CHAPTER 257: FLICKERS OF HOPE ( 257 )

Hazuki let out a long exhale, the fire from the sword crackling beside him. The desert wind rolled gently, making the sand hiss quietly in the dark.

"...Still," Hazuki muttered, eyes fixed on the stars, "it’d be nice if we weren’t wandering all the time. I wouldn’t mind settling somewhere quiet. Just for a while."

Ridan blinked, voice a little less playful. "That doesn’t sound like you."

"Yeah, yeah," Hazuki waved it off, "just talking to the stars. Don’t mind me."

Ridan floated up again and glanced at the horizon. "You know... if you really wanted to settle down, you’d need more than meat and water."

Hazuki blinked. "You mean money?"

"No. I mean Ellyn."

Hazuki choked slightly on the last bite of lizard meat he was chewing. "W-what the hell does she have to do with that!?"

"What? You like kids, right?" Ridan teased, smirking.

"I love her adult version! Not the kid one!"

"Yea yea... yet you’re a magnet for girls who still act like kids."

"I’m not! Damn! Ugh! It’s hard to talk to you sometimes."

Ridan smugly floated in a slow circle, dark aura flickering playfully.

"Heh~ what about Elvia and Chasia from the orphanage in Macia Town, eh~?"

Hazuki frowned and shrugged. "I don’t know about that. I didn’t even think of it like that."

"Oho~ seriously?"

"Of course! I’m not into kids."

Ridan snorted faintly.

"...Good. Was gonna roast you if you said otherwise."

Hazuki leaned back again, the skewer now just a clean stick. He tossed it aside and closed his eyes briefly.

The fire cracked in the silence, the wind brushing over sand dunes like slow-moving waves.

After a pause, Hazuki spoke again.

"She’s... different, though."

Ridan didn’t answer immediately.

Hazuki sat up, brushing sand from his sleeve. "Not just her. All of them. This world’s weird, Ridan. One moment you’re fighting a giant bug that spits fire, and the next, you’re sitting under the stars thinking about some promise you didn’t take seriously at first."

Ridan floated nearby, watching him.

"You think about her a lot."

Hazuki exhaled through his nose. "Maybe."

They sat in the quiet again. Nothing but the low crackle of fire and the soft hum of the desert.

"...We’re leaving at sunrise?" Hazuki finally asked.

"Mm-hmm." Ridan nodded. "I’ll finish mapping during the night. Should be a ravine path west that cuts a day off the route."

"Now I have more than a hundred gold in my account," Hazuki said, flipping his B+ rank adventurer plate.

He stared at it a moment longer before tucking it back into his belt pouch.

"You think it’s enough to buy land?"

"Don’t know the current price, man," Ridan replied casually, hovering nearby like a chill shadow. "Still, land alone isn’t enough. You’re doing all this sightseeing so you can find something memorable and meaningful, right? For the marriage with Ellyn later?"

"Yeah..." Hazuki’s lips curled into a rare, quiet smile. "I wanna find something good for her."

He leaned back, gazing up at the desert sky. "Bridal gown’s already done. She has it right now. Next... maybe a necklace. A nice one. Or heels."

His eyes lit up slightly at the thought. "Man... I can’t wait to find a beautiful pair of heels for her. Fancy ones. Real elegant."

Ridan blinked. "You... seriously thinking about heels now?"

Hazuki didn’t even flinch. "Of course. She’s the type who’d look amazing in them. Real goddess-tier."

Then, his eyes went soft, lips curling again in that half-goofy, half-serious grin.

"Ahh~ my Ellyn..."

A beat passed.

Ridan sighed. "Here we go."

Hazuki’s mind wandered as he stared into the stars, daydreaming vividly. Ellyna, the adult form she rarely showed. Elegant golden hair, royal posture, those beautiful eyes that could both pierce and melt your soul.

"Man, she’s hot!" Hazuki whispered under his breath, a hand over his chest. "That’s a dream catgirl right there. For men who get isekai’d like me? That’s the goal."

He laughed softly. "Ah... well, some guys are into elves or fox girls or demon chicks. But me?"

He jabbed a thumb at his chest.

"Catgirl."

Ridan floated upside-down and gave a slow spin. "You’re so far gone."

Hazuki just grinned.

"Ridan, you stand guard. I’m going to sleep," Hazuki muttered, already stretching out his arms.

"It’s not like spirits like you need sleep anyway."

