“Why do you keep looking like that?”

The streetlamps were still shining brightly, but once dawn crept in, people began to scatter. Ren’s group, who had stayed out until the very end, was heading back to the inn too. On the way, Ren kept glancing over his shoulder. His face looked like he had something to say, so Luman asked, but Ren shook his head and said it was nothing, then hurried up to stick close beside Jepeto, who was walking ahead. Temar’s eyes narrowed as he watched him.

Luman and Temar stood there in silence, looking at the two of them up ahead.

The conversation they’d had earlier sat heavy in both their hearts.

***

Ren dragged himself upright, sleep still hanging all over his face. They’d gotten in at dawn, and having to get up early in the morning felt like pure misery.

“Ughhh.”

A groan came out on its own. Ren twisted this way and that, trying to loosen his aching body, when he noticed the bed beside his was empty.

“Where’d my brother go?”

Tilting his head, Ren opened the window. A familiar crown of hair came into view. It was Temar and Luman. The two of them seemed to be talking about something in front of the inn.

“Ren! Don’t lean out the window. It’s dangerous—stay inside.”

As if he’d somehow known someone was looking at him, Luman suddenly lifted his head. Even while squinting one eye against the bright sunlight, he was smiling.

Ren hurriedly pulled his upper body back inside.

“What are they talking about?”

Ah! This isn’t the time for that!

Ren started moving in a rush. He went downstairs, borrowed a teapot, and took out some herbs to put inside. Then he precariously grabbed the huge kettle boiling on the stove and poured hot water into the pot.

“Ahhh! Jesus, that scared me.”

He misjudged the force and the water sloshed over, splashing down near his feet.

Ren sat in his chair, fidgeting around for a while as time passed, and once the smell finally started steeping out, he poured himself some tea.

I’d better drink it all fast.

It had been a really long time since he’d taken the herbs as tea. It was almost funny—he’d been chewing them raw to avoid people’s notice, but now that he was drinking them brewed, they actually felt almost bearable.

“Ugh.”

Though even as tea, they were still bitter as hell. He blew over the cup and drank as fast as he could, and then the door opened.

Startled by the sound, Ren jumped so hard that tea sloshed over the rim.

“Ah—hot!”

Ren stuck out his tingling tongue and blew over it.

“Ren!”

Temar strode in.

“Did you get hurt?”

“What happened?”

Luman, who had been on his way to his own room, peeked through the open door, then came in too.

Temar wrapped his hand around Ren’s reddened one. Ren wiggled his fingers.

“Ren. Why are you so careless?”

“Uh, sorry.”

“Looks like you need to learn tea ceremony all over again. If you steep it with water that hot, it ruins the taste.”

Luman lightened the mood with an easy tone. He stepped out for a moment saying they should wait, then came back with Jepeto in tow. Ren grumbled that there was no reason to wake a sleeping man over something like this.

Jepeto, still half asleep, wrapped burn ointment and bandages around the back of Ren’s hand, then carefully examined his bright red tongue, which had gotten scalded by the hot tea. Whether Ren felt embarrassed or not was clearly not his concern. After making Ren drink some cold water, Jepeto left the room saying they absolutely had to wake him later around noon.

“Where are you going, brother?”

Ren, testing the movement of his bandaged hand, grabbed Temar’s sleeve as he stood.

“I’ll be right back.”

“Brother?”

Temar pulled Ren’s hand away and was gone again almost at once.

Creak. The door shut, and Ren’s expression darkened.

“I’m right here.”

“W-who said anything?!”

“You sound disappointed.”

“What do I have to be disappointed about?!”

Awkwardness making him snap, Ren barked the words out. Grinning, Luman dragged out a chair and sat down. His long legs stretched right up beside Ren’s feet. Ren glared at them with a displeased look.

“That awful tea again. Can I have some too?”

“N-no.”

“Hm. All right.”

Luman backed off easily. The very first day he’d gone to the shack, he’d already figured out that this was tea Ren treasured obsessively.

“Fox.”

Ren muttered it under his breath, but Luman heard all of it. He snorted.

Whenever Ren’s mood started to sink, Luman would shove that ridiculously handsome face of his right into the situation and blow every coherent thought out of Ren’s head.

I can’t even think when he does that!

Already annoyed for no reason, Ren shot him a dirty look, then quietly dragged the teapot and cup closer to himself. He gulped it down in big, quick swallows, and in the end his stomach was so full it had gone taut. He rubbed at it.

“Hff. Hff......”

He was practically out of breath over it.

Luman looked from Ren to his swollen stomach and opened his mouth.

“Do you really actually like the taste of that?”

“Luman.”

“Hm?”

Still looking skeptically at the teapot, Luman lifted his eyes and looked at Ren.

“Uh... since yesterday, you had something you wanted to say to me, right?”

“How did you know?”

“You kept staring at me so hard there’s no way I wouldn’t know. What is it?”

Hesitating, Ren asked carefully,

“Did you and my brother... fight?”

“Ah.”

“Just—I mean, whatever, I know people fight, but.”

Ren had been the one to ask, but now he seemed embarrassed about it and kept clearing his throat, dodging his gaze all over the place. That made it easier for Luman to keep his expression under control. What Temar had asked him, and his own answer to it, rose one after another in his mind, making his chest feel tight.

“We made up, so don’t worry.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You saw us downstairs just now, didn’t you?”

“Oh, right.”

Ren nodded and nodded again. Judging by the little sigh he let out, he must have been worried in his own way. Luman let out a quiet laugh.

