The First Destination
After receiving the captain's message and drying my wings, I put my clothes back on and returned to Osmon's house.
"Try fixing him."
"Impossible. He's completely broken."
There was Huey, staring blankly into empty air like a broken doll, muttering to himself in a language I'd never even heard before.
"What on earth happened out there?"
Lucy asked me with a dubious look, sipping from a cup of steaming cocoa—where she'd gotten it, I had no idea. Judging by the faint smile on her face and how soft and clean she looked overall, she must have washed up while we were out.
As for what had happened…
"I just flashed a little bare skin, that's all."
"…Oh dear."
Hearing my explanation, Lucy approached Huey with a pitying expression and started patting his back.
"Poor Master. That's what you get for going out for no good reason…"
Why did it feel like I was the one who'd done something wrong?
What was this, seriously.
"Anyway, if there's something to discuss, let's do it tomorrow. Looking at Master's condition, conversation seems impossible today."
"Tch. Fair enough."
Thinking about it, talking now or talking in the morning—nothing would really change either way.
"I'll sleep here tonight, so Ren, please rest in the room on the second floor."
"You sure?"
"It would still be uncomfortable for you, wouldn't it?"
Lucy insisted she was fine—she'd already seen everything there was to see over the past half year—and urged me to go upstairs already.
"I'll gratefully accept your consideration."
"Fufu. Have a good night."
I entered the second-floor room I'd been shown earlier, lay down on the bed, and—
"…Oh. Not bad."
The softness rivaled even the bed in my room at the hideout, which had cost a fortune. Marveling at it, I surrendered myself to the sleep that washed over me.
At the hour when Huey's party had all fallen asleep, someone was busily moving about in the study.
—Creak.
Even without sight, Osmon had been rifling through the bookshelves with the spirits' help when the sudden sound of a window opening made him turn his head.
"I distinctly remember declining your proposal."
"Oh my, don't be so wary. This time I've simply come as a guest."
At once, spirits with fierce auras moved to block Osmon's front as if standing guard. And standing before him was a single figure.
"I have a gift for you."
Blue skin, black hair, long ears. A man whose eyes differed from ordinary humans—black sclera with beast-like bright yellow irises.
"Osmon Lloyd, the Storm Serpent. One of the few top-tier spirit mages on the continent, and an otherworlder who once belonged to the previous Hero's party."
"You managed to dig that up in such a short time. Even the guild doesn't know about that part of my past."
"Kuhuhu. For an incubus, gathering information is nothing."
Incubus. A dream demon—a demon race that invades people's dreams and drains their vital energy. Even with an incubus—said to live only in the demon realm—standing right before him, Osmon's reaction was indifferent.
"As I told you last time, I have already…"
"Your eyes, along with the spirits you contracted with, have been extinguished?"
"…"
Osmon touched the area around his eyes, as if struck in a sore spot.
"Seems I hit a nerve. My apologies."
"Your attitude is rather different from last time."
"…There's something bothersome going on."
The incubus said this with a wrinkled expression.
"Seems there's a friend with sharp instincts around."
"If you intend to lay hands on my guests, I have no intention of standing idle."
"Don't worry. The time isn't right yet… and besides, if I touched them and that thing woke up, I'd be the one taking the loss."
At those words, Osmon quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
"I need to prepare breakfast tomorrow, so I should get to sleep early. Let's get to the point."
"Well, if you insist. Still, since I'm here, won't you at least offer me a cup of tea?"
Immediately after, the incubus clicked his tongue looking at the dozens of spirits surrounding him.
"Tch. Fine. Here's the gift."
Raising both hands as if to show he meant no hostility, the incubus carefully set a bracelet he'd been holding onto the desk.
"…What's that?"
"It's not a dangerous item, so don't worry. Or wait—is it a dangerous item?"
Then, stepping back one pace, two paces slowly—
"Anyway, I believe it's something you've been desperately wishing for."
"It can't be!"
"Yes. A water spirit. And a top-tier spirit sealed within an artifact, at that."
"How did you… No, more than that, a water spirit is absurd…!"
"I'm not so foolish as to joke about an artifact with a sealed spirit in front of a spirit mage."
