Chapter 321 : Ryanga (3)

Alon, Penia, and Evan kept moving forward after that.

The journey wasn’t particularly difficult.

Unlike at first, when they thought they’d struggle because of the mutants rushing at them.

Ever since Ryanga—no, the girl in the white mask—showed up, they hadn’t seen any more mutants.

More precisely—

Boom—!

—there were still loud noises coming from places outside Alon’s line of sight.

“...It seems like she switched to taking care of them out of sight now.”

“I see.”

“If she had just done that from the beginning, it probably would’ve fit better with her original intention of hiding her identity.”

“...That’s true.”

“But why is she hiding her identity? And—”

While Alon was thinking, “How would I know?”, Evan pointed at something.

“...Shouldn’t she also be getting rid of the mutant corpses if she wants to hide her identity?”

“Well, is there really a need to go that far?”

Beyond the trees, a mutant as big as a house lay dead.

At that sight, Alon muttered briefly.

Honestly, whether she hid the corpses or not didn’t matter—he already knew that the girl was Ryanga.

He didn’t know why she was trying so hard to hide her identity, though.

How long had they been walking while he was lost in those thoughts?

Alon found a path up the cliff, just as Ryanga—or rather, the girl—had mentioned.

“This must be it.”

“Let’s go up.”

The group started moving toward the cliff, and not long after—

“Hold it! Stop right there!”

Suddenly, figures wearing masks similar to Ryanga’s jumped out from the forest and blocked their way.

“...Who are you guys?”

“You don’t need to know who we are! You can’t go up there!”

“Is that so?”

“If you really want to go up, only the man is allowed!”

In a terribly awkward acting tone, they pointed straight at Alon.

For a moment, silence wrapped around them.

Maybe even they felt it was a bit much.

They subtly turned around and began whispering among themselves.

“Damn it, I told you I didn’t want to do this!”

“You lost the bet, you idiot!”

“What are we gonna do about this vibe??”

“Ah—are we screwed?”

Aside from the mutants’ howling, the forest was pretty quiet.

So no matter how much they whispered, there was no way Alon and Penia wouldn’t hear them.

Penia and Alon looked at each other in confusion.

“Ah—whatever, let’s just have the man go up and hold the others here. That’s how it’s supposed to go, right?”

Eventually, it seemed they had come to a decision.

“The man goes up! The rest stay here!”

They quickly turned around and shouted again.

Alon briefly considered asking what was going on.

But soon decided to just play along with their “play.”

Despite the clumsy acting—

In the shimmering eyes behind those masks, he saw desperate determination.

Their eyes seemed to plead, “If we mess this up, we’re dead. Please go along with it~.”

Because of that—

“...Well, it can’t be helped. Please, go ahead.”

“I’ll be waiting here too.”

“Alright.”

“You, come too.”

[Hmph, why should I?]

“Shut up and come~”

[?! How can you lift me?]

“I practiced just to smack you around. Surprised?”

Leaving Evan, who was carrying Basiliora, behind.

Alon received silent thanks from the masked figures and climbed the cliff alone.

When he finally reached the top—

The sunset had already begun to fade, and he saw a girl standing, facing the spectacular view halfway up the mountain.

“Ryanga.”

Alon called out.

At that, the body that had been watching the sunset turned naturally to face him, meeting his gaze.

Then she made a face that awkwardly looked surprised.

“Uh—um, Chief? What are you doing here?”

(I am currently acting.)

It almost felt as though her voice was saying that out loud.

Alon stared at the extremely awkward Ryanga, wondering what to do for a moment.

“A girl who saved me told me to come here.”

“R-Really?”

“Yes.”

He answered kindly and calmly, but then—

Ryanga silently stared at Alon.

“...Chief.”

“What is it?”

“When did you find out?”

Unfortunately, it seemed she had seen right through his act.

Maybe it was because his own acting wasn’t that good either…

Anyway, since he could now drop the awkward behavior, Alon thought for a moment.

“From the start?”

He answered.

“Haah—”

Ryanga let out a strange sound, then grabbed her head and sank to the ground.

“I thought I was perfect…”

“What do you mean…?”

“Was… was it awkward?”

“...A little?”

A lot… almost came out of his mouth, but Alon didn’t bother adding it.

After groaning for a while, Ryanga finally stood up, her face flushed red with embarrassment.

He watched her squirm for a while.

She awkwardly ran her hands through her hair over and over, her lips twitching as if she didn’t know what to say.

Seeing that, Alon decided to apologize first.

“Sorry I’m late.”

“Huh? N-No, you don’t need to apologize, Chief. I was just waiting, that’s all.”

“Still, I made you wait.”

At Alon’s words, Ryanga stared at him and then pouted slightly.

“...I waited a long time, Chief.”

“Yes, I know.”

“I really waited a lot.”

“I’m truly sorry.”

“When you pretended not to know me at first, I was really sad.”

“That was—”

‘That wasn’t me ignoring you.’

Since Alon hadn’t fallen into the past yet, he was simply in a state of not knowing Ryanga.

So when he hesitated to answer, Ryanga looked at him as if she already knew.

“I know, you hadn’t gone back yet, right?”

“Yes. I’m sorry about that part.”

“No, you don’t need to apologize, Chief. That’s just natural, right? I was just a little anxious. I was worried that maybe you might never recover your memories… But now it’s fine.”

She then smiled and continued.

“You remember now, right?”

“Yes, clearly.”

At those words, Ryanga walked up to Alon and lightly leaned her head against his chest.

