Chapter 59
Tarmin clenched his fist.
“So? Enya couldn’t get out?”
“What? Then who’s the person next to me?”
“Huh? Ah, no?”
Tarmin flinched and looked at Enya.
Enya let out a ticklish giggle, and Tarmin couldn’t help feeling awkward.
The prince smiled faintly and continued.
“As if. She’s right next to you because she came out. After the Observer left and another awful stretch of time passed, the Hero… no,”
At that point, the prince shook his head and winked at Tarmin.
“Enya came out… a little cuter.”
Tarmin let out a short groan.
Cuter—he remembered using that word.
The prince was subtly teasing him about the contents of the letter he’d sent.
“Taal?”
Maybe she thought it was some kind of secret code between the two of them, or that they were making fun of her.
Enya glared at him suspiciously.
He could already guess she suspected something, but it would be awkward to admit he’d been asking around about it.
Instead of answering honestly, Tarmin made an exaggerated show of pulling her sharply by the waist.
“Ahem. It’s nothing, Enya. Why do you keep drifting away? Come here.”
“Hm? Ah, ah, ah…”
He pulled Enya in and pressed her snugly against his side again.
Just as he’d intended, Enya seemed completely flustered in his arms.
He was starting to think he was getting the hang of handling Enya.
If he hugged her tight enough to make her a little uncomfortable, she didn’t know what to do.
He quickly changed the subject.
“Your Highness, then you didn’t see her change with your own eyes, either?”
“That’s right. I don’t know what happened in there. But you know there must be a secret behind the final trial—the Demon King’s trial—which only the Hero can undertake, don’t you?”
“Y-Yes, I suppose…”
“It didn’t end with something like, ‘The Demon King fell, and the world became peaceful.’”
“That’s true. Tch.”
Tarmin could only click his tongue.
The unresolved questions left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Compared to all the effort they’d made to reach that point, the Hero’s party’s final battle had ended almost absurdly easily.
It was fortunate that the party had completed their journey safely, without incident. The problem was that the ending was hidden not only from Tarmin, but from the other comrades as well.
The prince told him what he knew about the white door.
“Eldona told me not even to try looking inside through a crack.”
“Huh? Why?”
”She said it was connected to some divine realm. Apparently, insignificant beings like us could go mad or go blind just by looking inside.”
“Really? Hah, I have no idea what that means… The name is the Demon King’s trial, so shouldn’t it at least be the demon realm?”
The prince shrugged as if to say, How should I know?
On top of a trial only the Hero could attempt, there was the mysterious being called Ifnan the Observer, and now the conversation was veering into theology.
Tarmin asked Enya, hoping against hope.
“…You don’t intend to tell me what happened in there now, do you?”
“Hm? Ah, yeah.”
Enya answered him with a faintly relieved smile.
Tarmin bristled and briefly wondered if he should scold that mouth, forgetting they were in front of the prince.
It opened readily enough when they kissed, but got stubborn at times like this.
He leaned in with enough force to seem ready to kiss her right then and there, and Enya startled and turned her head away.
Tarmin shook his head.
Looking back, perhaps Enya had agreed to sit down with the two of them precisely because the prince didn’t know what had happened beyond the door.
That would explain why she was sitting there distracted, not even paying attention to what the prince was saying.
He’d even pleaded with her by offering to grant her a wish, just to get her to sit down, but she was sneakier than he’d expected.
According to the prince, after Enya returned so changed, she said with a blank expression that they should go back to the capital.
To meet the Emperor and attend the upcoming Conclave.
The incidents in the capital, her brief life in the Imperial Palace, the attack targeting Enya after she’d lost her powers, and the Witch and Prince lending their support—one story after another followed.
In the end, the prince hadn’t been able to attend the Conclave and had returned to his homeland.
He’d joined the Hero’s party to obtain a weapon against the traitors in Akhraba, and after honoring his sense of duty as best he could, he’d gone home.
Tarmin listened intently, sipping the clear liquor.
**
Several hours later, Tarmin leaned back on the sofa and gathered his thoughts.
All he really wanted to know was why Enya was sick.
The reason she’d become a woman was a bonus.
The prince’s words had certainly given him a major clue, but all they’d done was add even more secrets he needed to uncover.
They were secrets about the vast nation called the Empire, or perhaps about the very beings that made up the world.
It wasn’t something that could be resolved by figuring out what hurt and taking some medicine.
He let out a long sigh.
Tarmin Alchin was just a backwoods hunter with a somewhat unusual friend.
By contrast, Enyaril Benoa—the girl sleeping with her head in his lap now—was a Hero made up of equal parts complicated circumstances and cuteness.
She had once been his friend, and now…
He lifted his head and looked at the blonde girl who was the source of all his worries.
Enya had been listening in his arms, then curled up and fallen asleep at some point.
