Ch.1818. Night Watch

Suddenly sensing a presence, Elin opened her eyes. Soon, voices were heard from outside the tent.

“It’s time to change shifts.”

“Got it.”

Elin answered halfheartedly and raised just her upper body. Her body felt stiff, perhaps from sleeping on the hard ground.

“I’m sorry…”

As Elin was stretching, she turned her head at the muttering sound beside her. Rex was repeatedly apologizing to someone, as if trapped in a nightmare.

“Father…”

His tone was so desperate and sorrowful that Elin found herself speaking without thinking.

“Rex. Wake up.”

But it seemed insufficient to pull him out of his dream. Rex continued repeating words of apology with a sad expression.

Though she didn’t know what kind of nightmare had captured him, it was clear that the content was quite terrible.

Elin stared blankly at Rex’s face. He looked like a boy who might have barely completed his coming-of-age ceremony, yet at this young age, what incident could have caused him such torment?

A faint tear leaked from Rex’s eye. Seeing that, strangely enough, she recalled how he had offered her stew last night.

As if enchanted by something, Elin placed her hand on Rex’s cheek.

“…Ugh.”

Rex groaned and frowned. Elin pulled her hand away in surprise. A warm sensation remained on her palm.

‘Why?’

Elin tilted her head in confusion. Her action just now was truly unlike herself. It was merely a touch of her hand, but even that was a significant shock to Elin.

Her chest tingled with a peculiar feeling. Elin gazed at Rex, who was now breathing evenly with a more peaceful expression.

“Rex.”

“…Hmm. Elin?”

When she called his name again, Rex’s eyebrows twitched before he opened his eyes. Despite having suffered from a nightmare just moments ago, his expression showed no awareness of it.

Rex blinked with an innocent face. Only then did he seem to return to the boy she had seen last night, causing Elin to smile softly.

***

“Night watch.”

As if that was all she had to say, Elin went outside the tent. She still spoke only in short answers.

After finishing his preparations and leaving the tent, Rex found Elin already outside, glancing at him from the corner of her eye.

“You didn’t seem to sleep well.”

“Pardon?”

“Never mind.”

Elin shook her head with an indifferent face and started walking. Rex scratched his cheek and followed behind her.

The night watch was stationed by the campfire, and as soon as Rex arrived at the spot, the previous guards stood up abruptly.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Sigh, of all shifts, we got the third one, so we have to get up right after closing our eyes. I’m off.”

One of the guards patted Rex’s shoulder before leaving. Not long after, loud snoring echoed from inside the tent.

‘I hope I wasn’t like that.’

Rex smiled wryly and shifted his gaze. Elin had already seated herself on a large log, and when their eyes met, she quietly moved her hips slightly to make room.

“Sit.”

“Thanks.”

Having no reason to refuse, Rex promptly sat down. With the campfire right in front of them, the dawn’s chill was bearable. Regularly adding firewood to keep the flames alive was also one of the night watch duties.

Though this was his first time on night watch, he still knew what needed to be done.

In this case, it was to monitor the wagon’s cargo and be vigilant against any strangers approaching.

The small number of people would make any ill intentions quickly apparent, and the wide-open area made it easy to spot suspicious individuals approaching. Rex inwardly guessed that tonight would pass smoothly.

Still, he couldn’t let his guard down. The unexpected tends to arrive without warning the moment one becomes careless.

Anyway, his immediate task was simply to sit here. Being the last shift, he couldn’t go back to sleep and had to wait until daybreak.

Perhaps because he wasn’t used to staying still like this, or maybe because the silence was uncomfortable, Rex kept glancing at Elin.

Following Elin’s gaze, he turned his eyes to see the vast night sky. The darkness tinged with purple was like silk. The Milky Way embroidered above sparkled like a painting.

“It’s beautiful.”

Elin nodded silently before adding a comment.

“Yes. Though I don’t know their names.”

Rex pointed his finger at the stars one by one.

“That’s Deneb, Altair, Vega… Together they form the Summer Triangle. They usually appear in summer, but we can see them already, probably because spring is ending soon.”

“Is that so?”

Unlike her usual self, Elin showed interest.

“Then what about that one?”

Rex kindly explained in response to Elin’s question. As he effortlessly listed the names without hesitation, Elin murmured in amazement.

“You know a lot.”

“I naturally memorized them from following my father since childhood.”

“Your father?”

Elin asked as if something about that statement caught her attention.

“Yes. He was a hunter. He always said you need to know how to read the stars to find your way in the forest, and he wouldn’t even let me eat until I memorized them… Haha.”

A childhood memory suddenly came to Rex, and he raised the corners of his mouth. Back then, he always complained about their “wretched home.” It was a pathetic past.

Looking back, his father had always tried to teach him one more thing for his sake. Home was always a comfortable place where one could rest at ease. It was never a place that deserved to be called “wretched.”

Why did he only realize this now? If only he had understood a little earlier.