“Chief.”

“Yes.”

“I worked really hard.”

“…Yes, thank you.”

“I also kept the promise to lead the people well and do what I truly believed was right.”

“Thank you for keeping that promise too.”

For Alon, that promise had only been made less than two years ago.

But for Ryanga, it had been a story that spanned nearly hundreds of years.

So Alon had no choice but to speak that way.

At those words—

“Tsk. Originally, I wanted us to meet in a much more dramatic and perfect way.”

Ryanga muttered as if feeling a bit disappointed.

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, I prepared so much, you know.”

Alon thought, “What…?”

“Look over there.”

Then, Alon looked out at the scenery beyond the cliff that Ryanga was pointing to.

The scenery beyond the cliff that Ryanga showed him—

Even in Alon’s eyes, who didn’t think he had much of an eye for beauty, it looked incredibly beautiful.

“Do you remember our village?”

“I remember.”

“Remember how I used to say it? That there was an incredibly beautiful spot in our village.”

Alon nodded.

In the past, whenever she was active with Alon, she would always talk about her village.

Those stories often included descriptions of its scenery.

“I wanted to show that to you.”

“This is… that view from your village?”

“Yeah, I carved it out.”

“You did?”

For the first time, Alon’s expression broke from its usual calmness, showing surprise.

Ryanga looked at him curiously for a moment, then smiled happily.

“Yeah, it’s almost perfect. I kept seeing that view all the time, so I remember it vividly.”

At the same time, she spoke with a slight hint of complaint, as if she wanted him to appreciate her efforts.

“It was really tough, you know? Maybe the cliff was okay, but if you don’t constantly manage the forest, it starts to change and look different from what I remembered. I had to take care of it almost constantly.”

At her words, Alon once again looked at the scenery.

A view so beautiful that he couldn’t describe it with any other word.

Alon stared blankly at the garden she had maintained for hundreds of years just to show him.

“…I don’t know how to express my gratitude.”

Those words came out before he realized it.

“Truly, thank you.”

He had no choice but to repeat it again.

Because what had been a short time for him—

Had been a wait of hundreds of years for Ryanga.

At Alon’s reaction—

Ryanga, who had been pouting for quite a while, slowly smiled again.

“That’s enough of a reward for me.”

She said that.

“Welcome back, Chief.”

“Yes.”

And so, the two of them finally had their proper reunion.

***

The black dragon thought.

How did things end up like this?

Looking back, things had been twisted from the very beginning.

When Marquis Palatio, who was precious to the possessed one, disappeared—

At that moment when Seolrang’s mind wavered and the black dragon attempted to manifest.

That situation itself had been good.

If the marquis hadn’t returned, or even if the news had been just one day later—

The black dragon could have taken over Seolrang’s body.

The problem was that the news of the marquis’s return reached her right before the dragon’s manifestation.

Since the black dragon had already been convinced it would possess Seolrang, it had already revealed itself.

Thus, it became bound to Seolrang, unable to leave for another vessel, and ended up stuck in an awkward position.

Of course, even then, the black dragon had another chance to turn things around.

Thanks to the sin of Greed, one of his allies who hadn’t fully manifested yet.

Because Seolrang started to waver again, thinking she might fail to protect the marquis.

On top of that, she couldn’t pass the trial from the essence of the Golden Mane Clan, which was her source of power—

So she wavered even more.

Seizing that moment, the black dragon caught another chance to manifest.

It thought it had succeeded.

‘Then lend me your power for a bit.’

‘No, I don’t need you to give it to me—just lend it for a moment.’

‘I’ll return it right away.’

Until he saw Seolrang’s face lighting up like she was drooling in front of a delicious meal.

Naturally, the black dragon lent her the power.

It was both an unavoidable choice and the best option at the time.

Rather than doing nothing, it was better to at least try tempting her with sweet power.

And the black dragon was quite confident.

He was sure that once she tasted his power, she would definitely crave it again.

So the black dragon lent her the power.

It never imagined that would be a huge mistake.

“Black dragon! I used your power well today too—here, take it back—”

Seolrang, with the essence of the Golden Mane Clan, looked at the darkness where the dragon hid with that drooling expression again.

The dragon cautiously responded to her.

[You want me… to take the power back?]

“Yeah. You said you’d take it back, right?”

[...What if you just keep it?]

“I don’t want to.”

[I don’t like doing this every time either…]

In reality, taking back and giving power was easy.

But there was a reason the black dragon acted this way.

It was because of Seolrang’s attitude.

She didn’t cling to his power at all.

More precisely, she was only using the dragon’s power as a means to an end.

Seolrang had kept borrowing the dragon’s power to break through the essence’s trials, then just returned it—repeatedly…!

Because of that, even though he was lending her power, he was only being used, and it actually lowered the chance of full manifestation.

Knowing this, the black dragon tried to resist somehow—

“Oh? Then after this, I just won’t borrow it anymore.”

[What…?]

“I said I won’t borrow it.”

[But you need it to pass the essence’s trial…]

“Well, I think I can handle it alone now. Thanks for all your help until now?”

At the sight of Seolrang turning away without any regret—

[W-Wait—!]

“What?”

[I-I’ll lend it to you again…]

“Really?”

The black dragon had no choice but to cling to her.

If he didn’t feed her power, the possibility of manifestation would drop to zero.

So—

[Y-Yeah.]

“Thanks?”

The black dragon tightly shut his eyes as he watched Seolrang, who already seemed to be glowing as if her face had turned all shiny.