TEOCH 74

“I need to apologize to Sir Rikiel.”

About 30 minutes after they had started gathering food, Damian spoke up.

Rehas, who had been picking up tree nuts, glanced at Damian for a moment. Damian spoke as if bringing up a casual topic, which made Rehas momentarily confused about what he had just heard. Rehas stared blankly at Damian’s face, which was darkened by the shade of a tree.

“What?”

“It just occurred to me, wasn’t I a bit harsh with him earlier?”

“It just occurred to you now?”

“Yes. Back then, I was just focused on calming Sir Rikiel down, so I said this and that, but thinking about it now, I feel like I went too far.”

“No, it wasn’t that bad. If someone suddenly grabbed me by the collar, I’d probably want to say some harsh things too…”

Damian tilted his head as if he didn’t even remember being grabbed by the collar. Rehas was starting to get worried about Damian. The current Damian, at a glance, seemed quite rational and calm, but in a way, he also looked like he had lost his soul. It was less an attitude of being unconcerned and more an attitude of not knowing how to act.

Having finished gathering the nuts, Rehas looked at Damian with a strange expression. He wanted to see if the young man was really okay, or just pretending to be. Damian’s eyes widened, and he suddenly glanced down at Rehas’s arm.

“By the way, is your arm okay? It must be uncomfortable to move even with the anesthetic. And will His Majesty be all right…”

“So you’ve lost it too.”

Rehas let out a deep sigh and patted Damian’s head, pressing down gently. Damian, who had been looking around with a puzzled expression, finally opened his mouth with a soft, “Ah.”

It seemed he had only just remembered that he was the one who had said it would be fine with anesthesia, and that Rikiel could take care of Tristan. Perhaps it was something like a state of shock, Rehas thought. Maybe he was the type to crumble from the inside out.

After thinking for a moment, Damian gave an awkward smile and shrugged. It was a precarious smile, barely lifting the corners of his mouth.

“Maybe it would have been better if I had just gotten openly angry like Sir Rikiel.”

“Then get angry now. I can take it.”

“But you didn’t do anything wrong, Mr. Rehas. How can I get angry at you?”

“If I had figured out that the gem was a trap earlier, Rohan wouldn’t have been captured. I’m at fault too.”

“You’re incompetent, Mr. Rehas. It’s pathetic.”

“Don’t just say it with a blank face. Try to put some emotion into it. As long as you don’t set me on fire, I’ll take a hit or two.”

“Aren’t you just saying that because you want to be reprimanded, Mr. Rehas? Because no one is blaming you, and you feel guilty about it.”

“Unnecessarily perceptive, aren’t you.”

It was a pointless conversation, but Damian’s smile became a bit softer, and Rehas also burst out laughing with a chuckle. The two of them put the tree nuts they had diligently collected into a bag and started walking back to their temporary shelter. The way back was dreary and difficult, but they had to keep walking.

Even with the ‘asphyxiation prevention’ helmets, breathing the poison-laced air was quite an ordeal. The night, without even a moon, was just dark, and the blunt young man who had always been their guide was no longer by their side.

But in any case, the two of them walked on without minding it. They did so for about 10 minutes. Until Damian spoke up, as if a thought had just occurred to him.

“Mr. Rehas.”

“Hm?”

“If Mr. Rohan dies, it will definitely be my fault.”

Damian kept walking, but Rehas stopped. Damian, unaware, walked on for a moment before turning around with a puzzled expression about ten seconds later. After seeing Rehas’s expression, he stopped in his tracks with a slightly sullen look.

“Why would you say that?”

“Do you know what I thought when Mr. Rohan told me to run?”

“What did you think?”

“…That he was going to die. Leaving people like us behind in this world.”

“Damian.”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? We barely managed to get out, so how could he possibly get out alone?”

“…”

“I know Mr. Rohan’s thinking was rational. It’s better for us to get out alive than for all of us to die a dog’s death there. And since His Majesty can use the power of purification for now, if we can somehow keep him alive, the rest of us can survive somehow, right? And if someone has to die, it’s better for just one person to die than for five to die.”

Rehas stood still and listened to Damian. His expression was as calm and serene as usual, but his voice was trembling strangely, and he kept trailing off at the end of his sentences. Did this kid even realize what he was saying? Rehas couldn’t be sure.

“I… I don’t think his decision was wrong. Because thanks to him, we survived. We’re alive and here. So, I’m not wrong either…”

“Damian, you.”

