Chapter 39
Dawn broke, and the journey resumed at a furious pace.
-Wake up! We have to get moving!
Rough shouts roused the travelers, metal clanged, embers still glowed in the bonfire, and luggage was tossed into the carriages.
The horses snorted, and the carriage shuddered as it moved.
The morning dew on the grassland shimmered in the wind and sunlight.
Enya climbed into the carriage half-asleep, and only began to come around some time after they set off.
When Tarmin came through the small door by the driver's seat, Enya was shivering in the cold dawn air.
“…What on earth is going on?”
“They say there are monsters, Enya.”
Tarmin was shivering, too, after being hit by the wind on the driver's seat.
“Looks like the scouts spotted a horde of monsters. Brr. I can see why the drivers wear those thick robes.”
Tarmin shuddered and hurriedly shut the small door. Once it was closed, the other passengers' faces brightened, too.
With bleary eyes, Enya opened one side of the blanket for Tarmin and greeted him.
“Taal, good morning… Touch me and die.”
At her murderous threat, Tarmin stopped his frozen hand just short of her neck.
He hesitated, then smiled amiably and climbed under the blanket.
“No, ha ha ha. I was just trying to wake you up.”
“Don't talk nonsense. What do you mean, monsters? Are we being chased?”
“No. If we were, they'd be getting ready to fight. I think our route happened to cross the monsters' path, so they're moving ahead of time to avoid running into them.”
“Oh, really? I see. Yaaawn…”
Enya nodded, then let out a long, languid yawn.
She looked ready to fall asleep again.
At that moment, Tarmin's eyes gleamed, and he reached for her neck.
“Caught you off guard!”
“Eek!”
Her shrill scream made him burst out laughing.
He rubbed the back of his thoroughly chilled hand against her neck.
“It's cold, you jerk!”
Enya lunged at him in fury and started choking him.
Pinned beneath her, Tarmin wheezed and grabbed the arms around his neck to save himself.
As Enya struggled against his grip, panting raggedly, one of the passengers stumbled over with the swaying carriage.
A middle-aged man asked Tarmin,
“Excuse me, is that true? I heard you say something about monsters.”
Tarmin got up and guided Enya back to her seat as he replied.
“It's just as you heard. I'm sure they'll explain properly once we're out of their path. …Hey! Stop struggling!”
“I said I get it, so let go.”
Enya had noticed everyone staring and was feeling embarrassed.
As soon as Tarmin let go, Enya sat down and turned away.
The middle-aged man looked doubtful and asked again,
“So we don't have to worry about kissing a monster today, then? I paid a lot for this carriage ride.”
“I couldn't say. We'll have to trust the caravaners' judgment. They don't want to die, either. Or would you rather ask them yourself?”
“No, that's all right. But thanks for asking for me.”
The man shook his head and returned to his seat.
Tarmin picked up the blanket from the floor, dusted it off, then handed one side to Enya.
As soon as she took it, Enya pulled it over her head.
Tarmin glanced around.
It was early morning, and none of the passengers were talking among themselves.
The wheels clattered loudly, but once the carriage settled into a steady pace, even that sound seemed part of the quiet.
Tarmin spoke softly through the blanket.
“Are you wide awake now, Enya?”
“Shut up. You made me a spectacle.”
Her disgruntled voice came from inside the blanket, and a smile tugged at his lips.
Strangely, the angrier Enya got, the more he wanted to tease her.
“Who told you to doze off like that?”
“You really are something.”
Tarmin grinned and asked,
“Why were you so restless last night?”
“…Ugh.”
She gave a little groan, lowered the blanket, and glared at Tarmin as she spoke.
“You don't know?”
“Nope.”
He deliberately answered with a smug grin.
The truth was, he did know.
He was the one who'd given her something to worry about.
“You… Never mind.”
Enya glared at him as if she wanted to eat him alive, then sighed and closed her eyes.
But Tarmin had no intention of ending the conversation.
“Enya.”
“What?”
“Would you hate it if I kissed you right now?”
Enya's eyes flew open in surprise.
She frantically scanned the carriage with her wide eyes.
There was nowhere to hide in the jolting carriage.
She could see people looking out the windows or trying to sleep, but no one was paying attention to them.
After checking their surroundings, Enya glared at him angrily.
“Are you insane? There's a limit to how much you can joke around.”
“I'm serious. A good-morning kiss.”
At the word kiss, Enya hunched her shoulders and shuddered, then got angry all over again.
“You're serious? This early in the morning? What else am I supposed to call you but an exhibitionist? Have some shame.”
“What do you take me for? Nobody's watching right now.”
“People who enjoy that are called perverts. This won't do, Taal. Let's go pray at the cathedral. I know a priest there.”
He'd thought he could make her answer, but it wasn't going to be easy.
Enya was earnestly explaining how his perverted tastes meant he was possessed by a demon, and how repentance would cure him.
Tarmin seemed to consider it for a moment, then pulled the blanket up and covered them both.
“Even if nobody seems to be watching, God is always keeping an eye on us, so you absolutely mustn't… Taal?”
Once they had the layers of blankets pulled over their heads, the darkness gave him courage.
He could make out Enya by the faint light seeping beneath the blanket.
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders so she couldn't get away, then leaned closer.
He whispered coyly in Enya's ear.
“Then even God won't be able to see us, right? Kiss.”
“N-No, but still…”
When he moved the arm around her shoulders and lifted her chin, Enya fell silent.
He could see her eyelids trembling.
Her lips were slightly parted, letting out warm breaths.
They'd kissed several times already, but the way she tensed up as if it were their first, right before their lips met, was adorable.
