Pen and Paper Translations

Before Reinhild could make that selfish demand, Xion left.

‘I have to run.’

He had to leave now while Xion wasn’t here.

If Xion returned, his resolve would soften and he wouldn’t be able to go.

Better to burn alone in hellfire than wallow in the mud together with Xion.

Reinhild threw the door wide open.

‘First, pack.’

Now that the day had actually come to pack, there wasn’t much to take.

A few changes of clothes and the straw hat Xion had made for him.

That was it.

All at once, a wave of loneliness rose.

“Why… why is this happening?”

Tears fell in fat drops, as if his tear ducts had broken.

Why was he crying?

Because he had nothing to pack?

Because it was miserable to be poor and have nothing?

‘So this really is the end.’

What pained Reinhild was the fact that this was all his luggage amounted to.

Not because there was nothing to take but because there was nothing to leave behind.

‘There won’t be anything to make Xion remember me.’

Grief was a far nastier feeling than he’d thought.

‘If Xion finds I’m gone, will he be sad too?’

Just a moment ago he’d wished Xion would forget him, but his heart had changed.

A human’s lifespan was long at best—seventy years.

He thought he’d like it if, for the decades he had left, Xion remembered him.

‘I’ll remember Xion for hundreds of years to come.’

To break even, Xion ought to remember him for at least the next fifty years.

To that end, he should leave at least one trace behind.

Reinhild fidgeted with the straw hat in his hands.

‘I wanted to take it…’

In the end, Reinhild set the straw hat on the bed.

Hoping that every time Xion saw it, he would think of him.

“So that’s where this was.”

Feeling out of sorts, Reinhild rummaged around the house and found a single book hidden under the bed.

It was a book about the Demon King and the Hero, written by a human named Neria.

Now that he thought of it, Xion had come back while he was reading it, and he’d tossed it onto the bed. It must have fallen under then.

He’d returned all the other books to Rebecca, but this one had been tucked away in the house.

He felt bad for Rebecca, but he decided to take the book.

He thought he could look at it and remember his life in Root with Xion.

A couple of changes of clothes and one book.

And the mana stone necklace hanging at his neck.

That was everything Reinhild packed.

He left the house without a single coin or even emergency rations.

The Demon King didn’t know how to go on the run.

❖ ❖ ❖

‘I’m sure there were horses near the lake.’

On the day he’d met that lunatic, he’d seen a horse wandering near the lake.

Reinhild remembered that and headed for the lake.

“What happened here?”

It was no longer a lake.

This had to be the work of those damned knights who had invaded the village.

Wretched knights.

How could they ruin a beautiful lake so utterly.

Silently cursing them every which way, Reinhild looked around for horses.

Neigh—

‘There!’

A shabby stable stood a little ways off.

It was tucked away from foot traffic, but clearly someone came regularly to maintain it.

There were four horses inside.

They were well cared for and looked very healthy.

If the stable was only used for feeding, that would explain why the door stood wide open and the horses weren’t tied.

He’d heard of letting other animals graze, but he’d never seen horses raised loose like this.

It was good news for Reinhild.

He wouldn’t have to force open a locked stable door.

“Sorry, but I’ll just borrow one.”

Reinhild offered a greeting too quiet for the unknown owner to hear and mounted the horse that looked fastest.

“Let’s go!”

Reinhild shot off at a gallop.

Once he cleared the forest, he could go straight on to the next region.

‘I have to run as far and as fast as possible.’

Something caught Reinhild’s eye as he sped along.

“What’s with all the corpses?”

Knights of the West ducal house, clad in armor bearing a familiar crest, lay scattered throughout the forest in grisly heaps.

Had they been slaughtered by the Gray Owlbears that lived in the woods?

It was ridiculous.

If he’d known they were the kind of humans who’d fall to mere monsters, he wouldn’t have been so afraid.

‘Should I give up and go back home now?’

No. The West ducal house was tenacious.

They were so obsessive and persistent you could tell just from the fact they were the Hero’s lineage.

They weren’t the sort to give up because of a failure.

No doubt they’d claim even this massacre of knights was the fault of the villagers of Root.

‘And these aren’t all of them.’

