Chapter 25

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 25

SILENCE enshrouded the prison entrance that only moments prior was the scene of a dreadful battle among four Knights and a troop of more than fifty soldiers. The only ones left standing were Yuki and her companions—their enemies either lay dead or incapacitated from their injuries.

The group moved on without rest in an attempt to avoid the enemy’s reinforcements. Nasette ran while carrying an exhausted Galian until they made it to where Ain and Tita waited with the horses. Quickly mounting their horses, the group broke into an all-out gallop away from Cele.

Several backbreaking hours later finally allowed the group and their horses to rest in the middle of a grove with a creak winding through it.

Ain was the first to note how amazing it was for a group of contracted Knights—not soldiers—to gather and fight in one place.

“Bonded Knights generally serve their master, so it is very rare for them to do anything in a group. Four Knights fighting on our side is the only reason we were able to win without causalities to our side,” Ain said ardently before he left to join the rest of the men to discuss the current situation.

Left behind, Yuki and Tita set about cleaning Nasette’s bloodied armor and preparing a cold meal. They couldn’t risk a fire until they were safely back on Adolunde’s side of the border.

“You know, I was startled you suddenly took off in such a dangerous situation, Yuki,” Tita said, surprise still marring her voice.

Yuki laughed awkwardly. “I couldn’t just sit still and do nothing when there was a chance I could offer some backup.” She shyly scratched her head.

“Oh no, don’t mimic my brother!” Tita laughed when she saw Yuki’s gesture.

Blood had hardened on the armor and just wouldn’t come off. Yuki scrubbed at it with a wet cloth.

I’m kinda happy for some reason.

Yuki was rarely treated like an adult due to her childlike appearance. She wasn’t being treated like a full-fledged adult right now either, but she was heartened by a growing confidence they considered her useful in battle. She focused her strength into the hand scrubbing the armor.

I’m glad I learned archery.

Yuki practiced archery ever since she was little. During the sad times, the happy times, times when she worried, she was always, always with her bow. Ever since she stopped aging, she had to stop practicing archery in public, so she was overjoyed to be able to actively use a bow and arrow again.

This put her in a revitalized mood in comparison to the anxiety and terror she faced going into the prison dungeons. The sun had risen to the highest point in the sky and was gently spilling through the tree canopy. The rustling of leaves on the branches rang soothingly in her ears.

“Hey, do you hear something?” Tita suddenly asked dubiously.

“Hear what?” Yuki closed her eyes and listened carefully.

Someone is crying.

Yuki heard the voice of a small child crying. She jumped to her feet and ran in the direction she heard the child.

“Yuki!”

Yuki continued to run, paying no heed to Tita trying to stop her. Before long, she spotted a boy sitting on the ground bawling.

“Mommmmy!”

Yuki walked closer and saw his knee was covered in dirt mixed with a little blood, like he had tripped and scraped it.

“Hi, are you okay?” Yuki said with a smile to the sobbing boy. “Are you all right?”

The boy turned toward Yuki. The moment he saw Yuki’s eyes he instantly stopped crying and looked as if he saw something terrifying.

“Aah, my eyes are a bit of a weird color, but I’m no one scary,” Yuki tried to explain.

That’s a painful reaction to see…but I shouldn’t expect otherwise. People with violet eyes are rare in this world too.

She smiled sweetly at the boy and patted him on the head. “Boys shouldn’t cry too much.” She helped him up and offered him her hand. “My friends and I are resting over there. We’ll take care of your cuts, so come with me.”

The boy nodded and took her hand.

***

YUKI walked back to where they had set up a temporary camp. Tita stood up the moment she noticed her approach. Luca and the others were right next to her. Yuki walked over to them in high spirits, wondering whether they were already finished with their discussion.

“Yuki!” Tita looked anxious.

“This boy fell over there and hurt himself. I’m going to wash and treat his wounds for him,” Yuki said with an innocent grin, when Luca walked right up to her.

She thought he had business with the boy, when he swung his hand and slapped her across the cheek. He didn’t hit her with his full strength, but he didn’t hold back completely either. A dry smack rang in Yuki’s ears.

“Luca!” Tita screamed.

Yuki’s ears were ringing. Heat rose to the area where her cheek was slapped and it throbbed with a sharp pain. Yuki brought her left hand to her reddened cheek and stood in a daze, utterly unaware of why she was slapped.

What was that? What exactly did I do? Did I do something worthy of being slapped? Yuki wondered, anger rapidly boiling inside her.

“What are you doing!” she shouted.

“That’s enough!”

Yuki glared at him. Luca was expressionless, but his expressionlessness was scary in and of itself. Yuki flinched.

“What has been with you lately? Just when I think you’ve requested to do something selfish for no sane reason I can comprehend, you suddenly wander onto the battlefield and put yourself in danger. To top it all off you pick up some brat when you yourself are nothing more than a child. Why are you getting in our way when you can’t even take care of yourself?”

Getting in our way. Those words pierced through Yuki’s heart like a spear. Was he saying everything she thought she did with good intentions to help actually just caused more problems?

I’m such an idiot. I’m embarrassed I happily thought they treated me like an adult and that I did something useful.

Shame and the desire to disappear overwhelmed her when she thought about how everyone witnessed her shameful display.

Heat rose to Yuki’s eyes. She told herself she shouldn’t cry, but once the switch flipped on, the tears wouldn’t stop. Wanting to escape from that place, she turned on her heel and ran. She heard Tita and Ain call after her, but she couldn’t look back.

She turned just before nearly ramming into a tree and continued to run on the impulse of her emotions. She wanted the embarrassment weighing on her chest to disappear. She wanted to erase the sadness lingering in her mind. Yuki continued to run and run, even once she ran out of breath and her sides ached.

Once her thighs hurt so bad she couldn’t run anymore, she found herself walking. Even then, she kept walking for some distance before eventually sliding onto her butt on the ground. The cold ground felt nice and cool against her overheated body.

“…Haah…” Tears poured down her cheeks streak after streak.

“What’s with you, stupid tears?” she cursed after wiping the tears over and over again, but they still spilled down her cheeks with a vengeance.

I knew it. Not a single thing has changed about me. I thought things had changed a little since I came to this world. I thought I could live carefree here without ever feeling inferior again. All of that is surely thanks to Luca—I knew that from the start.

“That’s why I wanted to be of use to him…!” she weakly explained to the empty space around her.

He said I was getting in their way. Which basically means I’m useless to him, right? That’s no different from how I was in the past. I wonder if it’s impossible for me to be with him any longer.

She ran away from them. She ran so far she had no idea where she even was anymore. Surely no one will search for someone as useless as me, she thought self-derisively and started sobbing.

I wish the key for returning to my own world was experiencing this intense sadness, Yuki thought, begrudging the gods for her situation.