Return (2)
In the end, the moment of parting found us.
A whole day had slipped away in the blink of an eye, and Shichurin had come out to where the carriage stood, waiting to see us off on our journey back to the territory. Our coachman was the same gentleman who had carried Eli and me to the capital in such comfort last time; catching my eye, he bowed his head and offered his greeting first, and I bowed in return, wordlessly entrusting myself to his care once more.
Shichurin, meanwhile, had already exchanged promises with Khan and Fairy — her gratitude for their defense of Crystal Territory, and a vow that if Plot Territory should ever fall into danger, she would come running at once. And now Eli and I stood clasping hands with Gerald and Jewelry in a final shake.
"Thank you, Lord Successor — my Lady. Thanks to you, Crystal Territory has been delivered from the threat."
"We are truly grateful. To the Lord Successor and to you, my Lady, who struck down the threat that had returned to us as a great evil, we offer our boundless thanks."
Listening to the couple's gratitude, I found myself remembering just how much I had been put through beyond the borders of Cumul Territory. The moment we reached the capital, I had been handed a meeting with Sion before her repentance, helping bring that repentance about even at the cost of laying my own past and wounds bare. After that came the banquet I wrecked, and the Ranked Demons I stopped before they could drag the imperial family into a dark age.
In the course of it all, I had said goodbye to Baram, the friend who had fought and lived beside me for some five years. The sudden invasion of Crystal Territory had severed my ill-fated tie with Florence once and for all, and at the same time let me root out a latent threat to the land. At the White Tiger's own request, I had even become the teacher of Shichurin, who now filled the role of a Successor in her own right.
Three weeks. That was all the time it had taken.
I could scarcely believe so much had happened in so short a span.
Gerald and Jewelry, their thanks at last spent, gave us their farewells along with a gift of diamonds — the pride of Crystal Territory — and took their leave. We tried to decline, to press the stones back into their hands, but the couple insisted that sending us off with anything less would be a slight to our dignity, and they would not be moved until the diamonds were ours.
In the end the diamonds passed into our keeping, and since we had taken them, we decided to think about where they might be used. There were five of them, roughly two carats each, resting in separate compartments of an exceedingly fine case. Even I, who knew nothing of jewels, could feel that these were stones of tremendous worth. As I understood it, a gem's price climbed with the quality of its cut and its freedom from flaws — and one look at diamonds so impeccably clean and luxurious told me at once exactly what I would use them for.
Though that, of course, would have to wait until we were back in Cumul Territory.
I gathered my wits and stowed the elegant case in the carriage — and there was Shichurin, walking toward me. Unlike yesterday, she wasn't hiding her feelings in the slightest; they showed plain on her face. Tears spilled from her eyes, one by one, at the sight of me. After crying as hard as she had yesterday, I wondered where she found more — but I was never so complacent a man as to leave a girl weeping for me without an embrace.
"Master!!"
Closing the remaining distance at a run, she threw herself into my arms.
"I'll wait for you! I remember everything you told me! Even when it's hard, I'll hold on, and if I can't hold on any longer, I'll ask you for help...! So... you'll come back, won't you...?"
Seeing her, voice trembling, so determined to faithfully carry out everything I had taught her, Eli and I each gave our answer.
"Yes, you'll do fine. No matter what anyone says, you're my first disciple."
"The Shichurin I've come to know is a girl who can do anything once she sets her mind to it. I believe in you, Shichurin. And..."
Cutting herself off mid-sentence, Eli brought her lips to Shichurin's ear and murmured something too soft for me to catch. Without even a chance to protest, Shichurin went scarlet and hid her face behind her hands.
Assuming Eli was teasing her, I chided her for it.
"Eli, quit teasing. You're putting Shichurin on the spot."
"It's not teasing — I mean every word. That's exactly why Shichurin is reacting like this."
I shot Shichurin a look that asked whether that could really be true, and she gave me a slow, deliberate nod: it was. Nonplussed by the unexpected response, I tilted my head and glanced at Eli, who only shrugged as if to say, See? What did I tell you?
Well... I could always ask in the carriage.
And so Eli and I each gave her hair a gentle, parting stroke and finished our preparations to board. Only then did Shichurin's face brighten into a smile — the look of someone determined to wait for the day we returned.
Next came Fairy and Khan. Fairy had recovered her old, sunny self and was beaming at us, and Khan greeted us warmly in turn.
"Good work out there, Khan."
At my words he gave a soft snort of laughter and clapped me on the shoulder. Knowing him as I did, I took it for the thank-you it was meant to be. By the time Khan and I had wrapped up our brief farewell, Eli and Fairy had likewise traded their gratitude and promised to meet again someday.
Not long after we left Crystal Territory, my curiosity finally got the better of me — what on earth had Eli whispered, that Shichurin's reaction was so unmistakable her whole face went red? When I asked, this was the answer I received.
"It's a secret. A secret only girls get to share."
".....???"
