Many pebbles kept falling, they hit my forehead and it hurt.

I covered my head with both my arms and got down. I pressed my forehead against the ground, my pose was as if I was prostrating. I don"t know for whom or for what.

I stayed like that for less than three seconds.

While talking about being a.s.sertive, even before three seconds pa.s.sed after receiving the wound on my cheek, unable to bear the fear I got down on the ground. Something unknown was coming to attack, it could have been a bird, it could have been a bat, or something even more dangerous, it could have been a ferocious animal. Even so I can"t confirm it myself. Even though both my eyes are wide open, darkness is the only thing that is spreading in front of my eyes. I don"t even know their number or whether they"ll attack from the front or from the side. If I were to put it bluntly, I couldn"t even confirm whether it existed in reality or not.

The darkness was increasing my fear.

Losing to my fear I got down on the ground and wanted to let the attacking creature get past. The trembling didn"t subside. If I wasn"t dehydrated I could have even shed tears and would have been crying in a loud voice.

I waited for a long time. But nothing happened.

Although in reality it could have been just a few minutes, but to me it felt as if I was waiting forever. But even without the wind grazing my cheek or any pain, there wasn"t even any flapping sound in my ears. Nothing happened.

I fearfully resumed my breathing, let go of the fingers holding my head and raised my face up.

"Cre..."

Being completely thirsty, if I don"t squeeze out my voice I can"t talk.

"Yuuri"

Saralegui who seemed to have been near the wall came closer.

Along with the footsteps firmly stepping on the pebbles, I can feel the warmth floating in the air. He squatted down in front of me and before asking me if I was alright, he touched my cheek with his left hand. His fingertips were moist and cold, it smelled like damp soil.

"You"re bleeding."

After that he brought his face very close to me. When I thought that his nose hit my cheek, he stroked my wound with something warm. With that peculiarly wet sensation, I understood that he had licked me.

"Does it hurt?"

"No."

"I see, that"s good."

It was not at all good for me.

I had indeed lost my eyesight, but my hearing and sense of smell were supposed to be normal. I still have ears and a nose. I can still pick up heat and other signs.

Even so other than the first hit, I couldn"t feel anything. There"s not even the smell or any signs of the beast around. There are no traces left of it.

"Was it a bird?"

"Who knows. To be honest... I only saw it for a fraction of a second and then ended up closing my eyes. It will be troublesome if they peck me and I lose my eyesight."

When I repeated lose your eyesight eh, Saralegui behaved a little like a spoiled child.

"But it went away. It"s alright now, Yuuri."

"But."

After asking "really!?" I looked around my own knees. Of course I can"t see anything even if I turn around my head. However, at the same time there isn"t any scent nor any feathers left around. I spread out my fingers and stroked around on the ground, the only thing that hits my palm are many small stones. I couldn"t find a single feather of the animal that doesn"t move in a flock.

"How can that be, this is strange."

I even touched my right cheek where it was bleeding. The wound that has not closed up hurt a little.

"Strange? What"s the matter?"

"Except for this location..."

"It avoided you and went past you from both the sides."

"That can"t be, it didn"t even make any flapping sound, I didn"t even feel any wind. It would even give off some smell right? Since it"s an animal after all! But I didn"t feel anything. It just hit me at first, and then there was nothing."

"Isn"t that because you bent down?"

"How could that be!"

As a habit from when I could see, I opened up both my hands in front of my face, I searched if there was even a single feather wrapped around my fingers. Of course it was useless.

"I know that I"m hanging my head down. Fearing, prostrating in front of an animal who can"t even understand, if a flock of birds pa.s.s through such a narrow pa.s.sageway I would know, I would know! Since I still have my ears and nose! Don"t I!?"

"That"s right normally."

"Then why..."

Since an unnatural amount of time pa.s.sed before he replied, he stood up and most probably while looking down at me said.

"Because you"re not in your right mind right now."

I heard his words as if it was a sentence being pa.s.ses on a criminal.

