The Savage Land of Greenfall
Just like yesterday, I was in the middle of another sparring match with Foldrin.
His mind seemed elsewhere during the bout; unlike the day before, his movements were loose and unfocused, as if a few screws had come loose. The sharpness that once lived in his blade had dulled, and his reactions lagged enough that a thin cut opened across his cheek when he failed to dodge in time.
"What are you doing? You'll get hurt if you don't focus."
"...I know."
He nodded at my rebuke and started moving again. But the return to his usual form lasted only a moment.
Sparring with Foldrin in this state wouldn't teach me much. I'd be better off practicing the sword on my own. I stepped back and let out a sigh.
"That's enough for today."
"Mm..."
I sheathed my blade and wiped the sweat from my brow. Foldrin hesitated, his expression wavering, then seemed to steel himself. His face hardened as he spoke.
"Ceris."
"What is it?"
"Would it be all right if I asked you to take on a request?"
"A request...?"
The words came out of nowhere. I knew what kind of feelings Foldrin harbored toward me, so I'd expected something like an invitation to dinner at most. Apparently not.
He nodded and continued.
"You must have heard the news when you entered this city. They're preparing a large-scale subjugation force to deal with the monsters."
"Ah..."
I nodded. When I'd first crossed into this kingdom, a friendly guard had even pointed me toward work. The scrap of paper he'd given me was probably still rattling around somewhere in my bag.
"I'll be heading there myself. So..."
"You want me to join too? As an adventurer?"
"Yes. That way we could get in more practice..."
"Is there any real need for that?"
Foldrin's face twisted in open shock; his mouth worked soundlessly for a moment. I hadn't sparred with him to raise my swordsmanship. All I'd needed was the style he practiced—Elune's Flash.
"I-I'll promise a generous reward."
"I've got plenty of money."
"I'll arrange every convenience... different from the other adventurers..."
It was a little disappointing, but it seemed my time with Foldrin had reached its end. I'd already taken everything I needed. All that remained was to refine what I'd gained and drill it into my body through endless practice.
I eased back a step and offered a small smile.
"Sorry. I don't think I can go."
"Th-that can't be..."
Disappointment flooded his face. After a brief struggle, he set his jaw with fresh resolve and spoke in a grave tone.
"Then... will you wait for me?"
"Wait for you?"
"Yes. I'll finish the monster subjugation as quickly as possible and return."
"Is there some reason I absolutely have to wait for you?"
"I have something I need to say to you."
"You could say it now, couldn't you?"
"I'm not ready yet. So..."
My stomach turned. Those burning eyes fixed on me without the slightest attempt to hide what they held, refusing to look away. I didn't need an answer to know what he intended. He meant to pour out the feelings he carried for me.
But by the time he finished the subjugation and came back, I would already be gone—racing toward the place called Greenfall, the so-called savage land, on Nightmare's back.
I narrowed my eyes and studied him. Judging by his attitude, if I didn't agree to wait he would cling to me for the rest of the day. No—he would do far worse than that.
I opened my mouth, letting a soft, expectant smile curve my eyes the way I once had when coaxing gifts out of village boys. The old trick slipped out as naturally as breathing.
"Hmm... maybe I'll wait a little."
"Please. Please wait for me."
A promise that would never be kept was sealed. Crushing a boy's pure-hearted affection should have left me guilty, yet I felt nothing of the sort. He was a junkie who couldn't even take care of his own body.
That was the end of the day's work. Before returning to the inn, I glanced at the medicine bottle rolling on the ground.
"Keep that up and you'll ruin yourself."
That was all. I cast one last look at Foldrin left standing alone, then turned and headed for the inn.
I never saw him again. While I waited for the right moment, I trained alone with the sword inside my cramped room.
Two days after that final meeting with Foldrin, the monster subjugation force—adventurers and holy knights together—left the city. The departure ceremony, held amid the cheers of the townsfolk and the blessings of the moon goddess Elune, was splendid indeed.
The moment I was certain the force had put real distance between itself and the city, I mounted Nightmare and slipped out through the gates.
"Master... it's so hot... Even when I make wind it doesn't cool me down..."
Rain trudged across the scorching desert beside her elderly master, complaining the whole way. After crossing the sea and arriving in the Karuma Empire, the two of them had begun tracking Ceris's trail.
