Chapter 24 - Volume 1 (1/2)

Side Story 3 — Part 4

It happened one day, as Yulifalet kept going like that. They were in their living room area, in an inn of a town they’d stopped by at that day. Alhelm left for the bar, and Clementine left to take a bath. So by chance, it was just the two of them.

Yulifalet had jumped in bed first to deal with his fatigue from the journey. Without warning, Agedilus suddenly called out to him.

「……Yulifalet.」

「Hm, what?」

「You’re… A weird guy.」

Yulifalet blinked at those sudden words, his brows lowering in dejection.

「Huh? That’s so cruel out of nowhere…」

「Would you rather I have called you strange?」

「That doesn’t change the meaning very much, does it?」

「That’s true too.」

Easily agreeing with Yulifalet’s words, Agedilus went silent.

That was all the conversation they had then. So why…? At that moment, Yulifalet certainly felt the distance between him and Agedilus had decreased. Someone else might say, ‘How?’ Yulifalet himself wondered just what was it about that conversation that made them closer.

But it was because at that time, Agedilus’s voice didn’t have hidden thorns in it like usual – it was gentler. That’s why Yulifalet felt happy for some reason, despite being called endlessly rude things like 「a strange guy」 or 「a weird guy.」

The magician with pure black hair who wouldn’t get along with anyone. Yulifalet felt like he had finally become friends with, not the aloof being with all those fancy titles, but with Agedilus Von Lancent, a human being. Even though he also had a feeling that there should be a ‘(temporary)’ label on their friendship, he was still happy.

So although he knew it wasn’t like that, that feeling still cheered Yulifalet up. That night, Yulifalet felt that he had to strike while the iron was hot.

Clementine and Alhelm returned to the room, deciding together the plans for how far they’d travel tomorrow. When they said they were going to bed soon, Yulifalet decided it was the right time. He called out to Agedilus, who was writing tomorrow’s plans on the map with a quill.

「Hey, Agedilus.」

「What?」

Agedilus briefly responded, not even stopping his hand as it fluidly wrote with the quill, as if the ink was flowing. His sunrise-colored eyes didn’t even glance at Yulifalet. But someone like Agedilus’s (temporary) friend couldn’t give up like that. Yulifalet who had been studying this for these several weeks, continued his words.

「Can I give you a nickname?」

「……What’s this all of a sudden?」

Furrowing his brows in suspicion, Agedilus stopped writing. Yulifalet smiled at him.

「Well, I mean, calling you Agedilus feels so formal – like I’m talking to a stranger – even though I call Alhelm ‘Al’ as a nickname. Right?」

「Formal or whatever, we’re strangers, aren’t we?」

He declared that without a moment’s hesitation. Well, that was certainly true. But, how to put it… Yulifalet wanted to think, ‘it’s not like that,’ or ‘we aren’t supposed to be just strangers.’ Unable to find the words to say, he scratched his cheek, forcing a smile.

Alhelm would usually find their conversations like this funny, but he cut in this time.

「Ain’t that fine? We’ve been travelin’ together for so many weeks, don’t be so stingy.」

Alhelm put his arm around Agedilus’s shoulder, grinning broadly. Agedilus annoyedly pulled it off. Although Yulifalet felt like he had become a (temporary) friend, he still didn’t have the courage to try touching Agedilus like that yet. That’s just why he’d especially tried to give him an affectionate nickname, closing the distance between them.

「Is it really that bad, Agedilus? What about something like 『Edi』……」

「I refuse.」

「—?!」

Agedilus thrust the tip of his quill at Yulifalet’s nose. As Yulifalet instinctively gulped, Agedilus watched him with a dangerous expression that Yulifalet had never seen before.