After doing much more than he had planned, the first thing Oscar saw when
he returned to the fortress was his old playmate on the verge of tears.
Lazar was at the front gate to welcome his king back, and his knees
almost gave out under him when he saw Oscar.
"Y-Your Majesty… I'm so glad you're safe…"
"What are you doing here?" Oscar inquired very matter-of-factly.
"What am I doing here?! I came running once I heard you'd gone
missing! I was told there was some commotion over a duel with the Ito, but
everyone was teleported to safety except you and Miss Tinasha!"
"Oh yeah…"
Oscar and Tinasha had managed to sort things out and teleported back.
Apparently, Minnedart had been thrown into chaos during their absence.
Cries of "His Majesty's back!" echoed throughout the fort. Granfort and the
others hurried over, then looked down at the witch lying in Oscar's arms.
She was half-asleep but opened her eyes blearily at him. "Is it time to
explain…?" she asked.
"I'll do the explaining. You just get some sleep. I'm taking you back to
the room."
"Sorry… I'll go back myself…," she murmured, vanishing away with a
silent transportation spell.
Lazar had gotten an eyeful of her all covered in blood and ventured
fearfully, "What happened…? Did the Ito do that…?"
"No, I did. I stabbed her."
"Excuse me, Your Majesty?!"
"I'll explain while we clean things up. Give me a hand."
He was exhausted and desperately wanted sleep, but there was currently
no one else around who understood the entire situation. Oscar gave orders
to the people who had gathered around him and retreated to the makeshift
study in the fortress.
He gave Lazar a brief rundown of everything. By the end of it, his
attendant was left in shock. "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right…"
"No, you did. You just don't want to believe it. Accept the facts."
"Why did you end up killing another country's god when you just went
out on a short observation mission?!" Lazar cried. The story about the battle
with Irityrdia had left Lazar looking like he could fall to his hands and
knees at any moment.
No work would get done if he wasted time doing that, though. The most
pressing matter at the moment was the banning of future Ito raids. Oscar
rested his elbows on the desk and placed his chin in his hands. "Well, all
that stuff about Irityrdia is just between us. Maybe it was something else
with a similar name."
"No matter what it was, I'm just so very glad you're safe… Oh, that's
right, there was a woman who didn't come back, either. What happened to
her?"
"Yes, Elze. After healing her, we dropped her off at the former site of
her village. If she wants to, she'll come back on her own," Oscar explained.
He didn't know exactly what answer Elze would decide on or how she'd
face herself. If she chose to go back to her old life, the man who'd followed
after her would surely escort her to the fortress.
Javi had begged the witch to spare Elze's life, even in exchange for his
own. Oscar trusted that Javi and Elze would work things out with each
other.
After drafting the agreement that Javi had agreed to, Oscar passed the
document to Lazar. Lazar read it over twice and asked, "This says that there
will be a formal signing of an accord at a later date, but will the Ito really
respect something like this?"
"Good question. If they don't, we'll just have to deal with them in a
different way when that time comes."
If the Ito didn't accept, Tinasha would fly into a rage and possibly
annihilate their entire clan. For their sake, Oscar truly hoped this matter had
come to an end. He looked out the window; it was completely dark outside.
"There's still a lot to sort out, but can I go back to my chamber? I'm
worried about Tinasha."
"Go right ahead. I'll take care of the rest," Lazar replied.
"Thanks," Oscar said, gathering up the bare minimum of paperwork and
heading back to the room he and Tinasha were sharing.
He thought she'd immediately pass out after teleporting, but she'd had
the strength to take a bath and wash off the blood. She was laying on the
bed in a nightgown and looked up at the sound of the door opening.
"Welcome back…," she managed weakly.
"Are you doing okay? There's no more fragments inside you, right?"
"If there were, I'd definitely know. I'm fine. I don't have a scar, either,"
she informed him. After giving a little yawn, the witch turned to lie
facedown.
Oscar sat down next to her, tugging on a strand of damp black hair.
"You've really gotta take better care of your belly. That's gonna bite you
when you're giving birth to our child."
"I won't… I'm definitely not doing that… Anyway, you should get to
sleep. It'll be rough when the recoil from your magic getting shaken up
kicks in later."
"I still don't feel anything, though."
Oscar did have to admit that he was feeling exhausted, however. He
stood to head for the bathroom, but then something occurred to him.
Tinasha was already dozing, but he asked anyway.
"Are you going to sleep in human form? Did you forget you're sharing a
room with me?"
"I trust that you have a firm grasp on your self-control…"
"You're gonna get yourself in trouble one of these days."
"When I'm a cat, I curl up in a ball… But I want to stretch my legs…
Just let me sleep like this for an hour."
"…Go to sleep, then."
Evidently relieved by that, Tinasha closed her eyes immediately. Her
breathing turned deep.
Oscar couldn't help but frown in exasperation as he looked at her. The
witch was so defenseless in sleep. She'd cozied up to him considerably
compared with when they'd first met, but he didn't think it was in quite the
right way. He stroked her hair and covered her with the blankets. "So
typical… You've gotta stop trusting me so much."
The weight of Tinasha's trust in him felt like a comfortable load to
Oscar, though.
He wished that he would always be the one she asked for help and that
he would always be able to pull her out of distress.
"No matter what happens, I'll protect you."
The next day, he would take her hand again and they'd start their march
forward. They'd journey to prevent themselves from reaching an end they
couldn't come back from. Even if that took a lifetime, nothing would make
Oscar happier. He gazed down at his rare and precious guardian.
They carried the legacy of the Magic Empire of Tuldarr into a new era
and destroyed the mindless god.
The story of the king and the witch still had many more pages to go.
"I want to kill them…," growled a voice in a dark room.
The speaker was a slender woman, and the fury in her voice seethed like
lava sleeping underground.
Her red-hot hatred scorched her spirit as she awaited the time to unleash
her boiling rage upon the world.
"I want to kill those two…"
"…You can't. Not only is she the most powerful witch but the bearer of
Akashia is her guardian. Make no mistake, those two are the strongest duo
in all the land," the owner of the room said in reply to the first speaker's
litany of curses. She sounded bored, but lying below the surface of that was
a placidity tainted with poison.
Her matter-of-fact statement caused the incensed woman to bite her lip.
"Even so, I want to kill them," she insisted.
"Weren't you in the wrong? You're the one who toyed with people's
lives."
"I want to kill them…"
Her resentment ran deep. Her anger had deafened her to what the other
woman was saying.
The owner of the room listened to the other whisper for a while before
she suddenly gave a little snort. In an amused tone, the witch said…
"Then let me teach you how."