I Reject the villain’s ending.

Episode 19

‘Well, well.’

Waking up for her shift, Diane scratched her cheek as she looked at the two man and women, wrapped together in a white shawl, deep in a worldless sleep.

He didn’t know how long they’d been sleeping out here, but he was glad there hadn’t been any raids or anything.

‘The Guardian Sword, falling asleep like this, oblivious to my approach, disqualifies me as a sword.’

I glance over and see that Sierra is also uncomfortable, but she and Iros are squatting against each other, sleeping soundly, so it seems they’re not exaggerating when they say they’re good campers.

With a raspy laugh, Diane tossed more wood into the dying fire, flipped it over with kindling, and sat down across from him.

The grey dawn was still a long way off.

I decided I could let Sierra and Iros sleep a little longer, and watched them sleep peacefully, their faces like paintings.

She smiles.

‘You both sleep so well, like gentle babies.’

If only these personality disruptors could be as well-behaved as they were in their sleep, Diane thought, this journey would be very comfortable.

Hours passed and morning dawned.

Iros was the first to wake, the blinding sunlight stinging his eyes with red.

‘Mmm.’

‘You’re up?’

‘Diane, is it morning?’

‘Yep. You slept very soundly, not even tossing and turning.’

‘I’m sorry. Did I fall asleep… Saint?’

Iros rubbed his eyes and tried to sit up, turning his head at the weight on his shoulder.

Leaning against his shoulder, breathing steadily and evenly, was Sierra, gripping his right hand tightly.

‘Why is she on my shoulder, and why is she wearing this thing on her hand?’

‘I don’t know, she was already doing that when I came to shift, and you two were sleeping.’

Looking down at my small, slender hands, which were tightly clasped together, Iros used his free left hand to gently rest Sierra’s head on his lap.

‘I thought you said you couldn’t sleep, Sierra. You sleep so well.’

Sierra furrowed her brow and rolled over, uncomfortable with the new position.

With a humming sound, she settled back down, relaxed, and pulled Iros’s hand into hers, hugging him and drifting back into a deep sleep.

The sight of such cuteness brought a smile to Iros’s face.

‘You look like a saint.’

‘Don’t worry, I don’t look like this every day.’

‘You sleep like that every day? That’s kind of scary.’

‘I’m not looking at your face, so don’t worry about it.’

‘You still have a lovely way with words. The saint should hear this.’

When Diane shook her head, Iros pulled the shawl over Sierra’s head and spoke softly.

‘I’ll only say good things, pretty things.’

‘Will you do the same for me?’

‘It’s none of my business.’

Iros’s words were so confident and brazen that Diane shook her head, speechless.

‘Well, that’s one hell of a discrimination. Now that you’re up and about, I’m going to go hunt some game for breakfast.’

With a grunt, Diane pushed himself to his feet and sheathed his sword. As he went to search for the game, Iros said.

‘If you can, bring me a duck.’

‘Ducks in these mountains? Why, there’s a stream a little further on.’

‘The holy woman eats duck well. Since there is no cook from the temple, we should feed her well with meat.’

‘…….’

At a loss for words at Iros’s innocent request, Diane ran quickly to the stream to catch the ducks.

Taking care of a child is hard work, she muttered.

Meanwhile, Mei, sleeping alone in the carriage, woke up, and so did Eldrakis, sleeping in his sleeping bag.

‘Agogo, it’s Saxin, I slept on the floor and my back and joints are screaming.’

‘Kaaaak!’

‘Aah! What is it?’

Mei shouted as she burst through the carriage door.

‘The saint is missing!’

‘What?! Maid, you slept with the Saint last night!’

‘But when I woke up, I didn’t see her……?’

‘Huh?’

At the fading sound of Mei’s voice, Eldrakis turned his head to follow her gaze, which had a strange expression.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Iros’s annoyed face, index finger in front of his lips, thumb raised to cut his throat.

Shut up now or I’ll kill you. That seemed to be what he meant.

‘Why, why?’

Eldrakis, his voice muffled by the stab wound, spotted Sierra sleeping on Iros’s lap and shut up.

The irritation in Iros’s expression was palpable, even as the surroundings finally quieted, Mei and Eldrakis watched him with bated breath.

After a moment, they heard a small, sleepy moan.

‘Hmph. Shut up.’

‘You can sleep some more.’

Iros purred as he patted Sierra on the back, his eyes never more affectionate than when he’d sent his lifeblood to Mei and Eldrakis.

But even with the pat, Sierra woke up.

‘Ugh. What is it, morning?’

Rubbing her eyes, Sierra scrambled to her feet like a zombie, but her low blood pressure overcame her and she buried her face in Iros’s lap again.

