The Purifier Clan
A faint current of mana.
Ordinarily, it would have been something I passed by without even noticing, but now that I was concentrating, I could feel it.
So that’s what she meant.
I finally understood what Ati had told me—that living things unconsciously let mana flow from them.
As I felt the current of mana, I opened the eyes I’d been quietly keeping shut.
Nod.
-Nod.
At my signal, Daeun nodded as well.
“Kana, do you know how much, much your big sister likes you?”
For someone like me, who had only just started learning Arkish, it was meaningless babble I couldn’t understand.
But things were different now.
I’d learned the demons’ method of communication from Ati.
I read the meaning from the mana flowing off Daeun.
“…‘I’m an Expert who doesn’t even know how to use a sword properly’?”
“No! That’s completely wrong!”
Daeun shrieked.
“How on earth does ‘I like you very much’ turn into ‘I’m a loser’?!”
“Mm-hm. I think that makes sense.”
“It does not! Those are wildly different!”
“But I can’t understand it, so what am I supposed to do?”
“Couldn’t you just say you don’t get it…?”
“My pride won’t let me.”
“…Aghhh! You’re so irritating I can’t stand it!”
Whoosh—
“…Mrbbrb.”
My cheek was caught in Daeun’s hand and stretched out in a long, floppy line.
So long, in fact, that for a moment I actually wondered, Could my cheek stretch this far?
“Be honest. You only understand the things you want to understand, don’t you? Otherwise there’s no way you’d catch words like chocolate, meat, or child, and then fail to understand everything else!”
“Mrbbr?”
“…What are you even saying? I can’t understand you.”
“Mrb….”
If she wanted to understand me, she could let go of my cheek first and then talk.
It didn’t hurt, exactly, but watching my face stretch out like a rice cake made me feel strangely off-balance.
When I shot her a glare that clearly carried that meaning, Daeun finally released my cheek.
I didn’t even need a mirror to know it had turned red.
Rubbing at the warm, prickling skin, I muttered, “Is this my fault?”
After I’d managed to understand Daeun’s words, we conducted a great many experiments. Whether I could understand Daeun and Celine speaking Arkish, or whether Celine could understand me in return.
The success rate was less than half—roughly thirty percent, maybe even lower.
Objectively, that wasn’t exactly stellar. But considering I’d only just learned the skill, wasn’t it a pretty satisfying result?
I think so.
“You can’t be proficient right from the start.”
“…At the very least, Kana shouldn’t be the one saying that!”
“…Why not?”
“You seriously have to ask? You tease me every day for being a loser…!”
Filled with indignation, Daeun lunged at me again.
I’d let my guard down before, but not now.
Shaking my head back and forth, I dodged her grasping hand.
“It’s only natural that it’s easier to read something you’re interested in than something you’re not….”
Ati, who had been sitting quietly and watching us squabble, offered her own comment.
“It’s the same when you speak too…. If people around you are babbling about something you don’t care about, does it really stick in your ears…?”
“Well… I guess not?”
“Exactly…. I’m honestly more surprised it worked at all the first time…. Once you get used to it, you’ll probably be able to read other things too….”
“See? Ati says the same thing.”
See? It wasn’t me who was wrong.
“So smug.”
In the end, Daeun failed to catch me, clicked her tongue, and withdrew her hand.
Even though she kept glaring at me as if I were infuriating, the fact that she couldn’t bring herself to act on it was rather satisfying to watch.
That’s what she got for slacking off on training.
By the same token, I should have been training too, so I could develop this new ability of mine.
But…
“I’m just going to eat something quick and then head out.”
I pushed that to later.
There was already something else I’d promised to do today.
“That soon?”
“Okay.”
“All right….”
There was only one objection.
And even that was less an objection than a mild difference of opinion.
“I don’t even know how long it’ll take, so we should go as early as possible.”
If we went late and the sun started setting, that would just make things annoying.
Even if I’d long since passed the point where darkness could hinder me, there was still something psychologically unpleasant about it.
“Kana doesn’t like the dark either? Even if you seem grown-up, you’ve still got a cute side to you.”
“Yeah. It reminds me of when I lived in the back alleys, so I hate it.”
“…Sorry.”
“I was joking.”
The mood suddenly grew somber.
Even after I’d said it was a joke, the heaviness on Daeun’s face showed no sign of lifting.
It really was a joke.
I did my best to rescue the mood I’d accidentally dumped into the gutter, but every attempt failed.
No. Worse than failing, it somehow backfired.
The more I spoke, the more Daeun looked at me with those deep, knowing eyes of hers, as if she understood everything, and in the end I gave up trying to explain.
I’d realized my pitiful social skills and dreadful way with words weren’t going to haul the atmosphere back out of the gutter.
