Yelloy Barrier Fortress (13)
Everything had been going smoothly. Their levels now stood on the cusp of thirty, and the party was hunting in a stretch of wilderness where a single step farther would carry them into the Kobold King's domain. Not another party was anywhere in sight.
In the end, Ho-jin's party had become the one closest to the boss. If they kept this up, the notion of them actually taking the boss down themselves was no longer the stuff of daydreams…
It really ought to be that simple.
Ho-jin let out a sigh and looked toward the girl meditating beneath a tree.
The party's greatest asset — and its only mage — still did not look to be in a pleasant mood. She hadn't been slacking in the hunts, at least, so he had let it lie until now. (The truth, of course, was that he hadn't been able to bring it up — but Ho-jin preferred to think otherwise.) Even so, it was a problem that needed settling.
If for no other reason than Yeon. Ho-jin turned his gaze toward the girl sitting with Pretty Cute.
In those first stretches of combat she had been so full of life, but now her shoulders hung slack and her face was drawn with gloom. Pretty Cute seemed to be offering what comfort she could, yet Yeon's expression showed no sign of lifting.
Which, if he was honest, was only to be expected. Whenever there had been a spare moment, Yeon had tried again and again to draw out of Choco whatever was souring her temper — and every time, she had been turned away with a later. Being refused like that over and over had left Yeon shrinking into herself, as uncertain and diminished as she had been when they first met. Fortunately, the way she swung her sword was still clean and unhindered… but if they walked into a boss fight in this state, they would lose. Every time. Without fail.
Ho-jin dragged a hand down his face. He couldn't begin to guess what could have driven two people who had looked so close into a state like this.
There had to be a reason, though. Of that much he was certain. Exclusive as the girl called Choco could be, she possessed a reasonably rational way of looking at things. Even in a foul mood, she still followed Ho-jin's orders. She never once tried to sabotage them, either.
Granted, she had gone and dumped excessive firepower on her own in the middle of a fight — but in every battle after that, she had used her magic without once gasping for mana. To pour spells out that recklessly and still never run dry meant her skill allocation was practiced, assured. On that point alone, Ho-jin had allowed himself a measure of hope for the boss fight he had been planning.
Even so, walking into that fight with a rift among the party members papered over was a risk far too large to take.
All right. Let's do this.
So thinking, Ho-jin rose to his feet. Pretty Cute, who had been in the middle of comforting Yeon, looked up at the movement. With a few brief gestures he divided their roles between them in an instant.
I'll take Choco. Cute — you take Yeon.
Pretty Cute nodded at the wordless signal and drew her arm a little more closely around Yeon's shoulders. Ho-jin let out a long breath, set his will, and started walking.
From here on, it was time for the adults to step in — for the children's sake.
"Mind if I sit beside you?"
"..."
"I'll take that as permission."
No answer came, but Ho-jin dropped himself down a short distance from the meditating Choco all the same. If he was going to sit wherever he pleased, she thought, what had been the point of asking? Even so, she couldn't quite summon the will to open her eyes and snap at him to get lost.
Choco already had a fair idea of why he had come. He had decided, no doubt, that she and Yeon were poisoning the party's atmosphere, and he had come to put it right somehow. Ho-jin had always been good at stitching these kinds of party conflicts back together.
Good at it — or rather, there had never really been anyone else to do it. Whenever a party happened to fill up with people of particularly vivid personalities, Ho-jin was the only one among them who thought in anything resembling a normal fashion, and so the job of keeping the peace fell to him by default.
In truth, he hadn't so much grown skilled at it as been forced to.
Once seated, Ho-jin did not speak at once. He rolled his shoulders. He tossed his gaze off toward some distant point. He repeated a series of small, pointless motions that made it impossible to tell why he had sat down at all. Only when Choco was beginning to find his presence genuinely grating did he toss the words out, as if in passing.
"Did you two fight?"
"..."
"If it wasn't a fight, then… a falling-out?"
