“Did you have a fantastic night, lovers? It seems like it was quite fiery. Of course, the bonfire, I assume. Why are you blushing? Is there something else on your mind?”
The next morning, Akashi literally started talking to us while fixing his hair the moment he woke up. Alterra grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up, but Akashi’s mockery showed no sign of stopping.
“…Yuna, say something.”
“…Me… Me?! Uh, uh. That. So… What name should we give to the baby?!”
Yuna, even you? Watching her ears turn red and unable to meet our eyes straight, it seems like she thinks we’ve already done it, though we haven’t yet.
…Not yet. Again, the seal on the back of my hand throbbed, showing absurd fantasies, but I quickly shook them off. It’s because I know Alterra wouldn’t do that.
“…Mari, is there anything you want to say?”
-The womb is ready. You may insert genetic material at any time for conception.
Stop talking. Words are the root of evil. While pinching the bridge of her nose, Alterra was still swinging Akashi around in the air, and I told her that was enough.
“Alterra, that’s enough. Akashi probably expected this reaction when teasing us. He’ll get tired and fall down eventually if you ignore him.”
Lately… or rather, ever since yesterday, the frequency of these illusions has increased. I had an idea why—it started after reviving her will to live on the volcano.
Artist, Akashi, Yuna. Even though I knew it was absurd, I got a little shaken watching it all unfold. Now, I understand it’s just ridiculous delusion, so I can laugh it off.
What now? Mari and me? That doesn’t make sense. You’re just randomly connecting things. There’s no way Alterra would do that.
“…If you keep acting this way, I might rip out your tongue next time.”
Alterra issued a menacing warning and then threw Akashi aside. After rolling on the ground a few times, Akashi irritated her one last time by saying he’d anticipated this reaction.
“…So, those were real gods? Gods aren’t as great as they’re cracked up to be, maybe.”
“Not entirely wrong. Some fell due to their own mistakes. The Beautiful Demon is the most representative example—how much she loved discord and destruction between lovers. She once showed horrifying visions to her followers, making them kill each other.”
Akashi said this while looking at me. Even though his eyes were bandaged, I could tell he was staring at me, some kind of light visible.
“Shut up, Akashi. Just prepare breakfast. We still have leftover land shrimp from yesterday. And stop telling your private stories—it’s only entertaining because it’s unusual. If I don’t find these boring tales interesting, I won’t listen anymore.”
Akashi, somewhat surprised, agreed to follow orders, reigniting the extinguished bonfire from the night before and roasting the land shrimp. Judging by his smirk, his exile likely had something to do with his personality.
“…G, so… what name…?”
Yuna was still hung up on asking me what we’d name our child. When I told her to stop asking, she apologized but added:
“It’s just… I think it’d be sad if later on, they realize someone other than their parents named them… Besides, you two… you’re after a Dragon, right? So… if either of you…”
Ah. As the conversation turned somber and I wondered whether I should explain, Alterra, who had just finished washing off the dirt, confidently reassured Yuna.
“No one’s dying. So relax, Yuna. We’ll survive properly and send you… um… what was it again…”
She confidently spoke but seemed to forget the word she wanted mid-sentence. After thinking for a bit, I guessed randomly.
“An invitation?”
“Oh, right! An invitation! We’ll send you a proper invitation, so stay alive until then, Yuna!”
Though bemused by Alterra’s bold promise, Yuna nodded, saying she’d bring her friends to the wedding and asked us to prepare well.
“Since they’re big eaters, if you don’t prepare enough, all the food will be gone. Better to prepare thoroughly, Alterra. They eat more than you.”
If they eat more than Alterra, they must really eat a lot. Anyway, to keep that promise, getting stronger is the priority. Although I’ve grown stronger, I’m still far from being worthy to stand beside her. But…
There’s no need to desperately chase strength like last time. Being hasty won’t speed up achievements anyway. Most importantly, demons will try to exploit such desperation in my mind.
