Exiting the hallway and climbing a single flight of stairs led to a colonnade overlooking the courtyard. The openings above waist height lacked glass, letting the evening breeze drift through.
In the courtyard, the tilted bus sat cordoned off by ropes. Two straight skid marks stretched from the heavy double gates across the cobblestones. A wooden tag swayed in the middle of the rope. Three men who appeared to be engineers were peering into the vehicle's undercarriage, one of them shaking his head.
The gates were closed.
Placing a hand on the stone frame, he leaned out. Outside the castle walls lay a downward slope lined with tiered rows of rooftops. Midway down the hill rolled an open-topped wagon. With every rotation of its warped wheel, the cargo bed tilted to the right, jostling the silhouettes aboard.
Two figures sat side by side on the bed, their faces indistinguishable. Between the gathering dusk and the harsh backlight, it was impossible to tell who was who.
Kaito waited for one of them to look back.
He was certain Yuna would turn around, longing for what she had left behind.
Just once, one of the shadows shifted, appearing to face in his direction.
Kaito caught his breath.
Almost immediately, the silhouette turned forward again and moved no more.
At this distance, there was no telling whose shadow it had been. No, it was definitely Yuna. Linger of regret, second-guessing her decision, she had looked back. He convinced himself that was what happened.
The wagon reached the bend in the road, rounded the corner, and vanished behind the rows of rooftops.
His fingers gripping the stone frame had turned white.
Footsteps sounded from behind. A patrolling guard walked past the corner of the corridor and halted upon spotting Kaito.
"Lord Hero. Is something the matter?"
"No....They've already left, then."
"Yes. The gates have been closed."
"I see. Thank you."
His expression had already settled back into its usual composure. The guard bowed and disappeared around the corner as his footsteps faded into the distance.
Kaito lifted his hand from the frame. The chill of the stone lingered against his fingertips.
(I heard from the Prime Minister that he handed that thing to Yuna. It might be tough for her, but she'll be fine.)
Word was that it had been given to Yuna during a brief private audience before her departure. The Prime Minister had lowered his voice in the hallway to convey this strictly to Kaito alone. The man had seemed reluctant to let the Saint slip away so easily. He, too, apparently wished for the Hero and the Saint to stand together and strike down the Demon King.
Incidentally, the item the old man had prepared for Yuna was far more elaborate than expected.
It was a return item, supposedly allowing only the user to warp back to this castle. Furthermore, through its paired counterpart—much like a mate to a carrier pigeon—it didn't just allow for a return; focusing one's mind could even pick up sounds from the other end. Its uses were limited, but in that specific regard, it was more practical than a smartphone.
All three details had come straight from the Prime Minister's mouth, though Kaito had yet to see the actual object. Perhaps due to his sheer desperation to secure the Saint, the Prime Minister grew exceedingly talkative whenever the subject turned to Yuna.
(Picking up sounds from the other end, huh. What kind of privacy literacy invents a one-way eavesdropping device? Well, I suppose expecting that sort of thing in another world is a mistake.)
With a faint, self-deprecating smile, he looked away from the window.
Incidentally, Yuna had apparently requested that the Prime Minister refrain from using that feature.
(...Of course she would. And besides, I'm not the type of person who would stoop to that anyway.)
Turning his back on the window, he walked back down the colonnade.
It was about time to return to the armory. After all, nothing would ever get settled without him there.
No—bringing them together was his duty as the Hero.
He had no idea by what logic the classes were assigned, but that crystal truly was an excellent judge of character. Himself a Hero, Yuna a Saint, and the incompetent Eiji a useless Scavenger. What a flawless classification.
Before he realized it, the corners of Kaito's mouth had curled upward.
Returning to the armory, he found Miu perched on the edge of a table, looking over a sheet of paper. It appeared to be a duplicate receipt of the provisions. Gakuto stood beside her, repeatedly planting the butt of his spear into the floor and letting it tip over. The rhythmic clack of metal striking stone echoed through the room at regular intervals.
As Kaito crossed the threshold, Gakuto raised his head.
"Hey, Dojima."
"What is it?"
"About those three days' worth of rations we gave Kuze....No matter how you look at it, that was only enough for one person."
The thumping of the spear ceased. Miu looked up from the paper.
"Yeah, exactly. If the two of them split it, won't it run out in less than two days? There were only two waterskins, too."
