Chapter 243 - Even in a Life Like This (6)

The Archmage sighed as she watched the Mountain Lord leave. At her feet remained a few characters he had painstakingly written with his tail. They explained that he had good reason to leave, and that they must not stop him.

"He's leaving..."

"Really...?"

Yet being unable to stop him from leaving was one thing; people's sinking spirits were another. Even the soldiers who had escorted her through the wind and rain wore despairing faces. The Mountain Lord's generosity had been a considerable source of support, making the blow all the greater. Even the single knight accompanying them could not brighten his expression.

"Great Sage, your conversation...?"

"He said he could never have stayed here long. He intervened out of pity for us humans, but now his time has come. At least he is not leaving out of anger toward us, so rest assured."

But what could they do about something that had already happened? Especially when, by rights, they would have had to endure without even this kindness.

She pointed that out to encourage those around her. It did not seem to help much. It was all because of the rain. The fierce wind and rain dragged everyone deeper into gloom.

"Let us head back."

Sensing this, the Archmage secretly sighed again. Just when this wretched situation seemed about to improve, it plunged straight back into the pit. It was maddening.

"When will things finally get better...?"

Things needed to improve enough, at least, that they could step away without worrying. Would that day ever come? Would conditions here improve if they stayed rooted to the spot for half a year, rather than a month or two?

... And by then, would they still be able to catch up to the person they had lost?

Unable to feel certain about any of it, the Archmage trudged through the rain. An oiled cloak covered her from head to toe, but could not keep her hands and feet dry. Let alone the gap at her collar, which the wind forced open.

They walked silently onward, conscious of their rapidly falling body temperatures.

"...?"

When they had almost reached the entrance to the tent camp, however, the Archmage spotted someone standing outside the golden barrier. It was a familiar face, one she could hardly ignore.

After a moment's hesitation over the platinum-haired woman standing in the distance, she gestured to the knight.

"Go on ahead."

"I will escort you."

"Must you not report the Mountain Lord's departure to the Lord? I can provide the details, but the fact remains that he left because his time had come."

"... I will leave two soldiers with you."

"There is really no need..."

What had the soldiers done to deserve being stuck out in the rain with her? Having well-trained bodies did not make them immune to the cold.

But the knight insisted on leaving two behind. Feeling rather sorry for them, the Archmage made for her new destination.

"Why are you out here?"

"Mage."

Berserker lowered her head half a beat late, as though she had been lost in thought. Her manner had become so unusually subdued since the battle that sometimes she seemed like someone other than herself.

Like the person she called her elder sister. Only younger, and more exhausted. Something like that.

"I found the turtle."

While the Archmage entertained impressions she could not voice, Berserker spoke abruptly. The turtle. It took the Archmage a second to understand what she meant.

"Oh, you found it?"

She had thought Berserker was not particularly concerned, since she had only searched briefly on the day it vanished. Had she instead been searching secretly, alone? So as not to burden anyone around her?

That sudden train of thought left the Archmage a little sad. She had never realized Berserker cared so deeply for the little turtle.

"But..."

Yet if she had found it, why was there no turtle in her hands? Nor on her shoulder, in her pocket, or tucked against her chest. Why?

Surely not?

Just as the Archmage's probing mind arrived at the most horrible possibility, Berserker spoke.

"It returned where it belongs."

Thankfully, the answer differed from what she had feared. Though... it did leave room for a rather unfortunate interpretation.

"I... see."

After all, spoken by someone standing listlessly in the rain, did that not sound as though it had died?

From what she had seen of Berserker, she preferred an honest admission, or outright silence, to talking around a subject...

But the Archmage was a poor judge of people. As with the Demon Knight, nothing guaranteed Berserker would not do something unexpected.

"It isn't dead."

"Ah."

Apparently, she had gotten ahead of herself. The Archmage relaxed.

"Then... did it return to the sea?"

"I don't know. But I'm sure it got there safely."

Still, she remained every bit as confused. Had Berserker not found it and released it herself? Was she saying this simply because she had seen it going somewhere...? If she had released it herself, she would not say she did not know.

"... I'm glad it got there safely. Then were you... out here to see it off?"

"Well..."

It really was baffling. While the Archmage suffered from thinking altogether too much, Berserker let her words trail off before finally agreeing.

