EWH Chapter 75

Cursed land. At that moment, Nathan involuntarily drew in a breath. His hand, hidden beneath the folds of his robe, clenched into a fist.

“Why, it was about two years ago, wasn’t it? Don’t you know? The place became a complete wasteland back then, and the scene was so horrific that all the knights who went there unanimously said it was nothing short of a nightmare. After that, people reported seeing monsters lurking around several times, and now no one even dares to go near the place. It’s been a long time since the people living there all migrated here…”

Somehow, the man’s voice seemed to fade away. Suddenly, memories forcibly buried beneath the surface resurfaced. The collapsed castle walls and houses burned to ashes. The scenery, eerily quiet without people. A crow cawing somewhere. Black rain falling somewhere. Somewhere, somewhere…

Bang!

“…!”

Nathan’s shoulders jerked at the sudden noise. Turning his head to the side, he saw that the sound was Azar slamming his fist on the counter. With a fiercely crumpled face and intense eyes, he glared at the man standing behind the counter. Intimidated by this, the man was momentarily speechless, not knowing why he was being glared at, and gave a short, fake cough.

“Ahem, ah, I-I have heard that some people still live there.”

Azar was about to say something to the man, but Nathan stopped him. Nathan grabbed his arm and shook his head. Then he asked the innkeeper again.

“Does that mean it would be difficult to find a carriage willing to go there?”

“Well, I suppose so. No, wait, there’s a store across the street that supplies food. Why don’t you try asking there? The owner of that place was supplying to the Nover territory until recently.”

With those final words, the innkeeper quickly disappeared into the back. Nathan briefly scratched his face, turned around, and lightly patted Azar’s arm.

“Let’s go out for now.”

When they went outside, the sky was a bit cloudy, but it was just overcast and didn’t look like it would rain immediately. Nathan started to cross the street to find the grocery store as the innkeeper had suggested, and was about to call out to Azar.

“Aza…”

But the familiar name he was about to call was swallowed back. There were many people here, and even though he was currently disguised as someone else, he couldn’t carelessly call out his name. No, rather, it could be even more problematic because he was disguised as someone else.

“What should I call you?”

In this world, there was only one royal name per generation. Therefore, there could be no one with the same name. Whether commoner or noble, using a royal name would result in punishment. Thus, for anyone born and living in this land, knowing the names of the royal family was something that had to be understood from the moment of birth.

The names of the royal family were predetermined by God long before they were born, and they lived bearing those names. As a result, it wasn’t uncommon for names used in previous generations to be used again after some time had passed.

What about ‘Azar’? Was it a name someone had already used? Was it a new name? Probably the latter, right? Otherwise, there’s no way the name Azar would feel so unfamiliar. If it had been used before, there would have been records of a royal family member with that name in the past. But as far as Nathan remembered, there was no royal named ‘Azar’ in the past.

“Well, let’s see…”

So, the person with the name ‘Azar’ would be unique to this boy standing beside him, both in the past and present.

“I don’t mind whatever you call me.”

“…”

After rubbing his chin as if pondering, Azar said this. It was only natural that Nathan’s expression involuntarily became strange at those words. Feeling awkward, Nathan rubbed his cheek with his palm, then turned his head and continued walking.

“…What did the others call you at times like this?”

“It was different each time. They just used any random name. Yeah, how about using the name of that tavern over there? It’s ‘Evans’, so how about Evan? Not bad, right?”

The place Azar pointed to was a tavern with its lights off as it was still daytime. On the old signboard, ‘Evans’ was scrawled in handwriting that looked as if someone had hastily written it.

“Isn’t that too casual a way to decide?”

“What does it matter.”

Saying this, Azar put his arm around Nathan’s shoulder and pulled him close. Nathan staggered as he was pulled along. Then, with a shout of “Excuse us, coming through!” a cart loaded with goods quickly passed by their side. Azar only removed his arm from Nathan’s shoulder and stepped away after the cart had passed.

“I told you. I’m fine with being called by any name. Originally, I was called by names other than my real name more often anyway. Besides, being called by a different name doesn’t make me any less who I am. Right?”

“I… guess so.”

Nathan couldn’t bring himself to smile back at the grinning face. Instead, he just nodded slightly, agreeing that what Azar said was correct.

