All Better, I See

"...Right. Understood."

"I mean it, that's not what this is...!"

Rian sat Medson, still trying to explain herself, down on the sofa, and took the chair set out for tending the sick.

"Vice Commander, I'm right, aren't I!"

"Heh heh heh."

Rupia, face drawn and haggard, snickered as if the whole thing were endlessly amusing.

"Hehe... ugh, hack."

"..."

Medson could only seethe at having been caught by the Commander at the worst possible moment.

"Water, Commander. Some water...!"

But seeing her groan and wilt like that, Medson couldn't quite bring herself to stay angry.

Medson poured water into a cup, and Rian studied Rupia as he asked.

"...Was it really that strong?"

Rupia was counted the strongest in the knight order after Rian himself. Had the aftermath truly been bad enough to leave her like this?

"That's because you hit her solar plexus so hard it shocked her insides."

"..."

"It's only temporary. She'll be fine soon."

Rupia, who had been lying there groaning, suddenly clutched her stomach.

"Gaaah, I'm dying...!"

"...You all right, Rupia?"

"No. It hurts so much I think I'm going to die..."

"..."

It was acting anyone could see through, but Rian couldn't bring himself to say so.

...No. Thinking about it, this isn't even my fault.

Someone had to stop her once she went berserk.

Rupia, watching his reaction from the corner of her eye, wiped the smile off her face.

"Apologize."

"..."

"Apologize to me!"

"Sorry."

"Wh— huh? Y-yes..."

It was an apology so quick and blunt that Rupia was the one left flustered.

"I'm sorry. If I'd known it would turn out like this, I should have gone after that thing myself."

"N-no, that's not what I—!"

Rupia pushed herself upright, stumbling over the words.

I only said it to tease him!

She truly hadn't expected him to apologize on the spot.

For a long time now, Rian had made a habit of hitting her to snap her out of a rampage. This time had been no different. While the other knights held her off with live steel, he had subdued her with his bare fists. It hurt a little more than usual, but she wasn't badly injured.

"..."

After an awkward silence, Rian asked.

"...What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just really didn't think you'd apologize..."

"Me?"

"Yes..."

Rian's eyes narrowed.

"...So you thought I'd dig in and refuse?"

"That's not what I meant!"

Rupia shot upright in a panic, then grabbed her stomach.

"Augh!"

"...Lie back down."

"Yes..."

Medson watched Rupia obediently settle onto the bed, then spoke.

"...But, Vice Commander."

"Mm..."

"The Commander isn't the sort of person who wouldn't apologize over something like this."

"Y-you... are you flattering him right to his face?"

"Why would I even bother?"

Medson tilted her head.

"I mean it, though."

Rupia was at a loss for words.

"...I guess?"

She muttered it blankly, then seemed to remember something, and her eyes went wide.

"No, that's only because you haven't been here long!"

"What do you mean?"

"The Commander from before...!"

The moment her eyes met Rian's steady stare, Rupia's mouth snapped shut.

"..."

An awkward silence settled over the room again.

"...That Sand Howler."

Rian was the one to change the subject.

"I didn't think it was something that could hold you that long. What happened?"

Rupia pouted.

"Hmph. And here I thought you came because you were worried. You just came to ask about that?"

"I was worried too."

"..."

Rupia's lips parted, then closed again.

She took a sip of the water Medson had given her and fidgeted with the cup for no particular reason.

"The ones you fought were pretty tough too, weren't they?"

"Yeah."

"That one was worse. I put real strength behind the cuts, and it still wouldn't come apart in one stroke."

Rupia drew a line across her own arm with a finger.

"If I didn't sever it completely, the wound had already sealed itself back together."

"...You're saying it regenerated?"

"Yes. At first I thought I'd only nicked it. But the second time was the same. And the third."

Rupia paused.

"I figured it'd be trouble if that thing got inside the castle. Little cuts weren't going to kill it, so I tried to finish it in one go..."

"So you overdid it."

"...Yes."

Rupia, who would normally have led with excuses, answered without a fight.

"Next thing I knew, I was already ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fighting the knights."

Rian didn't answer.

If the wounds on that hard body had kept closing, Rupia would have had to pour out just as much strength to match them. He looked her over where she sat propped against the bed, then let his gaze drop a little.

"..."

"...Where are you looking, Commander?"

Rian was staring straight at the area around her solar plexus.

"Why? Are you worried?"

Without giving him time to answer, Rupia put on a sultry smile and yanked her top up. Her smooth stomach was bared.

"Ooh hoo hoo. If someone would just rub it a little, I'd get all bet—"

"You're all better."

Bang!

In the space of a blink, Rian was out of the infirmary, the door shut behind him.

"...Huh."

"..."

While the two of them stared blankly at the closed door, his voice came from the other side.

"Skip morning training tomorrow."

The footsteps faded.

Rupia was still frozen with her clothes hiked up.

"...Pull your shirt down. I don't care to look at that."

Rupia lowered it and looked at Medson.

"...You saw that, right? He's definitely different."

Medson glanced at the closed door for a moment.

