Not Quite a Companion
“Garid.”
If leaving one’s parents’ arms and standing on one’s own as a person marked the end of childhood, then I probably still hadn’t left childhood behind.
Maybe I never would.
Garid was practically my entire world.
I looked down at Crimson Aegis with troubled eyes and let out a sigh.
“…Honestly, I still don’t want to.”
Neither leaving Garid behind nor going out into the world.
“I’m not going to say something like, ‘Garid wouldn’t have wanted me living like this either.’”
Garid probably really wouldn’t have wanted it, but I didn’t want to use his wishes as an excuse for my own actions.
So the fact that I was leaving his side for a while was mine alone.
“…There’s something I want to find out.”
It didn’t seem like that lofty old man was going to drag his honored body all the way here, so what choice did I have?
The thirsty have to dig the well themselves.
Thanks to the barrier the snake had set up, I didn’t need to worry about thieves, which was a relief.
It was a vow forged with my life on the line, so he wouldn’t have tampered with the barrier. For the time being, I should be safe enough.
“So….”
After hesitating for a long moment, I finally parted my lips and said it.
“I’ll be back, Dad.”
I will.
I’ll come back.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“…You’re late.”
If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve set a time.
I’d come down from the mountain at the time Joni usually arrived, but even widening my senses, I still didn’t feel any sign of her coming.
Murmuring, rustling.
The person I was waiting for wasn’t here, but strange things kept piling up around me instead.
I stood at a distance and slowly scanned the people gathered around me.
They all had blurred, indistinct faces, so they looked like Apostles….
I didn’t sense any hostility, so I left them alone, but being treated like a spectacle didn’t exactly put me in a good mood.
Hmm….
I tapped the sword at my waist with my fingers.
If they’re Apostles, wouldn’t it be fine if they died once?
“Kana!”
Just as I was seriously considering it, an all-too-familiar voice rang out.
“J-just a moment…! I’m coming through! W-whoa?!”
For a while, Joni struggled as if it were hard to break through the wall of people packed tightly together, and then she suddenly bounced out, shoved forward by the crowd.
In a way, it was a very Joni entrance.
“You’re late.”
“Sorry, sorry! I-I mean…. I had a lot of, of preparation!”
“Supplies.”
“Yeah, supplies!”
Joni, who had launched into excuses without being asked, puffed out her chest with confidence.
“Just trust me. I’ll make it as comfortable as home!”
“Hmm….”
Why doesn’t that sound reassuring at all?
“But where are we going?”
See? Asking me to just drag her along without even checking the destination was already abnormal.
How could I trust someone like that?
“The Sedes Holy Kingdom.”
Grasis was once a kingdom in the western part of the Ardeena Continent.
By contrast, the Sedes Holy Kingdom sat at the far southeastern end of the continent, so it would be a long journey.
If I ran at full speed, it wouldn’t take long, but with a companion in tow, that wasn’t exactly possible.
“If we use a teleport gate… Ah.”
Joni muttered, then jerked in surprise as if something had just occurred to her. She glanced at me cautiously.
Teleport gates were a business run by the Mage Tower, and that tower was in the Empire.
Technically, the building that served as the headquarters was in imperial territory, but the tower itself wasn’t directly under imperial control. Still, considering the huge subsidies it received from the Empire every time, it probably couldn’t afford to ignore imperial opinion.
And besides, getting to the Sedes Holy Kingdom by gate would take more than one or two jumps, which meant we’d inevitably have to use gates inside the Empire as well, and that was a little awkward.
The Empire not coming after me and me willingly crawling into its territory were two very different matters.
And there was another problem.
“Do you have a lot of money?”
“Ah.”
If we tried to cross the continent by teleport, how much money would that take?
People didn’t choose to ride uncomfortable carts or horses for nothing when teleport gates were so convenient and fast.
That was why I’d been so dumbfounded when I’d seen the knights storm in last time.
Even during wartime, unless the situation was truly desperate, they didn’t use them—yet they’d come riding over here on one anyway. How was I supposed to feel about that?