“But, but still. I’m still a little angry. I didn’t want him to die. In a place we can’t even see, with us unable to do anything for him, for him to just die like that, without us knowing, is really…”

Rehas stared at Damian with a dazed look. A strange fear had begun to mix into the young man’s voice, who had seemed perfectly fine just moments ago. What Damian was spewing out now wasn’t words, but emotions.

Expressing emotions is fine, but this looks a bit unstable. Rehas thought he should probably stop Damian soon, but Damian kept talking, rubbing his face with his hands a few times.

“Actually, maybe that’s why I pushed Sir Rikiel so hard for no reason. I, I wanted to say let’s go save Mr. Rohan, just like him. I didn’t want Mr. Rohan to die somewhere I didn’t know. I too, I too.”

“Stop it, Damian.”

“What kind of person is Mr. Rohan? How can he be so confident and say things like that when this whole mess is his fault? Why does he leave us behind and stay there by himself? Why is he so mean? If it’s going to be like that, I’d rather he just died. Rather than watch him die alone in some strange place after leaving us behind, I’d rather die too…!”

“That’s enough, Damian!”

Rehas strode forward, his hand pressing down hard on Damian’s head. It was a bit rough, but the desire to stop Damian from blaming himself any further was stronger. Under the sudden physical pressure, Damian staggered weakly and slumped to the ground. Rehas, his own legs giving out, plopped down next to him.

Rehas blankly stroked Damian’s head and patted his back. It was something he had roughly imitated after seeing Rohan do it before, and it seemed to be somewhat effective. Damian, who had been gasping for breath with difficulty, gradually began to calm down over time. Rehas tore a piece from his own cloak and held it out to Damian.

“…Blow your nose here. Sniffle.”

“…”

“Wipe your face too. It’s a bit dirty for a handkerchief, but this isn’t the time to be picky, is it?”

As Rehas pushed the piece of cloak to his face, Damian blew his nose into it with a loud sniff. His eyes and nose were red as if he were drunk, yet his expression remained as bewildered as ever. It felt oddly unbalanced, Rehas thought.

Come to think of it, Damian’s expression right now seemed to resemble Rohan’s. It was strangely similar to his expression when he seemed not to know if he was sick, or sad, or what he was feeling at all. The downcast Damian opened his mouth.

“Mr. Rehas.”

“What, again.”

“What if Mr. Rohan is already dead?”

“After saying all that just now, you’re asking me that…”

“What do we do?”

“He’ll be fine. He’s a tough guy. He will, he will definitely come back alive.”

I think I understand a little why Rohan seems so comfortable around this kid. Rehas thought as he gave Damian a piggyback ride. Thanks to the effect of the ‘Battle Ready’ spell, Rehas’s steps weren’t all that heavy.

I have to properly apologize to Damian when he gets back. Rikiel thought as he clumsily pounded herbs. Rikiel was not unaware that he had unfairly unleashed his anger on Damian. Damian must have made that decision with a heavy heart, and the fact that he had gotten angry at such a person was deeply embarrassing for Rikiel.

Besides, the target of Rikiel’s anger shouldn’t have been Damian in the first place. It was the frustration and sense of powerlessness towards himself for not being able to save that man that was the problem…

“I will look at your wounds, Your Majesty.”

“…”

Tristan seemed lost in thought and didn’t answer, but Rikiel silently removed Tristan’s cloak and examined the injured area. Despite wearing the sturdiest armor, Tristan had far more wounds than the other companions. Part of it was due to his own swordsmanship skills still being lacking, but it was also because he didn’t have parasites or special abilities like the others. No matter how much he had the power of ‘purification,’ it was difficult for an ordinary human to face monsters…

Just as he had learned from Rohan before, Rikiel mixed the pounded herbs and applied them to Tristan’s wounds. It must have been quite painful and stinging, yet Tristan simply accepted Rikiel’s treatment silently, suppressing any groans.

Rikiel started to worry about Tristan in a slightly different sense. Since escaping the ‘Island of Spirits,’ he had barely spoken. All he had done was ask Rehas a few words about whether he was okay when they returned to the temporary shelter, and after being left alone with Rikiel, he had closed his mouth completely.

‘Is my brother also worried about Rohan?’

Well, it wasn’t strange. Now that the life or death of Rohan, who had guided them as their pathfinder until now, was uncertain, it was only natural to worry about him. Rikiel felt he should comfort his only brother. Of course, Rikiel himself had been in shock and unable to pull himself together until now, but he couldn’t just leave his brother in that state, could he?

