The Remaining People (2)
Tollin steeled his resolve as he followed the maid guiding him into Mentil's Palace. His fear was immense, but what kept his feet moving forward was the memory of a certain shameless voice.
"Hold out for a month. Once we begin destroying the holy relics, cracks will start to form both inside and outside the imperial family."
While Duke Feedus and the Young Duke secretly slipped out of the estate, Tollin had been sitting at the desk in his room, covering his red, swollen eyes.
"Are you finished crying?"
Startled by the voice—far too calm to be a tease—Tollin looked up. Before he knew it, the black-haired prince had entered and was looking down at him from across the table.
"I wasn't crying. How did you even get in here?"
Perhaps because he had experienced too many heart-stopping shocks today, Tollin wasn't particularly surprised by the Seventh Prince's sudden appearance.
"Is the news that you have to stay behind really that shocking?"
"It's practically telling me to stay here and die. How could it not be shocking?"
Even with Tollin snapping at him, Ran's face remained perfectly serene.
"I didn't tell you to die."
"Telling me to stay here is telling me to die!"
As Tollin raised his voice, Ran took a seat on the sofa in the middle of Tollin's room.
"Hold out for a month. Once we begin destroying the holy relics, cracks will start to form both inside and outside the imperial family."
"...Even if they decide to execute us tomorrow, the only resistance we can offer is to run away. And even then, the other vassals will abandon us the moment an imperial order is handed down." Tollin's face darkened with grief, looking as if he might burst into tears again.
"They won't be executing you anytime soon. I've already made a request."
At Ran's reply, Tollin stared at him. To whom?
"The First Princess, Mentil Abaran, will serve as the Feedus family's shield for the time being."
At the mention of this unexpected figure, Tollin grimaced, looking as if he had just smelled something foul.
"Why would the First Princess suddenly help us?" Tollin asked, having learned early in life the bitter truth that such luck or goodwill never came without a catch.
"It's not free. I sold you out, Tollin."
Tollin's jaw dropped at the unexpected answer. However, he quickly shut his mouth and adopted a solemn, tragic expression, as if steeled for a grand sacrifice.
"I always knew in my heart that a day would come when I'd have to lay down my life. Yes, for the two of them, I am more than willing to risk my life. But I cannot let myself be sold off so cheaply—"
"Stop."
Ran Abaran cut him off, staring at Tollin with utter disbelief.
"Do I look like the kind of person who gambles with other people's lives? You are simply going to work under her. Alongside your brother."
My brother? The face that immediately came to Tollin's mind was his eldest brother. He had heard his brother had been captured by the imperial family, but was he actually working under Mentil Abaran?
"If it's my life you need, I am ready to give it without hesitation. But how does me merely working under the First Princess help preserve the lineage of the Feedus family?"
"Because you belong to the Crysa family, and because you met me."
Tollin frowned at his answer.
"She will always want to know if I'm alive and where I am. So, for the time being, she will try to pry information out of you."
"Fine, but what does that have to do with the Crysa family?"
Ran paused, as if measuring how much he should reveal, before speaking again.
"Because Yigo Crysa is holding out well under her."
At the mention of his brother's name, all expression drained from Tollin's face.
"Was he not locked in a dungeon?"
"He was tasked with finding the Red Book. Though I don't know why it had to be him, of all people."
Tollin recalled his brother, who had departed after telling him not to worry about the Crysa family. To think he was searching for the Red Book under the princess.
Regardless of what Tollin was thinking, Ran Abaran continued.
"I'm sorry, but I won't be telling you exactly where our first destination is, let alone our next. That way, you won't have any answers to give Mentil. But Mentil will likely assume your ignorance is a form of resistance against her. Because..."
"Because that's what Yigo Crysa did."
"...Exactly."
"Then what does my answering her questions have to do with keeping the Feedus family alive?"
"Dito believes I'm dead, so he will be searching for Ratel for the time being. But Mentil wants me alive. Until she can separate me from Ratel, she will likely block Dito from finding him. However, if she only abducts you to make her move, it will look too suspicious."
"So, she won't touch the Feedus family in order to keep me hidden?"
"There is plenty of reason to capture Flin Feedus, but none to capture you. If she suddenly spared only you, Dito would naturally find it strange." Ran tapped the table. "She will try to keep both of you alive. Use that window to hide the Young Duke somewhere else. You can buy that time by walking straight to Mentil of your own accord."
If that was the reason, he could endure any amount of pain.
"I understand."
At Tollin's unhesitating reply, Ran's expression hardened slightly.
"It will be harder than you think. Mentil's brainwashing and suggestions eat away at a person. One wrong step, and you might lose your mind entirely."
"It doesn't matter."
It wasn't empty bravado. It might have been a foolish choice, but there was no lie in his words.
"I have already lost so much once before. I can endure it. Besides..." Tollin spoke calmly, but his eyes flashed with a sharp intensity. "If Yigo Crysa could do it, there is no reason I can't."
"I think this is the right path, but..."
Jing frowned as he scanned the map, then looked up at the rugged mountain rising before them.
"What's wrong?"
