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Chapter 31

Why was there a person inside this cave?

After hesitating for a moment, I hurried forward.

The puppy bounced up and down in place, as if proudly declaring that its mission was complete.

“Are… are you alive?”

“…”

At my question, a pair of eyes became visible beneath the child’s long, tangled hair.

“…!”

The child was barely sitting upright, leaning against the cold, hard cave wall.

He looked so frail that he might collapse at any moment.

It looked as though he hadn’t eaten a proper meal in days and had survived on nothing but water. His body was painfully thin.

Yet there was one thing that stood out.

Like a dying beast desperately clinging to its last breath, his eyes remained fiercely sharp.

“W-Why are you here…?”

The child pressed his lips tightly together.

He looked as though he wanted to get away from me, but he had no strength left to move.

His eyes trembled weakly beneath his long hair, like the flickering flame of a candle in a violent wind.

At that moment, I realized—

He’s hurt.

I examined him carefully and saw countless wounds exposed wherever his clothing failed to cover his skin.

“Oh my goodness!”

They were the marks of someone who had fought desperately just to survive.

The child flinched as though trying to stop me, but that was all he could do.

He simply didn’t have the strength to resist.

“Stay still. I’m just checking to see if you have any serious injuries.”

At my firm voice, his half-closed eyes slowly opened again.

Then a weak, delicate voice escaped from between his cracked lips.

“…Who… are you…?”

Hearing him speak for the first time startled me.

I quickly turned up the brightness of my lantern.

The light illuminated both of us.

Only then did I realize the child was a boy.

And another thing—

As he slowly lifted his head, the long hair covering half his face slipped aside.

A small face.

Ruby-red eyes.

A look of fierce hostility fixed directly on me.

For an instant…

Something about him felt familiar.

“…No way…!”

I’d seen him somewhere before.

I was certain of it.

My scattered memories suddenly snapped into place.

A slave forced to fight for his life.

A floor drenched in blood.

A child trapped inside a lion’s cage.

The deafening cheers of the audience.

“What’s your name?”

“…Lion… cub…”

“What? Lion cub?”

My heart nearly stopped.

The words lion cub coming from his mouth shocked me.

For several seconds, I could only stare blankly at him.

“Ron Kereis.”

“Do you remember that name?”

“Ron!”

The boy gave no response.

In the original story, Ron had disappeared when he was very young.

There was a chance he no longer remembered his own name.

Then—

“…D… Dv…bl…”

“What? Dvbl?”

The boy glared at me with sharp crimson eyes.

“Oh, I’m not from Dvbl.”

“I’m really not.”

I even waved both hands frantically.

Only then did the hostility in his blood-red eyes begin to fade.

That brief exchange confirmed it.

This was the child who had been sold to a merchant company at the slave market that day.

What’s more…

The face peeking out from beneath his long hair looked astonishingly similar to the portrait of Ron I’d found in the playroom.

It’s definitely Ron Kereis!

But why was he here?

There hadn’t been anyone else around the cave.

Had he… escaped?

“…Who…?”

“My name?”

“Oh, right. I never introduced myself.”

If I introduced myself first, maybe he’d feel less anxious.

“I’m Mary—”

Then it hit me.

Right now I wasn’t Marianne.

I looked like a boy.

“…Hmm.”

“My name’s Ran.”

I deliberately lowered my voice.

Granted, it was rather awkward after speaking in my normal voice just moments ago.

But I couldn’t help it.

Just in case…

It was safer to hide my identity.

And since I couldn’t think of another name on the spot, I chose one that sounded similar to Ron’s.

“…D… Dvbl…”

“I told you, I’m not from Dvbl.”

“I’m just an ordinary citizen of the Empire.”

“I only ended up here because I got lost.”

Shrugging my shoulders, I answered casually.

Will he believe me?

Judging from the corner of my eye…

It seemed to work.

The tension in Ron’s expression eased just a little.

The perceptive puppy noticed the heavy atmosphere and squeezed itself between us.

Taking advantage of the moment, I petted its head.

“See?”

“If I were a bad person, would this little guy be snuggling up to me like this?”

“…”

I looked at Ron proudly.

But…

His eyes had already closed.

“Ah!”

“Ron!”