Seen that way, the snake bastard’s description of “full of vigor” seemed a little off.
“Rich, full-of-vigor bastards” would be more accurate.
“So, we walk?”
“We need to find a carriage.”
It’s not like I wanted to walk that absurd distance myself.
Spending days and nights in a jolting carriage wasn’t exactly pleasant, either, but it was still far better than walking for days on end.
For her, not me—my delicate companion.
“If there’s a trade caravan heading to Sedes, we can slip in as escorts. If not, we’ll have to find a driver separately.”
Each had its pros and cons, so I couldn’t say one was definitely better than the other.
Besides, I wasn’t even sure there’d be a caravan heading to Sedes from here.
“For now, let’s go.”
“Uh, where to?”
“The village.”
There wouldn’t be a caravan or a carriage to find here anyway.
Which meant I’d have to get through those Apostles first….
Yeah, got it.
Snick.
“Wait!”
Grab!
Just as I was halfway drawing my sword, Joni rushed at me in a panic.
“I’ll talk to them, so…!”
They come back to life if they die anyway, so why was she making such a fuss?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Garid’s hometown was a small village at the foot of a harsh mountain.
According to him, he’d run back and forth across that brutal mountain since he was a child, as though it were his own home, even though it was the kind of place that left adults exhausted. Believe it or not.
Whether Garid’s words were true or not wasn’t really the important part, so I let it go. There was no way a village this small would have a caravan or a carriage, so our footsteps naturally led us toward a larger city.
The closest big city from here would be Ordo.
When I asked Joni whether she knew anything about Ordo, she nodded proudly.
“Ordo? I know it!”
Then she started explaining, and although I couldn’t understand everything, the gist of it was that the city was still around.
Come to think of it, it wouldn’t be easy for a city that large to disappear in a single moment.
And once again, Grasis felt impressive for having managed the impossible.
In any case, after Grasis fell, Ordo must have had enough economic and military strength to stand on its own, because it eventually chose to break away from the Empire and become a free city.
Ordo, huh….
Maybe I’d see a familiar face there.
“Oh! Kana, take this.”
“…A cape?”
“I fixed it. What do you think? Pretty good, right?”
Honestly, when I handed Joni the torn cape and told her she could repair it, I hadn’t expected much.
It would be nice if she could, and if not, well, that was that.
It was something I’d worn for so long that I’d grown attached to it, but it didn’t hold any special memories. Even if I bought a new one, I’d only be a little disappointed, not truly upset.
What mattered most was something else.
….
I fiddled with the choker around my neck.
“...Yeah. Looks fine.”
The torn hood section had been neatly sewn back together as if nothing had ever happened, and the frayed parts here and there had all been tidied up.
If you looked closely, you could see the stitching, but at a glance it was so cleanly done you’d never know it had been repaired.
Who knew Joni had that kind of skill?
Even a worm can have its own talent, I guess.
If she’d opened a repair shop instead of becoming a mercenary with a sword, she might have made a fortune.
“Huh? Kana, what did you say?”
“Nothing.”
Just as I was slipping the cape around my body with practiced hands and about to pull up the hood—
“Kana, wait a sec.”
“…?”
“Could you… not wear the hood?”
At Joni’s sudden request, I tilted my head.
It wasn’t impossible, but….
“Why?”
“Because your cute face will get hidden.”
“…What are you talking about.”
She was saying a line so embarrassing it sounded like something out of a comic without even blinking.
If this had been in my past life, maybe I’d have felt a little flutter in my chest, but after everything I’d been through now, it didn’t affect me at all.
I snorted and jerked my head away.
I did not put the hood up.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“…Cute.”
Joni muttered under her breath.
Kana had tried hard to act unfazed, but the girl’s ears, visible through her sweet pink hair, were dyed red, and a tiny blush had bloomed on her snow-white cheeks.
Joni gazed at Kana, who had turned her head away with a satisfied, gentle smile.
