I Became the Main Character’s Demon Sword

58

Casia, who had been pretending to sleep without opening her eyes all night, steadily observed Leriana’s condition from the morning. Leriana seemed to be still pondering about that ‘reason’, but her complexion had improved significantly compared to yesterday. Only after noticing this fact did Casia take the opportunity when Leriana was away to convey her thanks to Rohan and Arpel.

After that, the journey to the second village continued quite smoothly. Thanks to their early morning departure, they arrived at the village when the sun had just slightly tilted from its zenith in the sky.

“We’ll wait until nightfall, right?” Leriana suddenly turned to Rohan and asked, while gazing at the dazzling sky.

According to the report Lexia had given them, there were strange rumors circulating in this village. Every night, the faint cry of an unknown beast could be heard, and it was said that if one walked alone on the forest path away from the village, the beast would take them away.

There were quite a few testimonies of people actually going missing. Several mercenaries had come to the village to resolve this, but they couldn’t even find traces of the beast.

Since the abnormal phenomenon was observed at night, it was unreasonable to investigate the rumor now while the sun was blazing. Moreover, their bodies felt uncomfortable from not having bathed due to camping out.

They had only one option left. As Rohan nodded compliantly, Casia immediately entered what looked like a decent inn after scanning the surroundings.

“Will you two be sharing a room?”

“Yes.”

Deciding on the rooms ended very simply. There was certainty in Rohan’s voice as he answered nonchalantly.

Casia, who had been looking at the money pouch, hesitated for a moment before choosing the best and largest room. Her voice sounded somewhat excited as she instructed the man at the reception to prepare bath water.

The brief meal and bath passed more quickly than expected. Perhaps because they had been soaked in warm water, their movements were familiar as they roughly dried their bodies, still radiating heat, with towels and sat on the bed.

The bed seemed worth its high price; it was soft and wide enough for two adults to sleep comfortably. A gentle breeze seeped in through the slightly opened window.

“You bathed quickly?”

It wasn’t long before Rohan followed. Looking at his body also emanating warmth, Arpel found it somehow difficult to meet his gaze and had to turn towards the window.

“Can I dry your hair?”

“…My hair?”

“Yes. I’ve always wanted to dry it for you.”

Of course, Rohan wasn’t one to mind even if Arpel did so. He immediately sat right next to Arpel, casting an intensely hot gaze. It was almost ticklish on the cheek.

Unconsciously, Arpel’s hand moved to hand Rohan the towel. When their eyes met, with Rohan’s eyes sparkling as if earnestly wishing, Arpel couldn’t help it.

“Your hair is always this length.”

“Because I’m a sword.”

“Isn’t that convenient for drying? I have to cut mine regularly.”

“You don’t need to cut it anymore.”

“Ah… that’s right.”

Having contracted with Arpel right after turning 20, Rohan’s body would not age until the end of his lifespan. This meant his hair wouldn’t grow longer in the future. Perhaps because he had been repeatedly cutting his hair when it got long, this fact still felt awkward to him.

The act of drying and squeezing out water from his hair with the towel was quite careful. After repeating this process several times, the moderately dried hair was scattered and fluttering along its natural grain.

“It’s done.”

His smiling face looked quite satisfied. Arpel glanced at Rohan and naturally pulled out another towel draped around Rohan’s neck, moving behind him.

“It’s your turn.”

“Mm, I’m fine though.”

“I want to do it for you.”

For a moment, Rohan’s eyes widened round, then he smiled shyly. It was a face that truly suited the expression ‘shy’. From his gently curving eyes, slightly reddened eye corners, dimpled cheeks, to his plump lips forming a beautiful arc.

Arpel habitually ignored the inexplicable fluttering in his chest. He was busy gently drying Rohan’s hair, as if repeating the action done to him.

“Are you going to sleep tonight?”

“Of course. Weren’t you planning to?”

“I thought we might hear the crying sound at night.”

“Don’t worry, I can wake up if needed.”

Arpel didn’t feel sleepy and could open his eyes at the slightest disturbance even if he did sleep. It wouldn’t matter if he just closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

The afternoon, which had become an implicit rest time, passed faster than expected. Until then, Arpel had walked around the village with Rohan and had some light snacks. It was a natural flow that reminded him of when they were young.

By the time they returned to the inn, the sky had darkened considerably. As they had discussed earlier, the two lay down to sleep, and Arpel, watching Rohan gradually fall asleep as his breathing stabilized, intended to just keep his eyes closed.

That was certainly the plan.

A few hours later, Arpel opened his eyes sensing someone’s presence. After slowly blinking his eyes, it took a little more time for Arpel to realize that he had fallen asleep. A complicated expression appeared on his face.

“…Rohan?”

Why did I fall asleep? When exactly?

Before pondering these questions, Arpel turned his head to identify the source of the presence. It was Rohan, just slipping out of the bed.

“…Arpel. Are you awake?”

“Where are you going?”

“To the bathroom.”

