When the campfire flames had revived to a suitable level, Theorde silently took out a magic pouch. He pulled out a pot from inside, then rummaged through another pouch. What he held in his hand was something like a block of ice. Whether time preservation magic had been cast on it, it was frozen cold.
Theorde dumped it straight into the pot.
As the ice melted, steam rose, and a savory fragrance spread into the night air. Saliva naturally pooled at the appetite-stimulating smell.
When Amelia looked at him, Theorde wordlessly handed her a bowl. She carefully ladled some into the bowl and put a spoonful in her mouth.
And Amelia’s eyes widened greatly.
“This is…!”
She had definitely eaten this before.
The inn she had stopped by last time to investigate the unidentified corpse. It was exactly that food she had tasted there.
When she looked at him with surprised eyes, Theorde raised the corners of his mouth faintly and said.
“It’s a dish made by someone named Sion, the owner of the Inn on the Boundary.”
At those words, Amelia swallowed quietly inside.
‘The Inn on the Boundary…?’
The place she had stopped by was definitely near the boundary, not on the boundary. However, she soon nodded, recalling ‘that inn’ which had been a hot potato recently. It made sense if she thought that employee worked there.
Whether it was a branch, or whether that employee was really working as the owner, she couldn’t tell, but at least the taste alone had perfectly captured Amelia’s picky palate.
But more surprising than the taste was Theorde’s attitude, mentioning the inn owner quite familiarly.
Though Amelia occasionally glanced at him, the two sat side by side and ate in silence.
The gukbap was quickly gone.
Even when she first ate this food, Amelia had been firmly suppressing her naturally lazy personality and focusing on the role of ‘Saint.’ But eating it after going through all kinds of hardships, that mask was shaken to the point of ecstasy. Barely swallowing down the exclamation that almost burst out, she emptied her bowl with a refined attitude until the end. Perhaps because she was eating warm food for the first time in a while, her body gradually relaxed and she felt strength oddly filling up.
Just then, Theorde, who had emptied his bowl first, bowed his head slightly and said.
“Thank you for the meal.”
“……!”
Theorde’s lips, usually always expressionless, curved gently as if brushed by a spring breeze. In that moment alone, he didn’t look like a silent wooden doll of a man, but like a person resembling midday peace.
Moreover, when such a tremendous handsome man smiled, it was brief yet brilliant, like the moment when forget-me-nots wet with dawn dew bloom in the sunlight.
Feeling both cheeks heating up on their own, Amelia hurriedly averted her gaze.
Her evaluation of Theorde had always changed bit by bit, but right now it converged into one.
‘He really… likes the food made by this person named Sion.’
Right.
A rice fool for the gukbap shop owner.
Amelia came to that conclusion.
***
The next day.
Just as they were about to leave the boundary line and exit the forest, a faint silhouette came running toward them.
Theorde reflexively placed his hand on his sword hilt, and Amelia retreated behind him while spreading a protective barrier made of divine power with one hand.
“The front is the Imperial Army on official duty. Halt.”
At the firm command, the running silhouette flinched to a stop.
Soon, with gasping breaths, he collapsed to his knees on the ground. After panting for a while, he raised his head, revealing a face worn with fatigue.
Worn uniform and frayed military boots, a reddened bruised neck.
He was Joel, the soldier who had received food from Sion at the Inn on the Boundary not long ago.
Joel staggered to his feet. He hurriedly straightened his posture and saluted with trembling hands, shouting.
“I-I greet the Commander! I am Joel, a soldier in charge of security at the Morko frontier garrison! I’ve come to deliver a message directly according to superior orders!”
His voice was mixed with fatigue and desperation. Theorde’s expression hardened for a moment. ‘Morko’ was precisely the region where they had transferred the unidentified corpse for autopsy.
“You may report.”
Joel caught his breath in one go and immediately continued his report.
“According to the autopsy results, the cause of death was determined to be poison. No signs of homicide such as external injuries or traces of demons were found. Accordingly, headquarters concluded it as an accidental death by acute poisoning. However, that poison… had unusual properties of being extremely toxic and easily transmitted through the air.”