This power I vowed to wield for her. If I let it control me and worry her, it’d be putting the cart before the horse.
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s leave the happy future talk here. Come and eat, you bug-eaters. Hurry up and eat so we can move on to the next village. How long do you plan to dawdle?”
Akashi urged us to eat quickly, clearly not pleased with our cozy camaraderie.
Should I call it shrimp? It’s closer to a pill bug. Once you remove its legs, it looks like a slightly large sausage, which makes it bearable.
It tastes good, though. While chewing absentmindedly, I noticed a small flower on the ground.
Its petals were as white as Alterra’s hair, and its inner side was yellow like her eyes—a beautiful flower. Without thinking, I picked it.
Why did I pick it? It would’ve been better left alone. Still, I couldn’t look away—it reminded me of Alterra.
…Hmm. Maybe I could make a flower ring and give it to her. Swallowing a piece of land shrimp, I clumsily tried to weave the stem into a ring while preserving the flower as much as possible. Though I wasn’t the one confessing but receiving, it was embarrassingly amateurish. Still…
I wanted to give her something.
Approaching her with both hands full of skewered land shrimp, I offered her the clumsy flower ring I made.
“…Alterra. It’s a gift. I tried making it… What do you think? Do you… like it?”
As soon as I gave it to her, my confidence suddenly dropped. No matter how leniently judged, it wasn’t well-made.
“…Is this seriously for me?”
Alterra stopped eating, widened her eyes, and asked if it was really for her. Was the quality the issue? I could tell it was crude; she probably saw it too.
Just as I was about to brush it off, she snatched the ring from my hand and cherished it like a treasure.
She scrutinized it so closely that it made me, the maker, feel awkward. Just as I began regretting giving it, she suddenly started coating it with shimmering dust.
“Hey, Alterra? What are you doing…?”
“Preservation treatment. You made this with your hands, so I can’t let it wilt.”
Wait. I didn’t say I made it with my hands. Before I could ask, she answered as if reading my thoughts.
“How did I know you made it with your hands? Because it’s clumsy. But that’s why it’s more valuable. It’s the effort, the heart in it, isn’t it?”
“…Is that so?”
Her encouragement that it didn’t have to be perfect restored my confidence somewhat. Though openly admitting it wasn’t well-made stung a bit. Well, I knew it wasn’t well-made anyway.
“Thanks for the gift, Myungho.”
…But if Alterra liked it, wasn’t that enough? I smiled awkwardly back at her happy face.
—
Exactly a day after Myungho gave Alterra the flower ring, we finally arrived at the village. Something felt off, though. Though I didn’t expect much vibrancy…
Coughs and groans filled the air. Every house echoed with the sounds of the sick. Whether it was the vigilantes or anyone else, they all seemed afflicted. The streets were desolately empty.
“…Is there some kind of epidemic going around? Everyone seems to be bedridden.”
I’m tough, so this kind of sickness doesn’t bother me, but I worried about Myungho and Yuna. Especially Myungho. Yuna is strong, but honestly, Myungho isn’t exactly robust.
“That’s true. At least there aren’t bodies lying around in the streets, so it’s fortunate in that regard. It doesn’t seem severe enough for that. Hmm. But… we need to find someone to ask.”
To gather information, we needed someone to talk to. Randomly entering houses felt inappropriate. Deciding to search separately for anyone relatively healthy, we split up.
The town wasn’t very large, so the search didn’t take long. Following the small beam of light Myungho shot into the sky, we found two girls.
One had her arm wrapped in a splint, likely broken, while the other, though without visible bandages, looked pale and obviously unwell.
…They look familiar somehow.
Regardless of who they were, they seemed to be among the few mobile people, so I decided to ask them what happened.
“Excuse me, may I ask what’s happened in this village?”
When Myungho asked, the taller girl with striking blue eyes replied.
“…Are you travelers? Then you’ve come at a bad time. Not long ago… an epidemic spread through the village.”
