Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 540

540.

“Hey, Lapis! I have good news! I think I finally figured out where you are!”

At those words, his expression turned even more pitiful. Seeing the look that said I was off on another wild goose chase, I quickly started to explain.

“No, I’m sure this time. I don’t know if it’s a fabricated memory or what, but Ellyuen gave me a clue. It’s credible. Anyway, I’m going back to the place I first arrived. If I wander around that area, I might be able to find you. I even dreamed of meeting you, so I have a really good feeling about this.”

He sighed, looking utterly annoyed, as if something was bothering him to death. The next moment, he seemed to mutter something to himself before looking straight at me again. Then, surprisingly, he spoke to me.

“…Next…to…”

“Huh? What did you say?”

What? He could talk? But I couldn’t hear him well. Growing anxious, I hurriedly asked again, and his face became even more fierce.

“I’m next to you, you idiot!”

In an instant, my eyes snapped open. I saw the familiar ceiling I had looked at before falling asleep. For a moment, I was bewildered, trying to figure out what was going on, before realizing I had woken up from a dream. I quickly sat up and looked around, but of course, Lapis was nowhere to be found.

“…Next to me, my foot.”

A sigh escaped me in disappointment.

It was a good yet strange dream.

* * *

It was true that the Emperor of the Seik Empire was persistent. Whether he had somehow gotten wind of my departure, knights in Imperial Guard uniforms were patrolling the streets from early morning. They seemed to be using the excuse of searching for the escaped Soul Reliever Master, but the fact that they were mainly checking people with blonde hair made it obvious who they were looking for.

“I wasn’t planning on telling him first, but I can’t ignore the information Aegis obtained.”

I had already been warned by Lamias (he’s only loyal in these situations), so I knew it was only a matter of time before the Emperor found out. I didn’t expect him to let me go easily, but I didn’t think he would be this blatant about it. Fortunately, the crowd was larger than the search party, so I pulled my hood down deeper and dodged their watchful eyes. But the bigger problem occurred after I arrived at my destination.

“You’re not operating?”

To leave secretly, it was crucial to get out of the capital as quickly as possible. Since there were no trains departing that day, I had no choice but to take a Beajo [a type of flying vehicle]. But then I received the shocking news that all Beajo operations had been suspended. The ticket agent explained with a troubled expression.

“The Beajos have become extremely ferocious lately, for some reason. They’re not in a state to carry people. Yesterday, an aviator tried to operate one by force and lost his life in a crash. So, we’ve decided to suspend Beajo operations for the time being until the situation is resolved.”

“Hmm, I see. Well, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Looks like I have to give up on a comfortable journey. I swallowed a sigh and was considering the next route when I felt someone approaching. I turned around without thinking and saw a uniform right in front of me, and I clicked my tongue. It seemed the Imperial Guard knight had finally found me.

“Excuse me. We’re looking for someone. We need to verify your appearance, so could you please remove your hood for a moment?”

“…….”

“If you don’t cooperate, we’ll have to do it by force.”

Sensing my hesitation, the knight’s gaze became stern. For a moment, a million thoughts raced through my mind, but I slowly lowered my hood. The knight who was watching me paused for a moment, then tilted his head. I glanced at the magic detector he was holding, but it didn’t react at all. The tension reached its peak.

“Hey.”

The gruff voice came just then.

“What’s going on with my companion?”

The man who strode up glared at the knight with an unpleasant look. When I took off my hood, his long ears were revealed. The knight, who seemed flustered by his obviously non-human appearance, soon nodded in understanding.

“We were just verifying his identity. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Then, without any further questions, he turned and left. I quietly sighed in relief as I watched him walk away.

“El, are you okay?”

The man next to me, Sibelius, who was also relieved, asked me in a low voice. I nodded slightly and whispered back.

“Looks like he didn’t notice?”

“Yeah, not at all.”

“I thought I was going to get caught because he was staring so intently.”

“Your appearance is quite striking, after all. Fortunately, he seems to have thought you were an elf hybrid.”

Feeling awkward, I touched my short black hair. I honestly wasn’t sure if it would work, but it was more effective than I thought.

* * *

Running into Sibelius while packing my bags was unexpected. He was standing there, out of breath, as if he had rushed over.

