“A-Anyway”—she leaned back and began talking in her normal voice—“I’m not here just to see how you’re doing. I actually wanted to thank you.”
“Thank...me?”
“Yeah. Ca’al told me about how you saved him.”
“Yeah, thanks,” a male’s voice called out from another bed in the room, enclosed in a white curtain identical to mine.
“What did I tell you about eavesdropping?!” the human snapped at the voice.
“Nothing. This is the first time I’ve heard anything about eavesdropping dos and don’ts from you. Even I’m surprised, considering all the things you nag me about.”
“I do not nag!”
“You do,” I said.
“You too, El? Ugh. You know what? I don’t need to sit here and take this, especially not from two bedridden idiots.” The human turned around to leave. “I said what I wanted to, so I’ll come back later to check up on you two. I have some business I need to talk with my master about, now that he’s here.” Then she leaned over to me and whispered in my ear. “Don’t worry. Master’s not going to do anything to you.” I gave her a confused look in response, and she just weakly smiled. “I’ll explain later. Okay. You two, be good.”
Then, there was the sound of the door closing behind her, followed by an awkward silence. Though there was a white curtain drawn around the other bed, I could judge from context and by the name the human had called him that the one over there was the Blade Saint.
I glanced at the knife in my hand and had a sudden thought. It’s not too late. If I can just recover a little of my strength, then—
“Thanks...again,” his awkward voice rang out from behind the curtain. “Sorry I can’t really thank you face-to-face. I would, but we’re in the same boat. My limbs are like lead.”
My limbs don’t feel like lead. If the weight I feel in them was nothing more than lead, then I could easily move over there and kill you. It feels more like there are mountains placed on each of my limbs. Don’t even try to compare your situation to mine!
Of course, I didn’t say any of that out loud. It didn’t make sense to be antagonistic to him and make him put his guard up toward me. Right now, I was the person who he’d saved, as well as his savior.
“Yeah...”
“I wanted to ask you something, if that’s okay,” he said nervously.
“Not like I can go anywhere.”
“During that fight...when he was running away, you said something to me. Do you remember?”
In the heat of the moment, I hadn’t thought twice about it, but then certain things began connecting in my head. He hadn’t been supposed to be able to use the relic, which meant that he shouldn’t have known the blades stored inside it. And yet, I’d called out the name of a specific blade that had allowed him to fly and catch that vampire. I’d heard the Blade Saint from my time yell its name out and seen him use it multiple times during our fight, so it’d just slipped out during our fight with the vampire.
“I...don’t remember,” I said, trying to feign ignorance.
“Oh. Okay. That’s fine then.”
I let out a sigh of relief, believing that he’d dropped the subject, but I shouldn’t have been so naive.
“It’s just that...even I didn’t know the names of the blades. I had no clue there’s a blade that allows me to fly. I was just wondering how you did. You even knew its name.”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” I mumbled.
“I see.” He paused before talking again. “It might be all in my head, but I kinda got a certain...feeling from you.”
“And what would that be?”
“That you don’t like me all too much. I was wondering if there may be a reason. When we fought—you know, before we were interrupted—it was like you were trying to kill me.”
“I think it is all in your head. I don’t even know who you are. Today’s our first time meeting one another.” Maybe I shouldn’t have been so overt with my desire to kill him, but also, who could’ve guessed that our duel would be interrupted by a vampire with self-delusions of being the Blade Saint.
“Yeah, true. I think I’d remember if I’ve met someone like you. Maybe... Maybe, I’m a little confused about what to think because you saved me twice.”
Three times, actually. Who knows how your fight would’ve gone if I hadn’t given you my mana.
“Mixed signals, I guess, is what I’m trying to say.”
“Let me once again clarify that this is all in your head.”
“Right, but if it isn’t...I want to thank you for saving me even though you want me dead.”
“I don’t. And if I did, there’s a nice little knife here that I could use to kill you right now.”
“Even without being able to move your limbs?” he chuckled.
“Shut up. I could do it if I wanted to.”
“Chill, chill. Yeah, I believe you.” He sighed. “You can keep the knife, by the way.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t need it anymore. It was given to me as part of a promise that I can no longer fulfill,” he said somberly. “But in exchange...will you duel me again?”
I raised my eyebrows. You’re willing to give me another chance at killing you? Are you perhaps stupid? Did that vampire deprive you of enough oxygen when he was choking you that you’ve been left with brain damage?
“You don’t have to say yes,” he continued. “Just...it’d be nice to have a sparring partner after all this time.”
“I’m not going to fight you with a knife,” I said bluntly.
“I wouldn’t expect you to. The knife is more like a symbol.”
“Of what? Stabbing you somewhere?”
“No!” he sighed. “It’s a symbol of trust.”
“Pray tell, what did I do to earn your trust? Didn’t you just suspect me of trying to kill you?”
“I did—I mean, I do, but after battling someone, you really get to know them. I feel like I know who you are, and my instincts are saying that I can trust you to have my back.”
No blade in the world could have cut deeper than those words. He trusts me to have his back?! He considers me an ally?! Me?! I felt sick.
I tried evoking the memories of that fiery, bloody battlefield, but for some reason, I couldn’t focus that anger on him. He was too different a person now. Conversely, that only made me angrier.
“I’ll keep your stupid knife,” I grumbled. “But let’s get one thing straight—I’m not your ally. Never ever call me that. Now, are those all your questions? Great. I’m going to sleep,” I spat, forcefully trying to end the conversation.
He chuckled. “Okay, we’ll leave it at that. By the way, considering we didn’t get off on the right foot, let me introduce myself again. Ca’al Sasphorora, Blade Saint.”
I hesitated answering, but there was no point holding back my name here and purposefully being impolite. “Mi—” I halted, stopping myself from instinctively using my real name. No. I have to use the one I have here. “El. Just El.”
“Nice to meet you, El, and welcome to Saint Aliriheim Academy!”
I grumbled and shut my eyes in response. “Are we done now? Be quiet so I can rest.”
“You got it, El.”
I hated every last bit of this situation. I hated how the Blade Saint was in a weakened state and a mere bed’s distance away from me, and yet I couldn’t kill him. I hated how I was in a weakened state, not only due to that fight but also due to that human putting a limiter on me. I really hated how I had a dog collar on me, which I couldn’t remove. I hated that he considered me an ally. I also hated how he called me “El.” All of these made me sick to my stomach...or I thought it should, but this wasn’t the name of the feeling inside of me. Even though I knew I could correctly identify it, I stopped myself from thinking any further, not wanting an answer.
“By the way,” he called out. “What’s with the dog collar?”
“Ugh. Shut up!”