“What? A debt collector?”
“I, I have debt……”
“Aha……”
As if understanding, Bailey nodded his head.
“For someone chasing after debt, he was……, how should I say, scary. And his appearance was also a bit like that, so we thought it was some vampire hunting humans.”
“……What?”
The reaction to his carelessly thrown words was too intense. Kalian carefully observed Elijah, whose eyes had widened as if watching heaven and earth opening.
‘He was much prettier than I imagined while reading the letters…… If I were just a bit younger, I really would have believed he was a vampire.’
‘Perhaps that man was just writing fiction by himself?’
‘That must be it. There’s no way Rose-ssi is a real vampire…… Maybe Elijah-ssi is suffering from mental delusions.’
Based on the story they’d heard from Gillie last night, the young man Elijah had been facing in the mountains was definitely Rose.
Snow-white skin, curly silver-white hair, red eyes, tremendous height. Not many people possessed all those elements alone.
And the appearance of Rose that Kalian saw directly was indeed almost exactly like an imaginary vampire. If he could have seen those ‘letters’ directly, he would have known more clearly…… In the middle of the conversation with Gillie, Elijah-ssi had barged in, so he couldn’t very well ask to see the letters in that situation.
He deliberately joked toward the deathly pale Elijah.
“Haha, I know. That it sounds absurd. But I’m originally quite interested in vampires. That’s why I came to this village too.”
“Wha, ……what do you mean? Didn’t you say earlier you came because of a thesis?”
“That’s right. The thesis topic was ‘vampires.’ Of course, I didn’t find any substantial clues.”
“……”
His thin shoulders trembled like an aspen tree. Kalian observed his greatly agitated appearance without showing it.
“What’s wrong?”
“Such……, such things……”
“Yes?”
“Such things don’t exist in the world.”
“Ah, haha……, that’s right. Ordinary people would believe so. However, I think vampires either existed at some point, or still exist somewhere in the world even now.”
Suddenly Elijah, who had pulled up his cloak hood, buttoned his shirt collar up to his neck and stuck close to the window. Although it was hot and he wondered what kind of behavior that was indoors, compared to his appearance that Kalian had seen up until now, that much didn’t even count as strange anymore.
‘He’s definitely hiding something.’
Kalian gave up on extracting anything more from him. The highly wary Elijah seemed like he would never tell them not only that man’s true identity, but not even the menu of the meal he ate last evening.
When they arrived at the inn, he should send urgent news to Gillie first. Asking if he could send at least some of those ‘letters.’
* * *
Elijah carefully examined outside the window the entire way. However, there was no way to know where they were going. He could only barely notice through the direction the sun was setting that he was moving away from the mountain where he’d been staying.
Eventually the carriage entered an unfamiliar village. It was almost evening.
—My lords, we’ve arrived! Please wait a moment. I’ll go up first to check the room conditions!
Some booming voice came from outside. It was such a loud and fierce voice that the narrow carriage walls vibrated slightly. That voice, as if it held a huge cave in its belly, drew out an unpleasant memory from Elijah.
‘To think there’s another person in the world with such a loud voice besides that herb con artist.’
What a thing to live to see. Elijah trembled weakly while recalling the menacing and huge physique of that herb con artist that remained unforgettable even after several years.
“Kalian-gyeong, I’ll also go check for a bit. I can’t trust that fellow’s eye.”
“Alright.”
Bailey got off the carriage. Kalian glanced at Elijah who had almost become one with the wall. It was probably an illusion that he seemed even more wary now that only the two of them were left alone.
“Um……, when was your last meal?”
The attempt to somehow break this awkward silence was tear-jerking. Suspicious green eyes slowly rolled to the side. Was it really a question that required such deliberation? When Kalian, unable to wait any longer, was about to add something, a belated answer flowed from Elijah.
“……Come to think of it, I didn’t eat anything yesterday.”
It was a fairly sincere answer. Kalian nodded and gave a kind smile.
“Then you must be very hungry. Once we get a room, we should order food first.”
“……”
“Ah, of course we’ll pay the cost, so don’t worry about such matters.”
Since they were being this good to him, Kalian hoped he would quickly open his heart to them. Right now he really looked ready to fly away somewhere the moment they took their eyes off him.
“Kalian-gyeong, the room condition is clean and good! Fortunately, three single rooms are empty side by side.”