From the Karuma Empire to the Hairan Highlands, from the Hairan Highlands to the Thunder Bird Mountains, and now into the desert known as the Resting Place of the Stars—her path kept stretching on. With a route that never paused for rest, guessing Ceris's purpose was no easy task.
"Hmm..."
The old mage listened to his only disciple's grumbling and tipped his face toward the sky. He, too, found the sun's glare unbearable. So he simply raised a hand toward the heavens.
The gesture looked ordinary, yet the effect it produced was anything but light. Vast mana stirred at the old mage's will; the surrounding air shuddered. His expression never changed, but the mana that soared skyward did. In enormous volume it reshaped itself and poured out clouds by the ton. The clouds spread like a canopy, soon covering a stretch of desert and blotting out the searing sunlight.
"Woooow..."
Rain stared upward, mouth hanging open. A grand magic that by rights should have been reserved for breaking droughts or turning the tide of war had been used simply to escape the heat. No mage but her master would ever deploy large-scale climate manipulation just to shade himself from the sun.
She swallowed dryly at the simple, devastatingly effective solution her teacher had offered.
"Let's go."
Rain and the old mage walked on through the shaded desert, and walked some more.
"This is the place...!"
"Yeah. This is it. The place where Emily is."
Su and Shu, the twin siblings, stepped onto the docks of the Karuma Empire and peered around. They had come all this way for no other reason than a friend named Emily. How long had they searched after she suddenly ran away from home? Then, out of nowhere, word of her had arrived from the Karuma Empire.
"Shall we go?"
"Yeah..."
Su and Shu broke into a run—straight for the Adventurers' Guild. A sword hung across each of their backs.
The farther I rode Nightmare, the faster the landscape changed. The lush green vitality of the grass began to vanish; trees that had once stretched high and rustled their leaves simply disappeared. The reddish earth lay dry and cracked, kicking up clouds of pale dust. One glance at the surroundings was enough to guess how barren this region truly was.
According to the map I had entered the Greenfall territory—the land of the orcs—yet the place looked nothing like the illustration drawn on the parchment.
Pru-ruk—
I guided Nightmare toward a broad fork in the road. On a featureless red plain a fork hardly seemed to matter, yet a weathered signpost driven into the ground insisted this was a crossroads. Beneath an unknown script, the common human alphabet had been carved as well. Apparently humans and orcs did not share a language.
After confirming Greenfall's direction I spurred Nightmare to the right. Each time his powerful legs struck the ground, pale dust billowed upward. It wasn't a desert-hot region, yet not a single tree could be found. Had some great famine swept through?
I rode on, tilting my head in puzzlement. Even in land this harsh, monsters still made their homes. While traveling toward Greenfall I encountered all sorts of them—and the orcs who hunted them.
The orcs eyed my approach warily, yet they made no hostile moves. Their caution was aimed less at me than at the mount I rode. Massive lower jaws jutted forward, tusks thrusting upward; ash-gray skin stretched over enormous muscle, giving them the solid look of living stone.
"Hello?"
"K o n C a t a T s u."
A reply came to my casual greeting. I couldn't understand the words, but the wave of a hand told me it was a greeting in return. The orcs offered a brief nod of the eyes, gathered the monsters they had slain, and moved off elsewhere.
I watched their retreating backs. For a place called the savage land I had expected something like a primitive tribe, yet the orcs' gear was little different from a human's. Their appearance wasn't especially monstrous either.
Pru-ruk—
Nightmare, it seemed, had taken a poor first impression of the orcs. He snorted roughly as he watched them recede into the distance.
"Let's go."
I tugged the reins and urged him onward. After another full day of hard riding, Nightmare and I finally arrived before a vast fortress.
"Whoa..."
The castle rising from the barren earth radiated an overwhelming presence. The enormous skull of some unknown monster mounted above the great front gate only deepened that impression.
"What kind of monster is that supposed to be..."
"It is the skull of a dra-gon."
While I muttered at the giant bone, an answer drifted from a short distance away—awkward phrasing, the pronunciation leaking air between every few syllables.
"Ad-venturer?"
The speaker was an orc clad head to toe in full plate. A colossal greatsword hung across his back; it was so large that at first glance I hadn't even recognized it as a blade.
"Ah, yes. You speak the human tongue?"
"You have come at a bad time."
"Pardon? A bad time?"
The orc offered no further conversation. After working his mouth for a moment he simply walked away, looking exhausted. I watched his back, then led Nightmare up beside him.