Chapter 9
“Why are you so careless right after waking up? Are all humans like this?”
“Why are you starting a fight first thing in the morning, Your Highness?”
I sighed as I spoke.
But Idnis completely ignored me and urged me to move.
“Let’s go. The pursuers will come again.”
That damn guy.
A vein throbbed on my forehead. Still, I forced myself to hold back my anger. He was right. The pursuers were still chasing us. Yesterday I hadn’t even set up any claymores—maybe they had already passed through this area during the night.
“Come here.”
I opened my arms from under the rock. Without hesitation, he jumped down into my embrace. I adjusted my grip around his small body. Was it just my imagination? It felt like some unseen barrier had peeled away.
We started running again. Whenever we needed to change direction, Idnis would point with his finger. The title from yesterday was still active—“Quiet Wind.” With proper rest and the agility boost, my body felt like it was flying.
Idnis stared at my face and said,
“You seem to be in a good mood.”
Only then did I realize there was another reason my body felt so light.
“Yeah.”
Perhaps my answer wasn’t what he expected, because he looked slightly flustered and fell silent. I chuckled.
The forest ended.
The edge of the forest facing the northeast connected to a rocky desert.
“This place is dangerous.”
There were large rocks scattered around, but otherwise it was wide open. In other words, there was nowhere to hide.
“Let’s get through it as fast as possible. It’s not a large desert. Once we cross this, there’s a mountain range.”
I nodded. I stepped off the ground covered in fallen leaves and onto hard stone. Our speed increased. Unlike the forest, running on flat ground was much easier.
We cut across the rocky desert like the wind.
For a while, neither of us spoke. When we reached the middle of the desert, I hesitantly broke the silence.
“Hey… Your Highness.”
“Yes.”
My mouth felt dry. Even licking my lips didn’t help.
“What are you trying so hard to say?”
“If I say ‘relatives’… would you understand?”
“You mean blood relatives? Yes, I understand.”
My heart was pounding—not just from running.
“Since I was young, I was dragged to family gatherings at the end of every year. Saying ‘dragged’ is generous—it was basically forced every time.”
A sandstorm blew. Grains of sand scratched past my eyes.
“I never had friends, so I didn’t know how to act there either. I always ended up standing on the edge of my cousins’ group.”
Memories I couldn’t even remember clearly began to surface, like sausages strung together. The strange thing was that my heartbeat remained calm.
“The adults looked at us like fresh meat being judged at a butcher shop. The kids—forced by their parents to ‘get along’—looked at me with irritation.”
We crossed a low hill and stopped briefly on a ridge, looking down at the plain below.
“To me, that place was divided into only two things: ‘things that were awful’ and ‘things that were slightly less awful.’”
I turned back. The forest edge we had escaped from looked like a green coastline.
“Five or six years ago… back when I was more naive and foolish.”
We began descending the hill. In a flat desert like this, hiding was nearly impossible—but so was it for the pursuers.
That thought eased my tension a little.
“At one party, my cousins were gathered in a corner playing some game. I don’t even remember what it was. I don’t remember how it started either. All I remember is a girl in a white mini dress sitting in front of me, food stains on it—and I was the one who did it.”
Idnis said nothing. He simply listened. Maybe that was why the words that didn’t need to be spoken came out so easily.
“If I had just apologized… she probably would’ve let it go, even if she was uncomfortable because of what her parents had told her.”
Sorry.
That short, meaningless word.
I couldn’t say it.
As I slid down the slope, small pebbles rolled beside me, knocking into others until they all tumbled downward together.
“But I couldn’t do it. My mind went completely blank. My body wouldn’t move at all—like I was trapped in plaster. I was sweating, my hands were shaking, my tongue was frozen.”
Even remembering it made my chest tighten.
“The expression on that girl’s face… I still can’t forget it. That was when I learned that sometimes words and actions can hurt more than a bullet.”
We started running again at the bottom of the hill.
“I’m sorry.”
This time, the words came out more naturally than they ever could have in the past.
Idnis looked at me like he didn’t understand.
“Sorry for what?”
I couldn’t bring myself to repeat it, so I stayed silent.
“Ah.”
After thinking for a moment, he said,
“Oh.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Then he added casually,
“If it bothers you, I’ll just reduce your reward by half.”
…Excuse me, Your Majesty?
Before I could react, he broke into a mischievous smile.
“Just kidding.”
I couldn’t look away from that innocent expression.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve joked like this. You really are comfortable to be around.”
I almost nodded without thinking. I wasn’t good with people. I didn’t really understand what existed between humans.
But being with Idnis didn’t feel uncomfortable. In fact, holding him made my heart loosen, like holding a small dog or cat.
“Oh.”
Then he made a strange sound, like someone who forgot their AI band at home.
“Hm?”
“Do you know something called the ‘Stone-Scale Starfish’?”
Before I could ask what that was, something moved.
A lizard-like creature slipped under a rock at the edge of the desert. Then—
KOOOM!
The rock suddenly split open, and a creature the size of a forearm began devouring it.
Idnis pointed at it.
“That’s a Stone-Scale Starfish.”
“…It’s a monster!”
“What are you talking about? That’s not even a monster. It’s just a beast. The demons you’ve been fighting are far stronger.”
“They at least look human!”
Idnis tilted his head, not understanding at all.
But I had no time to argue. More of them were everywhere.
“What the hell is that thing?!” I shouted.
“Ugh! Don’t come here!”
They were everywhere—what I thought were rocks were actually those creatures.
“By the way, they like mana. When something weak with mana passes by, they hunt it.”
Idnis added calmly,
“Like me right now.”
“…So it’s YOUR fault?!”
“Uwaaaah!”
I fired desperately. But the bullets barely scratched the stone surface.
They kept coming.
A massive shadow fell over me.
I looked up.
A boulder was flying straight at me.
“Shit.”
I dodged, rolling across the ground while protecting Idnis.
The battle continued.
Idnis spoke calmly as if observing,
“So humans can’t use mana.”
“What the hell are you talking about?!”
“They mainly track presence through sensory appendages on their legs, not sight.”
Presence.
Something clicked in my mind.
