Hero's Coffin Chapter 61

Chapter 61

Isaph's action of relaxing his eyes was tinged with fatigue. Harenir thought this was connected to the detached attitude he had always seen in him.

A being always one step back from all commotion. He had thought that was comfortable, but suddenly he felt like that one step might never be closed. A contradictory discomfort followed.

"I just want to go somewhere where no one knows me and live..."

"There's no such place in the Holy Empire."

"Then I guess I'll have to leave the empire, well."

"Most of the continent is in ruins due to the aftermath of the Great Catastrophe, and even the remaining kingdoms all receive aid from the Holy Empire. There probably isn't a place that doesn't know you."

"You're practically praying for me to leave the continent entirely."

Isaph sighed with a "Huh," as if in disbelief.

"Fine, I'll stay on an uninhabited island. Is that good enough?"

Isaph grumbled that after saying he'd reduce his sentence, it was practically exile in the end. But after a moment of silence, he nodded, saying that was still a sentence reduction, making Harenir let out a dry laugh. Sometimes that being acted amusingly in unexpected ways.

That chuckle drained his energy, and he realized he had been needlessly interrogating Isaph and picking on details. They would have no business with each other once this cooperation ended, so he didn't know why he had tried so hard to find out where Isaph was going. Had seeing Isaph's power up close made him view him as more of a person of interest?

Just then, Isaph approached the bed and said,

"Anyway, lie down now. I'll watch you fall asleep before I go."

Harenir swallowed another dry laugh that was about to burst out at Isaph's gesture telling him to lie down. It was bewildering how Isaph treated him like a child throwing a sleep tantrum, but this time he shook his head instead of sneering.

"I'll sleep on my own, so go back."

"Don't make me go back only to come here again, just sleep, will you? It's cold outside."

Isaph grumbled as if annoyed. At his words asking if he knew how irritating it had been to walk here stumbling in the middle of the night, Harenir closed his mouth. Isaph seemed to be getting quite sensitive as he was getting sleepy.

Right after, Isaph let out a long breath and grabbed Harenir's hand. It was a sudden contact, but Harenir didn't shake him off. Considering the very strange things that had happened every time he had held his hand before, he should have refused, but he didn't feel like it.

Was it because all those actions had ultimately been for his sake, or... was it because it gave him a very strange feeling that this being who always avoided him was initiating contact first? Harenir stared blankly at the small hand intertwined with his fingers, and at some point, he felt the tension drain away with a thud.

His consciousness started to stretch out languidly as if he had taken a sleeping pill. When Harenir reflexively put up his guard, Isaph patted the back of his hand as if to soothe him.

"It's nothing. I'm just trying to help you sleep..."

"...Is this your ability too?"

"I guess so..."

It was quite a strange answer. Was he unwilling to talk, or was he joking? Then followed an explanation in a tired tone that he had just relaxed the tension in his soul, but it was odd from the start that such a thing was possible with necromancy.

Since necromancy was sorcery that subjugated the souls of the dead to follow the master's orders, should he understand it as basically an ability to handle souls? Harenir felt the strength leaving his fingertips as he asked,

"Didn't you say you couldn't control me even if our souls were connected?"

"I'm already getting dizzy just from this much intervention."

"..."

"Ugh, huff. I'm tired..."

Isaph, who had covered his mouth to stop from retching, staggered and then collapsed onto the floor with a thud. Harenir reflexively grabbed his arm, but he went limp as if he felt no need to stand up. Melting onto the floor like a puddle, he pointed at the bed.

"Lie down... please just sleep now..."

Harenir felt extremely bewildered. Did he have to exert himself to this extent? Why was he doing this? He felt like he could shake off this languid feeling anytime, but... in the end, he swallowed a sigh and lay down on the bed.

Except for when he was very young, it had been a long time since someone was by his side when he slept, and being urged to sleep by someone was actually a first. Even his parents hadn't done this. No, back then he had slept peacefully, so there was no need for it in the first place...

Meanwhile, Isaph moved sluggishly. As if truly intending to confirm he fell asleep before leaving, he curled up sitting next to the bedside and even carefully wrapped his cape around himself. With his pitch-black hair and dark clothes, the yellow cape on his shoulders looked extremely out of place.