Tarmin poked the cheek of the sleeping Enya, who was completely oblivious to the world.
“Mm, mm?”
Enya made an unintelligible groan.
He pressed it again.
“Mmm…”
Even though her brow furrowed in discomfort, she couldn’t seem to wake up.
This time he tugged at it with two fingers.
“Ah…”
It might have been unfortunate for her, sleeping so soundly, but he was starting to find this a little fun.
Tarmin was grinning as he kneaded and played with Enya’s soft cheek when the prince began to rise.
The prince stood up.
Tarmin rustled around, gathering his weapons and outerwear, then called to him softly.
“Your Highness.”
“Oh, Tarmin. You’re awake? Sorry.”
“No, I wasn’t asleep to begin with. What are you doing up in the middle of the night?”
The prince seemed to consider what to say for a moment, then sighed as he looked at the scimitar hanging from his waist.
With a resigned expression, he said,
“…Now that our reunion is over, I should go take care of business. I’m an adult, after all.”
“Would you like me to help?”
The prince stared at Tarmin blankly, and Tarmin looked back as if to ask what was wrong with what he’d said.
Going out with a sword at this hour, while everyone was asleep, could hardly mean anything good.
Even so, Tarmin had offered to help without hesitation.
The prince gave a brief, hollow laugh, then said,
“Can you get up? She looks heavy.”
“Hmm. It certainly won’t be easy.”
Tarmin carefully cupped Enya’s head, then pulled away and slowly laid her down on her side.
As he moved gently to avoid waking her, the prince spoke from behind him.
“Tarmin, about what Enyaril said about me.”
“Yes.”
“Those things are undeniable facts. I did try to bring you along to fight Akhraba’s enemies. I approached you after hearing that the Alchin bloodline, thought lost to the royal family, could be found in a distant land.”
“I see.”
“That’s right. I got a blessing in return. What I’m doing tonight is just as dirty. Something I could never ask a comrade to do…”
“It’s fine.”
Tarmin laid Enya down and covered her with a blanket.
When he turned around, the Third Prince of Akhraba was looking at him as if he’d just been slapped.
Tarmin slung the bow that had been leaning against the table over his shoulder and said,
“Our comrades seem to have a lot of expectations of me. I don’t know why, but it seems like they want me to be disappointed, sad, or condemn them. What right do I have to do that?”
“But, Tarmin—”
“I have no intention of saving the world like Enya or fighting for my homeland like you. If anything, I’m the selfish sort.”
“…For example?”
“If Enya hadn’t gotten this cute, I wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble.”
The prince burst into laughter.
It was a truly cheerful laugh, unlike anything he’d shown while drinking and talking.
Having given an example so crude and embarrassing as fighting for cuteness, Tarmin blushed and hurriedly elaborated.
“I mean! I just thought it wouldn’t hurt to have you owe me a favor, Your Highness. Besides, you’ve already told me a lot, haven’t you? It’s not that I think, ‘His Highness wouldn’t ask me to do anything I couldn’t do.’ Do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand. Haha. Now I see why Enyaril fell for you.”
"Fell for me…"
The prince smiled and opened the reception room door.
Just as Tarmin finished getting ready and was about to follow the prince out—
Enya spoke as if sleep-talking.
“Mmm, Your Highness, don’t take Taal away…”
Tarmin gaped and looked at the prince.
As if words wouldn’t come, he pointed at Enya and waved his hands, desperately trying to convey something.
The prince nodded as if he understood.
“Should I just go alone?”
Tarmin managed to shake his head.
The prince looked at Tarmin, whose mouth was opening and closing soundlessly, then shook his head and went out first.
“…I’ll wait three minutes.”
There wasn’t even time to answer.
**
Enya felt a tongue suddenly invading her mouth and woke with a start.
She opened her eyes, confirmed it was Tarmin, and felt a little relieved, then realized they were in the prince’s hideout and startled all over again.
“Mmm, Taal, mmph!”
She tried to speak while somehow avoiding Tarmin’s face, but he wouldn’t leave her alone.
She couldn’t think straight.
Barely pushing back the greedily entwining tongue with the tip of hers, she said,
“T-Taal, why all of a sudden, mmph!”
“Mm, you’re noisy, Enya. Shut up. Ah, no, open your mouth wider.”
“W-what, wha—mmph…”
He pressed against her as if he meant to devour her, leaving her unable to move.
Once again, she felt her tongue’s freedom stolen, and a hand slipping beneath her shirt.
Enya had no choice but to close her eyes, dizzy.
How much time had passed?
“…What?”
Enya sat up and first wiped her now-damp lips.
She pulled her disheveled blouse closed, then muttered in an incredulous voice,
"What happened here?”
There was no one in the reception room.
In a daze, she looked around blankly.
*****