"It's just... this looks a bit different from the low hills shown on the map we got from Lucha Village..."
As Jing scratched his head in confusion, Lia approached him.
"You've got the right way. That is indeed the mountain we have to cross."
"But the map didn't say anything about a mountain this massive."
Lia took the map from Jing and examined it, her brow furrowing. "Someone tampered with this. They were determined to screw us over to the very end."
"What do you mean?"
"This is a copy of an incredibly old map. I mean from an era when people didn't even know how to draw maps properly. It was drawn before anyone understood what a scale was. You can see where the sizes and distances are completely wrong in several places."
Lia pulled her own map out of her bag and spread it out next to Jing's.
"See? They're different. I think they slipped a fake map in with the ones they gave us as a prank."
Jing compared the two maps closely, his jaw dropping. "Are you serious? How can anyone be this petty?"
"It was probably Dan and his lackeys. Or maybe someone who lost a lot of money because Ethan didn't win."
It was a remarkably cheap trick, even by lowlife standards.
"So this map can't be trusted?"
"No, they just gave us an outdated one. They aren't diligent enough to draw a fake map from scratch. Most of it is still accurate."
I handed a new map to Lia and Jing, taking the crude map we had received from the village and stuffing it into my bag.
Jing let out a dumbfounded chuckle, then looked at Lia as if suddenly realizing something. "Wait, how do you know all this in such detail?"
"Well..." Lia rolled her eyes. "I've imagined leaving that village dozens, hundreds of times. I stared at the maps so much that I ended up memorizing them entirely. Hearing myself say it out loud makes it sound a bit creepy, though."
As someone who survived by memorizing a book after reading it hundreds of times, I found her choice of words slightly offensive.
"But crossing the mountain is still the fastest route, right?"
When I chimed in, both Jing and Lia turned to look at me.
"Yes. It's rugged, but I've heard it's not too difficult to cross on horseback. The problem is that it's a bit dangerous... A few years ago, a pack of Orcs settled halfway up the mountain and started attacking travelers."
"A pack of Orcs?"
Though it was far from the Capital, this was still technically within the borders of the Abaran Empire. It was highly unusual for monsters to roam so freely. Jing stared at the mountain, looking perplexed.
"I've never heard of such a thing. Unless they were intentionally released like the ones in the Imperial Forest, monsters shouldn't be running wild like this. Is no one doing anything about it?"
Anxiety crept onto Jing's face.
"How did a monster habitat even form so close to human settlements in the first place?"
"I only heard that it happened very suddenly, so no one really knows," Lia replied, tilting her head.
I urged my horse forward, looking up at the towering mountain ahead.
My back prickled. It was an incredibly intense sensation. It wasn't a bug bite, nor was it the heat of the afternoon sun.
It was Ratel's gaze. Ever since we left Lucha Village, his eyes had been burning into my back hotter than the sun.
"Do you have something to say?" I finally snapped, unable to bear it any longer as I turned around.
"How did you do that back in Lucha Village?"
"Do what?"
When I feigned ignorance, Ratel scowled.
"Earlier. When that guy's horse went wild. How did you calm it down?"
"I told you. Animals just happen to like me."
That was clearly not a satisfactory answer for him. I saw him squeeze his legs, urging his horse to speed up.
"Whether it's an animal or a human, when they face death, they lose their minds and thrash about wildly."
Yeah, I know. That's why back in modern times, plenty of people consider humans to be just another type of animal.
I quietly squeezed my horse's flanks. The distance between Ratel and me widened back to where it had started.
"But a horse that had completely lost its mind calmed down after just a few words from you."
This time, he picked up the pace even more.
"Well, animals can be better than humans sometimes. It's easier to calm down a dog with a knife in its mouth than a hysterical person holding a sword."
I spouted some nonsense of my own and sped up as well.
"It's dangerous to ride like that on a mountain!" Jing yelled from behind, but Ratel's momentum was far too terrifying for me to stop.
Before I knew it, he was right beside me, staring at me without even blinking.
"Why are you pulling away?"
Why do you think? Because everything you do threatens my life, that's why.
"This is the perfect distance for us. If you get too close, I get a bit scared."
The flat path ended, giving way to a steep downhill slope, but he showed no intention of slowing down. And since his horse was galloping, my horse had no choice but to run as well.
"You said you'd help me. So why are you afraid of me?"
"That's a completely different matter. Someone who's afraid of dogs can still help a lost puppy."
"..."
Seeing that I wouldn't shut up even while being violently jostled atop a galloping horse, he finally decided to stop talking. Instead, he opted for physical force.
"Whoa!"
Ratel's outstretched hand narrowly brushed the back of my head. Did this crazy bastard just try to grab my hair while we're riding at full speed?
"Are you out of your mind? If I hadn't dodged that, I could have fallen off and died!"
"You said animals listen to you. If you stopped, your horse would have stopped too."
Seeing him speak so nonchalantly made my patience snap. The protagonist, having only recently met Duke Feedus, was an absolute nightmare to deal with.
I couldn't blame him for doubting me, but we couldn't keep up this exhausting psychological warfare all the way to the Temple. One way or another, we needed to settle this.