It was the cape Harenir had taken from the thief and given to him a few days ago. The pattern was also flashy, making it even more unsuitable for Isaph, but that made it catch the eye more. He's still taking good care of it.

Isaph seemed quite weak to cold. Even though it was obvious, he had endured stubbornly without saying a word while walking through the desert. Was it because he had indifferently said he didn't need anything at the temple, or...

'Why didn't you tell anyone?'

'...You must have been lonely.'

'Just... I was like that.'

Having no experience of telling his inner thoughts to anyone, had he become accustomed to swallowing them?

Although he had immediately found and brought the thieves as soon as they arrived at Grimodia Village, well, thinking even of such aspects, he was still an unpredictable being. He hadn't asked others for help and had stubbornly found supplies on his own.

Harenir stared at Isaph's back while thinking of various things. A slender neck was visible through the messily grown black hair. And the collar fastened there. At first, he had fidgeted with it as if uncomfortable, but now he seemed to have grown accustomed to it.

As he was quietly looking at the snow-white neck, whoosh, Isaph turned his head. Their eyes met directly as he turned suddenly. Isaph's brow furrowed.

"I told you to sleep. How many times do I have to say it?"

"..."

"I'll stay by your side until you fall into a deep sleep, so just sleep comfortably..."

Did he not know that having someone next to him was uncomfortable in the first place, or did he not care? Also, it was quite amusing that he told him to fall into a deep sleep when he would probably wake up anyway when Isaph left, given how sensitive he was to presences.

But Harenir decided not to point that out. It was unfamiliar to have someone urging him to sleep, and hearing for the first time that someone would watch over him until he fell asleep, he curiously mulled over Isaph's voice in his mind.

A voice much more languid than usual, immersed in fatigue. As he recalled this, he even remembered the touch that had patted the back of his hand after relaxing the tension in his soul earlier. Had it been warmer and softer than expected...

As he was retracing the sensation, Isaph let out a deep sigh and turned his head. The small back of his head, showing a will to endure until he fell asleep as if he had taken this situation as a battle of wills, was amusing. So, truly impulsively.

Thud, Harenir's fingertips tangled in the pitch-black hair.

"...?!"

He had just lightly touched the hair covering the back of his neck, but Isaph startled violently. His purple eyes, filled with shock as if asking what on earth he was doing, widened greatly. He even covered his neck with both hands as if disgusted by the fact that a hand had brushed his neck.

After blankly watching even that reaction, Harenir closed his eyes with a final, quite strange thought.

'...Cat.'

It was truly a strange dawn.

#Part 7. 34%

Blink, blink, blink...

Consciousness returned slowly. The morning after expending a lot of energy was much more difficult to wake up than usual. It felt as if his soul was being fitted back into his body. He slowly blinked his eyes, wiping away the hazy vision.

An old stone house, a desolate interior, a white uniform stained with blood, and... golden hair shimmering in the bright sunlight. Wait, why were there blue eyes now?

"I didn't know that saying I'd stay by your side meant you'd sleep together too."

"...!"

"When I saw you fall asleep first, I suspected you might be pretending to lower your guard..."

Startled by the calmly continuing voice, he sat up abruptly, staggering. Harenir standing opposite him boasted a perfectly beautiful face even in the morning, but he was only suffering from terrible shock looking at him. He had gone mad.

To come to Harenir's room in the deep dawn and then fall asleep there.

Moreover, according to Harenir's words, it seemed he had fallen asleep first. Ah, how frustrating. It was because he had become more tired after using energy to remove the tension built up in Harenir's soul.

Furthermore, though he had clearly been sitting at the bedside, he must have toppled over sideways, as he had slept curled up on the floor. Wanting to deny this ridiculous reality, he buried his face in his hands and sighed.

Swish, then something slid down beside his arm.

"..."

This seems to be the blanket Harenir had been using, but why was it on top of him...

After staring at it dazedly, he finally buried his head in his hands again. It was uncomfortable to see Harenir as soon as he woke up. Partly because he was embarrassed at having ended up sleeping here, but...

In fact, he had seen all of Harenir's nightmares.