Lia (4)

Walter's gaze lingered on the emblem engraved into Leon's blade.

He said nothing for a long while. Then he muttered, low.

"If you people had done it right..."

Leon did not lower his sword.

The corner of Walter's mouth twisted.

"The world wouldn't have ended up like this."

Lia's ears twitched, a small involuntary flick. Leon said nothing.

"You were the Demon King subjugation force!"

"The Hero's Party...!"

Walter's voice grew harsher with every word.

"You were the ones who went to kill the Demon King."

He looked around him. Crates. Shackles. This sewer of a world.

Walter kicked a shackle with the toe of his boot.

Clank.

The iron sound rolled through the warehouse, long and hollow.

"And the world's still like this."

Leon's gaze followed the shackle as it tumbled across the floor. Walter went on.

"A place where people were living yesterday is Demon King's Territory by the next morning."

Lia's eyes turned toward him.

"One wall falls, and the ones who survive get shoved back."

"Hundreds."

"Thousands."

"They flood into the next city."

Walter smiled, bitter.

"At first, they take them in."

They give them a place to sleep. They share their food. They treat the wounded. But the people keep coming. Tents multiply inside the gates. When there is no room left even for tents, people sleep at the foot of the walls. Food runs short. Work dries up. The ones who already lived in the city start to hate the ones pushed in from outside. The ones pushed in start to hate the ones who will not let them through.

"And then."

Walter kicked the shackle again.

Clank.

"Even a human life starts to have a price."

Lia's hand rose slowly. She touched the black brand carved into her neck.

Walter's gaze turned to her.

"You get bastards selling off their own kids just to eat."

"Bastards picking orphans up off the street and handing them over for a handful of coin."

"That girl probably washed up here the same way."

Lia's fingertips went still.

It was not a story she was hearing for the first time. She had spent nights in front of a city's gates. She had fallen asleep wedged among other people, only to wake in the morning and find the person beside her gone.

A child who had shared bread with her the day before was nowhere to be seen the next. No one looked for them. No one had the luxury. Lia had been the same. Just surviving had been more than she could manage.

"And yet."

Walter glared at Leon.

"The one who was supposed to go end all of that."

His eyes came ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠back to Lia.

"Why are you here saving a single slave?"

Lia's heart dropped.

A single slave. The words rang with a strange, piercing clarity. He was not wrong. She was one person. A slave with a number carved into her neck, the kind no one would look for if she vanished from the street. And to save someone like that, Leon had fought a slaver. Faced a pursuit squad. Crossed blades with Walter. Somewhere, in all the time he had spent doing that, people might have been dying.

Lia's ears slowly drooped.

Walter said,

"While you're standing around here doing this, someone out there is dying."

"..."

"Am I wrong?"

Leon's gaze sank, just a fraction. Lia bit her lip without meaning to. No voice came out. She thought she ought to let this man go, and yet some corner of her chest did not want to send him away. That fact shamed her.

Leon slowly lowered his sword. Walter watched him do it. A moment later, Leon spoke.

"No."

Walter's face went rigid. Lia lifted her eyes as well.

Leon offered no excuse. He gave Walter nothing more. He simply slid the blade home into its scabbard.

Shing.

Leon asked,

"Where's the master plate."

Walter blinked.

"...What?"

"The thing that erases the brand."

Leon pointed at Lia's neck.

"The master plate."

For a while, Walter said nothing. Then he let out a hollow laugh.

"Did you even hear a word I said?"

"I heard you."

"And you're still going after that?"

"Yeah."

Walter's face twisted.

"Do you not understand what I just told you?"

Leon looked at him.

"I do."

"Then you know it doesn't mean a damn—"

Walter's mouth stopped. Leon asked again.

"Where is it."

Lia looked at Leon's back. He had not said Walter was wrong. She knew the world was falling apart. She knew far more people than her were dying. Saving a single slave changed nothing.

Leon was looking at her again.

Lia could not understand. What this man was even thinking. What he used as a measure for how he moved. Maybe he was someone who had not been thinking anything from the start. Someone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who drew his sword when something did not sit right, who smashed whatever got in his way, who stood in the path when the person in front of him was about to be taken.

Walter let out a long breath.

"...Inside."

