“Heh.”
“Don’t laugh. I’m really pissed.”
Though he said he was pissed, for some reason his eyes looked even redder…….
“Haa.”
Kallideu rubbed his face with his hands like an adult. His picture-perfect face looked utterly exhausted.
“……So there’s a reason you absolutely have to stay in the Jebeureuteuryeong territory, then.”
“Mmhmm…….”
Kall, who had pressed his lips firmly together for a moment, soon let out a resigned sigh.
“Fine. Then it can’t be helped.”
In the end, it looked like he was raising the white flag to my stubbornness. I smiled apologetically.
“Then I’ll have to think of a way, too.”
“What way?”
A brief smile grazed his pale face. His face, brimming with moonlight, felt more mystical and beautiful than usual.
“It’s a secret for me, too.”
“Damn.”
I have secrets of my own, so it’s frustrating that I can’t interrogate him openly!
We sat side by side at the base of a tree and talked about everything that had happened.
Kallideu said that as soon as contact with me was cut off, he increased the number of his subordinate beasts to the limit and searched the continent.
‘Truly an incredible amount of mana…….’
The range at which one can command subordinate beasts is usually limited to one’s immediate surroundings.
So why was a guy like that trapped in a cave?
“I told you. I don’t remember.”
Kallideu rummaged through an old bag and handed me a red mountain berry. Oh, this is something I used to eat often when I was lost in the Eastern Continent’s forests.
“Whoever those bastards are, it seems they used a low-quality magic tool.”
“It wasn’t a magic tool inscription though……. But really, they went too far on a kid.”
“What do you expect from back-alley mercenary bastards.”
The red berries tumbled into my hands.
Is it because he’s lived through hardships since he was little?
‘He sometimes speaks more maturely than me, I tell you.’
Kallideu, who had neither parents nor a hometown, had apparently lived as a wandering mercenary since long ago.
‘All he remembers is his name. He said the surname Riorkeu was something he just tacked on because he needed it for missions.’
Perhaps because of that, Kall didn’t particularly like being called by his surname. He said no matter how much he heard it, it never felt attached to him, or something like that.
Ah, I had been speculating that he might have been trapped in the cave after falling into a trap while doing mercenary work.
“Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter. I’ll definitely find the bastards who locked me up and get my revenge.”
I stared blankly at Kallideu’s profile.
‘Mmm, as expected.’
The Part 2 male lead is different.
That’s right.
In Part 2 of *The Sword Planted in the Ruins*, the boy sitting beside me appears as the protagonist.
Of course, having felt an enormous sense of betrayal from Part 1, I hadn’t even glanced at Part 2 for a while. Then, the moment I steeled myself and read exactly Episode 1.
‘I died.’
Sigh. I should’ve just read a healing novel.
Part 2 begins with a youth who had been trapped in a cave for some reason escaping the prison on his own.
He digs into the reason he was imprisoned and vows to find the person who locked him up and take revenge, planting his sword in the ruined land.
‘That was the entirety of Episode 1.’
So I don’t know why Kallideu was trapped in that cave, or if he eventually succeeded in his revenge, but…….
If the author had any sense, wouldn’t they have given the Part 2 protagonist a proper, closed happy ending at least?
“……You’re looking at me like that again.”
I flinched and snapped out of my thoughts at the sudden voice.
“Ah, sorry. I was praying for your revenge to succeed. I’ll stop looking!”
“……I didn’t tell you to stop looking.”
Kallideu scratched the tip of his nose and muttered. I giggled and split the berry in half.
‘Sigh. Sorry, Kall.’
You probably won’t get to be as active as in the original…….
Because the Part 1 male lead isn’t going to die. That scene where you slam your sword into the ruined land and try to look cool probably won’t happen…….
‘But I’ll still guarantee your happy ending!’
That revenge—I’ll help you once I’m done with my own business!
Actually, in the original, Kallideu escaped prison when he was almost an adult. I had unintentionally twisted the original story.
‘Rather, it’s a good thing. Past me, good job.’
Of course, the situation outside the cave wasn’t easy either.
‘But for a child to be tied up in a dark cave and rot for several more years. That’s horrible!’
In the original, Kallideu literally spent his boyhood in darkness, so he grew into an adult with a completely ruined personality.