The smile that appeared while reminiscing turned bitter. As Rex fell silent, Elin responded.

“Sounds like a good father.”

“Yes, he was.”

This time, Rex’s words were brief. Elin hesitated before continuing.

“Why did you leave your village?”

As if he never imagined she would ask such a thing, Rex looked at Elin with a puzzled expression. Elin avoided his eyes and murmured as if making an excuse.

“You’re so young…”

“I want to become stronger. It’s a kind of training, I suppose.”

Rex tossed a log into the campfire. Ash and embers mixed and leaped up. Beyond the flickering flames, the past he still couldn’t forget seemed to overlap.

“A few months ago, our village was attacked.”

“…Attacked?”

“Yes. By mercenaries. All the buildings burned down, and many people died. My father passed away then too.”

At this heavy story, Elin didn’t know how to react and just stared at the ground.

She had somewhat guessed the situation from Rex’s sleep-talking, but Elin had little experience conversing with others. She didn’t know whether she should offer comfort or simply listen quietly.

Perhaps she shouldn’t have brought it up in the first place. But she had blurted it out because Rex kept bothering her thoughts. She was confused, unable to understand herself.

“I’ve moved past it now, so I’m fine.”

Rex spoke in a tone of understanding, even though his face wouldn’t be visible under the hood.

“…I see.”

Elin thought Rex was lying. But she wasn’t tactless enough to point out the other’s pain, so instead, she held something out to Rex.

She had taken dried fruit from her pocket, but Rex just stared blankly at Elin’s palm without taking it. Finally, Elin cleared her throat and urged him.

“Eat.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

His expression clearly showed he hadn’t expected this at all. Seeing that look made her feel oddly irritated. Elin snapped in a gruff voice.

“Forget it if you don’t want it.”

“Ah, no. I’ll eat it.”

Rex quickly snatched the fruit from Elin’s hand as if afraid she might take it back. Elin froze at the momentary touch of skin against her fingertips. Regardless, Rex put the fruit in his mouth, chewed a few times, swallowed, and then grinned.

“It’s delicious.”

“…Yes.”

Elin quickly lowered her head and stared at the campfire. The gentle flames slightly illuminated the jawline hidden under her hood.

‘Huh? Did she just smile?’

Rex tilted his head in wonder but soon dismissed the thought. It must have been his imagination.

The pitch-black night sky was gradually being pushed back by the sunlight rising beyond the horizon. Soon this quiet night watch would come to an end.

***

When daylight fully broke, Rex went around the tents waking people up.

Dunstan first checked the condition of the cargo. Only after confirming there had been no problems during the night did he gather the others with a relieved face.

“Let’s move out.”

The journey was not much different from yesterday. They walked all day on bumpy ground, and occasionally when the wagon wheels got stuck in a quagmire, everyone joined forces to push it out.

The only thing different from yesterday was that Elin stayed close to Rex.

Clearly, when the group first set out, she had been keeping her distance, but gradually she moved closer until suddenly she was right beside him. Maintaining a distance of just one step.

It was an awkward situation for anyone to see, but Elin didn’t say anything. Rex, now somewhat accustomed to Elin’s eccentricities, just silently continued walking.

The air was cool in the early morning. The scent of grass laden with dawn dew tickled his nose. Thanks to that, even the remaining drowsiness was completely washed away.

While travel was mostly full of hardships and discomforts, if asked whether it was all bad, that wasn’t quite true either.

“Stop.”

Suddenly, Dunstan halted the wagon as they were moving along. His expression was serious, as if he had spotted something suspicious.

Rex thought perhaps a tree had fallen and blocked the path, but there was no such obstacle.

“Everyone, look at this.”

The guards looked at each other with puzzled faces. What’s going on? There’s nothing there.

Only Rex sensed something was off. He approached Dunstan and knelt down. Then, he realized why the wagon had been stopped.

Animal footprints were imprinted in the damp mud. Dunstan asked:

“Can you identify them?”

“I think I’ve seen something like this before… Hmm, give me a moment.”

Rex narrowed his brow and pressed his temples, trying to recall. Suddenly, a flash of insight broke through his foggy memories.

“…A wild boar?”

“A wild boar, you say?”

“Yes. My father was a hunter. These tracks look exactly like what I learned as a child.”

Though he said this, even Rex wasn’t certain. The footprints were too large to be those of a wild boar. Even exceptionally large specimens rarely had footpads bigger than a human hand.

That’s not to say they didn’t exist—they appeared once every few years, causing disturbances in the surrounding areas.

Rex had once seen a giant wild boar that ravaged the village farmland. But the footprint before him now was much wider than what Gert had shown him back then.

Rex instinctively knew this was no ordinary specimen. If so, there was only one possibility left.

“A magical beast… Damn it.”

Dunstan seemed to have reached the same conclusion as he cursed.

At the mention of a magical beast, the guards’ faces turned pale.