Chapter 70 – Shadows Under Feet (3)
Landing in the empty wilderness, the elf was the first to take off his gas mask. This is the first time he has shown his face outside rather than indoors after coming out of the island. Pure oxygen that hadn’t gone through a filter in a long time filled my shrunken lungs.
However, Saya looked at her surroundings with sharp eyes before she had time to enjoy that sense of freedom. Then, after a while, he gestured toward us.
“It doesn’t seem like anything.”
“Thank you, Saya.”
I took a moment to catch my breath and then carefully stepped on the ground. Then the warm dirt floor caved in and left my footprints dark.
That was a bad sign. My gaze kept lingering on the footprints on the floor without my knowledge. Still, this would be the same anywhere on the continent, so I had no choice but to masturbate.
“Wow. The ground is filthy hot. Didn’t it come down to a volcano?”
“Not quite like that. But it seems clear that you have to move quickly.”
“I agree. Then, shall we stop by the nearest town and look for things we need first?”
“I see. Please take the lead.”
Instinctively, I sent Rebecca to the front of the group. Could it be that she was a manifestation of her subconscious not wanting to leave her behind. Even in the smallest details, I could feel the guilt piercing my heart.
But she said nothing and nodded her head and went straight ahead. In fact, it would have been more comfortable for her than walking while staring at the back of my head. In an unideal situation where selfishness turns into consideration, an untimely haze rises from under the ground.
Really, everything was out of whack. That’s why our steps had to be twisted little by little. No matter how much we followed each other’s backs, we couldn’t get rid of the impression that we were constantly leaning somewhere.
Is that why? The scenery approaching in front of me was also subtly distorted.
Now, the world is located at a delicate point between summer and winter, which cannot be called autumn. It was a contradiction in that the sky kept saying winter, but the heated earth inevitably insisted on summer.
It was the creatures living on this land who suffered in their useless quarrels. Animals that live underground, such as moles and earthworms. All of the animals that hibernate, such as rabbits and frogs, were tricked by the lies of the land and came out and were blown by the cold wind and froze to death. As they moved step by step, their rotting corpses were often kicked in their feet.
Wouldn’t all of that scenery come as a shock to Saya, an elf? I glanced at her, but she had a surprisingly calm expression. She couldn’t quite tell if she was pretending to be okay or if she was really okay.
Or maybe he just got used to the concept of death by hanging out with me. When I thought so, another guilty feeling oppressed my heart. It was already an open secret within me that my ugly hands had stained Saya’s heart.
All those guilt piled up one by one and now it felt like an unbearable burden. It seems that the last incident had a lot of influence. I wouldn’t say that Erica is the biggest burden on my mind, but she made me feel guilty for what happened.
Because it was my fault anyway. No matter how much I point an arrow at Rebecca, the root cause is me.
And because I am at the center of everything Saya and Haru had to go through.
…
I felt like I was drowning in a swamp. Maybe this is the cause of my insomnia. Even if I tried to endure it and shake it off, I couldn’t handle the guilt.
She raised her head, thinking that if she stayed there, she would be crushed again. Then the small town I was aiming for began to come into view.
“…It’s cleaner than I thought.”
“That’s right.”
Fortunately, my first impression of the town wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t overly clean like Belentel’s, but it wasn’t utterly messed up either. There were a lot of broken places here and there, but there seemed to be something to be gained if you looked closely. Rebecca also agreed and let out a long breath.
“Then what shall we do? Shall we explore together, or shall we disperse and explore?”
“First, let’s make sure the village is safe. There doesn’t seem to be any henchling, but at least we should find out that the crazy villagers won’t show up.”
“I don’t feel like a human being. Saya, what do you think?”
“At least I can’t hear breathing. No one is there, or at least they don’t know we’re here.”
“Then… Let’s share. I need to think about how to distribute the number of people.”
As soon as I said that, I immediately regretted it. Saya also looked at me with a slightly embarrassed expression. However, Rebecca came up with a surprisingly simple solution.
