Chapter 7
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After some time, the two people reached the inner part of the cave. There, Sae could finally see hints of decoration. This was where he slept -- she could guess by looking at the leather he had put on the ground which Leran used as a blanket, the pillow made from the same brown leather of the blanket, used as a sac with something inside she couldn't see and the dim light that a torch made. "He didn't even waste a bit of magic on the lights." The Ice Mage thought to herself, realizing she couldn't understand such a behavior because she didn't have the same resource issues. Still, she wanted to be honest to the demon king.
"This place looks a bit pitiful." She said, smiling widely. "Thanks. Now that you said it, I will definitely be able to make it better." Leran sarcastically answered with a harsh voice, knowing there was basically nothing in these mountains that could be used for decorations. Sae knew this, which was why she teased him in first place. "Well, you have everything you need. A source of water outside, a bed here and a pillow. That's a nice form of minimalism." Sae joked again, only making the demon more and more angry.
"Surely, it must feel better to sit on this stone than on the throne you're used to--" The Ice Mage started saying, but was stopped by an abrupt movement from Leran, who angrily slammed his fist on the wall next to the white-haired girl, only a few centimetres away from her head. Surprised, Sae had put up a barrier, but only realized after a few seconds that the attack wasn't aimed towards her. Still, her face was surprised and her mouth was agape while her eyes were fixated on the hole in the wall the demon king had made, but she quickly shook her head and went back to her normal self. "That's on me, I underestimated him." She thought to herself, but realized that would be a win long-term. "Now I know that talking about his life in the Spirit Realm makes him angry. One step closer to the truth." She muttered with a subtle, low voice, knowing she wouldn't be heard, talking to herself.
Leran's reaction, on the other side, was one of pride. He still had in his mind the surprised expression of his new enemy, which got his ego back to where it was before meeting her. "She's not invincible." He thought to himself. "And if she wants such a battle, then I will not lose." He thought, getting prepared for any verbal reaction from the side of the Ice Mage. If she chose to eliminate him now, then he'd know he had made a mistake, but he felt like that could never happen -- Leran certainly didn't understand the azure-eyed sorcerer better than she understood him, yet he was making progress.
"Whatever." She said with a face that had regained her composure, but Leran still found cute how much time she took to do so. "Anyway, I'm going to sleep here, otherwise when I come back tomorrow morning you'll already be in another country." Sae explained before jumping down on the hard ground without any blanket or pillow and yawning.
Such a sudden turn surprised Leran, who took that opportunity to ask: "Do you want me to kill you when you sleep?" His voice was full of killing intent and bloodlust while he was actually much calmer than before, but he had learned to block and fake indicators such as those. "Try." She just said, closing her eyes with her stomach down on the ground and her face on her arms, which were definitely softer than the cold, dirty and hard floor. Seeing that, for a second he thought he could ask her if she wanted his blanket, but then realized that it was his enemy, and if she woke up sore the day after it'd be better for him, because maybe she'd feel inclined to leave him be.
Leran sighed, feeling tired from the first conversation he had had in a while and closed his own eyes on the 'bed' he had created.
At that same time, with only a few minutes to midnight, another mage, one with electric blue hair and eyes of that same color, was coming back to the village. As he climbed down the mountain his steps felt way lighter than how they were on the way to the top of that same mountain, both because it was way easier to follow the same route if you wanted to go down and because his own mind was now free from fear and nervousness. "I'm very lucky the Ice Mage took on herself the burden to deal with that demon." He thought in admiration, then continued his journey while thinking about the reactions he'd get from the villagers when he'd say that the Ice Mage had been able to completely stop the criminal who threatened to kill one of them.
In his head, the conversation would go in a perfect way, with Neitar praising him for his courage; still, the experience was humbling for him and he realized he'd prefer seeing the villagers happy than to be praised for his hard work, especially because Zey was the mastermind behind the strategy which saved his life and he deserved the praise more. At some point, the thought of staying in the village forever as a guard invaded his mind, but Zelta knew he could not do such a thing.
More than it being impossible, he was free to do whatever he wanted but he realized there'd be consequences. Most mages from Delmasia would ask theirselves why he had decided to stay and they'd probably come up to the conclusion that he had been brainwashed into doing so, so they'd come to help him out. Of course, after an explanation they'd most likely understand, but the villagers' much treasured peaceful life would not be kept. As such, he knew he had to leave. A small tear fell down as he realized just how much he had bonded in two days with them, mainly because he knew that most people in the capital would just have let him die, but he was happier than he was sad.
After all, he had made a good amount of nice memories. He couldn't forget how the old man had risked his own life to save him, or how he didn't shame him for his terrible behavior towards every villager, but rather asked: "are you hurt anywhere?", or how both Zey and Neitar, along with the majority of the inhabitants of Altea, cried when it was time for him to leave, thinking they weren't going to see him again, despite the attitude he kept having towards people he considered inferior.
After a hour of walking with a slow pace, the blue-haired magician finally saw the lights of the village. He started running with all his might towards that place, until he reached it. He expected to see everyone out of their houses to anxiously wait for the ending of his adventure, but there was nobody in the streets. "Weird." He thought to himself. "I guess they're still scared it could come here." He came to that conclusion as he walked aimlessly in the village, trying to remember where Neitar's house was. But he didn't have to remember it, because the head of the village himself was standing alone with his back towards a house Zelta didn't recognize.
Immediately the blue-haired sorcerer ran towards him, then screamed: "We got him! There'll no longer be any death in this village, the Ice Mage has stopped the demon that threatened us!" Those were his words, but they didn't have the effect Zelta wished they did.
No, Neitar himself didn't laugh, he didn't smile, he didn't even turn his face towards Zelta for a few seconds.
When he did, the mage recognized a face that was had mixed emotions, ranging from sadness to anger, as tears violently fell down his eyes. "What are you saying?!" Neitar said with a loud voice, full of pain, which Zelta had never heard.
"How can you say you caught him, when we had a death thirty minutes ago?!" Those were the words that came from the sad and upset face of the old man.
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