Blunder

15. Blunder

( ...Ah... I messed up... )

Tori regained consciousness with a low groan, a heavy, dull throb echoing in his head.

The last thing he remembered was the impact of a blow to the back of his head, delivered by someone in a fit of rage.

As for his current situation: his hands and feet were bound with rope, and he had been somehow fixed to the outer wall of a Tochka. Furthermore, when he turned his head to look up, he saw that this particular Tochka had not yet been destroyed. It seemed they had gone through the trouble of moving him to this location before restraining him. Was he intended to be some kind of sacrificial decoy to buy time?

He was just a single human; he might provide a small snack, but unfortunately, he could not serve as actual prey for a Serpent.

Therefore, if the Serpent were to come tonight, it would head straight for the town. If that happened, he had to get Shia out of there.

—And yet, here he was.

Tori let out a small sigh.

He hadn't intended to provoke them, but in the end, that was exactly how it had played out.

The town of Orun was reasonably large. The fact that he hadn't known about it suggested it must have been a small village not too long ago.

It was a town that had managed to grow this large while coexisting with magic beasts. However, it was perhaps human nature that as a place becomes larger and more prosperous, greed only grows.

They had concluded that magic beasts were an obstacle to the town's further development—and this was the result.

Depending on who receives it, "irrefutable logic" can become a form of verbal violence. He had known that, yet for some reason, he had found himself feeling intensely irritated.

And thanks to that, he ended up in this state.

Fortunately, his hands were tied in front of him. While the ropes around his body made it difficult to move his arms, he could reach his boots if he shifted his legs.

The laxity of the body search likely stemmed from the fact that they weren't used to dealing with people like him. Having traveled for many years, Tori used a blade hidden in the gap of his sole to cut through the ropes at his wrists, and then severed the rest.

With his hands now free, he touched the part of his head that had been struck. His hair felt stiff—likely matted with blood. The wound had already completely closed, so there was no pain, but Tori grimaced.

The scent of blood doesn't fully disappear even after washing; if he returned to Shia like this, it would be certain that she'd find out.

He let out a deep breath.

Though they looked nothing alike, Shia reminded him so much of her.

Perhaps because she feared others, she was shy and timid, yet so lonely that she would exert twice the effort of anyone else to ensure that those who reached out to her would not abandon her.

In one sense she was servile, in another pitiful—the girl in his memories who smiled so sorrowfully. Even knowing that Shia was different, he found himself overlapping the two without realizing it.

Perhaps that was why he wanted—this time—more than anything, for this girl to finally find happiness.

If that was the case, he had no time for idle thoughts.

Tori erased the self-deprecating smile from his lips and looked up to check the position of the sun. In his field of vision, he saw a rider galloping toward him from the direction of the town, silhouetted against the setting sun.

＊＊

"Tori!!"

Shia let out a loud cry. But the figure in the distance—Tori—couldn't hear her. She leaned forward and screamed as loud as she could once more, but a hand gripping the reins pulled her back.

"Ah—I said it's dangerous!"

"But—!"

"He'll notice the sound of the horse!"

The one who had pulled Shia back to her seat was Ronar. Shia was currently riding in front of him on the horse he was controlling. As it happened, shortly after she had bolted from the town, Ronar had caught up to her. Moreover, he had retrieved both of their belongings from the inn and offered to take her to Tori.

He was a man she didn't know well, but her hesitation had lasted only a moment; the promise of being reunited with Tori was enough for Shia to immediately accept the offer.

As they drew closer, just as Ronar had said, Tori turned his face toward them.

However, as Tori's expression shifted from confusion to surprise, Shia's brow furrowed. Her superior nose had picked up the scent of blood.

The moment the horse came to a halt, she leaped off and rushed toward Tori.

"Tori! Are you hurt!?"

"Ah, yeah... well, yeah, I messed up a bit."

"Messed up...?"

"But I'm okay. The wound is already closed."

"But!"

"More importantly—"

Cutting off Shia's voice, he patted her head twice with his large hand to soothe her, before his gaze shifted to the space behind her.

"Why is Ronar-san with Shia?"

"Ah... no, ...more importantly, your head? You said it closed... are you really okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm... special."

"Special...?"

"Let's get back to the point. Why did you bring Shia here? Don't tell me you intended to make her Serpent bait along with me?"

( Serpent bait!? )

Startled, Shia's ears and tail snapped upright. Tori was wearing a faint smile, but his gaze was cold, radiating a chilling atmosphere. Between the injury and the tone, Shia felt that this was not the kind of mood where she could easily interject.

While she hesitated, the conversation continued.

"I-I would never do such a thing! That's not it! I... I felt terrible about... I couldn't stop them! I never imagined they'd commit such an atrocity... I'm sorry..."

Ronar, who had dismounted and was standing behind Shia as if trying to hide, shook his head frantically before bowing his head in contrition.

Shia didn't fully understand the conversation, but judging by Ronar's words and attitude, something had happened between Tori and the people he had gone with. And had he said "head"?

As the two men faced each other, Shia shifted her body slightly and looked up at Tori, letting out a sharp gasp. There, tangled in his white hair, were reddish-black stains.

"Tori! There's blood on your head...!?"

"—Eh? ...Ah..."

At Shia's scream-like voice, the cold atmosphere surrounding Tori vanished instantly.

He looked as if he had just realized his mistake. He looked down at the verge-of-tears Shia, his throat clicking as he swallowed, then glanced at the bewildered Ronar before returning his gaze to Shia.

"Ah... Shia, I told you I'm okay, right? Head wounds just tend to bleed a lot."

"......Does it hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Shia stared intently at Tori, and as he said, she could detect no emotions of pain or suffering coming from him. Even so, she gripped the hem of Tori's clothes tightly and looked up at him, prompting Tori to let out a small sigh.

"More than worrying about me... Shia, do you notice?"

"...?"

"You're not wearing your hood."

".........—!!"

She reflexively slapped her hands to her head, touching her fluffy ears. Now that he mentioned it, she felt as if her hood had slipped off shortly after leaving the town.

—Which meant.

Until this very moment, Shia's ears had been completely exposed.

"........."

Belatedly pulling her hood back on and hiding behind Tori, Shia looked at Ronar. However, while the man looked bewildered, there was no trace of disgust on his face.

If he had been directing such feelings toward her, Shia would never have agreed to ride the horse with him, even for Tori's sake.

"U-uhm... er...?"

As the man muttered, clearly not grasping the full situation, Tori—who had successfully diverted Shia's attention from his injury as planned—met Ronar's eyes again. But the coldness was gone. Raising an eyebrow slightly, Tori let out a small, resigned sigh.