What Doesn't Flow Away (2)
You know, Emit.
I always thought that if I ever hit a wall, it would be because of the limits of my own ability.
Or because unchanging reality—and the exceptions that still managed to arise despite it—would snap my resolve and leave me in despair.
Just like what happened to Sir Knight.
But that wasn’t it.
What truly drives me to despair isn’t any of those things…
“Hah!”
Deathbringer’s eyes snapped open in a panic. How long had he been out cold right after the demon cursed him?
In the tilted world around him, the sliver of sky he could see was nothing but dark and gloomy.
Even so—had he really been unconscious this late?
The thought alone made him flinch as he pushed himself upright. Something slid off him with a soft rustle.
“…A blanket?”
Where had a blanket come from?
“……??”
And it wasn’t cheap cloth either. Not quite silk, but soft enough that it felt like something a hero or a mage would use.
“No way…”
Had the demon actually covered him up after he fainted? Seriously? For real?
What kind of insane bastard does that?
Deathbringer stared down at the blanket with a look that went past mere bewilderment into pure disgust. Then something brushed against the hand he was using to brace himself on the ground. Rustle.
“What the hell is this now…”
He found a leather pouch about the size of a fist and picked it up. The mouth had come a little loose; a few of the contents spilled out with soft clinks.
“These are…”
Candy. Candies made by melting precious sugar.
“What the…”
A blanket and now candy on top of that? Left by a demon? The same bastard who’d forced a temporary contract on him the moment he refused a real one?
“Heh.”
At this point it went beyond giving the disease and then the cure; it was almost funny. Wasn’t it weird for a demon to show this kind of consideration in the first place?
It wasn’t even cold enough out here that he’d freeze to death without a blanket.
Still, thinking it wasn’t the demon felt just as strange. If it wasn’t the demon, who else would have shown him this kind of kindness?
Especially since he was up on a roof where no one from the street could even see him.
Faced with a situation that simply wouldn’t add up, Deathbringer just kept floating question marks above his head.
He truly had no idea what was going on.
“This is driving me crazy.”
He reached out, intending to throw away the candy some unknown person had left him.
Whether it was a warning or whatever else, he didn’t care. Just imagining that the demon bastard—the same one who’d put a curse on him—might have been the one to leave it made his teeth chatter.
“…….”
Yet for some reason his hand refused to let go of the pouch. It was so stubborn he almost wondered if this, too, was a curse.
“Ah, damn it. If you’re going to leave something, at least leave a note too…”
But sweets were rare. So very rare. As rare as a person’s kindness that asked for nothing in return.
So he simply couldn’t bring himself to throw them away.
“God damn it…”
Deathbringer’s hand trembled around the candy. In the end he gave up on dropping them. He really couldn’t do it.
“Shit.”
Fine. As if a demon would have left these.
It was just… just some rich person who had coincidentally climbed onto this roof, coincidentally found him, and coincidentally left the candy and blanket they’d happened to be carrying.
…Yeah, that was pure bullshit.
He knew his rationalization was garbage, yet he still pocketed the candy. He was already cursed, so what were the odds the guy had also poisoned it? That thought crossed his mind too. Truly reckless of him.
But then again, ever since joining this party, had there ever been a single moment when he’d had a proper plan?
Even right now. If he’d had any kind of contingency ready, he never would have ended up in this state to begin with.
“…What now?”
More than anything, dwelling too deeply on something that had already happened was just another kind of stupidity.
So he turned his thoughts to what he had to do next.
Unfortunately, going back to the party was impossible. Just as the demon had said, there was no way the holy knight wouldn’t notice that he’d been forced into a temporary contract—in this case “suffered” was the better word.
And there was no way they’d forgive him for it either.
If he tried to talk his way out of it and save his own neck, he couldn’t even explain why the temporary contract had been forced on him in the first place. Because speaking the details would kill him.
It was a perfect dead end.
“Maybe this is for the best. I was planning to leave anyway…”
So what other choice did he have? He just had to turn his back on the hero’s party and go.
“Yeah. Better this way.”
