Even if he hadn’t understood every word, Ren wasn’t stupid.

He could tell there was something ominous in the way Mine and the man were talking about him.

But there are times when, even knowing something, you want to look away. Ren’s unsettled heart refused to understand this situation.

“Ren, don’t worry too much. I’m sure you’ll be able to go to a good master.”

Mine spoke as if comforting him.

“...I don’t need a master.”

If he pretended not to know, maybe it could all end before anything really began, as if nothing had happened at all.

“Brother.”

He called Mine with that desperate wish buried inside him, but all that came back was mockery and a pitying look.

“Hahahahaha! You little bastard, you’re really something.”

The man smacked Mine hard on the back and burst into roaring laughter, like he’d just gotten an entertaining show out of it.

“Mm.”

With an apologetic look, Mine pulled Ren into his arms again. His hand ruffled the back of Ren’s head. At the feeling of his scalp being rubbed, Ren bit his lip.

“Ren, if it’s meant to be, maybe we’ll meet again someday. I hope you’ll be happy.”

Mine spoke gently.

He looked no different from when he had taken Ren by the hand and promised to show him the sea. There was even sincerity in the way he said he hoped Ren would be happy, in the look in his eyes as he watched him.

Looking into those unlying eyes, Ren couldn’t bring himself to speak.

Where was this? Where were they taking him? Why wasn’t Mine getting in with him? Who were all the people gathered inside that wagon, and why had they sealed it shut with a thick door so not even a speck of sunlight could get in?

If Ren opened his mouth and asked all of it, he felt like there would be no going back. If he forgot all of this, couldn’t he just return to where he had been?

Mine looked at Ren’s meek face, lips pressed tightly shut, stroked his cheek, and then stepped away. Ren blankly touched his own cheek.

The man clicked his tongue, then yanked the rope binding Ren’s hands and threw him back into the wagon.

Thud.

Ren rolled across the hard wagon floor. His arms and legs slammed against it, but right now he couldn’t even feel the pain.

“Sit still. I don’t care if you’re some natural treasure or whatever, first we’ve got to scrub the grime off you and polish you up.”

The man spoke with a vicious face, as if he had never laughed at all, then slammed the wagon door shut.

Bang!

Hurry up! Hurry!

Are the mercenaries we hired coming or not?

The loud voices of rough men dug into Ren’s ears.

“Looks like he got completely tricked.”

“That’s pathetic.”

“...We’re all in the same boat, so what’s the point.”

Quiet whispers spread through the wagon.

The wagon lurched back into motion, and Ren lay still, feeling the floor shake beneath him.

“Idiot. Get it now?”

Kenta, who had watched every second of what had happened between Mine and Ren, sneered at him with all the scorn he could muster. He was curled up, probably hurting where he’d been hit.

“Kenta! Why are you doing this? Don’t. He already feels bad enough.”

The girl beside him—the one who had tried to help Ren up earlier—shook her head. But Kenta didn’t stop. His whole face burned with anger.

“That’s why I’m calling you an idiot. You’re slow to figure out what’s going on, and even in a situation like this, you’re still going, ‘Brother!’ ‘Big brother!’ No wonder a moron like you got dragged into a place like this! What, did you actually follow him because you believed him when he said he’d take you to a good person? Idiot!”

“...”

“Kenta! Seriously, why are you acting like this...”

The vicious mood made Beta’s voice tremble on the edge of tears. She glanced nervously between Kenta and Ren.

Ren didn’t react at all, not even to Kenta’s words. His sunken eyes looked as if he still couldn’t properly understand the situation. Seeing that only made Kenta angrier, only irritated him more.

“‘Brother!?’ So what, was that guy actually your brother or something? It’s because you’re that naïve that you get fooled by some bastard pretending to be your brother!”

“Shut up.”

“...What? Did you just say that to me?”

Kenta, who had been ranting nonstop, glared at the words.

The one who had told him to shut up wasn’t Ren, but one of the other captured boys. His skin was a neatly tanned brown, and his long, narrow eyes looked vicious.

“P-please don’t fight...”

Beta muttered, trembling. Laboriously shuffling over on her knees to Kenta’s side, she grabbed his arm with her rope-bound hands.

“...”

Kenta spat out a curse and closed his mouth. Instead, he kept glaring at Ren, who still lay sprawled on the floor with a stupidly blank face, showing no sign that he meant to move.

***

When Luman entered Loroe Territory, he was welcomed with an appropriate amount of ceremony.

Servants and maids were assigned to him, and since he had been invited there for a formal meeting of prospective marriage partners, he was shown to a large, splendid room fit for a high-ranking noble.

A glittering chandelier and the sunlight pouring in through the wide-open terrace brightened the room.

The maid who had followed behind him the whole way, explaining the castle and Loroe Territory as they came, finished speaking and bent her knees in a curtsey.

