126 – 5. Witch Moon (2)
5. Witch’s Month – Old Dreams (2)
When I came down, the scenery of the hall was mostly quiet. It was because the day was relaxed now, and adventurers who had been playing without proper work after the defeat of Winterwolf started going out infrequently, and even those who still wanted to crouch down realized that their pockets had become lighter throughout the winter and headed to the city.
Since the lunch business was over, the savory smell wafting through the warmth of the fireplace tickled my nose, and I found soup and rye bread that had not yet cooled down on a plate on the counter. Originally, I came down to find Celine, but when I saw the food prepared, I was really hungry.
I sat down and started eating my late lunch. As I soaked the bread in the soup with the cut potatoes and meat and put it in my mouth, it seemed funny that I felt a little better. I emptied the bowl faster than usual.
At that time, someone unexpectedly approached me from behind and held the back of my head in my arms. Long pink hair tickled her neck and ears with a soft texture. There is no one but one person who would do something like this. I deliberately pretended to be surprised and turned my head.
“Mummy?”
“hehehe.”
When I called, she smiled seductively. Even though there are still people in the hall, she blows a short kiss on my cheek, then quickly pulls a chair and sits next to her as if she has met someone she is about to run away from.
“Are you eating now? You must have woken up late today.”
“That’s right. You? If still together…….”
“No.”
I felt embarrassed for no reason, so I tried to run away to the kitchen, but I was pulled back with a stronger force than I thought, so I couldn’t resist and sat back down. Mira, who held her by the wrist, shook her head and smiled faintly.
“It’s okay. Just…… Just stay here.”
“…… Yes, what.”
I continued her meal alone as she told me to. Mira crossed one of her legs and rested her chin on her chin as she watched me like that.
“If I only eat the soup, I will get choked up. Would you like a glass of cider?”
“…… I’ll find it and drink it.”
“No, wait a minute.”
I tried to dissuade her, but Mira naturally went into the kitchen and took two glasses and a bottle from her shelf. Before she got back, she didn’t forget to flick a copper coin over the money box. She had long since melted into this inn, and she didn’t have to pretend to be a guest like before.
I couldn’t get rid of the thought that she was deliberately bright in front of me. Maybe Celine did too? She recently started nagging her, which she didn’t say after confessing, maybe it was because she wanted me to act like the old days. Thinking so made the back of my head tingle. I’m such a fool.
We shared a dry toast with the cold drink she poured us into our glasses. With a clicking sound, I wet my cracked neck. Mira said.
“Gerald, I think I will be back soon.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I heard from a sailor in and out of the guild, the captain of the fishing boat said her manticore head was already hanging on the dock. It looks like they got it off safely, but won’t they return as soon as it’s sorted out?”
I nodded in agreement. While I was quiet at the inn, Gerald’s party still continued their adventures. Recently, he took a boat and went to the swampy area near the Salute estate, where non-resident foreigners live in small tribes. Manticores, whose prey had disappeared in the winter, were on a rampage, and in the midst of trouble, it seems that they made a deal with the guild with a special product that can only be found there as a reward.
“I don’t know again. It might be hard to come this year because I met the chief’s daughter there.”
“Puh, that might be.”
I muttered something as a joke, and Mira laughed at what was funny. It was completely unbelievable to me that he had solved the quest to exterminate the fate of a tribe, but thinking about it, it might be a natural result since they are now a party of adventurers representing the East Side. Anyway, since I’ve never neglected an adventure, I’ll have to improve my skills. It may not be a dream to wear green sooner or later. I finished the glass and put the bottle in my hand.
“How are you, Mira?”
I asked as I poured the ripe cider into her glass. Mira then rolled her eyes down as she handed me her glass. Then, after a little pause, she answered.
“It’s the same thing.”
It was not a nuance to lie. That would mean nothing has changed. As for the reason, it is absolutely all my responsibility.
I was reluctant at first, but now Mira is also a determined adventurer. She has become accustomed to the life to the extent that she subconsciously calls herself an adventurer, and a series of events in the past year have earned her a reputation enough to be known by her name.
Even if I’m stuck in her inn like this, there’s no law that says she should too, so sometimes she goes to the city by herself, or sometimes she goes to work with Alphonse on simple requests. In any case, it’s clear that now she’s living a fulfilling life completely out of work.
Just…… The line where she actively moves is just there. She still wanted to join me rather than party with Alphonse or the other adventurers. Even while I was shutting myself in the room, she asked me to sleep with her several times, and she secretly leaked her words or flirted with me, but when there was no response, she had no choice but to act separately.
Funny enough, when she made her into her adventurer, it was as I wished, but for some reason she wasn’t at ease anymore. And yet, I am still crouching and trembling. Because the letter came.
“Jin?”
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Nothing has happened for the past month. But, what if she comes by tomorrow? What should I do then? Will the inn be okay? Should she evacuate everyone beforehand? But for what reason? Could it be that he sent such a letter just to scare him? How could she have been silent for over four years? Because it has slots? What are you going to do now? Are they coming to retrieve the things they stole? …… I don’t know.