Leon turned his head. Walter pointed at an old bookshelf at the back of the warehouse.

"There's a staircase behind it."

He hesitated, then added,

"The basement."

Leon started walking at once. Lia moved to follow, then stopped.

Walter had sunk down onto the floor. He looked less like a man who had been beaten than a man who had simply worn through.

Lia looked at him for a moment. Their eyes met.

"What."

Walter said it. Lia did not answer.

"Was I wrong about something...?"

Lia's ears drooped a little.

"...I don't know."

"What?"

"I don't know."

Lia touched her own neck.

"I think what you said is right, too."

A person like Leon should not have been here because of her. He should have been doing something more important. He should have been saving countless people.

But...

Lia looked into the dark of the warehouse, where Leon had gone.

"Even so..."

Her voice grew small.

"I..."

I want to be saved.

The words did not come out. Walter watched her in silence. In the end, Lia said nothing at all, and followed after Leon.

Behind the bookshelf was a narrow staircase. They descended the damp stone steps, and a small basement opened below.

Ledgers packed the walls. A person's name. Age and race, and a price. Where they had come from. To whom they had been sold. And beside all of that, a number.

Lia found a number she knew. Her number. There was no name.

Leon glanced down at the ledger once, then walked farther in.

The deepest part of the basement. Upon an iron stand sat a single black circular plate.

Lia's throat went hot in an instant.

"Ngh..."

Her hand went to her neck. The plate's red light and the brand on her throat were beating in the same rhythm.

Leon asked,

"That it?"

Lia nodded.

"...Yeah."

Leon drew his sword. Lia grabbed his arm in a hurry.

"Wait."

Leon looked back. Lia stared at the plate.

If they broke that, it would be over. The brand carved into her neck. The thing that had dragged her back no matter how far she ran. The thing that had proven, wherever she went, that she was someone's property. All of it would end.

Lia looked at it for a long time.

"...It'll really be gone?"

"That's what they say."

"It won't come back?"

"Don't know."

Leon thought for a moment.

"If it comes back, I'll just break it again."

Lia looked at him. He said it so matter-of-factly that for a moment, no words came at all.

Leon raised his sword.

Crack.

The sound was smaller than she had expected. A ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fissure split the center of the plate. The crimson inscriptions flickered wildly.

Once more.

Snap.

It split into two pieces. Lia's neck burned.

"Ah...!"

She swallowed a breath and clutched her throat. It hurt. Something was scraping past, just beneath the skin. But it did not last long. The heat cooled quickly.

Lia touched her neck with trembling fingers.

Smooth. Nothing caught against her fingertips. The faint wrongness she had always felt was gone. The sting that came whenever mana flowed through her was gone.

She looked around in a hurry. A metal plate hung on one wall, and a faint face reflected in it. She ran to it, gathered her dark navy hair, and bared her neck.

"..."

It was gone. The brand was gone.

Lia's fingertips swept over her throat again and again.

"It's gone..."

A small voice slipped out. She touched it again.

"Really."

Again. And again.

"It's really gone..."

Leon simply watched from behind. Lia's ears trembled.

She should have been happy. Maybe she should have laughed. Maybe she should have cried. But nothing came. When something you have wanted for so long happens all at once, what is a person supposed to do?

Lia did not know.

Freedom.

The word rose in her mind. It was strange. She felt nothing. Because she did not know what freedom was.

Leon turned.

"Let's go."

Lia followed behind him on reflex.

One step.

Two steps.

Leon stopped. Lia stopped too. He looked back.

"Lia."

Her eyes widened a little.

"...Yeah?"

"You don't have to follow me anymore."

Lia stared at him, blank. It took her a moment to understand what he meant.

"Why...?"

"You're free."

"I..."

She opened her mouth, then closed it.

"What do I do now?"

Leon thought for a moment. Then he said,

Lia's eyes wavered.

You decide.

It could not have been the first time she had heard those words. Surely she had heard them somewhere before. And yet they felt strangely foreign.

Get up. Sit down. Wait. Eat. Don't walk. Don't run. Follow.

There had always been a next word in Lia's life. A next action someone else had decided for her. If she followed it well, she was hit less. If she went against it, it hurt more. She had learned how not to think. She had learned how not to choose. She had learned how not to ask what she wanted.

