The clouds drifted away, and the moon revealed itself. Blue-gray eyes appeared beneath the moonlight, flickering with a mysterious glow.
“Kalid…….”
Called by name, he broke into a grin.
“Yeah.”
“You…….”
I moved my feet again, steps that had paused as if bewitched.
“I had no idea you’d welcome me like this.”
As if it were the most natural thing, Kalid rose and spread his arms wide.
“I……”
Thud, thud, thud. Before I knew it, my steps had turned into a run.
And just like that.
“I told you not to block me!”
Thwack!
A light headbutt sent the boy’s body reeling.
Scamper, scamper. My animal friends panicked and fled.
“Wow, a headbutt. That’s a new one.”
“It’s because I have water fists! So what!”
I shook my fists vigorously, puffed up with bravado. Kalid merely smiled faintly, rubbing his stomach.
“Tss.”
Ironically, it was me whose eyes welled up with physiological tears.
My head was the one buzzing more. What kind of kid’s body is that hard?!
“Everything’s fine, but could you give me some warning before you ram into me? I tensed up without realizing. You’re not hurt, are you?”
It was an incredibly pride-wounding thing to say from the attacker’s standpoint.
“And blocking me was ages ago—why bring it up now?”
“So you did block me after all!”
“Broken. I said I was broken just now, didn’t I?”
“Who does he think he’s fooling.”
I growled again. Kalid, who was a head taller than me, looked down at me intently.
“So, Master. What are you doing here?”
Gently curved eyes. The corners of his lips rising with a cool smile.
“After abandoning me and even faking your death.”
Uh, that’s kind of an angry face.
I took a step back before I knew it. The boy who had been staring fixedly at the widening distance suddenly stepped close and grabbed my shoulder.
“No. You can’t run away anymore.”
“N-no, wait…….”
“I finally caught you.”
“Huh?”
“I finally found you.”
Caught? Did I mishear? While I was tilting my head in confusion, Kalid smiled with an ambiguous expression.
“So what are you doing here? You must be hiding the fact that you’re a mage. And those clothes…… no way.”
His eyes, a mysterious blend of ash-gray and blue, slowly swept over my hair and clothes.
“No way, right?”
I awkwardly scratched my cheek. Leaving aside my shortly cropped hair, what I was currently wearing was an outfit purchased from a boutique a few days ago.
Tailored perfectly to my body, refined and neat…….
A boy’s clothes.
“Count Zebert can’t be that hopeless. Right?”
“Um, well, you could say this is the result of several misunderstandings overlapping.”
“…….”
Kalid pressed his lips tightly shut. He looked so dumbfounded that he’d forgotten what to say.
Without missing that opening, I changed the subject.
“What about you, showing up without a word? Causing explosions out of nowhere……. What if you’d been caught!”
“So I was supposed to stand by and watch a magical beast charge at you?”
“The knights would have handled it…….”
“Well, I wasn’t caught, so it’s fine.”
I was dumbfounded by his tone, which showed no intention of backing down.
As I glared at him silently, Kalid glanced at me and muttered under his breath.
“……My body moved on its own, what was I supposed to do, then.”
Ugh, a short sigh escaped.
He was always like that. Ever since he’d been rescued from that cave prison, he’d followed me around like a little poop puppy.
‘Of course, there aren’t many poop puppies that look that dangerous.’
The fact that he’d offered me the “Oath Formation” was an extension of that.
Our intertwined mana was like a single root; I held complete dominance. Until I severed it first, it meant he had no choice but to serve me.
‘Would you die if I told you to die? Why are you tying your own fate up like this, seriously.’
It can’t be helped.
If he showed even the slightest hint of regret later, I’d have no choice but to let him go immediately…….
“…….”
As I stared intently at the boy before me, my eyes naturally met the squirrel on top of his head.
Munch, munch.
Seeing those gentle eyes nibbling on an acorn, a sigh escaped me.
“You really have no fear. From the castle walls, you spend your time cozying up to squirrels.”
“‘Cozying up’? Why would you say something so embarrassing?”
What is he even talking about.
“I told you.”
Kalid briefly stirred his mana. In that moment, the yellow iridescence in the squirrel’s black eyes faded away.
“I’m the one who protects you.”
The squirrel, its soul returned, twitched its nose in the air and scampered away.
“Don’t tell me you forgot my oath, too.”
The corners of his lips rose higher, drawing a longer arc.
‘I felt it from the first time we met, but…….’