“Sibelius.”

“El, I heard… you’re leaving the Empire.”

“Ah, yeah. That’s how it turned out.”

“I’ll go with you.”

I couldn’t react for a moment at his immediate words. Sibelius’s blue eyes were fixed on me, filled with an anxious light.

“I want to go with you.”

“…Do you even know where I’m going?”

“I don’t care where. I want to go with you.”

“Hmm, being with me increases the chances of getting caught by pursuers. It’s safest for you to stay at Duke Sepion’s residence. Aren’t you enjoying your life now?”

“I am. It was the life I wanted.”

“Then why…”

“Still, I want to go with you.”

Sibelius stubbornly replied. I looked at his unyielding face and noticed his attire. Now that I saw it, he was dressed for travel. He had clearly made up his mind to leave and had finished all the preparations.

‘I wonder if he discussed it with Lamias.’

Actually, I didn’t say goodbye to Sibelius separately because I thought this might happen. Judging from the stories he told me about the past, it seemed like we had lived together, but we didn’t have much contact in the Empire.

Our interactions had mostly been limited to when I visited the residence for business with Lamias and met him in passing. Looking back at the memories from the skipped period, it was the same, so I thought a proper companionship would only happen after leaving this place. I didn’t expect him to follow me so soon.

Since I had to consider my companion’s wishes, I turned to look at him. Sibelius seemed to finally become aware of the presence next to me. He also looked at Ellyuen.

“Are you the Spirit King Elquines?”

Ellyuen, who had been paying little attention to the situation, slowly turned his gaze to him. Come to think of it, I hadn’t formally introduced them. I had forgotten since they naturally knew each other, but this was their first meeting here. To be precise, the Spirit Kings knew Sibelius (they occasionally kept an eye on what I was doing), but Sibelius had never formally met the Spirit Kings.

“Please allow me to accompany you. I won’t cause any trouble. I can be of help, you know.”

Ellyuen didn’t say anything. He would clearly express if he didn’t like it, but the fact that he didn’t react meant I could decide as I pleased. Thanks to that, I felt much more at ease.

“Then Sibelius, can you help me with something first?”

“Of course. I’ll do anything. What do you need me to do?”

Sibelius, who nodded and steeled his face, asked. I took him to an empty lot where no one was around. Then, I took out the things in my pocket and handed them to him. Sibelius, who received them in a daze, looked at the things in his hand and then looked at me with a puzzled expression. I smiled brightly at his face, which showed he had no idea what I was planning.

“Are you good at cutting hair, by any chance?”

The situation that followed was very chaotic. After receiving the scissors, knife, and hair dye, Sibelius couldn’t shake off his tearful expression. His hands holding my hair were full of hesitation. He repeatedly raised and lowered the scissors.

“El, I really can’t do it.”

“No, you can do it.”

“I don’t think this is right. Can’t you reconsider?”

“No, this is the best way. You said you could do anything a moment ago. Was that resolution so easily broken?”

“But…”

“If you can’t do it, should I just do it myself?”

“Ah, no! I’ll do it! I will!”

In the end, it was only after uttering words close to a threat that his busy hands touched my hair. The reason why it was a threat was because, just a moment ago, seeing him hesitate, I had tried to cut off a lock of my own hair. Sibelius was horrified by how clumsy it looked and immediately snatched the scissors away. He seemed to think it was better to do it himself than to watch me mess it up. Even so, Sibelius kept sighing.

“To have to cut and dye this precious blonde hair. I feel like I’m committing a crime.”

“It’s just hair, why are you making such a fuss?”

“It’s not just hair. How rare is such beautiful blonde hair? It must have taken a long time to grow this much, wouldn’t you really regret cutting it short?”

“Not at all. Hair grows back if you leave it alone.”

“You’re the only one who can say that so nonchalantly.”

He shook his head and fell into deep thought again. If you have good manual skills, is your innate artistic spirit somehow different? He was so upset and regretful that my own heart started to feel heavy. It seems like this is the first time in my life I’ve felt guilty about getting a haircut.

Of course, that didn’t mean I was going to change my mind after making such a firm decision. Sibelius also seemed to have surrendered and quietly started cutting. For a while, I could hear the rustling sound and feel the cut hair falling. After that, I felt the cold dye being smeared all over. After waiting long enough for it to dye, I rinsed it several times with water until the harsh scent disappeared. Nias helped with this process, making it much easier.

