Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 287

287.

“Okay, good thinking. Fire Buster, please take care of Alisa. Now that things have turned out this way, try to get along without fighting.”

―Since El-nim [a term of respect, similar to ‘Lord’ or ‘Master’ when referring to El] is personally asking, I have no choice. I’ll try my best. It’s not that I like this brat, but I’ll overlook the slight annoyance. I’m an adult, unlike this kid.

“Y-yeah.”

“How funny! Who said they liked you? I’m just as annoyed!”

―Aha? So, you admit you’re a brat? I’ll give you points for that.

“@#$^@#$%!”

……Hey, you two. It hasn’t even been a minute since you said you’d try, you know?

Watching the girl and the object(?) start bickering again, I quietly rubbed my forehead. Not long ago, it was grown men, and now it’s kids. Why are the people around me always at odds with each other? I think Ellyuen told me to be selective about my friends. At this point, could the problem be on my end? Maybe I was born to be a harbinger of discord. I couldn’t just laugh off the fleeting thought, so I felt heavy-hearted. It seemed I needed to purify myself before purifying the thought-entity.

* * *

Clunk.

A worn-out wooden door opened, and a man entered the room. His shoulders and head were covered in white snow. His appearance plainly showed the situation he had just been in. The people inside all stared at the man standing in the doorway, shaking off the snow. Ignoring the curious gazes directed at him, the man silently walked forward. He headed to a table in the most secluded corner of the room. The group sitting there noticed him and greeted him with happy faces, but their expressions turned to disappointment when they saw the wetness in his blonde hair.

“What? Is it still snowing?”

“Ah, we’re doomed. It looks like it’s going to keep snowing for a while.”

“Damn it, it’s already piled up so much. We’re going to be stuck here for days.”

A man with messy red hair scratched his head and grumbled. The other members of the group sighed in unison. They had hoped to leave today, but it seemed impossible again.

The group, consisting of four men and two women, were mostly lightly armed. It was clear at a glance that they were mercenaries. They were the Champagne Mercenary Company, on their way back to the Imperial Army’s main force.

The schedule, initially estimated to take two to three weeks, had become unpredictable due to the continuous bad weather. The snow, which started piling up as soon as it fell, was enough to trap travelers, and the Champagne Mercenary Company was no exception. Fortunately, they had managed to secure a room at the inn before the heavy snowfall began. Last time, they had almost gotten stranded in the middle of the mountains when the road was blocked. They barely found an empty cave to take shelter from the snow, but they had been anxious about their dwindling food supplies the whole time.

On a whim, they called a server to order more drinks and food. They figured they might as well eat a lot and build up their strength while they had the chance. However, they had already ordered a tremendous amount of food once before. The table was covered with dishes that were still warm, and even more food was on its way. When they added another order, the innkeeper looked both pleased and weary. If they hadn’t paid in advance, he would have been worried about whether they could pay the bill.

“The stir-fried pork with chives is mine!”

“Get lost. I ordered it.”

“Finders keepers!”

“Ugh! Don’t touch it, it’s mine!”

Huesen shook his head, watching the group fight over a single plate like children. He felt a sense of pride in himself for leading these immature people through this arduous journey. At the same time, he had an ominous feeling that he would never escape this fate.

Suddenly, his gaze turned to the far left side of the table. A man was sitting there, silently holding only a glass, seemingly unaffected by the chaos unfolding before him. Huesen knew that the clear liquid in the glass was a fiery liquor that would make one’s throat burn. He was drinking it as casually as if it were water. Watching him, Huesen swallowed hard, feeling his own throat burning.

Among the group stuffing their faces as if possessed, the man quietly sipping his drink stood out as an anomaly. Even if that weren’t the case, the man was an anomaly simply because of his appearance. Huesen wasn’t the only one who thought so; he had been feeling gazes from around them for a while now. A quick glance around revealed eyes darting in their direction. All of them were stealing glances at the man. They had deliberately chosen a secluded spot to avoid this, but it didn’t seem to be working very well. Huesen thought it was inevitable. Once you caught sight of him, you couldn’t help but stare, mesmerized. Even though he knew it was rude, Huesen couldn’t take his eyes off him either.

He looked like a painting carefully crafted with a brush. His honey-like blonde hair shimmered like golden threads, and his skin was as white as if it were made of pearls. His light blue eyes were reminiscent of rare blue diamonds. The fact that a living person could look like this was, in a way, astonishing.

To be honest, Huesen prided himself on his keen eye for beauty. From his colleague Matthew to El, whom he had associated with for a while, he had already experienced unrealistic beauty several times. He thought he would never be surprised by someone’s appearance again. In fact, thinking of them, the man’s appearance wasn’t that surprising. But there was a strange, inexplicable feeling about him.

“……What is it?”

Above all, it was his voice that made his heart drop. There was a power in his voice that made it difficult to ignore even a meaningless word. When that charming voice was added to his beautiful appearance, it created an even more surreal atmosphere. It was like that right now. The sound of the single word he uttered caused the group, who had been focused on their food, to freeze momentarily. They were the kind of people who wouldn’t budge even if a monster attacked them while they were eating. Yet, they all snapped to attention and focused on his one word.

‘But why is everyone looking at me… Oh, no.’

Only after receiving the group’s blank stares did Huesen realize that the man was looking at him. He had been so focused on the man’s voice that he hadn’t realized the question was directed at him. Suppressing the urge to crawl into a hole, Huesen forced a nonchalant smile.

“It’s nothing. Um, Priest, you’re just drinking again. Does the Order of Punishment have a rule like that?”

“A rule?”

“It seemed like El only ate thin porridge or drank liquids, too.”

“Ah.”

The man, who had looked puzzled, slowly nodded.

“El is just like that, and I just happen to prefer this.”

