SWY 108

“…….”

Sharhan shook himself again. Just imagining it made him feel awkward and tingly all over.

‘When I see Lestel, I’ll ask him directly this time. I can’t keep avoiding it forever.’

If he kept running away and putting it off, something similar might happen again and he’d snap like he did before. Wait… something similar? Did that mean he might end up seeing Lestel confessing to Ardelle, or some other girl, or guy, again?

Ha. Just the thought of it made him mad. If it were a girl, maybe he could bear it. But if it were a guy, he might not be able to stop himself from rushing in and throwing punches. He had no reason to be angry, but he was.

Scowling at a hypothetical that hadn’t even happened, Sharhan forced himself to calm down. He needed to muster the courage to confront it before it all repeated itself. After that, he’d insist on rewriting the magic contract.

He’d regretted putting it off while searching for Lestel. If they’d rewritten it earlier, he could’ve confirmed whether Lestel was alive through the pain in his heart.

Sharhan didn’t even realize he was essentially asking to put a leash around his own neck. All he could think about was how frustrating it was not to know Lestel’s situation because he’d torn the contract.

‘Lestel must’ve gotten hurt in the avalanche too…’

Sharhan’s own body was far from fine. He’d been pretending he was okay by staying in motion, but the bruises and scrapes all over were starting to ache more and more. Lestel, who had been swept away with him, was probably in the same state.

“Um… you’re sane, right? You’re not crazy?”

Teddy, who had been watching Sharhan laugh to himself, then go serious, then laugh again, poked his arm with a finger and asked cautiously.

“W-were you bitten, by any chance…?”

“I wasn’t, and yes, I’m sane.”

“Really not bitten?”

“If I had been, I would’ve already turned and started eating you all.”

Sharhan opened his eyes and replied, making Teddy let out a nervous laugh and visibly relax.

“R-right? I was just checking, so please don’t take offense.”

“It’s fine. More importantly, did you dig this shelter yourself?”

“Yes. That lord kept taxing us so hard, I made this to hide some food. Thanks to that, I didn’t starve to death. Though I didn’t hide much to begin with, and after nibbling at it bit by bit… there’s none left now. I thought I could hold out longer, but once Gilbert’s group joined me, the food vanished faster.”

“You make it sound like we stole your food.”

“I-I didn’t mean it that way at all!”

Teddy jumped in panic at Gilbert’s pointed comment.

“Sure sounded like it.”

“It’s not! Really! I was just glad to not be so lonely anymore after being alone for so long. Please don’t misunderstand. I didn’t have much stored up anyway.”

Sharhan stared at the flustered Teddy, then asked quietly,

“Did you used to have a family?”

“I did… but… not anymore.”

He didn’t explain, but Sharhan could guess what had happened.

“I see. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. I’m not the only one who’s lost family. More importantly, I’m really hungry. And thirsty. Haven’t had water since getting stuck in here at dawn.”

Teddy licked his chapped lips and rubbed his stomach. They were all hungry. Sharhan had eaten nothing but a few handfuls of snow all day.

“Once the sun’s up, let’s eat some snow. It’ll help a little with the thirst.”

“Sure, but snow doesn’t fix hunger. I want meat.”

“Same here. A big chunk of fresh meat, grilled over fire, take a huge bite and… ah, now I’m just torturing myself.”

Gilbert chimed in, and the usually quiet Ethan and Eve licked their lips silently. Sharhan glanced at Gilbert as he swallowed thickly.

“Haha, not like we can find meat these days.”

“True. Can’t find any kind of food, really.”

“You’ve eaten well enough, by the looks of it.”

Gilbert narrowed his eyes at Sharhan’s remark.

“You’ve got a big frame.”

“I used to do hard labor. That’s all.”

“I see.”

“Let’s just sleep. Staying awake just makes the hunger worse.”

Coming from the chattiest one of them, it was a bit funny, but not wrong. Sharhan closed his eyes and forced himself to try sleeping again.

Sometime deep into the night, a faint whispering tickled his ears. He squinted through barely opened eyes and saw Gilbert, Ethan, and Eve huddled together, whispering among themselves.

