Chapter 10
“W-Why, why to m—”
“Quiet.”
At Tei’s heavy voice, Rusty immediately closed his mouth.
In the hospital, besides the stairs, there was a spiral path where wheelchairs could travel.
Tei lightly pushed Rusty’s wheelchair and took him to the third floor. Afterward, turning into the hallway, he pushed it toward the stairs where no people were present, and brought the wheelchair to a stop.
Rusty rolled his unstable eyes mercilessly and gripped the handles of the wheelchair.
“From now on, you will have to speak honestly.”
Tei’s chilly voice dropped from above his head.
“S-Speak, please.”
“You know me, right?”
“I d-don’t know you.”
Rusty answered, tightly gripping both handles of the wheelchair. Without a word, Tei slid the wheelchair forward. Half of the wheels clanked, dropping below the stairs, and the wheelchair tilted drastically.
“Argh!”
Along with a single scream, Rusty straightened his body which had plunged forward. Both hands, which held the handles fiercely, trembled violently.
If force leaked out even just a little, his body would escape the wheelchair, fall down the stairs, and roll.
“You know me, right?”
Tei asked again in a dry tone, without any other words of this or that. Now, even Rusty had no leisure to pretend not to know any longer.
“I-I know you.”
“How do you know me?”
“I s-saw you in the Delmore War. I am also a person from Atlanta.”
The terrified Rusty brought up even words he hadn’t been asked.
“My, my. I just tested you once, but you really know me?”
“I will keep my mouth shut and pretend not to know. I just won’t come to this hospital.”
“If you don’t want a hole made in your head, you naturally should do so. But, you see.”
Force tightly entered Tei’s hand holding the wheelchair.
“Shouldn’t you pay the price for the dirty words you spoke to Bel earlier?”
As if there were no further words to listen to, Tei pushed the wheelchair with force.
Clanking down barely three or four steps, the wheelchair, which descended unstably, eventually could not maintain its balance and overturned forward. Rusty, who had been sitting, also flew forward, dropped onto the stairs, rolled over and over, and hit the corner wall with a *thud*.
“Groan. Gasp. Sob.”
From the extreme pain, Rusty could not even scream properly. He merely gasped rough breaths with only his eyes opened wide.
Tei, who was looking down at him indifferently from atop the stairs, twisted the corners of his mouth upward. With a satisfied gaze, and a face that had only now cleared up, he turned around.
***
“Thank you for your hard work today.”
In front of the side door leading to the cabin, Ibella delivered a farewell greeting to Tei. Having been together for a lot of time today, her wariness toward him had been quite undone.
He did not disturb the working Ibella, sorted out the storage room rapidly, and readily helped with tasks that required a man’s assistance.
If only the incident of Rusty accidentally rolling down the stairs hadn’t occurred today, it would have been a pleasant day. Fortunately, he did not injure his head, but he ended up in a state of lying in a hospital bed with a broken arm and ribs.
Even if he wasn’t a person she liked, the accident that happened to Rusty was regrettable.
“It was enjoyable in its own way. What do you do tomorrow?”
“I’m going to the orphanage. Because it’s a newly constructed building, there are a few things to do, and I’m also going to distribute gifts to the children. It’s the Emmerville Festival soon, you know.”
“That sounds interesting. By any chance, I also—”
“Come along.”
Ibella smiled brightly and answered Tei’s question first. He was not a person who took root here, but a traveler who had to return.
If she was the unique friend to him who had become alone after even losing his cat, well, hanging out together didn’t seem bad. Seeing him work today, he was quite a useful person too.
“I’ll go in front of the house.”
“Do as you please.”
Ibella, bursting into laughter at the man’s bravado, answered teasingly. She didn’t know why he had been talking big since a while ago about how he would enter without even a key. It wasn’t as if he had wings and could easily scale that high wall.
“See you tomorrow.”
“Let’s do that, then……”
“Rest, Bel.”
“Goodbye, Tei.”
Like the atmosphere of a deep late spring, a sweet fragrance blended into the conversation.
Tei, with his hands inside his coat, smiled while slightly revealing his even teeth. The moment his heavy yet gentle voice flew over, her ears felt itchy along with a listless feeling.
Even after Ibella disappeared inside the wall, Tei was looking at the pitch-black side door for a long time. Only around the time the sunset crossed over the wall did he quietly turn his body.
Returning back the way he came, he entered the site of the chapel where he had first met Ibella. Though it was a beautiful historical site showing ancient traces during the day, now it was eerie as if a ghost might appear.
He rested his hips and sat on the spot where Ibella had fallen. After pulling out a cigar case from the inside of his coat, he pulled out one cigar and a cutter knife, and cut the cap. Bringing the cigar to his mouth and lighting it, a bright red light flashed within the lightly stained darkness.
Phew.
He, who exhaled smoke, looked at the distant, darkened forest and said.
“Come out.”
At his words, someone revealed their figure from behind the collapsed wall. It was the man who had been hiding, watching Ibella, and following her around. He quickly descended below the foundation and stood in a polite posture before Tei.
“Would you like to smoke one?”
“No, thank you.”
As if Tei were extremely difficult to deal with, the man read his countenance and declined.
Suit yourself. Tei, who answered half-heartedly, drew in the cigar again. Tei was silent, and the man waited until the cigar was reduced by about a finger’s joint. Only after a long time did Tei raise his eyes and glare at him.
