Kays Translations

Chapter 33: Just Before Reaching Clausel

It was the morning Baron Clausel was declared guilty, twelve days after Ren and Licia had been abducted.

Ren knelt beside a stream in the forest, washing their clothes in the cold water. They had obtained the simple garments through barter in villages along the road. They were cheap, but there was no money to spare for better ones.

Licia had never complained. She was clearly embarrassed by clothes stained with sweat and travel, yet she endured it in silence.

(This should be the last time.)

Ren wrung out the washed fabric and returned to the horse. Licia had been sleeping against a large rock nearby, but she was awake when he came back.

“Thank you,” she said shyly.

“It’s nothing.”

“Next time, let me wash them.”

“No. Squatting for that long is more tiring than it looks. It would burden your body.”

“I’m well enough to do that much.”

Her insistence came partly from embarrassment, but Ren was pleased to see her strength returning. Smiling, he tied the wet clothes where they could dry as the horse walked.

“There must be some way to prove Given is responsible,” Ren said.

“It will be difficult while we’re still trying to reach Clausel.”

“I know, but doing nothing feels wrong.”

Licia smiled at his frustration.

“Don’t worry. I have an idea.”

“You do?”

“Thanks to you, I think I can manage something if the opportunity appears.”

“Thanks to me?”

She refused to explain, merely smiling again.

“We’ll rest a little longer, then leave. We can’t afford to waste much time.”

Ren spread out another garment to dry. Then another.

(We’re almost there. Just a little farther.)

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he did not notice Licia’s cheeks and neck turning bright red.

She had seen the underwear in his hands. That brought back the item she had discovered in the damaged box beside his desk before the raid on the manor.

“Um… Ren…”

She was still dependent on him and found it difficult to speak harshly. This was hardly the moment to raise such a subject, but as her health improved, the unresolved embarrassment became harder to ignore.

Ren, meanwhile, checked their supplies. Along with dried meat and other necessities, the bag held the White Hawk’s magic stone.

(I wish I could have raised my magic swords before we reached Clausel, but there haven’t been many monsters.)

He stared at the stone in regret.

“Ren.”

(No helping it. This region simply has fewer monsters.)

“Ren!”

He finally turned. Licia’s face was crimson.

(Is her fever returning?)

Alarmed, he moved closer and pressed a hand to her forehead.

“Your temperature feels normal.”

His relief only made her heart race faster.

“That isn’t what I meant!”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“Answer one question.”

Ren nodded, baffled.

Licia took a breath and forced herself to meet his eyes.

“You’re hiding something from me, aren’t you? I’m not saying I’m furious. Perhaps I should be, but you’ve helped me, and I’ve caused you a great deal of trouble.”

(What is she talking about?)

“Still, this is for your own good. Someone has to teach you what is acceptable and what is not.”

Ren tilted his head.

What could she believe he was hiding? Surely she did not mean the stolen item. He had placed the box in the fireplace and watched it burn – or at least believed he had.

“Tell me the truth,” Licia continued. “Think about what you were holding just now. You should understand.”

Her embarrassment made the hint dangerously vague.

“What I was holding?”

“Don’t make me say more! The thing you also kept in your room.”

Ren thought hard.

There was one obvious answer.

(The magic stones.)

He had just been holding the White Hawk’s stone, and his room contained many emptied stones. Yet he could not understand why she would scold him for them.

Then he remembered Mireille once criticizing Roy for becoming too absorbed in magic stones.

(Do I look obsessed with them too?)

Magic stones had countless uses and could even be valued like jewels. Perhaps the way he stared at them appeared unhealthy. Licia had apparently never seen him drain their power through his bracelet.

“If it is difficult to explain, I won’t pry into every detail,” Licia said more gently. “But tell me why you had it. Some things are wrong regardless of the reason.”

Ren searched for an acceptable answer. Licia ordered him to look at her, and their eyes met.

“I’ve been curious about them since the first time I saw one,” he said.

He meant magic stones.

Licia heard something entirely different.

“You were… curious?”

Her face became even redder. She covered her cheeks with both hands, then peeked at him through her fingers.

“You can’t stare at me while saying something like that. That’s unfair.”

“I’m sorry, but it’s true. I’ve thought about them for a long time.”

“No! Curiosity does not make it acceptable.”

(So staring at magic stones really is that strange?)

Ren recalled Mireille’s reaction and began to accept that perhaps his fascination appeared indecent.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Even if you’re interested in someone, you cannot do that. I owe you too much to scold you as harshly as I normally would, and you’re a boy, so perhaps some curiosity is unavoidable… but it is humiliating. Under ordinary circumstances, you could be imprisoned. Do you understand?”

(Someone? Imprisoned?)

The conversation no longer seemed to fit, but Licia was too embarrassed and forceful for Ren to interrupt.

“I’ll forgive you this once,” she declared. “Only because you were honest, and because I owe you a special favor. Never forget that.”

“I understand. I’ll be more careful.”

“And my name.”

“What?”

Her jewel-like eyes were moist with embarrassment.

“I’m not happy about forgiving you, but after you said all that, I have no choice. You may call me Licia instead of ‘my lady.'”

The wind carried her flustered voice across the clearing.

The misunderstanding remained completely unresolved.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

That evening, the forest looked more familiar with every mile.

“Ren! Clausel will be visible soon!”

Licia’s complexion had improved greatly, and her voice carried more energy than it had in days. Ren was relieved to hear it.

“If we leave this forest and cross the hills, we’ll see the town,” she explained. “Knights from my family should be nearby. We can ask about your family immediately.”

They were almost at the end of the journey.

“How much farther until we leave the forest?” Ren asked.

“Not far, I think. We approached from the Baldor Mountains, and I don’t often use this route.”

The road was scarcely maintained. Proper roads connected Clausel with surrounding towns, but this approach from Given territory was little more than a track through the wilderness. That explained why they had met almost no travelers.

Ren would have preferred a crowded road, but circumstances had given them no choice.

They pressed on.

Then the light between the trees deepened toward evening, and hoofbeats sounded in the distance.

The noise came from ahead, behind, and both sides. It drew closer rapidly.

Mounted men emerged and surrounded their horse.

One of them was the knight who had once visited the Ashton village as Viscount Given’s envoy.

“I’m glad we found you,” he said.

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