Three Years on the Road

Rujierd had originally planned to leave after seeing us to camp, but for some reason he had decided to take us all the way to town before going. He took down the three tents and rolled them into a bundle, his movements brisk and efficient.

I tightened the knots in the rope. Beside me, Rudeus packed up the pots and bowls, stacking the wooden bowls one by one and stuffing them into a bag. He was a little clumsy about it, perhaps because the sleeves of his gray robe were too long. Every time he reached for something, he had to flick the cuffs out of the way first.

I nearly laughed.

Rujierd finished tying up all the luggage and swung himself onto the horse. We had bought it on the Millis Continent. It was brown and bad-tempered, but it settled down once Rujierd climbed on. Were even horses afraid of the Superd Race?

Rudeus and I walked behind him.

We had left the ruins of the Fittoa Territory behind us. Rudeus had told me about Ghislaine leaving, and although I acted like I didn't care, I felt a little weighed down inside.

Rudeus walked on my left, holding a branch and drawing something on the ground with it. As he walked, he unconsciously touched his chin with his left hand. The skin around the beauty mark beneath his left eye creased and relaxed with his changing expressions.

He's probably thinking about what to eat for lunch.

I said nothing. The sunlight warmed my hair. My sword hung at my waist; after three years, I was used to this rhythm.

Things hadn't been like this three years ago.

When we had first arrived on the Demon Continent three years ago, I couldn't even hold my sword steady. My body wouldn't stop shaking, and my voice trembled when I spoke.

I had woken up that night and nearly been scared to death by the sight of Rujierd. I had desperately tried to run away. The air had reeked of sulfur and rotting flesh, the smell so strong I nearly threw up, and monsters were everywhere.

My hand had been shaking as I held my sword. Thankfully, Rudeus had been there beside me.

I had never left the Fittoa Territory and had never imagined the outside world was like that.

At times like that, Rudeus always held my hand.

His hand was small, smaller than mine at least. How big could a ten-year-old boy's hand be? But his fingers had gripped mine tightly.

"It's all right. Rujierd's here," he said.

His own hand was shaking too. I could feel it; his palm was wet with sweat. But he still managed a smile, an ugly one.

That was how it had always been.

I remembered how he hadn't let go of my hand all night. I had fallen asleep leaning on his shoulder, and he probably hadn't slept a wink, because when I woke up the next morning, there were dark circles under his eyes.

His hand had still been clasped around my fingers. He had held on so long that his fingers had stiffened, and it had taken several tries to pry them apart.

He was probably listening for sounds outside all night, afraid something would come charging in. He was ten years old, two years younger than me, but he stayed awake all night just to watch over me. If anyone could do that, it would be Rudeus. I've thought that ever since.

Later, in Port Wind, Rudeus went out alone one day.

He didn't say where he was going or whom he was going to see. He simply got up that morning, told me, "I'm going out for a bit," and left.

Rujierd didn't stop him either. He probably thought there wasn't much danger on that street.

By the time he came back, it was almost dark.

I was waiting at the entrance to the tent. I saw him coming from a distance, his steps unsteady and one hand covering his face. I ran over and asked what had happened.

He lowered his hand.

I noticed that his left eye had changed.

It was no longer green. The entire eyeball was a completely different color from his right one, as though something had replaced it. The skin around the socket was a little red too, as though it had just been poked.

"What did you go and do?" I asked.

He said he had treated a little girl to a meal.

Then the little girl had given him a demon eye as thanks.

"What kind of little girl gives someone a demon eye?"

Rudeus said the eye could see one or two seconds into the future. It was called the Demon Eye of Foresight.

I stared at his left eye for a long time. He grew a little uncomfortable under my gaze, turned his head away, and scratched the back of it.

"Does it hurt?" I asked.

"...A little."

"How much is a little?"

He thought for a moment.

"More than training with Rujierd."

"..."

I punched him hard in the shoulder.

"Next time, you're not allowed to go alone."

He flinched when I hit him, but he didn't argue.

When Rujierd found out about it later, he was silent for a long time. Then he spoke in a low voice, as if to himself: "That person was the Demon Emperor Kishirika."

I didn't know what a Demon Emperor was back then. I learned later that she was a member of the Immortal Demon Race who had lived for over seven thousand years and had twelve demon eyes inside her that she could give to others.

That idiot dared to meet a monster like that all by himself.

The fight against the desert scorpions outside Rikarisu City was the first time we had truly fought together.

Before that, Rujierd had always held the enemy off in front while Rudeus and I supported him from behind. But that time was different. There were too many scorpions, more than a dozen of them, and they startled me when they burst out of the sand. Rujierd was tied up with three big ones and couldn't break away.

Rudeus stood thirty paces behind me. His Rock Bullet flew in from that distance and smashed into a scorpion's shell, spraying my face with shattered sand and stone.

"Eris, left!" he shouted.

I dodged right without thinking. His second Rock Bullet flew right through the spot where I had been standing and blasted a scorpion that had been attacking me from behind to pieces.

