Side Story 2
The Hour of Awakening
Part 4
1
“Whoa, whooaaa…….Another three or four hours of riding over that pass and we’ll be at Fort LeGaben, Your Highness.
Incris told him.
It was partly to give Radan an update on the journey, and partly to slow down.
As they rode the sun had set.
As soon as they entered the LeGaben Mountains, they switched to horseback because they could no longer keep using the carriage.
After seven years away at war, the cold was more than he would have expected, and his hands were numb from holding the reins.
But the thought of the Duke of Elkiana sitting behind him barely able to breathe, prevented him from suggesting that they take it easy.
Having been born and raised in a year-round hot climate like Kemened, the Duke had never known a real winter. This cold, which would make even the sturdiest of Knights feel as though they were freezing to death, would be a hellish experience for him.
However, there was no mention of cold.
Radan felt that if he complained right here, he would be a very terrible person.
Even when Radan mentioned that he was cold, the Incris took off his fur cloak and tried to give it to him. Radan railed against the idea, but incis reminded the Duke that he could always tell him if he was cold.
Incris snorted through his frozen snot.
Damn it!
His Majesty and the Duke.
Those two were the ones who fought, so why do they have to suffer this…….
This was unfair, to say the least!
It was no secret among the Guardian Knights that the relationship between the Crown Prince and Duke of Elkiana had been strained of late.
To hear Sidris and Veroz tell it, the Crown Prince was, of course, at fault.
For one reason or another, the Duke had been avoiding the Prince, and the Prince had been in a foul mood for days.
Well, that was understandable. It was only natural to feel bad when the love of your life suddenly shuns you.
He could even understand why the Crown Prince felt the need to go on a hunt, whether it was to cheer himself up or to blow off steam.
However, when you’re talking about the Giant Reshi of the LeGaben Mountains, well, that’s a very different story.
This was self-abuse.
Incris blew his nose and muttered a low whisper to himself.
I suppose it’s all right for His Majesty.
After all, he’s so strong and sturdy, that a little bit of cold might not be a big deal.
If the Crown Prince were to brave the cold and travel to the fringes to inspect the guards, it would be an effective way to win over the people.
However, there’s no need for His Highness Elkiana, really.
It was all because he had been running his mouth.
A day after Prince Leshak left for the North with a small entourage.
The Duke of Elkiana, the man who caused it, sought him out.
The Duke was quite shocked that the Prince had left without telling him, and his complexion changed when he realized that he would be gone for the entire winter.
Incris, who felt so sorry for Duke Elkiana, somehow ended up telling the Duke that he had heard that the Duke was angry with The Crown Prince, that The Crown Prince knew it, and that The Crown Prince was very upset, and that he had gone off into the wilderness, where everybody else dreaded to go, and so on.
Incris added a little embellishment to his tale of the North, thinking that if he could stir up the Duke’s sympathies, it would make reconciliation easier. He told him that hunting the Giant Reshi is a terribly dangerous business and that there are a few men killed each year.
Incris, of course, meant to suggest that this meant that the Crown Prince cared a great deal for the Duke, and that the Duke should cease to be displeased and welcome him when he returned.
But before Incris could finish, the Duke said, “Then I must go.”
At first, he thought he meant to head back to his chambers and he offered to escort him.
But then the Duke asked, “What do I need to prepare in order to go to the North?”
That’s when he should have walked away.
Of course, he couldn’t entrust the Duke of Elkiana’s life to just anyone, so of course he had to be the one to do it, but he wasn’t exactly up to the North.
If he had known it would be so frigid, so far away, and the roads so treacherous, he would have had Glenn or one of the other Guardian Knights do it.
Ugh, he really regretted having mentioned anything.
Now his nose was burning and aching.
Incris pulled the furry scarf tighter around his face, almost to his eyes. That was better.
It was the Duke who offered him the scarf. Incris had refused the scarf as he rode down the path, when the Duke rustled up behind him, took off his scarf, and wrapped it around him.
He was caught off guard and tried to refuse, but his hands were busy clutching the reins of his horse. The Duke tied it around his neck, telling him not to say no twice.
“Then let’s keep going, the road is rough, so you must be extra careful. These woods are not meant to be ridden in after dark, and even the most skilled horseman can easily fall off.”