So instead of forcing a change in mood, I changed the subject.
“Anyway, we’ll be leaving soon. Ati.”
“Mm…?”
“I’m counting on you to guide us.”
“I was planning to come along anyway…. I wanted to see that bastard get taken down….”
Unlike her lazy tone, Ati’s temperament was openly combative as she accepted my words without hesitation.
“I’ll help too.”
Celine, who had been listening to the conversation through Daeun’s translation, readily stepped forward as well, offering her assistance.
A novice saintess had volunteered to help us—there was no reason to refuse, so I accepted her support with gratitude.
Me, Ati, Celine. And a few demons who would help us.
The party to hunt Crumo’s shadow had come together, more or less.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure how much Ati and the demons would help, but if Ati was speaking so confidently, then I supposed it was safe to trust her.
“Then after we eat, we’ll head out righ—”
“Joni stays here.”
“…Huh?”
I cut Daeun off.
“M-me?”
“Is there anyone else here using that name?”
“No, but… no, that’s not the point!”
Daeun shoved her chair back as if kicking it away and sprang to her feet.
“Why can Ati and Celine go with you, but I have to stay here?!”
“Because you’re weak.”
“….”
Her outraged tirade hit a wall and stopped dead.
Apparently she couldn’t quite bring herself to deny being weak, because after gathering her thoughts in silence, she opened her mouth again.
“La, Laxia? Laxia is just as dangerous, and you said I could come there….”
“Laxia wasn’t a place we were going to fight—”
“Anyway! It’s just as dangerous.”
“Hmm… is it? …So you don’t like that?”
“N-no… it’s not that I don’t want to go with you, I’m asking why I can’t go this time.”
Was she really that averse to being left behind?
Usually, Daeun would jump at the mere mention of fighting, yet now she was being stubborn in a way that felt utterly unlike her.
Even after I tried talking to her several times, she still wouldn’t budge.
“Why are you being so stubborn?”
“…Kana was being stubborn earlier too.”
“That’s different.”
That wasn’t stubbornness; it was simply something I had every right to do.
Besides, fighting ability was directly tied to combat.
“It’s not different at all.”
Daeun shook her head.
“You’re saying that because you’re worried about me, aren’t you? Because you’re afraid I might get hurt while fighting Crumo’s shadow.”
“…Yeah.”
“I feel the same. How could I just sit here and watch while my little sister goes off to do something dangerous?”
….
Daeun said she was just as worried as I was.
Honestly, it was a little frustrating how stubbornly she kept insisting on coming to dangerous places with me, so I’d started to entertain the pointless thought that maybe she had another motive.
But then her words, carried on the flow of her mana, reached me.
And in that mana was exactly what she’d said: worry, and concern.
“I get what you mean.”
“Then—”
Still, I couldn’t take her words at face value.
“But no still means no.”
I might be confident when it came to hunting enemies, but protecting people was not my strong suit.
That was Dad’s specialty.
“Tch… fine. I’ll just wait, then.”
Thanks to Celine stepping in to stop her as well, Daeun finally gave up on being stubborn.
But even if she’d accepted it grudgingly, her face was still full of dissatisfaction.
I’m not changing my mind, but… I do feel a little sorry.
For making her feel left out. For misunderstanding her because I’d entertained those foolish thoughts.
Even if I hadn’t said it out loud, the fact that I’d thought it for even a moment weighed on me.
“…When you come back.”
“Hmm?”
“When you finish the hunt and come back, I’ll do you a favor.”
Daeun, who had been looking at me with a puzzled expression, said, “Uh… isn’t this usually when you call it a wish?”
“That’s too grand.”
“Then are you saying you’ll let me hug you and pat you on the head all day?”
“…You want that?”
I gave a reluctant nod.
Was that modest, or just brutally faithful to one’s desires? I couldn’t quite tell.
“If you want it.”
“Yay! You made a promise, so you have to keep it. Got it?”
“Got it.”
Daeun had no idea what I’d been thinking just now.
I wasn’t lying, but I still forced away the unpleasant feeling that I’d somehow tricked her.
“I’ll come back alive, for sure.”
“…Huh?”
“If I make it back safely… yeah, let’s have a meal together.”
“J-just a second, Kana…?”
“Don’t worry. You know how capable I am. I’ll take care of it quickly and come right back, so wait for me.”
“…You’re doing it on purpose, aren’t you?! You’re deliberately planting a flag, aren’t you?!”
“What’s a flag?”
“Ugh….”
I’d told her not to worry, but for some reason the anxiety on Daeun’s face only deepened instead of easing, growing more intense than it had been before I spoke.
What was with her?
I had no idea.
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