"Although it goes without saying that you were hurt, you"ve lost your sanity due to exhaustion and agitation. It"s only natural, on top of being tired from walking throughout, there"s no water or food either. Being faced with the tragedy of losing a comrade. In such an extreme situation, even if it was me, it would be difficult to stay normal. That"s why without even recovering your eyesight, your other senses have become unreliable. Even though so many creatures went past your side, you say that you didn"t notice it at all. Yuuri, you are tired. Blaming and cornering yourself."

Saralegui placed his hand on my head, and with his slim fingers brushed through my hair. This posture is exactly like a lamb asking for G.o.d"s forgiveness.

"There"s no need to blame yourself for such a man."

"Are you saying that... I"m going insane."

"I didn"t say that. Just that, you are losing your sanity a bit."

"It"s the same."

Something has gone insane. Something.

Just one word was going round in my brain. I"m feeling dizzy. As if on the verge of collapsing from a heat stroke, my body trembled. An unbearable pain came from within my skull as if something had hit me, from the head it went to my neck and down my back.

I"m going crazy, I"m not sane. Definitely something has happened. If not then there"s no way I wouldn"t sense what happened just. Encountering a swam of animals coming at high speed, there"s no way that there wouldn"t be any injuries.

If it really happened.

Unable to straighten my body, my trembling increases rapidly and when I noticed it I had fallen on the hard ground. I had collapsed sideways with on my left arm, unable to move like that I stayed still. My eyes are open. Both of them wide open. But nothing reflected in them.

"Yuuri."

Slowly pulling my knees near my stomach, rounding my back, I tried to become smaller. I tried to expose as little as possible to this world.

"I understand what you"re thinking about."

The voice directly falls on my ears. Sara bent his body as if he was covering me and sat on the pa.s.sageway made up of a mixture of mud and stones. His knees are touching the nape on my neck. Without even getting tired of it he played around with my hair and pushed the remaining that was on my cheek to the back of my ear. As if he was always doing it. His gesture of scooping out the blonde that"s close to white with his slender fingers and gently putting it behind his ears looked very elegant.

"You"re think that it would be nice if everything was a dream."

Instead of going through my eardrums, those words directly soak into my brain.

"You"re thinking that it would be nice if everything was just a dream...even leaving the country, even to have meeting me in Shou s.h.i.+maron, even coming to Seisakoku with me, you"re thinking that it would be nice if it was a dream. Even being separated from Lord Weller, even that guard dying, you"re thinking that it would be better if everything was just a dream, right? You"re still in your home town, within your warm bed, nothing misfortunate has happened. You"re just having a bad dream, a nightmare. However, no matter how sad the dream is, it"s nothing more than a dream. Someone sleeping next to you will shake your shoulder and wake you up."

Someone will shake my shoulder.

They will wake me up.

"All this is just a nasty nightmare you"re having at dawn. Isn"t that right?"

All this is just something I"m seeing at dawn.

"If you"re thinking of that, then it"s fine to consider it a dream."

A nasty dream.

"You can stay with me till someone wakes you up."

Someone.

...cha... n, Ken...chan.

"Ken-chan!"

"Aa, uwa, what? Am I late!?"

The one who was calling was Rodriguez. Murata jumped up completely astonished. Maybe the air conditioning was too strong, there"s sweat at the back of his s.h.i.+rt. His pulse fastened and it was hard to breathe. As if he was just sprinting with all his might.

"You scared me, I thought someone was calling me in my dream."

"I"m the one whose surprised. I thought you were having a nightmare since you suddenly got up and screamed something like being late. Did you have a dream about your school?"

"No, that"s not it... ah."

What was outside the window was a spectacle a hundred and eighty degrees different from Boston. The red cobblestone townscape was beautiful, even though it"s new it made him feel nostalgic. There were no high-rise buildings nearby, the town was surrounded by greenery. It had the impression of a resort.

"Huh? Where is this?"

"It"s Boston. It"s the Freeport of Maine. We just pa.s.sed by President Papa"s[1] summer house."

"It"s too far to see anything anyways."

"Maybe."

On a plot deep within a wide lawn, there was a white and red building. The roof is in a lower position than the forest behind it. Just from being named port, the smell of salt sometimes mixes in the wind.

