A Camp for the Cat (1)
"Levi!! Come quick!!"
"It's not scary at all. It's perfectly safe, so please hurry—"
"It's safe."
A round moon hung in the darkening sky, its pale glow shimmering faintly across the river's surface. On the far bank, the children waved their arms and shouted across the water at me, standing dumbfounded on the other side.
The current was flowing faster than I'd expected. Thanks to a log bridge Lilrune had apparently set up in advance to cross over here, the children had made it across without incident—but for a vampire like me, even that simple act was impossible.
"What are you doing, Levi?! Is it really that scary?!"
By now, my head was spinning so badly that even Eisen's booming voice barely reached me. When I'd first arrived in this world and laid eyes on a river, I hadn't felt fear anywhere near this intense. Yet for some reason, my condition had deteriorated to the point where simply looking at the fast-flowing water was an ordeal.
And then—
"Hnngh…."
- Thump.
I forced my trembling body to move and managed a single step forward—but something invisible stood firmly in my way, as though a massive curtain had been unfurled across the river to bar my path. Back when I first saw the river, no such transparent barrier had existed. That only made it more bewildering.
"Honestly, Levi, now that I see it—you really are a big scaredy-cat?"
"Sister, squeeze your eyes shut and just try crossing once. If you make it across safely, I'll carry you the rest of the way."
"I'll carry you too."
Since the children had no idea I was a vampire, they must have found the whole situation nothing but baffling and frustrating. But the one feeling the most frustrated right now wasn't any of them—it was me. My mind understood perfectly well that this was an utterly unremarkable little river; my body simply refused to cooperate.
"C-could you give me just a bit more time…? I'll manage somehow…. Don't go ahead without me, please…."
"Where would we go without you, Levi? So don't worry about that. Just calm down first."
"Yes, yes…."
As the seconds ticked by, my breathing didn't calm—if anything, it grew more ragged and labored. I could hardly tell anymore whether I was looking at the log or the river itself. And if I stalled any longer, even those trusting children would inevitably start to grow suspicious of me….
"Are you all right?"
"Hiiiek—!!"
Just as I stood at the riverbank, paralyzed and getting nowhere, Lilrune's voice sounded softly at my side.
"L-Lilrune…?"
"I suppose it's true, then—vampires really can't cross rivers."
"…Pardon?"
"B-before I came here, I happened to overhear the Elder and the Grand Elder talking. They said vampires can't cross running water."
My rattled mind caught her words in scattered fragments, but I could piece together the gist well enough.
"So you already knew that much…."
"Yes. But it's all right. I'm here, aren't I?"
"What on earth do you mean by that…?"
The moment the words left her mouth, Lilrune gently raised her small, fernlike hand and slowly took mine.
"There was something else the Elder said, too. He said a vampire can only cross a river when the person who invited them guides them across."
"I-is that really true…?"
"Yes. So there's no need to worry."
Her words left me half believing, half doubting. Vampires certainly had rules about invitations among their traits—but I'd never once imagined those rules would extend to rivers. Case in point: even now, hand in hand with Lilrune, my heart was still pounding violently.
"Huh?! When did she get over there?!"
"She was right next to Iris just a second ago!"
"A fox. Of course she is."
Utterly indifferent to the children's indignant outcry, Lilrune only tightened her grip on my hand. In the way she gazed up at me, I sensed a strange, quiet warmth.
"To be honest, I only caught it in passing, so I can't swear it's accurate. Still, I think it's more than worth a try."
"…."
Well, she had a point—nothing ventured, nothing gained. If it worked, wonderful; if not, no harm done.
- Step.
With that, I steeled myself and, together with Lilrune, slowly took a single step forward. The sensation of something blocking my way was still there, strong as ever—but unlike before, when the barrier had sealed me off with impenetrable resolve, somehow it now felt just a little looser, as though a passage were gradually opening up in my constricted chest.
"Huh…?"
"Just as I thought—not a single word the Elder says is wrong."
When I came back to my senses, I was somehow already standing frozen on the log bridge. Lilrune's claim, which I'd only half believed, had turned out to be true after all.
"Th-that's impossible…. None of the rules I know say anything like that…?"
"The Elder knew a rule even a vampire herself didn't know. He really is a remarkable person!"
My heart was still heavy. No—heavier than heavy; my legs felt as though they might give out at any moment. In an environment where nothing had actually changed, I had crossed the river for the sole reason that I was holding the hand of my inviter, Lilrune. A wave of hollow futility crashed over me in an instant—but as the truth sank in that I could never cross a river without an inviter's permission, I found myself sinking into far more complicated feelings.
"W-well, then…. I suppose being able to cross at all is something to be grateful for…."
"That's right."
I managed to arrange my hollow expression into something like a smile and moved to take another step forward—and at that very moment,
You have been invited to a party.
⊳ Lilrune
⊳ Levinia Fallen Grace
A notification window unlike anything I'd ever seen before abruptly materialized before my eyes.
"…A party?"
"Yes?"