Arpel remained silent for a moment. Arpel, who possessed a power close to darkness, or ‘shadow’, could clearly distinguish everything even under the night sky. The same would be true for Rohan, who had contracted with Arpel.

Rohan’s face had a subtle heat to it. His skin seemed redder than usual. Narrowing his eyes while examining this, Arpel asked again.

“At this hour of the night?”

The exchange of words quickly disappeared. Emotions were clearly transmitted on the wind. As always, amidst the waves of affection, a streak of embarrassment seeped through, and also…

“…Do you really want to know?”

Despite the distance between them, Rohan’s body came close enough to be right in front of Arpel after just a few steps. Arpel could only hesitate in place, unable to retreat. Their meeting eyes trembled finely.

Taking the lack of response as affirmation, Rohan smiled as if he had no choice. Soon, a small whisper followed.

“You appeared in my dream.”

It felt suffocating. Rohan’s fingertips touched Arpel’s face. They traced his cheek as if cherishing something precious, but a deep emotion different from affection was leaving its trace.

“I had a wet dream, dreaming about you, Arpel.”

The name of the emotion constantly seeping out was desire.

Looking at Arpel, who could only move his lips without uttering any words, Rohan slowly removed his hand.

“Well then, I’ll be back.”

Arpel couldn’t bring himself to stop Rohan as he calmly headed to the bathroom. Only after he had completely disappeared did Arpel slump onto the bed, as if the string holding him in place had been cut.

It felt like his head was malfunctioning. All sorts of thoughts were jumbled together, making it impossible to utter any words. His chest kept surging, emitting strange emotions. He rubbed his heating cheeks with his cold hands.

‘…What should I say when Rohan returns?’

It felt similar to when he first received a confession. He was at a loss for words, unable to grasp how to start the conversation.

Meanwhile, it was clearly visible that the handful of emotion Rohan had left behind was embarrassment. This kept circling in his mind repeatedly. At this moment, Rohan was the world’s biggest conundrum for Arpel.

—!

Suddenly, a strange sound echoed from far away. Arpel, who had been thrown into confusion, immediately got up upon hearing this sound.

“This is…”

Once again, the same sound poured out. Simultaneously, the door burst open. Rohan stood there with a serious expression.

“Arpel. Did you hear that?”

“…Yes. It’s not as far as we thought.”

“Let’s go check it out ourselves first.”

Although thoughts of Leriana and Casia staying in a nearby room crossed his mind, Arpel nodded obediently to Rohan’s matter-of-fact suggestion. Hastily putting on a robe, the two left the inn without hesitation.

Naturally, they went through the window. It was quite large, wide enough for an adult man to easily pass through.

Their steps were quick as they followed the traces of the sound. The sound they had just heard was certainly the ‘beast’s cry’ that the locals had unanimously spoken of. However…

“…The sound is subtly different.”

Arpel furrowed his brow slightly as he voiced his impression. Rohan seemed to agree. The sound they heard was closer to… yes, a human cry rather than a beast’s howl.

Someone’s scream, wailing desperately like a beast.

Similar sounds rang out a few more times. Their running footsteps following the source of the sound came to a stop at one point. If it wasn’t a mistake, no, there was no way they could both be mistaken at the same time.

“It’s coming from… under the ground.”

Rohan swallowed slightly. Underground meant below the surface, and since they had stopped in the middle of the road, they would need to find another entrance to get into this underground area.

Only after seeing Rohan’s face full of signs of inconvenience did Arpel start to feel extremely irritated. Why do these guys like underground places so much? It was a mindset he absolutely didn’t want to understand.

***

In the end, the two returned to the inn without finding any particular clues about the underground location. Arpel ruminated on the emotions he had felt that day until he was about to fall asleep again, but sleep came nonetheless, and they greeted the morning together.

“You just went without waking us up!”

“…Lady Leriana. I did wake you up.”

“Ah, right…”

Leriana, who had shouted suddenly while eating breakfast, smiled sheepishly.

The previous night, Casia, who had also woken up hearing the sound, had tried to wake Leriana, but she hadn’t gotten up properly. When she tried to inform Rohan and Arpel, their room had already been empty for a while.

“It was awkward to follow belatedly, and I couldn’t leave Lady Leriana alone, so I stayed put. I’m sorry.”

“There’s no need to apologize.”

“That’s right, Sia. It was my fault…”

“At least you know it.”

Rohan’s voice, answering instead, was tinged with mockery. Although her body trembled with anger, Leriana ultimately suffered a crushing defeat, unable to say anything because she knew she was at fault.

“That was probably the sound of a person, not a beast.”

Glancing at Rohan, Arpel instead relayed the story from the previous night. From the fact that the sound was clearly human to how the source of the sound was underground, and therefore, there must be a passage leading underground somewhere in the village.

“The village isn’t small, so it might take longer than we think.”

Although it wasn’t an extremely large area, if they had to search meticulously to find the underground passage, even this size was quite vast.

In the end, the three people and one sword spent the entire day searching for the entrance to the underground passage. Of course, it was in vain.