“Y-You...”

Geloman narrowed his eyes.

“So it wasn’t Geloman.”

“Giselle...?”

The king’s eyes went wide.

“What is this...?”

“It’s true that I was poisoned, but that happened several days ago.”

“The attack itself was just a sideshow.”

Giselle added that and continued speaking.

“It seems something dangerous has started circulating.”

“...Don’t tell me you mean something like those terrifying weapons?”

What the king meant was anti-Hero weapons. Giselle nodded.

“...Did you go through a Hero’s miracle?”

“I went through a horrible curse.”

Giselle smiled gently and brushed the fallen strands of hair behind his ear. It was an easy, unhurried gesture that did not look like the movement of someone who had been attacked.

“I think this needs to be tested.”

After thinking it over, Giselle lifted his eyes and looked at the king.

“Announce that I collapsed. We need to hurry and interpret the prophecy, and we also need to find out as soon as possible about the king’s Star that has yet to be revealed. And summon all seven Heroes.”

“But Luman stepped down from his position and left. We can’t keep holding on to him.”

The king shook his head.

“He has to finish the written explanation and the report on his final mission anyway. Tell him to do it in person. Since it will be our last meeting, he’ll come willingly enough. And if you tell him you have no intention of making use of an old Hero, he may come even faster just to complain with that sly face of his.”

***

When Ren opened his eyes, he was stretched out inside some wagon.

“This is...”

He rubbed his eyes and sat up, and from the driver’s seat came the voice of a young man.

“You’re awake?”

It was a soft, kind voice.

Ren tensed for a moment, but there was no clear hostility or ill will in the man’s calm tone. Shaking his head to fight off the sleepiness, Ren asked,

“Who are you? Where’s the man?”

As he tried to piece together why he was in a wagon, Ren slowly dredged up his memory.

On the road out of the village, while he had been crouched quietly at the base of a tree, some kindhearted older man had said Ren reminded him of his son and let him ride along.

After that, when he heard the destination was a harbor city called Delfona, he had decided to go there with him.

Where had that man gone?

Had they already arrived in Delfona?

“This is Delfona. The man had business to take care of, so he left ahead of us.”

“Then... who are you?”

Ren asked mildly.

I see. Well, that makes sense. The cargo wagon had been full of huge sacks, so of course he must have been planning to sell them or deliver them somewhere.

“The man gave me a ride too. You were sleeping so soundly, so I said I’d watch over you for a little while.”

“...”

Then was he cargo here too?

After thinking for a moment, Ren spoke.

“Please let me off here.”

“Why? Do you have somewhere to go? Are you meeting someone?”

The young man fired off questions without giving him room to breathe. There was a faint trace of impatience beneath them, and without really understanding why, Ren answered the man’s curiosity.

“No, it’s not that... I’m getting in the way of your schedule, aren’t I? So I’ll just go by myself from here.”

“Mm. Wait a second.”

The young man fell silent.

He’s probably looking for a good place to let me off.

How was he supposed to live from now on?

That question filled Ren’s head.

Could he live on his own?

Would he be able to find a place to stay?

‘I’ll figure something out. Why wouldn’t I?’

Ren had enough money to stay at an inn for several months. That was all thanks to Lady Coco. And if things really became impossible, he could always go back home, and... honestly, Ren did not think he was likely to live more than a few months anyway.

Maybe he could think of those next few months as one final trip for himself.

‘I’ll go to every place I saw in those storybooks.’

That was what Ren decided.

“Here, why don’t we talk over a meal first? Aren’t you hungry?”

“Ah... but.”

“Come on. Get down first.”

So lost in thought that he hadn’t even realized the wagon had stopped, Ren let the young man take his hand and help him down.

He looked as kind and neat as his voice sounded. Hair a little on the long side swayed against the back of his neck.

Without the slightest awkwardness, the young man grabbed Ren’s hand and started walking through the street.

“Wow...”

“A lot of people, right? Must be your first time in Delfona.”

Naturally, he started telling Ren about Delfona, about its streets, about the people who came here. He did not stop Ren from looking around at everything. If anything, he seemed to encourage it, and he even chose a restaurant with tables outside for them to sit at.

“Eat as much as you want.”

“Um...”

“Here.”

The young man even cut the meat and moved it onto Ren’s plate.

Chewing the meat, Ren thought it over. Was it normal to follow a man he had just met and start eating with him before they had really even talked? Was this okay?

His tired mind, which had not been working properly, finally seemed to click back into place. Caution arrived belatedly.

Ren knew human nature well.

Its selfish nature, to be exact. Save someone from drowning and they’ll ask you to hand over your ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) bundle too. That was human nature. Back when Ren had lived in that tiny shack, he had already had more than enough of people. Even now, he could not forget the brazen faces of the men who had demanded the things in his house as if they were theirs.

There was no such thing as kindness without a reason, and no such thing as kindness without a price. Give someone half a bean, and they’ll ask why you didn’t give them the other half too. That was what people were like.

