60
“…Do you dislike me smiling at other people?”
Rohan, who had been moving his lips several times as if at a loss for words, reached out towards Arpel. Arpel just glanced at him, not stopping the hand carefully reaching for his face. The touch of fingertips gently resting on his cheek was as light as a feather.
“Yes.”
“Why? Why do you dislike it?”
“I don’t know. I just… dislike it. Don’t do it.”
Although the time spent with Arpel was very long, Rohan had never once felt that he wasn’t an adult. He had always been an absolute and imposing presence to Rohan.
But now, Arpel seemed as if he had been thrown into a fog. Like he had lost his way and was alone in a wasteland, unable to take even a single step, not knowing where to go. He resembled a frightened child.
Perhaps because he had been under Arpel’s protection for so long when he was young, Rohan felt overwhelmed, as if their positions had been reversed.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to know.”
Let’s figure it out slowly, together.
Rohan’s words were as sweet as a lullaby and as gentle as comforting a crying child. His eyes were filled with deep satisfaction, and that gaze would likely remain unchanged regardless of how Arpel felt.
The voice saying “let’s figure it out together” kept echoing in his ears. Arpel, who had been silent, slowly nodded.
“You’ve really grown up.”
“I passed 18 a long time ago.”
His brow furrowed briefly, but it soon turned into a mischievous smile. The tone was reproachful, as if this was an obvious observation.
But Arpel was sincere. An inexplicable trust welled up within him. He felt that perhaps Rohan’s clear golden eyes, filled with certainty, and his reassuring voice saying they could figure it out, might be able to guide him.
“I won’t do it anymore. Shall we promise?”
Arpel was the first to extend his finger. Rohan, who finally burst into laughter, quickly wrapped his pinky finger around Arpel’s.
“We’re going to the place we heard earlier, right?”
As soon as their intertwined pinky fingers separated, Rohan grasped Arpel’s hand. Arpel, who had been staring blankly at his hand naturally caught in Rohan’s, belatedly nodded.
As they approached the house, they could understand what “isolated” meant. It was too far from the taverns and other shops, as well as from other houses.
The pitch-black interior of the house with its lights off indirectly showed that he lived alone.
“I didn’t think he’d lock up well, but…”
Rohan lightly tried the doorknob just in case, and the old door opened with a creaking hinge. Recalling the man’s grimy face, Rohan clicked his tongue.
It was evident that he only cleaned certain areas. The floor had a thick layer of dust accumulated beyond a certain line.
“Let’s look at other places first. Tell me if you find anything.”
Stepping on the dusty floor would inevitably leave footprints. Although the door was open, it was clear that nothing good would come from being caught sneaking in.
Rohan, who had looked displeased at the idea of separating, reluctantly nodded. He clearly understood that they needed to search quickly and leave as soon as possible.
Arpel entered the room closest to the door and carefully surveyed the interior.
There was a bed barely big enough for one adult man, pushed right up against the wall, but it was covered in dust. It was evident that only areas within reach, like the floor and desk top, had been cleaned.
‘…This must be someone else’s room.’
Judging by the accumulated dust, it hadn’t been touched for a long time. There were no signs of the bed being used, so it would have been difficult to sleep here. Arpel’s eyes, having lost interest, immediately turned elsewhere.
A small desk and a bookshelf to the right. There weren’t many books. Among them, only one thing caught Arpel’s attention. It was a small book sitting alone on a wide shelf.
“A diary…?”
The cover he briefly flipped through had the name ‘Vint’ and a date written on it. It wasn’t the kind of text typically found on regular books.
But the dust accumulated on top was the same as the other books. To examine the contents inside, he had no choice but to dust it off. This fact bothered him, but there was no other way.
Arpel picked up the diary, dusted it off on the bed, and without hesitation, turned the cover. Paper dust crumbled at his fingertips.
“Did you find something?”
“Rohan.”
Arpel’s gaze briefly turned to him as Rohan’s hand touched his shoulder. Having sensed his approach earlier, the gesture towards Rohan was natural. After brushing off a speck of dust that had settled on the bridge of Rohan’s nose, Arpel opened the diary to show him.
Their gazes carefully scanned the diary.
The man in the diary had a young son. His wife had passed away from illness long ago, and the diary was filled with the difficulties and sorrows of raising a child alone. Seeing some excessively wrinkled pages, it seemed he had written while crying at times.
They quickly turned the pages with emotionless eyes, but there was nothing worthwhile to glean. At most, they could tell that the man they had just met wasn’t the owner of this diary.
