"Of course it was me," Hermes said. "Shouldn't you thank me properly?"
"But you still haven't told me the truth." Fatenai had calmed down a little before continuing, though there was still anger in her voice. Knowing that her summoner had deliberately given the boar a potion and nearly gotten her killed wasn't something she could be happy about, no matter how much time passed. "Why did you give the boar a frenzy potion?"
"Oh, Miss, don't you think the weather is lovely today? How about taking a walk with me?" Hermes smiled.
He clearly had no intention of telling her the truth.
Fatenai took a deep breath and composed herself before getting up and leaving the hillside. She patted the hound on the head. It still didn't seem to have recovered from its fright. "No need... Let's go."
The latter part was, of course, meant for the hound.
The little hound wasn't running as cheerfully anymore. It trudged ahead, looking rather dejected. Fatenai didn't want to see Hermes, and Hermes remained motionless in the tree.
The boy watched Fatenai walk away. With the leaves shading his face, it was impossible to make out his expression.
Following the hound, Fatenai finally made it back to the cabin, bathed in the colors of the setting sun. To her surprise, Wickel was already standing outside. He looked as if he were about to head out again, but stopped when he saw Fatenai. For a moment, he tensed, then seemed to relax.
Others might not have noticed that expression, but Fatenai was used to such things.
"Where did you go?" Wickel asked.
That much concern was unusual for the Forest Hunter, but Fatenai was in no mood for it. "And what about you, Mr. Wickel? Is it your habit to leave your companions in the forest?"
"You shouldn't have followed me." Wickel had clearly realized what Fatenai had done afterward. He frowned and spoke with his arms crossed, his manner stern.
"But didn't we agree to investigate together?" Fatenai had met people who could put far more pressure on her, so Wickel's attitude didn't intimidate her in the slightest. Especially since she knew he was actually kindhearted, she spoke without restraint. "If you looked down on me from the start, why didn't you just refuse me right away?"
Wickel was at a loss for words. He stood there staring at Fatenai, seeming to want her to stop.
But Fatenai didn't think she should give up on finding answers just because of that. "Wickel, don't you have even a single explanation? I thought you were someone who valued promises."
There was no way to reason with Fatenai, even though she had done her best to remain quiet and reserved while at the Wisdom Family's estate.
And Fatenai had guessed right. Wickel seemed sensitive to the words "valued promises." He hesitated briefly, but soon firmly chose to keep quiet. The two of them fell into another silent stare.
After a long while, Fatenai saw that Wickel's expression hadn't softened and couldn't help feeling a headache coming on. There were clear advantages and disadvantages to dealing with someone like him. She had never encountered anyone like this before, though, so she didn't know what to do.
"You should go back, noble lady." After a while, just as night was falling, Wickel finally spoke. But it was exactly what Fatenai didn't want to hear. "You're too weak. The forest isn't suited to you."
"How many days have I even been in the forest? Of course I'm not suited to it yet." Fatenai couldn't help arguing with Wickel about it. "Did you know how to kill prey from the time you were born? Were you already a capable hunter from the moment you came into the world?"
Wickel was taken aback, but stubbornly continued, "But you aren't suited to living here..."
"That's not something you need to worry about... All right, I know I'm a huge bother." Fatenai glanced indifferently at the darkening sky. "Then let's do this: I'll leave tomorrow."
With that, she headed toward the cabin, unwilling to keep arguing with Wickel about whether she should stay.
She did think that following Wickel would make her life ahead much easier, but she could also feel the gulf between them, and it made her sad.
Wickel said nothing. He remained where he was, arms crossed, but the light in his eyes had dimmed. He didn't look regretful so much as lost in some kind of memory.
Flames swept through the town.
It was a scene he had "experienced" countless times. Though he had once been filled with panic and fear, the scene repeated itself in his dreams every day. With time, he had become able to watch it all quite calmly, even slowly making out each face amid the slowed-down images.