Even the temporary contract wouldn’t blow up into a real problem as long as he could leave the city without running into them.
After that… well. If he was lucky the demon side might take the contract back, and even if they didn’t…
He had no intention of forming a proper contract either way. So he’d just live carefully, watching out for the temple for the rest of his life, and somehow manage. If he kept digging into information about temporary contracts, an answer might turn up.
And if the demon came looking to push him into a full contract? He’d just die then. That would be that.
From the moment the temporary contract had been forced on him, death had been half-booked already. The only question left was whether the temple would kill him or the demon would.
“Better this way…”
So it was right that he leave.
It was right to leave.
“Better…”
He’d tell himself this was fate. That whether by his own will or someone else’s, leaving in a way that matched his station had always been his destiny. Thinking of it that way was…
Drip.
“Huh?”
That was right.
So why were the tears flowing on their own?
“Fuck, what did I ever do right…”
How many people had already died because of him? How many people in this city had died because of that?
And yet here he was, laying down a title that had never fit him in the first place—why did that make him so miserable…
“Fuck…”
Deathbringer finally sank back down where he sat. The tears falling in big drops were so full of guilt and sorrow that he simply couldn’t stay on his feet.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”
If he’d known it would come to this, he never should have picked up the sword. If he’d known it would end like this, he should have just swallowed the desire for revenge deep inside.
Why… why had he done it, telling himself it was for you…
“I’m sorry…”
You should have been the one who lived.
“Emit…”
You should have been the one who lived…
Rustle.
“Emit…”
By the time the moon had slipped behind the buildings as if it had been hidden away, Deathbringer had fallen completely asleep. Or maybe he’d simply collapsed from exhaustion.
Either way, he wasn’t going to wake up anytime soon.
He was mumbling in his sleep, and even when I got this close there was no sign of him stirring.
“Where the hell does a Meat Dumpling think he’s going?”
So I carefully tucked the blanket back over him where it had slipped down. He’d already taken the candy, so I didn’t bother looking for it.
“Seriously. Accepting something a complete stranger left behind is not a good habit…”
I was glad he hadn’t thrown away my gift, but there was still something awkward about being happy about it.
After all, there was no guarantee that the bad guys wouldn’t try the same trick later. And those guys sure as hell wouldn’t leave anything harmless.
“Should I be glad about this or not?”
I wanted to scold him, but of course I couldn’t.
I looked down at the sleeping face that had puffed up from crying and let out a soft sigh.
Looking at that face kept bringing back the moment I’d first found him, and my heart kept thumping hard.
“Making other people worry like that.”
I had no right to say it, but still. How was anyone who saw him sprawled out on a roof supposed to feel?
What with the way the demon had been after him before, I’d first thought he was dead. If I hadn’t heard his breathing in time, I’d still be panicking right now.
“Meat Dumpling.”
I flicked the tip of the annoying young man’s nose, then sat down nearby in a decent spot.
There was an alley right beside me; if I just jumped down I could hide, and from this angle I could see Dev but Dev couldn’t see me.
It was the same spot I’d been using all afternoon. I’d already confirmed he wasn’t dead, that he was alive and nothing was wrong with his body, but I still couldn’t bring myself to leave him alone.
Every time he twitched I’d jumped down again—getting caught would break character, after all—so by now I’d gotten pretty good at silent landings.
You could tell just from the fact that he hadn’t noticed me when he first woke up earlier.
Well, the fact that he’d never realized I’d been hiding in the alley this whole time was probably just a lucky stack of coincidences.
“Emit…”
More than that, he’d been calling only that one name in his sleep for a while now. Was Emit maybe the name of a dead friend, or someone like that?
I ran through a few guesses, then dropped them. Even if they were only hypotheses, freely imagining someone else’s circumstances felt rude.
Of course, just sitting there was too boring and I was getting sleepy, so I drifted into other thoughts.
Things like why Dev was trying to leave, or the information I’d gotten from the info guild this time.
Especially one piece from the guild: the fact that the young lord’s parents had only been newly elevated to city-lord couple about ten years ago after a certain incident. That was pretty interesting.