It was hard to describe the feeling. His voice seemed to have grown directly into my body. When he shouted "left," my legs stepped right on their own. When he shouted "duck," my neck bent by itself. I didn't need to think or judge; it was as if my body moved on its own.

Only afterward did I learn that it was called trust.

At first I didn't understand what the word meant. Rudeus told me that being comfortable leaving your back to another person was trust. "Trust" was a good word. I liked it.

The fiercest fight we had on the Millis Continent was to save some beastfolk children.

Five human traffickers had kidnapped five beastfolk children from the marketplace and locked them in an old warehouse in the west of town, waiting to ship them out. As Rudeus and I were passing by, we came across a beastfolk woman kneeling by the road and crying. Her child had just been taken.

Rudeus hesitated for a second. The Holy Country of Millis forbade private swordfights, and getting involved might cause trouble.

I didn't hesitate. I kicked the warehouse door open.

More than a dozen kidnappers inside turned to look at me in unison. They all had knives, their blades gleaming coldly in the warehouse's dim light. Five children were shut away in the back, huddled behind the bars of an iron cage. The youngest looked only three or four.

Rudeus blocked the back door with an earth wall to keep anyone from escaping. I dealt with them alone at the front.

They were strong compared to ordinary people, but weak compared to me.

Even with me standing on him, the leader kept talking tough, saying something like, "Do you know who's behind us?" I planted my foot on his face, cutting off the rest of his sentence.

"I don't care who's behind you."

Rudeus poked his head in through the doorway. "Eris, don't kill him. We need to leave someone alive for the guards."

"Tch."

I knocked all the remaining kidnappers to the ground with the back and hilt of my sword. I didn't kill a single one. But a few of them would probably be bedridden for a month.

All five children were rescued. The youngest, a little beastfolk girl, clung to my neck and wouldn't let go, rubbing snot and tears all over my clothes. I didn't know how to comfort a child. Ghislaine had never taught me, and neither had my etiquette teacher. I awkwardly patted her head, and she cried even harder.

That night, I sat at the entrance to the tent cleaning my sword, my hands still shaking. I couldn't describe how I felt. Maybe, for the first time, I had finally realized clearly why I held a sword.

For children who cried their eyes out. For children who huddled behind iron bars, too afraid even to cry out. For Rudeus. Thinking of that made my heart itch.

...But there's nothing wrong with that thought.

I tightened my grip on my sword a little. The night breeze blew past, carrying the scent of distant flowers.

Later, something interesting happened in a beastfolk village.

Beastfolk with cat ears and dog ears lived in that village. The little girl with cat ears was named Minitona, and the one with dog ears was Tersena. Both were the princess's younger sisters. The first time I saw them, my eyes were glued to them.

Fluffy cat ears, and a tail swishing back and forth behind her.

I really want to touch them.

I stared at Minitona's ears for a long time. My staring made her a little uneasy, and her ears flattened back.

I stayed in the village for a few days after that and taught them to speak the human language. Minitona learned quickly, while Tersena kept forgetting things, but she added "no da" when she spoke, which sounded cute.

Beast ears and tails... really do look wonderful. Grandfather must have thought so too. It is a House Boreas tradition, after all.

During that time, whenever Rudeus saw me spending time with the beastfolk girls, his expression was complicated, as if he wanted to make a comment but didn't dare.

After we had walked for a while, I spoke up.

"Were you afraid back then?"

Rudeus turned his head to look at me.

"When?"

"Those first few days on the Demon Continent."

He fell silent for a few seconds. The branch in his hand dragged a long line in the dirt.

"I was," he said. "I was afraid every day, but I couldn't let it show."

"Why?"

"Because..." He scratched his head. "If I'd let it show and you'd gotten scared too, then in the situation we were in, we'd really have been done for. At least one of us had to pretend not to be afraid. Though I might not have done a very good job of it."

"You're a terrible actor," I said. "Your left eye twitches every time you're scared."

He blinked, then reached up to touch his left eye.

"...Seriously?"

"Of course. We've been together for three years."

"You watch me that closely?"

I didn't answer. I turned my gaze to the road ahead. It was flat, stretching all the way to the horizon.

I've always watched him. Rudeus is my everything, so of course I'd notice when he was afraid. His left eye twitched, he bit his lip, and his fingers tapped his thigh without him realizing it. I know all of it. In three years, I haven't missed it once.

Rujierd rode ahead of us without looking back. But after a while, he spoke.

"There are no more than three people in this world I can comfortably leave my back to."

His voice was deep and steady, just as it had been on the Demon Continent. The wind blew past his bald head, and the ruby on his forehead glinted in the sunlight.

"She is one of them."

I didn't look at him, but I knew he meant me.

Rudeus muttered something under his breath beside me, but I couldn't make it out. It was probably something like, "Rujierd, saying something like that out of nowhere is so cheesy."

Rujierd didn't respond. He continued riding ahead.

The horse's hooves sounded one beat at a time on the quiet road.

A gray line appeared on the distant horizon. At first it was indistinct, but as we drew closer, it slowly took shape. Rooftops, walls, the spire of a bell tower.

A town.

Rujierd stopped his horse.

"We're here."