He nearly gave in to the pleasure of it, but managed to stop himself.
Just before their lips touched, he lifted his head and asked Enya,
“No, Enya. So can I or can't I?”
At his words, Enya looked at him with unfocused eyes.
“H-Huh?”
“I told you to tell me when you want to. Is now okay? Or do you not want to?”
Enya slipped out of the hand holding her chin and turned her head away.
“I don't know.”
“You little…”
Enya was avoiding answering him to the very end.
He was so frustrated he wanted to rap her on the crown of her head.
After thinking it over, he decided to hold off on getting a direct answer for now.
Tarmin sighed and whispered close to her ear.
“Hey. If you ‘want to,’ stay still. But if you ‘don't,’ just pull the blanket down. I can't do this in front of other people, either.”
“…”
Enya drew in a breath and clutched the blanket.
Her body trembled slightly.
He watched her in surprise, but she just kept holding on, unable to decide what to do.
She hadn't answered, but she hadn't pulled the blanket down, either.
He let out a sigh of relief.
“Phew.”
For now, he'd settle for that much.
Tarmin was the one reaching his limit if he kept teasing her.
Even if she said no, he planned to kiss her by force and apologize afterward.
He took hold of her chin, lifted it, and kissed her.
Enya's eyes widened, then slowly closed.
She let out a small nasal sound.
“Hnn…”
There were people outside the blanket.
He kissed her slowly and quietly so they wouldn't be discovered.
A tiny, faint smacking sound.
After briefly savoring the inside of her mouth, he lightly parted their lips, and this time there was a cute little peck.
“Huuuh. S-Stop.”
Enya opened her hazy eyes and panted, her breath hot.
She was pushing him away from her chest with both hands.
That would have been enough for a good-morning kiss, but Tarmin was thoroughly worked up.
He wanted to take things a little further.
He had good reason.
Enya hadn't pulled the blanket away, after all.
He caught the back of Enya's neck as she tried to withdraw and kissed her again.
“Mmm!”
Enya writhed and struggled, but as he held her shoulders and continued kissing her, her strength gradually faded.
Her body, which had been sitting stiffly with tension, slowly relaxed until she finally nestled into his arms.
It felt as though his mind had gone blank.
He moved his free hand toward her chest.
It was a continuation of what they'd left unfinished against the flesh-colored wall.
When he squeezed her breast, Enya let out a moan.
“Hnnngh…”
The inside of the blanket was so hot that it was hard to believe it had been cold a moment ago, and sweat began to bead on their skin.
Being in a carriage with other people felt unbearably stifling.
His mind had already started making excuses.
Who cared if someone saw? Enya was in his arms.
Didn't even God encourage people to love and multiply?
Tarmin was just about to cross the line.
-Clunk!
The carriage must have hit a rock; it lurched violently, and the two of them, lips pressed together, knocked their teeth hard against each other.
Smack!
“Ghk!”
“Ow!”
They each clapped a hand over their mouths and toppled away from each other.
Enya trembled for a long while before finally sitting up.
Tarmin was getting up, too, his eyes squeezed shut.
Startled by the loud noise, they looked around, but no one seemed to care.
Enya's eyes welled with tears as she said,
“I think my front teeth are loose.”
“Mine, too.”
It was the moment they learned not to kiss in a moving carriage.
Both of them grimaced, then caught sight of each other's sweaty faces and chuckled.
“…Tarmin, I don't want to do that in a carriage again.”
“Yeah, me neither. Damn. Ow, that hurts.”
People were murmuring as they stared out the carriage windows.
When the collision of their teeth brought them to their senses, the atmosphere in the carriage was different from before they'd pulled the blanket over themselves.
The middle-aged man who'd approached him earlier was at the window, shouting in alarm.
“M-Monsters!”
The hair on the back of his neck stood on end.
Their secret tryst was the least of their problems.
**
In another cargo carriage, Lise looked tiredly at the person sitting beside her.
“Ivar.”
“I'm sorry…”
Ivar hung his head, and Lise sighed.
She'd told him to pretend they were married, and her subordinate had spent the whole night clinging to her.
Thanks to that, she hadn't heard a single word of the Hero's conversation.
She was supposed to keep an eye on the Hero, but she'd felt as though she was the one being watched, so she'd fled to another carriage.
She scolded her subordinate.
“Do you have some kind of fetish? If so, then for the sake of the other members, I might have to expel you.”
“N-No, I don't!”
“I understand this is your first assignment since being knighted as a full-fledged knight, Ivar. Part of my duty is to evaluate you and report on your performance. I don't mind, but if you make a spectacle of yourself in front of the other knights later…”
Ivar took a deep breath, his face set, and looked Lise straight in the eye.
He was determined to say what he had to before she expelled him.
“It's not a fetish! It's because you're Sir Lise!”
“What?”
Lise stared at him in surprise.
Her round eyes studied the young knight.
After a long silence, the senior knight spoke.
“…Do you mean to say, Ivar, that you're interested in me?”
“Yes!”
“What could you possibly find appealing about this rotten body?”
“You're very beautiful! Sir Lise…”
Lise kicked Ivar in an instant.
“Ghk!”
Ivar went flying toward the back of the cargo bed, then pushed himself up from the floor with a crestfallen look.
He'd expected to be rejected, but that was an awfully rough way to do it.
His heart hurt so much he could almost cry.
Lately, all the women did was reject him. Literally.
As Ivar turned around, miserable, he saw a gigantic arrow jutting through the wall, piercing the spot where he'd been sitting.
The instant he saw it, Ivar sprang toward his luggage in a fierce, practiced movement.
“We're under attack!”
*****