"I really don't wanna go. I truly don't wanna go."
Before I knew it, I was grumbling.
"If you hate it that much, shouldn't you just not go?"
"Hmm~? Well yeah. But I can't exactly do that, see."
"It's your own affair, yet you speak of it like it's someone else's."
Ahaha, the one I'm talking to laughs.
Laughing at other people's misfortune, huh. Well, it really doesn't concern this guy.
Still, I glare resentfully at the one laughing while sipping my drink. What's so funny?
I feel like chewing him out, but his laughing face looks childish and carefree, so I bite my tongue. That hateful, endearing smile.
"Sorry, sorry. I don't know the circumstances, but isn't there someone who can take over for you?"
"Not really anyone I can ask, or want to ask about this."
Of course I'd ask someone if I could. But anyone who heard the request would refuse on the spot.
Even a newlywed couple in love would get divorced then and there.
It's practically asking for death.
I don't expect someone to take over, but I ask anyway, following the flow of conversation.
"What do you think? Wanna give it a try in my stead?"
"If it's something I can do, I'd like to help, but..."
Well, anyone would say that before hearing the request.
"So what is it? I should at least hear it first, right?"
"Demon king subjugation."
"Huh?"
"Demon king subjugation."
"Ahaha, too much for me. Sorry."
I smile wryly.
"No, no! You were supposed to agree to do it! Even with a face like that!"
Shake. Now he shakes his head.
"No, no! Why'd you readily take it, like it's obvious!"
"So this is a flash divorce..."
"We just met today, not even married. And we're both guys."
"That's a lie! You broke your promise from back then!"
"I don't remember such a promise! What back then!?"
Desperately poking holes in my claim.—Huh? Did he say we're both guys?
"Kuku, kidding, kidding, joking."
"Ahaha, of course you are."
"I don't expect anyone to take over."
With that, the silver-haired guy drops his smile and looks serious.
He peers at my downturned face from the side.
"So demon king subjugation, you're serious?"
"Well, yeah. But I don't have the power to fight him. Just baggage. I'll probably die soon."
I say it casually, like a joke, but Silver Hair doesn't laugh.
"You won't run? Or rather, don't you want to run?"
"I want to run, of course. It's weird I've stuck with it this far. Adult circumstances and all."
I will run. Definitely.
I may become a fugitive from the royal heroes and their allies. But I only have one life.
"After running, what will you do? Keep running away...then what happens after that?"
"You..."
Is that question for me?
For some reason, he overlaps with my past self. Do you have troubles too?
"I don't know what happens next."
"I see..."
"But if I'll die anyway. If there's something worth dying for, run. Run from everything. Does running inconvenience others? Will it make you suffer more? Don't care. Run even from that. If you'll be miserable or die staying as is, then run. Go as far as you can endure physically and mentally, then run. Even if you die after running, that's fine. At least try running first, or you'll die before that."
This is something I realized. My personal thoughts.
No matter how much others teach you, it won't truly get through. You have to find it yourself for it to have meaning.
If I can even slightly help seize that—
"Run even from that, huh."
Silver Hair mutters solemnly at the words of someone he just met.
Maybe I overdid it, saying unnecessary stuff.
But did it get through? Could I answer what he seeks, even a little?
Silent in thought, Silver Hair faces me with a resolved look.
"Let me ask first, okay? Since you're in this town, you're going to attack that fortress, right?"
"Yeah, that'll happen. So I may be dead tomorrow."
The fortress he mentions is built at the one path into demon territory, said to be impregnable.
Impregnable is inaccurate. It gained that reputation after the demon king's right hand, a powerful demon leader, settled there.
The heroes and their baggage boy, that'd be me, are about to march on that place.
While we've been lazing about until now, this may be the decisive moment.
"I can't take over as the hero's baggage boy. But helping you escape, I may be able to do that."
"Eh, I can run by myself if needed. And I said replacing or not was a joke, right?"
It's not like I'm imprisoned or monitored daily by the heroes.
I even came drinking alone today.
"No. My bad, that's not it. Sorry. It's something I want to do too. Let me rephrase. Will you cooperate with me?"
"Cooperate? Just who are..."
As I try asking who he is and what he wants, Silver Hair says:
"I'm a demon. The enemy who guards that fortress, against you guys."