Chapter 292 - Heavyweights (4)

Lavigion, home to more than half the kingdom's population.

The upper classes lumped everyone living here together as commoners, but even Lavigion had its disparities in wealth. Explorers and business owners with respectable establishments rented homes along the main streets in the center, near the plaza. Those areas were safe, and the living conditions were reasonably good.

But...

'So this is where she lived as a kid.'

Things were different once you left the main streets and followed the back alleys into the enormous blocks. Security was poor, beyond the guards' watchful eyes. The buildings were shabby and worn, divided into dozens of rooms that people rented one at a time. Bathrooms and kitchens were shared.

Even the barbarian lodgings that cost 500 stones a night had merely been on the outskirts, not in a place like this.

"..."

As I followed Raven into the alley, wary looks rained down on me from the residents. It reminded me of my experience in Bifron. They watched me warily, but nobody approached to pick a fight. If anything, they lowered their eyes.

'What, never seen a barbarian before?'

Even as I appreciated the advantages of being a barbarian all over again, I realized just how awful Raven's living conditions were. This wasn't a crowded main street. These people could surely tell I was following her.

'And not one bastard steps in...’

Right. Not their problem, was it?

Whatever. I wasn't planning to leave Raven here much longer anyway.

CREEEAK. THUD.

Soon, Raven slipped into a building and shut the door behind her. At first, I hadn't even realized it was a home. There was nothing but a door set into a wall.

'Guess I'll wait a little.'

Having reached her home, I leaned against a wall to pass the time. Raven's mother appeared about twenty minutes later, returning from work.

She wasn't hard to recognize. Her hair was far from lustrous blond, and she was much taller, but her face was the spitting image of Raven's.

"Are you Allua Raven's mother?"

"Yes... Wh-who are you...?"

She wasn't much older than me, so it wouldn't be right to say she must have been beautiful in her day. Late twenties at most? Did that mean she'd had her daughter in her early twenties?

I stared at her, feeling oddly unsettled, until Raven's mother asked anxiously,

"Has she caused trouble again...?"

"This isn't the best place. Let's go out and talk over a drink."

"... All right."

First, I took her out to the main street. Then we entered a tea shop, this era's equivalent of a café.

"Don't worry. I'll pay."

"All right..."

Talking to her felt incredibly strange. She looked exactly like Raven, but her manner of speaking and everything else were completely different.

"Order whatever you want to eat."

"..."

"If there's nothing, I'll order for us."

Thanks to my experience with our 'friends' gatherings,' ordering from the menu without a woman's help wasn't difficult. As you'd expect from a tea shop, our order arrived quickly. Of course, neither she nor I touched it.

Whew. Where was I supposed to start...?

"Let's clear up a misunderstanding first. I'm not here to complain because Raven caused trouble."

"What? Then..."

"I'm Raven's friend."

"Her... friend?"

"Barbarians don't care about things like age."

"I-I see..."

Her mother looked dubious, but nodded anyway. I thought I had a rough idea of her personality now. She was simply Raven's polar opposite.

"I saw her today for the first time in a while. Her face was hurt."

"Oh..."

Her face turned deathly pale, as though she'd realized why I had come. But perhaps, on second thought, she felt she was being treated unfairly.

"That's... none of your business."

She'd been too frightened to say much of anything, but she drew a firm line here.

Certainly, that was the conventional stance. In this insane world, you could end up on the execution block for failing to pay your taxes. A parent beating a disobedient child wasn't considered a problem. No, anyone criticizing it would seem more abnormal.

But...

"Business? Don't use difficult words."

I was a proud member of the barbarian race, ignorant of that sort of thing.

"If someone hits my friend, I take blood revenge."

I said it calmly, without any particular emotion, and her mother flinched and froze. Well, when would she ever have heard someone talk about blood revenge? From what I'd heard, she just worked in a kitchen.

"... Then what do you want from me? To stop hitting her? Is that all?"

"No. Let her go."

"What do you mean?"

"You must know, too. Raven has the talent to become an extraordinary mage."

"... She's his child, after all."