The residents had killed off the original lord’s family on the grounds of tyranny and put themselves in the seat, so maybe that was why their policies were so thoroughly resident-focused.
They still hadn’t changed their attitude even recently, so people were calling them sage rulers.
Of course that wasn’t proof they weren’t the masterminds. I’d run into far too many plot twists in situations just like this.
Still… there was talk that “only the young lord sometimes acts unlike his usual self,” so I was giving a bit more weight to the possibility that only that side might be the criminal.
Either way, it wasn’t time to relax yet.
“Hmm.”
So I kept thinking a little longer.
“Ah. Dawn’s breaking.”
Morning finally arrived. From far away I could hear Berserk bouncing around like a dog with its tail on fire, calling out as she searched for Deathbringer.
Deathbringer felt, half-asleep, the sensation of his body floating up. Something hard as stone was supporting him, and he could feel warmth from one side.
Uncomfortable yet somehow cozy, he blinked his hazy eyes. I want to sleep. A faint desire made his eyelids heavy.
But… who the hell was carrying him?
In that instant his mind snapped awake as if someone had dumped cold water over him. His green eyes darted around.
“Oh, little hunter. You’re awake?”
“Waaaah!!”
The last thing he’d thought before falling asleep was that he had to leave without running into the party. So why was he now being carried by Berserk?
“P-put me down!!”
Deathbringer thrashed like a fish just hauled out of the water. But Berserk was an excellent warrior with matching reflexes.
She carefully kept him from falling while looking puzzled.
“We’re almost there. Why bother?”
“What?”
At Berserk’s words Deathbringer blinked. Then he automatically followed the direction she turned her head.
Not the temple itself, but the lodging the temple had prepared for them was only about thirty meters away. And whether she’d heard the scream he’d just let out when he woke, or somehow sensed the demon energy, the Inquisitor had already kicked the door open and come charging out.
“Demon energy outside…!”
The Inquisitor’s eyes locked straight onto his.
“Y-you…?”
“Waaaaaah!!!”
This was a real crisis. A genuine, absolute crisis.
Deathbringer twisted with every ounce of strength he had. Movements rougher than usual shook free of Berserk’s entire hold.
“Wha… little hunter, your strength…”
Thud.
His boots hit the ground.
“No, why, why, how…”
“I’m leaving now!!”
“Huh!”
Run. Running like this would only make the suspicion thicker, but he was in no position to offer any excuses anyway.
So since he’d already been found out, he had to run if he wanted to live.
“C-catch him, Berserk!”
“Huh?”
“Inquisitor, what on earth…”
“N-no, Mage, it’s, ah! F-f-first we have to c-catch him…!”
More than anything, right now was still the better scenario. Only the Inquisitor knew, and Berserk had zero grasp of the situation.
Decisively, Sir Knight wasn’t here either.
On the other hand, if he dragged this out even a little and word reached Sir Knight’s ears? That would be the moment he had to abandon all hope.
The Inquisitor was at least slow; the Demon Knight was someone who could overwhelm him even beyond that.
“Proxy! Demon energy has entered the temple—! Wha!!”
But somehow the situation kept smoothly getting worse—for him?
Deathbringer spotted the priests rushing over in a crowd and confirmed the way their faces twisted the moment they saw him. He was fucked.
“Catch him!!”
“Wh-what? Why are we suddenly catching the little hunter?”
“Inquisitor?”
“D-demon energy…”
Still, there was a bit of the affection that came from sticking together, so the holy knight’s hesitation was lucky.
“I sense demon energy. From that one.”
Deathbringer swallowed a faintly bitter lump as he watched the Inquisitor more shaken than he’d expected.
She hadn’t hated me as much as I thought. A truth he only realized now, right when their relationship was about to go past severed and into pure enmity.
“Catch him!”
“Hurry and chase!”
“Don’t let him leave the temple!”
Still, thanks to that he managed to keep his life. Whoosh. With a body that somehow felt even faster, Deathbringer vaulted the wall with ease.
“Ah.”
“……?”
Of all people, the Demon Knight was standing right on the other side.