Chapter 75……………………………………………….
Black hair that suited the dark snowfield fluttered softly in the wind, revealing vividly red eyes.
The moment she felt herself meet that red gaze, Rin cried out without realizing it.
“Kaidan!”
Tap tap tap.
Rin ran straight up to Kaidan, her face and voice openly filled with surprise as she asked,
“What—what is this? How are you here, Kaidan? And what was that just now?”
As Rin waited for an answer, her eyes sparkling, Kaidan let out a small chuckle and opened his mouth.
“Ask one at a time. I’ll answer everything.”
“Okay! First—how are you here?”
“Well—were you with someone else?”
Just as he was about to answer calmly, Kaidan’s eyes suddenly sharpened.
Seeing him cast a wary gaze toward Feiby, who had followed behind Rin, Rin realized that the look Kaidan usually gave her was quite warm.
Despite the naturally warm red of his eyes, Kaidan now looked cold. Rin waved her hands as she hurried to explain.
“She’s my teammate! She’s on my side, my side.”
But instead, Kaidan’s gaze only grew colder.
Ignoring the sharp look stabbing into her, Feiby pressed close behind Rin and asked in a whisper, lowering her head,
“R-Rin… who is he? He doesn’t seem to be from our clan…”
At Feiby’s glance, clinging to Rin and peeking at him like an outsider, Kaidan raised one eyebrow with a look that said, Oh, really?
“He’s a friend I live with.”
“My fiancé-to-be.”
“…Rin’s fiancé?”
Feiby tilted her pale face in confusion, as if she’d never heard such a thing before. Kaidan shot her a displeased glare.
“Ah, that’s right. He’s my fiancé-to-be.”
“Mm. I see…”
As Rin finally agreed, belatedly settling on her relationship with her benefactor, Kaidan deliberately stepped closer to her side and lifted his chin.
Watching the two exchange unfriendly looks, Rin suddenly remembered something—this forest was restricted to outsiders.
“Oh, um, but Kaidan, this forest is off-limits right now.”
“What?”
“It’s a clan event, so only our clan members can enter. Umm.”
But her benefactor was a future hero, so maybe he’d come here for some heroic reason!
“It’s a good thing it’s just me and unni here. Kaidan, unni is fine. She’s on my team.”
Seeing Rin speak with such deep trust, as if that were a significant relationship, Kaidan’s lips twisted slightly.
Having decided to help her benefactor, Rin turned to Feiby and said,
“Unni, can we keep it a secret that Kaidan came here?”
“Uh, y-yeah! If that’s what you want, Rin…”
From behind Rin, the girl who had been glaring unpleasantly with glassy eyes instantly put on a harmless, rabbit-like expression the moment Rin turned around. Kaidan watched her with an uncomfortable look.
The way she looked at Rin had a faint hint of fanatic madness, like some kind of zealot.
Kaidan grabbed Rin’s arm and pulled her closer, then said flatly,
“There’s no need for that.”
“Kaidan?”
“I came to this mountain on business. I’m carrying out a task authorized by the acting head, so there’s no need to explain myself to you.”
Business? Oh, Grandpa’s work!
After speaking coldly to Feiby, Kaidan turned back to Rin, lowered his voice, and continued,
“Come here. There’s something I need to tell you.”
Thinking it must be related to the ‘business’ Kaidan mentioned, Rin obediently followed, letting him lead her by the hand.
After they had moved a fair distance away from the clearing, Rin glanced back to check Feiby placing monster cores into the magic pouch she’d handed over, then turned her attention to Kaidan.
“Is this far enough? If we go too far, I’ll worry about leaving unni alone.”
“…Yeah.”
Kaidan, who found it displeasing that she worried about others when she herself was in danger, pressed his lips together briefly before opening them again.
I should tell her.
Even on the way here, he’d agonized over it.
Was it really right to tell her?
If he could handle everything properly himself and make it as though nothing had happened, maybe it would be better for her to pass by without knowing anything.
But in the end, he decided he should share what he knew with Rin.
If that happens, she’ll be the one most affected.
If he failed. If the preparations he’d made in advance unraveled, or if by some force of inevitability, the events locked in his memories were reenacted once more.
Then it would be better for the girl to know beforehand and prepare herself.
She might cry when she heard it, but that was better than being left in a daze later on…
Staring into Rin’s golden eyes, which seemed to shine even more brightly than usual, Kaidan felt a suffocating tightness knot up in his chest.
Still, he forced his stiffening tongue to move.
“Rin. Listen carefully. A monster outbreak is going to happen.”
“What?”
Rin’s eyes widened at the unexpected topic.
“Not just here. Soon, groups of monsters will appear in other parts of the forest too. Far more than the Pegasus family’s pre-deployed forces can handle.”
“W-what? Then that’s terrible! Ah! We should tell unni too—”
“It’s fine. I dealt with the monsters around here on my way in.”
Kaidan took Rin’s hand as she turned to go get Feiby and made her look at him, continuing seriously,
“Of course, the Pegasus kids won’t be able to handle it, and rescue requests will come in from all directions.”
As if on cue—
Before Kaidan even finished speaking, pale blue trails of smoke, like the signal flare Rin had seen earlier, rose from various places.
And that was only the beginning.
“Gasp!”
A startled sound escaped Rin’s mouth as she tilted her head back to look at the sky.
That color…!
Red smoke.
The color of the signal flares carried only by adults assigned as rescue personnel, not by Pegasus children.
Seeing the ominous crimson smoke rise, Rin recalled what Uncle Theo had said at the start of the hunting festival, his voice grave as he emphasized its seriousness.
“Red smoke is an emergency danger signal. If you see this color, stop hunting immediately and evacuate the forest at once.”
“We have to get out of here!”
Grab.
Rin urgently shouted as she seized Kaidan’s hand.
But Kaidan tightened his grip and held her in place.
“Kaidan?”
“Calm down and listen, Rin.”
Hearing Kaidan call her name in a voice far lower than usual, Rin looked at him anxiously.
As she gazed into his red eyes, the seriousness spread to her own face.
“Your uncle, Theodore—the acting head—will come here too.”
“What?”
“To save the children.”
Saving someone should have been a good thing.
Yet for some reason, Kaidan’s expression as he spoke looked ominous, like someone who had witnessed something terrible.
“R-Red smoke?! What on earth happened? My child is in there!”
“We need to go look for them immediately! Something terrible must have happened!”
The adults who witnessed the signal rising from the forest erupted into chaos.
Most of the children inside the forest were their sons, daughters, or blood relatives.
The guardians, who had been waiting in anticipation of a joyous outcome, now faced the fear of their children’s survival. Their faces turned pale.
There’s no time to wait.
Under normal regulations, after spotting a signal, they would wait a while to assess the situation and organize deployment.
But in all the countless hunting festivals held over the years, never had there been signal flares on such a massive scale.
Recognizing the gravity of the situation, Theodore did not hesitate. He immediately led the knights who had been waiting with weapons ready and headed into the forest.
He ordered that anyone not yet prepared for combat be dispatched as soon as they were ready. Before leaving, Theodore turned back to everyone present and issued a warning.
“No one is to leave this place.”