"Wasn't that just how he always is?"

"No, you only say that because you don't know. If this were about ten years ago..."

Rupia closed her eyes and imagined it.

"I'm telling you, it would've been like that!"

"...You've been reading too many novels. Just go back to sleep."

He'd been a little rough in the past, certainly, but never like that!

"You just haven't been here long...!"

"Ah. Yes."

"...You don't believe me, do you."

"Well... I believe you."

Medson laid Rupia back down, drew the blanket up over her, and muttered.

"Then I suppose it's a real relief the Commander hasn't gone back to how he used to be..."

"What a waste..."

"...What was that?"

Rupia sank into a deep sleep.

Leaving Rupia's sickroom, Rian headed straight for the outer wall.

Near the collapsed rampart, chunks of flesh that Trekker had sorted apart from the other corpses lay gathered together. The man himself was nowhere to be seen. He had likely gone to confirm the path the monsters had taken.

Rian picked up a torch and crouched in front of the meat.

"...Regeneration."

Deep sword marks ran along the cut surfaces, and a faint trace of Rupia's crimson aura still clung there. Paler flesh had knit itself onto the edge of every wound. New tissue looked as though it had been budding up from inside the split hide, only to stop when the body was severed completely.

"...This one too."

Rian turned another piece over, and the same marks showed themselves.

"It really did regenerate."

The hide looked thicker and harder than that of the Sand Howlers he himself had faced. He doubted a sword driven in deep would even cleave a body like that in a single stroke. And yet even the wounds that did land had closed almost at once.

He thought he understood why Rupia had pushed herself hard enough to rampage at the end.

"...But why?"

Sand Howlers were not monsters that regenerated like this.

Rian reached for a piece to study the sword marks more closely. Then, through the thick reek of blood, another scent brushed past—faint.

"...?"

A familiar smell.

Where have I smelled this before?

His fingertips stopped above the wound. Without warning, a stretch of pure white snowfield flashed through his mind. Ground soaked through with blood. A face, crumpled upon it, looking up at him. And then—

"..."

Rian's breath caught. It was a voice he had heard a long time ago. But the instant those words came back, the unease he had been pressing down surged up with them.

How much is left?

Of the life he had remaining. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠If he added the few days he had gained today.

No. Enough.

Rian took his hand off the meat. He swept his hair back and shook his head hard, but the compulsion, once it had started, would not stop so easily.

His breathing was growing shorter and shorter when a voice came from behind him.

"Commander."

Rian lifted his head. Trekker, who had gone to check the route, was coming back leading a horse. As he drew near, Trekker slowed.

Rian, torch in hand and frozen before the chunks of flesh, did not look like himself.

"...Are you all right, sir?"

"I'm fine."

Rian stood and shook the blood from his hands.

"Did you confirm the route?"

Trekker studied his face for a moment. Rian was looking back at him as if nothing at all had happened.

"...Yes. I followed it a good way beyond the walls."

Trekker pointed into the dark past the outer wall.

"But, Commander, these things... I don't think they were simply fleeing."

Rian's eyes narrowed.

The Stone Tusks and the giant drakes had abandoned their nesting grounds and gone south, both of them as if avoiding something in the north. He had thought the Sand Howlers and the monster horde had come down as far as Ikesia for the same reason.

"Then?"

"They weren't headed for this castle from the start."

Trekker indicated the direction he had confirmed.

"They were moving straight that way, and they changed course at the point where Ikesia Castle came into view."

"Toward the castle?"

"Yes. From there, the tracks point at the walls."

Rian's gaze went to the collapsed rampart.

"If they'd been running from something, they would have passed the castle by without touching it."

"That's what bothers me, too."

Trekker nodded.

"They aren't the sort of monsters that seize human dwellings to live in. And they don't take humans as their main prey, either."

"And yet they went out of their way to turn and attack this place."

"Yes."

Trekker adjusted his grip on the reins.

"It's true they came down from the north."

"..."

"But at least along the stretch I checked, they didn't move like something being chased."

Rian looked out beyond the wall without answering. The smell he had caught in front of the meat was already gone. Even so, the number that had nearly surfaced a moment ago had not been wiped clean from his mind.

"...Let's head back."

"Yes."

Rian moved first. Trekker followed, reins in hand.

"Commander. I may have missed a trace, so I'll check the route again once it's light."

"All right."

A short answer. The Commander he knew would have asked first where they had turned, and whether there had been tracks from any other monster. Trekker studied the back of the man walking ahead of him. The face he had seen in front of the meat kept nagging at him.

"...Commander, by any chance—"

"What."

The reply came back sharper than usual. While Trekker was still choosing his words, Rian spoke first.

"Check it again in the morning and report."

"...Yes, sir. Understood."

After sending Trekker off, Rian walked along the collapsed wall toward the inner castle. Late into the night, among the soldiers still clearing rubble, Baron Kebeg's voice carried.

"Leave that section alone. Once it's light, I'll have Kerel look it over first."

Kebeg, who had been surveying what needed repair, turned his head.

"Kaisen... no. Viscount Rian."