"N-nothing. Let's hurry on."
The window raised plenty of questions, but I'd already burned quite a lot of time just getting across the river, and I had no room for prolonged deliberation. Making peace with the fact that I'd crossed a river for the first time was about the best I could manage—there wasn't a shred of composure left in me to spare.
"I wonder if it'll work the same way on the way back…."
"And this is my village—Roen Forest—!"
Following Lilrune's lead, we arrived at Roen Forest without much trouble. I'd assumed it was quite far away, but now that we were actually here, it hadn't been such a long journey after all.
"It's hardly any different from our own forest."
The only real differences were that, unlike our forest—which was now all but devoid of living creatures—various monsters roamed these woods freely, and that the forest itself was incomparably vast.
"That enormous tree you can faintly see in the distance is Roen, the World Tree."
"If we can still see it faintly from here, that means the village itself must be unbelievably huge, right?"
"Yes! It's amazing, isn't it?!"
The moment we drew near the village entrance, Lilrune squared her little shoulders and puffed herself up with confidence. She was so endearing that an easy smile crept onto my face before I knew it—but the children, whose wariness of her had only deepened after the incident at the river, didn't so much as blink.
"If I'd known this would happen, I should've been the one holding Levi's hand from the start."
"I could have done it just as well…."
"So unfair…."
The children were still nursing the memory of a moment already past, quietly stewing over it. Watching them circle around me in a protective ring, eyeing Lilrune with suspicion, I found the sight both adorable and a little heartbreaking.
"I understand feeling jealous, to a point—but you mustn't shut Lilrune out. That's bad behavior."
"J-jealous?! When did I ever get jealous? I just felt like I'd had Levi taken away from me for a moment, that's all."
"I was jealous, for the record. My stomach is boiling right now."
"Me too."
A long, deep sigh escaped me all at once. It was never a good sign for all of their emotions to swing this wildly over one person—over me. If reliance tipped over into dependence, there was no telling what effect it would have on the children once they reached adulthood. I'd need to set aside time to correct this before it got any worse.
"I don't want to scold any of you over something like this. Relying on one another is important, of course—but remember that you also need the grace to sometimes accept something new."
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means isolation is never good, no matter the situation. Please cherish Lilrune just as you cherish one another."
At my quiet remark, the children stole cautious sideways glances at one another, wearing sheepish expressions. They seemed to dimly realize their mistake, if a little late—yet an awkwardness lingered everywhere, as though they hadn't fully understood.
"…I'm fine. It doesn't really bother me or anything."
"What are you saying, Lilrune? Of course it must bother you."
"It truly doesn't. So please don't worry about it."
I'd naturally assumed she was just saying it to smooth things over—and yet, for some reason, not a trace of awkwardness showed on Lilrune's face at all.
"I'll go inside and bring the Elder back. Please wait here just a moment."
"…Ah, yes. Of course."
Leaving those parting words hanging in the air, Lilrune darted off toward the village entrance without so much as a backward glance.
"Did I… did I make some huge mistake with Lilrune…?"
"We were only a little jealous, that's all…."
"…."
Seeing Lilrune's utterly flat reaction, the children at last began to grasp the weight of what they'd done, and their faces flushed red.
"Realizing it now is better than never."
I had nothing else to say. Rather than piling on more words at this point, it seemed better to simply watch as they came to understand and regret their own faults on their own.
"Lilrune… it feels like she's been through a lot of things like this before…."
Ellie, who had shown the fiercest jealousy of any of them, spoke up quietly, almost murmuring to herself.
"You're right. And from the looks of her, she's barely lived any time at all for an elf."
The more I learned about Lilrune, the more an inexplicable ache settled in my chest. Just what kind of treatment was she subjected to inside that village, that she took the unnatural for granted as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world?
- Tat, tat, tat—!!
How many minutes had passed? Two silhouettes that had appeared far off at the village entrance began rushing toward us at speed.
"I've brought him—!!"
At last, puffing and panting, an old man with a forbidding face appeared before me. So this was the village Elder Lilrune had kept mentioning.
"Hah, hah, hah…. But how in the world…. What on earth is…."
For some reason, the Elder was deathly pale. As though he'd run headlong into a situation entirely beyond his expectations.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Levinia Fallen Grace, and I live in Elm Forest."
"Y-yes…. The honor is entirely mine…. My name is Revand…."
Even in the middle of introductions, he couldn't keep still, fidgeting endlessly. His expression, too, was frozen stiff with obvious tension.
"Why are you so restless? Is something the matter?"
"N-no, of course not—!! It's just that…. That is to say, I…."
A silence passed between us, so heavy it was almost suffocating. The Elder's face grew paler by the moment, and cold sweat poured down him as though rain were falling.
As though he were dragging words he'd only been thinking to himself up out of his throat, with great effort—
"Whew…."
After letting the moment stretch agonizingly long, the old man heaved a sigh that seemed deep enough to swallow the earth, and finally forced open his tightly sealed mouth.
"P-perhaps… was Lilrune… not to your liking…?"