What he thrust before my eyes was that familiar praise sticker board. Before I could even process the situation, I reflexively drew another circle. Upon seeing it, Damian narrowed his eyes with satisfaction and made a declaration.
“I’ll use five right now.”
“What?”
Before I could finish the word.
Chuu.
His large hand caught my head, tilting my face back in an instant as a soft sensation pressed against me.
As he pulled away with a wet sound, Damian looked triumphant. Seraphion rolled his eyes in disgust, and Geoffrey watched us with a gaze that was impossible to read.
I stood there dazed, rubbing my lips, and muttered to myself.
...Should I just give up on everything?
As Damian shrugged his shoulders as if boasting of his prize, Geoffrey’s face hardened into a mask of ice.
Normally, Geoffrey would have brushed this off with a relaxed smile, but right now, even maintaining his composure seemed like a struggle. Seeing the slight tremor in his eyelids, it was clear that excessive mana consumption had pushed his patience to the brink.
However, he didn't snap, nor did he add any biting remarks. He simply picked up his spoon in silence and brought the soup to his mouth. Seraphion also seemed to be on edge, his hair practically standing on end, but he soon focused on his meal as well.
Yes, on the surface, that’s how it looked.
But the murderous intent tangling beneath the table and the tension sparking in the air were impossible to hide. I watched this bizarre dinner party anxiously, swallowing hard.
It wasn't long before Geoffrey set his spoon down. I stole a glance and saw that despite the chaotic atmosphere, his bowl was spotlessly clean.
“The meal was excellent. However, today does not seem suitable for conversation.”
“Ahaha... Yes, I’m sorry. We have some unexpected guests today.”
At my pathetic excuse, Geoffrey slowly lifted his eyelids. Those violet eyes stared at me intently, it felt like he was peering right through my soul, making my shoulders flinch.
“Ordinarily, the owner of this prior engagement would have been me, Shion.”
“Well, ahem... I am truly sorry.”
His tone wasn't accusatory, but the way he calmly pointed out the facts made me clear my throat and look away.
Not only had I, a commoner, broken a promise with the Archmage, but I had also seated him at the same table as monsters. Honestly, I should have been on my knees begging for forgiveness.
Under such murderous circumstances, I should just be grateful he finished the entire bowl.
As if reading my mind, Geoffrey allowed a slow smile to grace his lips. It was a mysterious smile, I couldn't tell if he was angry or just find the situation absurd. Without saying more, he rose from his seat with elegant grace.
Then, without sparing a single glance at the monsters sitting nearby, he spoke.
“Shion.”
“Yes, yes?”
“Would it be alright if we walked for a moment?”
“Yes, of course!”
I hurriedly whipped off my apron and stuck close to Geoffrey’s side. Damian, who usually would have thrown a fit, was strangely quiet today. Curious, I glanced over at him, only to find him slightly pursing his lips and exerting silent pressure. ‘Points.’
...You cunning monster!
Gritting my teeth, I followed Geoffrey out. As we left the inn, the cold wind brushed my cheeks. When I huddled slightly against the chill, Geoffrey immediately placed a hand on my shoulder. Seeing as my body gradually began to warm, he must have cast a spell.
I gave a light nod in thanks, and Geoffrey offered a faint smile.
“The inn will become busy soon, you ought to be more selective with your guests.”
In other words, the monster subjugation was ending, and he was giving me a blatant warning to kick the monsters out of the inn.
“...You weren't hurt, were you?”
When I chose to deflect the subject instead, Geoffrey’s eyebrows rose slightly. Silence stretched between us for a long time.
“A little.”
“...Pardon?”
The short, informal answer that dropped from his lips was jarring. I had never heard Geoffrey speak so familiarly before. When I looked at him in surprise, he furrowed his brows as if troubled.
“It is difficult to walk. It would be nice if you could support me.”
“……”
Sir, you have a staff in your hand.
Sure, he looked exhausted. But he wanted me to prop him up when he had a perfectly sturdy, luxurious-looking staff right there to use as a support? As my suspicious gaze lingered on the staff, Geoffrey lightly flicked his fingertips as if reading my thoughts.
In that instant, the staff vanished into thin air.
“……??”
Was it a conjured staff? Or did he just toss it into some sub-space?