“Could this be the ‘father’ he mentioned earlier?”
“Probably.”
The reason they had suddenly visited the man’s house was because they thought his father, who particularly disliked priests, might be connected to the Salvation Church. It was significant that such a person existed in this village where traces of the Salvation Church remained.
“Look at this.”
“This is…”
On the last page of the diary, there was handwriting that seemed more urgent than the previous entries.
“I leave all my research at the only bookstore in this village.”
Following that was a phrase whose meaning was unclear:
“The baby bear always eats with only one hand. Eight hours later, as I stacked the leftover beans upwards, the sun was setting before I knew it.”
That was the end. Arpel frowned and turned to the next page, but only blank pages followed. After remaining silent for a moment, Arpel gestured towards the outside with a nod.
“Let’s get out of here for now.”
He also tore out the very last page without hesitation. Rohan grabbed his hand in surprise, but it was already done.
“We could get caught.”
“If they’re observant enough to notice that we looked inside the diary by seeing the dust on top has been brushed off, it won’t make much difference.”
Rohan quickly understood Arpel’s words as he alternately pointed to the top of the diary and the tops of other books. Unlike the other books which were covered in a layer of dust, only the diary was clean, having had its dust brushed off before opening.
After placing the book neatly back in its original place, the two immediately left the house. They left carefully after a final check to ensure nothing had changed.
“It’s closed, as expected.”
The next place they headed to was, of course, the bookstore mentioned on the last page of the diary. However, it seemed to have been closed for a long time due to the late hour. They had no choice but to postpone searching inside until tomorrow.
There was nowhere else to go with the remaining clues. Eventually, they had to turn back and return to the inn where they were staying.
“Why are you so late?”
Surprisingly, Leriana and Casia had returned. They said that because it was so late, only places like taverns that stayed open late were available, so there was nothing worth asking to be shown around. They added that they should be grateful for the time they gained by circling the outskirts once.
“Come in for now.”
“Are you ignoring me right now…?”
“You come in too.”
Leriana’s expression crumpled as she was forcibly made to realize she had been completely ignored. Even that complaint was cut short by the piece of paper Arpel pulled out.
“This is a diary found in that person’s house.”
“You went to his house?!”
“…Didn’t you know we were going?”
“I just thought Arpel would have some plan…”
She had winked, so he thought she understood his intentions, but apparently not. As Arpel momentarily lost his words, Rohan smiled and explained on his behalf. It was a silent pressure not to ask further questions.
“This might be a clue to where that man’s father hid his research materials.”
“Ugh… it looks like he just wrote down some nonsense.”
“Are you stupid? That can’t be.”
“I was just saying!”
Despite Leriana’s shouting voice, Casia, who had been staring at the text without wavering, said:
“It seems we can’t immediately understand anything from this. The only thing that might be helpful is this bookstore…”
“It was closed. In that sense, I have a suggestion.”
With an expressionless face, Arpel looked at the three people in turn. When he looked at Rohan, there was a faint warmth in his gaze, but even that was momentary.
“Since we’re not making progress in finding the entrance to the basement, we should first attack the branch we know about.”
“But if that information leaks out…”
Confusion filled Casia’s eyes. Arpel nodded as if understanding what she was thinking.
If someone noticed their reckless attack, there was a possibility that they would gather all usable information and flee. This would usually be the case, but Arpel had one thing different from others, so it was alright.
“There’s a way to enter the branch quietly without causing any disturbance. Just follow me quietly, and it will be fine.”
Rohan’s eyes wavered uneasily as he looked at Arpel.
***
“We greet the executive!”
The four of them left the inn immediately at dawn that day and moved. Arpel, who had kept the three others at a distance, opened the door leading to the branch based on the information he knew, and voices of many people shouting echoed inside the cavity.
“What… is this.”
That sound was also heard by the three outside. While all of this was probably possible thanks to Arpel’s spirit power, they hadn’t expected him to use that power directly. Casia was simply dumbfounded by his decisiveness.
Arpel had even handed over to Rohan the ring that had been effectively concealing his spirit power before leaving. The purple ring remaining in his hand was gradually losing its warmth.
Following Arpel’s advice to hold at least a small dagger in case of dangerous situations, they were reluctantly holding swords. Swords other than Arpel.
Rohan released the sword handle he had been gripping tightly the whole time. The high-quality dagger he had brought from the temple fell to the ground with a thud, glinting in the moonlight.
Rohan’s expression hardened coldly.
