Chapter 321

Chapter 321. Ryanga (3)

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

The journey was not difficult.

Unlike what they thought at the beginning —that it would be complicated due to the mutants that would attack—…

Since Ryanga… no, since the girl in the white mask appeared, they hadn’t seen any mutants again.

To be more exact—

BOOOM!

—although huge sounds kept being heard from places that didn’t enter Alon’s field of vision.

“……I think she decided to take care of them where we can’t see her.”

“I see.”

“If she was going to do that, it would have been more consistent with her original intention of hiding her identity to have done it from the start.”

“…I suppose so.”

“But why is she hiding? Besides—”

Alon briefly thought how would I know?, when Evan pointed to a spot.

“…If she wants to hide her identity, shouldn’t she also clean up the mutants’ corpses?”

“Why bother so much?”

Behind the forest, a mutant the size of a house lay dead.

Alon muttered at the scene.

…Actually, whether she hid the corpses or not, he already knew from the beginning that that girl was Ryanga.

Although he didn’t know why she was trying so hard to hide it.

He didn’t know how long they had been advancing while Alon thought that, when he found a path that, just as Ryanga —or rather, the girl— had said, allowed them to climb up the cliff.

“It seems to be here.”

“Let’s go up.”

The group started heading toward the cliff, when—

“Stop right there, you two— stop!”

Suddenly, some people with masks similar to Ryanga’s came out of the forest and blocked their way.

“……Who are you?”

“You don’t need to know who we are. You cannot go up this way!”

“Really?”

“If you really want to go up… we only allow that man to do it!”

With incredibly forced acting, they pointed directly at Alon.

…A strange silence covered the place.

It seemed that even they felt that it didn’t make sense.

The masked ones turned slightly, whispering amongst themselves.

“I told you I didn’t want to do this, idiot.”

“Shut up, you lost the bet!”

“And what do we do with this atmosphere now?”

“Ah… we’re screwed, aren’t we?”

The forest was silent, except for the roars of some distant mutant.

So whispers or not, of course everything was heard.

Penia and Alon looked at each other in confusion.

“I don’t know, let’s do the plan: we let the man up and hold back the rest, wasn’t it like that?”

Ignoring Alon and Penia’s expressions, it seemed they had already decided.

“Only the man can go up! The others stay here!”

They turned back around very quickly and shouted.

Alon hesitated for a moment whether to ask what was happening.

But finally decided to play along with their little theater.

Despite the bad acting…

The eyes visible behind the masks showed a desperate determination.

A look that clearly said if you ruin the play, we get killed, please cooperate.

So—

“…It can’t be helped. You guys go ahead, we will wait for you here.”

“I will also be waiting for him.”

“Alright.”

“And you, come here.”

[Eh? Why should I?]

“Shut up and come here—”

[?! How can you lift me?]

“I was practicing to hit you. Surprised?”

Leaving behind Evan, who was carrying Basiliora as if it were nothing…

Alon received the silent gratitude of the masked ones and went up the cliff alone.

And when he finally reached the top…

He saw her there. A girl looking at a majestic landscape on the slope, while the sun was setting.

“Ryanga.”

Alon called her.

She turned her body, which moments before was contemplating the sunset, and locked eyes with him.

Then she pretended to be surprised in a very clumsy way.

“Ahem, Boss? How did you get here?”

‘I am acting right now.’

That was the vibe she was transmitting.

Alon observed her, thinking for a second what to do with such awkwardness.

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

“R-really?”

Although she said it naturally, Ryanga’s response was to look at him silently for a moment.

“Yes.”

“…Boss.”

“What is it?”

“…Since when did you know?”

It seems she had discovered Alon’s acting.

Probably because his acting wasn’t very good either.

Be that as it may, Alon felt relieved to be able to stop acting and replied, after hesitating a little:

“…Since the beginning.”

Ryanga let out a strange sound and collapsed, holding her head.

“I thought I had been perfect……”

“Eh…?”

“Was my acting that weird?”

“…A little.”

A lot… was what Alon didn’t say.

Ryanga made noises of frustration for a while before standing up with cheeks red from embarrassment.

He watched her in silence while she played with her hair, not knowing what to say.

Alon decided to apologize first.

“Sorry for taking so long.”

“Mm? No, you don’t have to apologize. I was just waiting.”

“But still, I made you wait.”

Ryanga stared at him and, suddenly, puffed out her cheeks a little.

“…Boss, I waited a long time.”

“I know.”

“A long, long time.”

“I am truly sorry.”

“And when you pretended not to know me at the beginning, it also hurt me a lot.”

“That—”

That wasn’t because he ignored her.

It was because Alon hadn’t traveled to the past yet and didn’t know her.

Ryanga, noticing it, added:

“I know, you hadn’t returned from there yet, right?”

“Yes. Sorry for that part.”

