Natalie, Stop Clinging Already (1)
After seeing Oliver out, I sat down across from Natalie.
I didn't want to get tangled up with her, but hearing her out was the least courtesy I could offer.
“How did you get into the palace?”
“At the welcome ceremony yesterday, I said I was the warrior who'd come by before, and they just waved me right through.”
“Ah…”
If they'd checked properly, her record of being thrown in jail would have kept her out entirely, but with the crowds swarming in yesterday, it seemed they'd only glanced at her identity and waved her past.
“I missed you, Maru. I really missed you. For real.”
Bronze skin and wild orange hair grown down to her collarbone—the same battle-companion from before.
She looked as bold and self-assured as ever.
Exactly the same as back when she'd called me a pig.
“Well, I didn't miss you.”
“Oh, stop that. I know you missed me too.”
She grinned.
It made my skin crawl.
What could possibly be that funny?
“Why did you come back, anyway? What about your party? You said you were heading out on the eastern expedition.”
Natalie answered with an air of self-importance.
“Kiera, that bitch—she rubbed me the wrong way. So I just left.”
“That easily?”
“Yeah. Easily.”
“You always did everything Kiera said.”
“Fuck, when did I ever listen to that bitch? Ah—s-sorry, Your Highness the Crown Prince. Anyway, I've never once done a thing she said.”
Watching her mouth run the same way it always had, I decided this was a waste of time.
I'd hear her out quickly and get her out of here fast.
“So why did you come here? Nowhere else to go?”
She gave a short, dismissive laugh.
“What do you take me for? Natalie, the beast of the battlefield. I'm going to form my own party and outshine that Kiera bitch by a mile.”
Still seated, Natalie propped her arms on both knees and leaned her upper body forward.
“I saw you last time—you smacked my cheek around, and you've gotten stronger. So? Any interest in joining my party? I'll treat you well.”
“Your party?”
I blinked slowly.
A party with her…
The days I'd spent at her side flickered through my mind like a lantern show.
‘You're the Hero's boyfriend? Ohh, nice work. You've got good strength—I like that. That's what a man ought to be.'
‘Hey, that's your share of the load. What? You want a little help? Forget it, you bastard—just carry it. You've done your part and then some.'
‘How the hell does your washing not stink when mine reeks even after I scrub it? Haha, it's a miracle! No smell at all. You're actually useful, you know that?'
‘You hurting bad? There's a potion in my pack—dig it out and use it. What? Too expensive? Are you kidding me, who are you calling a miser? I don't hold back anything for my comrades. Want to use it again later? Just pull it out and use it whenever.'
‘Rest easy at the back. I've got you covered.'
For the first year after we met, she'd looked after me as a comrade should, and we'd been close.
But as the seasons passed, she changed, little by little.
‘Are you an idiot? You can't even keep up with the group without getting hurt?'
‘Cooking and laundry are the only things you're good for, you pig of a glutton.'
‘That's not baggage—you're the baggage, you. You. A man your age should at least try learning the sword.'
‘How did Kiera ever end up with a guy like you? Boggles the mind. If you were my boyfriend, I'd have cracked your skull open and dumped you ages ago.'
And then one day, her berating crossed a line that should never have been crossed.
It happened one night at camp.
After dinner, the others had retired to their tents, and Maru—no, I—had stayed behind cleaning up, so it was a good hour before I could finally crawl into my own tent.
“Haah… finally, some rest.”
Waiting on my companions hand and foot all day had left me thoroughly exhausted.
“Two hours of sleep, then it's my watch.”
The moment I lay down, my eyelids slid shut of their own accord.
Then a cold draft swept into the tent—and a heavy weight crashed down on top of me.
A reek of alcohol flooded my face.
“What the—!?”
My eyes snapped open in shock.
The tent was pitch dark, but as I groped at the mass pinning me down, the curly hair and the hard slab of muscle left no doubt—it was Natalie.
She was already kneading roughly at my lower half.
A chill crawled up my spine.
“What are you doing?! Get off me!”
“Days of nothing but camping and I haven't had a taste of man in forever—I'm going insane. Nyeheh.”
Whether she'd taken narcotics or not, her eyes were glazed and swimming.
She was, quite literally, out of her mind.
“It's good for you and good for me, so just lie still. Me, I'm a submissive little thing in bed. I take orders so sweetly that every man loves me. Want to try taming me yourself? I like being abused, you know. Heh heh.”
Natalie licked my cheek.
I turned my head away, straining against her with both arms.
“Get away from me, you bitch!”
“You're loving it, so why all the squirming? Kiera never put out and it drove you crazy, right? Two starving people should just feast on each other, no?”
I thrashed with everything I had, but it was hopeless against her overwhelming strength.
She stripped my pants off smoothly, and when she got a look at what was beneath, her eyes rolled back even further.
“Hoo… smells fresh. Now that I see this, you weren't the baggage porter after all—you were the Demon King down here.”
“GET OFF ME, YOU FUCKING BITCH!!”
That was when it happened.
Suddenly the tent tore open and a hand darted in.