It had looked like more than a dozen knights had come to the village, but only three bodies lay here.

He didn’t know where the rest were, but if they’d been lucky enough to avoid the Gray Owlbears, they’d surely attack Root the next day as planned.

There was nothing to do but flee.

Before they moved, he had to get elsewhere and spread the rumor.

‘Goodbye, Root.’

He said it for no reason.

He only wanted a last farewell, but it just made him feel more down.

His heart felt heavy.

Reinhild parted his lips.

He could still feel Xion’s warmth on them.

On horseback, Reinhild looked back.

Root was already so far away he couldn’t see it.

Summoning his courage one last time, he spoke.

“Goodbye, Xion.”

❖ ❖ ❖

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”

Xion sat in an inn in Audrit, the city at the heart of the Audrit lord’s domain.

Before him, a man dripping with jewels knelt and prostrated himself, repeating apologies to Xion.

“That’s enough. Just stop getting in my way.”

“Please, forgive me, please….”

“Haaaah….”

With an irritated sigh, Xion let out a long breath.

It had been a while since something this bothersome had happened.

More than anything, it weighed on him that he’d left Rein at home alone.

Rein would have wanted fish for dinner. He had set out bread, cheese, and fruit before leaving, but he worried whether Rein would take care to eat properly alone.

He knew Rein wasn’t a baby, and yet he wanted to handle everything personally.

Even if Rein forgot how to wash and eat by himself, it wouldn’t matter.

Xion was confident he could stay by Rein’s side for life and look after him.

He missed Rein.

He wanted to pick up the kiss he’d had to break off for lack of time.

“It was my fault! Mine!”

First, he needed to clear away the wretch groveling at his feet.

It was too noisy to live.

“I expect everything to be resolved by tomorrow.”

“Please, grant me a few more days….”

“It’s late. Would you vacate the room? I’m a bit tired.”

It was a clear dismissal.

The man knew very well that dragging this out would only make Xion think worse of him.

Bobbing his head to bow a few more times, the man fled the room.

‘Should I go back?’

He’d planned to stay until things were basically settled.

But he didn’t think he could sleep without Rein at his side.

Xion needed Rein.

“Let’s go home.”

To where Rein was.

The instant he stepped out of the inn, his foul mood improved.

Xion mounted a horse and rode for Root at the fastest pace.

Audrit’s city gates were shut tight at ten p.m. and barred to outsiders, but that didn’t apply to Xion.

After riding hard for some time and drawing near to Root, he saw knights of the West ducal house strewn all over the forest.

When they saw Xion trying to leave Root, they lunged at him with ridiculous lines like, “So it was you after all!” so he let them get a good, long rest.

People should sleep at night. What’s the point of working late?

With an air of not caring in the least about the West house’s knights, Xion passed through the woods and returned to Root.

Root was quiet as the grave.

Even more than usual.

Xion turned his horse loose in front of the village chief’s house.

When he needed to go to another village, Xion went on foot, and he returned on horseback. Each time, he let the horse go in front of the chief’s house.

Every time, the chief wondered where the horses kept appearing from, but he took them in and cared for them.

How and where he did so was none of Xion’s concern.

This time too he left the horse to the chief and headed home.

To the house where Rein was waiting.

“I’m home.”

At this hour, Rein would normally be asleep, but he thought perhaps Rein might be waiting for him, so he announced himself in a very small voice.

No answer came.

Xion stepped lightly and carefully, opened the door to the room.

Hoping to find Rein asleep on the bed, mumbling in his dreams.

“…Rein?”

The room was empty.

“Rein!”

Even when he shouted, there was still no answer.

Xion frantically tore through the house.

Everywhere Rein might hide.

Even the basement where the Hero’s sword, stained with the Demon King’s blood, was mounted.

Rein was nowhere to be seen.

Xion’s hands began to tremble.

Maybe he’d seen wrong.

Maybe Rein was sleeping soundly in the room, and he’d simply failed to notice.

Xion hurried back to the room.

It was still empty.

On the neatly made bed sheets, only a well-worn straw hat sat forlornly by itself.

“Reinhild….”

Standing in the empty room, Xion murmured softly.

“Please don’t make me regret giving you so much freedom.”