“Jin?”
“Uh, huh?”
“Bread will melt.”
She pointed to the bowl in front of me with her long fingers, and I lifted up a piece of bread that had been crumbled into the soup and sighed. Soon, Mira stopped pretending to be bright and grabbed my wrist.
“Jin…… It’s weird these days. What the hell is wrong with you?”
“…… I’m just dumbfounded Because it’s cold.”
“…… Yes, it is still winter.”
Mira just said that and didn’t ask anymore. For me, I was very grateful for that consideration. Saying that she was sorry to disturb you and that you could eat comfortably, she kissed her on the forehead and left.
Before she left, a word she whispered in my ear lingers in my head.
I love you. How much your words hurt me.
I put away the finished bowl and fell over on the counter. Soon after, the dream pursues me again.
※
When I came to my senses, I was lying on a carpet. When I roll my eyes under an unfamiliar ceiling, it is a dark room with only dim lights.
Although it was a room with a structure I had never seen since I was born, at least I could tell that the underworld was not another world in a religion where only the dead go. As soon as I got up, I ran my hand through the carpet and felt the characteristic texture of wool, not beaten animal skin.
Aren’t carpets a relic of the old generation, out of fashion even for the wealthy upper class? I thought so in my heart, but my hands continued to move, addicted to a feeling I had never experienced before, and soon I began to feel a sense of incongruity.
Why are you still alive?
How? When I asked such a question, I started touching my whole body. No broken places, no bones protruding. The impact of the fall must have cut off most of my nerves and ruined my whole body, but my breathing was normal and the shroud moved as I wished. No, that’s not all. It is too clean for someone who has been soaked in mud for two days. I looked at the shirt and pants for signs of muddy water, but there was no sign of getting wet.
What the hell is this all about? I tried to understand what had happened to me——in the first place, realizing that I hadn’t even accepted the fact that I had suddenly fallen from the air, I put it off first. If I’m not crazy, it’s certainly true that I’m in danger of dying, but how long will it take for the wound to heal without a trace? It was an injury that would last for months even if it went into the emergency room.
If you didn’t buy the exact same clothes and put them on, then you washed them in the meantime and put them back on again. No, where are you? How many days is it now? Also, who the hell saved me from that misery?
Amid many questions, I slowly got up and, realizing that there was nothing wrong with my body, looked down at the carpet on which I was lying and slowly looked around the room.
About seven and eight pyeong, if it’s small, it’s narrow, if it’s wide, it’s a large room. It’s much bigger than my dorm room at the academy. Hardwood was laid on the floor, and the feeling of the soles of the feet was somewhat rough, and the stone walls were covered with wallpaper. At the edge of the room was something like a protruding pillar, and in the middle was an old-style bed that could only be found in a history book. No, there was a bed. I don’t know why they put it on the carpet. In any case, a couple of candles were lit in the room, which maintained a concept similar to that of the Middle Ages, and I was able to look inside by relying on the light.
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Nothing was found yet. I remembered the last memory before being transferred to this room. The image of a woman looking down at me as I die. Yeah, the last thing I saw was her… ….
“────.”
I was taken aback by the voice I heard right in front of me. When I turned my head, there was a woman sitting on the empty bed, staring at me.
“Who, who… ….”
Some woman, no. I remembered that she was the same person who was with me in her last moments.
Wavy hair, the same hair color as mine, now that I see it, the ends are a bit blue. One eye is covered with bangs, and the exposed pupil is somewhat red. Just like back then, thin clothes clinging to the body. The extremely voluptuous breasts and feminine curves are revealed at a glance, leaving no place to look.
A low catch is in the mid-20s, and a high catch is around the 30s. A woman of unknown age. That was all I could figure out about her. Perhaps reading my troubled expression, the woman slowly opened her lips.
“────.”
She said something in a soft voice, but I couldn’t understand her words. A form of language that I have never heard of before. Is it a Latin syllable? I couldn’t figure out which country it was from with just a few words.
Did that woman bring me here? It can’t be. Even if you look at it, he has a slim feel, and although he is a bit tall for a girl, he doesn’t feel like he’s strong. How many steps can you carry me with that slender body?
I tried to talk to her in every language I knew, but the woman didn’t answer any questions and she just looked at me with her sullen face. There’s no way this could happen, and there’s no way there’s anything in this world I don’t know. Her bored reaction touched my pride at the time, and when she didn’t respond to her hard work, she was exhausted herself…… Suddenly, she stood up and approached her, pushing her forehead with her index finger.
“…… Can you hear me now?”
And. I heard. For some reason, I was able to understand the words. I blankly nodded to her, and she looked at me with her face full of annoyance.
“What did you say?”
She spoke again, and unlike what I had been talking about for a while, I kept my mouth shut and averted my gaze. Because the enchanting voice and those inhuman red eyes pierced my heart at once…… No, now that I think about it, you already know what I want to say.
That expression, as if he had no interest in everything in the world, was funny.
It was the biggest shock to me, a 16-year-old who thought he knew everything about the world at the time.
The mysterious witch stole my first love just like that.