My curiosity only swelled — and then, before I knew it, I'd lost all chance of ever satisfying it. Partly because no matter how I pressed, Eli wouldn't say another word.
"Ughhhhh...."
"Oh, right... Hyun gets terrible motion sickness..."
As it turned out, the pain from my motion sickness was an even bigger reason the question never got answered. That throbbing, wrenching ache, I swear.... If it had felt like my head was about to split open, I could have called on the Authority of Purification again and again to dull it — but this was just the nagging, pinching, plain annoying kind of pain. Thanks to that, Eli — worried sick over me — ended up granting me another wish and letting my head rest in her lap.
Really, only someone who gets motion sickness can understand this pain..
However bad the motion sickness, a mistake like that only needed to happen once. Setting out, we hadn't forgotten the business at Sky Village, and so we made the journey by moving from small city to small city, spending a night at each. Sensing no threat at all, nothing but a quiet wind, the carriage rolled on and on until at last it reached the imperial capital.
The gatekeeper on duty was far more accommodating than the man I'd met on my first visit, waving travelers through with an eye to keeping the line moving. Thanks to him, we too passed swiftly through the capital's gates and into the city itself. We did consider paying our respects at the Imperial Palace, but this time we meant to slip through quietly. The moment I showed my face, the palace would inevitably scramble to prepare yet another grand welcome. It wasn't that I thought myself so grand — but for the Emperor's dignity alone, they would have to receive me with full honors, and no one would dare breathe a word of complaint about it. To spare everyone that trouble in advance, we reluctantly decided against entering the palace. We had left nothing behind anyway, and like the people of Crystal Territory, they would welcome us gladly whenever we chose to come.
So take care of yourself, Sion. I hope you'll be that much stronger the next time we meet — outwardly and inwardly alike.
With that thought, the Cumul carriage sped on through the capital — though not before stopping at Sky Village to ask whether any new strange phenomena had appeared, whether anything odd had happened. And then, roughly three days later, we finally reached Cumul Territory.
The soldier standing guard at the entrance actually moved to bar our way, even though the carriage bore the crest of Cumul Territory itself — though of course, the moment he recognized who was riding inside, he waved us straight through. Past the gate without a hitch, we drove the horses hard toward the lord's manor.
And there before us, as we arrived at last: every retainer of the house, the butler and the maids included, all assembled at the entrance.
"My Lady! Lord Successor! Welcome home!"
There was ceremony and refinement in every word they uttered. Anyone who witnessed the scene would surely have stood gaping in admiration, exactly as I was.
"Hold on — why are there papers stacked half the height of the room?"
The moment I returned, the workload came pouring down on Eli. Only if it was dealt with today would that mountain of documents stop growing, and at that volume, even Eli would be worn down to the bone. Which meant that while she struggled, I could use the gap to prepare the diamond surprise I'd been planning for her.
Or so I thought — until I noticed Eli already shooting me pleading, help-me looks. It was enough to make even a woman who seemed cast from iron blanch, and truly, anyone could see at a glance that it was an overwhelming amount. With no telling what storms would follow if I turned my back on her now, I surrendered with good grace and followed her into the office to help.
Was it just my imagination that Edgar, chuckling at the sight of us, wore the expression of a death god?
The surprise would have to be squeezed into whatever scraps of time I could carve out. First, the paperwork. For all it was called "work," there was nothing much to it — stamp the seal, and done. Of course, one couldn't stamp blindly: you read the contents, checked that everything held together, that the industries and ventures being proposed would proceed as they ought, that no obstacles lurked within and no laws were being broken. Grasp all that, and the job was done.
Eli, seeming amazed at how quickly I seized the heart of each problem, patted my head and told me I could be trusted. For my part, I split the work into sections — business, legal clauses, policy — grouping the shared topics together and working through them in order, though I made a note to give each document its own separate check as well.
First up: the economy section. Papers verifying where taxes had been collected, by what method, or whether payment had been taken in something other than coin. No problems surfaced there either — and as I worked on, Eli began to groan.
Eli, groaning in pain? Now that, I'll have you know, is a rare sound.
"Ugh... there are too many..."
I was down to the policy section, nearly finished; for Eli, wave after wave of paper kept rolling in with no end in sight. No wonder she was struggling.
"Let's rest for a bit once this is finished."
At my words she nodded and bent her focus back to the page. I had no intention of handing back her work riddled with mistakes either, so I gave it my all — reading, calculating, over and over. The tallest of the document towers had once stood half the room's height; we must have gotten through a fair amount, because it had shrunk considerably.
I went to her and stroked her hair. If you asked Eli to name her favorite form of affection, a kiss would take first place — but with her slumped over the desk just now, that was out. Head pats came second. Whether she didn't know the reason herself or simply wouldn't tell me, she'd never said — but I suspected the affection she'd been starved of as a child was at the root of it. Sirius had done nothing but shuttle between the battlefield and home; when would he have found time for his daughter? The hunger born of that still lingered in her heart, and only now, with far more people to lean on than ever before, did that old emptiness surface in a form like this.