"Yea yea... whatever," Ridan replied with a smirk, doing slow loops in the air. He floated in a circle once, then dove into the sand dramatically—only to pop back up again.

Hazuki chuckled softly and lay down on the sand. It was still warm from the fire. He stared up at the night sky—clear, endless, and dotted with stars that twinkled like fireflies frozen in place.

A faint breeze brushed across his face.

"...Eight years, huh?"

His voice came out low, more to himself than anyone else.

"Well... since we’re bound by the pinky promise, I’m not really worried about other men trying anything."

He placed one hand behind his head, the other loosely resting over his sword hilt.

"She’s still a kid, and we’re practically engaged. No guy’s gonna lay a finger on her with that divine seal intact."

He grinned faintly. "I mean, come on. That lightning bolt nearly took my eyebrows off last time I flirted."

A silence followed. Just the crackle of dying firewood and the soft rustling of sand.

Hazuki’s gaze remained on the stars.

"She’s got time. Eight years will go by fast. When she’s grown up... I’ll be ready. I’ll have land. A place with a garden. Somewhere peaceful. Safe."

He closed his eyes.

"Something that suits her."

And with that, he slowly drifted off, breath steadying.

Ridan smirked, floating quietly above the sand, his glowing eyes locked on the snoring mess sprawled out below.

Hazuki lay half-covered in his cloak, one arm flopped over his face, mouth half open, snoring without a care in the world.

"...What a carefree idiot," Ridan muttered with amusement.

Inside his mind.

Heh... He really doesn’t know about Ellyn.

Of course, he couldn’t say anything. A promise was a promise.

Back then...

"Don’t tell Uncle about me being a princess," Ellyn’s voice had echoed through his spirit in a clear, direct telepathic link.

"If he knew... he’ll get stiff and scared. Then he’ll probably run away far, far away."

Ridan had floated in silence at the time, arms crossed.

Now, remembering that moment, he let out a dry chuckle in the wind.

"She’s not wrong."

His smoky tail flicked lazily as he drifted in a small circle above Hazuki’s head.

And this guy... he still doesn’t even realize that Ellyn’s using transformation magic to look like a ten-year-old kid. Her true form? She’s already near adulthood. Just two more years...

He looked down again.

Hazuki let out a small snore and twitched, smacking his own cheek lightly as if slapping a dream mosquito.

Ridan sighed through his dark vapor.

"...And somehow, this idiot is her chosen one."

Another puff of wind blew across the desert, carrying faint grains of sand across the firelight.

Ridan turned back toward the dunes, eyes glowing faintly.

"Guess I’ll keep watch, Princess. He’s in my hands for now."

The night deepened.

And still, the fool below him slept like a rock.

Ridan hovered silently, watching Hazuki sleep beneath the desert’s cold, endless night. His gaze drifted from this man peaceful face to the faint glow of the sword embedded in the sand—its residual warmth pulsing softly, a silent witness to Hazuki’s growing power.

Even in sleep, the sword’s glow hinted at magic lingering within, alive with quiet intensity.

He smirked, a rare flash of quiet amusement. "Still channeling even in sleep," he muttered, almost to himself.

But that smirk faded as his gaze sharpened.

Beyond the flickering firelight, the desert stretched boundless and foreboding, shadows creeping, silent in the dark.

That was the real world waiting beyond this moment—an unseen threat lurking in the night.

And Ridan knew—more than he could say—that the true mission was far beyond protecting Hazuki from mundane dangers.

It was about guiding this man —silent, unseen—toward a destiny he dared not speak aloud.

Their voices hadn’t given commands—no, they had only spoken the truth.

Guide the man.

But don’t tell him.

Ridan’s smoky form drifted downward, a faint shimmer in the heat haze.

His eyes traced the flicker of firelight on Hazuki’s face, then looked past the sleeping form to the shadows on the horizon.

It was a burden—this silent duty—one he could never fully explain, even if he wanted to.

His grin was gone now. Replaced by quiet resolve.

He turned back, floating just above Hazuki’s relaxed form, arms crossed behind his back.

"...Let’s hope," he whispered softly into the night, barely audible over the gentle hiss of the fire,

"you really can defeat those."

For a moment, he lingered, eyes fixed on the dark beyond.

Then, with a slow, deliberate flicker, the smoke of his form rose and faded into the desert air, leaving only the flickering fire and the silence—heavy with unspoken promises and quiet fears.

( End Of Chapter )