“Yes, I’ll be careful.”
The party soon entered the forest path.
Once they made it safely through this dense, steep forest, the path widened considerably.
A fork in the road appeared ahead. Incris gestured with his arm in advance.
“I’m going to take the path to the right, and if I fall, don’t panic, just hold on to me.”
Something strange happened next.
“No. Go left.”
The Duke of Elkiana spoke as though he could actually see.
“……What?”
Incris, who was about to pull on the reins to point the way, turned his head in bewilderment.
Radan was still blindfolded.
Incris waved a hand in front of Radan’s eyes, just in case. Judging by his lack of reaction, he couldn’t see it.
“That looks like a path to the left, but it’s not a path. That’s a hunting trail that leads close to the Giant Reshi’s habitat, and is used for hunting. It goes in the opposite direction from the LeGaben keep.”
“I see.”
Radan nodded obediently. But he didn’t change his tune.
“Go left, though.”
“No, Your Highness. I told you.”
“I think we should go left.”
“……?”
Incris narrowed his eyes. Veroz, who had been riding ahead of him, turned his horse’s head and had a similar look on his face.
Something about Radan seemed off.
He looked no different than he had when he left Crateas Palace, but suddenly he seemed to be a different person, a different being.
Moonlight streamed across Radan’s cloak.
Because it was nighttime the stars were twinkling, and the broken moonlight giggled across his dark hair.
The wind rustled through the forest like the sound of a melody being sung.
Radan was the forest, and the forest was Radan.
These cold, dreary woods were changed by Radan’s presence. The darkness became secretive, the stars were chattering, and the air was cold but welcoming.
Everything in the forest welcomed Radan.
“I’ve been here before.”
Sitting behind Incris’s back, Radan seemed so very far removed.
“You mean here…… in the North?”
“When this whole forest was an ice mountain.”
“…….”
That was before there was an Empire.
Incris and Veroz exchanged dazed looks.
Radan was speaking of the first time a fire spirit encountered a human named Caliph.
“Mmm. No, but……,”
Incris shook his head in confusion.
“We can’t go where there’s no path…… and besides, time is of the essence…….”
That’s when Veroz trotted over.
“Let’s go.”
He took a sharp left onto the path.
“Um? Hey, Roz. Are you okay?”
“What? Why? Something wrong?”
“Okay, but we’ve got His Highness.”
“No, It’s because of…….”
Veroz’s horse became a swift darkness and disappeared into the bushes.
“Oh, this bastard. Really!”
Incris urged his horse into a trot.
Radan put a hand on Incris’s shoulder.
“Let’s hurry.”
“Yes……? I mean, of course, I should……. But this is not the way……,”
“I think it’s saying something’s coming.”
“Hmm?”
Radan said as if someone was telling him a story.
It was so alien, so enigmatic, and yet so unsettling.
Incris thought he understood why Veroz had taken the path to the left without hesitation.
Right now, it seemed as though Radan would go where he needed to go, alone if they refused to follow. It felt like he could go as far as he wanted to go, unencumbered, unburdened, and free.
“Who are you…… talking to, Your Grace?”
Incris asked, trying to hide his anxiety.
“Well, I don’t really know, but they’re telling me to hurry.”
“Mmm…….”
There was nothing more to say.
Incris gritted his teeth and forced himself to speak.
“Hold on tight so you don’t tumble off, Your Highness, or I will be punished by the Crown Prince.”
Incris muttered to himself, ‘Maybe if I tell him these things, His Majesty give me some leeway when I decide to run away’.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than FoolishtranslationsS.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
2
“…….”
The cold stream seemed to have frozen his heart.
Leshak submerged himself completely in the water, which wasn’t even close to being frozen.
It was cold, but not cold enough. Somewhere inside him, something that was still on fire needed to be cooled.
“‘Damn it.”
Leshak made a raw, guttural sound.
It was Radan’s words that sparked the fire.
-I’m glad His Majesty wasn’t looking for me.
After that, he didn’t sleep.
It wasn’t quite the same as losing Radan, but it was close enough.
Leshak had already seen what happens to him when Radan is gone, and even if he tried to forget it, he couldn’t.
He couldn’t relive that again, and he wouldn’t let it happen.