“Well. First of all, I’m going to go get some medicine. I think I’ll have to prepare for an emergency. There’s a government office nearby. If it’s the right place, they’ll have an emergency facility in the basement.”
“Maybe it’s locked.”
“Better locked than empty. Besides, I know how to open it. Didn’t I tell you once before?”
“Ah…How to open the safe in the guard room.”
“It’s common across the country, so it’ll work here too. Anyway, it looks like I’ll be enough on my own, so you guys should look for something else. Clothes, food, etc.”
“That…”
To be honest, it was a welcome offer. Still, I thought I should hesitate a little. But before that, Haru grabbed my arm.
“Okay, then let’s do that. Let’s go find clothes quickly, senior. I’m dying to change clothes quickly because I’m sweating from walking.”
“Can I do that, Rebecca?”
“Yes. If anything happens, come to the government office. Just in case, keep this for you.”
When he carefully asked the question, Rebecca immediately nodded and handed over his magic gun. Even then, I was hesitant, but Haru kept pulling me by the arm.
“If it’s decided, let’s go quickly. I’m really really frustrated right now.”
“Why do you keep doing this when you don’t even know where you are?”
“I mean, I really hate sweating on my body. The weather is weird and it makes me feel weird. Doesn’t Saya-unnie feel the same way?”
“It’s not like that, but it’s already been decided by Rebecca. Let’s go, Lope.”
“Huh…”
When Saya spoke in a firm tone, there was no reason to hesitate any longer. Besides, Rebecca had already turned her back and was leaving. In the meantime, Saya’s hand was wrapped around my arm.
Eventually, I was led by the hands of two people and walked toward the other side. Haru moved his steps at random to a subject he didn’t know where he was, and I was dragged along in fear that Haru would fall. At least, if Saya hadn’t given her direction, she might have gone to the wrong place.
Fortunately, my stumbling steps landed on a half-collapsed clothing store. The entrance was blocked to such an extent that one had to bow down to enter, but thanks to that, the risk of being looted was less. When I went inside, the condition of things was also quite good.
“Here? I feel good already. Is it full of pretty dresses? Or soft nightgowns?”
“It’s just a place that sells casual clothes. There aren’t that many kinds.”
“Oh, yes. Anyway, better than the one I’m wearing right now. Pick one and throw it. I’ll wear it right now.”
“Wait a minute…! Don’t take it off here. I’ll help you.”
When Haru reluctantly took off her top, Saya freaked out and pulled her hand down. For a moment, the body of an immature girl with no sense of volume passed by my sight, but I turned back without remembering it.
Then men’s clothes on the opposite stall came into view. I wasn’t aware of it, but my clothes were also very worn and dirty.
“Why are you like this, sister! A man looks after this…”
“Just stop because I’ll do it for you, okay?”
“Ugh…”
“…”
Saya and Haru were still grappling with clothes. I sneaked behind a pillar and slowly took off my top.
“Whoa…”
Sweat-soaked clothes wiped the scarred skin, and the vague pain spread like chicken meat. I turned my gaze to the mirror in the corner and saw a body full of scars.
I’m hurt a lot Even thinking about it myself, the situation was unreasonable. In the meantime, the weight was also rapidly lost, and the shape of the ribs was clearly visible under the armpits. If it hadn’t had some muscles attached to it, there might have really been only skin and bones left.
Because of that, the pants were actually very baggy. There was a belt, but even that was not in very good condition. Fortunately, the store has quite a lot of men’s clothing, so I was able to find several decent pants and belts.
While I was wearing a pair of them, I suddenly felt someone’s gaze on me. As I turned my head slightly, I met eyes with an elf who was looking this way.
“…Saya.”
“Sorry.”
Although she instinctively apologized, Saya did not avert her gaze and stared at her. It looked like he was concentrating quite a bit.
“Aren’t you staring at me too blatantly?”
“I see…Sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”
“You don’t show any sign of sorry for that, do you?”
I smiled lightly and walked over to where the shirt hung. And as if passing by, he threw a word.
“And the one I’m wearing right now, I think it suits me quite well.”
“Ah…Yeah.”
