MTM 136

“I’m so glad I bought a bunch of Leon’s favorite candies. Right, Zed?”

“Yes.”

“I wish we could’ve all come together… It’s a bit of a shame.”

It was late at night. Harto, who had come to the market with him as promised, was as excited as a child the entire time they wandered around. It happened to be the Etheria Winter Festival, so the streets were overflowing with things to enjoy.

Harto’s eyes sparkled as he looked at the items on the stalls, and even though he coughed after taking a bite of some mysterious snack, he just smiled. Under the festival lights, Harto’s radiant smile was the very image of a pure-hearted young man.

Zed watched Harto silently as he recalled the day they first met in the cabin.

‘My name is Harto!’

The image of those blue eyes, sparkling with joy as if he’d won the whole world simply because someone had asked his name, was still vivid in his mind. That small, insignificant soot-colored monster would feel like he possessed the entire world just from a single pat on head or the faint warmth shared through touch.

“Zed!”

Whether in his true monster form or in his current human disguise, whenever Harto called his name, Zed’s heart would fill with warmth.

‘…What is known is that as long as he possesses the Demon King’s heart, that monster is nothing but a walking lump of disaster.’

A throbbing pain pulsed through his head, and the Seeker’s icy voice rang in his ears like tinnitus.

A disaster? Harto is not that kind of being. Zed vehemently denied it. Harto might be a little different from ordinary monsters, but he was certainly not someone who deserved such a label.

To Zed, Harto was the only thing that made him feel truly alive. If it weren’t for him, Zed would never have made it this far. He likely wouldn’t even have survived the final battle against Magnus. That’s why Harto was like a miraculous gift bestowed upon Zed, a man who had never possessed or even dreamed of possessing anything precious.

“Zed!”

“…Huh? Harto, did you call me?”

“I’ve been calling you for a while now…. Zed, are you really fine? If you’re having a hard time…”

Just as Harto, seeing Zed lost in thought and unable to focus on the festival, was about to ask him gently.

“Harto, there seem to be a lot of people here… Should we head over there? I think I saw a street where we can look at animals.”

“Really? Let’s go!”

Zed quickly changed the subject to distract Harto and started walking.

“Wow, there are rabbits here! Zed, look at this. Their eyes are blue!”

Harto couldn’t help but marvel at the baby rabbits huddled together in the basket. They were a breed called “Aju,” popular as pets in the Regnovar Empire and the surrounding areas. Having evolved to evade the beasts of Silpirnoa, these rabbits possessed black fur that allowed them to hide well in the dark, and their eyes shone a jewel-like blue. Their highly specialized blue eyes, designed to identify enemies even in pitch-black darkness, bore a strange resemblance to Harto’s own.

“Oh… It’s so tiny and soft…”

When the merchant gave him permission to touch it, Harto carefully lifted a baby rabbit into both hands. Light as cotton candy, the rabbit blinked its blue eyes slowly and gazed up at Harto.

Even though it was a newborn, its instinctive ability to sense enemies was exceptional. Yet, even in the arms of Harto, a monster, it was at ease. Zed’s heart stirred once more as he saw the peaceful scene.

‘The Demon King’s Essence… Zed, it’s not as simple a curse as you think.’

Ser’s words echoed in his mind.

‘I drew upon countless emotions to design the sealing ritual for that fragment. Fear, despair, destruction, greed… Not a single trace of goodness could be found; it was filled with nothing but malice. That’s why the ritual was so easy to complete.’

It meant that an entity imbued with the crystallization of all those negative emotions was, literally, a “disaster.” That was likely why Ser had so easily accepted and been persuaded by the Seeker’s ruthless words. Alchemy is a discipline that pierces through the essence of things, and if Harto’s essence was a concentration of malice, then Ser had already reached his conclusion.

Zed clenched his jaw. He couldn’t blame Ser for his rational judgment, but the mere act of making such an assumption was a brutal assault on Harto’s very existence, and he simply couldn’t accept it.

‘I understand that you don’t want to tell Harto the truth. But will avoiding the issue like this really solve anything? Don’t we need to seriously consider together how to resolve this going forward!’

Avoidance. Zed wanted to deny Ser’s accusation. He had thought he simply needed a little more time to think. But looking back, faced with the truth that had suddenly crashed down on him, he had done nothing. Instead of facing reality as it was, he had simply closed his eyes and covered his ears.