“I brought this for you to eat, so why are you giving it to me? You eat it all…….”
A pure time when he’d blush shyly and hand over food—of course, that didn’t exist.
“I had a hard time threatening those mercenary bastards to pick these, so hurry up.”
His personality hasn’t been ruined yet, right?
“Ehyooo. Anyway, you really have it rough too.”
I let out a long sigh and stretched out my short legs.
Kallideu raised his eyebrow as if asking what I was talking about, but didn’t add anything.
“But how did you get in here?”
Done with my thoughts, I lightly changed the subject.
“A dog hole. It was a bit hard to find.”
His tone suggested he was used to such things.
He had definitely found a small passage that his animal friends used to come and go.
“Be careful not to get caught. Ah, right, also…….”
I rummaged in my clothes and handed over items I had prepared in advance.
“What are these?”
“My shop key and a map of this place. Honestly, I want to tell you to go to the main estate together with me, but……. I’m in no position to invite others since I’m just living here under someone else’s roof.”
“…….”
“For today, stay there! There’s a heat stone too, so you’ll be able to sleep warmly.”
“You took over a shop? Did you come here to rob the Jebeureuteu estate?”
“What are you talking about.”
I dusted off my hands and stood up. It was about time for this errant child who had snuck out of the bedroom to return.
“Stay there quietly today and then go to a nearby city. We have this after all…….”
I smiled and tapped my earlobe.
“We can be apart a bit! That’s a relief, right?”
Then the boy smiled softly.
“You don’t know the meaning of ‘relief.’”
“……? Is that a curse?”
“Who knows.”
Damn, that.
I smacked Kallideu’s forearm. Of course, the one who ended up bruised and battered was always me…….
“Anyway, stay put! Don’t block me!”
“Stop saying useless things.”
Kall, who likewise dusted off his clothes and stood up, reached his arm toward me.
“But something’s been bothering me since earlier…….”
“Huh?”
“Come here.”
He clicked open the bracelet on his wrist.
“Let me see your mana. Wasn’t it hard without mana?”
“Huh…….”
I couldn’t hide the surging emotion.
“What’s with that cute expression?”
“No, I’m just moved that someone finally understands a mage’s heart……. But what was your question again?”
“……I asked what that pathetic expression was.”
“Ah, I had such a hard time. It’s somewhat better here, but in the capital, it was really, really hard?”
As I waved my arms around explaining, Kallideu’s eyes softened and he laughed.
With his stiff expression gone, it finally felt like the familiar boy I knew had returned. That mercenary boy who always protected me from behind and roamed the battlefield.
“Yeah. The Bamillon capital was tough for me too. Here.”
Kallideu held his hand out to me. I lightly grasped the tips of his fingers.
“Waah!”
Pure mana flowed in as if it had been waiting.
The magic circle engraved on my earlobe warmed up. The only one who could give me mana was Kallideu, who possessed the same Oath Circle.
The mana, intertwined like tree roots, allowed us to freely exchange mana with each other.
Of course, Kall had never wanted to receive my measly amount of power…… so I was always the one just receiving.
“I feel like I’m really going to survive…….”
“Right, then why did you abandon me?”
A light grumble followed.
“I’m your, what was it again?”
“What?”
“Auxiliary…… battery? That’s what I am!”
“Huh, you remembered that?”
As I giggled, the tips of the boy’s ears seemed to turn slightly red.
“I remember everything you say.”
I felt the surging mana throughout my entire body. Vitality throughout my body, no, this feeling of mana circulating! It’s been so long!
“Satisfied?”
“Very!”
Then Kallideu tilted his head slightly.
“So. When are you going to welcome me?”
I quickly pulled my hand away and dusted it off.
“Now!”
I hopped up and wrapped my arms around his neck, making him stagger a little. Refreshing mana rushed in like waves.
“Nice to see you again, Kall!”
* * *
The next day.
It was an extremely sunny day.
A bedroom where birds chirped and warm sunlight poured in.
“……Y-you jerk.”
Within that peaceful morning scene, I was trembling with a face that was anything but peaceful.
‘Kallideu? Kall! Hey, you !#^%!’
Because Kallideu Riorkeu had blocked me once again!