The Road Out of Pardin
As always, equipment must be checked meticulously and preparations made thoroughly. In the time remaining before tomorrow, I wandered the village, spreading the news that I was still alive. The fisherman uncle’s house far by the river, the auntie who raised chickens, and even Lyla’s house where the three of us used to play together often—I made the rounds, visiting every acquaintance I had. Every time I ran into someone I knew, I heard the same things: “Weren’t you dead?” “How are you still alive?” The good-natured teasing was so blunt I couldn’t tell if they were greeting a friend or an actual ghost.
“Damn it, because of you I’m stuck in this village for the rest of my life!”
Mir, one of the village trio I often hung out with, greeted me not with joy but with a fist full of resentment the moment I showed up at his house. Instead of welcoming me back, he launched into a flurry of kicks and punches.
“Ow, hey! Why?!”
I let out a groan at the sudden violence and naturally asked why. What did he mean, stuck in the village for life because of me?
Through Mir’s grumbling, I finally learned what had happened. Around half a year after I left Pardin… the rumor that I was dead had become accepted fact in the village. No one asked my parents about my whereabouts anymore, and the same went for Mir and Rein. In that atmosphere, Mir couldn’t bring himself to tell his parents, “I want to leave the village too!”
He had wanted to leave even more than I did, so it must have driven him crazy. I offered a half-hearted apology as if it had nothing to do with me.
“Uh… sorry about that.”
“Sorry doesn’t fix anything!”
Mir saw right through my insincere tone and exploded. Then, as if suddenly depressed, he slumped forward and buried his face in the dirt.
“Even if you came back, they’d still say no…”
He squatted on the ground, raking both hands through his hair in frustration. Truthfully, his parents had always been pretty lenient. They were the type who drifted along like jellyfish on the surface of the sea. If Mir had begged them first, they probably would have let him go before anyone else. The problem was that my sudden disappearance had changed their minds completely. Once they realized what had happened to me could happen to their own son, there was no way they would let Mir leave now.
“It really is dangerous out there.”
I understood how they felt, so I crossed my arms and answered his muttering. From an adult’s perspective, it was the classic “It’s dangerous outside the village, dear.” Mir let out a hollow sigh and spoke in a voice full of resentment.
“Haa… so you got permission, huh?”
“Of course I did.”
I felt no need to feel guilty about his attitude. The freedom I had earned through pain was something I could be proud of, so I continued in a rather boastful tone. Even now, just thinking about that day made the spots where he had hit me ache again.
After finishing my village tour to let everyone know I was alive, I returned straight home. The preparations for departure were already complete, but with nothing else to do, I kept rummaging through my pack. Just another ordinary, slow, and uneventful day in Pardin village.
After two short days of reunion, the morning of farewell finally arrived.
“Have a safe trip.”
“Be careful out there.”
“Yes, I’ll be back soon.”
With my parents’ warm encouragement, I stepped out of the house. My once-light backpack was now heavy, but my heart felt lighter than ever. How should I describe it? It was like the real start of the game. Yeah, exactly like the opening of an adventure in any ordinary game. A bright rural village, warm farewells from my parents, and setting off on a journey. The carriage wheels rumbling over the dirt road, a boy climbing aboard with big dreams in his heart.
I really do feel like the protagonist right now.
The thought made a smile rise naturally to my lips.
“Hup!”
I grabbed the railing, gave a spirited shout, and leaped into the cargo bed. The carriage creaked slightly but didn’t budge. I set down my heavy backpack and sat in the same spot I had occupied for the past several days, leaning forward.
Once I had settled in, the old coachman’s voice drifted from the front.
“So, did you manage to talk things through with your family?”
“Yes, somehow.”
“Well, no parent can win against their child.”
After hearing my answer, the old coachman gripped the reins and set the carriage in motion. The familiar house, familiar people, and familiar scenery slowly receded into the distance. Among those fading sights, a certain figure came running quickly after the carriage.
A faintly familiar voice reached my ears.