Setting the paper down on the table, Miu held up two fingers and continued.
"Goda. Seriously, you should've packed a little more water for them. People kind of die without water, you know."
"Ugh....N-No, I just handed over the bag, alright? I didn't know what was inside."
Gakuto's chin dipped once before quickly snapping back up. He seemed intent on making it clear that the choice hadn't been his. That was true enough, but feeling the blame subtly shifted onto him soured Kaito's mood.
Kaito stepped up beside the table and rested his hand on the pommel of his sword.
"Provisions are distributed according to combat capability. It wasn't my call."
"I see. Well... Shirakawa chose this for herself, after all."
"That's right. She decided it on her own."
Three days' worth. Split between two, there was no way it would last three days.
All three people in the room had already done the math. Yet having done so, none of them treated it as Kaito's decision. The kingdom had determined the supplies, Gakuto had carried the bag, and Shirakawa had chosen to follow. Only those objective facts remained.
Even though, in truth, Kaito had simply ordered the Prime Minister to make it so.
Kaito glanced toward the window. Through the gaps in the wooden boards, a narrow strip of the twilight sky was visible.
(Three days is more than enough. Honestly, won't she throw in the towel by tomorrow?)
Three days was not a number intended to starve them.
It was the time it would take for Yuna to reach for that thing. After two or three nights of hunger and the reality of an empty, ruined village, her hesitation would naturally steer her toward the right answer. No one could endure watching themselves become filthy and starved, after all.
(Once the three days run out, Yuna will return to the castle. When she comes back, all I have to do is welcome her with open arms. Yuna won't die, and Kuze will be the only one dying by the roadside. I've made sure an escape route was prepared for her.)
Kaito didn't consider this a devious scheme on his part. He truly believed it was for her own good.
(You brought this on yourself, you know. Insisting on following a guy like that. But... this will make you understand that I was right all along. I'm only doing this so you'll see my righteousness. Don't think badly of me.)
He organized tomorrow's schedule in his mind.
There would be a briefing from the castle in the morning, followed by training. The castle knights were supposedly going to instruct them individually.
He planned to split the squads into vanguard and rearguard, assigning Gakuto to the front line. However, with Shirakawa gone, they were short on healers. Whether to rotate someone between both squads or reinforce the rearguard was a decision he would need to finalize by tomorrow morning.
Gakuto propped his spear against the wall and tilted his chin toward him.
"What do we do if Shirakawa comes crying back to us?"
"I'll go welcome her back, of course. That's what I promised."
Miu stood up from the edge of the table.
"You're really dependable with that kind of stuff, Kaito."
"Of course. We're comrades, after all."
Kaito gave Miu a wink.
Miu let out a soft chuckle and gave a small shrug.
As Gakuto headed for the door, he turned back halfway.
"Kuze too?"
The response lagged by a beat.
"...Kuze can, once he proves useful."
Not that such a day would ever come.
Once Yuna returned, the guy was useless. Whether he died in a ditch in that abandoned village or got devoured by monsters made no difference. This was another world. Naturally, that was the fate awaiting the powerless.
The three of them left the armory.
The sconces in the corridor were already lit. Gakuto took the lead, Miu followed, and Kaito walked half a step behind the two.
As he walked, the exchange in that semicircular chamber surfaced in his mind.
"As the Hero, I'll protect you. Without fail."
Back then, he had delivered his signature line perfectly. The pause, the volume—everything should have been immaculate.
Yet—the response he received had completely defied his expectations.
"Um... I'm not staying, you know?"
Whenever he tried to recall the sound of his own voice afterward, the memory grew hazy. Rather than hazy, it felt as though that moment belonged to someone else entirely.
At that point, he stopped reminiscing.
Yuna had simply been flustered. He chose to think of it that way. Having been summoned to another world and abruptly saddled with the monumental role of Saint, it was only natural.
"Well then, Dojima-kun. Hero duties... is that right? Good luck."
She had probably just been embarrassed then, too. Nearly the entire class had been present. Very few people could respond earnestly in a situation like that.
Kaito placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, adjusting his grip three times. His palms were sweaty. He chose not to think about why.
Tomorrow, he would speak with the Prime Minister once more. It seemed best to discuss and settle the arrangements for after Yuna's return in a bit more detail.
Outside the corridor window, darkness had already fallen.
Three days was plenty. She was bound to give up by tomorrow anyway.
Or so he believed.