Hero's Coffin Chapter 96

Chapter 96

Just as he couldn't breathe, Jade patted his shoulder. Beside them, Serena rambled about her delusion that "He must have come looking to manage the seal...!", but Jade seemed to think the commander had come to get him because he wasn't feeling well. His thinking was consistently healthy.

Jade smiled brightly and said goodbye.

"Since your commander's here, we'll be going now. It was fun going to the workshop together!"

"Uh, yeah..."

"And that ring you bought today, it seems to suit you well. Let's meet again when we get the chance!"

It was a farewell delivered while gently touching the ring on his index finger. Looking like leaves, it was something that made you want to touch it subtly. You might wonder if it had real leaves attached. He awkwardly waved to him.

After the two disappeared in an instant, only silence remained in the corridor.

"..."

Haren hadn't moved a single step from where he had stopped earlier. Just standing there silently looking at him, but he didn't have the courage to meet his eyes again and let his gaze wander.

If others also thought Haren had come looking for him, it probably wasn't a misunderstanding. Perhaps he had come out because he had been away from his seat for too long. He could have summoned the collar's leash to pull him back. Maybe he had moved personally to avoid drawing attention since there were so many people.

After moving his lips, he spoke with difficulty.

"I thought I'd need protective gear for the next, schedule. So I went to the famous workshop in this city."

"..."

"It felt awkward to keep receiving holy relics from you, so I got something separately, um, it happens to have stealth capabilities too so it's good for hiding..."

"Ah."

Just as he was adding unnecessary details awkwardly, a subtle sigh fell. Like cutting off his words, abruptly. He flinched and looked at Haren to see him covering his mouth with his hand.

Haren was touching his stiffly frozen lips. Rolling his eyes to the side without even meeting his gaze, he spoke in a dry voice.

"...You don't need to go to the trouble of explaining. You know better than anyone that you can't run away as long as the collar is on."

"..."

"It's good that you got a decent magical tool. I hope you won't get hit by unnecessary curses anymore."

As soon as he finished those words, whoosh, Haren turned his back. He blankly watched his retreating figure, as if even standing face to face was uncomfortable.

Wait, no, not even wait. For quite a long time, he had seen very deep discomfort floating in his eyes. It was noticeable even though this time he hadn't looked him directly in the eyes. His brow was also furrowed, and even his voice had a strangely sharp edge.

An attitude mixing frustration, displeasure, and irritation.

Though he was flustered by how unfamiliar it was to see him showing emotion like this, he also felt a surge of emotion. Is talking to me that irritating? ...Well, I haven't done anything good either!

Moreover, why bring up curses at the end? I just said I got protective gear because of the Encroachment Zone, so why does the conversation flow to accidents and curses? Was it that detestable to receive the aftereffects of my curse because our souls were connected? I hated it too!

As he was protesting inwardly, he froze at a suddenly remembered fact.

"...Ah, they said it would take a long time before the connection could be broken."

He felt the blood drain from his face. On one hand, indignation rose that he wasn't the only one suffering since he also shared Haren's Dium curse, but he could suppress that pain. Strangely, only that had an on/off switch for pain, so his situation was different from Haren's. After all, yesterday Haren had endured the forcibly shared incubus curse with mental strength.

Haah, a sigh escaped involuntarily. Though he had told Haren before that he would eliminate the curse within a month and break the soul connection as soon as it was resolved, how should he tell him now that the situation had become complicated?

Haren would also know that time was approaching...

He dropped his head heavily in a hopeless mood, then saw the ring on his hand and became even more depressed. Resentment welled up that this conversation had happened because he had stayed away too long trying to get a magical tool. Your performance had better be certain.

He glared at the ring and let out another sigh.

A very long sigh.

***

From that day on, he began to pine away.

This was an illness stemming entirely from the worry of 'how to tell Haren the truth.' How could he tell someone who found the connected state uncomfortable that the curse resolution was still far away? Moreover, it was related to something he had called an act that would never happen in one's right mind.