The viewers watching through the stream seemed to sympathize with Joni completely, because the chat room had become a frenzy.
“Ahem, Kana is mine.”
“....”
Joni narrowed her eyes at the pack of hyenas lunging at her the moment they got the chance.
Honestly, they really were desperate to tease her.
Letting out a breathy “phew,” Joni changed her expression and smiled in victory.
“Mm-hm~ No matter how much you say it, I’m the one going on a date with Kana. Jealous? Does it hurt? Are you envious? So what exactly can you do about it besides watch?”
“Ahem, no bad words.”
If you’re going to banter, keep it within bounds.
Joni casually executed the ones trying to cross the line.
“You wanna fight? But Kana’s right beside me. You confident you can beat Kana? Come on, if you can, then come on over~”
“Heheh, like that’s going to bother me.”
As the saying went, the one who’d eaten meat knew how to eat it best. The usage was a little different, but Joni had been mocked by viewers so often that she knew exactly how to get under someone’s skin.
She kept grinning as she watched the chat twisting itself into knots just as she’d expected.
The comment about whether she wasn’t ashamed to hide behind a child did sting a little….
Once I’ve done it already, what’s stopping me from doing it twice?
As someone who’d already been protected by Kana when the Ro Arca Empire’s knights attacked, Joni was able to brush it off easily.
Whether it was right or wrong to be proud of that never even crossed her mind.
While she was busy watching Kana blush and teasing the viewers, the neatly maintained road eventually spread out before her eyes.
“If you follow this road all the way, you’ll reach Ordo. …Though Kana probably already knows that!”
Joni had been about to explain it the way she always did for the viewers, then remembered Kana was from Grasis and awkwardly trailed off.
It was like showing off your folds before a chrysalis. Pathetic.
And yet Kana herself looked entirely unbothered, while Joni turned red with embarrassment.
She fanned her face with her hand, trying to cool down, and then spoke as casually as she could.
“When we get there, we can eat something delicious—”
Plod, plod.
Tap.
“…Found you.”
But she never got to finish her sentence.
A suspicious figure appeared before the two of them as they walked peacefully down the road, sword leveled toward them.
“Hic!”
For a split second, Joni thought it might be a knight pursuing Kana, but when she saw the blade pointed at her, she hiccuped in shock.
Not a knight, a player…!
Realizing who the stranger was, Joni asked in a trembling voice, “W-who are you…?”
“You told me to come if I wanted, so I came!”
“Hic!”
Joni had never imagined anyone would actually show up, so she was flustered by the sudden visit and slowly took a step back, then another.
The chat was already in festival mode.
Everyone wanted her dead.
Rolling her eyes as she gauged the situation, Joni suddenly let out a snort.
“Hmph! I’ve got Kana with me!”
Normally, she would have tried to persuade him or looked for a way to run, but not now—she had a reliable escort, didn’t she?
Joni turned around and called out, “Kana?”
“Mm?”
“Look! He’s blocking our way!”
She had to deal with him… right?
Meeting Joni’s expectant eyes, Kana tilted her head.
“…So?”
“…Huh?”
This wasn’t the reaction she’d wanted at all….
Even more flustered than she’d been when the stranger first appeared, Joni tried again.
“I-I mean, he’s blocking the road we were going to take.”
“Yeah, so?”
But there were two things Joni didn’t know.
First, Kana didn’t usually draw her sword unless the situation was unusual or the other side had shown hostility.
Second, Kana’s hostility detection was extremely sharp.
In other words, since Kana had noticed that the stranger’s hostility wasn’t aimed at her, she had no intention of stepping forward first.
“Looks like he has business with you, so try sorting it out yourself.”
She couldn’t catch everything, but from what she did understand—and from Kana folding her arms and stepping back—Joni could clearly grasp her meaning.
“K-Kanaaaaa!”
The scream of someone betrayed by the person they trusted, the stranger’s mocking laughter, and the viewers’ own sneering laughter blended together into a single harmonious chorus.