IBTRFL Chapter 19

Prayer

Aer stretched with a long yawn, tossing and turning this way and that.

Four days holed up in this cave, and she was itching all over. The plan to leave right away had quietly fallen apart.

She'd been worn out from working magic, and the search had started sooner than expected.

Hundreds of people combing the forest, calling her name. Her own name, echoing, reached even this cramped little cave.

Even without being an ordinary child, there was no slipping past that many people and getting clean away.

Especially since attacking them was off the table.

So Aer had decided to stick to the cave like a leech for a while.

No real problem there—she'd been steadily smuggling in whatever she needed to live, along with the paper where she'd written down everything about the Extinction Cult.

"Gotta earn some money first, once I'm out."

Aer mumbled it without much energy, and bit into the last of the bread.

What had once been soft had gone rock-hard, turned into something like a biscuit. Her mouth felt gritty, like she'd swallowed desert sand.

Hacking and gagging, throat clogged up, Aer thumped her own chest in a panic.

The damp cave was the perfect spot for water magic. Soon clean, cold droplets were floating through the air like little jellyfish.

Aer craned her neck and swallowed one whole. Her throat, cracked like a drought-struck field, drank the cool rain down gratefully.

"...Guess I can head out soon."

This dawn, the forest had settled back into its quiet stillness. The footsteps that had shaken the ground faded out, and the voices that had echoed between the trees vanished.

Looked like the search party had found something dramatic and drawn the conclusion she'd been counting on.

Aer went quiet for a moment. It had gone according to plan, but that didn't sit easy. It had been a choice for everyone, for the future.

In the end, though, it had left a wound in people's chests that wouldn't wash out.

The only way to save the children and sever herself from the orphanage at the same time.

It would be a lie to say she had no regrets. But if she went back and did it all again, she'd make the same choice. She had faith in the good people who watched over that place.

Aer gathered her things and got up. The backpack she'd stitched together from scraps of fabric held up decently well. She'd learned sewing out of frustration with merchants gouging prices, but it always came in handy.

"Clear sky."

The sky, seen for the first time in a while, was still high and beautiful.

Enjoying the fresh air, Aer pulled a wad of yellowed paper from her bag. The rustling sound went on for a moment, then the busy hands stopped.

Whether it was saving people or hunting down the Extinction Cult, none of it was possible without power first.

The very first thing to do was gather soul stones and build strength.

There were ways to buy them from collectors or at auction houses, but that was a world away from her own.

She had no confidence she could win against people who treated dozens of gold coins like pocket change. She did have confidence she could win against chaos beasts, though.

The paper listed the chaos beasts she remembered from her mercenary days and their locations. Among them were some that had been given names, worshipped by people almost as gods.

If she rounded up every single one of them, she'd surpass her previous level and be able to stand against the Extinction Cult.

"Guess I'll have to go to the Land of Grief eventually."

Considering it seriously, Aer shook her head. At her current level, meeting even a priest of the Extinction Cult would put her life on the line.

Expecting a harvest without planting a single seed didn't make sense. Right now was the time to focus on building strength.

Aer folded the paper, tucked it into her pocket, and moved forward. The thick tangle of branches blocking her way bent aside on their own, opening a path.

The soul stone she'd gotten from the Glanst had a wonderful taste. Like rotten fruit gone thick with blue mold, wrapped up in a fat leaf and eaten whole.

Her threshold for taste, warped by that first overwhelming shock, didn't even twitch at this level anymore.

More than anything, this time she'd absorbed it smoothly, without a hint of pain.

She'd channeled her opposing element—fire—to suppress the plant-and-tree energy, and the stone had clearly held less power than the last one, being of lower quality.

She still didn't really know how to use it, but she was making do this way for now. Someday she'd be able to use it as freely as water or fire, without any envy.

"Wish darkness would get there too, someday..."

She saw the stone wall the Glanst had smashed apart. Looking at it, roughly rebuilt, it seemed people had repaired it.

Clearing the wall, Aer broke into a run without hesitation.

She passed the pond she'd frozen without thinking, and cut past the soot-blackened, out-of-the-way clearing.

Going a while further like that, a plain came into view, scattered with sparse trees. Through the plain ran a long, man-made dirt road.

The road leading into Solbo. Maybe because it was past midnight, there were no peddlers or travelers going back and forth.

Just in case, Aer checked her surroundings before stepping out of the forest. If she just walked into some nearby city like this, the plan would be complete.

"..."

Despite her firm resolve not to look back and just leave, one thick strand of lingering attachment caught at her ankle.

Aer knew exactly why.

Valor Remisa. That drunkard of an uncle, who must have learned of her death right along with her reply.

"...Is he drinking again, I wonder?"

Maybe he was smashing his desk apart, his face flushed bright red. Hard to picture, but he might also be sipping wine and crying.

Her purple eyes, fixed on the sky, wavered with gloom. Whatever the case, the fact that she'd hurt Valor didn't change.

Aer pulled out the letter she'd tucked against her chest.

She'd lost count of how many times she'd written that she'd come back, only to burn the letter afterward.

Whoever else might not believe her, Valor Remisa at least would. He'd write it off as a joke at first, but he'd listen with an endlessly serious face before long.

Even so, she could never bring herself to reveal it in the end. It wasn't something to entrust to a letter that left a paper trail—and she knew Valor Remisa far too well for that.

A rough mercenary who'd lived her whole life steeped in malice had come to trust one person.

Goodness she'd almost dare to call divine. She couldn't help but admire a man who fought with everything he had against injustice.

And if a person like that learned about the Extinction Cult? He'd root out the axis of evil even if it meant burning to ash himself.

What the Extinction Cult—already watching Valor closely—might do about that was more certain than tomorrow's sunrise.

Losing him once had been enough. This time, she just wanted that wonderful man to stay in the world for a long, long time.

"..."

Aer got her stopped feet moving again.

There was a city called Thescion along the way to her destination.

It was on a scale Solbo couldn't even compare to, and she meant to arrange travel funds there. If she fudged her age a little, finding work wouldn't be hard.

"Hm?"

Aer tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at the far end of the road.

Far off, a small light like a firefly was slowly drawing closer. Something about it felt eerily familiar, and cold sweat ran down her back.

Wrapped in light, Valor was running toward her with a terrifying expression.

Oh, I'm screwed. Aer pulled her hood down low and started backing away in fits and starts.

The phrasing was a little off, but if he caught her alive, it really would be over. She had to find a way to get past this more naturally than nature itself.

Taking a deep breath, Aer bowed her head at just the right angle and walked slowly.

Suddenly changing direction to head into the forest was likely to raise suspicion. The better move was to walk past like an ordinary traveler who knew nothing at all.

The fierce sound of wind grew louder as the blinding light closed in. Aer suppressed her pounding, nervous heart and kept moving as if nothing were wrong.

Aer's strategy was, in its own way, pretty solid.

But there was one factor she hadn't accounted for. The fierce gust kicked up by Valor's run tore her hood clean off.

Scared out of her wits, Aer yanked the hood back down. But there was no way that Valor Remisa would miss that.

Valor scraped his feet against the ground, slowing himself down. Then, smoothly changing direction, he ran straight at Aer.

A roar of a call split open the dawn sky.

"Aer!"

Unable to even look back, Aer sprinted with everything she had, like a rabbit that had just come face-to-face with a beast of prey.