat. Be kind to the monsters.”
“Sniff—y—yes.”
“I’ll explain what happened later. Don’t ask anything now.”
Those were Margon’s terms for coming along.
Even on unfavorable terms, he nodded hard. Staggering, he leaned on Kallen and came toward us.
Margon was clearly not young. Late twenties—maybe early thirties.
His tearful, age-inappropriate face made my brows draw tight.
“Snf—Ceryl. Th—thank you... kh.”
“...Wipe your nose.”
Ugh, my fate. Why do I keep collecting people to look after.
***
On the mother Tymer’s back, we sat in order—me, Varen, Margon.
Half-unconscious, Varen couldn’t hold himself up. To keep him from falling, I brought his arms forward and wrapped them around my waist.
Even out of it, he hugged me tight.
Margon sat apart from Varen. He acted like he didn’t even want to touch him, yet whenever Varen started to slump, he grabbed him by the scruff.
Tymer ran with feline agility and grace. Fitting for a cat.
Before long, we cleared the cool, conifer-tall forest.
And the vista that opened before us was a vast desert.
In the forest, the sun had been setting; upon entering the desert, a blazing sun beat down.
Scientifically impossible terrain. I scanned around with wide eyes, then let the thought go.
If anything needs fixing in a fantasy world, it’s ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) the habit of looking for science.
“Ceryl! We’re out of the forest at last!”
“Right. It’s kind of moving.”
With shorter strides than her mother, the cub had to run harder.
Da-da-da, da-da-da. The soft patter of little cat paws on fine sand was very cute.
Kallen, mounted on the cub, stretched both arms wide and laughed cleanly.
“Goodbye, accursed forest! We’re done! Let’s never meet again!”
She said what I wanted to say.
I grinned and looked back. Varen had his head on my shoulder, rasping for breath.
That sight dragged my raised mouth right down. The more I replayed his behavior, the heavier my heart grew.
Dragon love, “mate,” whatever—awkward enough. But blind feelings that put me above himself were even less welcome.
Leobin had to be the last one to die because of me. I never wanted to live through that again.
“Varen, hold on a little. We’re almost there.”
I murmured in a low voice.
Maybe it was Tymer’s running jostle, but Varen’s head seemed to bob up and down.
