Chapter 388 |
An Adventure That Could Happen Anywhere (4)
Barkilid Mountain Range.
Exploring a frozen wasteland buried in snow and ice required preparation, naturally. Cold-weather gear was the bare minimum, along with emergency rations that could be eaten even frozen solid, tools like rope and stakes, and so on.
While gathering all of it, Najin found himself struck by a thought. Looking back, he had almost never gone on this kind of ordinary adventure.
That was simply the truth. Breaking his life down: eighteen years spent in the Underground City, one year in Cambria, and all the remaining time in the Outland. In human terms, he had spent only a single year traveling the continent.
'I did adventure in the Outland for a long time.'
But that had been anything but ordinary.
Why was the Outland called the Outland? Because it existed on a different level from the continent entirely. Cursed lands that would make the Barkilid Mountain Range look laughable were crammed into every corner of it.
Adventuring in a place like that was less exploration and more brute-force charge. Analyzing terrain, preparing equipment, drawing up a plan, he had skipped all of it and just crashed headlong into whatever stood in his way.
"This should be enough, don't you think?"
"It does seem so."
Maybe that was why.
"Got all the luggage packed too."
"And the map is ready."
"Plenty of food, and the weather looks... nice!"
An ordinary adventure with Merlin at his side. Najin found he was quite enjoying it. Planning before the journey, packing the gear, spending a long stretch of time preparing for a single outing, all of it felt fresh to him.
Thump. Najin cinched his pack tight.
The two looked at each other and grinned. Preparations were done. All that was left was to set out.
"Shall we go, then."
"Yeah!"
And so they left. They boarded a carriage bound for the Barkilid Mountain Range, leaving behind the adventurers' town they had grown fond of. As the carriage rattled along, Najin watched the scenery through the window.
The weather was clear.
Excessively so.
2.
They arrived at the entrance to the Barkilid Mountain Range.
The last time he had passed through here, the cold had sent him scurrying back. Not now. He had grown since then, and the cold was manageable. The expensive cold-weather gear probably helped.
They walked, their feet pressing into the fresh snow.
"Look, you can see your breath. Heh."
Merlin let out a long exhale. She pointed at the white puff and laughed like a child. Najin shrugged and walked alongside her. They passed the entrance to the range and pressed deeper in, and snow began to fall, little by little.
The whole world turned white.
No matter which direction he looked, there was nothing but white. Bare, skeletal trees stood here and there, but even they were buried under snow and looked white.
"Merlin. Stop for a second."
"Hm? Why?"
"Your scarf is crooked."
Najin brushed the snow from the top of Merlin's head, then reached out and unwound her scarf, rewrapping it properly. Merlin watched him in silence.
Snow fell.
"Hey."
"Yes?"
"There's something I want to ask you."
"What is it?"
"Mm."
Merlin's lips moved. She reached out and took Najin's hand. Holding it, she walked through the snow field and slowly began to speak.
"We've been adventuring together for quite a while now, haven't we?"
"We have."
"We've wandered through all kinds of cities."
"Explored all kinds of dungeons too."
"About those adventures......"
She chewed on the words. As if she was afraid to let them out, she chose each one with care. One syllable per step, it took more than ten paces for her to finish a single sentence.
"How was it for you?"
"How was it?"
"Did you enjoy it? Or was it boring? Did you ever want it to end so you could go back to your real life, or feel like it was just a task you had to get through? Any thoughts like that?"
After saying that, Merlin let her gaze drop.
"How was your adventure with me?"
As if she was afraid to look at his face, afraid to see his reaction. Najin could not help but laugh.
"What, why are you laughing? I asked seriously."
Merlin stuck out her lip and jabbed him in the side. Najin exhaled, helpless.
"I was wondering what you'd ask."
"I'm being serious."
"Then I suppose I'd better answer seriously too."
Footprints pressed into the snow field.
Walking hand in hand, Najin said it plainly.
"It was one first after another. No talent for handling a sword, no eyes that can read another person's movements, no Excalibur, mana difficult to work with. In some ways it was genuinely frustrating."
His body moved slowly. It didn't respond the way he pictured it in his head, and no matter how hard he worked, he didn't grow quickly.
"An ordinary person. The kind you'd find anywhere."
Some people might hate that ordinariness. They might struggle and strain against it, desperate to become something special. In doing so, they tend to overlook the days that simply continue, the value of ordinary happiness.
"So."
But Najin was different.
He had lived a life far removed from ordinary. He remembered his own childhood, the years spent wanting to reach ordinariness and falling short of it, the frustration of it staying just out of reach.
Then at some point he understood.
His life could never be ordinary. It was one or the other: die at the bottom as he was, or claw his way to the very top with everything he had.
Najin chose the latter.
He pulled out Excalibur and chose to become a hero. The life he had lived since was special. On the continent, and across the entire world, he was living one of the most extraordinary lives there was.
No regrets about that choice.
No regrets, but.
