Deep within the forest, under the quiet darkness of night, we decided to rest after leaving the mansion behind.
I looked up at the sky, where two moons hung close to each other, one appearing larger than the other.
Looking at the moons reminded me of the past, when my wife and I used to gaze at the night sky together before our child was born.
I missed those days.
But now, they were nothing more than distant memories.
The warmth of the campfire kept the cold from becoming unbearable.
The man named Val sat to my left, beside the fire, while Lady Sera sat on the other side.
“If the night is this cold, why are we spending the night here instead of returning to the mansion?” Lady Sera looked cold as she hugged herself.
“Being surrounded by a pile of corpses is like putting yourself on a platter for wild beasts.” I gave her an explanation that was easy enough to understand.
“All right.
I understand.” Looking at Lady Sera always reminded me of my daughter.
My wife and I had once disagreed about her future.
She wanted to go to the capital and enroll our daughter in a magic academy.
I opposed the idea because I knew that nobles would use such places as tools for political purposes.
I didn’t want my daughter to get involved in any of that.
We argued about it for quite some time.
Eventually, my wife decided to go to the capital, while I chose to remain at home.
For some reason, I felt a little regretful about the decision I had made back then.
I looked at Sera for a moment.
But more than anything, I was grateful that I had met Lady Sera.
If I had gone to the capital, I would never have known what happened to her.
Lady Sera looked at me.
“Do you miss your family?” There was a hint of concern in her expression.
“Yes.
I miss them a little.
You don’t have to worry.” “I’m not worried.
I was just asking.” I simply smiled at her reaction.
She really reminded me of my daughter.
Val seemed to notice our conversation, but he quickly shifted his gaze toward the sky.
“I just realized how beautiful the moon looks here.” Val said it as though he had never seen the moon before.
“The moon has always looked like that.
Have you never seen one before?” Lady Sera seemed confused by Val’s words.
“No.
It’s just that the moon looked different where I used to live.” “What foreign land are you from?” To be honest, Val really did look like he came from a foreign country.
His appearance was unlike the people from this region.
More importantly, there was something strange about him.
He looked ordinary at first glance, yet for some reason, I felt slightly uneasy around him.
His eyes looked dull.
But somehow, they reminded me of something unpleasant.
Something like a corpse.
He was the one who freed me from prison.
At first, I thought he was just an ordinary man because there didn’t seem to be anything unusual about him.
But when he saw himself in the mirror, he smiled.
He smiled widely.
His eyes looked frightening.
And for some reason, they seemed to faintly glow in the darkness.
Even though he covered his smile with his hand, I could still clearly see it.
He briefly glanced at me back then.
Not long afterward, his expression returned to normal.
Is he hiding something?
When we left the prison, we witnessed a horrifying sight.
Corpses were scattered everywhere.
I was somewhat accustomed to seeing scenes like this.
I had seen piles of corpses after dealing with bandits before.
Even so, this was still horrifying.
Lady Sera’s reaction was perfectly understandable.
She simply couldn’t handle seeing such a sight.
But Val’s reaction was strange.
No— It was extremely strange.
He simply stood there without showing any reaction.
His eyes seemed to glow again in the middle of the night, and he looked as though he were suppressing something deep inside himself.
Anger?
No.
Hatred toward the Blight responsible for this destruction?
Not that either.
Could it be something else entirely?
Something I couldn’t even imagine.
Hunger?
No.
He was just an ordinary human.
That much was obvious from his appearance, wasn’t it?
For some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to leave him alone with Lady Sera.
Earlier, I had been distracted while checking the area around the mansion.
The two of them had disappeared.
Fortunately, I quickly found them inside the Baron’s private room.
I looked at the man sitting across from the fire.
He was staring at the sky.
Val… what exactly are you?
I looked at Lady Sera.
She seemed completely at ease.
She treated Val like an ordinary person.
Apparently, she hadn’t noticed anything strange about him.
He was strange.
Frightening.
Unnatural.
But one thing was clear.
For now, he didn’t seem to have any hostile intentions toward either Lady Sera or me.
If he ever did anything that threatened her, I would protect Lady Sera.
“Marc, you don’t need to worry about me.” Lady Sera looked at me.
