Chapter 7

Tak. Patter.

The thin sound of rain filled the gorge.
The wind slowly grew cool. The rain that had continued all day began to stop.

“Mmm……”

Serpens opened his eyes with his hair in disarray.
It was dark. Where was this?
He slowly turned his head.

Crackle.

“It’s a cave.”

As if he had noticed the movement, Lucas rose from his seat with the sound of the campfire burning.

‘There’s a fire?’

A campfire burned not far away.
It seemed like it should be warm, but it wasn’t warm at all.

“Eat.”

Lucas took a piece of meat placed over the campfire and handed it to him.
Steam rose from it.
Serpens’s salivary glands reacted on their own.

“Mm? This is really good.”
“…….”

It was good enough that he wondered if Lucas had brought it separately.
He could count on one hand the times he had eaten meat in his life, but he could say this was the best among them.
The texture was excellent. It wasn’t tough, and it held just the right amount of juice.

“Where did you find meat like this? A wild boar? Or some other animal?”
“Goblin.”
“……What?”
“It’s the meat of the goblin you killed.”

Serpens slowly shook his head.
Even if he tried to deny it, it was already too late.
There was only one thing he could do.

“Aha……?”

First, react with great surprise.
Then soothe his churning stomach.

‘It’s…… much better than a rotten rat.’

Then swallow his daily meal.

The dark clouds cleared, and the sun revealed itself.
The sunlight was fairly warm, but the cold still had not faded from one side of the gorge.

“Seriously. No matter how I think about it, wasn’t that too much? Goblin meat, of all things.”
“You ate it well.”
“That’s…… because I was hungry! You could call it a meal for survival.”
“So people these days can eat meals for survival with such happy faces.”
“……Damn it.”

Lucas and Serpens headed toward the center of the gorge.
Naturally, the closer they went to the center, the more danger lurked.
Of course, there were always exceptions.
That exception was the person called Lucas.
Lucas crossed the gorge as if it were nothing.

In the meantime,

“Do I not have to kill monsters now?”
“Then how will I get stronger?”
“You haven’t given up on me, right?”
“You’re someone who keeps promises, right?”

A barrage of questions poured out.
The answer that returned was short, and the same as always.

“Just follow me.”

“Tch.”

Serpens couldn’t hold back his curiosity well.
Of course, only within a line that would not put him in danger.

‘Would it hurt him to tell me? It’s not like his mouth would wear down.’

Was it not a loss for him if he had no information?
Was it not more dangerous to suddenly say, ‘Kill only ten,’ like the day before?

Thud.

Serpens, grumbling to himself, kicked aside a stone that had fallen to the ground.

Tododok. Thud.

The stone rolled along the slippery path and fell toward a cliff Serpens had not even noticed.

Pak.

“Which bastard was that!”

Someone shouted.
Lucas paid it no mind, and Serpens didn’t realize it was something he had done.
He simply thought, What a strange guy, and continued following Lucas.
Before they knew it, the two had become alike.

“What is it, Captain?”

A lightly armed man asked.

“……Some bastard deliberately threw a stone.”

A man with a bear-like build answered.
The direction he looked up at was where Serpens had passed.
If a fist-sized stone had fallen because of the wind, there was no way only one would have fallen.
A monster or a human. It had to be one of the two.

“Bring them here.”
“Yes! Urs!”

At the man’s single command, the three who had been gathered moved.
The ones left were the man called Urs.
And a blond man panting under his gaze.

“Ha…… Now the subordinates protecting you are gone too. Come at me, you son of a bitch.”

A fair face that didn’t suit the gorge. It was stained red with marks from being beaten.
The blond man staggered and took a stance.
The sword he had carried for self-defense was broken, and the fist he barely raised trembled.

“You dumb bastard. What are you going to do in that state?”

Even at the mocking tone, the man’s will didn’t break.

“You must have targeted me knowing that, but I am still the son of a count’s family. I practiced fighting people until I was sick of it.”
“Oh, is that so?”