Amelia’s brows furrowed subtly, and Theorde quietly met her gaze. Having seen traces of the cabin in the Demon Forest, Joel’s report didn’t add up.
After being lost in thought for a moment, Theorde stared intently at Joel and asked in a low voice.
“If that poison was a deadly toxin that could spread through the air and take lives, the personnel in charge of the autopsy must have suffered tremendous damage as well. Were there no other casualties?”
At those words, Joel’s eyes shook greatly.
The investigation team’s casualties were content not included in the official report. However, since it was something Joel had wanted to convey no matter what, he had only briefly added the nature of the poison at the end.
And Theorde didn’t miss that subtle discrepancy.
Joel felt a lump in his throat as he continued his report.
“……That’s correct. The personnel in charge of the autopsy and investigation… all died except for me.”
A brief, heavy silence descended. Theorde and Amelia’s faces were hardened, but Joel’s face was rather bright. The truth he wanted to convey had been this one thing from beginning to end.
“Their bodies?”
“Due to the toxicity, we couldn’t return them to their families. We buried them together in a nearby cemetery.”
“I’ll visit them.”
It was a resolute voice. Amelia looked at him in surprise. Well, they had been entrusted with a grave mission, and reporting back should have been the priority now. But there was no wavering in Theorde’s eyes.
Soldiers who couldn’t even return to their families. Young people who would have fulfilled their duty until the end. He couldn’t leave their deaths as just numbers in records.
Amelia met his eyes and eventually bowed her head. She was respecting his decision.
Joel’s eyes reddened hotly as he bowed his head repeatedly.
“Th-thank you, Commander.”
“It’s the proper courtesy that should be given to those who devoted themselves to the Empire.”
“……Yes, sir!”
Joel couldn’t hold back and shed tears. If he hadn’t deserted and come here, his comrades would have been forgotten without even names or tombstones.
At that thought, the innkeeper’s face kept coming to mind.
Though his expression was hard to see with his bushy chestnut hair covering his eyes, just looking at his straight nose and smoothly connected facial lines suggested he was quite handsome.
If it hadn’t been for that bowl of hot gukbap he had offered then, Joel probably would have made an irreversible choice. After catching his breath for a moment to swallow his tears, Joel carefully opened his mouth.
“Commander…. I’ve delivered all my report, but may I state one more personal opinion?”
Theorde nodded briefly.
“That corpse’s appearance wasn’t that of a normal person. At first I thought it had been damaged by a demon attack, but upon closer examination, it seemed to have been deformed from birth.”
At those words, Theorde and Amelia’s gazes collided. Both simultaneously thought of the same thing.
The cabin.
And the nameless graves.
…Could it be that those who were confined made an irreversible choice?
Could the remnants of that tragedy be precisely the ‘unidentified corpse’?
Amelia’s fingertips trembled white at the ugly and tragic story. A sharp light also flashed in Theorde’s blue eyes.
Joel sensed that atmosphere and soon bowed deeply at the waist.
“That concludes my report.”
A heavy silence flowed for a moment.
However, everyone soon pulled themselves together, and Joel stepped forward, saying he would carry the Saint’s luggage. The tired Amelia briefly bowed her head, accepting that consideration.
Though fatigue still remained on Joel’s face, unlike before, a bright light dwelled there.
“I’ll guide you on your way. My hometown is in this area, so I’m familiar with the geography. I also know a nearby inn, and I’ve prepared food that can be used when camping outdoors.”
When Joel showed the magic pouch from his bosom as he spoke, Theorde’s eyes wavered very slightly.
“Did you meet him?”
At the single question thrown by the quiet one, Amelia realized that the shabby pouch Joel was holding and the one Theorde had taken out the day before came from one person’s hands.
Joel widened his eyes for a moment, then soon reddened his face.
It was because his past actions flashed through his mind. Things like secretly barging into the inn, or the memory of finally showing tears in front of a bowl of gukbap.
After hesitating for a moment, he covered his embarrassment with a cough and carefully continued.
“I don’t know who you’re referring to, but… I met a benefactor on the way. Despite being young, he knew compassion and was someone who unhesitatingly offered food to the starving.”
It was Sion. He had definitely met him.
