Natalie, Stop Clinging to Me (2)
***
In the afternoon, I headed with Edward to the Devil Rift we had scouted on our last visit.
Edward wanted to see the priestess Aslag again, the woman who had treated him.
At his pleading, I had no choice but to cancel my afternoon plans.
Both of us walked side by side wearing roasted-chestnut-seller hats, but Edward's steps kept falling behind mine.
Judging by his expression, he was deep in thought.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Hmm… I'm agonizing over how I should greet her when we meet."
"Just say hello. Done."
"I want to leave as deep an impression as possible. The kind that lingers in memory for years to come."
Edward suddenly clapped his hands.
"That's it! I'll practice with you!"
"Practice what?"
"Become Aslag for my sake!"
"You want me to play that woman? Are you sick or something?"
"Just for a moment! Help me greet her naturally, without freezing up!"
The man was completely smitten, it seemed.
I stopped walking and faced him.
"Fine, go ahead. Show me what you've got."
"Thank you!"
Edward turned away and muttered to himself.
"The one standing before me is the lady Aslag. The one standing before me is the lady Aslag. The one standing before me is most certainly the lady Aslag…"
"What are you mumbling about all by yourself?"
"Give me a moment. I'm hypnotizing myself. Maru is the lady Aslag. Maru is the lady Aslag…"
Edward's expression transformed in an instant.
He looked far more composed now.
The hypnosis seemed to have worked.
"Oho, who do we have here! Might this be the very Lady Aslag who tended to me the other day?"
I cleared my throat and mimicked a woman's voice as best I could.
"Forgive me, but who might you be? I don't remember."
"If I must introduce myself, I am none other than the next king of this great kingdom! Ed—Edward, the Crown Prince!"
"Get lost."
"Gwahk! Maru! Don't glare at me like I disgust you! That's not her expression!"
"How would you know what she's like? Announcing you're a prince right off the bat to a woman you barely know—what's your plan there? Try a different approach."
"Did I seem pompous? Right, got it. I'll try a different angle this time."
Edward cleared his throat, adjusted his expression, and turned back to face me.
"Could it be—Lady Aslag, is it not? What brings you here? Oh my, oh my, the heavens must be desperate for us to meet. To reunite with you on a day as bright as today—surely we are destined for one another."
"Your greeting is revolting."
"Don't spit on the ground while a man is greeting you! She would never do that!"
"Be natural. Natural."
"I don't know how to be natural! I'm so nervous that nonsense just spills out of me!"
"Then watch me."
I cleared my throat and softened my expression.
"Lady Aslag, is it? Thank you for the other day. I'm Edward. My hobby is guessing women's underwear colors. If you're willing, shall we try guessing the color of the ones you're wearing today?"
Edward clawed at his own hair and screamed.
"Nooo! Don't turn me into a pervert! She's not some shameless woman!"
"Just say hello. I'll handle the rest."
"You'll help me?"
"Just stand there and watch. I'll start chatting with her first, then steer the conversation so it flows naturally into you."
"What a brilliant idea! With you stepping in, it's as good as having ten thousand men at my back! Excellent!"
Edward pumped his fist in delight, then glanced over his shoulder and spoke.
"By the way, friend. What do you intend to do about that woman back there?"
"Who?"
"She's been following us this whole time. Hard to miss with that build of hers—how did you not notice?"
I turned around.
Natalie was trailing behind us, a black cloak with thick fur reaching down to her ankles draped over her shoulders, wearing bikini armor.
With that enormous, garish two-handed sword slung across her back, her presence was so overwhelming that every passerby's eyes were glued to her.
When she saw me looking at her, she flinched and quickly bowed her head.
I stomped over to her.
"Why do you keep following me? Go your own way."
When I pressed her, she spoke in a voice utterly deflated.
"You… you seemed like you were going hunting. I thought maybe I could help… And there's only two of you. Don't you need a tank?"
"Nope. Two's plenty for this place."
"I-I won't even ask for payment. Just let me come along."
"Oh? Free access to an S-rank warrior?"
Natalie's eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly.
Not a chance, you fool.
"Ah, but the tank's personality is terrible, so that won't work. I'll just get going. See ya."
I turned on my heel and left her there.
Natalie's shoulders slumped, and a sullen look settled over her face.
***
When we arrived at the site where the Devil Rift had opened, the same administrator we'd met before was there.
Unlike when it first burst open days ago, the volume of monsters pouring out of the rift had diminished considerably.
This kind of Devil Rift is commonly called a Pidegi Dungeon.
The meaning is simple: so few monsters crawl out, and only the weak ones at that, that fighting them is almost laughable.
Once the Pidegi period passed, the Devil Rift would seal itself shut and vanish without a trace.
"Those ridiculous hats—I'd know you two anywhere. Back again, are we?"
"It's fine that there's just the two of us, right?"
"It's less dangerous than before, so pick your spot as you like."
Maru and Edward made their way to the hunting grounds with ease, and Natalie, who appeared right behind them, got stopped.
"It's a dangerous place. I can't let you go in alone."
"Wanna die? A dump like this is nothing to me. Let me through right now or get beat down."
Natalie glared with furious eyes, her earlier meekness nowhere to be seen, and left the administrator trembling in his boots—but in the end, she was only allowed inside on the condition that she accompany another party.
"Huh? He's not here today? I don't see him."