"Since the work finishes at 5 o" clock, the meeting place with them is here."

"The cafe here has a reputation for being delicious!"

Olsen, who got down earlier said that with pride. Even Murata got out of the car and stretched his back. All the muscles throughout his body had been coagulated, made a sound that even others could hear as the loosened up.

The man who had promised to meet them, will he really bring "that" along.

The ashes or possible the pieces.

An old record plays cla.s.sical music on a vintage radio, a the music is as if a soprano singer is singing a soprano, it"s flowing somewhere into a distance. If the events until now were my dream and this music is reality, I wonder if it"s a makes.h.i.+ft alarm clock.

Someone is singing. In my head, someone.

That person is looking at the sky, the clear daytime sky. However in the heavens which were supposed to be a deep sea blue with pure white clouds, without even an ounce of white or blue, there"s only a curtain is spreading. I understood. That was the color of splas.h.i.+ng waves mixing with the sea water I saw when I went to the open seas in the southern seas.

That was the color of the sea and waves mixing. I raise my voice so that I could tell her.

She answered "Is that so?". But I can"t see her. Although I"m hearing with my own ears and seeing with my own eyes, at the same time they are her ears and eyes.

She says is that so? I didn"t know, since I"ve never seen it. But this is the color of my sky. There"s a slightly different color at the center, right? That"s the sun. It"s most probably pure white. That"s what I call white. And look at that.

I turn my neck as told. Half of my field of vision became extremely grey. It moves along with the wind that"s. .h.i.tting my cheek. I got it, it"s a tree right?

She laughs. She clapped her hands saying you can be very happy, that"s right! There"s a tree over there. It"s been there for nearly a hundred years now. Light is fluttering from within the leaves, right? To me the tree is this color. Even though everyone says that it"s green. Spring has the smell of flowers, summer smells like life. Autumn smells like withering death. Winter has the smell of sleep.

Smell of sleep? I ask while tucking both my hands in my pocket. Everything gets hazy, I can"t see anything clearly. But I"m not anxious. I wonder why.

She laughs again. You won"t understand that unless you sleep. But I"ll tell you one thing. If you don"t know the smell of sleep that means that you"re not sleeping.

You"re not dreaming.

...not dreaming.

I"m not dreaming.

"This is reality."

I can feel a burning pain in my chest, with the left hand that had been pinned down below my body, I grabbed on to the cause. The demon stone that Hazel had returned had become hot, much more than my body temperature. On the other hand the gorgeous ring that was stuck to my pinky finger was becoming as cold as if it was freezing.

Since I took my hand out, my body inclined, I ended up being in the position that almost looked like I was in Saralegui"s lap looking above. Although the ceiling of the underground pa.s.sageway was pitch black just like the path ahead or the one we came from, if I watch carefully I noticed the irregularity in color.

Among the black that spreads all around, the direction my right hand was pointing at became lighter little by little. I follow the changes my turning my neck, the black slightly turned into grey, and in the grey there"s a spot that turns close to white.

"Over there..."

There"s the sun.

Although I tried to say that, it"s too dry that it couldn"t turn into words.

"Yuuri?"

I must go. Even this couldn"t turn into words. That"s why I kept quiet and with the help of my elbow raised the upper half of my body and bending my both my knees I leaned sideways. Although I was finally able to stand, my feet staggered and I was in no condition to keep my body upright. As if I hadn"t moved for many hours, I felt as if I had become a horse who had forgotten how to walk.

Even so, I somehow searched for the wall with my right hand and started walking towards the white spot overhead.

"Are you still going to walk? Can you walk?"

After coughing many times, I was finally able to let out a hoa.r.s.e voice.

"I can"t just keep sleeping, I must get out of here. E... even you."

Since I forced myself to speak, a pain ran down my throat as if it would crack.

"You won"t be able to walk if you carry me."

Due to my sharpened senses my ears definitely heard the sound of Saralegui being amazed and cooing. From that moment on, his tone was mixed with dissatisfaction and pride, his friendly tone disappeared.

"You"re a troublesome guy."

"...what did you say?"