The same fear, confusion, and anger. Though they had argued and felt differently before, now they were all the same.
A striking resemblance appeared at the moment it least should have.
He walked forward step by step, searching for the figure he knew best. At last, in a corner, he found "him." It was a little boy standing helplessly amid the flames, clutching an iron sword. The sword was useless, and his enemy was all but invincible... He looked up at the pattern of flames in the sky.
It was a demonic dragon—one no one could kill.
He was no longer afraid of that dragon, but when he turned to look at his own younger self, a hundred times more immature and pale-faced, he found the sight ridiculous. His armor hung loose, and the decorative sword in his hand wasn't even sharpened.
The scene was the same every day. No matter how vivid it was, it no longer felt fresh. Instead, it brought another person to mind in his dreams: a girl with extraordinary platinum-blond hair. Her unremarkable-looking eyes were filled with determination. No matter how many times she was rejected... she still held that ridiculous iron sword and swung it in a ridiculous sword form.
And yet, no one was born a hunter or a wise person.
***
Bang—!
Wickel jolted awake. Hearing a commotion, he rolled over and flung open the cabin door. Outside, everything was in chaos.
A toppled wooden rack, barking hounds, the clatter of weapons being swung... Wickel's gaze finally settled on the scene ahead. A girl in her teens struggled in the grasp of a knight clad in silver armor, her expression laughable. It was the first time Wickel had ever seen her look that way.
Before, even when she was at her most frightened, there had been unmistakable pride in her eyes. That bearing had told him at first glance that she was a noble girl.
But now her eyes held only fear and despair. It seemed she was afraid these knights would take her away.
Suddenly, he felt a pain in his chest.
"What are you doing?" Wickel asked slowly.
"I'm not Miss Wisdom! Didn't your lord tell you I was an impostor?!" Fatenai said. She was frantic, because she had spotted the Black Sparrow crest on the knights' armor.
She had expected someone to come looking for her, but hadn't imagined Duke Wisdom would send knights. These men served only a few dozen days each year and rarely left their own territory, let alone traveled to the Eisole Forest, far from Duke Wisdom's lands. For a moment, Fatenai wondered if the duke had lost his mind.
"But you do have the same face as her." The knight in front held a lance in one hand and Fatenai's arm in the other. "Even if you're an impostor, you're still a runaway."
"The king promised to make arrangements for me!" Fatenai protested.
"His orders were for us to bring you back, impostor or not," the knight replied.
Fatenai didn't want to argue with the knights anymore. For the first time, she felt that being eloquent was completely useless. But struggling with all her might was useless, too.
She trusted Wickel even less to save her. They had argued just yesterday, and he probably couldn't wait for her to get lost.
"Let go of me!"
"That's impossible, miss."
"Let go!"
"Take her away..."
"Enough." Wickel interrupted them.
Only then did the knights notice Wickel. Knights were nobles, even if their titles weren't necessarily high-ranking, and they tended to look down on commoners regardless of who they were. A Forest Hunter, of all people, was beneath even a country bumpkin in the eyes of those who knew nothing about Forest Hunters.
"This has nothing to do with you. We're acting on orders from Duke Wisdom and the king. We apologize for the damage..." the lead knight said. Though he apologized, his tone was full of contempt for Wickel. Besides that, the knights regarded Duke Wisdom as greater than the king, but that wasn't the point.
Wickel looked at them and stepped forward under the gaze of the fully armed knights. They made no attempt to stop him, clearly looking down on his status. He walked right up to one of the knights. "Let her go. She doesn't want to go back."
"What are you saying..." the knight beside him started, but then he too realized that Wickel had grabbed the knight's lance. And then, right before their eyes, Wickel slowly crushed it to pieces!
Even Fatenai was stunned. She had thought Wickel was just a little stronger than other people, but this was clearly the strength of a monster.
"My name is Wickel Auston. Go back and tell your lord that. And let her go," Wickel said. "The forest and I don't mind having a few more corpses in it."
Before you continue