His good looks, which couldn’t be hidden even by ragged clothes, weren’t a matter of age…….
Dark navy hair tinged with blue, eyes that drew a strange whirlwind of ash-gray and blue. And the two vertical dots beneath his left eye.
‘Please just grow up like this.’
One might call him the very face of beauty.
“Whew, I get it, so put your mana away.”
“You’re the only one here who can sense mana anyway.”
Kalid answered a little sullenly.
He had the ability to temporarily seize another’s soul and make it serve him.
His targets were limited to animals.
Magical beasts were possible too, but he himself seemed averse to it, saying the mana would be contaminated; as for human souls…….
‘He said it was taboo.’
Supposedly, violating it carried a tremendous price.
“Anyway, seeing how you keep changing the subject, you really don’t want to tell me why you’re here.”
My shoulder flinched at those low-spoken words. Because he’d struck a vital point.
‘No, how am I supposed to say—!’
That this is a world inside a book, that a massacre ending is right around the corner, and that I came to find a hero to stop it!
As I stood there chewing my lips, Kalid said, “Forget it,” and picked up the luggage and sword he’d set on the ground.
“I’ll listen slowly as we go. Let’s get moving first.”
I slowly closed and opened my eyes once.
“Where are we going?”
“We have to run away. The Sorcerer King has figured out you’re in Babylon.”
“Huh, I don’t want to?”
My voice popped out automatically. As I jerked my body back, Kalid’s straight eyebrows shot up sharply.
“You don’t want to……. Just what are you trying to do here.”
“Sorry. I can’t tell you the details yet. But I’m not leaving here for the time being.”
I spoke clearly and firmly without averting my eyes. The boy’s hand gripping the sword tightened.
“Even if I drag you away by force?”
“You’ve never beaten me once…….”
“That was only in places brimming with mana, Master.”
“Ugh, that smug face.”
“Did you forget that mana is all I have?”
Kalid raised his wrist slightly. A small golden bracelet jingled as it swayed. It was a magical artifact that controlled his overflowing mana.
Kalid didn’t have much knowledge as a mage, but he was a prodigy when it came to mana. So much so that not even that magical artifact could fully suppress it.
In other words, he was my exact opposite.
“Boo, no bragging about your mana!”
A jeer popped out of its own accord, born of envy.
“There she goes, glossing over things again.”
Kalid shook his head and muttered. I smiled faintly and took a small step back.
“Later. I’ll tell you later, so stop asking and stop bragging about your mana and just say you understand…….”
“Hah.”
A brief silence fell. Kal, who had been looking down at me intently, bit his lip slightly and lowered his head for some reason.
“Glossing over things again and trying to leave me behind…….”
Huh?
I was quite flustered. The boy’s fist, clenched so hard it turned white, was trembling faintly. His firm shoulders, too, were slightly…….
Oh my?
“K-Kal? Surely you’re not crying?”
“Your mana was undetectable, and they said all the mages heading to Kanalan Valley died……. What exactly did I do then, how did I…….”
“A-ah, they didn’t die!”
I blurted out the first thing that came to mind in my panic.
“What?”
Kalid’s head snapped up. His cheeks were dry and gaunt, but I was too flustered to pay attention and rushed to continue.
“I let them go.”
His eyes looking at me widened slightly.
“What…… do you mean?”
“I smashed their mana cores, so they can’t use magic and will probably live their whole lives wheezing. Their lifespans must have been greatly reduced too. But they all said it was fine anyway……. At any rate, they didn’t die!”
I waved my arms frantically as I explained.
It was the final operation.
The mage unit passing through Kanalan Valley had been ambushed by dark magical beasts. It was a crisis, but on the other hand, an opportunity.
I had planned to abandon them and run away to meet Mr. Leviathan. But…… the faces of the remaining boy mages kept weighing on my mind.
I faked everyone’s deaths, pretending they’d been annihilated by the dark magical beasts.
“Ha……. Then what were those corpses?”
“Decoys made of dirt.”
“And you made all those by yourself?”
“I didn’t have to make all of them anyway…….”
I only needed to leave behind a few arms and legs.
Kalid bit his lip until it bled, unable to hold back his demand.
“Then why didn’t you make your own corpse properly too, why did you have to be the only one found out……!”
I smiled vaguely and kept my mouth shut. But if I said it, he’d obviously get angry…….
But Kalid quickly realized the truth behind my silence. He curled one corner of his lips up coldly.
“……You did it on purpose. So the others wouldn’t be suspected. To divert attention to you.”