The man’s body moved.
His waist quickly turned with his left foot as the axis.
His right arm carried force. It was a standard attack, but the opponent was bad.

Grab.

“You call this throwing a punch?”

Tragedy filled the man’s eyes.
Considering the situation, it had been the best attack he could make.
But his opponent caught that fist with ease, as if it belonged to a child.

Thud.

An impact in his abdomen.

“Keheok!”

Urs’s fist was different from his.
This was Killip Gorge. Even if they looked like common bandits, most of those who lived here were skilled.

“The son of a count’s family is nothing special either.”

The man sensed that he had reached his limit.

Shring.

The sword Urs drew.
That blade would cut his neck.
Everything he had would be looted, and his corpse would be thrown to the monsters.
Tears gathered at the miserable end drawn in his mind.

At the moment Urs’s hand rose and the blade flashed in the sunlight.

“Captain!!!”

Someone’s desperate scream rang out.
Urs and the man whipped their heads around.

Dadadadada.

A subordinate ran toward him with a serious wound.
The most flustered one was Urs.

It hadn’t been long since he’d ordered them to bring something back.
Climbing up the gorge should have been easy for his subordinates.
Even if they seemed useless, they were still people who lived in the gorge.
They should have been able to handle most monsters on their own.
Yet only one of them returned far too soon. Wounded.

‘A strong one.’

Pabat.

Urs’s judgment was quick.
The fact that only one returned meant the other two were at least unable to fight.
Perhaps dead.
It was better to think that way.

The subordinate reached out toward him.
Beyond him, someone could be seen.

A black robe. A gray-haired man.
A massive greatsword and a chilling gaze.

“Hold the young master. He shouldn’t be able to run away.”
“……Yes!”

Urs rushed toward the gray-haired man.
The blond bastard was unconscious.
No matter how injured his subordinate was, there was no way he could not manage one unconscious person.

His concern should be directed at himself.
The closer he got to the man, the more he should have felt pressure, but he felt none at all.
Because not feeling any pressure meant there was an overwhelming gap in skill.

Clang!

Urs pushed aside his anxiety and thrust his sword.
Sparks flew as sword met sword.

“To block my sword! You’re strong!”

He swung his sword once more.
A sword filled with power. It was swung with the sole intention of breaking the enemy’s weapon.

Kikang!

A fragment of the broken sword grazed his eye.
He had almost gone blind.
But it was fine.
The acrid smell brushing his nose was proof that the enemy was bleeding.
If he swung his sword one more time, he could seize a sure chance at victory.
Had the pressure he hadn’t felt been a mistake?

‘Huh?’

But something was strange.
He only needed to swing once more. But his arm wouldn’t move.
Why was that?
Had the man before him used magic?

“Keheok!”

In that instant, red blood burst from his mouth.
Pain wrapped around his whole body, and a scream tried to leak out through his mouth.
Only then could Urs understand the situation.
The broken sword had been his. The one cut had been him.

His body convulsed.
All he could do was let out a groan and vomit blood.
He didn’t know whether his eye bled because of resentment or because of pain.

“I was right, wasn’t I, Lucas? I said there would definitely be a captain.”

A young voice was heard.
When he looked up with his bleeding eye, he saw a young boy.
Light brown hair. Clothes with bloodstains left on them.
It seemed he had also rolled around in the gorge a bit.

‘What a miserable end this is.’

He saw the pitying gaze directed at him.
To think the last eyes he saw would be eyes like that.
What a sorrowful life.

“Gguruk.”

Urs spat out dark red blood and died just like that.

“Mmm……”

Serpens hurriedly turned his head.
A person had died. Not a monster, but a person.
His unsettled stomach churned once more.

“Serpens. I will say it again, get used to it. Once you have set foot on the path of the sword, if you cannot get used to it, only death remains.”

Lucas’s words were so blunt they were cold.
Instead of answering, Serpens nodded.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
It was a way to quickly steady his heart.

Tadada.

The remnants who had lost their captain began to run away.
The way they ran while trying to find their lost center was quite pathetic.