"I suppose this counts as seeing it off, too."

In her hand was a piece of metal the Archmage had never seen before.

"Why are you out here, Mage?"

"I came out briefly to ask the Mountain Lord something."

"Is that so?"

"Indeed."

Before the Archmage could identify the object, Berserker turned. Her weighty golden gaze, undimmed even by the rain, glanced at the barrier whose gold was different from her own.

"Are you heading back?"

"Our conversation is over, after all. And you?"

"I have no more business here either."

"Then let us go together."

She had been on her way back to begin with, stopping only because she spotted Berserker. If Berserker was returning, there was no reason for her to remain either. Pitying the soldiers getting needlessly wetter on her account, the Archmage awaited her answer.

"Very well."

Thankfully, she did not refuse. The Archmage had privately feared she might—though she had no particular reason to think so—and felt somewhat relieved. Even if they would only walk together for a few minutes.

"Will you go back to work?"

"Nothing good comes of idling."

"I doubt anyone would call you idle for resting a little... Where are you working now?"

"I'm helping dig drainage ditches outside the barrier."

"I see..."

Of all places, the most arduous one. Given her stamina and her strength, which let her easily lift what several grown men could not, it was undeniably the ideal assignment. But as her companion, the Archmage worried.

After weighing her words over and over, she asked Berserker not to overdo it.

"Mind you don't catch cold. Take breaks when you need them."

Berserker merely listened, not troubling to reply. Whether she had simply left the words unanswered or meant to refuse would probably become clear later.

It was nearly time for them to part ways.

"Oh, yes. Do you happen to know where Meister is, or have you seen him anywhere?"

As one prepared to head to work and the other toward the area occupied by the Temple and the Lord's people, the Archmage asked one last question.

It sprang both from her determination not to miss the opening Blue Coral had offered and from her sense of responsibility to tell him whether his grandson was safe.

"Do you need to find him?"

"His grandfather wishes to know how he is faring. If you don't know, there is no need to go looking. Just tell him I am looking for him if you run into him."

"Understood. If I see him, I'll tell him."

That, at least, Berserker did not refuse.

The two parted once more, walking on without knowing who awaited them at their destinations.

* * *

"Back already? Couldn't find him?"

"I did find him."

Meanwhile, Daniel bowed his head to the senior who had taken on his work so he could move about freely.

After all, he was here as part of the reinforcements. Without his senior, he would have had to put off asking the residents about the demon of black flames for quite some time, and likewise visiting the Proxy's companion after deciding the residents had nothing to tell him.

"But he said he had business of his own... and told me to come back later."

"Fair enough. But it'll be hard to get you time off later."

"We agreed to meet this evening. You don't need to make any more allowances for me."

"That's good, then."

But the brief window his senior had so kindly given him had been rendered pointless by the other man's refusal. Well, not entirely pointless, since he had arranged a meeting, but still.

"Thank you again."

"No need for thanks. Just don't get caught by the captain. I said you were in the privy."

"... Yes, sir."

Had he known it would turn out this way, perhaps he should simply have waited until his free time that evening. There was no guarantee the demon that had appeared was the same one he sought revenge against.

But Daniel knew how unrealistic that thought was. Before securing the meeting, he had been so incapable of settling his nerves that all he could do was jiggle his leg.

Without even that appointment, he would still have been anxiously darting glances in every direction. Others might call it a waste of time, but insofar as it had eased his impatience, it had not been entirely bad.

He simply felt sorry toward the senior who had freed up that time for him.

"Don't let it weigh on you. You think I don't understand how you feel?"

"... I'm sorry."

"I said not to worry about it."

At least Daniel was fortunate enough to have a truly generous senior. Grateful for that kindness, he focused on the work he should have been doing all along.

The relief supplies had all been moved, so all that remained was to pitch the tents they would be staying in. Even that required only a few additions, since the Temple personnel already here had erected some.

"Once the tents are up, we'll eat and get briefed on our duties."

"They really must be short-handed."

"Naturally."

Still, his senior shook his head, saying surely they would not be asked to do strenuous work immediately after coming through the storm. It was a reasonable prediction. Even Inquisitors, famous for their robust constitutions, were bound to run out of stamina after a forced march while soaked to the skin.

"They say things are mostly peaceful now, so we'll probably be assigned sentry duty or keeping order."

