IPDT 18

In the end, I gave up on trying to act calm and grabbed Yul’s hand. Yul, who had been closing his eyes and concentrating, suddenly opened them. The mana that had been gathering lost its gravitational pull for a moment and scattered.

“Yul, do you know what you just did? It was totally amazing! You’re the first human to succeed in gathering mana this quickly…!”

I couldn’t finish my sentence and came to an abrupt halt. Yul was a special human. Just seeing him accept mana so easily now was proof of that. But why was Yul special? Could it be because Yul is the hero designated by the oracle? When I couldn’t continue speaking, Yul tilted his head and looked at me.

“…Illy?”

I really didn’t want to let him go. I squeezed Yul’s hand tightly and smiled.

“Yul, even your mana is black. The same black that I really, really like.”

“…”

Yul avoided my gaze. His plump earlobes took on a faint pink hue. I glanced up at the sky. Would it be okay to pretend I don’t know about the oracle or the hero and just not send him? I wanted to ask the gods, just like a human.

The dwarves’ festival was filled with the smell of alcohol. They brought out dozens of huge barrels made of oak and chugged down alcohol in beer mugs the size of their faces. They never drank their alcohol in several sips, either. Once they put their lips to it, they would drain every last drop of foam before pouring more until the mug overflowed again.

The festival, accompanied by alcohol, was boisterous. The sun hadn’t even set yet, but there were already dwarves who were tipsy and singing and dancing. The chief sitting in front of me seemed similarly drunk. He had been tilting his mug nonstop the moment he sat down. His large nose was flushed bright red, and his eyes had lost their focus.

“It was quite remarkable. He may be a human you brought, Mr. Balancer, but he is a human nonetheless. But I never thought he would be able to conjure mana so quickly, and of that color, no less.”

“Right?!”

Still, the chief’s characteristic discernment hadn’t gone anywhere. I smiled with satisfaction and poured more alcohol into the chief’s mug. The chief politely accepted the mug with both hands.

“Anything else come to mind? There must be more to praise.”

“Hmm, now that I think about it, it was also surprising that he had black hair and black eyes. I never thought I would see a human with that coloring in my lifetime.”

At my prodding, the chief answered as if he had been waiting for the question. It was a satisfactory answer. I removed my hand that had been pressing down on the mug. The chief gulped down the contents of the mug refreshingly. Yes, drink up and make a good weapon for Yul. I rested my chin on my hand, smiling foolishly.

“Chief, so has any inspiration come to you?”

“What inspiration do you mean?”

“I’m asking if you’ve started to feel like making a weapon for Yul.”

The chief, blinking his eyes, burst into hearty laughter. He slammed the mug he was holding onto the table with a thud and thumped his chest. Thump, thump.

“Of course. I, Custos, will create the finest weapon befitting the human of you, Mr. Balancer.”

“Yes, I can trust your skills, Chief.”

This time, too, I easily got his promise to make the weapon. Anyway, even though the chief has lived for nearly 7,000 years, he falls for the same trick every time. Wanting to pour more alcohol for the happy-looking chief, I placed my hand on the wooden barrel.

Clang!

Just then, a sound that should not have come from an oak barrel—the sound of something tearing through the air—split the void. Huh? I quickly turned around. Yul was sitting there. Yul, with a deep stab wound in his thigh, bleeding.

“…!”

I couldn’t even let out a gasp as I stood up. I must have stood up too hastily because the chair fell over with a clatter. The noisy surroundings fell silent for a moment before becoming boisterous again. Leaving behind the chief, who was slurring, “Mr. Balancer?” I approached Yul. When I placed my hand near the wound, I felt sticky blood.

“Illy.”

I was flustered, not knowing what to do first, when Yul called my name. I blankly raised my eyes and looked at him.

“It hurts.”

Yul furrowed his brow and made a pained expression. I felt my mind go blank. Yul was the one who was hurt, but I became breathless as if I were the one who had been stabbed. I fumbled for Yul’s cheek. Fortunately, Yul’s cheek was warm. It didn’t seem like he had lost a lot of blood.

“Does it hurt a lot?”

“Treat it for me.”

Yul stood up from his seat. Clink, the knife that had fallen to the floor was kicked by his foot. A blade stained with blood. I looked at the spot where Yul had been sitting. Among the tableware, only the knife was missing.

“…I don’t want to be here.”

“Okay. Let’s go inside.”

Yul was limping, so I quickly supported him. We left the noisy festival behind and returned to our lodging together.

As soon as we entered the lodging, I applied herbs to the wound and added a bandage. Yul didn’t even let out a groan while I was treating the wound. As I, who had been squatting, sharply raised my head, Yul made a pitiful expression.

“Yul, how did you get this injury?”

“I dropped it.”

“The knife?”

Yul nodded. I looked down at his bandaged leg. What I had seen was clearly a stab wound. Even if he had accidentally dropped it and it got stuck in his leg, could it have been embedded this deeply?

“But this…”

“Ugh.”

Startled by his pained groan, I quickly removed my hand. It seemed I had pressed on the bandage wrapped around the wound without realizing it.

“Does it hurt?”

Yul shook his head. It must hurt, but he was surely saying it didn’t because he was worried about me. A corner of my heart ached.

“Yul, it seems like you get hurt whenever I take my eyes off you.”

“Yeah.”

“Huu, what are you going to do without me in the future.”

