Chapter 5

The guards were climbing a steep hill.

“How much time is left?”
“About twenty minutes, give or take.”

That damned brat. They couldn’t find where he had gone at all.
It had been a mission doomed to fail from the start.
They were being told to find a kid when they didn’t even know what he looked like or what clothes he was wearing.

“They said there’d be a boy who looks like a beggar at a glance. What if he changed clothes or something?”

People and buildings were gradually no longer visible.
As they kept walking along the path, even the common buildings began to disappear.

‘Damn it, I should just quit this job or something.’

If they went back like this, they were sure to get an earful.
He recalled the Guard Captain’s eyes at the restaurant.
His eyes had been clear even through the drunkenness.
He could instinctively tell that failure would not be tolerated.

“Hey! Look over there!”

Just then, an enormous black house began to come into view ahead of them.
They had seen it a few times before, but its scale was astonishing every time.

“We’re not allowed to go in there.”
“We won’t find him anyway. Seems better than rolling around in the bushes.”
“That’s a place someone higher than the Guard Captain forbade us from entering.”
“The village chief?”
“Higher than him.”
“……So not someone from this town……?”

There was no one higher than the village chief in this town.
Then the one who gave the order had to be at least a high noble or someone from the imperial court.

“Then what should we do? Since we won’t find him anyway, should we head back early?”
“That’s not a bad choice.”
“Right. If we say we were given too little information, it’ll probably end with a few scoldings.”
“Of course, of course.”

They rationalized it.
It was a line of thought born from the idea that if they were going to be scolded anyway, they shouldn’t suffer for nothing.

The two turned around and started down the hill again.
An uneasy feeling remained, but what could they do?
If it couldn’t be done, it couldn’t be done.

“Mm?”

At that moment, a man came into their sight.
A black robe that looked as if it would tear at any moment. Hair and a beard that looked completely uncared for. A massive greatsword on his back.
He looked like a wanderer or a beggar. The sword only made him more suspicious.

“…….”

A moment of hesitation came over the guards.

Step. Step.

The man must have seen them too.
But as if ignoring them, he passed by without giving them even a glance.

“Hey, mister over there!”
“…….”
“Have you seen a little beggar kid around here?”

Only then did they see the man’s eyes.
He was clearly looking at him, but his eyes did not seem to be seeing him.

“As you can see, we’re with the guard. We received a report that a petty thief ran this way from a town restaurant.”
“……He should have paid the proper price.”

As expected, he knew the boy.
Smiles appeared on the guards’ lips.
If this went well, they might receive praise instead of a scolding.

“He paid the price, but apparently the source of the money is suspicious.”
“…….”

The two guards slowly approached the man.

“Mister. We need to find that kid and take him to our captain. If you cooperate in finding him, we’ll pretend we never saw you.”

The only ones allowed to carry weapons inside the town were guards and blacksmiths.
For everyone’s safety, carrying weapons had been forbidden.
And yet there was someone right in front of them openly carrying a greatsword.
Someone who, even at best, looked like a wanderer.

Normally, they would have to take this man in too, but right now, information about the boy was urgent.
But the man instead asked calmly.

“What do you mean, pretend you never saw me?”
“Why are you acting like you don’t know, sir? Carrying a weapon is a problem. If you hand over information about the boy, we can all settle this nice and easy—”
“No, sorry, but you have never seen me.”
“What?”

Thud.

The edge of the man’s hand struck the back of the guard’s neck.

Shing.

“You bastard!”

The remaining guard flared up and hurriedly drew his sword, but Lucas’s hand was faster.

Thud.

The two collapsed helplessly.

“He said he wouldn’t cause trouble. That brat is quite skilled at exhausting people.”

Lucas dragged the two fallen men and went back down the hill he had been climbing.

“Ah…… I’m hungry.”

Serpens was hungry.
Why did he have to starve? This time, he even had money.
He had done nothing wrong, yet he had to starve because he ran away.
Maybe it would be better to steal and fill his stomach instead.

“Anyway, why isn’t he coming back!”