And what, exactly, was supposed to be the difference? Choco swallowed the question before it could slip off her tongue and fixed her attention back on her meditation. This was not Ho-jin's business to begin with. It was something to be settled between herself and Yeon, and no one else.
Watching her sit there with her mouth shut tight, absorbed in her meditation, Ho-jin went on.
"A fight means two people's opinions colliding head-on. A falling-out, on the other hand, means they never quite collided — they just drifted out of true."
"...What idle wordplay."
"You're right. It is wordplay. Except for the part where the first one is a little more violent, the two words mean more or less the same thing. More importantly — you finally opened your mouth."
"..."
"No point clamming up now. I already heard you."
At the teasing, needling lilt in Ho-jin's voice, those firmly shut eyes came open. Golden irises flashed like a beast's, and Ho-jin swallowed before he could stop himself.
He hid the startle, though, and spoke with his usual composure.
"So. Did you fight? Or did you have a falling-out?"
"This is none of your concern."
"Well, ordinarily, sure. But not right now. We're in the same party, aren't we?"
"A party, you say? More like a pack of parasites…"
"Have you ever seen parasites this good at their jobs?"
She had chosen the words to get a rise out of him, but Ho-jin only shrugged, as he always did, and answered as if it were nothing at all.
And it was not, if she was honest, an entirely groundless reply. As he had pointed out, it was growing rather difficult for Choco to keep calling them parasites. After BlueSky had dropped out and the remaining trio had begun to pull their weight in earnest, Choco had reached the point of casting magic perhaps once in every five fights. For the others, magic had become something nice to have — and not particularly inconvenient to do without. The one sitting back and collecting experience without lifting a finger was, naturally, Choco.
Not unlike the parasite she had just denounced.
She leveled a sharp look at Ho-jin, then jerked her head away, propped her chin on her hand, and muttered. It was a rough, unguarded casualness that did not suit a young girl at all — a man's ease.
"...Enough. I have nothing to discuss with the likes of you."
"Of course you don't. That's only natural. But what about Yeon?"
Ho-jin looked toward where Yeon was sitting.
"I'm an outsider, so I can't know what it is that's got you this angry. What I do know is that staying like this isn't good. Not for you. Not for Yeon."
"..."
"Anything more than this would be overstepping. But will you hear just one last thing?"
So saying, Ho-jin looked at her.
The girl still sat with her chin in her hand, her gaze fixed on something he couldn't name, and for a long while she did not move. Whether she was turning his words over or simply determined to ignore them completely, he couldn't tell.
Either way, he had done what he came to do.
"Right. That was me speaking as an adult. Now I'll speak as your party leader."
"...?"
"The moment every party member hits level thirty, we're going after the Kobold King."
"You were planning a boss fight?"
Choco stared at him as if he had taken leave of his senses. Ho-jin shrugged, unbothered.
"It's not as far-fetched as it sounds, is it? We've got a powerful mage, a tank who's hiding their rank, and two seasoned damage dealers."
"Hmph. How foolish. Do you truly believe I would do as you say? The moment my level is filled, I shall take Yeon and move on to Grape Cave."
"Except Yeon already said she'd do it."
"What?"
The look she gave him said she had never heard any such thing. Ho-jin clicked his tongue.
"That's why you should have listened when Yeon asked if you two could talk."
"Wait. What do you mean—"
"Anyway, I'd appreciate it if you two could patch things up sooner rather than later~ Ah. And there's something I've been meaning to say."
Ho-jin, who had been getting to his feet, turned back toward Choco as if the thought had only just occurred to him.
"Even if it's a character concept, treating other people that high-handedly is going to get you in real trouble someday. I let it slide because it's me."
"I beg your—"
"It's not like I'm asking you to call me 'big bro' or anything. Just show a little basic courtesy. Anyway — I'm off!"
Watching Ho-jin vanish after saying only what he had come to say, Choco let out a disbelieving puff of breath.
"Has that man lost his mind…"
Going on about big bro, of all things. She muttered it in a voice thick with incredulity, then turned her head toward where Yeon was sitting.
