Chapter 107
“I’ll tell you everything, so please help me. I’m begging you…”
I quietly nodded, and he began to reveal his past. Honestly, it was just boring, but I listened carefully, responding attentively.
He said he was the illegitimate child of a nobleman, unacknowledged by his family, and witnessed his mother’s suicide as a child. While retrieving his mother’s hanged body, he wanted to succeed and show his father who hadn’t recognized him.
In a way, it’s a sad story, but I couldn’t sympathize because many people who experienced similar situations and made the same vows didn’t grow up as twisted as Alteo. One’s own misfortune can’t be a reason to torment others.
“You must have felt wronged.”
“Yes, that’s right… If only father had accepted us, mother wouldn’t have died…”
I perfunctorily patted Alteo’s shoulder as he cried, caught up in memories of the past, waiting for him to calm down. In fact, I was more concerned about what was happening outside. The sound of water getting closer was unsettling.
Finally, Alteo’s sobs subsided. I wiped his cheeks with my sleeve and gave him a comforting smile. Alteo looked at me, sniffling. Now, should I start wrapping things up?
“Let’s start by changing the circumstances of what happened today. You didn’t attack me, but you fell in with me while trying to catch me as I was staggering.”
“O-okay.”
“The reason you came looking for me was because you noticed I was looking for you. The purpose… shall we say it was to apologize? To repent and atone for your sins.”
“Alright.”
“Let’s just agree on this much for now. We’ll think about what to do next after we get out safely. It seems the water has risen quite a lot. Could you check for me?”
When I casually asked him to do it, he stood up abruptly.
Alteo’s face was pale after checking outside. Even without him saying anything, I could tell the water level was serious.
‘…Really, why does it have to be so difficult?’
I stood up, enduring the throbbing pain. I wanted to see for myself and gauge how much time we had left.
After a few steps, I reached the entrance and leaned against the wall to look outside. I wished the rain would let up a bit, but it was pouring so heavily that I could barely see a few feet ahead. Because of this, I had to squint to find the tree I had used as a reference earlier.
‘It was around there…’
The tree that had been halfway up the cliff was nowhere to be seen. The water was rising faster than I thought. Perhaps it had been raining heavily upstream for much longer.
‘Will we last 30 minutes?’
I became urgent, realizing I hadn’t thought about how to leave any traces. It was quite unpleasant to be cornered without any preparation.
However, my feelings weren’t of any help right now.
‘Checking is the priority.’
I wanted to look up, but the cave ceiling protruded, making it impossible to see beyond. I’d need to lean my upper body out to see, but the only person available to hold me was the unreliable Alteo.
‘He wouldn’t let go pretending it was an accident, would he…’
The violent sound of water. The swift current sent chills down my spine. Thinking about all sorts of debris swirling in the water made it even more terrifying, so I shook my head to clear my thoughts.
‘If we do nothing, we’ll die anyway.’
With no sign of the rain letting up, it would surely reach here. The traces left on the cave walls were evidence of that.
“Chairman, hold onto me.”
“What are you trying to do?”
“I’m going to check above.”
I stood on my tiptoes and touched the protruding wall above the cave. I grabbed and shook whatever I could hold, and it seemed quite solid. At least it wasn’t the type of rock that crumbles.
‘Can it support the weight of two people?’
I needed to check the slope, but the chairman interrupted.
“What’s the point of checking when we can’t climb up the cliff anyway? You’ll just waste energy.”
“Is that what you should be saying right now?”
“Besides, the water might not rise this high. Isn’t it better to just wait quietly? I don’t want to do anything dangerous.”
I didn’t want to waste energy trying to persuade this idiot when we had no time, but since I couldn’t do anything alone, I had to explain.
After explaining step by step at his eye level, I added one last thing.
“Unless you want to die, wouldn’t it be better to move?”
Alteo, who had been touching the soil bands on the cave wall, flinched.
“…I hate it when someone dies. Just imagining a perfectly alive person becoming a cold corpse gives me the chills. It reminds me of the feeling when I took down my mother. So please, can’t you stop saying that?”
