33 - The Youngest is Hiding a Lot
33
“Heh.”
“Don’t laugh. I’m seriously pissed.”
If she was pissed, her eyes seemed to have gotten redder...
“Haa.”
Khalid washed his face roughly like an adult. His picture-perfect face looked extremely tired.
“…So you have a reason to stay in the Territory of Zebert that requires you to go that far.”
“Uh-huh…”
Cal pursed his lips once, then let out a sigh of resignation.
“Fine. Then there’s nothing I can do.”
He finally surrendered to my stubbornness. I smiled slightly with a hint of apology.
“Then I’ll have to think of a way, too.”
“What?”
A short smile flickered across his fair face. Bathed in moonlight, his face felt more mysterious and beautiful than usual.
“It’s a secret.”
“Tch.”
I can’t openly grill him when I’m hiding something too! How frustrating!
We sat side by side under the tree and talked about what had happened.
Khalid said that as soon as he lost contact with me, he increased the number of his familiars to the limit and searched the continent.
‘His magic power is really amazing…’
The range in which one can control familiars is usually limited to their surroundings.
Why was someone like that trapped in a cave?
“I told you, I don’t remember.”
Khalid rummaged through his old bag and handed me a red mountain berry. Oh, I used to eat these often when I was wandering through the Eastern Continent forest.
“I don’t know what kind of bastards they were, but they must have used a low-quality Magic Tool.”
“It wasn’t a Magic Tool curse… But it’s really too much to do to a kid.”
“What do you expect from back-alley mercenaries?”
The red berries tumbled into my hand.
I wonder if it’s because he’s lived a hard life since he was young.
‘Sometimes he talks more like an adult than I do.’
Khalid, who has no parents or hometown, said that he had been living as a wandering mercenary for a very long time.
‘He only remembers his name. He said that the surname Liork was just something he made up because he needed it for missions.’
That’s why Cal didn’t really like being called by his full name. He said he just couldn’t get attached to it, or something like that.
Ah, he was guessing that he was trapped in the cave because he fell into a trap while working for a mercenary group.
“Whatever the reason, I’m going to find the bastards who locked me up and take revenge.”
I stared blankly at Khalid’s profile.
‘Hmm, as expected.’
The male lead of Part 2 is different.
That’s right.
In Part 2 of <The Sword Planted on the Ruins>, the boy sitting next to me appears as the main character.
Of course, after feeling an enormous sense of betrayal in Part 1, I didn’t even bother looking at Part 2 for a while. Then, I made up my mind and watched just the first episode.
‘I died.’
Sigh. I should have read a healing story.
Part 2 begins with a young man who had been trapped in a cave for some reason breaking out of his prison on his own.
He digs into the reason why he was trapped, vows to find the person who imprisoned him and take revenge, and plants his sword on the ruined land.
‘That was just the first episode.’
So I don’t know why Khalid was trapped in that cave, or whether he succeeded in his revenge in the end…
But if the author had any sense, wouldn’t they have given the main character of Part 2 a completely closed happy ending?
“…You’re looking at me with those eyes again.”
I was startled out of my thoughts by the sudden voice.
“Ah, sorry. I was praying for you to succeed in your revenge. I’ll stop looking!”
“…I didn’t say not to look.”
Khalid scratched the tip of his nose slightly and muttered. I smiled sheepishly and divided the berries in half.
‘Sigh. Sorry, Cal.’
You probably won’t be as active as in the original…
Because the male lead of Part 1 isn’t going to die. There probably won’t be any scene where you plant your sword firmly on the ruined land and strike a cool pose…
‘But I’ll guarantee your happy ending!’
I’ll help with that revenge when I’m done with my work!
In fact, in the original story, Khalid escaped from prison almost as an adult. I unintentionally twisted the original story.
‘It’s a good thing, though. Praise past me.’
Of course, the situation outside the cave wasn’t easy either.
‘Still, to think that a child would have to be tied up in a dark cave for several more years. How terrible!’
Perhaps because Khalid spent his childhood in darkness in the original story, he grows up to be an adult with a completely ruined personality.
