A Sweltering Summer
How long had they been gleefully throwing mud at each other and smearing it all over? Since they hadn't made a lot of mud to begin with, the supply quickly ran out, bringing their mud fight to a natural end. The two stood face-to-face, completely caked in grime.
"What on earth are we doing?"
"I know, right?"
Their mud-covered bodies felt heavy, and all that running around had left them burning hot.
"Let's wash up."
"Yeah. Are we going to the waterfall?"
"Yeah. That's probably best."
"It's been a while since we went to the river!"
Leaving their baskets behind, they grabbed only some basic gear to defend themselves and headed toward the river.
Once they reached the river, since their clothes were already ruined with mud, they stepped right under the waterfall fully dressed to wash themselves off.
"Hold on, you've got a huge clump of mud stuck in your hair here."
"Wash it out for me."
"Alright."
Chester gently worked through the tangled clumps of mud in Monia's hair, rinsing them away. As the mud dissolved, her silky black hair slipped effortlessly through his fingers without a single snag.
Once Chester finished washing her hair, Monia stepped out from under the waterfall, shook her head to get the excess water out, and gathered her hair back into a neat ponytail.
"Phew."
Wringing out her hair, Monia watched Chester as he continued to wash himself under the cascading water. That was when she noticed a spot right in the middle of his back that he couldn't quite reach.
"Wait a second, let me get that for you."
"Hmm? Thanks."
As Chester turned his back to her, Monia's hands gently slid across his broad back. Her fingers moved with delicate precision, thoroughly enjoying the feel of the firm, sculpted muscles rippling beneath his skin.
Hehe...
Monia washed Chester's back with a touch that was, entirely without her realizing it, bordering on indulgent.
"Let me see your back too."
"Okay."
"Ah, it got all the way up here. Hold still."
"Hic! Ah!"
They spent some time washing away the remaining mud, helping each other clean the hard-to-reach places. Once they were completely clean, they stepped out of the waterfall, warmed themselves by the fire they had built earlier, and picked up their salt container.
They dabbed their wet fingertips into the salt, letting it dissolve slightly before using it to brush their teeth. At first, they had rubbed the raw salt directly onto their teeth, but that had scraped their gums raw, so they now made sure to dissolve it first.
After repeatedly dipping their fingers in water, dissolving the salt, and scrubbing, they rinsed their mouths with river water. Since they were already at the river, they decided to check their fish traps and roast whatever they found.
"Wow! Fish! Fish! We get to eat it twice today!"
"You like it that much?"
"Of course! The fish here is a hundred times better than any mediocre cooking!"
She's basically calling her own cooking mediocre, Chester thought. And after she had bragged so much about her culinary skills, too. Monia was so excited that she practically wiggled her hips as she walked, looking as if she might burst into dance at any moment.
They checked the traps and found two fish. After skewering them on wooden branches, they propped them over the fire and waited for them to cook.
"..."
Jordy stared blankly at the campfire crackling before him. A rabbit, caught by his soldiers, was roasting over the flames. As he watched the meat sizzle, Jordy slowly turned his gaze to survey his surroundings.
His eyes first landed on a spot nearby, where a veteran soldier was tending to a younger recruit's wound.
"Damn, the muscle has clamped down tight around the arrowhead. I'll have to slice the wound open to get it out."
"Ugh... Is that so?"
"Yeah. What do you want to do?"
"No. If we try to treat it here, it'll just get infected. I'll keep moving like this."
"Alright. I'll at least snap off the shaft so it's easier to move. Grit your teeth, this is going to hurt."
"Yes... Urgh!"
The moment the shaft snapped, the arrowhead embedded in the wound shifted. The soldier writhed in agony, his entire body contorting as if he were about to pass out.
Turning his head a bit further, Jordy saw another soldier whose leg was mangled beyond repair. The man was staring in sheer horror at the maggots squirming inside his open wound.
"H-Hieeeek...!"
"Hey! Calm down!"
"My leg! The bugs are eating my leg! They're eating it alive! My leg! My leg!"
"Hey!"
"Aaaaargh! My leg! My leg! Somebody help me!"
"Damn it!"
To quiet him down, someone tossed over a bundle of dried herbs. They quickly set it alight, letting the smoke drift toward the thrashing soldier. Inhaling the heavy, narcotic fumes, the soldier stopped screaming, his face relaxing into a vacant, dopey grin.
"How does it kick in so fast?"
"He's already inhaled it a few times before."
"Tsk! No wonder he's so sensitive to it."
The army Jordy commanded had been utterly crushed by the Duke's forces. He had deployed the Royal Knights in hopes of defeating the Sky Knights, or at least grinding the battle to a stalemate until reinforcements arrived. But even they had failed to stop them.
Though the initial clash had been a chaotic blur, the Sky Knights had subsequently overwhelmed the Royal Knights with their superior maneuverability and explosive bursts of speed, sweeping them from the field.
It was true that a few Sky Knights had been unhorsed during the first collision, thinning their ranks, and they had temporarily retreated from the front lines after pushing their mounts to their absolute limits against the Royal Knights.
