“Can you hear me, Klad?”
“…….”
Instead of answering, Klad picked up a fruit that Jake hadn’t even touched. It was a fruit whose sweetness was unknown because its skin was so hard it was difficult to cut even with tools.
*Rip,*
When Klad pressed down with his fingers, the hard fruit skin tore as easily as wet paper. When he split the fruit in half, the appetizing flesh revealed itself.
Klad held it out to Jake in its entirety.
“Just eat this.”
“Oh.”
Jake, who had only thought Klad brought a fruit he couldn’t eat, admired it and took a bite.
“It’s delicious!”
Klad diligently peeled the fruit and placed it in front of Jake. He wanted to shut that mouth up even if he had to do it this way.
But contrary to Klad’s wishes, Jake soon put down the fruit.
“This isn’t the time for this. I need to put distance between us before Father’s knights catch up.”
“The pursuit team went in the opposite direction, so don’t worry about it.”
“How do you know that?”
“I just went to scout a moment ago.”
“In that short amount of time?”
“Yeah.”
“You might be able to easily find out that there’s no pursuit team following behind, but how did you know they went in the opposite direction?”
“Magic.”
“I see.”
Contrary to his expectation that Jake would be troublesome, insisting it didn’t make sense even if it was magic, Jake easily accepted it.
It was a response that could only come from knowing nothing about magic. If he had studied magic even a little, he would have known how difficult it was to accurately grasp the whereabouts of a group whose existence was even unclear.
If he had to keep answering a barrage of questions, it would have been quite bothersome, so this worked out well instead.
“As expected, Father must not have thought we would come this way. See, Klad. Isn’t everything just as I said?”
“Not just the Duke, but anyone wouldn’t think a hero of noble birth would flee by cutting through a forest without a single path.”
While Jake, who had been worried, ate the remaining fruit, Klad erased the traces of having lit a campfire. Even though there was no pursuing group yet, there was nothing good about leaving traces of having passed through.
“Klad.”
“What.”
“Would it be difficult to get water right now?”
“Are you thirsty?”
“No. My hands are sticky and I want to wash them.”
Jake spread out his hands, which had become sticky from the fruit juice flowing on them, toward Klad.
Instead of getting water, Klad waved his hand toward Jake.
“Oh!”
With one small gesture from Klad, his two sticky hands became clean in an instant.
Jake repeated opening and closing his hands in admiration. It felt as clean as if he had washed his hands with expensive soap.
“How did you do that?”
“Magic.”
“To think magic is this useful. I should have learned magic instead of the sword.”
“You have no talent for magic.”
“Really? Then I’m glad I learned the sword instead of magic.”
Klad pondered whether he should tell Jake that he had no talent for the sword either, then closed his mouth.
“Born as the heir of a ducal house, I’ve seen countless mages, but this is the first time I’ve seen magic that makes a person clean in one go like this.”
Of course it was. No matter how much of a ducal heir he was, he wouldn’t have much occasion to meet mages who rarely leave their own territories. The mages Jake had met were probably mostly affiliated with the ducal house.
Mages affiliated with a specific family rather than a Mage Tower must follow that family’s orders as much as they receive the family’s patronage and are employed by them. The House of Duke West would surely have poured money into research on attack magic for war preparation or security magic rather than practical magic. So he wouldn’t have had occasion to see this kind of non-combat magic.
“I was just thinking it was strange that I didn’t feel uncomfortable somehow. I thought I had gotten used to being unclean because the time I was confined in prison without being able to wash was too long… Is this also thanks to your magic?”
“Yeah.”
“Why didn’t you inform me of that fact?”
“Are you dissatisfied that I used magic without even getting permission?”
“That’s not it, Klad. Shouldn’t I know of your efforts for my sake so I can praise your achievements?”
“I don’t need it.”
“I need it. A leader must know how to punish wrongdoing and give appropriate rewards for achievements.”
Such pretense when he doesn’t even have the ability to give rewards right now.
“From now on, I’ll count one debt for each spell, so stop chattering and move.”
“One debt for each spell is too much.”
Jake hurriedly followed after Klad, who got up alone and went ahead.
“Klad.”
“What.”
“I wonder why there are no monsters in this forest.”
“Why are you asking me that. Am I the owner of this forest?”