"Although I was waiting for you to be unable to move, you just don"t collapse. Do you plan to walk on your willpower or are you planning to proceed crawling"

Along with the sound of rustling of clothes, a faint smell of sweat reached me. He even sweats... I think vaguely. As if it doesn"t suit him. Speaking of which, he"s talking right now. From that delicate and gentle look, I can"t believe such words are coming out of those lips that look like petals that are just about to open.

"The moment that man died, I thought it would go well, that I could finally corner you. Even so you tenaciously stand up. You won"t become hopeless."

"...not that...easily."

"But he died. Because of you."

That"s right, it was my fault.

"And to my convenience you even lost your eyesight. To have come this far any person would have become weak, even though I thought this time for sure. You"re still going to try your best. Wow, I see, you"re splendid Yuuri. You don"t try to rely on me at all."

"Rely."

I rest my right shoulder on the rocks that were protruding from the wall. I can no longer stand properly on my own. If I advance, I"ll be slower than a turtle. I"m dehydrated, I vomit, collapse, I even saw an hallucination. My hands and legs are trembling, I can"t even speak properly. Even my ability to think properly and even my eyesight won"t return.

I lost Josak.

Can anything be more misfortunate that that? How much more miserable does he want to see me.

Even so he spoke.

"You won"t break. You really possess a splendid and troublesome mind."

"If I did..."

A splendid heart? What will happen if I did possess something so fine? Would I be able to escape from here in one shot. Or if I could manipulate time with these hands, would I be able to rewind the time till before I made that mistake.

But what is the reality. Speaking of what I can do, I can talk, cough, take a breadth, and repeat all of that.

Indeed maybe even Saralegui noticed that part, he said in a sympathetic tone.

"Looks like your body is at its limit. And that is right Yuuri, how long do you think you haven"t drunk anything? Although you might not know for how many days, but you haven"t put anything in your mouth for five days."

"It"s the same for you."

"You thought it was the same for me?"

I wonder what"s so funny, the young king of Shou s.h.i.+maron held his body and laughed.

"You think I"m the same?"

Maybe the hair he had tied became undone, it vertically cuts through the air. He grabbed my wrist, opened my palm and dropped a small quant.i.ty of something at the center. When it touches the skin it spreads sideways, it"s something that doesn"t have any shape. Although I curl my fingers in order to grasp it, the only thing that remains on my palm is a moist wet veil.

...it"s wet?

"...water?"

"That"s right, although it"s mixed with soil."

Although I hurriedly brought it to my mouth, when I tried to sip there was only little mud left in my hands. With the face of a fool who dirtied his chin, I draw myself closer to Saralegui. Desire must have been sparkling in my eyes which could not see.

"Wh..why do have water?"

"Calm down Yuuri. You"re dirty."

He wiped my lips with his thumb. The moment I realized his body is getting closer, even without an impulse to stop myself, I grabbed on to Saralegui. It"s no good, I shouldn"t do such a thing! To attack someone for water is not something a human would do. Isn"t it on par with an animal. Even if I scream inside my head, I could not control my instinct with rationality.

"Oops."

However someone who can see can easily evade the hands of someone who can"t see. He flipped a pebble and jumped back, I stumbled and hit against the wall.

"You couldn"t see and were having nightmares. I went to drink water quite a number of times but you didn"t notice it"

"...How can that be... there wasn"t any sound of a river at all."

"That"s because it"s not flowing. At times there were traces of wells contaminated by red soil at the corners of the path. Your ears couldn"t hear it, your nose couldn"t smell anything other than the damp soil"

"Give it to me!"

Although I spread out my hands relying on the voice without learning from my experience, I can"t get a hold of him impatiently trying to sense his accurate position. My hands just cut through the air in vain.

"Give me dammit! It should be fine if you share a little right!?"

"Share? I see."

Saralegui said.

"Although having collapsed, if you would rely on me, cling onto me then I thought I would help you, but when it comes to you no matter how long I wait for you just won"t behave in that manner. It can"t be helped, Yuuri. I"ll share the water with you."

His voice is as beautiful as always.

"It"s no fun if you die."