As I stood there dumbfounded by the mage’s eccentric habit of making things appear and disappear with a gesture like a game inventory, Geoffrey saw my expression, laughed softly, and leaned his body toward me without a second thought.
“Since I no longer have a staff, you shall have to become my support in its stead, Shion.”
As his shoulder fully met mine, a subtle fragrance wafted over. If he had just finished a campaign, there should have been a metallic scent of blood. Instead, he smelled unique, like the scent of old books and the dust of an ancient library.
It was a strangely addictive scent, so I was secretly catching whiffs of it. However, whenever his black hair brushed my cheek or his weary, shallow breath tickled my earlobe, my body instinctively shied away.
I thought I should firmly push him back, but Geoffrey’s next words stopped me in my tracks.
“No matter how close you have become, do not give them your heart.”
Thump. My heart dropped.
My heart?
I was only trying to use Damian because he refused to leave. How could a commoner like me kick out the Monster King? How could I handle the monsters swarming from the forest alone?
Of course, my excuses had loopholes. If I really pleaded, Geoffrey would gladly threaten them away. Even if the enchantments on the inn were a waste, I could just take my money and leave. If I clung to the hem of Gilbert’s cloak, he wouldn't ignore me either.
It wasn't that there was no way out, it was that I hadn't chosen one. Feeling as though my inner thoughts had been exposed, I swallowed hard.
“Never forget, Shion, that monsters are inherently wicked things.”
“But monsters don't lie.”
The words tumbled out of me reflexively in protest, and I immediately bit my lip, regretting it. Rather than scolding my rebuttal, Geoffrey informed me calmly, as if stating an obvious fact.
“However, they whisper hollow words to bewitch. There is no lie, but neither is there truth.”
Then, he slowly took my hand. I flinched instinctively at the touch of his cold fingertips. As his fingers began to entwine and fiddle with mine, I tried to pull away out of discomfort, but he didn't budge. Instead, he lightly patted the back of my hand and whispered low.
“Do not be afraid.”
His tone was so exceedingly gentle that I paused involuntarily. In that moment, Geoffrey hoisted our joined hands into the air. My arm was yanked up, my center of gravity collapsed, and I stumbled before I could even scream.
“G-Geoffrey!”
As my body leaned forward helplessly, his other hand swiftly snatched my waist. A hand that was far too firm and large for a mage wrapped tightly around my waist through the thin fabric.
Our close-pressed posture became an awkward tangle, looking as if we were about to step out onto a ballroom floor to dance.
“What is this,..!”
I snapped my head up at the bizarre position, only to catch my breath.
I saw his face at such close proximity. Violet eyes beneath long, sweeping lashes and hair as black as ebony. Eyes that looked aged, as if steeped in the solitude of long years, yet held a commensurately deep insight. His passing breath was strangely sweet, and I found myself unable to look away, as if bewitched.
Then.
“Look where I am pointing.”
Our joined hands were pointing downward, and I followed the gesture with my eyes.
The ground beneath our feet was clearly divided in two. On one side, a forest overflowing with green vitality, on the other, a parched desert of sand.
Yes, the very spot where we stood was atop the border line.
“Monsters and humans are different from birth, and between them lies a line that can never be crossed.”
It was an undeniable truth. Humans and monsters lived on either side of the border under the hollow name of a "truce," but it was by no means a peace.
It was an invisible war, a cycle of murderous intent and fear honed in silence. A continuation of terror, not coexistence, where each side hated the other with bated breath.
No matter how much I had read about this world through books, I had never experienced their lives within those pages.
The peace I learned through text was always a mere illusion. The blood-soaked reality that the man before me, Geoffrey, was proving with his entire being, that was the truth.
Faced with his certain gaze, I couldn't open my mouth. Whatever I said would only be the cowardly deception of one who has never truly suffered.
“According to the records of my ancestors, even the First Saintess could never truly adapt to the war with monsters. It was written that in the place she came from, there were no monsters, and only humans formed a society together.”
“…….”
“If the place Shion lived is the same, it is no wonder you look upon them without prejudice. Because unlike here, that place must have been peaceful.”
Peace. The word he uttered lingered strangely in my ears.
Was the world I lived in really peaceful?
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