Chapter 137: The Continuing Journey
Serie's face was a blank mask as she put her foot back on the ground, as if she hadn't just kicked him. She then gestured with her other foot at the boot he had tossed aside. The meaning was clear: put it on.
"The results of my examination are as follows," she said, her voice devoid of any emotion, though the red tips of her ears betrayed her. "My leg is fine. Now, give me my boot."
Rhodes rubbed his sore chest and looked at her, at the way she was trying so hard to be calm, to hide her embarrassment, and he couldn't help but smile. He got up, brushed himself off, and put on his most pathetic, wounded expression. "Serie, my intentions were pure. The heavens can be my witness..."
"Shut up," she snapped, cutting him off before he could get another word in.
He was about to tease her a little more, but then he saw the look in her eyes, and the sight of her bare foot on the cold, hard ground, and he decided to relent. He knelt before her and, with a newfound sense of propriety, he gently took her ankle and carefully put her boot back on, fastening the buckle.
He moved slowly, and she did not rush him.
When he was done, he didn't get up right away. He just looked up at her. "Next time," he said, his voice now serious, with a note of concern that only she could understand, "don't just blindly block a spell you don't understand. A defensive barrier isn't invincible. What if a demon has a spell that's specifically designed to break them? Be more careful next time."
She looked down at him, and for a moment, her gaze softened. But she would not admit that she had been reckless. In the end, all she said was a soft, "Mm," and then gave her leg a little shake, a silent command for him to let go.
He stood, his usual smile back on his face. "Alright. Now that the wounded have been tended to, shall we go back to the dwarf village?"
"Aren't you forgetting something?"
"Hm? What?"
"We never asked him why he was here."
They had fought the demon, and then he had let him go to deliver his message, but they had never actually asked him what his real purpose had been. With all the other demons gathered at the Demon King's castle, for him to be here, all alone... he must have had some kind of secret mission.
"Who knows? Maybe he was lost."
She ignored his flippant remark and looked in the direction the demon had gone, then at the battle-scarred valley around them. "Well, we'll find out eventually," she said, and then turned and started walking in a different direction.
"You're not going to tell the dwarves?" he asked, following her.
"There's no need. They'll send someone to check on their own eventually."
"True. By the way, Serie," he said, as if it had just occurred to him, "what do you think of the name 'Seven Sages of Destruction'? It's a lot better than the 'Four Heavenly Kings', isn't it?"
She just kept walking, giving him only the cold shoulder as a response.
He didn't mind. "I think it's great. And when it's known all across the continent, they'll have me to thank for it. Though... they'll probably thank me by trying to kill me." He shrugged, a mischievous glint in his eye.
"But they would have to know who you are first," she said, "and we didn't exactly tell him our names."
He paused. She was right. That Latran... he didn't even have the decency to ask for their names after they had so thoroughly beaten him.
"Ah!" he said, and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "You're right. He doesn't even know who we are! My legacy as the great namer will be lost to the ages!"
"You could go after him. You could probably still catch up," she said, a hint of amusement in her voice.
"That would be so uncool," he said, and then jogged to catch up to her. "Besides, I already have enough honors. I don't need another one."
She finally turned to look at him, a quizzical expression on her face. "I was the one who struck the final blow. But for some reason, the title of 'God-slayer' went to you."
The elven miss was confused. She herself was now revered as the 'Elven Saint', and Norne was a king. But the title of 'God-slayer' was his alone.
"It's probably because I'm the wielder of Org."
"That's so biased." She sounded a little frustrated, but she didn't pursue the matter. "That demon's petrification spell... it was a strange one."
"Yes," he said, his expression turning serious. "It wasn't a normal spell. It was a mixture of a curse and a magic. I could see the shadow of the goddess in it."
"You mean... Eirik taught it to him?" she asked, frowning.
"It's possible," he explained.
"So why did you let him go?" she asked after a moment of silence.
"I don't know," he said, his lighthearted tone returning. "I just wanted to see how Eirik would react."
She stopped and turned to him. "And then what? Are you going to go and end his suffering?"
He stopped as well, and for once, the smile was gone from his face. "Yes. Eventually. But I'm waiting for a certain someone to make the final decision."
He didn't say who, but she knew.
She just gave a soft "Mm," and turned and started walking again.
He quickly caught up to her. The sunlight stretched their shadows long before them, and in that moment, he knew that their journey together would be a long one indeed.
(End of Chapter)
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