The Curse of the Bond (4)
Some thirty minutes later.
Only after they'd soaked their clothes with tears, as if caught in a downpour, did Ashu and Agnes's sobs finally begin to subside.
Wiping away their tears and snot amid the hiccupping, I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd suddenly become a dad with two little girls.
For starters, I took the Connection Ring from Agnes's hand.
As I held it and gazed at it, Ashu stared intently at me. Agnes, meanwhile, kept her head bowed low.
Back when I knew nothing, I'd thought it was just some magic tool for stalking or long-range healing. But learning it was a ring forged with sacrifice in mind left my feelings all tangled up.
If I got hurt, she wouldn't feel the wound itself, but she'd share the pain.
I'd heard Ashu had been beaten unconscious from a young age.
No matter how accustomed she was to enduring agony, unexpected pain couldn't help but torment her.
And the thought of me passing that suffering on to her twisted my gut.
Even worse—if I died, she might die too. She'd slipped that ring on fully prepared to follow me into death.
Conversely, if Ashu died, it wouldn't affect me at all.
I couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of resolve drove her to that.
Calling me her light, following me anywhere, tending to me like I was part of her own body—she'd always struck me as obsessively attached at times.
Now that I knew the ring's power, it was clear that wasn't just my imagination.
Should I take this as some intense declaration of love?
Honestly, it scared me a little too.
I was even wondering if I should give this dangerous ring back.
Ashu clutched at my clothesleeve with her right hand, pleading silently as she extended her left toward me.
I knew what she wanted without a word. She wanted me to put the ring on her.
Not with her own hand this time, but mine.
Truth be told, it felt like a heavy burden. Terrifying, even.
My mistakes could mean her pain, my death her end.
It was like a joke about no longer flying solo had come true.
"Hic... Put it on me."
She pleaded through hiccups that hadn't quite faded from her crying fit.
This wasn't something to brush off just because she was acting like a kid.
Agnes had misunderstood it as Ashu binding me and caused that whole scene.
Slipping this ring on her would mean me binding her—with my own hands, my own will.
"Ashu, I'm not taking off the ring you gave me. But I don't want to put this one on you."
"...Please, still. Kirgil. Please."
Ashu clung to me, her voice breaking into sobs again.
Frankly, I wanted to smash the damn thing.
It was too dangerous. It hurt and killed the people I cared about.
So I gripped it hard in my fist on purpose.
Damn, it was sturdy. Confirmed once more it was made of mithril. Even if I chucked it far away, Ashu would scour the night to find it.
"Kirgil, I have no right to say this to you, but say it I must.
This Agnes threatened her with death itself, yet Ashushikara—this child—didn't retreat a single step.
Even if you refuse to put on that ring, she's already staked her life. She's always been that way.
She stood firm against the entire court decrying me, insisting my treatments worked.
Even when that wretched mother beat her senseless, she never admitted a lie.
I left the court because I couldn't bear to watch it anymore.
I hope you recognize this child's unbreakable resolve."
Even Agnes, my last bastion, saying that left me nowhere to retreat.
And it reconfirmed Ashu's stubbornness wouldn't bend.
"Hoo... Fine."
Since it had come to this, I'd steel myself and slip it on.
I took her left hand, resolve hardened.
Holding the Connection Ring, I pressed it to her ring finger, spread wide in anticipation.
"......"
Was sliding this tiny ring on really this hard?
My hand trembled without me realizing.
"Don't worry, Kirgil. This Agnes won't stand idly by if you or Ashushikara meet death. I'll share that burden."
Agnes laid her hand over mine. Only then could I slip the Connection Ring onto Ashu's finger.
Ashu gazed at it on her left ring finger for a moment, then clutched it to her chest like a cherished treasure.
"Now... now I can feel you, Kirgil."
That meant she'd recommitted to dying with me if it came to it.
"Please don't say stuff like that. Gives me the chills."
At my honest reaction, Ashu—who'd been holding the ring reverently—puffed her cheeks and pouted in an instant.
"You're still such a tease, Kirgil."
"Haven't even pinched you yet, and you're already saying that."
"Yes. I missed reactions like that from you."
