Chapter 8

I changed what I had originally intended to say.

Jun seemed to have a sly side to him. If I didn’t ask directly, it was obvious I’d get nowhere.

He chewed his food painfully slowly before swallowing it.

Only when I felt like I was about to lose my patience did he finally answer.

“Would you like to guess which branch I work at?”

And even that was another question.

What I wanted was an answer that ended with a period, not another game of Twenty Questions.

My annoyance briefly showed on my face.

The corners of Jun’s lips lifted even higher.

“I’ll give you a hint.”

“I work under the Eshet Branch.”

The familiar name made my eyes widen.

Eshet was the county where Oligo was located.

It was a quiet rural territory, so outsiders rarely mentioned it.

That was why I was so surprised.

“Deo?”

Philia Trading Company mainly dealt in daily necessities.

As long as a village had a marketplace, it almost certainly had a branch.

So I guessed the best-known town.

Jun slowly shook his head.

“Yudea? Dunba? Rohed?”

I started naming every village I could think of.

Every answer was wrong.

Other than the villages surrounding Oligo, I wasn’t very familiar with the geography.

I’d already listed every place that came to mind.

Seeing my troubled expression, Jun finally stopped teasing me.

“I work at the Lysis Branch.”

Ah…

Lysis.

People from other regions might not recognize the name.

But anyone living in Eshet certainly would.

It was the village closest to the cursed city of Mapel.

My palms became slightly damp.

When people from Eshet met someone from Lysis…

The average reaction usually started with—

Oh no…

…followed by endless unnecessary concern.

The prejudice people here held toward Mapel clashed dozens of times in a single second with the values I’d brought from the future.

Once again, my twenty-first-century conscience found itself on trial.

Damn it.

“I can’t believe I met someone from the same county all the way out here.”

“I’m from Oligo.”

“It’s a village that grows mushrooms in the forest, so you probably haven’t heard of it.”

“Even within Eshet, only the neighboring villages seem to know it.”

After thinking frantically, I decided to go with the strategy of:

“Getting so excited about meeting someone from the same region that I start rambling about myself.”

I didn’t want to agree with the prejudice against Mapel.

If that meant looking like a fool instead…

So be it.

“Oligo…”

“I’ve honestly never heard of it.”

After that, Jun quietly repeated the name Oligo several times under his breath.

Almost as though he intended to remember it forever.

Perhaps he simply found it surprising that there was a nearby village he’d never heard of.

But somehow…

It felt like there was another reason.

The more I learned about him…

The harder he was to understand.

As I sat there unsure how to respond, only moving my eyes around awkwardly…

A breeze blew from Jun’s side.

His well-fitted shirt billowed softly.

His black hair fluttered gently.

The entire scene looked like an oil painting lovingly created by an artist.

A familiar yet unfamiliar forest scent drifted toward me.

It was the unique scent shared by people who had lived deep in the woods for a long time.

Did Lysis have forests too?

As the breeze died down, Jun spoke quietly.

“Working in Lysis means I often have business in Rohed.”

Rohed’s marketplace…

It was the very place Uncle Pell and I visited every time we came into town.

This time…

It felt like he was finally giving me a proper answer.

Instead of interrupting him with my surprise, I quietly waited.

“I often saw you there while coming and going.”

“My work requires me to remember people’s faces.”

“So I remembered yours.”

“When I unexpectedly saw you here…”

“I was simply happy.”

“…Ah.”

“Just as you said…”

“We’re from the same homeland.”

“I wanted to help a little.”

“And I wanted to have a conversation with you.”

“I acted as though there were some grand mystery behind it…”

“But honestly, there’s nothing particularly special about the story.”

Shrugging once, he smiled with a trace of embarrassment.

Thinking back on everything he’d done for me…

His definition of “help a little” seemed a bit excessive.

Still…

It was believable enough.

As I’d mentioned before, Eshet was an incredibly quiet territory.

Meeting someone from the same county in this bustling capital packed with people…

Really was an extraordinary coincidence.

I wasn’t particularly attached to my hometown.

Yet my curiosity had completely overtaken all the suspicion I’d held toward him until now.

After thinking for a moment, I reached out my hand.

“To be honest…”

“At first I was a little scared because you were so kind to me.”

“But now…”

“I’m really happy we met.”

“I truly mean that.”

