“Dustin, wait!”
✦ ✦ ✦
She called out without thinking, stopping him in his tracks. But Anju couldn’t come up with any more words to say. She couldn’t bear the thought of him going. She’d overheard what Amari told him and knew she couldn’t let him go for his own sake. This went beyond Yuuto’s concern that Dustin being a Republic citizen would drive him into a bad position. The Vesa territory was right behind Niva Nova, where the western front’s defensive line was. Yuuto and the girl, Citri, were right behind the active battle zone with the Legion.
What’s more, the Silvas territory, where Rüstkammer base was, did not border either Vesa or Niva Nova, so even if he set out now, it wasn’t likely he’d catch up to them. At best, he’d link up with them at their destination, at Niantemis, the last stop before Neunarkis, at the Republic’s eastern edge. And that area, too, was under Legion control now.
She couldn’t let him go.
An Eighty-Six or a Sirin could possibly make that trip…but not Dustin. At his skill level, not only would he fail to return, it was doubtful he’d even make the one-way trip.
But despite knowing this, Anju stood still, unable to find the words. Because she knew that if he didn’t go, it would hurt him. The fact that he abandoned Citri would be a scar on his heart. He called her his friend. Said he wanted to help her. Abandoning her despite that would leave an irreparable scar on Dustin’s kind, fastidious soul.
And knowing this, Anju couldn’t say anything else. She didn’t want him to go, and at the same time, she didn’t want to hurt him by telling him that. So she couldn’t say one or the other.
But even so, Anju’s expression as she stood there was enough to bring Dustin to his senses. She’d told him not to die, and he said he wouldn’t. And once he calmed down, he realized how reckless he was for trying to go out with no preparations, without seeing this would be a difficult journey even if he left with all the preparations in the world.
For neglecting to see that if he went out as he was, he wouldn’t return alive.
Anju stood frozen in place, her expression contorted with anxiety and conflict. She knew she couldn’t let Dustin go, and though she couldn’t say anything else, she felt like she had to tell him he mustn’t do it, and all the words failed her.
He didn’t want to betray her… He couldn’t bring himself to do that. So he managed a smile, somehow.
“I’m sorry. I won’t go… I can’t go on my own.”
He’d never be able to march through Legion territory. He wouldn’t even reach the western front, because before he’d reach the Vesa territory, the chaotic traffic of the roads—with all the supply lines and soldiers being sent there and back—would impede him. And he couldn’t report the situation to the Federacy army, either, as that would be exposing what Citri, a living Actaeon, and Yuuto, a deserter, were doing.
So either way, he couldn’t go. He knew that.
“Don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten my promise. I won’t die. I won’t walk to my death.”
But if Citri left that message, she must have truly wanted him to come help her. If she told him where she was going, she must have truly intended to wait for him. Could he abandon her, then?
In exchange for protecting the Snow Witch’s wish?
“I’ll find a way to be sneaky about this… I’m allowed to be unfair in that way. So don’t look like you’re about to cry.”
Those words finally made Anju’s expression twist in sorrow.
✦ ✦ ✦
The village’s people all knew one another like family, and there were rarely ever outsiders, so they likely didn’t anticipate the possibility of theft. The most they did was lock the farm with a padlock to keep crows and cats from messing up the place.
Yuuto kicked open the door to the abandoned farm’s barn. It wasn’t a sturdy padlock to begin with, but with being old and rusted, it snapped and went flying, opening the door with surprising ease.
Maybe it was to block off violent intrusion, but the closed doors tried to keep outsiders out. As the door swung back, screeching, he opened it with a hand and looked inside. The blades and hoes used to tend to the fields were shining and in good shape, quite the contrast to the rusted padlock. They’d likely been maintained until just before the owners evacuated.
That thought made Yuuto feel apologetic as he helped himself to these tools, picking up a hatchet. So far, he’d avoided people since they had no weapons, but a blade like this was handy to have.
Citri peered curiously into the barn from behind him. She knew they were going to break in to get their hands on things inside the barn, but she didn’t expect him to kick the door in.
“Is this for fighting off bears or wolves or something?”
“Of course not.”
Yuuto shook his head slowly and motioned toward the spanning, harvested fields with the hatchet still sitting in its sheath. The view was typical of the production territories’ agricultural landscape, with towns dotting the horizon. This was also true of the Miana and Nareva territories they’d crossed on the way here. However…
“The Vesa territory is currently the area the logistical-support unit of the western front’s army is deployed in. They tore down any towns and houses that might get in the way of their work, so we might have trouble finding structures to take cover from the rain and the wind. We’ll need some blades to make a windbreak.”
They couldn’t start a fire in windswept weather. And a makeshift shelter wouldn’t do much to stave off the cold, so he’d avoid it if possible, but given no other option, it was better than nothing.
“Really…,” Citri murmured, her eyes round with surprise.
The girls then exchanged looks and bravely nodded.
“You said a blade, right?”
“I’ll carry it. We can help you make a shelter.”
Yuuto looked at them with surprise, taken aback by the sudden suggestion.
“I mean, if you need to make the shelters, too, that’ll be more of a burden on you, right? We have to help.”
And it was just like the old woman said. They were on their path because they chose to be here, and since they came so far, they might as well make it a fine journey.
This was, after all, their first and final journey.
“We want to try all the things you’re doing.”
✦ ✦ ✦
It seemed Lena had her RAID Device and all her communication devices taken away during her “arrest.” The same was apparently true of Annette when she was “taken into protection.”
The audacity of using the word protection, Shin thought in indignation as he spent his free time after work in Fido’s standby space. He chose to remain here so he wouldn’t be seen by his subordinates in this mental state.
Once it became late and lights-out was approaching, he returned to the barracks, where he found Frederica standing pensively in the hall.
“…What’s wrong, Frederica?”
She turned to look at him. “’Tis not I. ’Tis Dustin and Anju…”
Shin nodded. Yuuto had reported, through Amari, that Dustin knew one of the Actaeon…which did remind Shin he’d forgotten to tell Dustin about it. Frederica seemed to notice this change in his expression and shrugged.
“You are too troubled to think of Dustin at a time like this. You could ask Kurena, Claude, or Tohru to handle it.”
“…Thanks.”
She was right; he honestly wasn’t in an emotional state to be occupied with those two.
“Worry not, I shall handle it. If the need calls for it, I shall throw Dustin to the Legion in your stead.”
When Shin heard this, his mood finally lifted a little.
“Surely, I can’t leave that up to you… Daiya would scold me if I did.”
He’d probably get mad at Shin for letting a little kid do his work for him. Daiya, who was younger than him by now, had been one to seriously get mad at things like that.