Chapter 67
A gigantic pit, as if a giant had dug it out.
What Vieta found there was a gray-haired woman covered in mud.
***
“Ah, seriously. I thought I was going to die for sure.”
The woman set down her rough wooden cup and wiped the beer foam from her lips with the back of her hand.
Her long hair was still dripping wet from not having been properly dried, yet she had stylishly twisted it up with a single chopstick. Her name was Michelle.
She was a wandering adventurer like Vieta, traveling alone from place to place to participate in the hunting tournament when she met with an accident.
“Why on earth did the organizers put a mountain resembling a rotten potato into the hunting grounds? Are they all idiots?”
“For a hunter from Santpol, a mountain like that is nothing!”
Elodie bristled at Michelle’s cursing of the organizers and loudly crunched on a peanut.
“More importantly, how could you end up stranded when you’re an adventurer? You can’t even climb a mountain. Are you really an adventurer?”
“No, I was walking along a perfectly good path when it suddenly caved in! And if I hadn’t sprained my ankle, I could have easily jumped over a pit like that!”
“Everyone says that.”
Elodie crossed her arms and made a scornful face.
“Hey! I’m serious.”
“Ah, yes, yes. Of course. You must be strong, being an adventurer and all.”
Vieta tore off a piece of soft bread and began eating while wearing an awkward smile and listening to their barbed banter.
Though it takes two hands to clap, from Vieta’s perspective, Michelle was slightly more at fault. Her way of speaking was definitely rather rough.
“I should know better than to say anything. Only adventurers can understand the romance of being an adventurer. You’re an adventurer too, right, Vieta? You’re not affiliated with some knight order or anything, are you?”
“I’m a commoner.”
Michelle gave a long, understanding nod. Although society had changed considerably since the war, it was nearly impossible for a commoner to join a renowned knight order.
“Someone like you, Lady Vieta, seems stronger than most knights. It’s such a shame.”
“I can make a decent living as an adventurer or a troubleshooter.”
“You can survive, sure, but it’s still a waste of your abilities. You carried me down from the mountain, didn’t you? With abilities like that, you could secure a place for yourself anywhere.”
“Exactly. Even an ordinary hunter would have trouble with that! Honestly, what does bloodline matter?”
Michelle and Elodie, who had been arguing fiercely just moments ago, began a heated debate about the irrational customs prevalent throughout the continent. Their conversation seemed to click surprisingly well, and the beer mugs they had emptied began piling up on the table one after another.
Between the two passionate women, Vieta chimed in now and then while thinking back to what Michelle had said.
“What a waste…”
Vieta had never once thought her abilities were a waste.
Rather, she was currently thinking that everything she had accomplished here was meaningless.
She did not know when, but one day she would leave the continent of Rodina; she was an outsider, after all.
That was why she did not get worked up over the culture and laws of the continent of Rodina the way the other two did.
It wasn’t her concern.
‘Come to think of it, Aurea asked me to protect the Empire. But how long exactly am I supposed to protect it?’
Vieta secretly toyed with the Three Jewels beneath the table.
The goddess had said that when the request was fulfilled, Vieta would naturally know it, but Vieta could not bring herself to trust her words at all.
*
“Hey, Vieta. Over here.”
When Vieta returned after taking the drunken Elodie home, Michelle greeted her. Her body still reeked of alcohol, but perhaps she had sobered up a little, since she was no longer swaying from side to side as she had earlier.
“Aren’t you cold? Why are you out here?”
“It’s nice to sober up.”
Seeing Michelle’s bright smile, Vieta nodded and sat on the bench. She had also had a little to drink, and wanted to cool the heat that had built up inside her in the cold northern wind.
“…It’s nice.”
Vieta spoke as she watched people coming and going along the street.
People with flushed faces wandered around in small groups.
The entire city seemed to be steeped in anticipation ahead of the hunting tournament.
“It’s a hunting tournament that happens once a year, right? The farther you go into remote places or rough terrain, the harder life gets, so we should have fun whenever we get the chance. Anyway, Vieta, what are you going to do after the hunting tournament ends? Do you have anywhere to go?”
“No. I haven’t decided on anything in particular.”
Of course, she planned to follow Blanc, but she did not want to reveal her destination to someone she had only just met.
“Oh? Really?”
After hearing Vieta’s answer, Michelle’s red eyes glinted as she stroked Vieta’s chin.
“Then why don’t you come with me?”
“…Come with you?”
Michelle’s sudden bombshell made Vieta’s head spin.
“I may be in this sorry state, but I can still take responsibility for one Vieta. What do you say?”
“…Don’t tell me you’re confessing to me?”
Vieta frowned and leaned back, and Michelle burst into laughter.
“A confession? In a way, I suppose it is. I have fallen for you, Vieta. And for good reason—you saved my life, after all. So what do you say? Will you come with me? I told you I’d take responsibility.”
Vieta could only blink, wondering what on earth Michelle was talking about.
They had only just met—and a woman was confessing to another woman?
Vieta couldn’t follow Michelle’s train of thought.
“I’m serious. I may look like this, but I’m actually quite capable….”
