Fighting another wave of unraked monster herd just a few hours after their daring escape, Damian was really annoyed, every time he moved he discovered new places that hurt on his body. Was there some kind of monster magnet attached to his back ? Or was his luck just that shitty ?
Beheading a goblin with leap of the mountain Damian kicked another kobold like creature in the chest, sending him flying and using that few seconds that he bought, to draw an extreme fire rune and activated it to burn every little miscreants turning full 360 degrees with scorching flames.
Lucian had noticed this and jumped behind him to turn with him and stay safe from the horizontal pillar of fire.
It was a major strain on his mana pool but the spell represented the suppressed anger of Damian’s heart, He was truly and madly annoyed by the situation. He just wanted one day without any fighting and at least 18 hours of sleep.
“I’m so sick of this…”
“Yeah, being too tired and sleepless never crossed my mind when I was practicing my sword skills.”
“Hahh… Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
Back on the horse together with Lucian, Damian closed his eyes and just focused on his hearing while relishing in this momentary time of peace before he had to fight again.
“We are close, right ? It should be just a day worth of travelling at most now, right..?”
“I hope so…”
“It’s alight, I know we are close…”
Damian looked at Lucian’s hopeful face and sighed, this brat had will of iron. Despite her age, and after everything that she had been through, Damian truly came to respect her. She deserved all the praise she was getting at her house. Truly a frightening learning capability, She had mastered the hearing technique in this noisy forest in just couple of days.
It took him more than half a month of fighting hell-hounds when he developed his senses.
It was scorching midday, a break was necessary. They were hungry and tired, and conveniently a large open space in the middle of the forest just opened up in front of them. There was only one single big; old tree in the middle of the open space. As if the tree had pushed all other trees to move away from it.
Sitting beneath the tree, eating his smoked jerky Damian mindlessly looked at the distant forest. Lucian settled beside him and Rosie on the other side, all eating their fill without saying a single word.
“How about we take half a day off..? Who knows when will we get a place this good again ?” Rosie said in her weary voice.
“No, it’s so close. We just need to hold on for a bit longer and push through..” Lucian and her blinding confidence was ever present.
“We should start moving in an hour, I know something even more horrible is going to happen if we stopped moving. It’s like the whole forest is hell bent to see us die a miserable death.” Damian added his two cents.
“Don’t worry, Once we reach Emberlock nothing will ever harm us anymore. You can relax all you want there, I will make sure you are treated well.”
Ahh !? Did he… perhaps.. not mention that he wasn’t returning with her?
Damian tried to recall all the conversations they had and only remembered disfigured monster bodies and rolling heads and immediately got nauseated. He didn’t want any unnecessary drama, but after countless fights together Damian had form a sort of bond with Lucian and felt it wrong to keep her in dark. Maybe he should not say his intentions aloud…. but hell who cares ?
“I’m not going back, Lucian.”
“Huh..? What do you mean ? Are we taking a break here for today..?”
“Once I return you two to Emberlock, I will not remain with you. I have other plans…”
Suddenly the cool breeze became a bit chilly, but maybe that was just Damian’s faulty body making him feel things. Lucian had a very dark expressions, Damian knew it was not a small thing he had just said. If Lucian returned home alone, her father will be happy but the fact that they got a crippling blow to their status will still remain.
Without their top combatants like Thomas and those knights, their standing will be in a bit of a bind and in all that if he also ran away, Their investment in him will just be a one giant loss.
“You want to run away..?”
Lucian said slowly, putting emphasis on each word as if pushing them out of her mouth.
Damian did not like her tone, even after doing so much for the brat he was still considered a property. Of course Damian knew, that’s exactly what happened when someone gets the delusions of trust and comradery. Their just one sentence breaks all your beliefs and hopes into tiny little pieces, which then you have to swallow bit by bit for years to come.
“Run away..? Would I really be saving your lousy ass if I just wanted to run away…? I could have run away the very first day we camped outside…”
“What stopped you then..? Your undying loyalty ?”
She snapped back at him with even louder voice. Her face was contorted with too much anger that even she didn’t know how to express.
“I admit that I never cared about you a single bit, but no matter how confined; your family did take care of me for three years. So yes, you can call it that, if you so wish for it…”
Damian had enough of this brat acting all ladylike suddenly.
“We… I don’t need you… go run away, it’s not like we can stop you…”
“Seriously..? This..!? You know what? fine. Go fight your own monsters, let me see how many meters you can travel before screaming for help…”
Damian understood that he should not feel so hurt from the words of such a brat. She didn’t even know what L in the life was. But the truth was naked and he could clearly see that it did effect, maybe it was just his immature brain trying to make sense of the situation. His old self would have never said such illogical and dumb dramatical thing.
“Fine ! I hereby declare you free… Now go away on your little trip.. Since you feel so much like a ‘Prisoner’ here.”
Getting his stuff Damian stopped to take a last look at angry Lucian and equally nervous and worried looking Rosie and walked away.
He had done enough protecting, it was a dumb idea anyway. Why was he even protecting her ? Surely saving her life once releases him from all moral obligations towards her. It was high time he decided something for himself and walked a path of his own choosing.
Lucian and Rosie also started to move, of course Damian was also going in the same direction but with each step the distance between them was increasing. After some time both disappeared from each others sight completely. Walking was such a pain for Damian but emotions carried him and he continued walking.
He walked as long as the dumb argument reverberated in his head, and stopped once the forest got too dark to see. Selecting a place for camping, Damian burned a fire rune and made some dinner for himself. Finally having some meal and hour or two worth of rest did his brain started working as usual.
In over half a day he did not even encounter a single ranked or unranked monster ! His curse was finally over ? Or was it something else ? What could possibly be….
And then it clicked !
Damian finally knew what the hell was going on.