The Broken Bridge
“Hic… Ash! Did you hear that? That woman just threatened me!”
“Oh my? Threatened you? How disappointing. I clearly proposed a wager. It was the height of good manners.”
Competing with Lox over Ash strangely stirred my competitive spirit.
There were things I could overlook out of sheer laziness, and things I couldn’t. This was definitely the latter.
Why? Because being with Ash felt nice. Probably because it was comfortable. After all, Ash made an excellent attendant!
“Lox.”
“Yes, Ash! Tell this shameless woman off!”
“Ride with Enk or Gail.”
“……!”
No matter how shocked Lox looked, as if asking how Ash could possibly do this, Ash had chosen me.
Given Ash’s personality, it was probably the most peaceful choice to avoid bloodshed.
I mounted the brown horse with a triumphant air while Ash held the reins, watching Lox’s dejected back as he trudged away like a refugee expelled from his hometown.
Not that he was going far—just to Enk’s horse.
The silent, sorrowful glance the two exchanged didn’t escape my radar.
Hey, if you two keep acting all wistful like that, my stomach’s going to hurt. I’m even starting to feel jealous.
Ash should only look at me.
Because he’s my attendant, that’s why! An attendant!
There was no other way to explain this feeling.
This faint possessiveness I felt toward Ash.
A sudden thought crossed my mind.
Why did I want Ash? Did I want to be his master?
“Looks like we’re ready to leave.”
“Shall we go, then? Everyone packed everything?”
“All set.”
“Me too.”
“Wait! I haven’t seen that giant mutt of yours since yesterday. Is he all right?”
Surprisingly, it was Chad who noticed such a detail.
He’d realized Rai was missing. Of course I’d been thinking about it too. It wasn’t like I’d forgotten or anything.
Though I had wondered a few times today why things felt so quiet around here.
“He’s over there.”
“Where?”
“The stables. Rai!”
I whistled briefly toward the distant stables, then called his name for good measure.
For a moment, it looked like the stables were shaking—an illusion, probably. The others watching rubbed their eyes, so maybe it wasn’t just me seeing things.
Soon, Rai, now in his golden wolf form, came bounding out of the stables with a pitiful howl.
He charged straight toward me at full speed, shaking the ground.
[Master!]
[Get over here. We’re leaving.]
[Waaah! I thought you were going to leave me behind!]
Sitting on the horse with a bored expression, my face grew increasingly grim the closer Rai got.
I’d just realized something horrifying.
“That smell!”
“Ugh!”
“Where’s that manure stench coming from…?”
The new punishment I’d devised had an unexpected, terrible side effect.
Rai reeked of horse dung.
“Did your pet roll around in a dung heap?”
Once they pinpointed the source, everyone started shooting me accusatory looks.
Normally I’d argue and proclaim my innocence, but this time the evidence was overwhelming.
The stench was so thick it was hard to breathe; everyone had to pinch their noses.
Rai, unable to smell anything except metal, had no idea what the problem was.
He seemed delighted to have escaped the stables, wagging his tail vigorously—which only wafted more of the odor our way. Ugh.
“Rai… you stink of dung.”
[What? From me? The noble me? I don’t even drink dew!]
[Shut up. Can you fix it?]
[I’m not sure how far it goes, but if I discard every part the smell has soaked into…]
“Can’t be helped. Stay away for now.”
Unofficially the richest person on the continent or not, I couldn’t throw diamonds on the ground just because they smelled like dung.
I’d thought I’d found a good punishment, but I was wrong.
This method probably wouldn’t work again. Maybe that was a relief for Rai.
The sun was already high overhead. Holding our noses, we set off toward Hirilyke. It wasn’t exactly a dignified departure.
Our party traveled along the outer edge of the massive island called Heidricke.
After riding along the mountain path overlooking the sea, an open plain finally spread out before us.
It meant we were on the right track.
Lil’s grandfather, who knew the local geography well, had assured us we’d reach our destination in about two hours—and he’d been right.
We crossed a field dotted with reeds, passed through a narrow mountain path blooming with purple flowers, and soon spotted a swaying bridge in the distance.
“The bridge!”
“Oh, I see it too.”
Someone among the riders let out a short whistle of joy. Everything was going smoothly.
According to the grandfather, crossing that bridge would bring us straight to Hirilyke.
“Look! It’s close! We could’ve gone slower!”
When I shouted into the wind, Lox immediately shot back. Each of us was clinging tightly to someone’s waist.
“For whose sake are you saying that?”
“For mine!”
I wrapped my arms tighter around Ash’s solid waist and stretched my neck upward.
Peering over his shoulder at the approaching bridge, I imagined how things would go if everything worked out.
We’d find Hirilyke beyond the bridge, locate the lake nearby, realize the treasure obviously wasn’t there, wait for the others to feel disappointed for a bit, then head back to the farm for piping-hot roast pork.
No plan could be more ideal or realistic than that.
I didn’t believe “our” kids would actually find the treasure.
Ancient relics weren’t so easily discovered after all this time. There had to be a reason no one had found it in nearly ten thousand years.