He really hates it, huh? To the point of explaining in detail and begging. Suddenly, I thought Alteo’s trauma didn’t suit a doctor. Because they encounter corpses more often than ordinary people.
‘Is that why he’s so obsessed with being an imperial physician?’
Being an imperial physician is the highest position a commoner without talent in swordsmanship can achieve, and it’s a place where things go wrong if a patient dies. Ah, this isn’t the time for such leisurely thoughts.
“Let’s cooperate.”
“You’re not saying you’ll die soon even if we don’t. You stubborn bastard.”
“At least I don’t try to harm others. More importantly, are you going to cooperate or not? We’ll really die here-”
“Aaargh! Alright! I’ll hold you, okay? Stop saying that!”
Alteo strode towards me. His aura was so fierce that it felt like he was going to push me rather than help. If I hadn’t known about his trauma, I would have been tense and wary.
“Where should I hold?”
“My waist. Just in case I’m saying this, but-”
“I won’t push you.”
How did he know? I smiled slightly at his gruff response. It was a smile of reconciliation, as we were in a symbiotic relationship for now, regardless of what might happen later.
“Don’t smile so disgustingly.”
It didn’t work at all, though.
“Hold on tight. I’m going to look up.”
“I got it.”
Alteo stood with his legs apart and grabbed my waist.
“I’m going to hang onto the top.”
“…Be careful.”
“I’m counting on you, Chairman.”
“You’re trusting me because you have no one else to trust?”
“I trust you now. We need to survive and return together.”
Alteo didn’t respond. Instead, he gripped my waist so tightly it hurt. I exhaled briefly before pushing off the ground with my feet.
I managed to hang onto the ceiling wall, but I struggled to pull myself up further using just my arm strength.
“Should I lift you? Is that okay?”
“Yes!”
As if his stupid brain was finally working a bit, Alteo actively helped me. Thanks to his support from below, I managed to hook my arms over the protruding rock.
“Hey! I can’t hold your waist anymore, what should I do?”
“It’s okay. There’s more space than I thought. I’m going to climb up, so give me your shoulder.”
There was a slight slope, but it shouldn’t be a problem. Thinking it would be better to be even a little higher than staying in the cave, I decided to climb up completely.
“Now you’re going to step on me?”
“Stop complaining and hurry.”
Alteo grumbled but supported my feet with his hands. It was unstable, but he could lift me higher with his hands than with his shoulders.
With his help, I climbed up and shielded my eyes from the pouring rain to survey the area above. The cliff looked too steep to climb, but at least there were no trees that would hide us from above.
* * *
“I-is this really okay?”
While Alteo cowered in fear, I checked the knots of the rope tied around my waist. The rope was made from torn shirts.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, Alteo’s chubby appearance was due to wearing layers of clothes to hide his body shape. Thanks to this, the long rope we made was useful in pulling Alteo up, and now it had become our lifeline.
“The situation doesn’t look optimistic.”
The water that had finally reached the cave was now threatening us. The current rushing past our calves was so strong that all we could do was cling to trees to avoid being swept away.
Although the rain had weakened somewhat, we were anxious because we couldn’t predict whether the water would continue to rise or stabilize, not knowing the situation upstream. However, there was nothing more we could do. We just had to hold on like this.
Tense time passed. When the water reached our waists, Alteo, hugging a tree on the opposite side, finally burst into tears.
“Mom… sob, mom…”
Seeing him cry like a child, I just turned my head away. Crying doesn’t solve anything, and it doesn’t change the situation. I had no energy to spare for anything other than tightly hugging the tree and trying not to be swept away.
“Mom, mom… save me… mom…”
“…man…!”
That’s when I heard it. Between the loud valley noise and Alteo’s crying, I heard Luwen’s voice. I strained my ears hoping to hear it again, but I couldn’t catch Luwen’s voice.
…Did I hear wrong?
At that moment, I almost lost strength in my body, perhaps because hope had appeared and disappeared. I gritted my teeth and tightened my arms again.
“…Norman!”
“Luwen…?”
But this time it was clear. The voice I heard again was so distinct that I jerked my head up. Although I couldn’t see anything, I was certain. It was Luwen’s voice.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
