TMLLT 64

Chapter 64

“Ride Together”

His gaze, only a hand’s span away, was fixed on me.

In the flickering firelight, I was reflected in his eyes.

“…You said I’m difficult, so how can you read me so well?”

“I just gave the answer I wanted.”

It was a strange reply.

The stillness after those words, spoken at such a close distance, made the air feel like it was moving slower.

I was about to ask what he meant when—

“Greetings, Captain!”

Roitz and I both turned toward the voice.

“Aaron?”

Aaron stood there with something to eat in his hands, wearing a slightly excited smile.

‘Come to think of it, Aaron said not long ago that he wanted to get close to Roitz.’

I remembered I had promised to help him, since I was his direct superior.

“Come here, Aaron!”

Since I’d once eaten a nugget for “helping” him, I couldn’t pretend not to notice him now.

It was a perfect chance to talk to Roitz too, but I could always send Aaron away later and speak to him.

“Captain Velkyrente, I’m Aaron Dessein.”

“I know.”

Roitz’s reaction strangely carried an edge.

In the original story, Aaron had a baby face and a soft personality that didn’t match his strong build.

Worried his fragile heart might take damage, I said to Roitz:

“Why are you discouraging our Aaron?”

“Our Aaron?”

The sharpness in Roitz’s expression became even sharper.

“S-Serdin. What’s wrong with you?”

Even though Roitz was the one glaring, Aaron tried to calm me down.

He stood awkwardly, neither sitting nor staying upright, until I pulled him down to sit beside me.

“What’s that, Aaron?”

“Oh, sweet potatoes.”

Unlike here, where we only used the campfire to warm our hands, it seemed there had been a pretty good party on the other side.

“Captain, please have one.”

“No.”

“…Yes, sir!”

Aaron’s hand froze in embarrassment.

It was true Roitz wasn’t the warm type, but he seemed especially curt tonight.

Would he only lower his guard once they were closer?

Still, it had been months since the rookies joined…

To protect Aaron’s feelings, I quickly said:

“Wow, that looks good!”

“Want one, Serdin?”

“Yes!”

The sweet potato was very hot, but the cold atmosphere around us seemed to balance it out.

I ate eagerly to warm up the chilly mood.

Roitz and Aaron simply watched me eat.

Aaron smiled when he saw me, but Roitz looked at Aaron with a scary expression.

By the time I swallowed the mouthful of sweet potato, Aaron asked me:

“Serdin, didn’t your family say anything?”

“About what?”

“About you going far away like this.”

Aaron was the swordmaster of House Dessein.

Usually, a swordmaster was highly valued in their family, so his family must have been concerned when he left for the expedition.

“Oh. Well… nothing much.”

I was also the swordmaster of House Vivi, but my situation was different.

‘I did send Uncle Dinel a letter, but I doubt I’ll get a reply.’

For a moment, I felt a little sentimental.

Uncle Dinel resembled my mother a lot, which always made my feelings complicated when I saw him.

Even as a child locked away in that small room, I had been happy to see his face.

But I didn’t want that anymore.

“Aaron! You said you’d bring sweet potatoes!”

“…Yes! I-I’ll be right there!”

At Senior Lizzie’s voice from afar, Aaron jumped up in surprise and ran off.

‘Right… who needs family? What’s the use? You live alone in this world anyway. I just need to take care of myself…’

Then Roitz poked my cheek.

I rubbed it and looked at him with a slightly sulky expression. His lips curved faintly, as if amused.

“What?”

When I frowned, his smile deepened.

Resting his face on his knee, he looked at me steadily.

“Your expression is better now.”

It was a soft smile, completely different from the sharp look he’d given Aaron earlier.

“Don’t you see my frown?”

I answered bluntly, but I knew the truth—

I wasn’t good at hiding my expressions.

I probably hadn’t looked great when I was thinking about my family and childhood.

I knew Roitz was trying to lighten my mood.

‘Now that I think about it, he’s always been like that.’

Whenever I sank into thoughts like this, Roitz would pull me back up.

I wanted to thank him—and also apologize again for earlier.

“Serdin.”

“Sen—”

But just then, a moth flew right in front of me.

“…?”

I could handle most things—heights, wild beasts—but…

“…!”

Bugs were the exception.

Some people thought they were cute, but I couldn’t understand that at all.

That was like finding a muscle-bound monster adorable!

“…Ugh!”

“What’s wrong, Serdin?”

I tried to jump up, but Roitz reached to stop me.

Startled, I shook him off and ran away.

“Serdin!”

It seemed this forest might be a place where I’d have to overcome other fears before even dealing with monsters.

‘It’s a relief Cute didn’t bring it up again after that.’

The day after the duel, Cute had brought it up once more—

About helping me remove Roitz’s beast core.

But in the end, I didn’t accept his offer.

It was because of some contradictory, strange thought.

Strangely enough, whenever Roitz’s beast core made me feel pressure, I wanted to go to Roitz—not someone else.

‘It’s weird, but…’

I couldn’t help it.

I wanted to tell him alone about the unease the future was supposed to bring me.

For some reason, only him.

“All right. If you ever need me, just say so.”

After that, Cute kept bothering me, but he didn’t mention Choro grass or beast cores again.

He just kept showing up to talk and occasionally startle me.

Time passed like that.

Maybe everything’s relative, but time in Edikal Forest felt different from time in the capital.

‘It’s already been ten days?’

It flew by like an arrow. But there were results.

Following Roitz’s strategy, areas with Mabyeoksu barriers saw fewer monsters, and the God’s Stone’s location was getting narrower.

In areas without barriers, we still encountered countless monsters for days.

‘Thanks to that, rank-4 and rank-5 monsters feel like mosquitoes now.’

Edikal Forest had earned the name “Garden of Demons” for a reason, so I had been prepared.

Overall, the barrier work was going well.

What wasn’t going well was something else.

“Senior, I have something to tell you.”

“What is it?”

I needed to tell Roitz my plan.

But every time I tried, his intense gaze made the words disappear.

‘What’s wrong with me? I should just say it.’

Normally I’d be fine, but whenever he stared like that, I couldn’t speak.

“…Later, please watch me wrap sword energy around that rock. I even did it to that boar’s horn earlier. I think I can do it to other things now too.”

While setting up barriers, I tried to bring it up again, but nonsense came out instead.

It was like someone had sealed my mouth.

“All right, let’s head back.”

“I have something else to say.”

Roitz laughed at that.

“How much do you have to say, Serdin?”

Just one thing, actually.

I sighed, mounted the horse, and held out my hand to him.

“Get on.”

He looked at me like he didn’t understand.

“You don’t have your horse right now. We should ride together.”

“Together?”

Ten minutes ago, another knight’s horse had been injured, so Roitz had given his horse to them.

I shook my hand again. The tips of his ears, staring up at me, were oddly red.

Now that I thought about it, his ears turned red quite often.

Maybe it was just how he was.

“Ride together? I can walk.”

Roitz sometimes insisted on strange things I couldn’t understand—

Like that time in Delzers Village when he tried to sleep in the barn.

“My arm will fall off. Hurry.”

Only after I urged him seventeen more times did he take my hand and climb up in front of me.

But even then, we couldn’t start right away.

“What are you doing?”

“What?”

I loosened the reins again and poked him.

In front of me, Roitz was leaning awkwardly forward—

As if touching me would be a disaster once the horse started running.