Episode 34: The First Piece (1)
“If it’s so hard to endure, why not just have a drink or two?”
She’d only said that, but Jaron looked at her with disdain, as if she was a demon who’d demanded his soul.
“I’m on a mission. Stop worrying about that and eat your own food.”
Jaron replied irritably, glaring at the rowdy mercenaries at another table, their rough beards now smeared with beer foam. His eyes held a murderous look, like he wanted to kill them, but Muriel knew better. Jaron simply wanted to drink the beer held tightly in the mercenaries’ hands.
“If you start another fight, I won’t be able to eat even if I want to.”
Due to Jaron’s fierce gaze, Muriel’s table had already been involved in three disputes. Even though the opponents ended up being beaten up by Jaron and couldn’t even touch the table, Muriel was not the kind of person who would casually eat while others shed blood.
“Then stop being so fussy and eat quickly.”
Muriel mechanically ate the watery porridge. Jaron looked at her as if she was a spoiled child who was picky about food, but Muriel was just a young woman who had no stomach for eating in the midst of brutal violence.
“How much faster do you want me to eat? It just seems like you’re hoping for another fight. Trying to vent your anger.”
“…You’re too loud.”
He could just drink, damn it.
Jaron was weak to temptation, but he was thorough in strange aspects, despite considering Sharan’s assigned mission as a tool for his own ambition.
He doesn’t drink alcohol on duty.
He doesn’t smoke cigarettes in places where traces can be left or where demons may appear.
It was a strange rule.
Even now, Jaron kept chewing on tobacco leaves without lighting a cigarette, grumbling as he did so.
He said that not smoking cigarettes during missions was a survival rule he learned during his demon-hunting days. (Many commoner knights complained about being assigned to demon-hunting units. Sometimes there were persistent demons who enjoyed hunting humans, and smoking cigarettes could lead to being tracked, so he said that smoking cigarettes during missions was strictly prohibited. Moreover, in the forest, there were not only demons but also bandits who targeted travelers’ belongings, so it was necessary to erase traces as much as possible while moving.)
“You can smoke here and then take a shower. Don’t just smoke to freshen up. Try smiling.”
“You talk too much. If you’re not going to eat anymore, get up. We’re leaving early tomorrow morning.”
Muriel stood up without a word. She also couldn’t wait to finish this journey. She didn’t know when Kaiton would appear and disrupt her plans.
But it seemed that reaching the next piece of the Ur’s sculpture would take more time and effort than she thought. She had thought that flying through the air on the wind, like Kaiton did, would be quick, but it turned out that walking on wind was a magic that required tremendous mental strength. In addition, it consumed a huge amount of Pacio, so it was said to be a magic that only a few wizards could use only for a short time.
Thanks to this, when Muriel, who knew nothing, suggested flying to their next destination, Jaron looked at her as if she was crazy. He even got nervous, asking if she wanted to turn someone into a demon. It was only after seeing him like that she realized how amazing Kaiton really was.
Since it was far from the portal, they had to move diligently to traverse the deep forest.
“What…what’s this?”
When Muriel saw Jaron trying to enter the same room, she blocked the door and asked.
“It’s hard to monitor if we use different rooms.”
“So?”
“So we have to share the room.”
Jaron shrugged as if there was no other choice, but Muriel couldn’t accept that. No, since when did he start monitoring her so closely? When Muriel looked at Dachini’s sword hanging at his waist, he didn’t feel embarrassed and instead gave her a look as if to say, ‘What do you want?’
“There are other options. Hand over the fragments. I’ll give it back tomorrow morning.”
“That’s absolutely not possible.”
“Then we have no choice but to share the same room.”
“I’m not running away. How can I go anywhere alone in this forest?!”
“Well, you might be able to do anything with the power of the Demon King. You say you have no abilities, but you know exactly where Ur’s fragments are, don’t you? Who knows what other unexpected things you can do. I have to be thorough.”
“…Even if I run away, I’ll run after finding the remaining two pieces. Share the same room… Are you crazy?”
Muriel wanted to wash her dirty body. If Jaron were there, he would just be squatting in the corner of the room without a care.
“Didn’t I tell you not to treat me like a child?”
“Is that the same as this?”
Muriel narrowed her eyes and glared, wondering if Jaron had some other hidden thoughts. As if he read her thoughts, Jaron, who had become sensitive due to not being able to drink alcohol or smoke, made a displeased expression.
“If you want to use a different room so badly, just hand over the piece. I have no intention of running away either. My position, which will be strengthened by Sharon’s power, is more important than a measly improvement with the Demon King’s power.”
“…”
It seemed like Jaron intended to take all the fragments from Muriel from the beginning.
However, that was something Muriel could absolutely not hand over. It couldn’t be helped.
“That cigarette.”
Muriel pointed to the cigarette that Jaron had been holding in his hand without being able to smoke.
“That’s not a cigarette.”
Surprised, Jaron flinched, and tried to look at Muriel expressionlessly, but Muriel was already smiling triumphantly. As Muriel’s smile grew more sinister, her expression became more cheeky.
“It’s a drug. They sell it at the 0 store.”
“…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I heard that most of the items sold in the black market violate the laws of the kingdom. They say they use black magic that Ur’s followers do… the same goes most likely goes for that cigarette… Are you confident that there are no traces of dark magic left in your body?”
“…”
“If you get caught, you’ll probably lose everything, including your promotion and honor…?”
“…Come to think of it, it would be better for us to rest comfortably today if we want to move quickly tomorrow.”
Smile.
“Right? I think the same. Then, sleep well. See you tomorrow.”