“I brought this for you to eat, why are you giving it to me? You eat it all…”
There’s naturally no such thing as a pure time when he blushes shyly and offers me something to eat.
“It was hard enough threatening the mercenaries to pick these, so hurry up.”
Is his personality really not ruined yet?
“Sigh. Anyway, you’re really unfortunate.”
I let out a long sigh and stretched out my short legs.
Khalid raised his eyebrows, asking what I meant, but I didn’t add anything more.
“But how did you get in here?”
Having finished my thoughts, I lightly changed the subject.
“A dog hole. It was a little hard to find.”
His tone was as if he was used to it.
He must have found a small passage that animal friends come and go through.
“Be careful not to get caught. Oh, right, and…”
I rummaged through my pockets and handed him the things I had packed in advance.
“What’s this?”
“My shop key and a map of this place. Honestly, I want to ask you to go to the main castle with me, but… I’m just living here as a freeloader, so it’s a bit….”
“…”
“Stay here for today! There’s also a heat stone, so you can sleep warmly.”
“You took over a shop? Did you come to Territory of Zebert to steal their assets?”
“What are you talking about?”
I dusted off my hands and got up from my seat. It was time for the truant child who had slipped out of the bedroom to go back.
“Stay there quietly today and go to a nearby city. But we have this, so…”
I tapped my earlobe and smiled.
“It’s okay if we’re a little far apart! I’m glad, right?”
Then the boy smiled softly.
“You don’t know the meaning of ‘glad.’”
“…? Is that an insult?”
“Maybe.”
Ugh, that guy.
I hit Khalid’s arm. Of course, I’m always the only one who gets hurt…
“Anyway, stay put! Don’t block me!”
“Let’s stop with the useless talk.”
Cal, who also dusted off his clothes, reached out his arm to me.
“But I’ve been wondering since earlier…”
“Yeah?”
“Come here.”
He unclasped the bracelet on his wrist with a click.
“Let me see your magic power. Wasn’t it hard without magic power?”
“Heol…”
I couldn’t hide the emotion that welled up in my heart.
“What’s with that cute expression?”
“No, I’m just so touched that there’s finally someone who understands a magician’s heart… But what was the question?”
“…What’s with that pitiful expression?”
“Ah, it was really hard for me. It’s a little better here, but it was reaaally, reaaally hard in the capital?”
As I explained while waving my arms, Khalid smiled, his eyes softening.
As the stiff expression disappeared, it was as if the familiar boy I knew had finally returned. The mercenary boy who always protected me from behind and roamed the battlefield.
“Yeah. Bamilion Capital is a bit tough for me too. Here.”
Khalid held out his hand to me. I lightly grasped the tips of his fingers.
“Waaah!”
As if he had been waiting, high-purity magic power flowed in.
The Magic Circle engraved on my earlobe warmed up. Khalid, who has the same Oath Magic Circle, was the only one who could give me magic power.
The magic power, intertwined like tree roots, allowed us to freely exchange magic power with each other.
Of course, Cal had never wanted to receive my meager power… so I was always in the position of only receiving.
“I really feel like I’m going to live…”
“Then why did you abandon me?”
Light grumbling followed.
“I’m your, what was it again?”
“What?”
“Auxiliary… battery? That’s what it was!”
“Heok, you remembered that?”
As he chuckled, the boy’s ears seemed to turn slightly red.
“I remember everything you say.”
I felt the rushing magic power with my whole body. This feeling of vitality, no, magic power, flowing through my whole body! It’s been a while!
“Are you satisfied?”
“So-o much!”
Then Khalid tilted his head slightly.
“So. When are you going to welcome me?”
I quickly took my hand away and dusted it off.
“Now!”
When I jumped up and hugged his neck, he staggered a little. Refreshing magic power washed over me like a wave.
“Nice to see you again, Cal!”
\ \ *
The next day.
It was a very sunny day.
A bedroom where birds chirped and warm sunlight poured in.
“…You, you bad.”
In that peaceful morning scene, I was trembling with a face that was not peaceful at all.
‘Khalid? Cal! You !#^%!’
It was because Khalid Liork had blocked me again!