Carelessly declaring that, he placed his finger on my chin.

"Open your mouth."

The water mixed with mud was poured, from my tongue to my throat, the moisture slowly penetrates. Although it"s lukewarm, it"s still cold enough.

"You want more?"

It"s not enough. Not enough at all.

"This is, too little..."

"You"re being greedy, Yuuri."

I caught his shoulder and tried to jolt it but failed. Unable to support my body after leaving the wall, I took to my knees as if dragging just like that. I held onto to his waist, I rubbed my face against his stomach. And slowly shook my head.

"It"s not enough."

"It"s alright, I"ll give you more. Well then, let"s do this, if you can give the correct answer to my question, I"ll let you drink as much as you like."

"Why won"t you give it to me immediately, why won"t you give it to me immediately? If there is more then... more..."

In order to make me silent, he placed his hand on my mouth. The tips of his fingers were wet. I even licked them. If it"s water then anything is fine.

"Listen, I have an interesting story. Long ago, here in Seisakoku a woman gave birth to twins. It"s nothing special since there are a lot of twins among s.h.i.+nzoku. What was different than the rest was that her husband was an injured soldier, a stranger who had drifted from the mainland"

"What"s with you, you can hear that anywhere. More importantly"

I grabbed Saralegui"s clothes. The nails jammed with dirt impatiently scratch at his clothes.

I know the story about a demon who fell in love with a human whose only merit was his sword, even the story of a demon who made ties with a human girl in the land he was exiled to. From an amateur"s point of view what was troublesome was their romantic feelings. Not my heart.

"It"s interesting from here on, Yuuri. Although the woman became a mother, among the children she had given birth to, one immediately raised his first cry, the other one didn"t raise his first cry even after half a day. It was half dead. What do you think the woman did?"

"......lamented in sorrow......?"

"Wrong"

"Why? She must have been sad!"

Sara shoot his head and with his fingers combed my bangs upwards.

"She did not feel sad. Hugging both her sons, she ran to the grave of the ancestors. She galloped on a horse on the path that was cursed and could not be pa.s.sed by the living. How brave of her!"

"To bury the child?"

"That"s not it. She wasn"t a woman who would be satisfied with just that"

"What else can she do. She must have wanted to let it sleep in peace, that"s parental love, what else......"

"Don"t be in such a rush"

Saralegui"s little finger and thumb caught my temple. The tip of his finger nails graze the corner of my eyes. Feeling the pain my line of sight...... although I can"t see, if I divert it, there was that white spot to the right skies of a faraway companion. It"s the white that that person called the sun.

What am I doing?

Even if it"s for water, flattering this disgusting guy, depending on him. Isn"t this exactly what Saralegui wanted. That ruler, while reaching my eye socket with his soft finger said.

"To make her still born son rest in peace with the ancestors, that woman was not someone who would be satisfied with just that. She tried to revive her son. By using the G.o.d"s, the dead"s and even her own horyouku"

"If she could do such a thing then......"

Then even I would do that. Anyone would do it!

"The outcome of that, what do you think happened?"

I nod once but still shake my head. It"s impossible.

"She cannot do that, she couldn"t revive him"

"Correct. Yuuri, where are you facing. Look at me. The dead child wasn"t revived, but he wasn"t taken away to the world of the dead either. The thing that was left in this world is definitely not alive. Then what happened"

After keeping silent for a moment, he gave the answer himself.

"She ended up making a monster"

As his fingers encroached my eye socket, I reflexively shook his hand off. I felt like I was holding onto life.

"She ended up making monsters, two monsters!"

"Both the children? Why"

"I wonder if I said that both the monsters were her sons. One of them is her son, the baby who was born half dead. But the other one is none other than she herself. Now she has power more than that of a s.h.i.+nzoku"s houryoku, she can manipulate the offensive dead at will. Let"s just say that he"s not as evil as his mother, she really is a monarch with overwhelming power. Although I don"t know what was there in the graves......"

I cannot see a person’s face. Not to mention I cannot know the expression on someone"s face whose in the dark. But this is the only thing I can easily guess. Right now, more than me who wishes for water, Saralegui making eyes that of a beast.