“Is something wrong?” “You look like my mother when she tried to protect me while they were taking me away.” I touched my face.
Is it really that obvious?
“Lady Sera, get some sleep.
We’ll continue our journey tomorrow.” “You’re right.
But we should take turns keeping watch.” Her suggestion made sense.
There was Val, someone we had only just met, and we were in the middle of a forest.
“How about two people stay awake while one sleeps, then we take turns?
Especially since we’re in the forest and we’ve just been attacked by Blight.” “All right.
I agree.” Lady Sera accepted the idea.
“I don’t mind.” Val didn’t seem to have any objections either.
“All right, then.
Who’s going to sleep first?” I looked toward Val.
“You two go first.
I’ll take the last shift.” “All right, Lady Sera.
Get some sleep.” “Okay.” Lady Sera lay down on the ground with her back turned toward the fire.
Now it was just Val and me.
The night was quiet.
We stared at the still-burning campfire.
Neither of us said a word.
The atmosphere felt cold and awkward.
“You don’t have to be so stiff around me.
Just relax.” Val suddenly spoke.
“Hm?” I didn’t understand what he meant.
“I know you’ve been watching me this whole time.
I understand that I’m a stranger, but you don’t have to keep your eyes on me.
I don’t have any ill intentions toward either of you.” “I see.
My apologies if it bothered you.” “No.
I understand my situation too.” He seemed easy enough to talk to.
“Where are you from?” “Somewhere very far away.
Somewhere I can never return to.” “…..
After we reach the capital, what do you plan to do?
Find a job or continue traveling?” “I don’t know.
I haven’t decided where I’m going yet.” His answer was unusual.
Had he lost his home?
Or had he been exiled?
But judging from his response, he clearly didn’t want to discuss anything personal.
I decided it was better to stop asking.
Damn it.
This is so awkward.
Talking one-on-one with an older man made me uncomfortable.
Especially with someone I didn’t have much to talk about with.
Marc seemed like the introverted type.
Which meant he was probably like me.
I usually only responded when someone else started a conversation.
I glanced behind us.
There were two backpacks filled with supplies for the journey, along with the leather case containing the flintlock.
Beside them lay the weapons we had taken from the corpses.
So this is the beginning of an adventure, huh?
It sounded like something straight out of a novel I used to read.
The night remained silent.
There was absolutely no conversation between Marc and me.
I even played with a small branch just to distract myself from the awkwardness.
Eventually, Sera woke up, and it became Marc’s turn to rest.
I took the final watch because I wanted to wake up to the sunlight.
Sera and I stared at the campfire.
Every now and then, she glanced at me.
Perhaps she was simply bored from staring at the same flames.
“How did you end up in prison?” Sera suddenly asked.
It sounded like one prisoner interrogating another prisoner who had just arrived.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” “Hmm.” Sorry.
I don’t remember anything.
I don’t even know why I was imprisoned.
All I know is that I suddenly found myself there.
Sera still looked sleepy.
She struggled to keep her heavy eyes open.
Not long afterward, she lay down on the ground.
She looked like a girl who didn’t want to get out of bed on a school morning.
Wait.
If both of them fall asleep, doesn’t that mean I’ll have to stand watch until morning?
I wanted to wake Sera up, but she looked strangely cute while sleeping.
Even though she could be rather harsh toward me, I didn’t really want to disturb her.
I could wake Marc, but he had only just started his shift of sleep.
It would probably be better to wait until Marc woke up, then wake Sera as well.
After that, it would finally be my turn to sleep.
Hours passed.
The sun began to rise.
Yet neither of them woke up.
“They sleep pretty soundly, huh?
Haha.” Sera looked cute, and I didn’t want to wake her.
Marc, meanwhile, looked like an old man who reminded me of my father.
I didn’t have the heart to wake him either.
Good grief.
What kind of dilemma is this?
I looked at the sunlight filtering through the trees.
Even so, I didn’t feel sleepy at all.
Just like when I was in prison, I never felt tired.
Sometimes I slept simply to pass the boring hours.
Well, whatever.
It seemed I didn’t actually need sleep.
Is this some kind of blessing?
Or one of those supernatural abilities you always hear about in comics?