If he thought about it, Lucas was also at fault.
He had given him needlessly large money……
If he had given him an appropriate amount, there would have been no reason for this kind of misunderstanding.

“Tch.”

Of course, even he thought this was too forced.

‘There must be at least something to eat somewhere in this huge house.’

The boy decided to change his thinking.
Was eating a meal something natural? No.
Filling one’s stomach was something to be grateful for. Rather, starving was the natural thing.
Since when had he started waiting for food given by someone else?
Food was something one found and ate on one’s own.

“Eusha.”

What he realized while wandering around in search of food was that this building was even larger than he had thought.
Also, every object, even the walls themselves, was achromatic.
A chandelier that seemed splendid yet gloomy. A dark red carpet close to black laid on the floor.
It was a building that was grand yet carried an indescribable loneliness, very much like its owner.

“Living in a place like this would be scary pretty often.”

Serpens scratched his backside hard.

There was no food on the second floor where he had been, nor on the third floor above it.
There were a few interesting objects in each room, but he was not particularly interested.

Tadak.

The boy’s only interest was food.
But Serpens’s feet, which had been wandering around in search of a meal, soon stopped.

“No way. There isn’t a single bit of food in a house this big?”

He had so much money, yet there was no food at all in his house?
Serpens could not accept it.

“Uaaaaaagh! This filthy life!”

Should he just go down to town and buy food?
With the single silver coin he had taken back earlier, jingling in his pocket, he could buy enough food.
However……

‘It’s dangerous right now.’

The guards had definitely come to the restaurant.
They would search for Serpens at least until tonight.
Unless something bigger pushed Serpens down in priority.

“…….”

At the emptiness washing over him, the boy’s legs gave out.

Creak-

But at that moment.
A welcome sound was heard.

“Lucas!”

The sound of the firmly shut door opening.
The owner of the house had returned.
With his usual expressionless face, and…… holding a bag filled with bread.

Dadada.

As if magic had been cast on him, vitality spread through his whole body.
The savory scent of bread was calling Serpens.

Rustle.

He opened the bag the man set down and hurriedly took out bread to eat.
It felt as though a thousand years of resentment were being washed away.
As expected, people became happy when their stomachs were full.

Lucas suddenly asked.

“It seems you caused some kind of trouble.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Then why did guards come all the way here?”
“Ah, really? I didn’t know that. What happened?”
“I persuaded them properly and sent them back.”
“……Is it the method I’m thinking of?”
“What method is that?”

With bread in his mouth, Serpens sharply opened his hand like a blade.
There was no mercy to be found in the boy’s hand as he swung it through the air.

“If you hit someone that hard, they die.”
“So you did do it like this.”
“…….”

Before long, one piece of bread had quickly disappeared.
Lucas handed a canteen to Serpens, who was coughing as if his throat were blocked.

“Oh, thank you.”

Lucas looked around.
Footprints stamped all over the floor.
Seeing all the dirt and dust scattered around, it seemed the place needed cleaning.

“Lucas?”
“……What?”
“Where did you go?”
“A store.”

Come to think of it, he was carrying many things besides the bag of bread.

Thud.

As soon as he finished speaking, various items were placed before Serpens in an instant.
Clothes that looked comfortable to wear. A sword of suitable size and its sheath. A small bag to wear at the waist, and various other items.

“They are yours.”
“Uwaaaah!”

It was the first gift he had ever received from another person in his life.
The boy stuffed the bread he had been eating into his mouth and began changing clothes.

Shring.

He drew the new sword.

Rustle.

He slung the bag around his waist,

Swipe swipe.

and began packing various other items as well.

“Lucas, look at this! I think it suits me pretty well!”
“You put it on right away on your own.”
“There’s nothing hard about it. Well.”
“…….”

A brief silence.
Serpens denied the meaning in Lucas’s eyes as they quietly looked at him.

“Ah, no way.”

Lucas turned his back again.

Creak-

How long had it even been since he came in, and now he was opening the door again?

‘That damned man. How long have we even been staying here……!’