“There’s more.”

“Hm?”

“About last time.”

Luman had been half-thinking he might just lean over and sit there admiring Ren’s face, but the seriousness in his voice was stronger than expected, so he propped his chin on his hand and looked at him properly.

“Ah, I’ve got something to say too.”

“Me first.”

Ren pressed his mouth into a firm line. It was strangely intimidating. Luman felt like this might be the first time he’d ever seen Ren look this serious. He realized that with no expression at all, Ren gave off a surprisingly cold impression.

“It’s about when you healed my cheek.”

“Ah.”

Luman arched a brow. What about it? That was what his face seemed to say.

“Don’t do that again.”

“What?”

Luman frowned.

“‘Heroes aren’t allowed to use their abilities for anything other than their missions.’”

Luman had never once imagined that the rules for heroes would come out of Ren’s mouth, and for a moment he was left dumbstruck.

He remembered.

He had remembered what he’d heard that night while they were camping, and he’d been worrying about it all this time.

Ren knew. He knew that everything came with a price. However small it might be, any kindness that ended with Luman taking damage was not the kind of kindness Ren wanted.

“That’s......”

Luman opened his mouth to argue, but Ren shook his head firmly.

“You’re not supposed to break rules like that whenever you feel like it.”

Ren spoke without the slightest hitch. Luman, who had somehow ended up getting scolded out of nowhere, was so caught off guard he couldn’t even answer.

“Ren. I’m allowed that much discretion.”

Even after Luman finally pulled himself together enough to explain, Ren wouldn’t listen. His face went even firmer than before, and then he actually raised both hands and made a huge X in front of himself, shaking his head too.

“Got it?”

Annoyed that Luman kept trying to answer back, Ren’s lips stuck out a little even while he was being all serious. Luman had to pinch his own hand with the other one to stop himself from reaching out to those lips, and managed a nod.

The truth is, for your sake, I’d drag in any power at all. I want to.

But Luman couldn’t bring himself to say what was really in his heart.

“As long as you understand, that’s enough! Let’s go eat breakfast!”

Maybe he’d only belatedly realized how embarrassing that whole lecture had been, because Ren suddenly bolted downstairs all by himself in a clatter.

Instead of saying what he truly felt, Luman could only watch Ren’s back and mutter,

“When did you get so grown up?”

It felt like a relief, and yet at the same time it left him weirdly disappointed.

“I told you, I had something to say too.”

He had plenty to lecture Ren about himself. Somehow, though, he was the one who’d gotten scolded. Letting out a heavy sigh, Luman stood.

It was the day before he had to leave.

***

Ren moved around with his eyes wide open and the energy of someone marching into battle. Jepeto ran after him with a face like he was half dead. Compared to yesterday, the situation was completely reversed.

The place Ren had headed into was a shopping district full of delicate little accessories. At a glance, everything there looked more expensive than the things the street stalls sold. Ren stood outside one shop for a moment, hesitating, then marched inside with a grimly determined face.

“Let’s stay here.”

“If you get hurt in there—”

“That’s overprotective. Overprotective.”

Clicking his tongue, Luman pointed at his own body and then Temar’s. If the two of them crammed into a shop that tiny, was the owner really going to like that? Especially with all those kids packed in there already? Luman smiled and waved at the girls staring at him through the window. Ren looked at him like he was pathetic for a moment, then whipped his head away.

“Ren’s more lively today than usual.”

Luman moved a little farther from the shop door and leaned back against the wall. Temar also stepped aside so he wouldn’t block the path and gave a quiet nod.

“Here.”

Luman pulled a letter from inside his clothes. The envelope bore the duke’s seal. The wax had already been broken.

“It came earlier. Sir Seton sent it.”

Temar glanced briefly around them, then scanned the letter.

“......Looks like you were right.”

“What, the thing we heard in the village?”

“That the weapon was unfinished.”

Temar chose his words carefully. An anti-Hero resistance weapon. It was not the kind of subject you could casually say out loud just anywhere. He folded the letter and tucked it away inside his clothes.

“Temar.”

Luman stepped in close and lowered his voice.

“The treasure mentioned in the oracle—it doesn’t seem like it’s the anti-Hero resistance weapon. It feels [N O V E L I G H T] like something else.”

Temar looked at him.

“So your guess was wrong?”

“Yeah. Once you get to the capital, ask the king properly. He’ll probably at least give you a hint. It’s likely connected to that thing in some way, so probe carefully.”

A complicated look crossed Temar’s face.

“They’ll be keeping watch on their side too, so there’s no need to get jumpy. But judging by how long this is taking, it doesn’t look like an easy organization to deal with. Be careful, Temar.”

It was the second warning he had heard from Luman.

Temar ground his teeth. The muscles in his jaw tightened hard.

That guild would never stand on two legs in front of Temar again.

The moment they appeared before him, he would butcher them.

At the murderous intent rising off him, Luman made a fed-up face and shoved it back down along with another round of nagging.

“Looks like he’s buying a lot.”

Ren was simpler than expected, so he’d been snapping up things without much agonizing—but seeing how long this was taking, maybe there were just a lot of things in that shop he liked. Luman started toward the storefront to peek in through the glass.

“Good God.... Temar!”

Seeing the scene through the window, Luman’s mouth fell open and he called out.

Temar turned in the same direction, and his expression darkened at once. Without either of them even needing to say it, they both charged into the shop.

“Ren!”

Ren was in the middle of a full-on dogfight inside the store.