“Since you didn’t seem to notice, let me explain—I didn’t bring up the topic to ask a question, but rather to start a conversation by expressing my doubts….”
“Because there are too many trees, it’s difficult to clear a path, so monsters and wild animals don’t come down here.”
“But aren’t you clearing the path quite easily?”
“So be grateful to me.”
“Of course I’m grateful.”
*Crack,*
One thick branch caught in Klad’s hand shattered.
“Damn it.”
So much for the effort of moving carefully without cutting branches as much as possible. He didn’t want to leave unnecessary traces, and this was all because his peace of mind was disturbed.
How can every single word he says be so annoying?
He definitely received Jake’s gratitude, but Klad felt like he’d been slapped in the face with thanks.
“What’s wrong, Klad?”
“Nothing.”
“Usually the exclamation ‘damn it’ is something you say when something unexpected happens.”
“Just take this.”
Klad threw the branch into Jake’s arms and cleaned up the broken traces.
He wouldn’t be tracked down by the Duke just because of something like this, but in case something unexpected happened, he didn’t want to hear something like ‘So it was because of that mistake back then that this happened, Klad!’
***
A week had already passed since they left the capital.
No matter how slow their traveling speed was, Jake grew anxious when they still hadn’t reached their destination. He thought they would arrive in about two days at most, but to think the traces of a village still weren’t visible. Jake’s worry deepened with each passing day.
“Something seems wrong. There’s no way the forest could be this huge.”
“It’s just taking a long time because we’re making a path and erasing traces. Instead of throwing a fit, be careful not to trip on stones.”
“Perhaps we’ve fallen into Father’s trap, Klad.”
“We haven’t fallen into a trap—it’s taking twice as long because we’re moving while eating everything we need to eat and sleeping everything we need to sleep.”
“Couldn’t we move while eating less and sleeping less?”
“No. If fatigue accumulates, it becomes difficult to deal with sudden situations.”
A week had passed since Jake escaped from the Duke’s castle, and there was still no pursuing group. No matter how cleanly they erased their traces, if Jake wasn’t found even after tracking all other routes, they should have released people toward the forest long ago, but it was strange that there was no news like this.
Klad thought the reason must be one of two things.
Either Jake remembered the route wrong and they were heading in a completely wrong direction, or Duke West had noticed Jake’s destination and was waiting there with a trap already set.
‘Neither is good.’
Klad made full preparations in case something happened at any moment. But no matter how much he prepared, it would be useless if Jake’s stamina couldn’t keep up. So even if it took time, they had no choice but to move while reducing stamina consumption.
Whether Jake knew of Klad’s efforts or not, he just kept chattering without rest.
“If it takes this long just to find the neighboring village, I can’t imagine how long it will take to reach Odrite.”
“Then develop your imagination.”
“At this rate, the Demon King will devour the world before we even find the Hero’s Sword.”
“That’s not bad either.”
Klad, who realized that Jake talked more the more he was ignored, answered half-heartedly while clearing the path.
“Ah! Klad, here….”
“Shh.”
In the dense forest where there was nothing to see but frozen ground and thick trees, traces of humans finally appeared.
“We’ll reach the village soon.”
“Is that really true?”
“Yeah. See these footprints? They’re not from knights or mercenaries.”
“Could it be a village resident who came up to the forest to gather medicinal herbs?”
“Probably. If we go down a little, a village will appear.”
As soon as he finished explaining, Jake tried to run excitedly. Klad blocked his way with one arm and lifted a long hanging vine with his other arm.
“I said the owner of these footprints isn’t a knight or mercenary, but I didn’t say they weren’t an enemy. When will you, the one being chased, learn to be careful?”
“Oh my. I almost made a big mistake in my excitement. Thank you for stopping me, Klad.”
When he admitted his fault so obediently like this, there was nothing more to say. Klad gave up on responding and silently followed the traces.
As expected, not long after, a faint path appeared. Rather than clearing a path for passage, it seemed like a path that was naturally created because many people frequently passed through and grass stopped growing.
Following that path, a village appeared.
A dark village reeking with a damp smell.
“This is….”
Only after seeing the village’s appearance could Klad realize the reason the Duke didn’t pursue them.
The Duke hadn’t refrained from pursuing because he thought Jake wouldn’t choose this path. He simply hadn’t even thought that Jake might choose this path.
Because they wouldn’t have called this place a ‘village.’
