← ・・｜｜・・Vol 01 Ch 02 Part 02 →
To Land"s End (Part 1)
Still wrapped in wind, the fleeing Garrius crossed over the plains and into a forest. He spotted a stream and landed on its banks.
The Sylphide Dagger had powers which could control the wind.
The use of such an item would normally consume mana. But thanks to his ‘Item Master" skill, Garrius paid in spiritual strength.
Since he was magically weak, it suited him to be able to achieve magical effects without consuming mana, but the longer he kept at it, the more fatigue would build up until he eventually lost consciousness.
“Whew, I"m beat. We should be safe for now after coming this far. Let"s rest till morning.”
Garrius sat down on the pebble-strewn riverbank and caught his breath.
“Who are you? I mean, you defeated the mightiest knight in the kingdom without breaking a sweat. Are you some first-cla.s.s adventurer?” asked Lippi the werecat, arms cradling its chest.
“I"m the hero. Well, the former hero.”
“What!?”
“By the way, you should know the demon king is still alive. So there was no point in killing Jered.”
“What!? Ow, ow, ow.”
After this second expression of shock, Lippi winced in pain.
“I received the ‘Item Master" gift when I was twelve. It means that no matter the item, I can draw out and make the fullest possible use of its capabilities.”
Garrius gave the Sylphide Dagger an eye-catching twirl and then tossed it to Lippi with a “Here you go”.
“Though, without proper equipment, I"m worse than average. And, as I was saying earlier…” He drew the knife sheathed at his side and clenched it. “It"s true that I was the hero up until yesterday. Two weeks ago, I fought the demon king, and although I let him escape, I killed many of your kin before that point. If you"re looking for revenge, I"m the one you should fight.”
Lippi"s expression grew severe. Keeping a grip on the Sylphide Dagger, the werecat a.s.sumed a half-crouching stance.
“Why"d you help a guy like me?”
“The king and his lot were going to steal the credit for my feats and virtually exile me. I only used you to take them down.”
“Is…Lord Zhizzl really alive?”
“Huh? Oh, you mean the demon king? He"s alive. I think he and his friends headed off to the, uh, wild lands?”
“Why did you let Lord Zhizzl go?”
“Well, it"s kind of a long story, but the gist is that the other humans had already breached the conditions of our duel. So there was no need to kill him,” explained Garrius, not beating around the bush.
“Was Mistress Cucouroux there, too?”
Lippi"s expression had softened. The werecat"s look of consternation seemed to indicate an understanding of the situation.
Garrius went on warningly, “You probably have your own thoughts on the matter. I won"t tell you not to hate me. But, well, even though I just got you riled up saying I"d fight you, I hope you can back down. For one, I certainly don"t want to die, so I couldn"t avoid retaliating if attacked. And also, the demon king accepted our duel because he didn"t want any more young ones like you with a future ahead of them to die.”
Lippi"s teeth ground together. Head bowed, as if in deep thought, the werecat hissed, “You, the hero, stole the lives of so many of my kin. But you…helped Lord Zhizzl and me and…”
Garrius stood up. Stepping quietly, he drew close to the werecat and gently plopped a hand down on its head.
“You"re amazing. Look how you ventured all alone among the enemy and completely destroyed the prince.”
“Ng…hn hwaa…Mother, Father…”
The names that interspersed Lippi"s sobs were probably those who had lost their lives fighting the humans.
Garrius had turned his blade against any he was ordered to target. Without a doubt, he had left countless other demons in the same circ.u.mstances as Lippi.
He didn"t want to die. That much was true.
Yet, if a demon who had lost their nearest and dearest because of him were to take up its blade against him, would he truly be willing to defend himself?
He would never know unless it actually happened.
In which case, it was better to stop worrying about it.
Garrius merely cradled the werecat"s head gently as it cried itself out.
◆
After a while, Garrius began the preparations for dinner.
He went into the forest and gathered nuts, mushrooms and herbs. He even lucked across some yams. When he returned to the riverbank, Lippi was sitting, arms wrapped around knees, looking uncomfortable. It seemed the crying was over for now and calm had returned.
“You"re…making dinner?”
“Yeah, I"m——whoa, whoa, hold on. You"re hurt, so you should rest.”
Garrius put a hand out to stop Lippi, who was trying to get up.
“I"m OK to help a little. Want me to wash those in the river?”
“All right. But don"t overdo it, OK?”
Garrius handed over the ingredients he had collected and returned to the forest. This time he gathered several loads of dead branches and fallen leaves and set them in one spot.
“Aw, no meat.”
“I"ll get some now. Well, some fish, anyway.”
“F—Fish!”
Garrius grinned at how those kitty eyes glittered.
He picked up a small rock. It had been worn flat. He wrapped his hand around it as if to familiarize himself with its shape and fixed his eyes on the river"s surface.
To a bystander, it only looked as if he had twitched his arm, but the rock sliced through the air and plunged into the water with small splash. Garrius ran downriver. Soon enough, a fish floated up to the surface.