The moment I drew my hand away, her voice reached me.
"Ah... keep going..!"
That cutesy, nasal whine of hers. She must really be worn out. Still — when she asked, I could hardly refuse. I left the whimpering Eli for just a moment and pulled the cord hanging by the office door.
Remarkably, no sooner had I tugged it than a maid knocked, as though summoned.
"Yes, my Lady. May I come in?"
Eli's energy had run dry and she lay sprawled across the desk, so I answered in her place.
"Yes, come in."
Only with my leave did the maid open the door and step inside, and I leaned toward her and began to murmur.
"Pardon me — would it be all right if I went to the kitchen and prepared a snack myself?"
"....??"
The maid's expression turned odd. Was it really that strange...? She deliberated a long moment before finally giving me a nod.
First things first, though — I'd have to tell Eli before I left.
"Eli, I'll be right back."
"...Where?"
"The bathroom...?"
She clearly didn't believe a word of my sudden trip to the toilet. Who on earth calls a maid to go to the bathroom? Even to me it sounded like a fool's answer, but Eli simply said,
"Okayyy... hurry baaack..."
— and weakly granted my brief escape.
"You have to come back."
.....A real escape, it seemed, would be rather harder to come by.
And so, out of the office and following the maid's lead toward the kitchen, I decided to make Eli a drink. Cakes and cookies took time, and were no small challenge to make — but drinks, drinks I was confident about. Back in high school, my friends had praised me for exactly that. And honestly, praise from a same-sex friend is the only praise that truly counts. But enough daydreaming.
At the sudden invasion of their domain by the Successor himself, the chefs had begun to stare, evidently wondering just what I intended to do. Paying them no mind, I laid out every ingredient the drink required.
"Thankfully, everything's here."
First, I filled a glass to the brim with ice to chill it. Next, I needed something like a bottle to mix everything in...
"Huh? A thermos...?"
That would do nicely. Into the thermos went orange juice, pineapple juice, and lemon juice, each in its proper proportion — and since I was making a generous amount, I doubled the usual measures, though even then it only came to thirty grams. Weighing it all out was a genuine chore. The drink I was making belonged to the cocktail family, and with cocktails, ratios were everything. Properly, I'd have needed a jigger or a scale, but of course there was no dedicated glass to be found, and the scale meant memorizing each cup's weight and weighing every pour by hand — pure drudgery. And yet, making it with Eli on my mind, the whole thing came together effortlessly.
All the juices went into a single bottle, and I shook it for all I was worth.
— Slosh! Slosh! Slosh!
The sound of the drink churning and blending inside the bottle began to fill the kitchen. The stares of the chefs, still peeking at me and plainly thinking, what in the world is he doing? — those were thrown in as a bonus.
And so the cocktail was complete. Its name: the Cinderella. Quite sweet, and quite delicious. Of course, I made one for myself as well, and with a few simple cookies and a cake set out beside them, the spread was done. I loaded the drinks, cookies, and cake onto a tray for delivery to the office — and reached for it myself, purely out of habit. The maid nearly had a heart attack, snatching the tray from my hands and insisting this was her job to carry.
So that's how it was... I'd spent so long cooking for one and serving one that it had become second nature; the habit had simply come out on its own.
When we reached the office, I took the tray back from the maid, opened the door, and came to stand before Eli. At the sight of the snacks, she tilted her head and began studying me. At last I set the tray down and held the drink out to her, and she looked from the glass to me and back again before speaking.
"What is this...? I don't know this drink...?"
"Try a sip. It's sweet."
".....Okay."
At my words Eli took a swallow — and, evidently finding it to her taste, went right on sipping.
"Good?"
"Mm. Hyun — did you make this?"
I nodded. "I did. What do you think?"
"It's delicious.... thank you.."
Eli's eyes shone with feeling as she nibbled her snacks and savored the sweet little break — and the moment it ended, she snapped back into her rigorous role as Lady of the territory and returned to work. I focused in kind, pushing the work forward just as she did, and naturally the pile left to process dwindled as we went. Only when half of the document towers had vanished could the two of us finally escape the office.
Out in the open, we drank in the brief peace we'd earned. We had been run ragged lately — two pitched battles, was that even reasonable? And one of them a head-on clash with a Successor of the Four Perils, no less... Days like this were a necessity.
Eli, walking beside me, must have felt the same; she glanced over and gave me a small smile. Taking her hand in mine, I savored the night sky that welcomed us home, unhurried.
But our small stretch of peace was broken by the information on a single sheet of paper.
"What is this? Why is the collection rate like this?"
It happened while I was working through documents with Eli, just as we had the day before. I'd come across a paper riddled with oddities — far more than one or two. Cumul Territory was vast, granted, but still...
"A small city with a tax collection rate of under one percent....?"
At my words Eli jolted and turned to the document in my hands — but her face, too, was written over with disbelief. It seemed my judgment that I could finally rest had been, once again, premature.