CH 71

It was all his fault.

After crying for a long time in the colorless landscape, the conclusion he came to was simple. If it wasn’t for him, she wouldn’t have died.

His thoughts were very hasty, incoherent, and at the same time irrational. As far as anyone can see, Ei’s death wasn’t his fault. In the first place, the person who killed her hasn’t been identified, so who is to blame?

However, what Dante was thinking about at that moment wasn’t the situation in which she died. He was looking a little further back in the past. Had he been a little calmer, he would have noticed the whole thought was pointless.

At the time, Dante’s head was a mess of rage and sadness, and a burnt sting on the tip of his nose stirred it up even more. So, with his incompetent head, he thought incessantly.

Ah, back then.

If they hadn’t come to this village then.

If only they had continued to live in that small, narrow house where they first met. If only they had stayed in the forest surrounded by trees instead of a village where all the scenery could be captured at a glance.

In the short time he spent searching for Ei’s traces, he managed to find that the forest next to the village was quite intact. The trees with only a little burnt smell, the soil and grass that were only slightly disorganized at the entrance, and the house with no traces of anyone visiting it… Everything remained unchanged.

It was unknown whether the fire was intentionally left alone because they feared that it would spread widely and cause damage to themselves, or whether they focused on setting off a bomb in the village and ignored it in the past. But the important thing was that, unlike the village, only the forest was neat.

If they were there, she might not have died.

Again, if Dante had been a little calmer, he would have realized that the whole idea was meaninglessㅡ

“…”

Dante, who stopped breathing for a moment, staggered to his feet.

With his reddened eyes exposed, the place he headed towards was none other than the forest near the village. To be precise, the house of their past, where people no longer live, but only the memories of her remain.

It didn’t take long to get there. He just blankly followed the road he had become accustomed to, and before he knew it, he arrived in front of the house where they were living together.

A small house with an ugly appearance, a charred wall on one side, and a small window.

The grass around the house, which no one had taken care of, was growing thick. It doesn’t seem like the time they didn’t come there was that long, yet the place where no traces of people had disappeared had turned into an abandoned house that had been neglected for a long time.

The scenery seemed to clearly show the passage of time, thus it felt like a distant past when he collapsed nearby and they lived together.

After standing in front of a familiar yet unfamiliar house for a long time, he finally reached out and grabbed the doorknob. The door opened easily with a slight push, and what was visible through the gap was a desolate landscape with only an old sofa remaining.

Compared to the ruined village, the desolation in front of him was very, very intact. The old sofa and the sunlight sitting on it reminded him of her.

To the point where I helplessly recall the scenery you were in here…

It was obviously an illusion, yet it was the most earnest thing for him at the time.

As if he was trying not to break the scenery in front of his eyes, his steps toward the sofa were infinitely slow. Even with a slow pace, his legs quickly reached the small sofa. As he lowered his posture and sat on it, a soft sensation immediately enveloped him.

The tension that felt natural was released, and the strength slowly drained from his body. The sofa smelled faintly of dust, indicating that it had been neglected for a long time. It was similar to the burnt smell that was vibrating in the village, but it was distinctly different.

You liked this sofa. Sitting on the sofa, staring out the window, he thought blankly. You loved sitting on this sofa and looking out there.

It seemed that one day, he asked Ei why she was staring out the window so endlessly. Ei answered that question with a peaceful face.

[Looking at the sky, I can feel the passage of time.]

[…And what of that?]

[It’s just. Sometimes that just puts me at ease.]

After hearing that answer, sometimes, when Ei was away, Dante would sit here too. He wanted to feel how she felt, how she always looked at the scenery outside the window for such a long time.

Dante didn’t just stare at the sky like she did, but instead, he waited for her.

He hoped that Ei, who was going to visit her friend, would return before it was too late, that she would open the door and come in then find him sitting here, and that she would smile, albeit faintly.

There were times when he took it for granted. If he’s spending time alone somehow, it won’t be long before she returns.

“…”

Thinking of her in this place of hers knowing that she wouldn’t come back. Dante felt that fact more than anyone else. But, nonetheless.

As he sat like this, it was as if he was waiting for Ei. He seemed to be thinking of someone who had just gone away, someone who would soon return.

And if he keeps waiting and thinking about it like this, it feels like she will come back to him as if everything was a lie.

In the end, Dante had to stay there for a while until the outside of the window was filled with the sunset.

For a while.

***

R1.

It has been several days since he lost contact with his boss.

Rook’s boss, that is to say, the Master of the Magic Tower, was originally selfishㅡwho wouldn’t let anyone know about their marriage! Such a major event!ㅡAlthough he often went into hiding without saying a word, it was the first time he had abandoned such work and disappeared.

That’s just because he couldn’t get in touch with his wife!

“It’s possible for her to be unable to get in touch with him, so what’s the point of suddenly disappearing?”

As always, taking care of the work related to the Magic Tower instead, Rook grumbled to himself.

After being attacked by the degenerates and losing contact for a while, and after living with and marrying the person who saved him, the boss acted as if he was missing a screw somewhere. First, he got drunk with happiness and lowered his vigilance towards the degenerates, and second, was to abandon the work and disappear.

Fortunately, in the meantime, the degenerates didn’t show any noticeable movements… To be honest, it was true that Rook was anxious. What should he do if he can’t deal with it when something happens while he’s complacent like this?

The person who was already living in a place far away from the Magic Tower, and the boss who contacted him freely yet didn’t want to receive any contact, were unlikely to listen to his advice that was close to nagging, but he felt that way anyway.

He muttered a few words of dissatisfaction for his boss when suddenly a light flickered from the communication tool on the desk. Rook, who inadvertently looked at the light, recognized that it was a call from the Master of the Magic Tower and snatched the communication tool.

It was a bonus that he remembered that he had suddenly cut off contact the other day.

“Where have you been? You need to come back right now…”

[…Rook.]

At the voice calling his name, Rook snapped his mouth shut.

“Tower Master, your voice…”

[…]

“Weren’t you going to meet Miss Ei? Did something happen there?”

[…Now.]

“Pardon?”

[Right now… Investigate those who bought a lot of red magic stones.]

“Suddenly, what… Tower Master, you have to tell me what’s going on.”

Before Rook could finish his question, there was a pop and the lights on the communication port flashed again. It was a signal that the connection was broken.

He just talked by himself and then hung up? Really?

Rook tried to connect with the Master of the Mage Tower several times in a bit of bewilderment and worry, yet the other person didn’t respond to his contact.

Laying down the silent communication phrase, Rook thought about the words the Master of the Magic Tower had unilaterally uttered.

What did he say, red magic stones? And to investigate who bought it?

Why is that, all of a sudden? Isn’t it too out of the blue for a husband who went to search for his wife? Rook always couldn’t understand his boss’s thoughts, but especially today.

He would have been more understanding if he had asked him about the progress of his work and the rectification of what he had abandoned.

He couldn’t even ask why his voice sounded like it was scratching. It’s something he was told to do at once, so he had to…

“…What on earth happened?”

Unexpecting what was about to happen, Rook muttered in bewilderment.