We would probably never meet again after today.

But now that the misunderstanding had been cleared up…

I wanted to greet him properly.

Jun stared blankly at my outstretched hand, his eyes slightly widened.

Just as I began feeling awkward…

He carefully took my hand.

“…Once your journey here is over…”

“Come visit my hometown sometime.”

“People tend to avoid it.”

“But…”

“It’s still a wonderful place.”

I smiled.

“I don’t know when I’ll be able to go.”

“But I’ll look forward to it.”

That day…

Neither of us mentioned that we would be saying goodbye that evening.

Instead, we ordered tea over and over again…

And talked like ordinary friends from the same hometown.

You can often glimpse the outline of a person through the things they love.

By the time we parted…

We had grown just close enough to see that outline in each other.

* * *

Before I knew it, evening had fallen.

Jun stepped out of a pharmacy that smelled strongly of medicinal herbs.

In his hand was a small cloth bundle no bigger than his palm.

Because I’d insisted on seeing him off, we walked side by side to the entrance of the plaza.

The road that had felt so long when I’d first walked it alone…

Now seemed unbelievably short.

“Travel safely.”

Blink.

Blink.

Jun slowly blinked a couple of times.

Then, just as I’d done earlier that afternoon, he held out his hand.

I took it once more.

“Tetis.”

“Yes?”

The hand that completely enveloped mine tightened just enough to avoid hurting me.

Standing beneath the warm yellow streetlights, he smiled brightly.

“We’ll meet again.”

“…”

“We definitely will.”

Slowly letting go of my hand, Jun walked backward while waving.

I waved back.

I kept watching until he disappeared into a street untouched by the lantern light.

Only after he vanished from sight did I turn around and begin walking back.

One by one, stars began appearing in the night sky.

Among them…

I searched for the star that pointed toward Eshet.

I didn’t know exactly when.

But before long…

The novel I’d once read would become reality.

The Rifts would open.

A Dragon Chimera, a threat unlike anything the world had ever seen before, would appear.

That disaster…

The one history would later call the Apocalypse…

Would trample several cities before finally heading toward Mapel.

That was when the protagonist would appear.

He would cut down the monster no one else could defeat…

Then cross the border into Mapel.

That was how the novel From the Lowest Place began.

I thought about the story that would soon begin.

And about Jun…

Who lived in a village neighboring Mapel.

I prayed to the stars that he and his younger sibling would survive.

* * *

After enjoying a pleasant walk beneath the night sky, I returned to the inn.

The innkeeper behind the counter waved at me.

“You’re back!”

“Hello.”

“So Ethan already left?”

“…What?”

Did I hear that correctly?

“…Ethan?”

Judging by the context…

The person the innkeeper had just named could only be Jun.

After all, I’d left with Jun this morning while the innkeeper watched.

So why…

Ethan?

Ethan was…

“Oh.”

“I slipped.”

The innkeeper quickly covered his mouth with his fist.

The gesture was oddly adorable.

But it did absolutely nothing to lessen my shock.

Ethan.

Black hair.

Blue eyes.

Taller than average.

The guardian of the sick children of Mapel.

And…

The only healing mage capable of freely traveling in and out of Mapel without wearing a breathing mask.

That was exactly how the novel described its protagonist.

Of course…

Black hair and blue eyes weren’t rare in this world.

It would’ve been impossible to identify him based on appearance alone.

But today…

We’d talked for hours.

Looking back, countless details from the novel had come up during our conversation.

So why hadn’t I realized it until now?

Because…

The Ethan in the novel was a complete lunatic who just happened to speak politely!

Sure, he was gentle toward the weak.

But…

He wasn’t this sweet.

Not even close!

“H-Honey…”

“I’m really sorry…”

“But could you please pretend you didn’t hear that?”

“Ethan specifically told me not to say anything…”

The innkeeper was so flustered that even the way he spoke completely changed.

But did any of that matter anymore?

The dreamy excitement I’d felt after meeting such a mysterious stranger during my travels was instantly doused with freezing cold water.

What on earth is wrong with you?

I wanted to grab Ethan by the collar and shake him until he explained himself.

Unfortunately…

He was already gone.

Once my confusion exceeded its limit…

I could only laugh.

“Haha…”

Just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, I pinched my thigh.

It hurt so much that all it accomplished was making my eyes water.