“We let the goblins go, so let’s let the people go once too.”

Serpens said quietly.
If not for those words, the remnants would certainly have died.
Because Lucas had intended to do so.

Lucas’s faded eyes turned toward the boy.
Was it because he had not educated him properly yet?
Or because unnecessary emotions still remained?
He couldn’t understand it.
Were they not people who had come to kill him?
Monsters might be one thing, but humans should not be allowed to leave alive.
Because they would definitely return as future trouble.
Troublesome or a headache. They would definitely return as one of the two.

“…….”

Shhk.

But Lucas slung the sword onto his back.
He himself didn’t know the reason.

A brief silence.
The two of their gazes naturally turned toward the fallen man.

“He probably isn’t with those people. The marks from being beaten by them are clearly visible.”
“……We will go on our way.”
“We’re leaving? Leaving a collapsed person behind?”
“…….”
“Don’t look at me like that. I’m not that good a person either. It’s just……”

It did not come from pure intentions.
Serpens was not that good a boy either.
His suggestion not to pass by the blond man didn’t come from pity.

“Look closely at how he is dressed. They are dirty, but I’ve seen this kind of clothing a few times. Mostly on high-ranking people. In other words, nobles. If we help him, we’ll definitely benefit.”
“And if not?”
“……Then that would be unfortunate.”

Silence flowed once again.
The flag emblem drawn on the clothes worn by the fallen man.
Lucas remembered seeing that emblem before.
The Navigatou Count Family.
If there was the port town of Litoret in the west, then in the south of the continent there was the port city of Navigatou.
It was a flag emblem he had seen in that place he had visited a few times.
Seeing that he was a young man, he was likely a son of the count’s family.

“We have neither a reason nor the leisure to help him.”

Even knowing his status, nothing changed.
This was Killip Gorge.
Had he not entered prepared to end up like that?

‘To come somewhere beyond his station without even knowing his own place.’

The weak spoken of in the knight’s oath.
They were people like children or the old and infirm, not fools like this.

Lucas often thought.
One had to take responsibility for one’s own actions.

Thud.

At that moment, Serpens sat down.
With his arms even crossed. The boy began to express a fairly strong will.

“Saving this person will benefit us. My instincts have never been wrong. Never.”
“…….”
“What are you thinking?”

Seeing Lucas’s motionless face, Serpens felt something ominous.
That was also why he made the first move before Lucas opened his mouth.

Shff.

Serpens quickly rose from his seat.

“Eu-eut! Cha!”

Then he hoisted the man over his shoulders.
It was too much for a small boy to carry an adult man.
Serpens’s legs, staggering with each step, were proof of that.

Lucas silently turned his body.
It meant Serpens should take care of the man himself.

‘He won’t even spare a glance. Should I be grateful he accepted it?’

Of course, Serpens had not the slightest thought of receiving help.

“Now……. Hup. Where are we going? Hup.”
“…….”
“Oh, come on. Lucas! Are you sulking?”
“…….”
“Over something like this? Because I didn’t listen to you?”
“…….”
“Wow. You are a lot more sensitive than I thought.”

Shring.

Lucas, who had been silent, put his hand on his sheath.

“I’m sorry……”

On the other hand, a smile appeared on Serpens’s lips.
Because he had saved someone? Because of the benefit he would gain by saving this person?
He did not know the exact reason.
But he smiled.
Even while struggling to carry the man, even while his stomach still churned from what had happened yesterday, he smiled.

“Let’s go.”
“Yes!”

This person who, somehow, had truly become his teacher.
He still didn’t know Lucas’s exact identity.
But if he was with this person, he was safe. He did not starve. He could learn.
He could become a better person.
Lucas gave him enough room that he could even show mercy to someone else.

Also, though Lucas was blunt, he didn’t treat him coldly.
He gave off frightening killing intent, but it was not directed at him.
That was everything Serpens knew about Lucas.

‘The sky is really clear.’

The sky, from which the rain had completely cleared, was beautifully blue.
A sky that made his mood even better.
Serpens gladly began to sweat.