"Hah... hah... kuh... ugh...!!"
Running. Running. I had to keep running.
My legs creaked and screamed. My lungs were begging me to stop. My head throbbed with pain. Something in my stomach felt like it was coming back up.
And yet I had to run.
If I stopped, I would be caught.
At the very least, I had to get to the area near the river now.
Capris had stepped up for that. Was that guy all right now? I had no idea. My brain wasn't working well enough to even think about that.
All that remained in my head was one question.
No, not even a question. Something that had settled into the deepest part of my mind.
"Why did Capris save me?"
I didn't know. Why? You knew, didn't you, Capris?
That I tried to hurt you? That I was swallowed by my own delusions?
That I acted on my own assumptions and misunderstandings and tried to hurt you?
If that was the standard, then I wasn't any different from the forge workers.
So what did you see in me that made you save me?
Clinging to that question deep in his heart, Nakamura kept running without rest.
*
"I... think... this is... far enough... I can... rest now... ugh?!"
After running nonstop for what felt like a whole night and finally leaving Norwich, he reached the river in the Fairy Kingdom, Drakea, just before collapsing from exhaustion.
The worries that had been unconsciously turning over in his head while he ran were pushed aside for now. He was too tired to think about them.
Without looking into the water, he dragged himself behind a large rock nearby and tried to collect himself. ...Maybe because he had run too hard, nausea kept rising in his throat.
He had packed food and water in his bag, but if he didn't get this sickness under control, he was definitely going to throw up again... damn it.
"Ugh?! Uwaaaagh...!!!"
Damn it. There it was. He'd thrown up again.
He hadn't eaten anything on an empty stomach, so why was this still coming up?
And the color of the vomit was dark, too. What was this? Was there blood mixed in?
"Ugh... what rotten luck..."
After wiping his mouth roughly, he sat down behind the rock.
Still... now that he had made it to this river, he could relax a little. At the very least, he didn't have to worry about being caught by those crazed bastards.
This river was the territory of the Fairy Kingdom's Drakea, commonly known as the [Water Holy Grail].
The effect of its territory was to make anyone who looked into the river see an illusion of whatever they "absolutely couldn't ignore" and "strongly desired," then drag anyone who thought of taking it into the river to sink.
Even if they gave up halfway through, it would still pull them in. A truly vicious thing.
But that was exactly why it was useful.
The thing the ones chasing him here wanted most, without a doubt, was Nakamura himself. So once those guys looked into the river, they'd immediately plunge in after their own desire and say goodbye forever.
Well, if they were capable of thinking normally, they would have tried to stay away from the river in the first place. But if that helped him shake off their pursuit, then it didn't matter.
"Still... what do I do from here?"
His original goal of traveling through the Fairy Kingdom hadn't changed, even after ending up in this miserable state. But... if he kept traveling through the Fairy Kingdom as a human, before long he'd lose an arm or a leg, or his head would come off.
Of course. If even his friends of thirty years could do it without hesitation, why wouldn't anyone else?
Then what should he do?
How could he avoid getting caught by the fairies?
How could he travel through this Fairy Kingdom safely and peacefully.........
........Ah, a slightly insane idea had just come to him.
"Ha... hah... am I seriously crazy?"
The best way not to be caught by fairies was to disguise himself as one.
And the main things fairies used to tell humans apart from themselves were magical energy and appearance. If you went deeper, there was scent and the lifestyle unique to each race, too.
He could cover the magical energy with the Mystic Code he had made. The forge bastards had helped with the final adjustments, so it worked without any problems.
As for appearance, he could hide or cover it. The ears, which were one of the main identifiers, could be hidden with a hat.
As for scent and lifestyle, there was no need to worry.
After all, he was someone who had spent thirty years mixed in with the Earth clan. Of course their scent would have soaked into him, and naturally he'd grown used to their way of life as well.
"...Man, what kind of brain-dead idea is disguising myself as a fairy after almost getting killed by fairies?"
And yet, for some reason, he laughed.
It was like disguising himself as a mafia or yakuza member while claiming he belonged to the faction trying to kill him and his friend!
Was he getting reckless, or had he gone insane? Ha... his stomach was churning again, damn it.
"But this is the best way, isn't it..."
Holding down his roiling stomach, he leaned blankly against the rock and looked up at the sky. As always, the sky was a pink color today, too.
Come to think of it, what was Capris doing now? Had he been caught? Or had he managed to get away on his own? Or maybe...
"...Hey, Capris."
He spoke while staring at the sky, whose beautiful color was almost painfully vivid. The nausea had disappeared at some point.
"I still don't really know. Why you saved me. Why you didn't attack me. All of it."
With a slightly unhinged feeling, not even sure what he himself was saying, yet having already made up his mind in his heart.
"But... I did owe you one. If I owe you, then I have to pay it back... yeah... that's for sure."
"So I'll live. For both of us. I'll enjoy myself and have fun enough for you too. I'll even carry your name with me a little, because that's what the living are supposed to do. And when I meet you in the afterlife someday, I'll tell you this."
With a distant, wistful look, gazing toward the world beyond the sky, he let that faraway gaze shine clearly and smiled as if he had made up his mind.
"Thanks to you, I lived well!"
And with those words, he stood up from the rock, crossed the bridge, and set out on his journey.
He still didn't know why Capris had saved him, but as someone who had survived, living happily and well enough for his friend's share was the least he could do.
So when they met again someday, he'd ask.
Why had you saved me?
And he would tell him that he had lived well.
That he had achieved what he wanted to see and what he wanted to do.
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