Maru and Edward wandered the grounds for a long while without ever settling on a spot, searching for the priestess Aslag.
But she was nowhere to be seen—not even a trace of her.
"Come to think of it, meeting her once doesn't mean she'd be here again. We came on pure chance and struck out."
"No… I never dreamed my love's path would be so treacherous…"
Just as Edward was sinking into despair, they fortunately spotted some of the same people who had been in Aslag's party the day before.
But the priest among them was a man.
We went straight over and asked.
"Did Lady Aslag not come today?"
"Aslag? She left for a place called Nalundra, where two Heroes are said to arrive in two months. She went to see the Heroes. It's sightseeing, so she won't be back for months. She was never actually one of our party members, mind you."
Heroes of this era were megastars of the highest order, and plenty of people traveled far and wide just to catch a glimpse of one.
Apparently Aslag was one of that crowd.
I patted Edward's slumping shoulder.
"What can you do? I guess it just wasn't meant to be."
"My love… departing… like this…"
"We'll be heading to Nalundra ourselves before long. Wait—you don't think? Maybe you'll meet her there. Since we're out anyway, let's just hunt hard and head back."
***
"Un-BELIEVABLE!"
"That man's a monster…! Look at his gear! He's on another level from ordinary adventurers!"
Natalie was swinging her two-handed sword without restraint, slaughtering monsters left and right.
With her putting on such a one-woman show, her party members had nothing to do.
They just stood by, hands off, admiring.
"What am I even doing with these weaklings! Damn it all!"
She suddenly snapped in anger, planted her two-handed sword into her back, and made to leave.
The party leader came sprinting over.
"You mustn't leave the party! The groundskeeper only let you in on that condition!"
"What?"
Natalie grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him into the air.
"Kghk!"
"Wanna die? Who do you think you are, ordering me around? Are you my boss?"
"I-I'm sorry!"
"Then get lost."
She hurled him to the ground and stalked off.
"I want to be with Maru, that's why."
Natalie muttered with grim resolve and began wandering the grounds in search of him.
Whenever a monster lunged at her, she didn't even bother to look at it before flattening it with a single punch.
Her fist sent the monster reeling from the impact, crashing to the ground.
"There he is."
She had found Maru remarkably fast.
All she wanted now was to beg his forgiveness for the past, and soon.
Even apart from Maru, she had nowhere to go anyway.
She'd just become a wandering knight.
Even trying to join a new party, unless it was a Hero-tier party, nobody would give her a second glance.
She didn't care if Maru looked down on her.
She'd gladly be trampled every day.
The best connection she had ever made in her life—the Crown Prince himself—stood right before her eyes.
Just as they say even slaves should serve a king's slave, even treated like a dog, better to be the Crown Prince's dog than nothing.
It would bring her opportunities and wealth and a life of comfort she could never have imagined before.
Call her a mercenary social climber if you liked.
If she had just realized that an acquaintance she'd known all this time was actually the Crown Prince, anyone would think exactly as she did to protect such a precious connection.
And yet, weighed down by what she had done to Maru in the past, her heart was still heavy.
The shock of learning Maru was the Crown Prince had only shifted her life's goal mid-course; her desire to apologize was genuine.
To stop you while you were addicted to Paradise Grass, throwing you in prison was the best thing I could do. It was the only way I knew to protect you.
That was the only time anyone had ever looked out for her.
Just as she had once given Kiera her complete loyalty, she wanted to be his dog now.
"The first man who ever slapped me across the face…"
A person like Natalie was never born to lead.
She was strong enough to lead, but without someone above her guiding her, she would rot away in idleness and debauchery.
A great warrior who could only live properly in service of a master.
Instinctively, she had chosen Maru as her next master.
"Oh…"
The moment she drew close to Maru, Natalie froze.
She was stunned.
Maru's axe work as he hunted the monsters was tremendous.
Thud! Thud-thud!
Thud-thud-thud!
In her memory, he had been a man who did nothing but carry luggage. Now here he was, an axe in one hand, cutting down monsters with sheer force. It was almost surreal.
"The man's a completely different person…"
As Natalie watched in awe from a shallow rise, Maru suddenly pointed his axe at her.
"Hey, you! You're in the way, so go disappear somewhere I can't see you!"
"S-sorry! I won't bother you!"
Natalie scurried off to a spot out of Maru's sight.
Then she hid behind a tree, poked her head out, and kept watching him hunt.
"Maru! Natalie's staring at you from over there again."
Edward, holding his handkerchief over his nose, was kicking the carcasses of fallen monsters out toward the edge of the area.
He was helping keep Maru from tripping over them mid-fight.
"Leave her be."
Maru punctured the monster's nape a couple of times with his one-handed axe and hurled the carcass far away.
"She'll keep that up a few days and then be gone."
Natalie kept lingering nearby until the hunt ended, and even on the way back she followed with a pitiful look on her face.
But Maru, treating her like a total stranger, never once spared her a glance.
However long she keeps that up, it won't work on him.
Maintaining that icy attitude all the way, around the time we returned home—
the palace was noisier than usual.
People everywhere looked up at the sky and heaved out sighs.
Word was spreading thick and fast that Hero Kiera and House Toledo, who had departed on the Eastern Expedition, had been defeated.
"Hmm…"
When the news finally reached me, I didn't feel much of anything.
My verdict was very simple.
She had it coming.