Geographical Suspect

Yukino and Neo were quick to dismiss King's apology about the Sekoto Forest incident

"D-Don't worry about it….we all….make mistakes…"

"Yukino is right. There's really no need to apologi-"

"You better improve on your mistakes, we barely survived and I won't be trying to cover up for you if there's a next time that you."

Killing the mood instantly was Alexandriya Aya, who blankly mouthed off those words to King, prompting him to nervously double down.

"Yes, of course. Sorry, once again.."

"...Haaaaah, this girl."

Shizaki muttered under his breath and smiled awkwardly.

Two hours had gone by, and everyone….except Bella Kamazaki….were now awake as King expressed his apology. Of course, Yukino tried his best to fake finally getting up.

Aya glanced at her left with her usual blank expression. There laid a comfortable, snoring girl, with stunning red hair that was tied up into a knot at the back, and a slim figure. Her left eye was covered with a new, red eyepatch that matched her entire attire.

"Does she usually sleep a lot like this? It's almost, what, thirteen hours now since we began to sleep in the carriage last night? She's becoming like Shizaki."

"Hey, you didn't need to include me in that, Alexandriya…"

"Hoh? Shall I inform the passengers here about your unusual sleeping schedule?"

"Absolutely not!"

Shizaki barked those words at her, but King and Neo seemed interested.

"Actually, I would like to know…"

"Yeah, me too."

"W-What!? No way!"

His eyes slowly moved to Yukino's direction, and the dark brown half-elf began to stutter as Shizaki's gaze was now upon him.

"U-Uh, what…i-is…"

"Yukino-kun, you're my only hope! Say something!!"

What he should have said though, was say no, as Yukino anxiously blurted out his opinion while turning red.

"I w-would also like to know!!"

"NOOOOO!!!"

"Yessss!!!"

Contrary to Shizaki's cry, King let out a shout of joy, and Neo nodded with satisfaction.

Covering his face in shame, Shizaki braced himself.

"He sleeps for fourteen hours at a minimum, and he's slept for sixteen hours at a maximum before."

"E-EHHHHHHH!?"

Both Yukino and King couldn't believe it, and Neo anxiously scratched his neck with his finger.

"S-She's right….I'm terrible at waking up. If I go to sleep at eight in the night, I'll most likely wake up at ten in the morning."

Shizaki gave in and regretfully stated such, and King replied with a confused tone.

"...Are you sure that you're not a Demi-human who hibernates…?"

"Ugh."

Very embarrassed, Shizaki shifted his attention to the still sleeping Bella Kamazaki.

He looked on intently. Her casual sleeping position was lying down flat on the seat as her slender legs lined up, her toes barely touching against Aya's waist as she had taken off her shoes and her left arm lay on her stomach while the right arm was stretched on her forehead.

She looks kinda cute while lying down like that…

Shizaki couldn't help but smile at the careless resting ofthe young woman.

Neo then unexpectedly called out to the carriage-rider at the driving seat.

"Kiyotai…how much time until we reach the Royal Guild?"

Kiyotai looked back as he heard his name being called, then directed his view back to the road in front of him as he gave his answer.

"We have about less than a day again until we reach Pandora City, so we will probably arrive at the Royal Guild tomorrow morning, actually! If you look through the windows, you can see the square farming plains of Igara Town's iconic golden wheat fields up ahead! We are crossing over the bridge of the Haze River now!"

Everyone immediately began poking their heads out the window of their respective sides of the carriage. As Shizaki poked his head out…

"Amazing…"

Shizaki's eyes lit up as he stared in wonder.

Beautiful wheat fields were in abundance, spanning over an incredibly large area. Just up ahead was a haze of gold that he had never seen before. He could barely make out the wind passing along the strands of wheat, creating a wave-like effect that rippled throughout the canvas of yellow.

Without realising, he had blocked out everyone's voices from his mind as he took in the grandeur of the landscape. He noticed the sparse trees as the warmth of the sun bathed on his face. As the carriage slowly dragged along the dirt road, bypassing one of the wheat fields, Shizaki kept his face straight as he basked in its glory. He closed his eyes as he took in the cool breeze passing by.

He could hardly form words to describe such a calm feeling. Maybe this felt normal for others who got to see these types of landscapes frequently, but for a person like him, this was different. He felt….happy, at peace, in awe.

So this is what…..being free in the outside world felt like.

King's eyes caught the only girl who was still sound asleep, and couldn't take it anymore.

Sighing, he dutifully walked over to her and did not hesitate to flick his finger on Kamazaki's forehead.

"Ahhhhgggkk-gakkhhh!"

She immediately sat up, holding her forehead in pain as she slowly looked up at him, growling and hissing at him. King gave no comment and just stared at her as she rubbed her forehead, so Kamazaki talked.

"Why???!!"

"You're oversleeping."

"That's no reason to flick your damn fingerrr, uwahhhh!!!"

"Quit your whining and enjoy the view outside. Do you even know where we are?"

".....The fuck are you, my mother-uh?"

She turned left, turned right, looked up and down.

"I'm in the carriage. Duhhhhh."

"....I obviously meant the geographical location, you thick-headed re...ally can't say that word these days."

"Blehhh!!!"

She stuck her tongue out at him and put her middle finger under her right eye to mock him, but King paid her no mind as he averted his eyes to the window of the carriage.

"We're close to Pandora City. Let's stretch our arms and look lively, shall we?

"Kay, I heard you already, let's do it, let's do it."

Ignoring the gazes of all those around her as if she was used to being the center of attention, she reluctantly got up and stretched with her right arm, yawning as she covered her mouth with her left.

There was still a feature of her that King was still yet to get accustomed to.

"How's the eyepatch-"

"Super! I feel like Nee-sama sometimes while wearing it….not. Seriously, Yukikama-nii-chan, I'm fine. You don't need to act like it's your fault that I got like this."

She held her arms akimbo as she tilted her head at King, making fun of his worrying by addressing him as her brother. He still couldn't look her in the eye, though.

She already knew about my worries, huh?

Kamikaze then tapped her chin with her index finger and after thinking about something, she finally decided to talk about it.

"We must be near that other village with all the rumours about it, then?"

"Yeah, Komaia Village."

"Hearing an unfamiliar name from King, Shizaki's eyebrows became furrowed.

"Komaia….Village?"

"You don't know that place, huh? Igara Town in the northwest of Sekoto Forest, Komaia Village in the northeast, right on the border of Sekoto Village's end. If you enter that village from its front, the rear will be the border that leads to the dark Sekoto Forest."

Shizaki instantly felt uneasy.

"What….rumours were there about…Komaia Village?"

"....Not my words, but there has been talk about the village just not 'seeming right' nowadays. The people, the feeling of being watched in there….and then…."

His words trailed off. Shizaki held his breath.

"And then….?"

"A mysterious figure in the backdoor of Komaia Village, leading into Sekoto Forest. Then again….they're just rumors…"

The image that he had seen once again while running up the trail while looking back was pictured in his mind..

A mysterious….figure….

His eyes were definitely not playing tricks on him back then. As scary as it was, perhaps something straight out of a nightmare, it actually happened. Shizaki's eyes twitched as he held his forehead with his left hand.

Someone was watching his every move back then, and Komaia Village had suddenly become a suspected location that was tied to that person.

That person, The One Who Follows.

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(Chapter 20: Geographical Suspect.)