If you don’t expect anything, you won’t be disappointed! But roast pork never betrays you!
“We’re here. Once we cross that bridge, it’s finally Hirilyke!”
“This time it’s definitely right!”
“I’m telling you, there’s no mistake!”
Everyone was excited, but Lox was the most thrilled. His voice was louder than usual, and his mouth stretched ear to ear.
It had taken about fifteen years just to pinpoint Hirilyke’s location, so his excitement was understandable.
From the day they found the letter and the marker, they’d spent over ten years analyzing it, comparing it to maps, and searching the wrong places. Lox and Ash had inherited the records of both successes and failures from their parents and continued the legacy.
Well, that was the official story, at least. After all, the Cup of the Golden Star was something the imperial family was actually looking for.
Enk, Gail, and Chad, who’d been traveling with us for the past year and a half, believed that version. Of course, I played along and pretended to believe it too.
“Faster!”
The closer we got to the bridge, the faster the horses ran.
Through the shaking view, I caught glimpses of the bridge—it was a crude structure spanning a small gorge.
“Jeanie, hold on tight.”
Ash’s hurried handling of the reins showed he was excited too.
His pounding heart was proof. Being pressed this close against him, I couldn’t miss it. Somehow, my hands had ended up groping his chest.
Since it wasn’t intentional, I quietly lowered my hands—then realized they’d gone too low and raised them again.
Meanwhile, Ash kept twitching like he was malfunctioning. Sorry about that.
“Huh?”
“……Stop! Something’s wrong.”
We’d cleared the low hill in one leap and reached the cliff without issue.
The four horses had raced as if competing, and I’d been too busy figuring out where to grab Ash to notice the strange atmosphere.
The horses halted amid the unease, and a heavy silence fell over the group facing the gorge.
I belatedly craned my neck to the side. Ash’s shoulders were so broad they blocked almost my entire view.
“No way!”
Oh no. Oh no.
Up close, the bridge had clearly lost its function.
It was an old bridge made of wood and rope, but most of the floor had fallen away except for a few spots in the middle.
Only the ropes on either side, meant as handrails, remained. You could guess what it once looked like, but unless tightrope walking was your specialty, it was better to consider the bridge nonexistent.
A bridge with no floor? How utterly pointless.
“This can’t be happening! We’re so close! We just need to cross here!”
“Lox……”
“The bridge!”
Having been the most enthusiastic about the treasure hunt, Lox seemed to suffer the most from this obstacle.
His near-screaming voice echoed through the gorge.
The seawater below crashed violently against the rocks, making it impossible to cross down there either.
Ash and Gail quietly shook their heads, swallowing their disappointment, while Chad snorted in anger.
Enk tried to comfort Lox, but Lox couldn’t even bear that and jumped off his horse, running straight to the edge of the cliff.
He reached out to confirm with his own hands that the bridge was beyond repair, then despaired all over again.
“I knew it was going too well.”
“Tch, you’re telling me. It couldn’t be this easy.”
“This is completely unusable. Whether monsters did it or just time, we have to give up on crossing here.”
“Looks like no one maintained the bridge. Since no one’s lived in Hirilyke for a while… it’s not surprising.”
Used to setbacks, the men didn’t stay gloomy for long. They put their heads together for a brief discussion, then pulled out a map to find a detour.
“We can go this way. But it’ll take at least three days to go around.”
“We’re back to square one.”
“Maybe we should head back to the farm and restock. Chad, how much food do we have?”
“For six people… three days? If we ration, five. If we push it, a week.”
With more people, carrying food had become harder. It took up too much space.
Even with occasional hunting, taking such a long detour wasn’t the safest option.
“What should we do? Go back and restock first, or stop at the village at the end of this gorge…?”
“Either way, it’ll take a week to get back.”
“Whether we go back or stop at the village, we’re wasting time either way. We have to pass through here anyway. Our only choice is to follow the gorge and hope there’s another bridge somewhere in the middle.”
Since I was sitting behind Ash, I rested my chin on his shoulder and looked at the map with him.
My sense of direction was terrible, but since Ash was pointing with his fingertip, I could roughly tell our situation was bad.
The gorge where the bridge had been stretched deep inland. We’d have to follow it all the way up, then come back down along the other side to reach Hirilyke. It was an infuriating situation.
I glanced back at the remains of the bridge.
It was too wide—about the width of a five-story building—to try jumping it dramatically like in the movies by building up speed.
Going around looked like such a hassle that I decided to offer my opinion for once.
“If there’s no bridge, we can just make one, right?”
“What? That’ll take even longer.”
“You idiots.”
Since I was speaking from behind Ash’s back, it might look like Ash was the one saying something rude.
Pretending to be a ventriloquist, I grabbed Ash’s elbow and shook it back and forth.
“You idiots!”
“Jeanie…?”
“You guys keep forgetting I’m here. This party has me—Lady Jeanie—doesn’t it?”
“Are you crazy? What ‘Lady’?”
“Lady Jeanie.”
Instead of answering, Chad spat on the ground.