Vermillion

“Ohhhhhh!!!”

Seeing Alexei powerlessly fall to the ground, the surrounding spectators burst into loud cheering.

“Phew, that was close…”

Ignoring that, Kei removed his face cloth while panting. He immediately started to inspect the condition of Dragon Stinger. The part where the greatsword hit was slightly dented, but nothing else seemed to be wrong with it. He pulled the string with all his strength over and over again, but it appeared that the damaged part had no impact on the bow’s performance.

“Keeei!!” Aileen rushed over to him, obviously on the verge of crying. “Are you okay!?”

“Yeah, I am. It’s just a scratch.”

“You’re lying! You’re bleeding!!”

Aileen started touching his face and left shoulder.

“He was more troublesome than I’d expected.” Kei muttered seriously while glancing at Alexei who was being nursed by Pierre and his apprentices.

Alexei appeared to be unconscious at the moment, but if Kei had not defended himself with Dragon Stinger at that time, it might have been him lying there right now.

Actually, in the worst case, both of us could’ve died…

Kei pulled a grim face when he reflected on the duel that just took place. Alexei had charged at him with a considerable force, and if Kei had failed to adjust the power of his long arrow, the outcome of this duel would have been unclear.

Good thing I weakened it a bit…

Kei pondered while gazing at the hole opened up in the chest area of Alexei’s armor.

“…Kei? Keeeiii?”

Aileen waved her hand in front of his eyes.

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

“Don’t what’s wrong me! Are you okay? Were you hit on the head?”

She worriedly put a hand on Kei’s forehead.

“Don’t worry. It’s not such a deep wound.”

“I see…”

“Yeah…”

Kei peered into Aileen’s moist eyes with a smile on his lips.

“…”

They kept staring at each other like that for a while, but then realized that something didn’t feel quite right.

It was far too quiet.

They nervously looked around themselves…

“Boy, you two are so passionate.”

They were met with faces, many faces, watching over them with warm smiles.

Noticing that, the two’s faces flushed red.

“Good job, Kei! With this, Aileen is officially yours in both name and reality! Be glad!” Dagmar yelled as he raised his cup, already completely wasted from the alcohol.

The excited onlookers joined him with cheers.

“But man, I’m so jealous! You got your hands on one hell of a beauty!”

“I know right!”

“Get married! Get married!”

“Get married! Get married!”

They started yelling strange things to the beat of their claps. Kei squirmed uncomfortably out of embarrassment.

“Come on, kiss her!”

Someone suddenly yelled, and the atmosphere changed. The males burst into a roar, while the females started squealing in high-pitched voices.

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

The crowd surrounded them and cheered along with claps. Kei and Aileen’s faces became beet red.

“K-Kei!”

Aileen grasped Kei’s hand with a yell.

“What is it!”

“We’re running!”

Guided by Aileen, Kei also started to run. The two somehow managed to break through the encirclement of the excited crowd.

“What a coward!”

“Show some backbone!”

The villagers jeered from behind as they fled the scene at full speed.

Still, not a single person chased after them.

†††

“…God damn it!” Aileen sulked under the shade of a tree along the river. “Didn’t you promise me you wouldn’t get injured!”

The cause of her pouting was mainly Kei’s injury. Kei sat in front of Aileen with his upper body exposed as she disinfected his shoulder injury with the herbs she had prepared in advance.

She also brought a potion just in case, but the cut this time wasn’t that deep, so she decided against using it.

“Sorry, ouch… These herbs sting.”

“Not as much as POTs do.”

Kei grimaced in pain, but Aileen was quite merciless as she applied the disinfecting ointment.

The place was wrapped up in silence for some time, only disturbed by the murmuring of the river.

“…Okay, you’re good.”

Aileen patted him on the head after finishing to wrap up his shoulder with a bandage.

“Thanks.”

“Now listen, don’t ever do something like this again, you hear! I was really afraid while watching the duel!”

She said while putting the medicine into her pouch, attempting to make a scary face. But instead, it only made Kei smile. And yet, he tightened his expression immediately.

“Sorry. But I just couldn’t allow you being taken away from me.”

Aileen glanced at Kei’s serious expression from the side as she finished sorting her pouch and sighed.

“And now? Did I become yours with this?”

“…Sorry. I’ll apologize if I’ve hurt your feelings with how I phrased it.”

Kei quickly apologized after noticing Aileen’s flat way of talking, devoid of any emotions. Seeing Kei act like that, caused Aileen to break into a smile.

“…Hey, Kei.”

“W-What?”

Kneeling in front of him, she peered deep into his eyes.

Before long, she reached out and took Kei’s right hand — guiding it to her own chest.

“H-Hey!”

Kei was confused for a moment on why he was touching her chest or why Aileen made him do it, but he immediately realized after a few seconds.

The left side of her chest. The place he was touching now had once been pierced by a poisonous arrow.

“I… I don’t clearly remember what happened on that day.” Aileen began to talk. “But I do remember that you protected me.”

Her blue eyes trembled.

“Hey, Kei…having your life saved feels… quite incredible.”

She lovingly caressed Kei’s hand as she held it at her chest.

“Besides, Kei… although you didn’t know my gender, I knew about you being a man from the very start.” Kei’s eyes started to dart around. Aileen took on an impish smile and continued. “…I’m not happy about you getting yourself injured like this. But you risked your life for my sake this time as well.”

With those words, she suddenly drew closer. A pleasant smell tickled Kei’s nose.

“—I suppose I have to express my thanks.”

Her face started to fill his field of view.

And the next moment, along with a soft sensation, a kiss was stolen from his lips.

“…Huh?”

Kei muttered in dumbfoundment.

Separating from him, Aileen giggled bashfully.

Kei put a hand to his lips, still trying to process what had happened.

But then, he finally realized what that meant.

And with this, he was made painfully aware that he could not suppress the feelings hidden in his chest any longer.

†††

The caravan left the village on the same day, slowly heading north along the road.

Taking with them one winner, and one loser.

And also, one couple.

Why had they arrived in this world?

What kind of life should they lead from now on?

Was there a way to return to their former world?

And even if there was — would they go back?

There were many things they desired to know and had to consider.

Up until today Kei and Aileen had been traveling to find clues to answer all those questions.

As they had expected — after roughly another half a day of traveling, the caravan reached Stronghold City Urvan.

Author’s comment: For the record, around two weeks have passed within the story so far.