“It’s done.”

Finally, I heard the words I had been waiting for. After tidying up my clothes, I picked up the hand mirror with a thrilled feeling. The smooth surface reflected my appearance with short black hair.

“Oh.”

Since being born in this world, it was the first time my hair had been short or black. Is that why? The face I always saw felt very unfamiliar. If the long blonde hair had a flashy and bright feeling at a glance, now it was closer to a calm and cold feeling. I felt like I looked younger, but that seemed to make the atmosphere even more different.

“How do I look?”

“Your impression has definitely changed a lot. This kind of atmosphere suits you well, too.”

Sibelius nodded with a complicated look on his face. He still seemed to have lingering feelings for the blonde hair, but he seemed to have accepted that there was no turning back. Ignoring his gloomy face, I looked at my reflection in the mirror from side to side. It felt strange that there was almost no texture to grab when I swept my hair up. More than anything, I liked that it felt light. I should have tried it sooner. The more I looked at it, the more I liked it.

“Father, don’t I look like Troel when I do this?”

Ellyuen, who turned to look at me, gave me a look that said I was talking nonsense. Hmm, I guess not. Actually, I wasn’t hurt because I knew it wasn’t true and just said it. I was just once again impressed by the coldness of the fathers of this era who wouldn’t even tell a white lie for their sons. Sibelius, who was watching us, had a dazed look on his face.

“Why, Sibelius? Do you have something to say?”

“Ah, well… I vaguely heard that you call the Spirit King ‘Father,’ but I really think that….”

“What? Ah, right. I call him Father.”

“Is it like an expression of affection? There are other titles you could use, so why Father…”

“Because Father is Father.”

Sibelius couldn’t hide his bewilderment at my ready answers. To be precise, he seemed more surprised by Ellyuen’s attitude, who didn’t care at all even when I called him that (rather, he now took it for granted).

“You two have a really good relationship.”

“Well, yeah.”

I nodded as if it were natural, but this was all the result of painstaking effort. He probably doesn’t know how much bitter sorrow I had to endure to get to this day. Looking back, it was a truly eventful time.

Come to think of it, what tormented me the most whenever Sibelius mentioned the El of the past was this title of ‘Father.’ Thinking that every action I showed in front of him now would become a means of tormenting the future me, I felt a little strange. It seemed like it was really hard back then, but now that it’s over, even that has become a memory.

Anyway, until then, everything was going smoothly. I liked my appearance after turning into a black-haired person, and I thought the signs of departure were very good. But fate, which always brings difficulties wherever I go, didn’t seem to want to let me go easily this time either.

“I didn’t know the Beajos would stop operating.”

I couldn’t believe that the fastest means of transportation would all be blocked one after another. Now that I had confirmed that my transformed appearance could pass through random inspections, I felt even more disappointed with this situation. Come to think of it, didn’t they also say that airships had been suspended? I think I heard the Soul Reliever Master grumbling about it.

All means of air travel being out of service at the same time… It seemed too coincidental to be a coincidence, so I turned to look at Ellyuen, and as expected, the words I had anticipated came back.

“Humans will no longer be able to roam the skies.”

“Ah…”

So that’s how it is. Well, the sky is the domain of the wind. It couldn’t be allowed to humans who betrayed Minerva. It was a bit unfortunate that everyone was suffering because of one mistake by Ain Idris, but it was something that had to be accepted.

“Then what should we do now? The train doesn’t come for another five days, so we can’t keep staying here. Should we climb the mountains after all?”

Honestly, it was more of a cliff than a mountain, but it seems there’s no other way now. Horses or carriages leave traces and are easy to catch up to, so I wanted to avoid them as much as possible. In fact, I wanted to avoid mountain climbing even more, but it definitely had the advantage that pursuit was not easy because the road was dangerous.

‘That hardship will start again.’

I wonder how many pairs of shoes I’ll have to throw away this time. Now that my stamina has improved significantly, it won’t be too difficult, but the fact that I’m sighing from the start shows that the previous mountain trip has become a solid trauma for me. Honestly, it was really hard.