Her mother pressed her lips together as she spoke. Clear hatred shone in her eyes. Apparently, she was thinking of the husband who'd had an affair and abandoned his family...

But that wasn't my concern.

"Send Raven to the Magic Tower."

"I can't afford that."

"I'll cover every expense."

"... Why would you go that far?"

"I just felt like it."

Her mother remained silent for a long time after my answer. Then she murmured something strange.

"She'll abandon me."

Huh?

"Before I know it, she'll be someone important and look down on me. Then, in the end, she'll leave for her own world. Just as he did that day. She's his child, after all..."

Ah...

"Isn't something wrong here? Why is life so easy for her? I carried her in my own womb, but in all my life, nobody has ever helped me for a reason like that. But... why does she..."

Even after that, all manner of sorrow and resentment poured from her mouth in a jumble of words.

"Come to think of it, I never had any talent, either. I was slow to learn to read. But she's already learned magic and uses it at that age."

Her husband and daughter were her main targets, but ultimately, it was regret and dissatisfaction with the life she'd lived.

I listened quietly.

The trauma of her husband's affair.

Her hatred was too complicated and too deeply festering to sum up in such a short phrase.

How long passed like that?

"Are you finished?"

I asked, and she answered.

"Fine. I'll send her to the Magic Tower. She's nothing like me except for her face anyway. Perhaps I'll feel a little better if she's out of my sight altogether. Yes. I'd like... some peace now, too."

"Then that's settled."

As soon as we finished talking, I stood and paid. Outside the shop, I tried to give her some money, but she refused.

"There's no need. The Magic Tower actually sent someone a few days ago. They said they'd cover everything, so I should at least let her take their test. I suppose a child her age going around using magic caught their attention."

"... I see."

"Isn't it strange? All I've managed to build in my entire life is a single room in that cesspit."

Then her mother staggered away like someone drained of all strength, toward her home in the back alleys. I watched her go.

It wasn't that I felt pity for her.

And yet...

"What has my life even been?"

Those last words she'd left me with kept circling in my head.

* * *

Time passed quickly after that.

True to her word, her mother took Raven to the Magic Tower, and over the course of several days, Raven earned its recognition for her aptitude.

I heard all about the process from Raven, who visited the library roughly every other day...

"You're joining the Altemion School...?"

"Yeah. I like the old man there. He doesn't dismiss me just because I'm a kid."

Was that old geezer Auriel Gabis right after all? I'd thought sending her to the Magic Tower this young would change the future a little.

'Come to think of it, I don't know when she joined the Magic Tower...’

I'd simply assumed she must have been older than ten. After all, when we first met, Raven had said she wanted to become an administrative mage. I'd thought something would happen later to change her mind.

"Why are you making that face?"

"It's nothing. Anyway, it's good that you got into the Magic Tower."

"... I'm a little worried. Will I be any good?"

"You'll be a fine mage. I guarantee it."

"Hehe, really?"

Anyway, our conversation wasn't limited to the Magic Tower. We talked about her home life, too. Apparently, her mom had suddenly gotten nicer.

It seemed her mother hadn't told Raven about what had happened between us.

After we'd chatted for quite a while, it was time for Raven to go home.

"I'll get going, then. Oh, and I won't be able to come here anymore. I have to move into the Magic Tower tomorrow."

"I wouldn't have been able to come starting tomorrow, either."

"Why?"

"I've got plans."

Tomorrow, I had to head down to Noark with Amelia. I probably wouldn't come back up here until we'd accomplished our goal.

"... I see."

Before we parted for the last time, I gave Raven a piece of advice.

"When you get to the Magic Tower, watch yourself. Don't keep speaking so rudely to people."

"Huh?"

"Actually, that goes for everyone else, too. There's no need to go around making enemies."

"... I'm not scared of any of that."

"Scared or not, just do as I say. It's not just about making enemies. Act like that, and even people who want to be your friends will run away. With that attitude, you'll end up alone."

"Did I... upset you, too?"

Raven asked cautiously. After a moment's thought, I admitted she had, a little.