“Does it not hurt?”

“…”

“Your Majesty. Are you all right?”

“…”

“Brother?”

After finishing the treatment by wrapping the bandages, Rikiel gently took Tristan’s shoulder and shook it, but Tristan showed no reaction. Was the incident with Rohan that much of a shock? Rikiel, flustered, studied his expression and suddenly realized something.

There was no particular emotion on Tristan’s face. Sadness, anguish, bewilderment—all seemed distant from what he was feeling right now. He was simply…

Deep in thought.

“What are you thinking about so intently?”

“Hm? What is it, Rikiel?”

“I asked what you were thinking about, Brother.”

It seemed he had finally come to his senses after Rikiel called his name several times. Tristan looked at Rikiel’s face for a moment, then frowned as if he were just now feeling the pain and examined his own wounds. He let out a slight laugh looking at the clumsily wrapped bandages.

“I can’t even say you have good skills as a pleasantry.”

“This was the best I could do. Anyway, are you all right, Brother?”

“The wounds are throbbing, but it’s not unbearable. The herbs you applied have a better effect than those in the human world, so won’t they heal quickly?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then?”

“You seem to be having a hard time mentally. You haven’t said a word since a while ago…”

“If that’s what you mean, there’s no need to worry. I was just thinking a bit.”

Tristan said with a smile, and Rikiel felt a little relieved that Tristan wasn’t in such a depressed state. Of course, his face was still clouded, but it seemed his silence until now wasn’t due to emotional shock. Seeing Rikiel’s concerned expression, Tristan asked a question in return.

“You, on the other hand, don’t look well. It must have been very difficult.”

“I am not struggling. But, but Rohan.”

“Yes, Rohan was abducted.”

“How can I not be worried. What could have happened to him by now, could he have already lost his life…”

“No, he hasn’t lost his life.”

“What?”

Rikiel couldn’t help but be surprised by Tristan’s definitive tone. How could he speak so firmly about something he hadn’t seen? To the puzzled Rikiel, Tristan continued.

“He’s lost consciousness, but Rohan is still alive. And for the time being, he won’t be in any life-threatening danger.”

“Wait a moment, Brother. What in the world do you mean…? How on earth do you know that he’s alive?”

“You don’t know? We are breathing, aren’t we?”

Tristan spoke as if it were the most obvious thing, but Rikiel couldn’t understand what connection their breathing had with Rohan’s survival. Tristan waited for a response with an attitude that suggested he expected Rikiel to understand after such an explanation, but it seemed he soon realized that his younger brother hadn’t understood a thing.

“You may not be a mage, but I thought you would at least know the basic mechanics of how magic works.”

“What do you mean?”

“When a mage dies, any magic they have already cast also disappears. For example, if Damian were to die now, the warm fire heating this cave would also vanish.”

“But Rohan isn’t a mage. What does that have to do with…”

“Of course, Rohan isn’t a mage. But he can use a few simple spells, can’t he? Like the magic cast on this cave right now.”

Rikiel, who had been tilting his head with a puzzled look, finally understood what his brother was saying after a long moment.

That’s right. The ‘Fortify Position’ magic that Rohan had cast was currently active in this cave. If Rohan had already died, the cave would have been filled with the same choking, toxic air as outside, but right now, it was filled with clean, easy-to-breathe air, just like in the human world.

“Then, as long as this magic is maintained, Rohan is also alive…”

“Perhaps Damian already knew that fact as well? That’s probably why he could be so composed.”

If Damian himself had heard that, he would have muttered, “Oh, right,” with his mouth agape, but Tristan said it as if it were a matter of course. In any case, Rikiel felt relieved that Rohan was alive and stroked his chest, but a few questions still remained unanswered.

“Wait a minute, but how did you know that he lost consciousness?”

“Because I can still use the barrier. This, I mean.”

Tristan lightly waved his hand, creating a hemispherical protective shield with a 5-meter radius. Rikiel could understand this easily. Rohan had explained that Tristan would only be able to use the ‘barrier’ when he himself was unconscious. The fact that Tristan could create the shield was the same as saying Rohan had not yet regained consciousness.

“Rohan will be fine for a while. The fact that they didn’t harm him even while he was unconscious means they don’t intend to kill him right now, at least. Perhaps those spirits are waiting for the Harpyia? It was surely that creature who ordered them to capture Rohan.”