‘I don’t want to get up.’

‘That’s because you went to bed late last night. I’ll wake you up again for breakfast, so you can sleep some more.’

‘Rice……. Meat.’

‘Yes. I’ll roast a duck for you.’

‘Yeah, okay…….’

Sierra, who had been chewing on Iros’s thigh as she spoke, fell back into a honeyed sleep.

Once he was sure she was completely asleep, Iros wiped the smile from his face and looked back at Mei and Eldrakis with a cold glance.

The look in his eyes was enough to freeze a man or two in their tracks.

‘From now on, anyone who speaks will have their tongue cut out, do you understand?’

‘…….’

Nods. Mei and Eldrakis nodded frantically at the aura of tangibility around Iros.

The fact that he was being respectful made the threat seem even scarier.

‘You don’t know what a saint looks like, do you?

‘How the hell did she tame a wild dog like that?

Mei and Eldrakis looked at Iros with bored eyes and shook their heads.

The pairing of the wretched holy woman and the wild dog reminded them of the saying that people like to gather together.

And that morning’s breakfast was a hearty roast duck and duck stew.

Slay a Warlock]

After several days of uneventful and slightly boring traveling, the journey came to an end.

Iros tapped his finger on the map.

‘At this rate, we should be there by lunchtime today.’

‘That means we’re almost done camping!’

Mei exclaimed, jumping up and down. I smirked and teased her as she squirmed.

‘Mei, when did you say carriage journeys were fun?’

‘A carriage journey is only a day or two! We’ve been traveling for a week, up and down mountain roads, and all we see is trees, and this is not the journey I wanted!’

I winced, trying to soothe a sobbing Mei. The carriage journey she wanted would certainly be different from the days we’d had.

‘Come on, Mei. Calm down. We’re only a little further on and we’ll be in Elotta, and there’s plenty to see in the city.’

‘Hmph. Really?’

‘Well, yes, yes. Elotta was a very developed commercial city in the old days, so you’ll see some exotic things.’

‘Exciting!’

Mei’s face instantly widened, and Eldrakis, who was pricking up his ears beside her, also became a little excited.

‘Haha. Two kids, two kids.

I was a little excited myself. Spices are famous amongst the many foreign merchants in Elotta and the rarities of the Eastern Continent.

It was a week’s carriage ride away, so I was glad I had brought a book about the Elotta area.

‘The El Lothar region is very colorful from the checkpoint. They say it’s a sight to behold, with wide, high walls painted in a variety of colors.’

‘Ooh. I’m so excited, Saint!’

Mei bounced on her feet in the carriage and let her imagination run wild in anticipation of the sights that lay ahead.

We raced towards the checkpoint, chattering excitedly.

And when we arrived and everyone stepped out of the carriages with fresh faces, the excitement was dampened with a hiss of wind.

The smell of sand, dust, and burnt flesh assaulted my nostrils from all directions.

I was the first one of the group to come to my senses and point up ahead with a look of bewilderment on my face as I saw the checkpoint.

‘So, that checkpoint up ahead is the entrance to Elotta?’

‘It seems so.’

Iros glanced back and forth between the map and the checkpoint in disbelief.

‘It’s… colorful.’

Yeah. The checkpoint is certainly colorful. To be precise.

‘It’s colorfully broken.’

It’s not hard to guess that these must have once been city walls, judging by the occasional streaks of color on the stone chunks that have been smashed and splattered this way and that.

‘What on earth could have happened to cause it to fall apart like this?’

I muttered in disbelief.

‘Heh…….’

‘What the hell is going on?’

‘Black, this is the first checkpoint I’ve ever seen in another area!’

Mei, I just heard you say that.

Of course, I didn’t say anything, because that’s how disappointed I was.

The Elotta checkpoint had been at the top of my list of beautiful, offbeat places to see, and now it’s been reduced to this.

What the hell happened to it?

‘Pink, did you send the bulbs this morning?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then by any chance, is that barefoot, crying man over there the lord?’

I forced the corners of my mouth up as I pointed to a middle-aged man in colorful clothes running towards us, and Iros turned away from the supposed lord and the people running behind him, crying as well.

‘No way.’

‘I heard he’s catching people.’

Sure enough, the barefooted man running in front of them, breathing in doubles, shouted.

‘Saint-!!’

‘Hey, Pink, do you want me to beat up as a saint now? Do you want to be a saint?’

‘Do not evade them, for they are the lords and vassals and priests of Elotta.’

I felt sharply embarrassed as the lord called out to me, crying, and the men rushed in behind him, their shoes on backward.

I had a feeling they were going to be a lot of whining and a lot of trouble.

And my prediction was exactly right.