‘What are they talking about? Is that… a tattoo?’

Sharhan caught glimpses of something on Gilbert’s neck whenever he moved. When Gilbert glanced his way, Sharhan quickly shut his eyes again.

***

“Shit, this won’t work.”

As soon as morning came, the group headed for the collapsed house. Gilbert, Ethan, and Teddy tried to dig through the snow covering it to retrieve their belongings.

But the snow had frozen rock-solid overnight. With just a few people, it wouldn’t budge. They’d need something sharp to break the ice or more hands to help. Gilbert, sweating heavily from the effort, finally cursed and kicked the frozen mound.

“What do we do now?”

Ethan wiped his forehead and asked. Gilbert’s red, sweaty face twisted in frustration.

“Fuck it. Took so long to gather all that. No choice, we’ll just have to start over.”

“Yeah. Whatever it was, we can get more. As long as we’re alive, right?”

Teddy tried to console them. Sharhan looked up at the sun’s position to check the time.

“If you’re done here, let’s move on.”

They had planned to leave at sunrise, but Gilbert’s insistence on recovering the supplies had delayed them. Since Gilbert wouldn’t go, Teddy was stuck too.

“Let’s go. Teddy, lead the way.”

No one had anything left, not even weapons. Sharhan followed behind, thinking that if they came across anything remotely usable as a weapon, he’d grab it. Teddy walked at what could charitably be called a cautious pace – or, more honestly, a maddening crawl.

“At this rate, we won’t make it to the villa before nightfall.”

Sharhan, having trailed in silence, finally snapped.

“Sorry. Ever since the world went to hell, I haven’t really left home.”

“I understand being scared. But walking slowly doesn’t stop corpses from showing up. Please pick up the pace.”

“I’ll try.”

But despite his words, Teddy’s pace stayed slow. Only after walking a while without seeing any corpses did he start moving faster, as if he were finally at ease. Sharhan, who had nearly lost his temper, relaxed a little.

The snow had frozen solid, turning the ground into a slick sheet of ice. At first it was easier to walk without sinking, but they quickly wore out from tensing their legs to keep from slipping. Even Eve, the only woman in the group, was panting from exhaustion after a while.

On top of that, the debris from uprooted sari trees and broken buildings blocked the way, slowing them down even more. Sharhan was growing anxious.

“Let’s take a break.”

Seeing how tired Eve was, Gilbert suggested a rest. Sharhan looked away from the group as they huddled together for warmth. Teddy, clearly parched, scraped snow from the least frozen parts to suck on.

‘Will I make it to the villa today?’

He needed to recognize the path so he could part ways with them. But the landscape had changed too much under the snow. If this were Katun, he could walk blindfolded, but this was Lahan.

A strong gust of wind made Sharhan tighten his robe. It had soaked and frozen so many times it barely offered any warmth. He only wore it because it was better than nothing.

“What did you used to do?”

Gilbert asked as he helped Eve up.

“I was… a merchant.”

Sharhan deliberately hid his true status.

“Really? I bet you sold a lot, with a face like that.”

It was insulting, and normally Sharhan would’ve snapped. But he didn’t want to waste energy arguing. He just shrugged silently, and Gilbert said nothing more.

“Shall we head out?”

They forced themselves up and continued. It wasn’t until two more hours had passed that familiar scenery finally began to appear. The sun had dipped low in the west, it was already late afternoon. Just as Sharhan was beginning to fear they’d lose another day, he saw a path he recognized and nearly cried with relief.

“This is where we part ways.”

“Huh? Here?”

“I can manage from here on my own. Thank you.”

Sharhan stepped closer to a flustered Teddy and whispered, “Don’t trust them too much.” Then he ran.

It wasn’t easy. Running on terrain he usually rode on horseback left him breathless. His legs were heavy, and the cold wind pounding his face made his head ache. He almost slipped more than once but didn’t slow down.

After running so hard it felt like his lungs were going to burst, Sharhan finally stopped.

“The villa…”

The place where the villa had once stood… was buried entirely in snow.