Chapter 25 - Volume 1 (1/2)

Side Story 3 — Part 5

His vision was warped so effortlessly, without the slightest bit of resistance. He felt like the ground beneath him was crumbling. It was just for a moment, but somehow it felt like a horribly long time.

Right as his feet reached the ground, he fell over. And it wasn’t just Yulifalet, Alhelm and Clementine were the same too. The commotion from their surroundings violently pierced his ears. The people around stared at the group of three people that had just appeared out of thin air. Some of their gazes were curious, some suspicious, but he couldn’t bring himself to care about that.

「Agedilus……!」

He spat out the name of the wizard who’d forcefully teleported them to this inn town, his voice sounded hoarse as if he was coughing up blood.

「That bastard, just screwin’ around!」

Alhelm struck his fists onto the ground. His body had gashes all over him, so it must have hurt. But Alhelm continued hitting the earth, not getting tired of it. Yulifalet couldn’t even try calling out to him, because he himself felt the same. Still sitting on the ground, he dumbfoundedly looked northwards…… In the direction of the northern primeval forest where they had confronted the demon just now.

「W-why?」

Why, why, why? Why did he protect them? Yulifalet couldn’t help wondering about it.

They’d suddenly been forced into a hard fight by an attack from a high-ranking demon. Right as Yulifalet thought, ‘Is this it?’ Agedilus moved. Without warning, a magic square spread out beneath them. An invisible barrier suddenly enveloped their surroundings, and their feet lightly left the ground. Clementine was the first one to realize that this was Agedilus’s teleportation magic.

「Don’t mess around!」 the girl said in an unusually rough voice, hitting the barrier. He and Alhelm were doing the same. Watching them, Agedilus smiled. It was the first time Yulifalet had seen him smile on this journey. It was so out of place, like a child would smile after playing a prank. If they’d been in a different time and place, Yulifalet would probably have been enchanted by that natural expression.

He wanted to go back right then. ‘I have to go back,’ he thought. If he didn’t go back, no doubt he’d regret it for the rest of his life. But even so, his wounded and exhausted body wouldn’t move the way he wanted it to. He failed even at trying to stand.

The townspeople hurriedly rushed up to them, taking turns saying things like 「Are you okay?」 or 「They need help, fast!」 But Yulifalet couldn’t bring himself to care about that. In the time they were doing this, that wizard——Agedilus was left alone on the battlefront.

「—Princess! How do we get back right now……」

He started asking that to Clementine, a user of light magic. But before he could finish, it happened right then.

——————Bang!

A dreadful crashing sound was heard from the north, as if something massive had fallen or exploded. Everyone fell quiet in a second and after a pause, began exchanging worried looks. What was that? He had nothing but a bad feeling about it. Yulifalet and Alhelm looked at Clementine’s face. Her already white face had gone pale, her petal-like lips trembling.

「……I’m not sure, but. I dare say that’s the great ancient magic of old. It’s a kind of magic that gives the user astounding power, in exchange for one’s life.」

「——!」

A soundless voice escaped his mouth. Shaking off the hands of the villagers that supported him, Yulifalet screamed, his knees on the ground.

「I, I wanted to get close to you, but not in hopes you’d do something like this!」

Tears spilled down his face, falling to the ground. What kind of hero was he? He was unable to protect one of his companions on this important journey, just how could he protect the country, the world? It had been several months since they started their journey. He’d finally started feeling like he’d been promoted from (temporary) friend to friend. Now, he regretted it unbearably.

Alhelm struck his fist at the ground one more time. Clementine quietly cast her amber eyes downward, flopping down on the ground as if she’d lost her strength. And Yulifalet didn’t stop crying, even as he was carried on the shoulder by the townspeople to the inn.

The next morning, they were courteously nursed by the townspeople. Thanks to Clementine’s healing magic, they were able to move their body somewhat and they immediately headed towards the northern primeval forest. They hurried the horses they’d borrowed from the town to get there as soon as possible.

When they finally reached there, what they saw was a vast land, looking as if it had been scraped off completely. And stuck right in the middle of it was Agedilus’s wand. The magic jewel in it, the same sunrise color as Agedilus’s eyes, had cracks running over it. It was so fragile it crumbled the second it was touched, carried away somewhere by the cold northern wind.

That was the only sign that Agedilus had even been there. There was nothing else but the vast earth, windswept by the explosion.

「We have to report this to the capital.」

「Ah, come to think of it, that’s right.」

Clementine murmured that indifferently, and Alhelm carelessly agreed. Neither of their voices had any life in them, they were just the tones of people carrying out their duties.

Clementine took out a sheet of paper from their luggage, blowing some air on it. As she did, words appeared on that white paper, writing exactly what she had in mind. She carefully folded it and blew again on it, which turned the paper into a white bird that soared up into the sky.

It flew towards the capital with a speed that was no match for any horse. Yulifalet looked up at the sky, covered by massive clouds. He watched the bird as it disappeared far away in the blink of an eye.

Nobody said anything. The cold wind blew against them, as if piercing through them. It was torture for their already weary bodies. Yulifalet reached out to Agedilus’s staff, stuck into the ground in front of him, and pulled it out. Agedilus used to wave it about so lightly, Yulifalet didn’t realize that the wand was actually rather thick and heavy, as tall as him.

Holding that in one hand, he wiped the tears from his face. For some reason, the wand felt like it still had Agedilus’s warmth left over in it. It made tears well up in Yulifalet’s eyes again, but he managed to hold them back and mutter something.

「……He’s not dead.」

「Eh?」

「Huh?」

It was a whisper so quiet that everyone failed to hear it properly. Clementine and Alhelm tilted their head to one side. Facing them, Yulifalet tightly gripped Agedilus’s wand and continued, as if biting his lip.

「There’s no way that Agedilus died here. He’s gotta be alive, somewhere.」

The moon was bright that night. The image of Agedilus, holding that handkerchief from his fiancée as if it was so important to him, vividly replayed in Yulifalet’s mind. That wizard said to be the strongest one in history with his beauty, his intelligence, his jet black hair.

With his beauty coupled with his strength, he who was rumored to be incomparably cold and heartless. There was no way someone like him could die in a place like this. More than anything, it was impossible for someone who just smiled like that to die in that fight.