✦ ✦ ✦
“You forged a Life Contract with them. You’ve got their lives in the palm of your hand. You could give them any order you wanted, couldn’t you?”
Well…he’s not wrong. But there’s nothing I want from them.
“I just wish…for them to live their lives as they want.”
“Oh. I see.”
It sounded like my master understood what I’d meant.
“Huh? Oh, Druid, it’s you.”
My master’s friend Marual entered the room. I peeked behind him, but I didn’t see Egar and Lange.
“How’re they?” my master asked.
Marual shook his head, which made me a little anxious.
“When I tried to teach them how to interact with others, how to trust, how to make friends—they hid their feelings well, but I could tell they were resisting it.”
I felt my brows knit together.
“Those church scumbags force their assassins to kill their own, over and over, from a very early age until they break. It’s so they won’t feel any guilt or remorse when they kill, so they’ll carry out their mission no matter what happens. I believe Egar and Lange are scared to get close to anybody because they might have to kill them later.”
I remembered something I heard them murmur before we forged the Life Contract: “We don’t want to have to kill you, Druid.”
“But it seems like their Slavery Contracts are completely restrained now, which means they might be able to harm themselves.”
Marual’s words brought a sudden dreadful thought to my mind. They wouldn’t…
“Don’t worry. They’re okay. For now, at least…”
Marual was trying to say that he couldn’t guarantee their safety moving forward.
“Well, there’s no use worrying about that now. Druid, wanna see them?” Marual asked.
I froze for a moment. See Egar and Lange? I did, but…
“They’re doing well, aren’t they?” I asked as I looked at Marual, who nodded without hesitation.
“Yeah, though they are worrying over what their next move should be.”
If they were worried about their next move…then I shouldn’t meet them. My master was right: I did have their lives in the palm of my hand. If I went to see them now, they might want to surrender their free will to me. I hoped I was wrong, but since I had my worries, it would be best that I not see them.
“I won’t see them,” I replied.
“Okay. Well, yeah, it’s probably best for you not to see them right now,” my master said.
I nodded back, and Marual nodded at me in agreement.
“Marual, no matter what those two decide to do, don’t argue,” my master said.
“Of course I won’t,” he said with another nod. “This is their choice to make. I will always put their independence first, no matter what conclusions they reach.”
I looked out the window to see Lange and Egar in the garden, sitting beneath a tree and talking to each other.
“Oh!” I gasped when I saw Egar smile.
Well, it was the first time I’d seen Egar smile—though it still looked a bit awkward. But he was definitely smiling, and Lange laughed in turn. As I watched Lange laugh, more cheerfully than Egar, a smile crept over my lips.
“Well, look who learned how to smile,” I said.
“Huh? But doesn’t everybody smile?”
I was a little taken aback by the look of confusion on Marual’s face. From his reaction, I could tell he hadn’t seen the uncanny smiles the two men had made before.
“When they used to smile, it was a bit off…” I explained.
That was because there had been a lot of scheming behind their smiles.
“Oh, really? Well, from the way they were acting yesterday, I had no idea.”
I looked at Egar and Lange. They were probably changing, little by little.
“Master?”
“What?”
“I’m going to stay away from Oll for a while.”
Until those two figured out how to live their lives moving forward, I needed to keep my distance so I wouldn’t get in their way.
My master nodded. “Okay. I understand.”
“Hey, Dad!”
“Agh!”
I looked toward Ivy with a start to see her peering anxiously into my face.
“Are you okay?”
I gave her head a pat. “I’m fine. I was just reliving the past a little.”
I’d left the town of Oll immediately after that. And during the crushingly busy days that followed, I got word from my master: “They went back to the church.”
At first, I was very sad to hear it. I was confused why they would go back to the church. I even felt slightly betrayed by it.
But when my master told me more about them, I realized they had returned to the church for some secret reason. So I took them at their word when they left the message “We promise we will come back,” and I patiently waited.
I thought back to the pair as I’d just seen them at the merchant guild. The air about them had been so kind and gentle that I hadn’t even recognized them when they called my name.
“It’s amazing how starkly a person can change.”
“You mean those men we met today—Egar and Lange?” Ivy asked.
I smiled and nodded. It was more than the air about them that had changed. The smiles they ended up leaving me with were the best I’d ever seen them looking. As I thought about them, I couldn’t help but smile. I had finally reconnected with them.
“Dad, you look really happy about something.”
“Huh?” I looked at Ivy, who seemed thoroughly amused. “Do I?”
“Yup.”
I look happy, huh? Well, I am happy. I’m happy I got to see them again and I’m happy I saw them smiling so effortlessly.
“So what are Egar and Lange like?” Ivy asked.
…How do I even start to explain? Ivy is mature enough that I can tell her most of the truth, but I’m still not sure…
“A basic summary is fine,” she urged. “Where did you meet them? Oh—unless that’s classified?”
Is she worried I met them on a top-secret job?
“I met them when I was doing a job from the adventurer guild. They were dealing with a little problem, so I shoved them on my master.”
“Um, Dad, that doesn’t sound very nice…”
My eyes shot open. Ivy had a judgmental stare on her face. But it couldn’t be helped; uniquely pesky problems were always best passed off to my master.
“This problem they had…did it get solved?” Ivy asked.
“No, not quite yet. That’s why I hadn’t seen them since then.”
I’ve been waiting patiently. Waiting for them to leave the church for good.
“Oh, okay,” Ivy replied.
“And that’s why I was really happy to finally see them after all this time.”
A part of me had worried I would never see them again.
“Oh, well, I’m happy for you, then.”
“Thanks.”
Ivy’s joyful giggle brought a smile to my own face. That was when I remembered how surprised Egar and Lange had been at my behavior around Ivy.
“I guess I’ve changed, too.”
I recalled the looks of surprise on their faces.
They’re bound to tease me about it the next time I see them. Well, when that happens…I guess I’ll take them out for another drink.