Chapter 14: Evil Spirits

“Your movements are good. If you were a man, you’d be fine holding a sword. Of course…”

It would be impossible with this body. Even getting on a horse would be hard. Even if muscles were added to those slender arms, it was obvious she wouldn’t be able to lift even a baby dragon. Men born with weak, frail bodies mostly ended up as shepherds or noble ladies’ playthings before dying.

“Consider yourself lucky you weren’t born a man.”

He was already born a man, yet he was being told to consider himself lucky he hadn’t been born one. Even though his face resembled a woman’s, he was a man with a sturdy body. According to Kay, he had a d*ck and a beautiful face, so he would definitely be popular with women. But Jerond mistook him for a woman, and on top of that, trampled his pride as a man.

Luti crunched the candy in his mouth. When he bit down on the candy that had shrunk in his mouth, the fresh scent of raspberry filled it. Luti’s eyes widened at the unexpected. He had thought it was just hardened sugar water, but it wasn’t. Within it came the very rare taste of raspberries.

“Madame Carso is skilled. She’s known as a craftsman even within the Empire. When we arrive at the castle, I’ll introduce you to Madame Carso first. If you’re curious about other flavors, you can eat more.”

Luti chewed the candy slowly. He liked the raspberry scent lingering in his mouth, so he licked his lips and sent the taste deep into his throat. Just as he was about to be swept up in happiness, the carriage suddenly lurched hard. It wasn’t the vibration he had felt moments before. It was the force of something huge ramming into it with all its strength.

“…!!”

Startled, Luti nearly dropped the box. When his light body even floated up, Jerond quickly pulled him back. With the sound of the remaining candy falling to the floor, Jerond, who had Luti in his arms again, spoke quietly.

“We arrived faster than I thought. Or maybe I lost track of time.”

It was probably the latter. The black horse ran at a steady speed, and the distance was always the same. But because he was with this nameless girl, he only realized now that they were getting close to Nipleth.

Jerond knocked hard on the carriage door. When his fist struck twice at regular intervals, the running carriage slowed and soon stopped.

“Nipleth will appear soon. It’s a harsh land that freezes everything. You’ve lived in the forest, so you know what winter is like, don’t you?”

At Jerond’s question, Luti nodded, forgetting that he was once again in this man’s arms.

“Many things will happen in a single day. You only need to endure one day.”

As soon as Jerond’s warning ended, Pei knocked on the carriage window. When the door opened, Pei’s eyes, which had been taking in the scene inside the carriage, froze.

“Why?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

It was an unexpected sight. The woman who should definitely be lying flat on the floor was actually on Jerond’s lap.

“I brought the shoes and the cloak.”

“Put them there.”

Pei set the heavy things down at his feet. As he tried to take in the blond figure in Jerond’s arms, Jerond’s voice reached him.

“Raise the black horse’s speed to the maximum. Even if those things come at us fiercely, don’t mind them and keep up speed until you reach Frigg Hill. When you reach the edge of the hill, turn to follow Clom. You protect me. I’ll send a knight as soon as we arrive first.”

Pei’s eyes wavered as if puzzled. It was not the method he had always used. The man who would catch and kill anything in sight was telling him not to mind even if evil spirits rushed at them. Every time they passed Nipleth, he had leisurely torn apart the limbs of vengeful ghosts and evil spirits to pass the time, and now he was telling him to go at maximum speed.

“I’ve already told Clom.”

They understood without being told. The reason they were called brothers was that they had never once made different judgments. Whether going into battle or entering the arena for fun, the two always made the same decision. Since they chose like a decalcomania, Clom, who must be far away, would surely follow at maximum speed on his own.

“Night will fall. Hurry.”

Pei closed the door without complaint. As the carriage started again, Jerond handed Luti what Pei had left.

“Put them on. The cloak and the shoes.”

“…”

“Pull the hat down as far as you can. Only let your nose and eyes show.”

It was cold. He was already shivering. Luti, who had climbed down from Jerond’s lap, wrapped the cloak around himself with trembling hands and put on the shoes. But when he didn’t know how to put on the fur hat he was seeing for the first time, Jerond’s hand picked up the hat and pressed it firmly onto Luti’s head.

“I hate talkative, troublesome things.”

He said that, but his touch was not like that. It seemed rough, but he was carefully pulling the hat down to cover Luti’s head completely.

