Go to the Volcanic Region
Kaian put down the teacup he had been drinking from and checked his pocket watch.
Today was September 29th.
And the current time was 14:00.
It was the decisive time he had set beforehand.
From this moment, he planned to find Flame Veil and return home within 18 hours.
—Rustle!
Kaian pulled out a piece of paper that he had folded and crumpled inside his pants pocket.
At the very top of the paper, large letters were written.
[Items Needed to Find Flame Veil]
Kaian looked at the list he had written with a proud expression.
For an eight-year-old’s handwriting, it was surprisingly neat.
‘I spent a whole week revising and revising until I finished it…!’
The things written on this list would increase his chances of survival and success.
Kaian jumped down from the chair, which was still slightly too tall for him to sit on comfortably.
Beside the chair was the backpack he had brought down beforehand.
It was not extremely large, but it was not small either.
It was big enough to cover Kaian’s back and half his head.
“I can’t forget anything.”
Kaian widened his eyes and compared each item on the list with the things inside his backpack.
He had already checked it more than ten times the previous day.
“But there’s no harm in checking it several times.”
He counted his fingers one by one.
His fingers had become covered in calluses and wounds over the past few days.
“Water bottle… check. Lantern… check. Wooden clogs are… five pairs, check. Blanket… packed. Ah, right! The…!”
There was still one important item missing from his backpack.
Realizing this, Kaian was about to shout the item’s name.
But he immediately covered his own mouth.
Then he hid behind the dining table and looked around.
Fortunately, the person he was wary of, Eldarin, was nowhere to be seen.
“Phew.”
Today, for some reason, Eldarin had finished tea time earlier than him and disappeared.
Thanks to that, checking his backpack was easier.
Although he still could not help feeling nervous.
Kaian stood up to find the only item on the list he had not packed.
“I almost forgot the most important thing.”
He casually put on his backpack and headed toward the kitchen.
No one was watching him.
But for some reason, he felt he had to act that way.
Kaian quietly turned the corner of the kitchen.
And at that moment.
He met Ember’s amber eyes staring directly at him.
Only then did his face brighten.
“Ember…! Please give me lunch…!”
When Kaian whispered urgently, Ember quickly handed him the carefully wrapped lunchbox.
She was Kaian’s strongest ally in this operation.
And his only ally.
‘…An ally whose voice I still haven’t heard even once.’
Kaian accepted the lunchbox and remembered the first day he had infiltrated the kitchen.
About a week ago.
He had just learned the recipe for a high-calorie bread filled with honey and nuts for long-distance travel.
He had used the book in the second-floor study Eldarin had prepared for him, ⟪Keep the Backpack Light, Keep the Calories Heavy: Recipes for Travelers⟫.
He obtained the necessary ingredients from the workplace, desperately trying not to get caught secretly taking them.
His heart had pounded endlessly.
Like the saying that a thief is afraid of his own footsteps, Kaian had flinched whenever he met Eldarin’s eyes for a while.
‘So this is why people say you can’t live after committing a crime.’
But if he had already committed the crime, he absolutely could not get caught.
That day, Kaian went to the kitchen extremely early in the morning to commit the perfect crime.
And Eldarin was not the only person he needed to avoid.
‘Ember too. Actually, she might be scarier….’
Kaian climbed down the wooden stairs on all fours again, even though his body had fully recovered.
That way, he made less noise.
And when he turned the corner of the kitchen, he met amber eyes shining in the blue dawn light.
‘Gasp…! W-what kind of glare is that…!’
The fact that he bit his tongue hard enough to hold back a scream was impressive even when he thought about it now.
Kaian grabbed his trembling legs.
Even if a tiger, no, even if a spirit dragged him away, he could survive as long as he kept his mind clear.
Ember simply stared at Kaian without reacting.
Only then did Kaian remember what Eldarin had told him.
‘Ah… Ember can’t speak.’
Ember, who borrowed the body of a jointed doll, had no vocal organs.
However, since she was a spirit, she could directly communicate with another person’s consciousness, so Eldarin said she did have a voice.
The day he heard that, Kaian realized there was no way he could accidentally hear Ember’s voice.
‘Still… couldn’t she at least use body language?’
Kaian gathered his courage and spoke.
—You’re awake early?
No response.
—Can I use the kitchen for a bit?
Still no reaction.
—Are you going to tell Eldarin…? Gasp! Or did you already tell her?
Kaian asked with the eyes and gestures of a fragile butterfly, making himself look as pitiful as possible.
Ember seemed to think for a moment.
But soon, she lightly shook her head.
Then she stepped aside slightly, as if saying he could use the kitchen.
Kaian cheered internally.
‘Yessss!’
His 18-hour plan to find Flame Veil could not be carried out while starving.
Kaian was delighted, but he did not know why Ember had decided to keep his secret.
Even on the day he left, he still did not know.
His most plausible guess was that she was trying to protect the kitchen.
‘Probably because I burned it twice….’
That dawn, Ember did not actually leave the kitchen.
Instead, she stood behind Kaian and watched everything he did.
Because of that, Kaian felt nervous, but he was also strangely motivated.
He intended to show Ember the results of his research.
