Ep.8 - The Road to Lumün (1)
Ep.8 - The Road to Lumün (1)
***
Delin's group pressed on toward L'Myune.
As the landscape grew wilder and signs of human presence faded, Delin sat in the jolting carriage, staring at the trees receding behind them...
...
He said nothing.
In the cramped space, five people who weren't particularly close kept bumping against one another, leaving no room for casual conversation or small talk.
Everyone was wrapped up in their own thoughts after the earlier uproar, enduring an awkward silence. Everyone except Kaede.
"I'm bored..."
"Just close your eyes and sleep."
Kaede's drooping tail swept sadly across the floor. Impatient by nature, she seemed unable to bear the solemn, uncomfortable atmosphere inside the carriage.
"Instead, how about we all have a little chat..."
"Buzz off."
"Just go dragon-quietly. Don't cause trouble for no reason."
Shot down before she could even finish, Kaede pouted and grumbled.
Her gaze left the finicky, dragon-quiet women and naturally—exceedingly naturally—drifted toward Delin.
"Seobang-nim, at least lend me your thigh... I simply cannot endure this cramped carriage journey! I could just run there and arrive in a few days!"
To Kaede, who was fussing and thrusting her perky ears forward, Delin reluctantly offered his leg. Only after she had thoroughly savored the texture against her cheek did she grin broadly and wag her tail back and forth.
"Now I can live! Keureung... kihing..."
"So now we're going dragon-quietly, right? No more fussing."
Watching the fluffy ears perk up cheerfully, Delin let out a short sigh.
'Does she even know she's pregGodnant...?'
Riko had told him a few days ago: she and Kaede were both with child. But seeing Kaede, utterly clueless, purring and rubbing her cheek against his thigh, Delin couldn't help but wear a God-expression of frustration.
'Still, I can't bring it up any more than that...'
His eyes swept over the other women. A few hours earlier, he had mistakenly thought Kaede's belly was already swollen and caused an uproar; now a strange tension hung among them. Once a topic surfaced, it didn't easily subside. If he brought up more talk of pregGodnancy now, things might spiral in yet another strange direction.
But in that awkward moment, Chichi ended up bringing it up first...
"Hey, Delin...? About that pregGodnancy talk earlier—don't worry too much. What are the chances of actually getting pregGodnant..."
"Chichi, what are you saying? This body is sturdy, so I probably got pregGodnant in one go!"
"Keep it dragon-quiet...! Don't say such scary things!"
Deep down hoping Kaede wasn't pregGodnant, Chichi flared up in anger. She channeled those feelings into her staff, thumped the carriage floor with an exasperated God-expression, and went on.
"Do you think pregGodnancy is that easy? They don't call it a blessing for nothing! There's no way you're pregGodnant, so dragon-quiet down. And eat in moderation!"
"Why are you getting so angry all of a sudden... really... It's not something to be angry about, it's a joyous occasion!"
Kaede just blinked, clueless. With her simple mind, she couldn't deduce why Chichi was angry. For a wolf who already believed she'd become 'close comrades' with the witch, it was utterly incomprehensible.
But that was only Kaede's perspective; Chichi's pent-up anger exploded until she was hopping mad and shouting.
"What joyous occasion! Ah, no! Before that, don't tell me you...! You held Delin without any contraception!?"
"Huh? Contra... what? What in the world is that..."
Contraception.
All those times of being squeezed dry by all kinds of women—every mating had been beastly, without anything like a condom. Delin, utterly dumbfounded by such an unfamiliar word, cut in.
"You didn't use any with noona either..."
...
The uncomfortable atmosphere that had filled the carriage finally burst.
"Then if anyone gets pregGodnant, it should be me!!"
"Why are you throwing a fit again. Sigh."
"This is important! If you don't care, stay out of it!"
The carriage bounced around.
Inside the jolting space, Chichi heatedly spoke in an anxious, trembling voice.
"A-and you, Kaede. It's the time of the full moon, so why isn't your heat cycle coming? That's strange! You clearly said before that your heat cycle comes every time the full moon rises!"
Thanks to Chichi's excellent memory, the pregGodnancy controversy was further ignited.
"Oh? Now that you mention it, it is strange."
"N-no! Kaede noona said she originally endured her heat cycles well...!"
"Hmm? That's true."
"After saying that, your heat cycle came and you were rolling around naked with him! I-I remember everything! When I went to rescue you, you were both naked...! And there was a smell!"
"Ah. That's true."
"Th-that's not... it was just..."
As the heated argument between Delin, Chichi, and Kaede raged on, Riko clicked her tongue—"Tch"—and shifted seats.
With them already throwing tantrums in the irritatingly cramped interior...
"...?"
But as she moved from the inside seat to the outer one, Riko saw Neva.
...
That expression, blank yet somehow twisted, was enough to fluster even Riko for a moment.
"Sigh."
Riko eventually gave up staying inside the carriage and climbed up onto the canopy, settling on top.
A cool breeze rushed against the heatedly running carriage, and the wind carried a graceful voice from up front to Riko.
"It seems quite enjoyable inside."
"Bullshit."
Riko crawled a bit further along the roof and looked down at Helen and Eva sitting in the front.
As if they'd grown close without anyone noticing, they were sharing a piece of confectionery—likely a snack Eva had been carrying before she was dragged along.
"Hey. Give me some too."
"Y-yes...? Yees..."
The snack the witches enjoyed looked like a long stick, with sweet chocolate and candy-like things stuck all over its surface.
Chewing the snack she had practically snatched without hesitation, Riko muttered.
"...It's tasty."
"It is, isn't it? Perfect as a drinking snack."