“Are you cold?”

Luti shook his head. Jerond, watching Luti shake his head no with a frozen nose tip, took something from a leather pouch and handed it over.

“If you hold it, you’ll be warm.”

It was a stone heated in fire. The heated stone had been wrapped several times in leather and cloth, and it was surely Jerond’s share. He was human too, so he must be cold, but Jerond had yielded it for the sake of the fragile woman.

Luti held the warm stone to his chest and curled up. He had climbed down from the man’s lap, but he was still beside him. He could hear the man breathing, and the sound of his pounding heart. Hearing the sounds Jerond’s body made, separate from the noisy carriage, Luti suddenly felt lost.

He was getting closer to the Empire where this man lived, but nothing about his own safety was decided. The land called the Empire, whose location he didn’t even know. As soon as he arrived, he could die or live. Everything was in this man’s hands, and even if the man hanged him alive and killed him, he could not resist.

Right now the man had given him warm clothes and even the stone that had been his own share, but no one knew how things would change once they reached the Empire. When he suddenly pictured himself dying by Jerond’s hand, the candy in his mouth tasted bitter.

As he held back the urge to spit it out, his eyelids began to grow heavy. Luti blinked slowly. His sleepiness poured in so heavily that even the sound of the fierce wind grew quiet. His head tilted to the side and bumped softly against Jerond’s body. Jerond looked down at Luti, then quietly turned his head away.

The stone in his arms was truly too warm.

When he woke, it was dark all around. What was flying were snowflakes, and he only felt that they were running at a terrifying speed with a fierce wind. He felt as if he were floating in the air because they were running so fast; this was not a speed an ordinary horse could have.

“You’re awake?”

Luti pushed back the hat that kept sliding down. When he pushed the long cylindrical hat back, Jerond’s cold eyes came into view.

“The evil spirits are rampaging.”

“…”

“We’re running at a speed they can’t catch up with, so they’re furious.”

Jerond gestured outside the carriage with his chin. Luti brought his face close to the carriage window. Then, through the snowflakes flying wildly, he thought he saw dark shapes. He couldn’t tell their exact shape, so he opened his eyes wide and focused. At that moment, with a bang, something huge lunged at him.

“…!”

Startled, he jerked back. It was definitely not human. It had a bizarre form with melting eyes, nose, and mouth, and it was a strange creature with a dog’s head.

“It’s imagination.”

Luti turned his head at Jerond’s voice. Then, looking at him with an unreadable expression, Jerond continued.

“They’re beings that don’t exist. It’s a method to provoke fear by stimulating human imagination.”

“Here, look.” He slightly lowered the carriage window. Then quietness rushed in beyond the window. That was right. There was nothing.

Though the scenery seen through the carriage window clearly showed snowflakes flying violently, the actual world beyond the carriage was quiet. It felt as if it were crouching and holding itself back, containing thousands, tens of thousands of gazes.

He got goosebumps. When Luti flinched, Jerond raised the window. Again the scene of monsters rushing at them appeared. The torso of a person with severed limbs ran toward the carriage and clung to it with strange groans. It was creepy and disgusting, but the scariest thing was how quiet it had been outside the window.

They were eyes that hid their existence and only watched. Thousands, maybe tens of thousands of eyes did nothing and only observed. They watched quietly, as if waiting to see when he would be startled and bounce out, how he would resist and struggle, or whether he would hold his breath before they rushed in and cut off his breath in an instant.

“Those killed by humans hold grudges. They’re already dead souls, but they can’t leave this place. They probably want to devour the humans who caused them to die away from home and be reborn, but not a chance.”

“…”

“As you can see, they can’t do anything. They’re like birds that puff themselves up to bluff. They rely on human imagination while unable to do anything themselves, the pathetic things. I’m most comfortable when I tear apart those evil spirits’ limbs. Because I don’t have to act with conscience.”

They were evil spirits and strange ghosts. Beings without substance that could be killed and had to be killed. Since they would be reborn as evil spirits anyway and could not leave this place, it was easiest to swing his sword while thinking of it as practice.

“Entering the quiet darkness and cutting off their necks is even peaceful.”

That was why he always lingered whenever passing through this area. He didn’t like that they noticed Jerond’s presence and hid themselves, but that was why, even though the number of evil spirits he tore limb from limb was decreasing, it was the optimal space for swinging his sword without thought.

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