Garrius waded into the water. It was a small river, the water reaching waist-high at the deepest. He sloshed his way over to grab the floating fish and brought it back.
“You sure got a strange way of fishing.”
“Only if the conditions are right. It has to be a slow-moving, shallow stream with relatively clear water. And I suppose it has to have fish living in it, too.”
Garrius stuck the end of a thin stick into the fish"s mouth. He shoved the stick through the fish toward the tail.
“Not going to clean it?”
“I"ll cook it like this for now.”
He started a fire with the dead branches and leaves. After shaking a generous amount of salt onto the fish, he stuck it into the ground next to the fire.
Next, he piled up rocks and built a raised hearth. He started another fire inside, took a small pot out of his pack, and placed it on the hearth after filling it with water.
He used his knife to chop up the ingredients he had gathered in the forest and brought them to a boil in the pot.
When the fish was done, he sc.r.a.ped the meat from its bones with his knife and threw that into the pot as well.
Lippi watched the proceedings, swallowing audibly.
Realizing something, Garrius went back into the forest.
He cut down a branch of suitable width and fashioned a bowl and spoon. As he had planned to travel alone, not only was his pot small, he only had enough utensils for himself. So he prepared some for Lippi.
“There, all done.”
He scooped stew into his own bowl and the one he had just made.
“What"s that? A stone bowl?”
“It"s a small mortar. I usually use it for eating. A separate bowl would just be more to carry.”
He kept the mortar for himself and handed the newly-made wooden bowl to Lippi.
“It"s only got salt, huh?”
“Hunger is the best seasoning there is. How long has it been since you"ve eaten, anyway?”
“Oh, um…had a bit this morning.”
“Eh, well, go on and try it.”
At Garrius" encouragement, Lippi blew on the stew several time and then slurped a bit of it.
“Huh! It"s really good!”
“Right? This mushroom, the scaly hedgehog mushroom, releases a meat-like savor when you boil it. It goes especially well with starchy yams. If you add the flavor of some herbs, the result is pretty tasty with salt alone, eh?”
“You know a lot about it, don"t you?”
“I guess. I spent most of my time with the army, but I did act alone a fair amount. One time I camped out for almost a whole month.”
Garrius watched Lippi struggle with the hot stew for a bit as he went on eating his own.
Meanwhile, he thought about what to do with himself.
The closest border was to the south.
First, he would cross there.
And then what?
He was confident he could do the work of any craftsman who used tools. He could also earn a lot as an adventurer.
However, he knew all too well how hideous he looked. Plus he would be a stranger, so he couldn"t count on villages or towns in any other place to take him in.
He was tired of being treated poorly.
That was why it would be much more pleasant to live alone deep in the mountains. If he bought things on an as-needed basis, he could avoid almost all contact with other people, and could probably pull it off using nothing but the gold coins he had at the moment.
Yeah. That"d work. I can live out the remainder of my life in quiet and die all alone with no one to take care of me. Sounds about right for my ugly a.s.s.
Garrius gazed down at his half-eaten stew and gave a self-deprecating smile. Just then…
“So, Mr Garrius, may I ask what you plan to do now?”
Lippi, who had managed to finish off the stew at some point, was giving him an earnest look.
“That came out of nowhere. Hey, did you change the way you talk?”
“I"m headed for those new lands where my kin went. If it pleases you, um…why not come with me?”
“Er, what? H—Hold on just a sec. Who"s going to want an ugly goon like me around?”
“Ugly goon? Is that what other humans consider you to be?”
“You can"t tell just by looking?”
“I"m sorry. I"m not very familiar with how humans judge one another"s looks, so…”
Come to think of it, there were all kinds of demi-humans—the so-called ‘demons". Each different kind had its own unique appearance. Which meant human values were as good as nonexistent.
Maybe orcs would be more likely to accept him since he shared their pig-like features?
Garrius put the jokes aside.
“Well, to begin with, I"m human. And I was your guys" mortal enemy, the hero.”
“I know. But at the same time, we"ve always respected the prowess and valor of the ‘Hero of the Kingdom". There are demi-humans who esteemed that enemy for the way he fought cleanly, without ever depriving us of our dignity.”
“Weren"t you trying to kill the hero, though?”
“That"s because I thought he—you—set Lord Zhizzl up. But you were actually kind enough to help him. There"s no problem if Lord Zhizzl is still alive!”
“Yeah, but, I mean…”
Could it work? Really? Garrius" emotions wavered wildly.
“Please! If you haven"t decided where to go yet, at least meet with Lord Zhizzl once!”
The werecat prostrated itself on the riverbank.
Truthfully, Garrius wondered if there wasn"t an ulterior motive behind the offer.
He was particularly wary as his high quality ‘Item Master" gift had been the only reason anyone had needed him till now.
On the other hand…
“OK, then. I wasn"t set on a particular destination. So I may as well join you.”
He also wanted to make sure the injured Lippi could safely make it back to the company of friends. And anyway, surely there was no guile in the simple and honest youth who now offered him enthusiastic thanks.
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