Roen (1)
They walked, and then they walked some more.
When they stopped to rest, they soaked their feet in the stream. Lia watched Leon swing his sword, and at some point, without quite meaning to, she started nodding off.
Days like that stretched on, one after another.
Where were they going?
He'd said there was no destination. But for a man who claimed to be merely wandering, Leon's stride was far too consistent.
The road grew wider. More people came and went—travelers with packs strapped to their backs, the wounded laid out in wagons, parents walking with a child's hand in theirs, knights in full arms.
There was one strange thing. Most of them were walking in the opposite direction.
South.
Leon passed them by, heading north. Toward where the wounded were coming from. Toward the Demon King's Territory.
Lia looked up at Leon walking beside her. His face was as quiet as always.
"Leon."
"Yeah."
"The Hero's Party."
Leon glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
"They were real?"
"Yeah."
"You went to kill the Demon King?"
"We did."
Lia fell silent for a moment. There was something she'd been wondering about for days.
"Then why are you alone now...?"
Leon's steps slowed, just a little. He looked at her.
Her ears, tipped slightly back. Golden eyes studying his face. And her tail, making no effort to hide itself, swaying slowly from side to side.
Leon looked ahead again.
"Because they kicked me out."
Lia stopped.
"Why...?"
Leon halted a few steps later and turned back.
"Someone better came along."
"So...?"
"You don't need two vanguards."
Lia's hands clenched.
"That's it...?"
"Yeah."
"You didn't say no...?"
Leon thought for a moment, then spoke.
"Wouldn't have changed anything even if I had."
The strength left Lia's hands.
There was no place for him. He wasn't needed anymore. So get out.
The shape was different, but it was a story she knew all too well.
Lia's hand drifted toward her throat, unthinking.
"Do you hate them...?"
This time, Leon thought a little longer.
"I do."
Lia's ears twitched.
"How much?"
"A lot."
It was unexpected. He didn't pretend he was fine. He didn't pretend he didn't hate them, either.
And yet.
"They're not bad people, though."
Lia's eyes narrowed.
"They abandoned you."
"That's a different story."
Lia couldn't understand. It wasn't a different story. If they abandoned you, you hated them. You disliked them. You never looked back. That would be so much easier.
Leon started walking again. Lia watched his back for a moment, then followed.
That afternoon, the two of them rested beneath a large tree by the roadside. The sun, already beginning to sink, fractured through the leaves. The breeze was just right.
Leon leaned his back against the trunk.
"Gonna sleep for a bit."
"Okay."
Before long, his breathing evened out. Lia sat beside him, watching the road.
People passed by. South, as always. A man bent under a load. A woman limping. Someone lying in a wagon. It had been like this for days. Everyone was coming down from the north.
Lia looked to her side. Leon, asleep.
When she asked where they were going, he said he didn't know. He said there was no destination. And yet the feet of a man who claimed to be wandering pointed, strangely enough, in a single direction.
North.
Lia rested her chin on her knees and watched his face for a long time. Even in sleep, his brow was faintly drawn.
She lifted her hand. Extended a finger. Hesitated, then pressed his cheek.
Poke.
Leon's eyebrow twitched. Lia's hand snapped back down.
She waited. He didn't wake.
Again.
Poke.
This time his face shifted a little to the side. The corner of Lia's mouth lifted—then fell just as quickly.
"..."
Lia withdrew her hand.
He'd been abandoned. Told he wasn't needed. And still—he was going because he couldn't let them go.
And then she lay down beside him. A little ways away, at first. Then a little closer. Closer still. Until she stopped at a distance where their arms might or might not touch.
She pulled her knees in and curled up. Her tail drifted naturally over her legs.
It was strange. She hadn't been sleepy a moment ago, but listening to the breathing beside her, her eyelids grew heavy.
Lia closed her eyes just like that.
Several more days passed. The road had grown wide enough for several wagons to pass abreast, and in the distance, city walls came into view.
Lia's ears slowly pricked up.
"A city."
Leon lifted his head as well. Tall, ancient walls. Unfamiliar banners fluttered in the wind above them.
The two of them headed that way.
A long line stretched before the gates. Knights stopped each person in turn, checking their identities. Lia's steps slowed a little.
Leon stopped. He looked back and held out his hand.
"Come on."
Lia looked down at his hand. Then she placed hers in it.
"Okay."
Her tail swished.
Their turn came.
"Name."
"Leon."
"Lia."
The knight wrote it in the ledger.
"Travel papers."
"Don't have any."
The pen stopped. The knight looked up.
"You don't?"
"No."
"Place of origin."
"The capital."
The knight's gaze shifted to Lia. The ears. The worn clothes. The tail.
"The beastkin as well...?"
"Yeah."
Leon's voice dropped a little this time. The knight looked Lia over.
"Anything to prove her identity—"
"No."
"Her master?"
"She doesn't have one."
The air around them shifted. One of the knights standing behind turned to look. Lia's ears began to flatten slowly against her head.
That was when a woman walking inside the gates stopped in her tracks.
A female knight, her blonde hair tied high. Her gaze turned toward Leon. Just for a moment.
"That's enough."
The knight snapped to attention.
"Commander?"
The woman strode over. She wore armor that looked heavier than her frame should have allowed.
"Let them both through."
"But we haven't confirmed their identities at all."
"I'll vouch for them."
"Ma'am?"
The woman pointed a thumb at her own chest.
"I said I'll vouch for them."
The knight stood with his mouth open for a moment, then finally bowed his head.
"Understood..."
Leon looked at the woman. She raised an eyebrow.