“N-No—I mean, little lion… no… kid!”

Seeing Ron collapse limply onto the cave floor, my mind went completely blank.

If I left him here…

He would die.

I had to save him.

But I had no idea where to start.

The flickering lantern light illuminated his tiny, painfully thin hand.

Why are you so skinny…?

My brow furrowed.

Yet Ron’s breathing gradually became calmer, settling into a soft, steady rhythm.

For now… just sleep.

Looking at his peaceful face helped me regain my composure.

I focused on doing whatever I could.

First, I covered his freezing body with my cloak.

Then I found a small spring flowing inside the cave, soaked my handkerchief, and gently moistened his lips.

Even that didn’t feel like enough.

“Zelaus.”

Using magic, I formed a tiny sphere of water in my palm and carefully let it drip into Ron’s mouth.

As though parched with thirst…

He drank every last drop.

Watching him somehow made my chest ache.

Just then—

“…Mmm…”

A faint sound escaped Ron’s lips in his sleep.

I leaned closer and placed my ear near his mouth.

“What is he saying?”

“…Please…”

“…Save me…”

He was having a nightmare.

Suppressing the pain tightening inside my chest, I slowly turned my head away.

“What kind of dream are you having…?”

I gently patted his shoulder.

I could feel the thick cloak I’d wrapped around him.

And beneath it…

His tiny body curled into a ball.

“How can you be even smaller than I am…?”

Even if he had been starving…

He was still a boy.

Yet he was unbelievably small.

Small enough that anyone would instinctively want to protect him.

At that moment…

Something soft brushed against my other hand resting on the ground.

The puppy had wandered over and was rubbing its head against me.

You’re awfully friendly, aren’t you?

But now wasn’t the time.

I shot it a look before turning back toward Ron.

The puppy, however, kept trying to climb into my lap.

“Oh, all right, all right.”

With a sigh, I lazily scratched its fluffy fur.

The delighted puppy immediately rolled onto its back.

Woof! Woof!

“Shh! Quiet!”

“You’ll wake him.”

But I was already too late.

A pair of crimson eyes had quietly opened.

Ron was watching both me…

…and the puppy.

“Eek…”

“You’re awake.”

“Sorry.”

Ron slowly opened his heavy eyelids.

He didn’t say a word.

But then…

I saw the corners of his tiny lips lift ever so slightly.

Wait…

Ron…

Are you smiling?

Ron reminded me of a wounded baby bird.

A tiny bird too weak to stand on its own.

Seeing that child smile…

Even if only faintly…

Filled me with indescribable joy.

And at the same time…

My heart ached.

Ron, who had only briefly awakened, soon drifted back to sleep.

May the nightmares disappear…

And may only happy dreams find you.

People always said children looked the most beautiful while sleeping.

Ron was no exception.

Bathed in the lantern’s glow, his peaceful sleeping face looked like a painting.

Ron…

Please grow up just like this.

Praying that he would never become the villain from the original story, I looked down at him.

Then I spoke to the puppy leaning against my side.

“You watch over him for me.”

“I’ll come back.”

Whine…

“I mean it.”

“I’ll come back.”

Perhaps it understood my words.

Instead of barking, the puppy scratched its cheek with one front paw.

For now…

I had to leave the cave.

With my small body, there was no way I could carry Ron outside.

I needed to go find Kautz—or think of another way to rescue him.

“So just wait a little longer.”

After saying a brief goodbye, I hurried toward the cave’s entrance.

Finding my way back wasn’t particularly difficult.

I was simply focused on retracing my steps when—

Crunch.

As my hand brushed against the cave wall…

I suddenly felt a powerful, unfamiliar pulse.

What…?

A strange feeling washed over me.

I raised my lantern.

“…Pink?”

Jutting out from the cave wall like an icicle was a crystal-like stone.

Its color was a brilliant, radiant pink.

It wasn’t merely reflecting the lantern’s light.

Compared to the ordinary rocks surrounding it…

Its color was unmistakably different.

Even stranger…

Something inside me reacted to that single stone.

As though every sense in my body had become focused on it.

It was an unfamiliar sensation…

A mysterious pull I’d never experienced before.

So that’s it…

That’s why this cave called me here!

“I found it!”