Osmon was greatly shocked by the words "water spirit."
"I believe you know the value of this item better than anyone."
"…"
"Kuhuhu."
As if Osmon's silence itself was the answer, the incubus turned his back with an unpleasant laugh.
"The choice is yours. My master also hopes your dream will come true."
With those words, the incubus vanished like mist.
"…Just when I'd finally given up."
Carefully stroking the bracelet left behind, Osmon muttered in a hollow voice.
"How truly cruel."
"What should I do, Kevin?"
—Whoosh…
The first sound that reached my ears when I opened my eyes in the morning was the refreshing drum of rain on the roof.
"…Yaaawn."
"Are you awake?"
"Good morning."
I fluttered my wings toward Lucy, who'd come to wake me at just the right moment, then got up and carefully used my feet to straighten the blanket so it wouldn't tear.
"You're surprisingly deft."
"I can't even control my strength, so if I can't manage this much, I'd be genuinely dangerous."
Since my hands had become wings, my feet were the only things that could still pick things up. At first, I'd been startled when the ground gouged out under claws I'd carelessly set down.
"Oh, you're up?"
"He's fixed."
"Yes. When I opened my eyes this morning, I was fine."
"What a pain."
"Indeed."
"…Suddenly!?"
Ignoring Huey's indignant protest, I accepted the water Luciella handed me and drank it.
"Pwah. I feel alive again. Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
"Um… Ren? Lucy?"
"What. What is it."
When I spoke while glaring at the fool who'd broken down just from seeing a little bare skin, Huey shrank back looking thoroughly wronged.
"No, it's just…"
Watching him for a moment, I couldn't hold it in any longer and locked eyes with Lucy—
"Pfft!"
"Fufu."
—and burst out laughing.
"Wh-what?"
"Just messing with you, you idiot."
"So this is the joy of teasing someone."
I'd given Lucy a subtle look on the way down after seeing Huey's state, and she'd picked up on it right away and played along.
"Whew, you scared me."
"That's what you get for looking like that yesterday."
"…I understand, but it really was a pathetic sight."
"Ahem."
Moving to the living room with the throat-clearing Huey—
"Oh, everyone's up early."
"Good morning, Mr. Osmon."
Looking somewhat tired, as if he'd stayed up all night, Osmon appeared staggering.
"You look quite exhausted."
"Yeah."
As Lucy and I muttered about his appearance, Osmon pulled something from his coat.
"This is a journal I kept during the days I traveled with my companions, searching for a way back to my homeland."
"Huh?"
"I looked it out hoping it might be of even a little help on your journey."
Saying so, he handed Huey a worn book he'd taken from his coat. The soot covering parts of the book and its frayed edges alone made clear how precious this journal was to Osmon.
"…Thank you."
Cradling the journal carefully against his chest as if afraid it might tear, Huey bowed so deeply his head nearly touched the ground.
"Haha. Well then, I'm afraid I stayed up all night. I need to get a little rest."
He apologized for not seeing us off, but told us to rest comfortably for whatever time remained before we left.
"Mr. Osmon…"
"We've received a great kindness."
"Yeah."
I couldn't see his eyes, so I couldn't read his exact emotions, but looking at how gaunt he'd become overnight, it was clear he'd done a great deal of thinking.
"Well then, since we've received such encouragement—"
"Ren?"
"We've got somewhere we need to go."
Still, if I left things like this, he'd get all emotional again and waste more time, so I decided to change the subject.
"Apparently a place where otherworld items appear has been discovered. The location is an unexplored region of the Vista southern desert."
"A desert."
"It's been a while since we've been to unexplored territory."
After sharing the information I'd received from the captain last night—
"Anyway, to hear the details, we need to head north."
To a city about a week's walk from here.
"To Swinford."
"North?"
"Shouldn't we just go straight to the desert?"
Honestly, I wanted to suggest heading to the southern desert right this moment myself. But there had to be a reason we were told to go north first.
"…There's someone we need to meet beforehand."
Our captain may be petty, but she wouldn't say something like that just to mess with me. As for the details… well, I'd figure it out once we met them.
"Frederica."
Our mercenary company's witch.