"Why're you looking at me like that?"
"Don't want to go in?"
"No."
She regarded Leon for a moment. Then she suddenly reached out.
Tap.
Her index finger touched Leon's forehead.
"...!!"
Lia's tail shot straight up.
"What are you doing..."
"You were making a weird face," she said, shamelessly.
"......"
She pulled the ledger over.
"Lia?"
Lia's ears perked.
"Yeah..."
"Pretty name."
She handed the ledger back to the knight.
"Write it down properly."
Then an urgent voice called from inside the walls.
"Commander Miletta!"
"Coming!"
Miletta turned, then waved once at the two of them.
"Don't cause any trouble. I don't want to have to come chase you down."
And with that, she disappeared inside the walls. Leon watched her back for a moment.
"Who was that."
"She was looking at you," Lia said.
"Was she?"
"Yeah."
She paused.
"Twice."
"I see."
"She touched your forehead, too."
Lia looked up at Leon.
"Idiot."
The meeting had been dragging on.
"The territory we secured on this expedition has been handed over to the knight order."
Kael traced a red line on the map. Land that, until recently, had been part of the Demon King's Territory. After they destroyed one of the shrines, the red line had receded—just a little—to the north.
It was the first time in four years.
"Next, we confirm up to here."
Kael's finger moved a little farther north. Irene's brow furrowed.
"That's outside the knight order's search range."
"I know."
"We don't even know the concentration."
"That's why we start by checking Estelle's Sanctuary."
Estelle looked down at the map.
"If it's about the same as last time... yes, it should be fine."
"And if it's worse?"
"Then we'd have to go in and see for ourselves..."
Click.
A small sound cut through the conversation. Sila was sitting on the floor, fiddling with a magical kettle.
Click.
Nothing happened. Sila tilted her head. She turned the handle the other way.
Clunk.
It wouldn't budge. She pressed a button.
Psssh.
White steam hissed from a vent. Sila stared at it. She pressed the button again.
Click.
"If we use the valley, the return time drops."
"The erosion's thick there."
"It'll be fine inside the Sanctuary."
"I'm telling you, the depth is different from last time."
Sila didn't take her eyes off the kettle. The water was supposed to boil. She had the tea leaves. She had the cups. But no boiling water came out.
Sila looked to the side, as if by habit.
An empty chair.
She stared at it for a few seconds, then turned her gaze back to the kettle.
Click.
"It's not working."
Nobody heard her. Sila touched the handle again.
A moment later.
"Sila?"
Estelle had finally noticed.
"What are you doing?"
"Tea."
"Now?"
"Yes."
"We're in the middle of a meeting...?"
Sila looked at Estelle.
"My throat is dry."
"You could just drink water."
"I want warm tea."
"......"
Estelle let out a very small sigh. Kael and Irene were still talking over the map.
"Just a moment."
Estelle came over to Sila. She bent at the waist, tucking her golden hair behind her ear.
"What's not working?"
"Everything."
"Everything...?"
"Yes."
Estelle knelt in front of the kettle. She turned the handle. It wouldn't turn. She pressed a button.
Psssh.
This time the steam shot toward the back of Estelle's hand.
"Ah, hot...!"
"That happened to me too."
"...You could have warned me..."
Estelle's lips pushed out in a pout. She tried the other buttons. Nothing happened.
"Hmm..."
She bent her head to inspect the kettle.
"How did this thing work again...?"
Sila answered.
"I don't know."
"You drink tea every day."
"Yes."
"It's never broken before...?"
Sila thought for a moment. She always drank tea. But she'd never had to touch this thing.
"Leon always did it, so I don't really know."
Estelle's hands stopped.
"...Leon?"
"Yes."
Sila said it without any particular meaning.
"I think he did it a lot."
"Ah..."
Estelle looked at the kettle again.
The image of Leon crouched in front of it before the meetings started. Sila standing beside him with the tin of tea leaves, the two of them discussing what kind to drink. Sometimes Sila would pinch too many leaves and Leon would take some back, and if she said she didn't like that, he'd put them in again. At the time, Estelle had simply thought, oh, they're at it with the tea again.
Estelle touched the handle again.
"Leon... how did he do it."
She searched her memory. He'd tapped the side, she thought.
Tap.
Nothing happened. A little harder.
Thud.
Click.
Something caught on the inside. Estelle's eyes widened.
"Oh?"
A bubbling sound. Water, boiling.
Sila looked at the kettle.
"It worked."
"Haha... so it did..."
Estelle laughed with a slightly incredulous look.
"He fixed it every time...?"
"Yes."
"You could have said something."
"Why?"
"We could have just bought a new one..."
"..."
Sila had never had a reason to mention it. If it broke, Leon fixed it. If it worked, the two of them drank tea. That was all it had ever been.
"Sila...?"
Estelle poured tea into the cup of a vacant-eyed Sila.
"Here. For you."
"Okay."
Sila took the cup. Estelle went back to her seat.
"Sorry. Let's continue."
The meeting went on. Sila took a sip of tea. It was fine. The temperature was right. It was the tea she always drank.
Sip.
She looked to the side. Three people in a meeting. And an empty chair.
Sila gazed at it for a long while, the teacup still at her lips.
They'd meet again. They'd drink tea together then. That's what he'd said.
And yet.
She set the teacup down on her knee. The tea was warm. It tasted good. But something felt missing.
Something she couldn't understand. Something she couldn't explain. She didn't know what it was.
Sila drank her tea again.
Sip.
She would ask him the next time they met. What this feeling was. Leon might know.