And yet here was someone buying a meal for a person he had only just met?

Ren stared at the man suspiciously.

“Ah, have some water too. You just woke up, so you must be thirsty.”

The man, apparently not bothered at all by the look in Ren’s eyes, attentively poured water for him too. It was so much like Jepeto that it startled him.

Maybe it was because he wasn’t fully awake yet.

Or maybe it was because Luman and Jepeto had both shown him more kindness than he knew what to do with.

Ren was surprised to realize that even while he was wary of the man, the man’s kindness felt strangely familiar.

Everything about his behavior and expression was plain and straightforward. There was not the slightest trace of hidden desire on his face, only the sense that he was respecting Ren simply as one person to another.

‘I decided I was going to live on my own from now on, so is it really okay to suspect people like this the second I meet them? Haven’t I spent too much of my life shut up in that tiny shack?’

Shouldn’t he learn how to meet new people too?

In the little time he had left before he died, if he went to places he had never seen before and met lots of people...

Wouldn’t that make death feel less miserable?

People you meet while traveling are all meant to part ways with you eventually, aren’t they?

“...Thank you for the meal.”

Ren slowly began to move his utensils.

“Um. You really don’t have to take care of me that much.”

“You remind me of my younger brother.”

“...You have a younger brother?”

“Yeah. A younger brother about your age.”

The young man smiled, his expression softening completely. The look in his eyes as he gazed at Ren was so openly fond that the little sprout of suspicion inside him disappeared. Ren nodded and muttered inwardly that he was jealous.

If Temar had been reminded of Ren, he probably would have frowned instead.

‘Enough. I’m all the way out here, and I’m still thinking about my brother?’

Ren chewed his meat. The juices burst out all at once, and the meat melted away in his mouth in an instant. At the sight of Ren’s wide-open eyes and mouth, the man burst out laughing.

“Good, right?”

“...Incredibly.”

Ren’s eyes turned serious. The man laughed again. While explaining that it was very high-grade meat, the man suddenly let out an “Ah!” and spoke.

“My name’s Mine.”

Ren swallowed the bite he had been chewing and answered,

“I’m Ren.”

“Right, Ren. So, how does it feel? Your first impression of Delfona.”

The man looked out over the streets of Delfona as he drank from his cup. Ren followed his gaze.

Bright sunlight had risen strong and high, stretching long across the streets of Delfona. Even though it was still early morning, people were already moving busily, and more than half the shops were open.

Tempesto Village had given him the feeling that all sorts of people existed there too, but not like this.

Everything here felt new.

Maybe it was because of the salty wind.

He had not seen the sea yet, but he could feel that it was close.

Ren’s chest fluttered.

“...The wind tastes salty.”

“Hahahahaha! Of course it does. It’s a harbor city.”

Mine’s eyes went round, and then he burst out laughing. His reaction was so much like he had just heard something delightfully funny that Ren, who had been a little startled, ended up smiling shyly too. It felt nice when someone laughed at something he said.

‘Luman...’

When he had laughed too, Ren should have just liked it for what it was.

Now he regretted snapping at him and asking what was so funny just because he had been embarrassed.

But from now on, all he had to do was not act like that anymore.

After throwing everything away and leaving, regretting it now was idiotic.

Ren firmed his resolve.

“Um. Mine... where are you headed?”

“Mm. Who knows. I still haven’t decided.”

“You haven’t decided?”

Ren’s eyes widened.

For him, that made sense. He had his reasons for not deciding where to go—he had left with nowhere in mind, and really no places he knew in the first place—but for a fully grown man not to know where he was going?

“I don’t think you always have to have a destination.”

“...What do you mean?”

“Life is always flowing somewhere, isn’t it? Like water. You meet somewhere, then after meeting, you split apart. And then later you meet again in the sea. There’s no such thing as a life that stays still.”

“...”

“So what matters is that you’re flowing somewhere. Not where you’re going.”

“...Really? It’s okay not to have a purpose?”

“Wouldn’t the important thing be being alive in the first place?”

“...”

It was the sort of airy conversation that felt like grasping at clouds.

If it had been anyone else, Ren might have asked what kind of nonsense they were talking about.

But Mine’s words left a deep impression on him.

For one thing, Ren was alive right now. And if that was true, then wasn’t that the same as doing something important?

Ren had nowhere to go, nowhere he knew, and no real desire to do anything. The only thought he had managed to come up with was that he wanted to go see all the places from the storybooks.

And yet here was someone telling him it was okay not to have a purpose. That simply being alive was what mattered!

To Ren, it sounded exactly like being told to enjoy the little life he had left as fully as he could. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Ren quietly curled his hand into a fist.

He had been sitting there deep in thought, lips pressed shut, and then suddenly he lifted his head and looked at Mine.

The green eyes visible beneath his hood shone like leaves in sunlight.

Mine flinched.

“I want to see the sea. Would you take me there?”

Ren had definitely meant to say thank you, but when he looked at Mine’s face, completely different words slipped out.