‘Hehehe. Prepare yourself. I memorized the recipe…! Well… being careful never hurts.’
Kaian took out the recipe he had written beforehand and placed it near the counter.
Finding the necessary seasonings took longer than expected.
Because of that, once he found the ingredients, he immediately picked up the kitchen knife.
Just as he was about to chop the ingredients with confidence—
Ember tapped Kaian’s shoulder.
When he turned around, Ember had a serious expression.
‘Ah… she thinks this is too much. Well, even in House Valentin, I was the only one forbidden from entering the kitchen….’
Kaian thought he would be kicked out immediately.
But Ember tapped his gloomy shoulder again.
Then, following the recipe Kaian had written, she slowly began cooking.
‘Huh…?’
She even stopped occasionally and tapped the spot beside her.
Kaian quickly realized it meant he should follow along.
—…!
From that day onward, Kaian learned cooking from Ember every dawn.
Ember carefully examined every ingredient he cut.
It looked as if she was checking whether his fingers had accidentally been mixed in.
—Usually, wouldn’t you check the hand instead…?
Kaian tried to stop her, but Ember ignored him completely.
‘But thanks to her, I was able to finish the lunchbox.’
Without Ember, Eldarin would have discovered him long ago, and the lunchbox would have been a disaster.
Kaian recalled the past week and carefully packed the lunchbox with gratitude.
However, Ember watching him seemed dissatisfied.
Kaian’s thoughts began spinning quickly.
‘That look…!’
It was a look he had often seen from his mother, Riana.
—Sneak.
Kaian showed Ember the inside of his backpack.
As expected, Ember immediately began reorganizing the items inside.
‘Was it really that messy…?’
Kaian scratched his head and watched her.
Ember placed the thermos bottles at both ends of the backpack so the weight would not lean to one side.
Between them, she stacked the blanket and various items in order.
The lunchbox was placed at the very top.
The five pairs of wooden clogs were hung outside the backpack to reduce unnecessary bulk.
Watching everything fall perfectly into place looked no different from magic to Kaian.
Without realizing it, he clapped in amazement.
—Clap, clap, clap, clap!
“Wow…! This way, it holds so much more.”
Kaian looked inside the backpack again in amazement.
Ember stared at the small back of his head and thought.
‘A chestnut… no, an acorn.’
She even lifted the backpack herself and placed it onto Kaian’s shoulders.
Kaian bounced in place and turned around with a bright smile.
“It doesn’t shake, and it’s much more comfortable!”
It was a smile Ember had seen several times while making lunch together over the past week.
Every time, she had to work hard to stop herself from smiling as well.
‘If I become too attached, it will be difficult later.’
Even so, Ember secretly cast a spell of stamina recovery on Kaian’s lunchbox.
Whether he knew that or not—
Kaian gave a cute youngest-child smile and waved his hand energetically.
“Thank you! I’ll be back, Ember!”
Ember still did not answer.
She did not nod.
She did not smile.
But Kaian knew that Ember’s amber eyes were warmer than before.
‘Hmm. I should say goodbye to my mountain-goat elf teacher too.’
Today, Eldarin had finished tea time earlier than usual and disappeared.
But she was definitely somewhere in the house.
She would not miss seeing her precious disciple leave.
“Ssseup…! Eldarin! I’m leaving! Wait for me!”
After shouting loudly, Kaian hurried out the front door before he could get scolded.
A heavy backpack.
A confident stride.
Even he thought he looked rather impressive.
Thus, for his great first adventure, he walked proudly away from the house…
Then suddenly made a sharp turn.
Kaian ran back toward the entrance.
“Bathroom, bathroom, bathroom.”
He would enjoy the benefits of civilization as much as possible before leaving.
***
Kaian ran through the golden fields.
The sound of the wind striking his ears was loud.
—Whoooooosh!
‘My stamina has to be the best at the beginning. I need to move as far as possible right now.’
According to the book about long-distance running, ⟪Around the World Together With Nothing But Your Body⟫, maintaining a steady pace with consistent breathing was the key.
“Step in, step out. Step in, step out.”
Kaian focused on his breathing.
The time he had spent preparing for this journey flashed through his mind.
‘The recipe was useful, and the study Eldarin prepared helped in many ways.’
For example, attaching straps around his chest and waist so the backpack would not bounce while running was thanks to the book ⟪A Guide for Beginner Travelers⟫.
He had also reinforced the stitching several times so the backpack straps would not break under the weight.
For that, he had referred to ⟪Sewing: From Repairs to Creation⟫.
The book ⟪Beauty for Your Feet⟫, which introduced and explained how to make shoes from various cultures, was a great help in making wooden clogs.
‘Sewing was harder than cutting things….’
Thanks to that, Kaian still had fresh bandages wrapped around his fingers.
He had also injured himself a lot while carving wood.
‘Woodworking was fun. Sewing wasn’t fun at all.’
There were quite a few things he needed to make to safely reach the volcanic region.
But it was impossible for a beginner to handle various materials within a single week.
So Kaian mainly used discarded pieces of wood to create what he needed.
One of those things was the object fluttering beneath the blue autumn sky.
A red flag.
“Haah, haah, I can see it! The flag!”
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