Partners (7) - The Collapsing Cave
Ahin darted desperately into the cave's depths, but a jutting rock slammed into his head and he staggered.
“Ugh, damn it!”
Ahin wiped the blood trickling down his torn forehead with a rough hand and spat out a curse.
While he paused, the cave had almost completely collapsed, and only thick clouds of dust rose.
He rushed over and dug through the dirt and rocks, but the entire passage had given way, leaving nothing but more piles of stone and debris in his hands.
“Damn it, this isn't funny!”
Even as the rock cut into his palm and turned it bloody, and blood from his forehead soaked his face, he kept digging deeper into the cave.
Someone's voice suddenly called out from behind him.
“Hey, it's the adventurer!”
“The adventurer! The monster...!”
The villagers of the settlement beneath the mountain had come running, each of them clutching a pickax or axe in their hands after hearing about the rescue from the hunter they had deposited Ahin with.
They had tightened their jaws upon seeing the collapsed cave, as if to vent the rage that had once boiled for the werewolf that killed their families.
“Whoa... so there really was a monster living in this cave?”
“I never would have thought, with how often we walked past here.”
“...We walked past often?”
While digging madly through the rocks, Ahin overheard the villagers' conversation and quickly turned his head.
“Hey, is there something in this cave?”
“Th-that's... if there were herbs that needed to be dried in the shade, we'd come here often. There's also a tunnel on the opposite side that gets good wind.”
“An opening on the opposite side? Where exactly?”
Despite Ahin's desperate expression, the villagers couldn't answer.
Seeing their helpless faces only made Ahin shout louder.
“My companions are trapped inside! If there's any way in, tell me!”
“T-that's... we don't know much about this area either. The only ones who know are the late herbalist grandfather or the hunter uncle...”
“Ever since the herbalist grandfather passed away, we haven't come here much...”
“...Hunter?”
Ahin remembered that the survivor he had rescued was one of the hunters in the village and asked urgently.
“Where is the person I saved?”
“They're in the village. But their wounds are too severe, so they were going to head to the city...”
“...Heal. I'll take care of it.”
“Huh?”
Ahin wiped the blood that blocked his vision with a rough hand and continued.
“I'll fix that person. Just don't send them anywhere else.”
●
Er's first thought upon waking was.
“Damn it, how long has it been since I got trapped in a cave again...”
She had only escaped a lizardman's lair not long ago, yet here she was trapped once more.
“If there's a god, that guy must be completely devoid of creativity.”
“...That's blasphemy.”
“Jina! You're alive?”
Er couldn't help smiling brightly at the answer to her private mutter.
The voice was relatively clear, and since the face couldn't be seen in the dimness, it seemed like the person hadn't suffered any serious injury.
“Yeah, except for my broken leg.”
“...”
It sounded like they had been badly hurt.
“It's not your fault. In fact, you owe me my life. Thank you.”
“...Thank you? You, of all people?”
“W-what, is there a problem?”
“...Are you... unexpectedly a decent person...?”
A tiny spark of suspicion appeared in Er's eyes as she spoke.
Er's unexpected reply earned a hollow laugh from Jina.
“No, I'm a proper priest! The most important quality of a priest is integrity, integrity!”
“Integrity... the priests I've actually met all seem to have been anything but.”
Er hadn't met many priests properly.
Even excluding the ones she had seen as a child, Ahin and Jina were probably the only two.
Er's skeptical tone made Jina flare up.
“The key to priestly ordination is integrity! How faithfully can you convey their will to the world, not a single speck of impurity-”
“I know, I know, but I don't care about the church's doctrines or policies. It's good to know you're still with us.”
“My leg hurts!”
Er couldn't help chuckling at the shout from Jina.
“Understood, so stay here. I'll...”
“W-wait! Are you seriously planning to abandon me?”
“Of course not. Ahin saw us trapped, so he'll come rescue us right away.”
Thanks to her abilities and the blessing Ahin had cast, the two had survived.
Even though a falling rock had broken her leg, she would have suffered much worse without Ahin.
“Ahin... must be worried sick.”
Yet thinking of the restless Ahin even now, Jina felt a pang of melancholy and said.
“I should have been there to see the good show.”
“Integrity? Noble?”