After walking for a while longer, they found the grocery store. Although they weren’t sure if this was the place the innkeeper had mentioned, they decided to enter and ask anyway. Once inside the grocery store, Nathan left the task of choosing provisions for their journey to Azar. He figured Azar, having traveled around more, would know better than him.

“You’re heading to the Nover territory? Hmm, we do go that way. We were planning to leave soon anyway…”

“When are you planning to go?”

“We were planning to leave in about five days at least.”

Five days? That was too late.

“I’ll pay you, can’t you move up the schedule?”

“I’m sorry, but that’s a bit difficult. We still need to receive the goods we’re supplying, and they haven’t arrived yet. It’ll take at least two more days.”

“…I see. I understand.”

Nathan looked around once before asking another question. Right now, only the grocery store owner and a few employees were near Nathan. Azar was still outside.

“Then, could you tell me the way to the territory?”

“The path there is trickier than you might think… Wait a moment. I should have a spare map somewhere.”

Watching the old man disappear to find the map, Nathan let out a small sigh. It would be fortunate if there was at least a map. Just as he was feeling relieved that finding the way wouldn’t be a problem now, suddenly a voice came from behind him.

“Why do you need a map?”

“…!”

Appearing without any warning, Nathan jumped in surprise. When he quickly turned around, Azar was standing there with an armful of goods, looking at him quizzically. Nathan hurriedly made an excuse.

“I’m… terrible with directions! So, I can’t find my way well without a map and compass.”

“Is that so?”

Azar looked at him with a doubtful expression, but he seemed to believe it somewhat as Nathan insisted earnestly. Nathan secretly wiped his chest in relief. That was close.

In truth, Nathan was quite good at finding his way. Unless it was a place he had never been to before, he generally remembered places he had visited once. It was fortunate that Azar didn’t know much about him since they hadn’t been together for long. If it had been Beri, no, if it had been people from other magic departments who heard this, they would have reacted with “You?” and not believed this statement at all.

A moment later, the old man returned holding an old map.

“Here it is.”

Of course, it wasn’t free.

“It’s a bit old, but it shouldn’t be a problem for getting there. Even if the surroundings change, the roads stay the same.”

“Is that so? Thank you anyway.”

“…Hmm, but young man. You look somewhat familiar, have we met before…? It’s been bothering me since earlier.”

“Ah, I’m not sure. Isn’t it just a mistake? Red hair is common, after all.”

As he said this, Nathan gave the old man a friendly smile.

“Hmm, that’s true. My eyesight is poor, so I often get confused. Especially with red hair! This one looks like that one, and that one looks like this one, you know?”

Indeed, red hair was common in this world. There were three people with red hair in this store alone, excluding Nathan. However, a dull color like Nathan’s was rather rare. Perhaps that’s why this old man said such things. Maybe he had seen ‘Nathan’ while delivering groceries to the Nover territory. In situations like this, pretending not to know was the best strategy.

They had received the map and gotten the provisions. There was no need to stay here any longer, so Nathan took Azar and left the grocery store. Worried that there might be others who would recognize ‘Nathan’ like the old man did, he pulled up the hood attached to his robe.

On the way to find a carriage, they stopped by a magic tool shop and bought a temporary magic tool. Of course, it wasn’t comparable to the ones made by Tionan. Since he chose the smallest one possible, this one was also in the form of an accessory. However, it wasn’t a magic tool that could change appearances. Although it could only be used for minor things, Nathan quickly put it on his ear, thinking it was better than nothing.

Even without pierced ears, the earring-type magic tool automatically attached itself to his ear. The emerald-colored magic stone embedded in the earring dangled beneath his ear. Watching Nathan, Azar asked.

“What happened to the one you used before?”

“It broke. For now, this is better than having nothing… Ah, should I cast a [Lightening] spell on what you’re carrying?”

“No thanks.”

Azar replied somewhat curtly and turned away, walking ahead. Nathan let out a heavy sigh. It was meant as a gesture of reconciliation… But it didn’t work.

Although they were exchanging more conversation than in the morning, there was definitely an unfamiliar distance that wasn’t usually there. The conversations kept breaking off abruptly or were followed by short silences. Nathan was troubled. Judging from Azar’s behavior, it didn’t seem like he was angry at him. No, was he angry but had gotten over it? But his attitude was still ambiguous.