Chapter 39
She looked into his eyes. Purple and yellow eyes held each other for a long moment, unmoving. Then, the hand Eki had used to press down on his sword lost its strength.
Eki released the sword and sat back. Baraha rose, rubbing his neck. Cold sweat soaked his hands.
“I’ll trust you, Senior.”
She said. And added in a thin voice.
“I’m sorry about the wound on your neck.”
“What, this is just a mosquito bite. Smaller than the scar on my back.”
“Ah… Come to think of it, is that scar alright?”
“I did some first aid. I’m fine.”
Baraha got up as if it was nothing. He massaged the back of his neck and said.
“I’ll say it again, I won’t tell anyone your secret, so you can rest assured. I’ll remain silent to the Lord as well.”
“…Thank you, Senior.”
Eki, who had been sitting down, got up after him. She picked up Baraha’s sword and scabbard that had rolled on the floor and handed them to him. Baraha accepted the sword and fastened it to his waist.
“Actually, there’s a lot more I want to hear, but we can talk about that later. What are you going to do now? There are no more Monsters, so should we just wait for the Node to open?”
“There’s something I want to try.”
“Hmm?”
“Let’s go back to the starting point first.”
Eki turned and walked. Baraha followed her. He smiled bitterly as he looked at her back, which was much smaller than his. To be protected by a junior he was trying to protect. And even threatened to be killed.
But he didn’t feel bad. No, rather, his heart fluttered as he looked at the back walking ahead. It was a pleasant tremor.
She wasn’t perfectly made up as usual, but disheveled and messy, and it was hard to take his eyes off her. Her round head was cute, her slender neck was bewitching, and her legs revealed beneath the shortened dress… He didn’t know, it seemed like there wasn’t a single part of her that wasn’t pretty.
Honestly, when she climbed on top of him with a knife earlier, he was more nervous about something else than the murderous intent. Baraha covered his mouth with his hand and thought.
‘I think I’ve fallen… deeply in love.’
The moment he fell in love was clear. In fact, it wasn’t just one moment. His stomach tickled and the corners of his lips rose from under his hand.
Men of the desert charge when they want a woman. Moreover, they plan perfectly to win her over before charging, so their love has a high success rate.
Baraha immediately began to think about how he could get her.
‘We’ve shared a secret, so we’ll become more intimate in the future. And it seems like she came into the Node to save me no matter how I look at it, so she basically has a good impression of me. It’s a good start in many ways.’
Unaware of what Baraha was thinking behind her, Eki was focused on what the Demon Sword was saying.
[I think I know a little bit about why the Node suddenly appeared. Actually, I saw Nodes often even with my previous owner. That person also turned back time with Kairos Giosa like you, right? Could there be a connection?]
“…Does Rakia Giosa follow the distortions caused by Kairos Giosa?”
[Maybe. Anyway, you’re the main axis of change. You’re the one who turned back time. The more things change, the more often Nodes appear, right?]
“What was it like with your previous owner?”
[He tried to change the future a lot, but at some point, he started living quietly, saying that you shouldn’t change what’s already decided. Now that I think about it, it seems like it was because of the Nodes. The more he changed, the more often Nodes appeared near him.]
“…Damn it.”
[Hey, I don’t know for sure. I’m just saying.]
“I understand enough.”
She retorted, grinding her teeth.
They reached the starting point, lost in their own thoughts. There were no Monsters or shadow soldiers left, so it was a light walk as if they were taking a stroll.
“Eki, what are you going to do here?”
“I’m going to stab the starting point again.”
“You’ve killed all the Monsters, so it’s not dangerous, but… Will it be effective?”
“The Monsters inside the Node are ultimately a kind of anomaly created by the internal space of the Node. Not real Monsters. When I stabbed the starting point, all the Monsters focused on it, so it seems like that’s the weak point of the Node. Besides, this is a space created with Rakia Giosa, so if I stab it with Bardelgiosa, something… Ah.”
Eki, who had been explaining, looked surprised. She hurriedly touched her face and clothes, then quickly looked around, searching for something. Baraha asked, puzzled.
“What’s wrong?”
“J-Just a moment.”
Eki checked her burned-down barracks and looked as if the world had collapsed. She looked at Baraha and shouted desperately.
“Senior! Do you have a mirror in your barracks?”
“…What?”
“A mirror, a mirror! I can’t go out looking like this!”
Yuriene might be outside, and she couldn’t go out looking like a mess after rolling around in battle. Wasn’t this feeling too similar to when she used the Demon Sword?
Baraha’s dazed expression soon twisted as if he was holding back laughter. He covered his mouth with his hand and pointed to his barracks. The tips of his fingers trembled.
“A mirror, yeah, there, cough, there should be one. Next to the cot, pfft, open the box next to it. Ahem.”
Laughter he couldn’t hold back leaked between his words.
Eki glared at him once with sharp eyes and ran towards his barracks. As he said, there was a mirror on top of the box next to the cot. She took a deep breath and looked into the mirror.