"Who eats this kind of thing as a drinking snack."
Helen smiling benevolently,
Eva awkwardly smiling along,
and Riko, not smiling, just chewing the snack.
They enjoyed a brief peace as they watched the road the carriage took.
It was a stretch to call it peace, but wasn't it more peaceful than the God-expression battle going on inside?
The commotion inside even reached Philmark hanging from the ceiling. It sounded as if they were shoving each other, or Delin was running around and bumping into the walls.
"Fucking noisy."
"With so many people, it's bound to be noisy. Isn't this a kind of amusement in its own way?"
"No."
Riko smacked the carriage roof repeatedly, sending a God-signal to keep it dragon-quiet inside, but the interior was so devoid of God-sense that there was no sign of it quieting down. Eventually she gave up, snatched another piece of Eva's snack, and crunched it between her teeth with a frown.
"Hey."
Riko was more conscious of the unusual atmosphere Neva was radiating than the other arguments. It wasn't that she'd grown fond of her out of hatred and was sending this kind of attention, but anyway, worried something big might happen later, Riko spoke to Eva as if delivering a God-expression reprimand.
"Y-yes...?"
"I don't know what went on between you and that bitch, but just handle it moderately and move on."
She didn't want to meddle in others' family affairs, but there was no choice.
Swaying with the jolting carriage, Riko aggressively lashed out at Eva, trying to resolve the conflict.
"Don't be stubborn for no reason and take care of your sister. That bastard, it looks like she's going to cause an accident at this rate."
It wasn't even much of a threat, and yet Eva was utterly terrified, trembling pitifully.
"H-hii..."
"Don't be too harsh. Everyone has their own circumstances, don't they?"
"Circumstances my ass. If it were me, I'd beat her all day until she came to her God-senses. That God-idiot just gets stubborn in the weirdest places. Who does she think she is, some pure white knight out of a fairy tale? They're all the same people anyway."
Like Kaede, who had argued about order and hierarchy, Riko was also quite serious about establishing rank and discipline.
The truth of life learned through rough back-alley days:
When someone crawls up, you've got to goddamn stomp them down so they can't crawl up again.
"Anyway. Don't act out for no reason, just read your sister's mood and try to get her attention."
"Hn... hii..."
Leaving behind Eva, who was cowering and trembling pitifully, Riko went back into the carriage.
The other three were tangled up with each other, fighting like little brats,
but Neva, in the same state as before, just quietly watched them...
...
Riko sat dragon-quietly in her seat, took out the cigar she had just stolen from Helen, placed it between her lips, and carefully lit it.
"Sseup... kehek- kelok... whoa, fuck... it's fucking strong."
She usually held her own against strong stuff, but the Archbishop's cigar was incredibly strong.
Riko cleared her throat and began to smoke it dragon-quietly again.
"Hoo—"
Unlike its neat body,
its smoke was extremely rough.
"Hey. You trying to kill someone?"
...
Neva's gaze left the three and shifted to Riko. In her eyes, veiled with dark clouds, only a dry aftertaste remained to fill the space between them. And between them, the Archbishop's cigar smoke rose again.
"Don't cause trouble for nothing, just go dragon-quietly. Take good care of your little sister. You never even liked Delin in the first place, right? You were just trying to fill the void left by your sister. Think I don't know?"
...
"I know bitches like you well. I've met enough to be sick of them. Because your own situation is so shitty, you cling to a man more desperately. Like you can't live without."
...
"And then you think that's love. But that's not love. You're just lonely. Got it?"
...
"If it wasn't Delin, you would've spread your legs for another guy, right? You were just lonely. It wasn't that you absolutely needed Delin. You just happened to meet him by luck. You feel it too, don't you? After reuniting with your sister, you don't need Delin anymore. You're not as desperate as before."
...
"All of you bitches were like that. 'It was love~ I finally found my true mate~' and then when the situation improves a bit or a better guy comes along, you immediately switch. Every single one of them. Picking and choosing a new guy that suits their taste."
...
"So... I'll help you reconcile, so now quit your God-expression toward Delin. Go to God's Garden, beg her to erase the queen's memories, and just live dragon-quietly with your sister. Like nothing ever happened. You get what I'm saying?"
...
"I said, you get it? Don't cling to him like that retard and that tit-biter, just take care of your sister. What, you want money? Just flaunt some money and guys will line up on their own, won't they?"
...
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"Aaaaghh! My tail! You stepped on my tail! My taail!"
"I stepped on it on purpose! Get that hand off right now!"
"Oof! Eup..."
--------------------------------------------
Unlike the uproar of the three,
Riko and Neva's conversation was utterly still.
"Well. Anyway. Think about it carefully."
...
Neva's blue pupils shook.
Those eyes, like a sparkling sea, met a storm,
and trembled terrifyingly.
"...Wait."
However, the truly terrifying thing was
that it wasn't only Neva's pupils shaking.
"What?"
It was on a completely different level from the shaking caused by the quarrel.
By now, everyone inside could feel the vibration.
"W-what's happening...?"
"This is..."
Kkiik—
The carriage came to a sudden halt.
The women's bodies all lurched inward,
the horses neighed in alarm,
and birds flew away screaming.
"Puhap...! W-what is it!?"
Delin, who had been caught in Kaede's chest, urgently pulled his face out and sought answers from the women,
but none of them answered properly. No, they couldn't answer.
Something was going wrong.
"...What's happening in L'Myune?"
"I don't know."
But no one was scared.
Everyone was just becoming a little more serious.
"For now, what's certain is that we can't just pass through the Dwarf Kingdom as planned."