That"s right, what he desires is power.

"It was a harvest more than that of reviving someone!"

"......I wonder"

"Of course it was. Because what she desired more than anything was to have a powerful heir"

And so he is jealous of her.

Of the one who received the power he couldn"t.

Of the mother who abandoned him since he didn"t possess any houryouku and his brother who obtained the power to surpa.s.s him.

"Didn"t she just wish to revive it?"

"That couldn"t be. There"s no way she would wish for normal children found everywhere. She was the woman who didn"t even grieve the death of her baby, she even tried to abandon the child who survived since he didn"t have any powers"

"That"s not it"

I almost answered reflexively. Even though I didn"t know about the family situation, even though I had no reason to defend the mother.

"That"s not it, Saralegui"

It"s useless even if I scold him saying what do you know. I must talk here, when I think that that scene cannot be transmitted to anyone"s heart, it makes me feel that keeping quiet is cowardice.

That"s why I spoke. Precisely since we are here in the underground in this darkness where there"s no light nor even shadow, I thought it is important for me to remain like my usual self.

"The mother was sad. There"s no way she wouldn"t be sad. While hugging the babies, she prayed to G.o.d crying. That she didn"t have anyone other than those children"

Help, please help this child.

O G.o.d, why do you want to take away the son from my arms that I was finally blessed with?

I don"t have anyone other than these children. Even though I don"t have anyone other than you and these children!

The image of her back as young mother kneeled on the ground and burst into tears. As she held the babies in her hands and curled her upper body. It"s that dream.

"I saw it"

"You saw, where. You think I"ll believe? Such a fake story"

"If your story is true and she did go to the ancestral grave......if the path that no living being is allowed to pa.s.s through is this place, then I saw it. I saw the mother crying. I saw her hugging the babies and mourning"

"That"s just a bunch of lies!"

I had a mysterious feeling as I heard Saralegui"s clearly agitated voice.

"It"s not a lie. The ordinary me had a dream with a deep meaning behind it, I wonder if it was the influence of some movie, even though I don"t watch anything other than touching sports. That should settle the matter. But unfortunately this isn"t the time for that. Thinking that there was so much drama, this isn"t the time to be reasoning with it. I saw it, the mother loved her sons. I saw her crying and saying that she doesn"t have anyone other than those children......"

"You"re trying to deceive me, it won"t be that easy!"

The slender fingers which looked like they couldn"t grip anything, hit my chin and lips. I was slammed into the stone wall, my spine shrieked. My adam"s apple being squeezed, my breathing stops.

"......Sa, ra......a"

"If she loved me"

Even though there is no reason, I heard a scream that would turn into a cry anytime.

"Then why did she not give that power to me!?"

"Th......"

At that moment I took action that couldn"t be believed. I repelled my opponent"s arm from the inside, just like that I held Saralegui"s forearms and fixed both his arms, I grabbed his wrist and with my back twisted them.

I wasn"t thinking anything with my head. Although I was only thinking that it was getting hard to breathe, maybe it was a conditioned reflex my body moved on its own, I was fastened up the a.s.sailant.

Where in the world was I hiding such physical strength and technique, I didn"t know that myself. Maybe the mud had some calories in it. It"s trying out things, trying to eat things without making a fuss over it.

"Do you wish to have such power!?"

"Ouch"

The slender body in my arms is struggling in pain. I"m doing a horrible thing, although I think of releasing him, but the anger welling up in me from deep within wouldn"t allow me to.

"By amazing you mean manipulating the dead right? What is there to get jealous about that, the one who is greedy isn"t me but you Sara!"

"Yuuri, it hurts"

"Anyone would wish to have power, even.... me......however the power which was not bestowed on us should not exist in this world"[2]

"Yuuri"

I wonder what this discomfort I feel under my skin is. It"s the same bad feeling I had when I was sharing my "eyes". Even though this is my throat and my mouth, I feel like it belongs to someone else’s body at the same time. The unpleasant feeling that the words I spout out are not my own. I remember this. Even when I met the s.h.i.+nzoku for the first time, I fell into the same state.