Er began to feel genuine fear toward Jina, who kept spouting incomprehensible words.
“...Don't make scary noises. We should check the inside of the cave.”
“What's the point? Nothing is visible anyway. Besides, if Ahin comes looking, we might cross paths, so staying put is best.”
“But...”
“If we wander around and another monster pops out, what then?”
Er's black sword lay buried somewhere in the rubble, and Jina's gauntlets were shattered and her leg broken.
They had only their battered armor and a broken shield between them.
Without any weapons, there was no need to seek out danger.
“So just sit here and wait for Ahin.”
“...You really trust Ahin with all your heart.”
“Of course! Because... Ahin is my savior.”
“...Savior?”
Er's surprised voice made Jina chuckle.
“No point in staying here. Want to hear an old story?”
“...You sound exactly like a grandmother telling stories to her grandchildren.”
“...”
Er had successfully silenced Jina with a blow and was smirking as Jina let out a deep sigh.
“I don't have a grandmother, so I don't know. No parents either.”
“...”
“Tsk, I was just trying to boast about being close to Ahin, and now I'm being called an orphan!”
Er, suddenly cast as the villain, fell silent.
Why had she suddenly started feeling this way whenever parents or family came up? She couldn't figure it out.
Realizing this, Jina chuckled.
“That must mean Ahin is more important to me than anything. He's... one of the few family I have left.”
Recalling her past, Jina continued.
“I was abandoned by my parents and wandered the back alleys, almost dying of cold. I couldn't move my limbs, and there was nothing to eat. Along every path, a few of us like me lay collapsed. Thinking about it now, they were all corpses.”
Jina had been an orphan.
Abandoned by parents whose faces she couldn't even remember, she had survived in the back alleys by starving.
Even as those orphans struggled to survive the harsh winter, countless children met their end frozen in the icy alleyways.
One of them had been Jina as a child.
She still remembered it vividly.
The eerie chill as body heat and blood slowly drained away.
Then, gradually warming, the moment sleep finally came.
And then—
“You crazy little brat! If you sleep here you'll die!!!!”
The voice of a boy with strikingly foul language and beautiful golden eyes.
Meeting that boy changed Jina's entire life.
When she woke, she was in a warm room, and a woman smiling at her seemed to be her guardian.
She learned they were pilgrims, and a priest and his disciple.
The priest, initially reluctant, assigned her harsh tasks.
Tasks harsh enough to break even a normal child and make them cry.
Thinking back now, had they never intended to take her with them?
So when she stayed up all night to complete the tasks, was that why she was so surprised?
Especially the sight of the boy's face.
The way he had stared in disbelief, mouth agape and jaw dropped, was still burned into her memory.
“That's how I met Ahin by chance, met Master... and followed them to the temple. I was luckier than the other orphans. Otherwise, I would have died.”
“...That must have been tough.”
“No need to pity me. It's not like I had some tragic past.”
She had simply been that way back then. Now it felt distant enough that recounting it wouldn't stir any emotions.
“Ahin always had a foul mouth as a kid. A kid under ten was cursing up a storm! The master and the temple must have been furious...”
“The temple?”
“...”
Surprised by his own slip, Jina inhaled sharply.
Master.
The name she had been avoiding in her memories.
Er sensed something odd from Jina's sudden silence and asked.
“How many senior brothers does Ahin have?”
“...Only one. Now.”
“Now...?”
Er narrowed her eyes at the suspiciously vague answer.
Jina, as if knowing exactly what Er was thinking, ruffled her hair wildly.
“Ah, geez... you really shouldn't ask, you big dummy...”
“If you don't want to tell, it's fine. I won't pry.”
“...If you say so, I'll be grateful.”
Jina had relaxed, but she knew humans couldn't easily shake off curiosity once it was awakened.
If she left it like this and Er eventually asked Ahin directly, it would be too late to take it back.
So.
“Hey, you must never pretend to know Ahin.”
“Will you?”
“...I'll tell you a little. Really, just a little.”
“...Yes.”
Thinking about it, she should have told Er from the beginning.
If Er was going to claim the role of Ahin's partner.
If Ahin truly wanted to spend his life with Er.
“You... look just like him.”
“...Like who?”
Jina answered Er's question.
“The senior brother I lost.”
She probably had been Ahin's first love.