“...She asks that you look around at your leisure.”

“Will you tell her I’m grateful?”

“M-my lord, please lower your speech. I will pass that on.”

The maid who had come to relay the words of Luman’s prospective fiancée, Kenilla Loroe, grew flustered at his politeness and sweet smile and took a step back. Watching her flee as if escaping, Luman called over the servant standing nearby.

“Does being told I may look around freely mean that your lady has no intention of seeing me today?”

“Please, you may speak comfortably.”

“Mm. I’m used to speaking politely, but if it makes you uncomfortable, I can do that.”

When Luman dropped the formal speech, the servant’s face visibly relaxed.

“How would a mere servant know my lady’s intentions?”

“What kind of temperament does your lady have?”

“I cannot speak carelessly about my lady.”

That answer drew a low laugh from Luman. The servant’s face was stiff. It wasn’t the expression of someone terrified, but one set hard with stubbornness. When someone refuses to speak carelessly of their master, there are usually two reasons: loyalty or fear. Judging by this servant’s reaction, Kenilla Loroe seemed to inspire the former.

Those who are ruled over usually end up resembling those who rule them.

Kenilla Loroe probably wasn’t the kind of person who used sweet words the way Luman did, but he had a good feeling she might prove to be quite an honest partner.

“Is she angry because I arrived late?”

“...My lady is not so narrow-hearted a person.”

The servant denied it, but to Luman’s ears, it sounded like yes, she was angry. Thinking it over, Luman grinned.

“Hmm. Since she said I should look around at my leisure, refusing would be rude too, wouldn’t it?”

“You intend to go out?”

“Would this outfit be a problem?”

Luman glanced down at his clothes.

He liked expensive clothes and usually took care with his appearance. He had even received quite a few fine garments as gifts when leaving Lady Gannion’s house and had changed into them, but after several days of camping and then idling about happily in Tempesto Village, he had not had the mind to worry about his clothes.

When had someone as stylish as him become so unassuming?

He was wearing practical clothes. They were black, and the fabric itself was fairly high quality, but there was nothing elegant about them.

“My lady prepared clothing for you.” 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

“Oh. How generous.”

“Will you change?”

“I suppose I’ll have to. Ah, but first, a bath.”

“Yes. Please wait just a moment.”

The servant withdrew to prepare the bathwater.

Walking out onto the terrace, Luman looked out over Loroe Territory in the distance.

But his gaze was not on the land below. It was on the mountains towering far away.

Loroe Castle stood at a high elevation, so even distant mountains were visible. And from the room Luman had been shown to, Mount Geroa stood out especially clearly. Beyond those high peaks in the distance lay the capital. It was not a route people ordinarily took, but Heroes preferred that path. They had the ability to cross any harsh road.

Would it be possible to reach that far in a single leap with the power of light?

For missions, Luman had often used his specialty—the power of light—to travel vast distances in an instant. But every time he moved far that way, he could never shake the feeling that his own time had passed too quickly. The king who had given the order and the people in the place where he arrived would praise him and marvel that he was as fast as light, but the speed as Luman experienced it did not feel quite that fast.

No, the speed had been fast, but the distance he passed through remained tightly coiled inside him. As if he had swallowed a mass of compressed time all at once, Luman was always left feeling a kind of dislocation from reality.

It was less severe over shorter distances, but that did not mean the sensation vanished.

Luman had never once considered using his power for personal reasons. The reason was simple: he had never needed to.

When he was active as a Hero, he used his power for the king, according to orders and missions. And after the war ended, there had been no reason to make use ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) of it.

He had simply never had a reason to hurry somewhere.

But now he found himself thinking otherwise.

How quickly could he make the trip?

It wasn’t some adolescent curiosity about how far his own abilities could reach, discovered only now.

He was simply curious about the face of one boy.

Once Ren reached the capital, could he perhaps go see him for a moment?

“It’s ready.”

If he went to see him already, when they had barely even parted, would Ren laugh at him?

“...Ahem. It’s ready.”

Had Ren been angry because he left without saying anything? Or would he be perfectly unaffected?

“Hero?”

Ah, pathetic. He didn’t want Ren to be upset, and yet the thought of him being completely unaffected bothered him too.

What kind of rotten attitude was that?

“Hero!”

“...Ah.”

Only when the servant finally called out sharply, after clearing his throat several times, did Luman come back to himself. He had missed someone approaching from that close. Just how deeply had he been thinking?

Luman smiled crookedly.

“What are you thinking about so hard?”

“Something I ought to forget.”

“If you have to forget it, shouldn’t you just stop thinking about it?”

The servant led Luman into the bath chamber.

Inside, the room was thick with white steam from the hot water the servant had prepared, making everything hard to see.

Through that hazy view, Luman looked at the servant and smiled softly.

“It seems there are things you only forget after thinking about them so much you get sick of them.”