Bailey, who opened the carriage door, disrupted the awkward atmosphere. When he stepped aside next to the door as if telling them to get off quickly, Kalian got off first.
Elijah, who had been nailed to the wall until then, carefully stuck his head out the door and came out. When he got off the carriage, there were bewilderingly many people on the street. He, who had pulled the hood down deeply, followed behind Kalian and Bailey.
“Elijah-ssi, I’ll order food, so please go up first and wait. It’s the room at the end of the hallway on the 3rd floor. Our party will be there, so it should be easy to find.”
Kalian, who had sent Elijah up first, put his arm around Bailey’s shoulder.
“Elijah-ssi, doesn’t something seem strange after all?”
Bailey nodded with a disapproving face.
“Would there be just one or two strange things? Constantly stealing, breaking down inn doors……”
“That’s not it, he seems to be hiding something important. That man who was with Elijah-ssi in the mountains. He definitely didn’t look like an ordinary human.”
Bailey knew the answer Kalian wanted. Certainly, the atmosphere emanating from that man was so strange that there would be nothing to say even if he were called a god rather than a vampire. It was a bit frustrating that he couldn’t refute his words like before, telling him not to talk nonsense.
“Of course……, he did have an extraordinary atmosphere.”
However, Bailey wasn’t one to quietly agree with his words. He blocked Kalian from having idle thoughts by putting forth fairly valid grounds.
“But if that man really was a vampire, would he have let us go so obediently? He would have devoured us already.”
Kalian wouldn’t have known since he was concentrating on casting magic, but Bailey, who observed that guy’s expression until the very end, could tell.
When they took someone right before his eyes, that guy didn’t even try to stop them. In other words, it meant he didn’t have the ability to do so. If he were an actual vampire, he wouldn’t have become combat-incapable from just a burn injury on his arm.
“More than that, how can we take such a suspicious person all the way to the royal palace……”
Then, two screams were heard from the 3rd floor. One was Elijah’s, and one was…….
“What trouble did that Adam cause?”
It was Adam’s, their party member. At the sudden commotion, the gazes of those in the inn dining hall focused all at once. Kalian and Bailey hurriedly ran up the stairs.
* * *
“Kalian-gyeong, that’s the bastard!”
As soon as they entered the room, a huge bulk came running thump-thump and hid behind Kalian. Adam pointed at Elijah with a trembling hand.
“That bastard is that heinous magician!”
Elijah, who had turned deathly pale, shouted as if he wouldn’t back down.
“He is a heinous con artist! Wa, was he part of your party? How could you be with such a shameless person……”
“Sha, shameless, who’s calling who shameless! You turned me into a frog!”
‘Oh my, this is bad.’
Caught in the middle, Kalian finally pressed his forehead with an awkward face. Adam was a guide he’d hired after forming a connection through an incident several years ago. But he’d forgotten that incident happened to be deeply related to Elijah.
He should have explained sufficiently in advance…… Coincidentally, even though Elijah and Adam had been riding the same carriage continuously, they hadn’t had a chance to encounter each other. Since one person was in the passenger seat and one person was in the driver’s seat with different viewing angles, it couldn’t be helped.
Last night, meeting Elijah by chance and rescuing him from an unidentified assailant, the process of persuading him to accompany them had been so exhausting that he hadn’t thought about Adam.
“Kalian-gyeong, what on earth is going on? Was that bastard the new party member who joined? Why such a heinous person……”
“If you’re in a party with such a person, then you must all be equally shameless. Did you perhaps know everything and deliberately kidnap me?”
The two people severely criticized each other while being extremely afraid of each other. The large hand gripping Kalian’s shoulder trembled.
Elijah’s thin body standing alone in front of them wasn’t much different. Perhaps sensing a considerable threat to his safety, the magical power that leaked from his body rippled faintly.
Kalian sighed deeply and attempted to mediate.
“First, both of you calm down……, and listen to what I have to say.”
Elijah said decisively as if there was nothing to hear.
“I’ll be on my way now. Not even a single moment with such a person……”
“Elijah-ssi, calm your agitation. You’re unable to control your magical power right now.”
Bailey, who had been watching him, interrupted at an opportune time. Startled by his words, Elijah trembled and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. Somehow the magical power that had been rippling around his body became even denser.