Perhaps that made her realize something.

"Okay. I won't do it again."

"You won't?"

"... Sir."

There. Now she was finally acting a little more like a kid.

"Shouldn't you be going soon?"

"Yeah..."

We finished our final conversation and left the library. Then we parted with a promise that had no set date.

"See you later!"

A promise with neither a time nor a place decided.

Hey, where'd all that politeness go already?

I chuckled and answered,

"Yeah. See you later."

Though you won't even remember me then.

* * *

After seeing Raven off, I headed straight to a certain place. By now, I had accepted it to some extent.

'Right. Dwalki... can't be saved.'

The orphanage run by the Order of Leatlas.

Once I arrived, I stood outside for a long time, unable to open the door. The reason was simple. Whenever I felt the urge to go in and talk to Dwalki one last time, I wondered what the point would be.

How long passed like that?

"Mr. Enche...?"

Someone called to me from beside me.

"Emirn?"

It was the woman I'd met while volunteering. At our last gathering, we'd had that strange conversation about wanting courage.

"What brings you here?"

"Well, actually... my son is here."

... What?

"Thankfully, things worked out, and I can take him home now. Thank you so much. If it hadn't been for you, Mr. Enche, I'd have kept hesitating forever."

My body went rigid at the truth I'd instinctively grasped. But I had to make sure.

"By any chance... is your son's name Leor?"

Leor 'Wuerv' Dwalki.

And 'Wuerv' Emirn.

"Oh, yes."

Emirn confirmed it in surprise.

So Dwalki's middle name had come from his mother's name.

"But how did you know?"

"It's just... you look a little like him."

"Hehe, do I? Then again, you did spend a lot of time talking with him, Mr. Enche."

Emirn smiled happily at my answer. But perhaps she was more eager to fetch Dwalki than to talk to me.

"I'll be going, then."

"Ah, right..."

Emirn hurriedly said goodbye and went into the orphanage. I couldn't leave, though. I stood frozen like a statue as all sorts of thoughts swirled through my head.

Several minutes passed like that.

TAP TAP.

I vaulted over the orphanage wall. Dwalki was in the same place as always, where he sat and read.

"Oh! Hello."

Dwalki greeted me when he saw me.

"Yeah... It's been a while."

"What brings you here?"

"I just... thought I'd stop by."

"...?"

Dwalki tilted his head at me in puzzlement, but perhaps because of the time we'd spent together, he didn't seem wary.

I turned my head and looked through the building's window. I could see Emirn handing a stack of papers to an employee seated at a desk.

Only then did it truly sink in.

Dwalki would now live with his mother. He would hear stories about the sea. Even after becoming an administrative mage, he wouldn't be able to let go of that dream, and he would enter the Labyrinth.

And...

["Thank you, everyone, for being my companions."]

He would die.

'Is that... all because of me?'

I felt a profound sense of responsibility. At the same time, I felt like a minuscule speck of dust in the universe. Helplessness seeped through my entire body.

As if rebelling against it, another urge rose within me.

Maybe it wasn't too late. If I did something now, couldn't I prevent that future? Right. If I kidnapped him here and now, surely something would change.

'Damn it.'

Even as I thought it, my body wouldn't move. Scenes kept replaying in my mind. Emirn's face when she'd come to me seeking courage. Dwalki's voice as he reminisced about his mother back in our Outcast Team days.

I kept seeing and hearing them.

'I...’

What should I do?

Would that really change the future? What if my actions had no effect on the outcome, and all I did was shorten the happy time he'd spend with his mother?

My hand tightened without my realizing it. A small hand came to rest on my clenched fist.

It was Dwalki's.

"It's so big... Oh, sorry for touching you out of nowhere."

"... You don't have to apologize."

"Will I be able to get that big someday, too? Big enough to protect someone precious to me, if I find someone like that?"

At his question, I forced the words out, holding myself back.

"Don't worry... too much."

Even if his body would be scrawny and short.

"You'll become a great man."

Greater than someone like me.

No, greater than anyone I'd ever seen.

* * *