“I-I see. Anyway, don’t just drink alcohol, please eat some other food too. Drinking such strong liquor on an empty stomach will be very bad for your health.”

“Bad for my health? That’s an amusing concern.”

A slight smile appeared on his otherwise indifferent face. Huesen wanted to bury his head in the table. Even he thought it was a stupid concern. The man had been living on alcohol since the day they met. If there were going to be any health problems, they would have happened a long time ago.

The other members of the Champagne Mercenary Company watched him holding his head and groaning with a mixture of pity and understanding. None of them were confident that they could have a conversation with the man while in their right minds. Huesen, with his calm nature, was the only one who could keep the nonsense to a minimum. When Iril first met him, she had rambled on for a long time about ‘the weather being so nice that it would be a good day to go and slit a monster’s throat.’ Sherry and Mighty had frozen up and kept their mouths shut. They were better now, but still, no one felt comfortable talking to him.

When they spoke to him, their lips were stretched into exaggerated smiles, and their pupils trembled as if there was an earthquake. Even though they had been together for several days, they still didn’t know his name. Once, someone had cautiously asked, but after receiving a look that seemed to say he couldn’t be bothered to answer (in reality, he had just looked at them blankly), no one had dared to ask again. They knew it was an overly timid attitude, but they couldn’t help it. When they were around him, they felt like children in front of a strict adult. Their colleague Matthew, who wasn’t here right now, was also difficult to talk to, but not to this extent. Somehow, they had a feeling that if those two were in the same place, it would be quite a sight to see.

“Ah, now that I think about it, isn’t Elder City nearby? Where we parted ways with Matthew.”

Remembering Matthew made him wonder how he was doing. Hearing Huesen’s muttering, Sherry estimated the location and nodded.

“Yeah, it is. It’s right next door.”

“Should we stop by on the way? It’s been a while since we’ve seen him.”

Large-scale requests weren’t frequent, so mercenary companies didn’t always operate as a group. In fact, they often worked individually. But this was the first time that only one person had been separated like this. Matthew would probably be fine on his own, but Huesen, as the leader, couldn’t help but feel concerned given the current situation.

“Priest, would it be alright if we stopped by for a bit on the way? It’s on the way, so it won’t deviate from our schedule too much.”

“If it’s on the way, I don’t mind.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

Huesen’s face brightened at the man’s easy agreement, which had been his biggest concern. The rest of the Champagne Mercenaries also looked excited at the thought of seeing their comrade after a long time.

“But Captain, it’s been quite a while, hasn’t it? Do you think Matthew will still be there?”

“Hmm, do you think so?”

“Elder City isn’t that big. He’s probably gotten bored by now, right? Wouldn’t he have left already?”

“Yeah, you’re right. I don’t think he’s there.”

“……!”

At that moment, a familiar voice suddenly cut into their conversation. Huesen and the Champagne Mercenaries turned around reflexively, their eyes widening. A person wearing a hood was standing in front of them. They were covered in snow, just like Huesen had been earlier, as if they had just come in. When they lowered their hood, the first thing that appeared was jet-black hair. The group couldn’t help but stand up from their seats when they saw the chocolate-like skin and the brilliant golden eyes.

“Matthew!”

“No way! Who is it? It’s Matthew!”

At the vehement reaction as if they had seen a ghost, Matthew shrugged lightly. He never expected to meet them here. Huesen couldn’t hide his bewildered expression at the unexpected appearance.

“What’s going on? Matthew, why are you here?”

“That’s what I should be asking. I stopped by because there was a request nearby, but I got stuck because it was snowing so much. This place was closer, so I just came over, and now I see all these familiar faces. What are you all doing in a place like this? It doesn’t seem like the Imperial Army’s route.”

Matthew’s gaze, which had been leisurely scanning the group, suddenly turned to one particular spot. It was the location of the priest, the only one in the group who was still sitting.

“……And there’s a face I haven’t seen before too.”

For a brief moment, the two men’s eyes met. Huesen thought that the way they looked at each other was somehow strange. But it was so fleeting that he couldn’t be sure if he had seen it correctly.

“We got separated from the main force due to some circumstances and were on our way back. This is a priest of the Order of Punishment who we met along the way. He’s apparently acquainted with El too.”

“Oh, is that so?”

A smile appeared on Matthew’s lips as he looked back at the man. Huesen, who knew that he didn’t smile often, swallowed slightly. Was it because he was acquainted with El? He seemed to be in a gentler mood than usual.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Matthew.”

“…….”

However, the priest wasn’t. He had been sipping his drink even during the conversation, and he simply looked at Matthew with an indifferent gaze, without showing any particular reaction. He nodded slightly, but that was all. The Champagne Mercenaries, who had been hoping to finally learn the man’s name, looked disappointed.

“Since we’re meeting after so long, can I join you?”

“No, what are you talking about? Why would we need our permission for you to join us? Come on, come and sit down. By the way, have you eaten? Should we order more food?”

“No, I already ate. Just get me some alcohol.”

The place where Matthew sat was right next to the priest. With the addition of the equally flamboyant boy next to the already dazzling man, their presence doubled. The Champagne Mercenaries tensed up without realizing it. Huesen, in particular, felt very complicated. He had thought that it would be interesting to see the two of them meet, but he didn’t expect that moment to come so soon. He even felt a sense of foreboding, as if the end of the world had come.

Fortunately, the atmosphere didn’t turn out too bad. They had a lot of stories to tell since they had been apart for a while. When Matthew asked about how they had been doing, the Champagne Mercenaries seized the opportunity and began to speak one after another. As the lively atmosphere was enhanced by alcohol, the gathering quickly became lively. The priest had been isolated all along, but he had been like that from the beginning, so there was no need to worry about it now.