Agnes pulled me into a tight hug.
Finally, the crisis seemed resolved, the tension easing.
"Kirgil, before we spend time together, there's something I must do first."
Agnes stepped back from me and approached Ashu.
Ashu looked a bit tense, probably from the earlier ordeal.
"Ashushikara, forgive this Agnes. Perhaps emotions within me spurred suspicion toward you. I was swept up in feelings I'd never known myself."
Ashu accepted the apology, grasping Agnes's outstretched hand with both of hers.
"Agnes, you were the light sustaining my young self. I've longed for that light all these years.
If anything, I should thank you."
Ashu embraced her teacher like they'd finally reunited after ages. The air felt right now for them to unpack years of pent-up emotion.
"Thanks to you, Teacher, Kirgil understands me better now."
"...That's what I said not to say. It's creepy."
Ashu shot me another sulky look.
What could I do? Today's events had shown me her chuunibyou-like words weren't just play.
"Kirgil, stay with Teacher. You head out."
With that, Ashu shoved me out of the room.
Was she mad at my words?
Recovery was fast for a girl who'd wailed like a child moments ago.
As I closed the door, she flashed the ring at me with a brighter smile than usual.
Not mad, then.
Sheesh.
Looks like my curse was a blessing to Ashu.
At this rate, who was binding whom?
Couldn't crash the girls' talk, so I was left high and dry on my own.
Couldn't stray far with Agnes here to see me, so I headed to Parania.
"Hey, you okay?"
Parania's question came out hesitant, wary, concerned. I sighed on reflex.
Made sense—she'd witnessed that battlefield of a scene.
"Just old emotions exploding after so long apart. Coming back from sorting it out."
"Oh, r-really?"
Parania nodded along vaguely. The vagueness was key.
I was dead certain she'd unlocked 'Read the Room' skill Lv1 from today onward.
This chat alone probably bumped it to Lv2 or 3.
She'd cleared her academy schedule for me, so we headed not to the transfer room but the library stacked with books. Good chance to browse what I was curious about too.
This Connection Ring and all—it seemed there were more magic tools wildly detached from my common sense than I'd thought.
Magic here manifested human will, so human imagination made it wildly unpredictable.
If sexy magic armor existed, there had to be plenty of bizarre tools laced with desire.
Likely tons tied to faith, like my Killgent's Oath at my waist.
Even in my home world, religion had inspired art for ages.
Patronage there, no reason not here.
So I browsed shelf by shelf...
And three, four hours slipped by just like that.
Never appreciated a search engine's instant pop! more.
Pull a book, scan, replace; end of a row, next row; end of a shelf, next shelf...
Man, the random crap was endless. Anything in ancient script went in the library?
A toy catalog in ancient tongue had me fuming.
Ughhh! Sun's gonna set again!
"Don't worry. For you, I'll provide candles or magic lanterns."
"Thanks, but pass. Just hand over the book you brought. Calling it a day with that."
Parania's book annoyed me more for being trivial.
Expected ancient history; got a chuunibyou novel about me having a dragon or some nonsense.
Deciphering this crap was academy work, huh.
Yet I tore through to the next volume in no time.
Familiar vibe, somehow.
While in the library...
Ashu came looking for me alone.
Thankfully, she looked in high spirits. I could tell at a glance. Even in just hours, they'd clearly had a great time. Relief.
But.
"What about Agnes?"
"Teacher's heading to our lodging today."
Parania asked disappointedly why not stay at ours. Ashu grinned.
"Ask Agnes that, and you'll earn her ire. She'd blow up like I did yesterday."
"...R-right."
Parania glanced my way.
I could practically hear her Lv rising in my head.
Paranil would be thrilled. Or maybe bummed.
To beat sunset, I boarded the carriage Parania provided. Ashu waved from outside.
"Take care!"
"Yeah, why see me off?? What about you, Ashu?"
Ashu winked with a grin, then shut the carriage door herself—from outside.
Parania, who'd come to see me off, stared wide-eyed at the sudden move.
What the hell was going on?
Inside the carriage, Agnes sat with her head bowed, cloaked head to toe in a robe.