IBTRFL Chapter 15

Before long, a group of people arrived at the mouth of the cave. Snow had frozen stiff onto their layered clothes.

There was no telling how long they'd wandered outside.

The one who looked like the leader waved both arms, signaling no hostile intent. The others following behind lowered the weapons in their hands and took the same posture.

Mercenary companies and merchants traveling long distances losing their way was common enough. More so in Nivalis's brutal blizzards.

Kardo, guard lowered, sheathed his sword and sat back down. The mercenaries threw off their helmets and scurried over, huddling around the fire in a ring.

Kardo said nothing, only pushed more firewood into the fire. The flames roared up fiercely, warming the air.

Relieved by the warmth spreading through the cave, people began voicing their own reactions.

"God. Actually thought we'd freeze to death."

"I'm telling you, I saw my dead dad."

"...Didn't you say your father's alive back home?"

"I got two dads, though?"

A woman approached through the murmuring mercenaries. She was the leader who'd walked at the front of the group.

"Ah, seriously, thanks. Thought we were gonna freeze to death right here, and then—bam—there was a light. If it's okay, mind if we rest here till the storm passes? We obviously won't cause any trouble, and we can pay in food or coin."

"That's fine. I only got here first myself, so there's no reason for me to take anything for it."

At Kardo's answer, the leader's face lit up and she called out.

"Guys! We're stopping here tonight!"

The mercenaries who'd slumped to the ground clapped and cheered.

"Alright, up, hurry and set up camp!"

"Yes!"

At the leader's bark of command, people scrambled to their feet and got moving. They unpacked their gear, borrowed fire, and built up the campfire.

Around it, tents went up, each big enough for two or so people.

It would have made sense for them to complain about the exhaustion, but not one of them stopped moving, every last one of them at it.

Every so often someone would crack some stale old joke, and they'd rib him for it—but still burst out laughing. It was obvious right away what kind of mercenary company this was.

Two people approached through the busy movement of the camp.

"Mind if we sit?"

Kardo nodded without a word. The leader smiled and sat across from him. The man beside her checked the mood for a moment before taking a seat next to her.

"I'm Bifera, leader of the Natrix Mercenary Group. This is my husband Fel, our deputy leader. It's a short stay, but take care of us."

"I'm Inis."

"Fel, you too."

At Bifera's prompting, Fel bowed his head without a word. Kardo bowed his head in kind.

An awkward silence fell. Unable to bear it, Bifera hurried to speak.

"Right. I brought this for you."

Bifera held out a heavy pouch. Inside were bread and dried meat, food packed full.

Kardo considered it for a moment, then accepted it. He didn't want to dismiss the gesture, and he hadn't been able to stop by a town recently—his rations had all but run out.

"Thank you."

"Nah, if anything we're the ones who owe you. If it weren't for the fire you built, we'd have frozen stiff and died, no question."

Bifera gave Fel a light nudge in the side. Fel straightened his back and chimed in awkwardly.

"Right. Thanks."

"By the way, Inis. Is there a reason you're out here alone? I mean—a little kid, alone out here, that's not right."

Bifera rolled her eyes and scratched her head.

Kardo said nothing, only stirred the fire with a stick. The scattered logs gathered together, and the flames leapt up wildly.

No interest in blabbing his business to strangers. More than anything, he couldn't tell ordinary mercenaries about the Cult of Extinction.

The Cult loathed having its existence revealed above anything else.

If they ever learned that someone had noticed them, they would hunt that person down by any means necessary and see the breath cut out of them.

Kardo gave the stock answer with a dry face.

"There are circumstances."

"Circumstances?"

Bifera frowned. A kid who wasn't even an adult yet—alone in a cave, of all things.

Might just be a stranger butting in where she shouldn't—but as an adult, she couldn't just look away.

"Do you not have a guardian? Your parents?"

"Both of them are dead."

Kardo answered calmly.

For a moment, the cave froze over.

Wow. Our leader's fucking trash.

The mercenaries who'd been busy with their work turned disgusted eyes on their own leader. Fel looked like he couldn't stand to watch and turned his face away.

Bifera, now branded a criminal of the highest order, broke into a cold sweat, not knowing where to put herself.

"Inis! S-sorry, I'm really sorry! I was thinking about my son back home... I'm really sorry, again."

Everyone watched the one person's face. Bifera, the source of the whole disaster, was too ashamed to lift her head.

Meanwhile the one it actually concerned about it just kept splitting firewood, face blank.

Kardo thought of the names hung in some corner of his heart.

However long and dark a stretch of time a person lives through, there are always precious bonds they can never forget.

His mother had died not long after giving birth to him, and his father, having lost the partner of his whole life, suffered a sickness of the heart and closed his eyes the year Kardo turned ten.

A short span of time in a life. But the love he'd received in it—no one could call that small, not ever.

His father used to sit young Kardo on his knee and tell him stories about his mother.

His mother, frail as she was, had been overjoyed—so they said—the moment she found out she was carrying a child.

Calling it a miracle from god, she stroked her belly every day and sang to it, digging through hundreds of myths and old books to find a wonderful name to give the child.

That love had held firm even when the doctor recommended she give up the child. Even when told she might die giving birth, his mother would not give up the child inside her.

Kardo. The one word his mother left him in her last moment became his name—and it stood guard at his side, always.

His father might well have resented the son who'd stolen his wife away from him—but he'd always been gentle, always solid, instead.

Suppressing the grief of losing his wife, he watched over his son with meticulous care, and passed on everything he had, unreservedly. Kardo had truly loved his father's gentleness.

His wonderful father left in the spring, just as the flower buds were beginning to open. His face, gaunt from the illness that had warred at his heart like some demon, found peace at last.

He was probably meeting his beloved mother now, sharing the words they never finished. Or maybe getting scolded and asked why he'd come so soon.

Kardo, who'd kept his face expressionless the whole time, smiled faintly. It disappeared the very next instant, and no one noticed.

"It's alright. You don't need to apologize any more."

The mood in the cave sank into a solemn hush. That poor kid—how deep must his wounds run.

A composure and maturity no child their age should be able to show kept jabbing at their hearts. Bifera and Fel, unable to find the words, kept their mouths shut and exchanged anxious glances.

An awkward silence stretched on. Bifera, weighed down by guilt, cautiously opened her mouth.

"So, Inis."

"Yes."

Kardo answered with a bone-dry face. Bifera mumbled, checking his mood, and asked timidly.

"If it's alright—would you like to travel with us? For as long as you want. Or, well, it's fine if that's not what you want either. Not trying to p-pressure you or anything. Absolutely not..."

"Yeah, it won't hurt you any."

Fel added. Kardo looked around at the people near him. Their faces were somewhat rough, but their eyes were nothing but clear and gentle.

In many ways, it's a twisted world. Humans aren't inherently good—but in a twisted world, they live out pure evil. They turn their backs on others, slander them, tear them down, all to fill their own wants.

Probably because they'd grown up in a world steeped in that twistedness, and because evil was simply the easier path than good.

But sometimes—rarely—people like the ones in front of him show up. People who break the yoke. Diligent, good people. A rare sight.

He'd once lived as a hero and met countless people, but those who offered pure warmth to others had been vanishingly few.

These people—maybe he could trust them with it. Kardo rose to his feet without a word and drew his sword.

"Wh-what, why's he drawing his sword!"

"D-did the leader mention his parents, is that it?!"

The mercenaries nearby began to murmur. Others who'd been putting up tents rushed over to see what was happening.

"I-Inis!"

Bifera called out urgently. Fel, watching from the side, rested his hand on the dagger at his waist.