And now no one was telling her. Not even Leon.

"I..."

Lia asked again.

"Where are you going?"

"Wherever I want."

"What about you?"

"Same."

Lia's brows drew down a little.

"What's that supposed to mean..."

Leon went up the stairs as he was. Lia did not follow.

She was left alone. Truly. No one called for her.

Lia looked at the stairs, then turned the other way.

She took one step. Nothing happened.

Two steps. Her neck did not hurt.

Three steps. No one shouted.

She stopped. Looked back. Leon was not there.

Lia took another step forward.

She could go. Anywhere. She could stay in the village. She could go back to the forest. She could run the other way. She never had to see Leon again. No one could hold her.

Lia slowly touched her neck. There was nothing. She was free.

So.

Leon stood outside the warehouse. The sunlight was blinding. The sky had already gone fully bright. He looked up at it for a moment, then started walking toward the road.

Tap-tap.

Hurried footsteps sounded behind him. Leon looked back.

Lia was running toward him. A little out of breath. Wolf ears standing straight up. She stopped in front of him.

"Hah... haah..."

She stood there, catching her breath. Leon asked,

"What."

Lia's lips moved. Until a moment ago, she had had something to say. She definitely had. But the moment she saw his face, her mind went empty. For some reason, her face was hot. She did not know where to put her eyes. In the end, she looked somewhere around Leon's chest.

Her hand rose slowly. She caught the hem of his clothes.

"..."

Leon said nothing. He waited for whatever she was going to say.

Lia's ears folded a little to the side. And behind her, her tail swayed with a soft rustle. Her eyes went wide.

Swish.

Swish.

She hurriedly grabbed her tail with her other hand. Her face grew even hotter.

Leon's gaze dropped, just for a moment.

"Don't look..."

"I didn't."

"You did."

"A little."

"..."

Lia pressed her mouth shut.

Should she just leave. Should she say it was nothing. The moment she was about to let go of his clothes, the words she had said came back to her.

Tomorrow hasn't come yet.

Back then, it had been resignation. It had meant she did not care what happened tomorrow. She might get caught again. She might starve. She might die. Tomorrow had not come yet anyway.

Now it was a little different.

Tomorrow had not come yet. She still did not know what would happen. So... something good might happen. She might go somewhere she had never seen. She might eat something delicious.

And she might keep walking with Leon...

Lia gripped the hem a little tighter.

"Tomorrow..."

Leon looked at her.

"Hasn't come yet."

"That's right."

"So..."

Her voice grew small. The words rose as far as her throat, then sank back down. Lia closed her eyes.

This is stupid. She did not understand why a single sentence like this was so hard. Should she just give up. Couldn't she just follow him. Leon probably would not send her away anyway.

But she did not want that.

This time. This time, for real... she wanted to say it herself. She wanted to decide. Who she wanted to be with — that was for her to...!

Lia opened her eyes. She lifted her head. This time, she did not look away. Golden eyes looked straight at Leon's face.

Leon blinked once. Lia's tail moved again in her grip. She did not let go.

"Is that... not okay?"

She tilted her head, bracing herself for the refusal that might come.

Leon said,

"You can."

Lia's ears slowly stood up.

"Really...?"

"Yeah."

"Even if I become a bother...?"

"Probably."

"I might bite your hand, you know...?"

Lia took a step closer, pressing in.

"If you bite me, I'll hit you."

Lia smiled, sniffing, and buried her face in Leon's chest.

"Sniff, sniff..."

"What are you doing..."

"Remembering."

"..."

"Let's go."

At that indifferent response, Lia pouted. But her tail still would not stop.

Leon started walking again. Lia followed half a step behind, still holding his clothes. Then she looked down at her own hand.

Quietly, she let go.

She walked a step faster. Not behind Leon, but beside him.

Walking side by side.

Lia glanced back. The merchant branch. The place that had held her. All of it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was growing farther away. Her neck was light. Nothing was pulling her back.

Lia looked forward again. She did not know where they were going. She did not know what would happen tomorrow.

But that was all right. Tomorrow had not come yet.

By her own choice, Lia walked beside the person she wanted to be with.