At my words, Saya finally looked away and lightly grabbed the hem of his clothes. It was only a deep blue hoodie, but it looked very pretty because Saya was wearing it.
Still, it was true that the pure white one-piece across the street caught my eye more than those clothes. If the world wasn’t like this, I could have told you that it would suit you better.
Saya must have noticed that too, so she glanced at the one-piece. But then he shook his head and came closer to me.
“Thank you. Then how about you? Why don’t you try on something like a suit?”
“It’s fine, but I want to pay more attention to functionality now. Something warm and comfortable.”
“Um…Then would you like to do the same thing as me? I really wanted to try something like that.”
“I wonder if there is a size that fits me.”
At those words, Saya looked at my body once more. Then, with a cautious hand, he gently brushed the back part.
“…That’s right. You’re much thinner than I thought.”
“I can’t help it. It’s the same for everyone. Rather than that, please don’t touch me subtly.”
“I’m going to take care of your wounds. As I said, elves’ bodily fluids have a disinfecting effect.”
“It sounds like you’re just saying that you don’t know. Isn’t it?”
“Is it?”
Saya smiled her eyes and she playfully kissed my arm. The tickling sensation was very special, but on the other hand, I felt a bit bitter because I thought Saya was trying to cheer me up. I put on the clothes I picked up and said in a passing tone.
“Okay. Okay, so stop secretly kissing me at night.”
“Huh? You… Did you know…?”
“I’m not sleeping well these days, so buy it.”
I lightly pressed my forehead to the bewildered Saya and walked towards Haru. She was still struggling to get her arm between her clothes.
“Sir…What the hell is wrong with it…It’s really irritating.”
“I think it’s wrong at the point of trying to put pants on top.”
“Somehow. Every time I tried to stick her head in, I could smell my dad’s familiar scent.”
“Give it to me. I’ll put it on you.”
“Uh…Yes? Well…I like it. It feels good to be entertained.”
One day, he put on an impudent expression and raised his chin. But even so, the fact that the legs were tightly folded seemed to be secretly nervous. I tried to finely refine the words I swallowed, but gave up and spat them out as they were.
“Haru. Spread your legs.”
“Yes…Yes? No, that…Couldn’t have been more euphemistic?”
“Do you open your crotch?”
“…It’s okay. You seem like an insensitive human being.”
I was quite ashamed this time, so I couldn’t open my mouth any more for a day. Then, when I put all my pants on, I brought up another story to hide my embarrassment.
“I’m so glad there aren’t those Hetzlings, by the way. They’re all the same, but every time they scream, I feel like my ears are going to tear.”
“I don’t know yet. Whether they are there or not.”
“I heard that it wasn’t there while I was on the train. It doesn’t seem like it’s around here either.”
“It would be nice to know what criteria these guys are distributed across the continent.”
I let out a thin sigh. In fact, that was the biggest anxiety factor of this journey. It’s impossible to predict their behavior. At that moment, Saya, who approached me, gave her opinion.
“Nobody knows about that. But now that I think about it, I wonder if they are just distributed all over the continent. The dragon that once ruled this land has been wandering around the continent since a very long time ago.”
“If that’s the case…It’s a little hopeless.”
“Ah. You just think positively. Anyway, you’re not there right now, are you?”
“That’s right.”
Haru tried to lighten the situation somehow. But I couldn’t agree easily because I’d been through so much so far. Only then did I begin to think about why I had never seen a hatchling on the train.
Why is that? Apparently, the eastern part of the capital has a larger population, so the Hetzlings flocked there. Or is it because the temperature in the west of the continent is lower than in the east?
Even excluding such a simple distribution, I couldn’t explain why the guys who were so sensitive to hearing didn’t follow the sound of the train whistle. Maybe they just weren’t very interested in the sound. Because you can’t eat trains anyway.
Beyond that, the possibilities are numerous. I was really lucky that there were no hetzling around. Or, rather than moving around in search of something, I gradually preferred to settle down in a nest.
Either that or…
…
Yet. Or just couldn’t catch up with us.