It clamped around Natalie's head—and her whole body went limp, sagging like a puppet with cut strings.
“Ah… what the… fuhhh… mmm… slurrp…”
She was out cold in seconds.
“Who's there?”
I hastily shoved Natalie's body aside and peered out through the torn opening.
Lucy stood there, yawning.
“You two are so loud I can't sleep.”
“Th-thank you.”
“A grown man can't handle one woman? That's exactly why they call you a mangy mutt. Reflect on that.”
“Yeah…”
After Lucy went back, I stepped outside the tent.
I stared at Kiera's tent.
The light was out, and it sat silent.
She must have heard the commotion too.
Wincing at the bitter taste in my mouth, I went to a nearby tree and sank down against it.
I couldn't sleep a wink that night, and the hours simply burned away.
That was probably when it started.
When all my affection for the party drained out—and I started to dislike Kiera, just a little.
“We parted on good terms not long ago. That should have been the end of it—why come crawling back just to spike my blood pressure?”
I rose from my seat and walked toward the door.
I took hold of the handle and pulled it open.
Then I looked back at Natalie.
“I have no intention of joining your party. Go home.”
I could see her bold front deflate a notch.
She shot up from her chair, her face going hollow.
Then she forced an awkward smile and stumbled over her words.
“W-we'll make it big, I know we will. I'll give it everything I've got. Y-you won't have to suffer much, I promise. Ah! Wait—is that it? You're worried I'll make you a pack mule? Don't be. I'd never. I swear it on my honor!”
“I said no. Get out. I hope I never see you again.”
“R-right! Maybe it's because I never apologized! I'm sorry!”
Natalie dropped to her knees with a thud.
“I hurt you a lot, didn't I? I'm sorry! I regret it, I do!”
It caught me off guard—that fierce, prideful woman collapsing in an instant into such desperate pleading.
The old me would have asked her what brought this on. But my interest in her had died long ago, so whether she groveled or not, I felt nothing.
All I wanted was for her to disappear, quickly.
“If you won't leave, then I will.”
“W-wait!”
Just as I turned to walk out, she cried out, voice thick with tears.
“The truth is—Kiera threw me out too!”
I closed the door and stepped back inside.
Looking down at Natalie, still kneeling on the floor, I asked offhandedly.
“Kiera kicked you out?”
“Yeah…”
“That's not what you told me a minute ago.”
“I-it was humiliating.”
She hung her head low and swallowed hard.
Her two hands, braced against the floor, clenched tight as she trembled.
“She cut me loose because she wanted to take on three companions at once—a paladin, a mage, and a priest. All at the same time. And they told her they hated me, so…”
“Don't. I don't want to know any more than that.”
I walked over step by step and stopped in front of Natalie, her head bowed.
“Like I said, I'm not joining any party. Hunting the Demon King—I've given that up. I'm going back to my hometown to live in peace.”
“Then… then…”
“What?”
“C-can't you… take me with you…? You're the Crown Prince—feeding one more person is nothing for you. Y-you've got plenty of money.”
She was as impulsive as ever, blurting out whatever crossed her mind the moment it crossed it, without a shred of filtering.
A laugh burst out of me before I could stop it.
“You? Did you take an arrow to the head? Don't spout nonsense. Go home and turn our history over in your mind a hundred thousand times.”
“I-I am reflecting. I swear.”
“Lucy came by recently and said the exact same thing. That she regretted everything and was reflecting on it. And it turned out to be a lie. I'm not falling for it.”
“I-I mean it this time! I finally realized you were the only one in that party who ever looked out for me! And once I realized it, I wanted you to protect me again! I even got the feeling you could lead me back to who I used to be—back when I shone! And now that I think about it… Kiera was a fake leader who just abandoned her companions, and the one who actually took care of everyone, quietly and thoroughly, was you. We… we never knew how much you were worth…!”
Her emotions spilled over, and Natalie wept, sniffling between sobs.
“If you absolutely can't forgive me, then beat me black and blue—until you feel better.”
“You want me to hit you?”
She nodded her head over and over.
“Remember when you tried to rape me? Should I pour everything I felt that night into it and beat you half to death for real?”
She nodded even harder.
And a faint smile crept across her lips.
So she counts a beating as forgiveness.
She's out of her mind.
Here I am, doing her a favor.
“Forget it. I'm not interested in cheap entertainment.”
Natalie's face fell into a sulky pout.
Then, without warning, I reached out and rifled through every pocket on her clothes.
In moments, a cigarette case was clutched in my hand.
Paradise Grass, rolled into cigarettes.
I waved it in front of her eyes.
“Quit this.”
I tossed it on the floor and stood up.
Natalie scrambled to pick it up and stuffed it back into her pocket.
“I-I'm sorry. I'll work on quitting starting today, so just give me a little time.”
“Don't need it.”
Just then, the noon bell tolled through the palace.
“Is it already that late?”
I hurried toward the door.
“I have an appointment with the ministers. I'm off.”
“W-what about me? What am I supposed to do now?”
“Do about what? Don't come back. Ever.”
The door slammed shut.
Alone in the room, Natalie's face crumpled with sorrow.