Belgrieve smiled wryly. “I don’t remember ever teaching them magic... Well, I’m just glad they’ll be able to help out.”
“The fundamentals are important, but they need practical knowledge. Even if I taught them difficult magic, that knowledge would be useless if they panicked in the heat of battle... Well, the folks here have fought their share of fiends, so that might not be much of a problem.”
“Ha ha... Everything’s moving forward...” said Belgrieve.
Kasim nodded. “It is indeed. It’s like we’re building the future now. There’s no need to fuss so much about the past anymore.”
“You’ve...already moved on, right? But Percy...”
“Hmm... Well, pretty much. I’m not as obsessed as Percy, but I despise that dark fiend too. I’d want to kill it if I had the chance.”
“I see...” Belgrieve mumbled, awkwardly scratching his cheek.
Kasim grinned. “Don’t make that face. I’m not about to drop everything to go looking for it.”
“Hmm... I’d feel better if the same could be said for Percy.”
“That’s his problem, and he has to work it out on his own... Still, he’s mellowed out a bit while teaching the young’uns here,” Kasim mused as he limbered up. “Ain’t that nice? There was never anyone to teach us. We just learned by trial and error—mostly error, unless I’m misremembering.”
“You’re not wrong. But trial and error can be a good teacher too.”
“Maybe... But every now and again, I can’t help but wonder what could’ve been if there had been an adult like you around, back then. I know I got up to my share of mischief.”
“You’ve all had your share of hardships,” Belgrieve said apologetically. Kasim patted him on the back.
“You’re the one who had it hard. The rest of us were just too careless for our own good. I’m just wondering how things might have been different, that’s all. For better or worse, little brats usually have a one-track mind.”
“I’ll admit, I also think about that sometimes...”
“But ultimately, I think it’s fine how it all turned out. In a sense, if we hadn’t all gone our separate ways, then we wouldn’t have Ange, and there are loads of folks we wouldn’t have met without her.”
“I guess so...” Belgrieve closed his eyes.
“Don’t go making that face again... You’re as serious as ever, aren’t you?” Kasim asked, kneading his beard bemusedly.
“Oh, sorry. I know it’s bothersome to overthink these things.”
“Heh heh heh... Well, that’s also your strength, Bell.”
The wispy clouds were drawn across the sky in the wind. The sun was starting to set, and the western mountains cast their shadows over the village.
“It’s almost fall, huh...”
“Time flies. Around this time last year, we were in Tyldes, weren’t we?”
“I think so... So it’s already been a year.” Time seemed to be flying by. Angeline had been very insistent on eating fresh cowberries, so she would definitely come home this time. But it was safe to assume she was busy now, as she hadn’t sent any letters lately. Belgrieve had no idea whether she was going to spend the winter in Turnera again or leave for Orphen after the festival was over.
The two of them returned to the house together. It was time to begin preparing for the coming winter.
The sight of Byaku apprehending the twins, who had been playing with the vegetables drying in the yard, caused Belgrieve to crack a slight smile.
○
Lately, Angeline had been having some rather peculiar dreams. They were terribly vivid and seemed almost real. Her fingertips would feel numb after she woke from such a dream, and sometimes, a faint scent would linger in the back of her nose.
But once she shook off her early-morning drowsiness, those sensations would fade, quite literally, like a dream. By the time she had changed her clothes and washed her face, she couldn’t even remember what the dreams had been about. All she knew was that they weren’t very pleasant and that she felt ill even without the clear recollection. As the days went on, she eventually found herself waking up several times in the dead of night. Her body would be covered in sweat and her throat would be dry. She knew she was having terrible nightmares, but she had no idea what they were about. Those times, she would find she couldn’t sleep for a while, even when she lay down again and closed her eyes—and even when she did, it was nothing but nightmares again. Then the sun would rise, and she wouldn’t feel like she had gotten a wink of sleep.
With one sleepless night after another, Angeline was feeling worn out. When she was sleep-deprived, it took more time than usual for her to wake up, and mornings were getting rough for her.
It wasn’t as though she was physically exhausted—she was getting sleep, for what it was worth. Instead, it felt like the more she slept, the more fatigued she became. She felt out of sorts, and everything she did began to feel like a struggle to put any effort into.
Angeline’s thrust was parried, knocking the blade out of her hand and the rest of her off-balance and overextended.
Marguerite, who had been squaring off with her, had a strange look on her face. “The hell are you doing? You’ve barely been putting up a fight lately.”
“Yeah... I know.” Angeline frowned and scratched her head. Since she couldn’t give it her all, she had begun losing to Marguerite in their sparring matches. But Marguerite knew something was up and took no satisfaction from such hollow victories.
Marguerite sheathed her rapier and shrugged.
“You’re gonna get taken out by a fiend at this rate.”
“Ugh...” Angeline pouted as she retrieved her fallen sword. “Losing to the likes of Maggie... How humiliating.”
Marguerite yawned. “Oh, look who’s talking. Well, it’s good that you’re still well enough to be snarky.”
Angeline snorted, but a part of her knew she was only putting on a strong front. She felt helpless; she knew she would become restless if she didn’t do something to keep herself occupied, yet she felt too tired to do anything.
Summer was nearing its end. Every time she thought about the coming fall, she wished it would hurry up so she could go see her father. Ever since her party had returned to Orphen, their work had run them ragged. The number of fiends had decreased drastically compared to the time a demon had stirred things up. However, there were plenty of jobs that only S-Rank adventurers could pull off, and when they were brought before her, Angeline was hesitant to turn them down—thus, she was putting her sword to quite a bit of work.
As busy as she had been, she’d begun to contemplate leaving for vacation early. That urge was tempered by the fear that doing so would be like giving in to her own weakness, and she couldn’t bring herself to go through with it. Thus was the downward spiral of Angeline’s health. She hadn’t taken any work for the past few days. They had gathered at the guild today, but Angeline was still in a terrible state, and they ultimately hadn’t taken on any requests. She had sparred with Marguerite in the hopes that working up a sweat would raise her spirits, even if only a little. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do about the slump she was in. All she had accomplished was to confirm that she was indeed stuck in a rut. With that established, they left the training grounds.