Serpens hurriedly put the bread into his bag and ran after him.
These were not things given to him just to keep in his arms and cherish.
The reason Lucas gave them was because they were needed right away.
It meant they were heading somewhere right now.

Tadadat.

Serpens ran in a hurry.
He had only gained basic items.
But those items were enough to hide Serpens’s griminess.

“So. Where are we going now?”

Lucas and Serpens were walking through the center of Litoret.
The sun was not merely warm but sweltering, yet Serpens showed no sign of exhaustion.
He was simply curious where they were going. Since he would follow anyway, he did not ask why they were going.

“We are going to Killip Gorge.”
“……I don’t know where that is, but the name doesn’t really appeal to me.”

Even as he said that, Serpens kept looking over every part of himself.
Clothes that didn’t feel itchy.
They didn’t smell either.
He kept wiping around his mouth for no reason because, for the first time in his life, he wanted to look neat.

“Is Killip Gorge a very dangerous place?”
“If you are asking whether there are monsters or raiders, yes.”
“Oh……”

Serpens scratched his head.
If they went to a place like that, would he cause trouble for Lucas like before?
What if something happened to him……

‘Pointless thoughts.’

He could make assumptions of what might happen, but they had to remain as assumptions.
The moment an assumption became worry, and worry became anxiety.
He would be seized by that emotion and unable to properly do even what he could.

‘I just have to do my best. My best.’

Surely Lucas wasn’t taking him there to die.
No matter how iron-faced Lucas was, he wouldn’t do that.
It had been the same when he brought him before the wolf, saying it was a test.
Had Lucas not stepped in before a crisis he couldn’t handle?

But Lucas suddenly said something unsettling.

“At your level, you may die.”
“……?”
“Do not make such a shit-eating expression.”
“……Yes.”
“Don’t worry. As long as you’re with me, I won’t simply let you die.”
“……Thank you.”

Lucas did not turn back even once as he spoke.
Only Serpens followed him while looking up at him.
But Lucas adjusted his stride so the boy could follow, and Serpens followed without showing it even when it was difficult.

Saaah.

A cool wind brushed past the two of them.
At the seaside they had reached before they knew it, a single ship was waiting there.
The two boarded that ship.
Serpens found the ship seen up close nothing but fascinating.
That an object made of wood could float without sinking, and that so many people could be on top of it.

Boooo-.

The sound announcing the start of the voyage rang out.
The ship began to cut through the sea, and Serpens felt an ominous feeling.
The ship rocked worse than the carriage.
For now, it was bearable, but it seemed he wouldn’t last long.

“Lucas, is there anywhere to sit here?”
“Sit anywhere people don’t walk around.”
“Ahh. All right.”

Serpens moved his feet, saying he would look around the ship.
People were drinking and going to their own places.

The boy moved in search of a place with as few such people as possible.
Now that his head was dizzy as well, he needed a space of his own to rest comfortably.

Step. Step.

‘Found it.’

At the very back of the ship, there was a small storeroom where people didn’t come and go.
There was one cramped space there that a twelve-year-old boy could fit into.

“Eutcha.”

Once he somehow squeezed himself in, it felt strangely cozy.
There was also a round window that, though cracked, still served its purpose, and at least there was less dust than in the back alleys where he used to live.
With this much, he would be able to keep his appearance relatively neat.

“Hoooo……”

The small boy let out a breath.
In truth, this place calmed his heart far more than the room with the bed.
Because the spaces the boy was used to were cramped spaces like this.

“Wow…… It’s pretty.”

Suddenly, through the window, Litoret and the vast sea came into the boy’s sight.
Before, this would have been the time he ran around searching for food, yet here he was aboard a ship, admiring the scenery.

‘It really is over. My beggar life.’

He didn’t feel the slightest sadness or regret.
Serpens merely felt strange.
Because his life had truly changed overnight.

Whoooooosh-
Splash. Slosh.

The sounds of wind and waves came to him.
Serpens simply stared blankly, simply blankly, out the window.