He thought about it sometimes. What would it have been like to be born somewhere ordinary and live an ordinary life? No sweeping currents of fate, no great cause, no conviction, no ideal, just an ordinary life. What would that have been like? Now he had an answer to that question.
"I liked that ordinariness."
A life like that would be good too, he thought.
"The adventure with Merlin was enjoyable."
Najin smiled.
"Enough to make me think a life like this wouldn't be so bad."
"......"
"Did that answer your question?"
"...Yeah."
Snow fell.
A little more of it, beginning to fall.
"So, about that......"
Merlin started to say something. But right around then the wind picked up. The snowflakes thickened and a blizzard began to rage.
"Hold on."
Najin looked around. They needed to find shelter before the snow got worse. Fortunately, a cave turned up not far off.
The two took cover inside.
Outside, the blizzard howled. The white world blurred. They sat side by side in the cave and watched the storm rage beyond the entrance.
"Snow really started coming down all of a sudden."
"It did."
"Let's wait it out here until it stops."
A short silence.
At the end of it, Merlin was the one who spoke.
"About what I was saying earlier."
She looked straight at Najin.
"What if, hypothetically. Just hypothetically, this adventure never ended?"
Her blue eyes shone. Those eyes that had always seemed somehow hollow, dreamy, were shining now.
"Forgetting everything, you really become 'adventurer Najin' and I really become 'half-wit mage Merlin.' Then this adventure stops being a dream and becomes reality."
"......"
"If you and I truly believe we're real, then this adventure can go on forever."
Pleasure crept into her voice.
"If a life like this isn't so bad."
She reached out carefully and took his hand.
"Then forever with me......"
"Merlin."
Najin cut her off. Merlin blinked. He opened his mouth with a rueful smile.
"You already know."
"...I want to say I don't."
"That we can't."
They simply could not.
He said it plainly.
"I am enjoying it. I'm going to miss the adventure ending too. I'm not calling what we've had together fake or a lie. I think it's real."
"Then why?"
"Because I have things I need to do."
No matter how much he enjoyed it, Najin could not let go of his life. Because it was no longer his alone.
Ivan, Offen, Crünbell, Alderaan, and countless others, their lives rested on Najin's shoulders. He had never planned to become a hero, but at some point he had become one.
He could not turn his back on them.
And he himself wanted to keep moving forward. So he could not stop here.
"I see."
Merlin smiled, having heard him out. She let go of his hand. The brief light that had lived in her eyes went out. Her usual expression returned, that loose, easy smile, and she spoke.
"I knew, actually. Yeah, I was joking too. We both still have things left to do, so staying here forever together isn't quite right."
She nodded, as if that settled it.
"Duty. Responsibility. A greater cause. Conviction. An ideal."
She pronounced each word as though forcing it down her throat. She seemed to be digesting them. She swallowed hard, then looked at Najin.
"Can't turn away from those, can we. You and me both. Right?"
"...Merlin?"
"No, don't say anything more. I'm fine! Really, I'm fine. You don't have to look at me like that. Just a moment. Ugh, just a moment......"
Merlin covered her face. She rubbed her sleeve across it a few times, then forced a smile.
"I'm fine. Really. Yeah, I already knew."
She got to her feet.
"Shall we go, then?"
The snow had already stopped.
"To find Derrick's treasure."
She pointed out at the clear sky, the sharp sunlight, the snow field gleaming brilliant white in the sun. She no longer walked alongside Najin. She stepped out ahead and started walking.
The snow did not fall anymore.
3.
Since the adventure in this world began, Merlin had not once looked at a map. She had assigned herself the trait of being bad with directions, unable to read a map, always picking the wrong path.
As if to deny the fact that she was the finest guide there was.
So it had always fallen to Najin to read the map and find the way. They had adventured like that the whole time, but from the moment they stepped out of the cave, it was different.
"This way."
Merlin led. She held the map and guided them forward. Everything was buried under snow and it was hard to tell directions at all, but she found the path in an instant.
She did not wander.
The path toward Derrick's Treasure Vault, which was supposed to be in an unknown location, Merlin found in moments. The climate of the Barkilid Mountain Range, which should by rights have been throwing blizzard after blizzard to block their way, was strangely gentle.
Since they left the cave, no snow had fallen.
No trials to speak of. Nothing blocking the adventure. No getting lost. The Barkilid Mountain Range exploration, which should by all rights have been the hardest stretch, went along almost comically without a hitch.
"......"
"......"
Merlin, who always chattered on, said nothing. Moving her feet with a blank expression, she walked like someone clearing away a task rather than going on an adventure.
Before long, the two arrived at their destination.
A city buried in snow. Somewhere inside it was Derrick's Treasure Vault. Only after stepping into the city did Merlin turn back to look at Najin.
"It's right ahead."
She was smiling.
"Derrick's treasure."
No, she said.
"The Terminus Star."
The ending of their journey was right before them.
