The Ones Who See Off And The One Who Is Seen Off, And Then The Ones Who Wait
“ーーHaa, haa, haa……ple, please, help”
As she said that, she appeared before me.
Her cream-coloured fringe that covers all the way to her eyes is sticking together because of the sweat and rain.
I suppose she’d been running for a long time. Her small body is trembling lightly, her left hand is holding a bow, and her right hand is holding onto her knee.
“……What happened?”
“The truth isーー”
She heard my voice and raised her face.
She then opened her eyes widely, and her eyes, that are dimly visible from her fringe’s gap, were shaking in astonishment.
“Egil, san……”
“It’s been a while, Runa. What happened to Sana?”
“Uh, uh……”
Runa is hesitating over what to say.
She fidgetily and suspiciously entwines her fingers and takes quick glances over in my direction.
“I can’t help if you don’t tell me, you know?”
“……Please, help!”
She bowed at me vigorously.
I surmised everything with just that.
I pat her head.
“Can you lead the way?”
Runa too, in her own way, understood when I told her just that.
Runa nods multiple times and turns to the right.
“Over, over here!”
Runa runs in front and I run behind her.
And then on my shoulder, the White Rabbit, Elizabeth, rides meekly.
“Fiー, how’re things over that side?”
I ask, and Elizabeth replies immediately.
“It, already ended”
“……Is that so. Is Eleanor, alright?”
I wonder how Eleanor is feeling.
Although they’re the ones who sold her off to a slave trader, they’re originally her childhood friends and companions. If it ends up with them killing each other, whatever the result may be, it ought to become a painful memory for Eleanor.
……At a time like this, if I can be beside her, embracing her shoulders, I’d probably be able to alleviate a little bit of the pain.
But instead of being beside her, I chose to proceed forward.
ーーI believed.
is, perhaps no more than pretty words.
Elizabeth then answered after a short pause.
“……Eleanor, she’s a strong person. So she’s alright”
I guess that’s what she means by ‘Alright’ huh.
I smiled just a little.
“I’d forgotten that Eleanor is a strong woman. But Fiー, I’m counting them both on you”
“I got it. But we’ll run after you as well”
“It’s dangerous over here so you guys don’t particularly have to come”
“……Both of them say that they want to be of help. So we’re already running”
“Is that so. But can you make it so that you guys take your time to arrive? From this point onwards, I don’t really want to you three to get close”
It’s not that their capabilities are insufficient.
It’s because I don’t have the confidence that I can definitely protect them.
“……I got it. I’ll take both of them on a detour”
“My bad”
“It’s fine. You worried for me as well after all”
Fiー’s tone doesn’t change as usual.
Hence, I told her,「Call me if anything happens」, and ended the conversation with Fiー.
And we arrived.
By the side of the girl who lets Runa escape and fights alone.
♢
“Both of you stand back”
“……Un”
I return the swords that I materialized through Infinite Sword Dance(Endless Sword) to a different dimension while I pat the sobbing Sana’s head.
Quite tough of them to be able to still move even though they’re stabbed throughout their bodies.
I don’t mind even if it unfolds into a battle as it is, but I don’t want to use my energy and swords pointlessly.
“I want to meet the master who’s controlling you. They’re waiting for me, right?”
“……Guoo”
The two Ogres that stop their feet as they’re approaching,
judging from the weapons that they’re holding in their hands, these fellows are unmistakenly the same existence as the mysterious monster that uses Weather Master(Element・Relic)’s power that attacked us just now.
And if my prediction is correct, within these two Ogres’ bloodshot eyes that are glaring at me, the fellow, who’s controlling these mysterious monsters, should be watching me.
“……Guguu, guoo”
The Ogres point at the Third Gate.
Go there. Wait there. I guess that’s what it means.
And then immediately, the two Ogres ran away.
“……Egil-san”
“My companions will come soon. Can you guys wait here?”
Sana and Runa walk towards me.
A pair of small bodies. I pat the heads of the two whose heights are not even to my chest.
“Once everything is over, tell me everything without keeping any secrets, got it?”
“……Un. But we don’t want to cause trouble, to Egil-san, something like that……is we think, I guess……something like that”
I guess there’s still some kind of conflict within Sana.
I don’t want to cause troubleーーI don’t want to burden him with something, I don’t want to put him on the spot, I don’t want to be a hindrance. Those sentiments convey to me.
Like I said, don’t worry about it.
Just as I’m about to say that, Runa, who has a docile personality, opened her mouth before me.
“Sana! We, we, already……don’t have any other choice”
Runa left the pondering Sana behind and bowed again.
“I am begging you! I will tell you everything, so, please help us”
“……Runa”
Sana looked at Runa, shook her head buzzingly, and embraced me.
“In order to commission Adventurers, one has no choice but to pay and hire them. However, for me, I don’t have the money to hire Egil-san and have Egil-san grant me anything”
“I don’t particularlyーー”
“No!”
Sana who puts strength into both her arms that clung to me.
“If I indulge in your kindness even once and have you grant me something, I’m going to indulge in it over and over again from now on. I’ll rely on Egil-san with everything……. Hence, I’ll pay with something. I’ll give Egil-san something. If I don’t, my feelings won’t be convinced”
I guess it’s her own heart’s problem.
Like how previously, Eleanor wanted to save Serina so she tried to have me grant it with her body, I guess she wants to have me grant something for her with something as compensation because she wants to erase the apologetic guilty feelings.
ーーI don’t need anything. If you’ll rely on me, that in itself is enough.
Even if I say those words to her, nothing will move forward.
It’s because Sana herself won’t be convinced if she had it granted without any compensation.
“You’ll give me anything, right?”