Though he pondered, he couldn't find an answer at all, and because of this, even looking at Haren became uncomfortable. He avoided him, feeling guilty in advance that if their eyes met by chance, he might ask when the curse would be resolved.

Even when receiving the warp passes from Nadael's lord the next morning, and when Beatrice left as planned, only that thought occupied his mind.

"If you ever want to come to the imperial palace later, just say so anytime."

He deliberately pretended not to hear Beatrice's words trying to open the imprisonment route until the end. No, they didn't even enter his head in the first place. Though Noi was again restless at his behavior that seemed to ignore the imperial princess, this time too Beatrice just burst into "Hahaha!" laughter and said he was still tempting. Of course, he ignored this too.

The longer his worrying continued, the more uncomfortable every situation became.

Since they traveled together, they naturally ate together too, but now he avoided even those occasions as they felt awkward. He couldn't eat much anyway since he had no appetite. It was a problem he couldn't seek advice about from the NPC, and coincidentally the cat had strangely become very sleepy.

The cat had only returned to his side after Beatrice left, but it kept dozing endlessly. It felt oddly like seeing himself from the beginning. Though he wondered if it might be sick, it was just sleeping. He couldn't even pretend to play with the cat, so he just felt pointless resentment.

Though he had originally tended to stay apart from his companions, this time the journey's atmosphere was a bit strange, perhaps because he was trying to distance himself compulsively. And as it happened, Haren's attitude also fanned this atmosphere.

Just as he avoided Haren, Haren avoided him too.

Once when he was repeatedly stroking the sleeping cat while lost in thought, someone's presence approached his side. Since Noi had been worriedly asking about the cat's condition from time to time, he thought it was him again and said "En is just sleeping." However, there was no answer, and when he turned around, it was just Haren passing by.

"Uh..."

He just glanced at him frozen stiff without a word and continued moving. He went far around to avoid where he was. Unfortunately, everyone saw the uncomfortable light that appeared on his face then.

Because of this, even the other companions realized there was a problem between Haren and him. Though things had been subtle since the annex in Nadael, this was the first time such an atmosphere had been shown so openly.

And only then did they realize that Haren hadn't spoken to him once during this entire journey. Though they had never been close conversational partners before either, he used to stop Kalterik whenever he picked fights with him, but now he wouldn't even look at him.

So instead Kalterik became flustered and looked after him. Usually he would have shouted "Stop acting like an evil spirit!" at his behavior of quietly appearing in corners, but now he only said "Ugh" and stopped. Just a strange excuse about not wanting to disturb the Commander's mood was muttered.

This strange atmosphere continued for a long time.

It was like this the entire time as they departed from the city with the eastern warp gate and headed towards the village near the Encroachment Zone, gathering information about missing persons in every village they stopped at along the way. Not only did he have to be careful since Beatrice's disguise magic had ended, but he had never participated in gathering information about missing persons anyway, so he stayed back this time too, and occasionally Noi would summarize and relay the information to him.

Though there were missing persons, most had disappeared long ago, and even the most recent news was from last winter. Though it was news that perhaps the old missing persons might have gathered in the Encroachment Zone to form a zombie army, rather than worrying about that, his immediate concerns were greater, so he just nodded vaguely.

After passing such time, they arrived at the eastern Encroachment Zone.

Noi said that this time they had learned the route into the Encroachment Zone from Beatrice in advance, so it was fortunate they had come straight here without wandering like last time. Though he was chattering enthusiastically as if wanting to draw conversation among the companions, his attention wasn't directed there.

"...You said it was suitable to look around in this season."

After quietly looking at the Encroachment Zone's appearance, he spoke for the first time in a while. Having not spoken for days, his voice had sunk even more gloomily, perfectly representing his state of mind.

He clearly remembered Noi and Beatrice talking earlier about how the eastern Encroachment Zone was good to look around in spring and summer. Though he had imagined resort scenery in his mind then, only to discard it thinking an Encroachment Zone couldn't be like that... Could you really describe this as a good place to look around?

Before them rose a steep snow-covered mountain.