Whatever she had just been told, Yeon was looking this way as well. Their eyes meeting was the natural next step. Brown irises bright with unshed tears came into focus.
Choco did not look away. She held that gaze, then lowered her head and let out a thin sigh.
What's already happened is hard to undo. But what's already passed can never be taken back.
That had been her own line to begin with. And he had delivered it as if he'd thought of it himself.
Choco grumbled inwardly. The person who had originally said it had, of course, forgotten entirely.
Fine. It was time to stop behaving like a child.
She was still turning that thought over when she felt a presence approaching. Not a monster. In her lowered field of vision, a pair of slender legs soon came into view.
She lifted her head, and there was Yeon, hovering with a hesitant air. Her hands were clasped low in front of her, fingers fidgeting, as if she had managed to come this far and then could not find a way to begin.
"...Why don't you sit?"
"Is that okay?"
"Of course."
In the end, it was Choco who spoke first. She patted the ground beside her, and the way Yeon's face visibly brightened sent an involuntary twinge through her chest.
She was the one who had gotten angry for no good reason. So why did she feel as though she were the one in the wrong?
Because she was the one in the wrong.
Permission granted, Yeon sat down carefully at Choco's side.
Even then, no conversation followed at once. The wind came up and passed between them, and for a little while the silence held.
When it broke, it was Yeon who broke it.
"Hey. Um. Did you hear? At the inn, I mean…"
It was not difficult to know what she meant.
Choco hesitated a moment, then nodded.
"I did. All of it."
"I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to hide it just from you. It just… kind of happened…"
"Why should you be the one to apologize? If anyone must, it is I who should apologize to you."
She was the one who had eavesdropped. She was the one who had gotten angry all on her own. If an apology was owed, it was hers to give. Yeon had no reason to offer one at all.
"Yeah, but still. I'm sorry. It's partly my fault you got angry, after all."
"How foolish…"
"Hehe…"
Watching Yeon say her piece so stubbornly, Choco clicked her tongue and muttered under her breath.
Then she raked her fingers through her hair for a long moment, stole a glance at Yeon, and spoke quietly.
"I am sorry."
"Hm?"
"For one who is meant to be the adult between us, I have behaved most childishly. I am sorry for causing you needless worry."
"It's okay! I already forgave you, you know? And so what if an adult gets a little childish when they're mad? Feelings aren't something people can just switch off."
"Yeon… you knew how to speak such difficult words?"
"I'll have you know I'm a high schooler?!"
At the look of genuine surprise on Choco's face, Yeon pushed out her lower lip in protest. The expression was so absurd that a laugh slipped out of Choco before she could catch it.
"Heh. I was only teasing."
"Honestly… Still. I'm glad. That you laughed."
"Hm?"
"I mean, you've had such a gloomy face all day. Do you know how worried I was…"
"Did I…?"
At Yeon's words, Choco looked awkwardly aside.
Honestly, looked at from the outside, it must have been a rather ugly sight. Getting angry all by herself. Sulking all by herself.
The thought brought a belated flush of embarrassment. Sulking over something like that, at her age. This wasn't the kind of thing you could ever admit to anyone.
She was still swallowing that embarrassment when Yeon edged a little closer and whispered.
"Hey. What I told Se-jin unni at the inn. I didn't actually tell her everything, you know?"
"You didn't tell her everything?"
"Yeah. Want to hear? Oh — and I'm only telling you this, okay? You can't go repeating it."
"There is no one I would tell."
She couldn't exactly run into anyone who knew her. Not looking like this. When she said as much, Yeon gave a small laugh, then drew a slow breath to steady herself and spoke.
"Hey. The truth is, I—"
The breath against her ear was ticklish. But what that warm current carried was something so shocking that—
"In other words."
Choco stared at Yeon, her face a mask of disbelief, and the words stumbled out of her.
"Yeah. Surprised, right?"
Yeon said it with a faint, gentle smile.
Choco could not smile.