When I said that, Sana raised her head and nodded firmly.
“In that case, I guess I’ll have Sana herself”
“Eh, that means……”
“It’s because, previously, Sana ran away from me without saying a word. So to make sure that Sana doesn’t leave my side as she pleases, I guess I’ll have Sana’s freedom”
“That means, I’ll also become Egil-san’s slave?”
“It doesn’t particularly have to be a slave. If you’ll just be by my side, that in itself is enough”
In the current situation, I don’t know Sana and Runa’s past and so forth.
I’ll ask about that as well when everything is over. However, both of them are slightly different from ordinary twins. They’re a pair of twins that are unique somewhere.
If they don’t have any relativeーーaccording to Fiー’s acquired information, I know that the man who was together with them is their father, and currently, that man is not around. So perhaps…….
It’s precisely so, that somebody should be by their side.
“Of course, it’s if Sana is agreeable”
The rain is still falling unceasingly.
And from Sana’s eyes, that stare at me, droplets of water that I don’t know whether is the rain or her tears fell; it flowed down her cheek and she lightly nodded twice.
“Un……un……. I will, I will. I will be Egil-san’s, Egil-san’s slave. So I’m begging you……”
I could tell that Sana stood on her tiptoes.
She stands on her tiptoes, places her hands on my shoulders, and moves her face close to mineーー.
“Love me. As a woman. Okayy”
A soft sensation is on my lips.
Rainwater gets onto our closed eyelids, and just for now, it became silent as though the sounds around have disappeared.
And when our lips separated, I answered.
“If you’re fine with me, I’ll love Sana”
“In that case, I will be in your care. Goshujin-sama”
Sana who smiles sweetly.
“Wai, wai wai, wait, Sana!? Wh, what are you doing……?”
Runa, who’s surprised, points at Sana and trembles.
Thereupon, Sana who moved away from my body answered.
“‘What’, it’s a contract. I’ll become Egil-san’s slave-cum-wife”
“Wha, wha wha whaa”
I wonder what’s becoming of Runa’s emotions.
Although I don’t know, Runa clung me this time around.
“I, I will also become a slave-cum-wife!”
“Eh, Runa!? Do you understand the meaning?”
“I……I don’t understand, but I’m going to be onee!”
Although Sana and Runa’s atmospheres and appearances are similar, their insides are completely different.
And then Sana sighs astoundedly,
“That’s what she says, Egil-san. May I have you take care of both Runa and me?”
she asked me.
“Please”
She puts strength into her hands that are wrapped around my back.
So I pat her head and answer.
“If you’re fine with me. Alright then, let’s have a proper talk when we return, shall we”
“……Un, we’ll be waiting. You must absolutely come back, alright”
“……Please, be careful”
Seen off by the two of them, I run towards the Third Gate.
I wanted to bring both of them, join up with Eleanor and the others as it is and return.
However, I can’t do thatーーbecause the matter that I promised Hart is still remaining.
“”I want to avenge my murdered companions””
I was entrusted with that and I swore to help out.
Hart, he’s no longer here.
He got scared and ran away.
However, if I have his vengeance and bring it back as a souvenir, his fear and guiltiness, they ought to at least alleviate a little.
Hence, I run.
I go past the Third Gate and climb up the building that has a castle-like structure.
It’s a long long stairway.
I wasn’t told that they’re on this top floor.
But I have a feeling that they’re here. So I ran.
I ran and ran.
Where I arrived at was a rooftop where the rain continues to fall.
A sky where the dark clouds cover the sun. An unceasing rain. Tiles that were set one by one. An uneven castle wall surrounds the place.
I proceed one step at a time there.
And then there was a man who’s collapsed above the tile.
“ーーAa, aah, haaah, thiss, this is the stufff”
The one who’s holding in his hand with vacant eyes a herb that releases a bewitching light, was Relic.
That’s a drug that shows people illusion.
One can experience an extremely great feeling when used, but its dependency is high; I hear that there are many people in the world who became victims to that herb and became addicts.
His figure that collapses facing up, sticking his tongue out, and drinking the rain, is the epitome of the fate of a drug addict.
He can no longer come back to his former path of a human.
“ーーThe narcotic, ‘Arrohayne’, is a flower that blossoms at an intensely damp and humid location. Hence, here and there in this crumbled castle’s rooms, Arrohayne had blossomed in a large amount”
“……Relic, he had accepted this quest because of his desire for Arrohayne huh”
“It is not just this fellow, you know. All the members in his guild are Arrohayne addicts. It is just that, on the way here……they were unluckily attacked by monsters. Only this person managed to arrive”
“Unluckily, huh”
Narcotic is an all-purpose medicine that is even used in medical treatment.
I guess the guild name, ‘Panacea Box(Elix・Irbeth)’, might have had that nuance as well.
“Besides. It appears that the King of Felistina Kingdom, who commissioned this quest, he had known that there are Arrohaynes here so he forked out a large sum of commission-fee and commissioned this quest for the sake of making a profit, you know”
“I see”
Hence, even if it’s a dangerous quest, he has no intention to withdraw the request; he wants to complete it even if he has to increase the reward huh.
Relic too, he can’t pull back if he’s addicted huh.
“And, the traitor was targeting such lots that can’t pull back huh”
“Nn, but that is not all there is to it. I had been waiting for somebody like you”
“Somebody like me?”
A young girl whose light purple hair extends all the way to her chest and wears a loose-fitting dress, that’s primarily black and has red lines, hops down from the castle wall and smiled at me.
“An S Rank Adventurer like meーーno, I had been waiting for an existence like you, one of the few with a leader’s calibre selected by God”
“Leader’s……calibre?”