However, they had quickly swapped their exhausted mounts for fresh reserve warhorses, and the fallen dragon knights were immediately replaced by standby reserves before charging back into the fray.
In fact, by swapping out their tired horses, their slightly diminished speed was fully restored, making them even more terrifyingly lethal than before.
That had been the deciding factor. The moment the Royal Knights broke and the Sky Knights returned to the battlefield completely refreshed, the defenders' morale plummeted, sealing the fortress's doom.
In the end, Jordy suffered a crushing defeat and ordered a retreat, abandoning the fortress. Even his tactical instructor deemed the retreat necessary under the circumstances and did not reprimand him.
The Duke, who had breached all the way to the fortress command center, chose not to pursue the fleeing prince, opting instead to remain at the fortress to reorganize his forces. And that brought them to the present.
"Your Highness, let me examine your wounds."
"Ah... Yes. Go ahead."
Jordy had already been traumatized once during the revolutionary army's raid, but now he looked completely hollowed out. Back then, he hadn't had to fight for his life. This time was different. To escape, to survive, Jordy had been forced to draw his sword and cut people down. He had slaughtered them.
"Pardon me."
The alchemist, who had accompanied the army as part of the medical corps, drew his knife and began cutting away the bandages wrapped around the prince's right arm.
"Urgh!"
As the tight bandages were sliced open and the pressure on the wound released, a low groan escaped the prince's lips. Ignoring the sound, the alchemist quickly stripped away the remaining cloth and carefully examined the injury.
Jordy's fractured right arm was swollen into a hideous, deep purple mass. Though they had somehow managed to shove the bone fragment that had pierced through the skin back inside, splinted it, and hastily bandaged it, the arm had still deteriorated to this state.
"...Your Highness."
"What is it?"
"I believe a bone fragment is nicking a blood vessel internally, causing deep hemorrhaging."
"...What?"
"If we leave it like this, the arm will rot from the inside out and we'll have to amputate. We must operate immediately."
The alchemist turned his head as he spoke, and meeting his gaze, the tactical instructor gave a grim nod.
"Understood. Do it at once."
"W-what do you mean?! Wait, hold on!"
"Anesthetic!"
"Yes, sir!"
The soldiers quickly gathered their supply of narcotics, set them ablaze, and forced the prince to inhale the thick smoke.
"Argh! Let me go! Let go!"
"Your Highness! Patients have been known to die from sheer shock during surgery! Please, inhale the smoke!"
At that grim warning, Jordy panicked and began to thrash even more violently.
"No! How dare you!"
To think they would dare subject a prince to such a horrific ordeal! Insolent fools!
Jordy screamed, surprised by the sudden burst of strength he was exerting.
"D-don't touch my arm! Shoving the bone back in was agonizing enough! What more do you want to do to me?! No! I don't want to! I said no!! Aaaaaargh!!"
But no matter how hard he struggled, he was still a prince who had lived a life of pampered luxury. He was no match for the raw strength of the battle-hardened soldiers pinning his limbs to the ground.
"Mmph... Urgh...!"
Eventually, after inhaling a massive dose of the narcotic smoke, the prince's eyes glazed over as he slipped into a semi-conscious stupor.
"Hurry, perform the procedure!"
"Yes, sir!"
The alchemist poured an entire bottle of antiseptic directly onto the prince's wound, tore open the stitched flesh, and began digging his knife deep into the arm.
"Agh! Urgh! Aaaargh!!"
"Damn it!"
"Hey, hold him down properly!"
"Yes, sir!"
Even in his heavily drugged state, the agony was too excruciating to bear. Jordy thrashed wildly, and the ordeal dragged on for so long that the soldiers holding him down were left utterly exhausted.
The seasons had shifted, and the air now carried the unmistakable, heavy scent of midsummer. It was the beginning of the most grueling, agonizingly hot summer of Jordy's twenty years of life.
"Kyaaaah!"
Monia suddenly leaped to her feet in shock. Chester waved away the embers that flew up from the campfire and looked at her.
"What? What's wrong?"
"Oh, no. It's nothing. An animal suddenly fell from the waterfall, and it startled me."
"An animal fell from the waterfall?"
"Yes. Or rather, did it jump? It didn't look like it was swept away by the current."
"Why would an animal jump off a waterfall? ...Let's go check it out. If it just died, we might get some fresh meat."
"Ugh."
Putting down their half-eaten fish, Chester and Monia walked over to the pool at the base of the waterfall. The water was crystal clear, allowing them to easily peer beneath the surface and spot the creature Monia had seen falling.
"Huh? What kind of animal is that?"
It was hard to make out clearly through the rippling surface of the water, but it seemed to be a creature Chester had never seen before.
"I-I don't know. You don't recognize it either, Chester?"
"No clue. ...Wait, what is that on its back?"
"What? Is there something on its back?"
"...A fin? No, that's not it."
As Chester watched the creature sink deeper into the lake, he suddenly realized what was protruding from its back. He sprang to his feet and began tearing off his clothes.
"Huh? Wait! Why are you stripping all of a sudden?!"
Having no time to explain, Chester stripped completely naked and dove headfirst into the lake.
"Kyaaaah?! What do you think you're doing?!"