"All who possess it shall be eliminated"

Who are you.

"By means of death......they will be eliminated"

Who is spouting out such a terrible curse!?

"Is that the real you?"

Leaving my bewilderment aside, the king of Small Cimarron responded to this dangerous character. Soft hair rubs off my cheek and he lures me over his shoulder.

"I see, so that was it. If that"s the case then we are the same, we can get along well"

"I am......different......"

"Hey, let’s get out of this pa.s.sageway and head to the royal graves. Without being seen by anyone, without anyone knowing about it. There just like mother and Yels.h.i.+...... or we can even get a greater power. There is something definitely there that even the spirits of the ancestors couldn"t get their hands on, some mysterious power is hidden there"

I heard the invitation of a snake well.

"Even you might have realized it. There"s something in the graves. A treasure that no one in this world could obtain. Isn"t it, Yuuri"

"Stop"

Yuuri

"Don"t call my name"

"Yuuri!"

However this time it was different than Saralegui"s voice. The sound screaming my name came from height above.

When I look back forgetting that I can"t see, just below the white that I thought to be the sun, there was a small red spot. It"s a torch, I realized that intuitively, that color was fire.

A person came down through the hole open in the ceiling of the dome.

"Yuuri, are you there?"

"Co......"

There is no need to ask who it is, I can tell by his voice. Even so I asked.

"Conrad?"

"It"s me"

The only thing that falls into my eyes is a human form illuminated by the fire. A vague fuzzy orange outline comes running, it"s exactly like a thermograph screen.

"Are you alright?"

"I"m fine. But how"

"I"m sorry for being late. Although I had Hazel and her comrades guide me through the desert, we missed out a lot of points where we could overtake. Do you have any injuries anywhere?"

The body temperature I"m used to touches my shoulders as if consoling me.

This is his right palm. The right arm that has nothing to do with the nightmarish scene. It"s warmer than his left hand.

"Yuuri"

When I try to reply I mutter a word starting with C inside my mouth, I"m on the verge of tears. If I was an elementary school student I would have cried without holding back. Although I wanted to say don"t call me your majesty as usual, at such a time he did not make that mistake.

"I"m not...injured"

"I"m glad, I"ll take to on top immediately. By the way"

The end of the word becomes small and I mumble. Speaking of which, there was so much disturbance that he wouldn"t have noticed even if I spoke facing him. In the short period of silence he guessed what was happening, in an instant he changed the words following it into a question.

"What did he do"

He must be asking about Saralegui. Of all things if he sees me, a pacifist doing such twisted thing, he would get suspicious. I thrust away the body with slender physique.

"Take this guy, take Saralegui to the ground first"

"Your majesty, I......"

"No, I"m not saying it out of friends.h.i.+p. We can"t have him run away so I"m requesting you. I cannot set this man free. Restrain this guy and put him under surveillance and then come down here once again. Is that fine? Conrad"

"Of course"

Along with a small scream there wind blew in a near the ground, looks like the hands that are used to doing rough things more than me got the nape of his neck, Saralegui is flapping both his legs.

"I won"t go, I won"t go! I will go to the underground, being covered by sand in the desert is too bothersome"

"Behave yourself if you don"t want to be dropped"

"That"s right, I don"t mind if you accompany us Lord Weller, we will take you along on our journey. If we do that even Yuuri won"t be lonely. Isn"t that right?"

I am the one who replied to Saralegui"s nonsense, it was supposed to be me.

"Unfortunately, your majesty Saralegui, I won"t listen to your advice. And"

For the first time in these five days I let out a sigh of relief, I could finally relax my body.

"I won"t accept even a single drop of water from you"

When I leaned on the wall and let my chin down, I was attacked by a pain just like giddiness. I feel like I don"t want to move even a single finger.

"Conrad, come back as quick as possible, there"s something......something I need to talk about"

"Yes"

"Return really quickly"

Being bound by a trained professional, he forced his way through even though it wouldn"t work. He was a little excited.

"What are you going to talk about, is it a secret ? What sort of private conversation ? Ah, could it be that"

He let out a hysterical laugh.

"That you let that man die ?"