In the end, just as Ser had said, he had turned a blind eye to the real issue and simply wanted to keep Harto by his side, just as before.

He felt ashamed of himself for being blinded by selfishness and stubbornness.

“Hey! If you touched it, you have to buy it.”

“Huh? But you said I could touch it earlier…”

“Tsk, Aju rabbits get used to people’s hands very easily. That one has already gotten used to yours. See? It’s already fallen asleep, feeling comfortable in your hands.”

“Oh…”

Harto looked at Zed with a troubled, expression. As he met those clear eyes asking if he could take the rabbit home, Zed thought to himself.

‘If… Harto really is a walking disaster, then I should be the first to be swallowed up by that disaster. No, even if it means the world comes crashing down….’

“Alright. Since you’re the one who got it used to being held, you have to take responsibility until the very end.”

Zed’s determined voice cut through the anguish that had been binding him. It wasn’t just a statement directed at a single little rabbit. It was a vow to fully embrace Harto’s immense destiny as his own.

After paying the merchant a generous price, Zed left the market with Harto. As the bustle of the festival faded, the two of them walked along a path bathed in soft moonlight, their shadows stretching out behind them.

“Zed… Do you think I’ll be able to take good care of the rabbit?”

Harto asked as he carefully held the rabbit in his arms, afraid it might wake up. A gentle smile appeared on Zed’s face.

“Of course. You’re Harto, so you’ll be fine.”

“Huh? Because it’s me…?”

Harto tilted his head in confusion. But instead of explaining, Zed only smiled at him. Facing the brightest smile he had shown in a while, a smile blossomed across Harto’s face as well.

***

The next morning, the weather in Etheria, where they had stayed for three days, had changed completely. The old, snow-laden clouds were gone, and the cloudless sky poured down warm, blue-tinged sunlight. Birds that had been hiding from the cold perched on tree branches where the snow had melted in patches.

After changing into his clothes, Zed stepped out of the annex and saw the snowman he had built with Harto had already melted away without a trace.

Zed walked over to it, gathered a handful of scattered twigs, pebbles, and the remaining snow clinging to the leaves, and pressed them together in his palm.

Sssshhh….

A glow rippled and flowed out from between his palms. In the blink of an eye, the objects in his hand condensed and transformed into a smooth crystal. It blended the textures of twigs and pebbles, creating a mysterious pattern. Zed slipped it into the empty slot next to Harto’s spirit stone bracelet.

The snowman had melted away, but he wanted to preserve the memories they’d shared together forever.

Click

“Hmm, Zed…? Are you up already?”

Harto, who had just woken up, yawned as he opened the door and stepped out. Shivering from the cold, Harto looked at Zed with strands of hair sticking out of place. Barely resisting the urge to nibble on the defenseless, adorable Harto, Zed stepped inside and closed the door.

“Harto, we’re leaving today.”

“Huh, really?!”

Harto’s eyes widened. Since there had been no mention of it until last night, he had assumed they would stay in Etheria for one more day.

“Where are we going? Straight to the Land of Abundance?”

“No, we’re going to Carseon.”

Zed replied as he smoothed out Harto’s tousled hair.

“To Carseon?”

Harto’s eyes widened. He had assumed there was no reason to go all the way there since they had already met the Seeker here.

“There’s something I need to check out in person.”

Zed was well aware of the historical record stating that the allied nations and the Kingdom of Carseon had joined forces to seal the Demon King. If that were the case, the central temple or the ruins in Carseon would surely contain more accurate records regarding the Fragments of the Demon God and the Demon King’s curse than those held by the Seeker.

There, he would no longer turn away from the truth but face it head-on.

“Here, take this.”

Zed slipped a bracelet onto Harto’s wrist, one that featured both the spirit stone and the mysterious gem he had just created set side by side. Harto’s eyes sparkled at the strange pattern on the new gem, and he wore a curious expression.

“Harto.”

“Hmm?”

“When we arrive in Carseon… there’s something I absolutely must tell you.”

Harto sensed a tremor in Zed’s unwavering, solemn voice. Realizing that the time had finally come, that there was no longer any way to avoid it, he nodded quietly.