[…Hey, this look reminds me of the old days?]
Splattered blood and liquid, stains. Messy hair. Messed up clothes. Even if her hair and eye color were different, it was a look that could remind one of the days when she was swayed by the Demon Sword. She felt faint. Baraha, who had followed her, parted the tent flap and said.
“Do you need water? If you want to wash, I know a barracks where water bottles are stored. I don’t know if they’re intact, though.”
Eki nodded eagerly.
“Yes, yes! I need it very much! Thank you! Um, Senior, could you lend me some clothes…?”
“My clothes would be way too big for you.”
Baraha said, looking embarrassed, and scanned her up and down. Then his face turned bright red. It was because he imagined her wearing his clothes, which would be so big they would slip off. He quickly turned his head to hide his flushed face.
“Senior?”
“…Let’s borrow clothes from Teresa’s barracks. It’s right nearby. She’ll understand, given the situation.”
“Ah, that would be good. Thank you, Senior.”
“I should wash up and change too.”
“Yes, oh, right, we should come up with a story about what happened inside the Node.”
Baraha, who was examining his clothes covered in red liquid, looked up at her words. She hesitated for a moment, then continued.
“It’s hard to hide everything… Let’s tell the truth about everything else, and just change the Monsters that came out to be ghoul-level.”
“Ghoul-level?”
Baraha involuntarily glanced at the side where the corpses of the mountain-sized Monsters were scattered. Eki smiled awkwardly.
“It’ll make more sense that way. Let’s say we dealt with the Monsters and held out until the Node disappeared.”
“…Okay, I’ll do as you say. That’ll be better if you want to hide that you’re a Giosa Owner. Oh, Ian came in with you, didn’t he? He’s been quiet so far, so did he die to the Monsters? Bastard, if he crawled out, I wouldn’t have let him off.”
Baraha grinned like a beast. Eki naturally avoided his gaze and replied.
“Well, I was so out of it…”
“Well, we’ll know when we get out of the Node. Let’s go. I’ll guide you.”
“Yes.”
Baraha quickly lost interest and walked ahead. They headed to the barracks where the water bottles were stored. Fortunately, the water bottles were intact. They each took one and headed to another place. Eki entered Teresa’s barracks, which she had heard from Baraha.
“I’m sorry, Teresa. I’ll borrow some.”
She muttered softly and rummaged through the barracks. Teresa dressed plainly like Alice, and she was taller than Eki, but since she was a woman, there were many things she could borrow.
She found clothes first. She felt bad about rummaging through everything, so she took the white blouse, leather pants, leather jacket, and leather gloves that were on top. There were also leather shoes, but they were too big and didn’t fit. She would have to wash her messy ankle boots and wear them.
The pants were long and loose around the waist, but she could tighten them with a belt and fold up the bottoms. The blouse was a bit tight around the chest, but it was wearable. She was glad she didn’t have to borrow underwear.
Most of all, she was happy to find cosmetics. There was only lipstick, charcoal eyeliner, and cover cream to even out her skin tone, but that was enough. To be honest, she hadn’t expected them, so she was tearfully grateful.
Eki showered with the water from the water bottle behind the barracks, then changed her clothes and combed her hair. After putting on makeup, she looked neat and tidy, even if she wasn’t as glamorous as usual.
She checked the mirror in Teresa’s barracks several times. She kept checking to see if there were any traces left that would remind her of the Demon of the Demon Sword, and to make sure she looked like the Count’s daughter, ‘Ekinesia Roaz,’ who was just wearing pants. Anxiety welled up, but there was nothing more she could do.
“Eki, are you done?”
“Ah, yes! I’m sorry to keep you waiting.”
Baraha’s voice could be heard from afar. Eki wiped her damp hair with a towel and came out of the barracks. The wet hair clung to her clean white skin. Baraha flinched and averted his gaze.
“Your hair doesn’t seem dry yet. Take your time.”
“No, I don’t want to stay in here for long. The starting point might work as we hypothesized. Let’s go.”
They headed back to the clearing where the starting point was. Eki stopped Baraha from trying to hold the flagpole like last time.
“You don’t have to hold it up.”
She took off the leather glove on her right hand and put it in her pocket, then drew Bardelgiosa. Baraha flinched and stepped back slightly at the sight of the Demon Sword.
[Look at his expression. Do I look like a bundle of germs? Tch, tch.]
‘That’s a very good reaction.’
Eki gripped the Demon Sword and kicked off the ground. The red liquid pooled on the ground splashed up at her momentum, but she reached a higher point than the splashing liquid in an instant.
The crack drawn in the air came into her heightened view. She slashed it lengthwise with the Demon Sword in mid-air. The moment she slashed, she felt the entire space stiffen.
Eki fell downwards and deliberately landed on top of the barracks. It was because she didn’t want to dirty Teresa’s clothes.
She retrieved the Demon Sword, put her glove back on, and looked up at the sky. She could see a long crack drawn around the starting point. Small cracks were spreading around the crack.