“That is certainly a convincing hypothesis.”

“Right? Then we need to think about the next step. Whether the Harpyia will kill or spare Rohan is something we can’t know, so let’s set that aside for now and think about the problem before that. Around when will the Harpyia visit the ‘Island of Spirits’?”

“Visit, you say?”

“Think about it. Did the spirits we met on that island have wings? Not only did they lack visible wings, but one was a tree and the other was a rock, so there’s no way they could fly. That means they can’t fly directly to the Harpyia’s nest to report that they’ve captured Rohan.”

“…”

“Then there are only a few possibilities left. They either use some kind of magic to contact the Harpyias, or they send a signal like a beacon, or the Harpyia has promised to visit their island periodically. If it’s the first two, things get complicated, but honestly, the chances are low.”

“…”

“Long-range communication magic that can connect islands is something only mages of a certain skill level can use. What are the chances that the island’s spirits can use something like that… Of course, considering the case of that fake gem, it’s possible the Harpyia gave them an artifact that allows for communication, but that would make the situation too depressing, so let’s put that aside for now. And the second one is practically impossible. Rohan said the place where the Harpyias live is very far away, so a simple beacon or smoke signal won’t reach. The one we can hope for is the third method…”

Rikiel was at a loss for words, just listening to Tristan. Could it be that he had been silent all this time because he was absorbed in thinking about that? Tristan, laying out his story with a serious expression, didn’t look like he was lost in grief, but rather like he was planning a crucial operation that would decide the fate of a war. And that crucial operation was…

“Your Majesty, are you perhaps planning an operation to rescue Rohan…?”

“The most hopeful situation for us is if the Harpyia checks on the islands every two to three days. It would be better if it’s more than three days. That way, we can ride the giant birds back to the ‘Island of Spirits’ first and rescue him before the Harpyia visits the island to pick Rohan up. If things go even slightly wrong, the Harpyia might have already taken Rohan and flown off long ago, and we could end up facing angry spirits, but…”

“…!”

“I know it’s an overly optimistic hypothesis. But if we start assuming the worst-case scenario, we can’t do anything. We think about what we can do in the best-case scenario and then gradually lower our expectations. That’s better for now.”

No, that’s not the problem… Rikiel stared at Tristan for a long time with a bewildered look. Tristan was currently planning an operation under the assumption that ‘they must, of course, rescue Rohan.’ Of course, Rikiel also agreed with his sentiment from a moral standpoint, but he was skeptical about whether they could actually rescue Rohan.

Damian’s words that they were able to escape because the monsters were distracted by Rohan were not wrong. It would be tough to face all the monsters on the island even with all five of them fighting, so what on earth could they do to face them in this situation without Rohan? Besides, right now they, especially Tristan, were a mess of injuries?

After observing Rikiel’s expression for a moment, Tristan gave a bitter smile. That’s how wretched Rikiel’s expression was. But Tristan didn’t seem discouraged at all and just smiled quietly.

“I know what you want to say. You want to say it’s dangerous, right?”

“I know your intentions are right, Brother. I also want to save him. But, because it’s too dangerous…”

“But if we can’t save him, the situation becomes even more dangerous. Leaving aside the issue of survival for a moment… who has the amplifiers, controllers, and gems we’ve worked so hard to collect until now?”

“That would probably be with Rohan… wait a minute.”

“Right. If we don’t get Rohan back, we’ll have to spend the rest of our lives hiding on this island, picking tree nuts to eat, without even being able to face the Harpyia. If the Harpyia happens to come to this island for a stroll, it’s over.”

“…”

“We don’t have the option of not rescuing Rohan in the first place. If it’s a matter of how to rescue Rohan, we might need to think about it a bit, but if we’re going to rescue him anyway, we need to focus all our attention on saving him. Do we have time to be sad?”

Having said that, Tristan curled up again and began to sink back into his thoughts. Rikiel could only watch him. Rikiel tried to follow his brother’s lead and think about the future plan, but it didn’t go well. The anxiety about what was to come dominated him more strongly than the composure needed for planning. In the end, Rikiel just groaned, trying to steel his heart.

“We have to bring that hero back somehow, and give him a good scolding and a talking-to. For rushing in dangerously all by himself like that.”

Watching Rehas and Damian return to the temporary shelter with staggering steps, Tristan muttered like a sigh. It was a tone that seemed as if he were comforting himself.