“You don’t have to apologize. It was obvious. Just… I got a little scared. I thought maybe you would never recover your memories… but now it doesn’t matter.”

She smiled.

“—Now you do remember, right?”

“Yes, clearly.”

Ryanga walked towards him and gently rested her head on his chest.

“Boss.”

“Yes.”

“I did everything I could.”

“…Yes. Thank you.”

“I kept the promise to guide the group well and always do what I believed was right.”

“That too… thank you.”

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

But for Ryanga, it had been almost hundreds.

So he couldn’t answer any other way.

She murmured with a small sigh:

“Tsk— I wanted this reunion to be more dramatic and elegant….”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, I prepared it so much.”

Prepared what…? Alon thought.

“Look.”

She pointed beyond the cliff.

Alon looked.

The landscape that Ryanga was showing…

Even for someone like him, who didn’t think he had a great aesthetic sense, it was beautiful.

“Do you remember our village?”

“I remember it.”

“…I had told you, right? That there was a place with a beautiful view.”

Alon nodded.

She used to talk a lot about her village whenever they traveled together, especially about its landscapes.

“I wanted to show it to you.”

“Is this the landscape of your village?”

“Yes. I sculpted it.”

“…You?”

Alon’s surprised expression broke her usual seriousness.

Ryanga watched him happily for a moment.

“Yes. It’s almost perfect. I remember it clearly because I gazed at it every day.”

Then, with a hint of complaint, she added:

“It cost me a lot. The cliff could stay like that, but the forest… if I didn’t maintain it all the time, it would change and stop looking like the one I remembered.”

Alon looked at the landscape again.

There was no better word than beautiful.

It was a garden she had maintained for hundreds of years just to show it to him.

“…I don’t know how to thank you.”

The words came out on their own.

“Really… thank you.”

Because although for him it had been years, for her it was centuries of waiting.

At that reaction, Ryanga —who had been wearing a somewhat annoyed expression— smiled again.

“That is enough of a reward.”

She said.

“Welcome back, Boss.”

“Yes.”

And so, both finally managed to reunite for real.

---

The black dragon thought:

How the hell did it all end up like this?

…Looking back, everything went wrong from the beginning.

When Marquis Palatio disappeared, a very important person for the possessed entity.

Just when he was trying to manifest by taking advantage of Seolrang’s mental instability.

The situation was ideal.

If the Marquis hadn’t returned, or if the news had arrived just a day later…

The black dragon would have taken Seolrang’s body.

The problem is that the news of the return arrived just before he could manifest.

And since he was already convinced to manifest in Seolrang… he ended up appearing too late, remaining tied to her without the possibility of changing targets.

However, the black dragon had a chance to fix it again.

Thanks to his partner, the Sin of Greed, who had not yet fully manifested, Seolrang wavered again believing she couldn’t protect the Marquis.

And also when she failed the trial given by the essence of the Golden Mane Tribe —the source of Seolrang’s power—, which made her doubt even more.

Taking advantage of that, the black dragon tried to manifest again.

…Or so he thought.

‘Then lend me a little of your power.’

‘No, not give it to me. Just lend it to me for a little while.’

‘I’ll use it and return it to you right away.’

Until he saw Seolrang’s expression, which was like someone in front of delicious food, with her mouth watering.

The black dragon had no choice but to lend her the power. It was the only logical option.

And he was also confident.

He firmly believed that if she tasted his power just once, Seolrang would inevitably desire it again.

So he lent it to her.… He never imagined it would be his fatal mistake.

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

With the essence of the Golden Mane Tribe still in hand, Seolrang looked at him with that hungry expression. The dragon replied cautiously:

[D-do you want me to… take back my power?]

“Yes. I told you I would return it.”

[…Wouldn’t it be better… if you left it like that?]

“I don’t want to.”

[It’s just that… it’s exhausting to do this every time….]

Removing and returning power was simple.

The problem was Seolrang’s attitude.

She had no attachment to the black dragon’s power.

Or rather, she used it only as a formality.

She would borrow the power, break the essence’s trial, and then return it…

Repeating the cycle!

So the black dragon, despite lending her power, was only being used, and on top of that, he was reducing his chances of manifesting.

He tried to resist, but—

“Oh, really? Well then, I won’t ask you for it again.”

[What…?]

“I won’t ask you anymore.”

[But you need my power to pass the trial.]

“No, I think I can do it alone now. Anyway, thanks for everything.”

She turned around without the slightest attachment.

[W-wait!]

“What?”

[I-I’ll still lend it to you—]

“Really?”

The black dragon had no choice but to give in.

If he didn’t infuse power, his probability of manifesting would be literally zero.

So—

[Y-yes.]

“Thank you.”

The black dragon closed his eyes in despair, feeling that his face was already glistening with invisible sweat.