“Could you stop for a moment? There’s someone behind us…”
I called out toward the front, seeing what was clearly a human shape. The old coachman, whose hearing wasn’t the best, didn’t catch it at first. Only after the wind carried the sound did he turn his head.
“Hm?”
“Waaaait—!”
The figure chasing after the carriage with a desperate shout was none other than Rein. She was clutching something tightly in her hands. When the carriage finally stopped, she walked over slowly, as if relieved, and grabbed the rear railing.
Wondering what could be important enough to make her run out here in broad daylight, I stood up from my seat and walked to the back.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“Th-this… take this with you…”
Breathing hard, Rein barely managed to hold out whatever she was clutching. Curious what could be so important, I shifted my worried gaze to her hand. Thin, delicate fingers gripped a bundle of pure white yarn. When I looked closer, I realized it was a wool hat knitted from that yarn.
“Hoo… come here.”
Finally catching her breath, Rein beckoned me over. I gripped the rear railing with both hands and leaned out. She pulled the wool hat down over my head. The surrounding sounds grew muffled, and a warm sensation enveloped my frozen scalp like melting ice.
The hat fit perfectly, as if it had been made just for me.
“Yeah, it looks good on you.”
“…Thank you.”
I answered honestly, watching Rein smile with satisfaction. She gently adjusted the hat over my ears and hair, then broke into a bright grin.
“If it doesn’t fit right, you have to come back, okay?”
“Got it.”
It was a promise she had decided on her own, without asking my opinion. No matter what might happen, in this situation I could only say yes. With another satisfied smile, Rein finally let go of the hat more readily than I expected. It seemed she was willing to let me leave for now.
Even though it was a cold winter day, Rein stood there among the village scenery until the carriage was completely out of sight. Just as she couldn’t take her eyes off me, I couldn’t look away from her either.
“Ah, young love, young love~”
Only after the village scenery had completely vanished from view did the old coachman’s teasing voice come from behind me. That was when the embarrassing reality of what I had just done finally hit me. I hadn’t realized it while it was happening, but the coachman’s words made me cringe. Our conversation had sounded exactly like a couple’s affectionate farewell. It wasn’t something I could easily deny, either… because part of me really did feel that way. Overcome with embarrassment, I kept my gaze fixed on the back of the carriage and refused to turn forward.
The steady rumbling of the wheels was the only thing that helped calm my chaotic thoughts.
After a long while of listening to nothing but the wheels, white flakes began to appear before my eyes. Snow.
“Ugh, we’d better hurry.”
“Yeah…”
The old coachman grew anxious as the white crystals began to cover the world. The carriage picked up speed at his urging, and I grew restless as well. I watched the white flakes pouring into the carriage bed. At first glance it sounded like a romantic, poetic sentence, but the reality was nothing of the sort. It was more than mere “trash falling from the sky”—it was a disaster. The old saying “frost on top of snow” wasn’t created for nothing. In the old days, accumulated snow was considered a negative force, and this place was no exception. Snow sticking to the wheels and freezing, piling up on the canopy and weighing down the carriage, seeping into the wooden frame, freezing, and cracking it—snow made roads impassable and burdened the horses far more than clear weather ever could. The best strategy was to cover as much ground as possible before the snow piled up and the path became unusable.
As if sensing our urgency, the gently falling snow grew heavier and heavier. The beautiful yet infuriating white crystals refused to melt when they touched the ground and began to pile up in layers.
If only it had just been snow.
“Looks like we’ve got trouble… Hey, look up ahead.”
At the coachman’s tense voice, I finally turned my gaze from the rear to the front of the carriage. Far ahead where the carriage had stopped, a suspicious shape was wandering about.
“That’s…”
It was a four-legged beast, its black fur standing out starkly against the pure white snowfield. A top-tier predator with slow, lumbering movements and a bulky, crude build. So much for “frost on top of snow.” The old saying was completely wrong. Who the hell dropped a bear on top of the snow instead?
Is this for real?