There was nowhere on this continent that Radan could escape.
He could not go to Amboia, for the mad Lord of the Gett would never set foot on continental soil again.
Leshak wasn’t worried about the potential for losing Radan. What concerned him was his anticipation of Radan’s growing frustration at Leshak’s behavior and how Radan would eventually lose his patience with him.
“……No, you’re already starting to.”
Leshak sighed from the icy waters.
He had given up trying to figure out what Radan was upset about because it would take too long.
It was probably for pretty much those same reasons anyway.
That crazy Lord of the Gett, and those ignorant noblemen.
Oh, except for the cat sent by the Regent of Kemened…that’s a different story.
……Madness. How is that even possible? As if one cat wasn’t bad enough, we’re going to have two more creatures?
Damn it! I can’t handle this. I can’t let anything happen.
“…….”
Leshak’s countenance resembled that of the surface of the water just before it freezes.
It resembled it all the more as an ashen shadows streaked across the cold, dark water that flowed eerily silent.
Leshak let out an incoherent expletive.
“……Fuck!”
Roarrrr…….
A beast’s growl rippled across the surface of the water.
The ashen shadow was a Giant Reshi, and Leshak was nearly naked, his only weapon a hunting dagger dangling below his tunic.
Boom!
The beast lunged at him.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than FoolishtranslationsS.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
3
“Go towards the sound of water.”
It was a strange experience.
There were two knights with their two good sets of eyes, receiving directions from a blindfolded Radan.
Incris didn’t even feel the need to comment on how strange it was.
“Did you say you heard the sound of water? I can’t quite hear it.”
Radan pointed a finger in the direction.
“It’s that way.”
“I see.”
The group was no longer on horseback.
The forest was getting too dense for the horses to run through, so they tethered them to a suitable spot and traveled on foot.
Radan walked through the thick, uneven forest floor without any discomfort.
Occasionally, he’d come across something like a large tree root, and he’d stop or move out of the way without needing Incris or Veroz to tell him.
When they asked him how he knew, he said someone told him.
He couldn’t help but think, “Huh. Are you a channeling a fairy or something…….” and Radan said he didn’t really know, he felt it was like something from a long time ago.
Anyway, as they headed in the direction that Radan was leading, they started to hear a really faint sound of water.
“Ah, there it is. I’ll go ahead and see what this place is all about.”
Veroz sped up.
And then,
Raaaaaah!
A screech pierced the night air.
“Oh, my God! What was that?”
“Is that Giant Reshi?”
Radan suddenly leaped forward.
“Ugh, Your Highness, if you keep going like that-“
Radan was running. Having no choice, Veroz and Incris ran after him.
“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”
Just when their breathing was becoming painful, a not-so-shallow creek came into view.
“Hey, what’s this place……,”
Incris said, breathing heavily. There was no one by the creek, despite the screams from earlier.
“Cris. Come here.”
There was no one, but there was something.
Veroz called to Incris. What he found was a torn garment.
“This appears to be His Highness’s clothing, isn’t it?”
“……Wait.”
Incris crouched down flat. He pulled up the torn sleeve and scanned the ground around the torn piece of clothing.
Then he looked at the sleeve and saw a stain that wasn’t just a differant shade of dirt.
It was definitely red.
“Blood!”
The faces of the two guardians turned grim.
“That sound you heard just now, then…….”
It was then.
Splash!
Radan dove into the stream.
“Your Highness!”
“Stop! Where do you think you’re going!”
Incris and Veroz leaped to their feet. Without warning, the two knights descended into the stream. They were so stunned that they didn’t even feel the heart-crushingly cold water.
“Your Majesty!”
Radan pointed to the other side.
“He crossed here.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“The other side.”
Caught in the current, Radan faltered. Incris rushed over and grabbed his arm.
“Be careful, Your Highness.”
“There, that way…….”
Radan pointed somewhere. Veroz and Incris flanked Radan on either side and they crossed the stream.
His thick, heavy winter coat was soaked through and now clung to his body.
“Where?”
“Over there.”
The three of them ran with heavy steps to where Radan pointed.
And there it was……
“Your Majesty!”
There was Leshak. Collapsed on the ground.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than FoolishtranslationsS.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.