“You’ll be there.”

Yul suddenly gripped both of my arms. As I blinked, not understanding his words, the strength in Yul’s hands increased.

“You’re going to stay with me, always.”

“…Do you want to stay with me always?”

Yul, who had been staring at me silently, nodded his head. He wants to stay with me always. It seems like just the other day that he was snapping at me, but it looks like I’ve become a truly reliable master now. A soft smile escaped my lips without me realizing.

“I want to stay with you always, too.”

That is, if Yul isn’t the hero.

So these days, I was fervently hoping. That there would be one more human with black hair and black eyes besides Yul. Now that I thought of it, I was thinking of making another wish, when Yul’s face drew closer. Huh? It was when I was blinking blankly.

“Huh?”

Yul’s lips and my lips lightly touched and parted. I belatedly gasped for breath.

“Yul, you… did you just kiss me?”

Yul nodded his head as if it were nothing, then pressed his lips to mine once more. The lips that stayed together a little longer than the first time slowly parted. Yul, who had kissed me twice, leaned his head on my shoulder as if he had lost his strength.

“…”

Feeling the warmth of Yul’s body against my neck, I fumbled with my lips. In the morning, he bit my nose, and at night, he kissed me twice. For some reason, it was embarrassing. My cheeks felt a little hot, too.

Yul was an excellent student. Just like when he grasped how to use mana, he learned everything I taught him easily, and soon began to use it as if it were his own.

Yul, who had become capable of using both his originally decent swordsmanship and the magic taught by me, a dragon, must have become one of the strongest among humans. It meant that he would no longer be beaten by weak humans in back alleys. Thinking that made me feel very proud.

The chief, to keep the promise he made at the festival, began to make the weapon. Moreover, it seemed some sort of inspiration had struck him, as he was hammering away at steel day and night without even showing his face to me. Yul and I just had to lie down comfortably and wait for the chief to bring the weapon.

If nothing unusual had happened, that is.

“You have a fever again…”

For the past few days, Yul had been repeating a cycle of having a fever all night and then getting better by morning. I couldn’t figure out the cause of the fever at all and wanted to take Yul to a human healer, but every time I tried, Yul would vehemently refuse. I sighed, placing a hand on his feverish forehead. Yul slowly opened his eyes and looked at me.

“I’m fine.”

“But you have a fever.”

“I’m fine in the morning.”

Yul was right, but was it really nothing? Was it just that Yul, being a human, had come to a volcanic island and his body temperature had risen? I couldn’t find an answer, so I was frustrated, but since Yul himself was refusing, I couldn’t just kidnap a healer. I let out a deep sigh and looked at Yul’s leg.

“Still, I’m glad your leg is all healed.”

“Yeah.”

The leg that was injured during the festival had healed, leaving only a small scar. I placed my hand on Yul’s thigh. The wound was around here. Should I ask him to roll up his pants so I can get rid of the scar? Yes, that would be good. I shifted my hand on his thigh and looked at Yul. In that moment, thwack, my wrist was caught.

“Yul?”

An unidentifiable emotion surfaced on Yul’s pretty face. Surprised, confused… and if I looked closely, it looked like contempt, and also like he was about to cry.

Did I do something wrong? My heart sank. I, who had been sitting on the edge of the bed, moved my bottom closer to Yul. Yul let out a short, dry laugh, ha, as if he were finally releasing a breath he had been holding.

“Illy.”

“Yeah.”

I quickly nodded my head. Yul stared at me intently, then slowly blinked his eyes. The negative emotions that had been churning virulently in his black eyes crumbled away like a sand mountain.

“…Illy.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Put me to sleep.”

Yul muttered in a weak voice. Put him to sleep? I thought for a moment, then opened my mouth.

“With magic?”

Yul let out a small laugh. Then he pulled my hand and placed it on his head. Thud. His soft hair scattered between my fingers.

“Stroke my hair like this.”

Yul lay down on the bed while still holding my hand. In the moment I said, “Uh,” I also lay down next to Yul with a flop. Yul then pushed his head in front of me and closed his eyes. I carefully stroked Yul’s hair. Yul, who had been unable to fall asleep for a while, suddenly fell into a deep sleep, as if under a spell.

“Yul, are you sleeping?”

“…”

“You’re sleeping for a long time today…”

Even though morning had come, Yul didn’t open his eyes. At first, I was surprised, thinking something had happened, and was about to go find Lauren, but when I looked closely, he was just sleeping peacefully. His breathing was even, and there was not a single frown on his face. His fever had also gone down.

“Was he very sleepy?”

Well, the journey to find the end of the world couldn’t be comfortable for Yul, who was a human. …Wait, the end of the world?

“Gasp.”

I shot up. In my excitement about giving Yul a sword made by the chief, I had forgotten about investigating the end of the world. How could I have forgotten this? This was the reason I came here in the first place!

I glanced at the sleeping Yul’s face. He seemed to be in such a deep sleep that there was no sign of him waking up. Even when I waved my hand in front of his face, he didn’t even twitch an eyelid. It would be better to go and come back quickly while he’s sleeping, right?

“Yul, I’ll be right back.”

I pressed my lips to the sleeping Yul’s eyelid and then pulled away. I had only given him a simple kiss, but my mood improved significantly. I smiled foolishly and proudly straightened my shoulders. Unlike the elf village, I could use teleportation magic freely here, so I would be able to return quickly.