“What are you doing here?”
Someone cut Michelle off and intruded on their conversation.
Vieta turned her head and saw a man with dark navy-blue hair and red eyes frowning deeply at Michelle with his arms crossed.
Judging by the leather armor covering his chest and the sleek silver vambraces, he appeared to be a swordsman.
“Where did you go, my lady?”
At the man’s chilly voice, Michelle gave an awkward smile and rubbed the back of her slender neck.
“Nowhere special. I was just having a few drinks with a friend.”
“Do you know how worried I was when I couldn’t reach you? Why on earth are you wandering around alone?”
“I’m not a child!”
Michelle was just about to snap at the man when another voice rang out.
At the familiar voice, Vieta unconsciously craned her neck.
“Have you found Lady Sijak?”
It was Fulcare, a mage with a thick silver cloak draped over one shoulder. He was walking toward them with an impassive expression, but stopped the moment he spotted Vieta.
Vieta subtly waved at Fulcare when no one else was looking.
“Yes, thanks to the mage, I found her easily. Ah, my lady, these are Prince Roen and Grand Mage Fulcare.”
‘Roen?’
The appearance of this unexpected figure made Vieta’s head spin.
“Pleased to meet you, Lady Sijak.”
After the knight finished introducing them, Blanc stepped out from behind Fulcare and extended a hand to Michelle with an impassive expression. Since the swordsman and Michelle were blocking Vieta, Blanc did not seem to have seen her yet.
Vieta was glad to see Blanc again after so long, but seeing that he looked a little gaunt left a bitter taste in her mouth.
Her joy lasted only a moment before her tangled feelings about Blanc quickly overwhelmed her. To avoid him, Vieta quietly pulled the hood attached to her cloak over her head. All she had to do now was quietly disappear into the darkness.
She was trying to move as quietly as possible when someone suddenly grabbed her wrist.
“Vieta, where are you going?”
It was Michelle.
Damn it.
Vieta turned around with an awkward smile. Over Michelle’s shoulder, she saw Blanc staring at her with a shocked expression.
“This friend saved me in the mountains today. So she has to come with us too. Right, Vieta?”
Michelle practically shoved Vieta in front of Blanc and Fulcare.
“I-I pay my respects to the Empire’s Little Sun.”
Vieta paid her respects to Blanc and Fulcare, feeling like she might cry.
***
Thanks to Michelle’s unconventional kindness, Vieta was assigned a decent room inside the lord’s castle. The room, built from various gray stones, was not luxurious, but it had a comfortable atmosphere.
Once the castle had grown quiet, Fulcare came to Vieta’s room.
“What on earth happened?”
Fulcare’s voice was filled with bewilderment.
“I don’t know either.”
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Vieta buried her face in her hands and muttered.
She had gone to such lengths to put distance between herself and Blanc, yet she had never dreamed she would be dragged back to the lord’s castle by Michelle.
“It’s surprising enough that you know that tomboy, but what is this nonsense about the duchess taking the captain away?”
Fulcare seemed just as unable to make sense of the situation.
On their way back to the lord’s castle, Michelle had flatly declared to Blanc that she was taking Vieta to the Duchy of Sijak. In response to her sudden declaration, Blanc had merely replied, his expression impassive, that the person involved’s wishes should matter.
“You aren’t actually planning to go to the duchy, are you?”
Looking anxious, Fulcare sat beside Vieta and took hold of both her shoulders.
“Why would I go to the duchy? You and Iseria are both in the Empire.”
“…If you’re going, then let’s go together. Don’t get into trouble by yourself, Captain.”
“What, are we going to the duchy just to sit around twiddling our thumbs?”
Despite her joke, Fulcare’s stiff expression showed no sign of relaxing.
Vieta removed his hands from her shoulders, then carefully leaned her head against his shoulder.
“I’m really not going. Besides, even if I ran away, wouldn’t you come find me on your own?”
“That’s true.”
Fulcare let out a short sigh before continuing.
“Even so, thanks to Lady Sijak, I feel a lot less worried. I felt uneasy leaving the captain out there alone.”
“I sleep fine on the ground. Didn’t we always spend our time in the Demon Realm with just a blanket spread on the ground?”
“Or we had to lay out the huge leaves Iseria gave us. I didn’t like them because they were damp, but Laurent loved them. He said he could feel their vitality or something. He’s a lunatic, seriously.”
Vieta and Fulcare chatted throughout the night, reminiscing about the past.
Though she had tried to keep it buried, Vieta had missed her old friend too.
***
“Captain, I know it’s none of my business, but how about clearing things up with Blanc before things get even worse between you?”
As she washed her face with the cold water a maid had brought, Vieta remembered what Fulcare had said the night before and sighed.
She knew better than anyone that resentment and misunderstandings only accumulated with time, but she had no idea what she was supposed to say.
As she irritably wiped the water from her face, she sensed someone outside the door. When she opened it a crack, Michelle was standing there with a longsword slung over her shoulder, smiling brightly.
“Vieta, let’s go warm up together.”
Afraid Michelle would keep pestering her if she refused, Vieta nodded.