Digging drainage ditches and repairing or reinforcing tents were more strenuous tasks than maintaining an already stable peace. And they could be handled by mobilizing residents rather than highly trained personnel—though rations would have to be offered in return.

Thus, they would probably be assigned work that could not be entrusted to the residents.

"Or perhaps we'll help with ration distribution. Apparently, there's still plenty of trouble there."

"You're already well informed about this place."

"Well informed, my foot. You'd have heard it too if you hadn't been away, you rascal."

His senior gave him a painless smack on the back before handing him a task. The frames were already up, so they only needed to secure the canvas.

"If you won't give us rations, at least let us slaughter the horses for food!"

"That's right! There are dozens of them!"

But not long after they began work, word came that the Mountain Lord had left. Hungry people came crowding in as well.

"Just one would feed dozens! What are you saving them for?"

"Oh dear..."

The site they had chosen was near the existing Temple encampment, and the crowd had gathered there to shout, so the noise reached them whether they wanted to hear it or not. Eventually, several people putting the finishing touches on the tents stopped working to look over.

"... It's only because of the rain. Once the weather clears, they'll ride the horses out to hunt."

"If everyone had the presence of mind to think of that, none of these disturbances would happen in the first place."

"True enough."

They knew full well both the value of horses and the desperation of people driven to the brink. Rather than pass judgment, they simply expressed their sorrow. With nothing they could do, they had little choice.

"Martin, Daniel. Go lend a hand over there."

That changed slightly once all the tents were up and they received their assignments over a meal. Daniel and his senior had to head together to where the horses were kept.

Unlikely though it was, it would be a problem if the people tried to go after the horses.

"Four Inquisitors just to guard horses..."

Including the eight soldiers, that made a full twelve people assigned to guard them. Daniel frowned reflexively, wondering whether that was not excessive.

"Don't resent it too much. Those of us who can see the bigger picture must bear with it."

"Yes, sir."

Still, this would not be pointless work. The game soldiers hunted on warhorses, and supplies such as firewood carried back and forth by packhorses, would provide greater benefits than the resources gained from slaughtering a single horse.

Believing that, Daniel waited for the handover. One of the two people on duty had chosen this moment to visit the privy—and this was not even the scheduled time for the change of watch—so there was nothing to do but wait.

"How are things?"

"Not quite disastrous, but..."

Then he suddenly spotted a familiar horse, while his senior was talking to the Inquisitor they were relieving.

"That horse...?"

Large even for a warhorse, with a glossy coat and a slightly curly mane. Handsome enough for even someone who knew nothing about horses to recognize it. A temper that kept the other horses at a distance. Even the irritated snort it gave the moment it noticed him.

By all appearances, it was the horse he knew.

"What is it?"

"Is something wrong, Brother?"

"No... It's nothing. I just spotted the horse of someone I know."

Why was this horse here? Daniel wondered for a moment before realizing how foolish the question was.

Its owner traveled with the Proxy, and the Proxy was still here. Of course it was a foolish question.

It was a little odd that he had heard no mention whatsoever of the Demon Knight since arriving, but circumstances were what they were. Nor was the Demon Knight the sort to go around boasting of his deeds.

"You can tell?"

"It's quite distinctive. I'm sorry for worrying you."

"I don't think there's anything to apologize for..."

That must be why he had heard nothing even while searching for the Proxy or her companions to learn more about the demon of black flames.

There was also a good chance the residents did not know because the Demon Knight spent so much time out and about.

"Wait, is... that the distinctive horse you mean? The one standing alone?"

"Pardon? Yes, it is..."

"Then do you know its owner well?"

But Daniel's expectations were shattered in a different way.

"Not well, no... But we have spoken. Why do you ask—"

"You'll have to come with me."

The same foreboding he felt upon hearing that a comrade had fallen struck him. It would probably not take very long for that dread to turn to anger.

Is It a Problem If the Protagonist Is a Roleplay Fanatic? (Serialized)

Author │ Hae Inseol

Publisher │ Kim Juhyeong

Published by │ Jple Media Co., Ltd.

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Address │ Suite 1101, 11th Floor, Ace Techno Tower 8, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong)

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ⓒ Hae Inseol 2022

※ This work is published by Jple Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder. No part of its contents may be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and the author. Violations may result in criminal and civil liability.