“I believe I told you to stop following that woman around?”
“But I also have to report……”
“You only need to report to me. I will take care of the rest afterward. Does your word right now mean you dare to skip over me?”
“No. How could that be. Absolutely not.”
The man, who had been frozen like a wooden statue, made excuses desperately, even using hand gestures.
“Then what is it. Do you want to raise your performance results?”
“……N-No.”
This time, the man’s answer was half a beat late. He was flustered and ended up being caught that such a mind was lurking within. Instead of rebuking him, Tei put on a fishy smile.
“I’ll give you one good case someday, so be waiting.”
“I understand.”
At Tei’s words, the man immediately bowed his head and answered. On the surface, the man seemed older in age, but he could not raise his head properly, as if crushed by Tei’s overbearing presence.
“There is one task you need to do.”
“Speak, please.”
“There is a fellow with broken bones at the hospital I visited today, so clear him away. So that he never enters Ibella’s eyes ever again.”
“Yes.”
Tei rubbed and extinguished the cigar on the ground beside the spot where he sat, then stood up from his seat. He knew that Bel’s identity was Ibella Campbell.
Ordering the man to monitor her, and making him drive her to this place, were all his instructions.
Because he knew everything, up to Ibella hiding in the cabin inside the convent, and her passing through here, which was a shortcut, whenever she came out to the city area.
Watching Ibella is truly interesting. Therefore, during the time that remained not much, he refused to be disturbed by foreign matter that intervened uselessly.
***
Today, she intended to sleep earlier than other days, but eventually crossed midnight. Because the water bucket was empty, she fetched and carried water from outside, and at night, she did a bit of medical study.
Wrapping the hats to give to the children tomorrow one by one in bundles also took quite some time. Because fatigue rushed in, she fell asleep as soon as she lay down on the bed.
Is this comatose state in the midst of falling asleep, or is it inside a dream after already falling asleep?
As if several colors were blending into one and rotating, Ibella saw the sight before her eyes spinning round and round in distortion. Dizziness arose, and a feeling of vomiting came up. After a moment, the movement before her eyes slowly slowed down, and then generated a single scene.
A single blurry human figure was raising a hand in salute toward someone. That person was a woman, and was Ibella herself.
‘Did you call for me, Commander.’
Ibella, who had changed into an officer’s uniform, asked toward the middle-aged man sitting in front of the desk.
‘Yes. I saw your report, Lieutenant Colonel Campbell.’
As the low and thick voice flew over, her shoulders automatically shrank. A person possessing eyes as powerful and sharp as a hawk’s, who emitted a tremendous overbearing presence merely by existing. It was General Sigmund Hazelkaizer, who held the position of Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the Western Continent War that was taking place right now.
He was a person who received the respect of not only the Estonian Empire but the people of the entire world. He was also a direct descendant of the royal family of Elcasus, which had been the most powerful nation during the era of the ancient Allied Kingdom.
Ibella, looking at General Hazelkaizer leading the Allied Forces upon arriving at the front line, had been unable to hide her admiration.
‘You wrote that several soldiers are identically having stomachaches. It seems the Lieutenant Colonel is also keeping the possibility of an infectious disease in mind?’
‘That is correct. Red spots appear on their bodies, and there are symptoms of diarrhea accompanied by abdominal pain, but they all share the commonality that they came back from patrolling the forest the previous day. An investigation into whether they ate something poisonous, or whether there is a problem with the water quality, is necessary. Because if it is an infectious disease other than that, the problem will become large.’
Ibella calmly revealed her thoughts before the Commander. This place was a hard-fought battleground, and eventually, the Allied Forces emerged victorious and occupied it.
The enemies retreated far, and they also found and killed most of the parts of the enemies that remained with the Elpion Forest as a stronghold.
Afterward, scouts took turns patrolling the forest, and in this process, these symptoms developed in several soldiers.
‘I will attach a few soldiers to you, so you investigate the Elpion Forest directly. Find out clearly whether it is a problem of the forest or an infectious disease, and report.’
‘I understand.’
‘Ah, and also, do not go as far as the foot of the mountain beyond the forest. Because the tunnels of the abandoned mine over there are so numerous and deep, enemies might be hiding. Even if it isn’t strictly an enemy, the abandoned mine itself is dangerous, you see.’
‘I will keep that in mind, Commander.’
Ibella straightened her body and raised a hand in salute toward General Hazelkaizer.
The face of General Hazelkaizer, who had been wearing a satisfied smile, began to distort like burnt paper.
Once again, the front of her eyes spun round and round, and she could not see ahead.
Even the scream that surged up to her throat from pain spun round and flowed back down. Around the time her mind became hazy, the vortex stopped, and the front of her eyes became distinct again.
‘Greet her. These are the soldiers who will go to the forest together with you.’
Following General Hazelkaizer’s introduction, she looked toward the five people standing in front.
Second Lieutenant Jeffert, who had brown hair and firm eyes; Sergeant Jake, who was tall and bloated in body but looked kind in his eyes; Soldier Lucas, who had black skin and curly hair; Gregory, who had a thin and sharp face but was said to be a veteran in combat; and Denver, who looked five years younger than Ibella.
Ibella raised her hand toward the five soldiers saluting her.