Tch. Jaron blocked Muriel’s path as she tried to enter the room. Due to Jaron’s height, Muriel couldn’t see his eyes as he faced forward. Instead, she could see his squared jaw twitching. It felt like a sharp sound of bone-breaking would be heard any moment now.
“Don’t worry. I have no intention of saying anything.”
Jaron lowered his head and looked at Muriel. His gaze was low and locked. His true colors… she thought she’d already seen them, but it seems he had a lot more than just a bad face.
“Don’t even think about playing around with me just because you caught me. I’m a loyal knight to Sharan. I won’t do anything outside of Sharan’s orders.”
“Of course. If you’re anxious, I can take a vow.”
The vow of allegiance was a magic pact made by Sharan and the three guardians. After making the vow, if one broke the promise, they would die, and if they attacked the other party, they would be cursed to death. After finding all the fragments of Ur, Muriel had intended to make Kaiton take a vow of allegiance in exchange for her pacio; she was open to testing it firsthand.
However, Jaron squinted his eyes at Muriel as if measuring something for a while, then shook his head.
“…Forget it.”
Muriel thought he’d agree to making the vow because he didn’t trust her, but Jaron was surprisingly cautious.
“Buy why do you have such a thing?”
So she became even more curious. Why would someone with a strong sense of self-control get involved with drugs being sold in the black market? If caught, all his efforts would go down the drain.
She did think he was susceptible to temptation when she saw his eyes wandering when the Dachini sword appeared in front of them, but she thought it was just his greed as a swordsman at twerk. It didn’t occur to her that he might be unrestrained at all.
“No… why did you get involved with drugs when you can resist the urge to drink and smoke?”
“…Then how do you know about Shop 0? You also recognized at once that this isn’t a normal cigarette.”
“….”
“….”
It wasn’t like she could say she saw it when she went to the store with Kaiton to buy Nihil, could she?
“…Yeah, it’s better to not know too much about each other. Goodnight.”
As Muriel entered the room, Jaron’s voice reached her from behind. It sounded a bit resentful.
“It’s not for pleasure. It’s to endure the pain.”
“What?”
“What will you do by knowing more? Just hurry up and go to bed.”
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
After going through all the trouble of giving him treatment.
Well, of course, it wasn’t like she’d done it for him.
“The fragment of Ur is mine. Hand it over.”
Muriel was attacked while sleeping. At first, she thought it was the mercenaries who had clashed with Jaron and had gotten the wrong room. But the group of three wizards and three swordsmen specifically targeted Muriel.
It was none other than Tyler Hunt who took Muriel hostage and planned to negotiate with Jaron for the fragment of Ur.
Upon hearing the commotion, Jaron came rushing over, but Muriel had already suffered a fatal injury. Was it because she was just staring at them without being scared as they threatened her?
They were swinging their swords and fiercely displaying their magic, saying they’d make her scream and to bring Jaron here.
If Muriel retaliated, they would realize it was her who had the fragment, not Jaron. Still, this was a dilemma. Should she fight back and knock down all six of them, or was it better to wait for Jaron? While Muriel was in agony, Jaron arrived.
“I thought you’d never come.”
It was doubtful that Jaron didn’t notice as many as six thugs breaking in.
“…I’m here now.”
“You came after I almost died.”
“You should have defended yourself properly. I’m not your bodyguard, am I?”
Cheeky bastard. He winced his eyes as if sorry, but didn’t say anything.
“Ouch. I’m dying. If I die, who will find the fragments…?”
“…”
It was an awkward attempt at being in pain, but it effectively silenced Jaron’s mouth when he saw the blood flowing from the cut wound on Muriel’s side.
“…I’ll have to take care of these bastards first. Can you bear it?”
“I don’t know. Can you handle all of them?”
The pale face that looked like it was about to collapse asked. Of course, he thought she would tell him to treat her first. The wound looked really deep. Was that not it? As expected, she truly was a strange noble. He was used to being around pampered nobles, but there was something peculiar about her.
“…It won’t be difficult.”
Jaron was going to say he would treat Muriel first, but he shut up. If it was urgent, she would take care of it herself. She was a saint who wielded the sculpture of Ur, afterall. It was extremely irreverent, but from what Jaron had seen, there was no aristocrat that wasn’t like that. At least Muriel didn’t have a hypocritical excuse.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t see even if you kill them.”
“…Does that mean you want me to kill them?”
“Well… depending on the interpretation, you could see it that way.”
“But I can’t kill them.”
“…Why?”
“Punishing followers is not something a lowly commoner knight like me can do. That’s Sharan’s job.”
She didn’t wish for their deaths, but she admitted she was slightly disappointed. She did want to see them in a bit of a state of panic, just as how startled she’d been when she’d been jolted awake. But Jaron was being a little too passive, just crinkling his nose without laying a hand on them. It seems that achieving the desired outcome won’t be that easy. Her disappointment must’ve been evident on her face, because Jaron replied, as if puzzled as to why.
“I’ll just kick them out.”
“…Be careful.”
There were six opponents. Among them, the swordsmen were so massive that they could be mistaken for demons. In front of them, Jaron looked small.
Jaron, who was casually stretching his shoulders as if he was warming up, nodded resolutely at Muriel’s words.
“That’s right. We mustn’t kill them.”
They can’t die until I personally hand them to Sharan. Jaron muttered to himself.
What’s this? Was that his true intention in the end?
“I’m telling you to take care of yourself, you know.”
When she shouted, this time Jaron looked bewildered.
Against these kinds of guys? His gaze seemed to say that.
