I Became the Main Character’s Demon Sword

21

Although it wasn’t the first time he had stayed up all night, he was mentally exhausted. Rohan, unaware that Lexia had held his hands all night to prevent him from scratching his neck, quickly moved away from him as soon as he woke up. Lexia, who had felt an inner closeness from being half-attached to Rohan throughout the night despite the difficulty, ended up feeling a sense of emptiness.

He thought it wouldn’t be difficult to take care of Arpel for a while, given how docile he was with the world. At first, after Arpel left, Lexia thought Rohan was avoiding him due to simple wariness, but it turned out to be a line drawn. A line saying not to come any closer.

‘I really think I’m being hated.’

He didn’t know exactly when it started, but surprisingly, it seemed he was being hated. No, it was clear he was being hated.

What did I do? He felt quite wronged and frustrated, but separately, he was quite worried about Rohan’s condition.

Despite likely being quite drained from crying all night, Rohan wasn’t eating properly. By that point, Lexia was half in a state of giving up, only hoping for Arpel to return quickly.

Although it hadn’t even been a day since Arpel left, the child’s face was already gaunt. It would have been stranger if he was fine, given that he hadn’t eaten properly and had suffered so much at night. As Lexia examined Rohan closely, he realized that the boy was staring intently at the door.

He thought that even a dog waiting for its owner wouldn’t be so blindly devoted.

It was the moment when what he had thought was simply an interesting relationship changed. They were more strongly bound to each other than he had imagined. It would cause trouble if he were to meddle, even jokingly.

When the sun, which had been tilted to one side, reached the middle of the sky, he could finally relax upon hearing the familiar footsteps. Whatever had happened between the two, he decided not to dig into it.

‘…I should tell him absolutely not to mess with this.’

Lexia shook his head, thinking of his partner who tended to poke around here and there.

***

“Rohan!”

As soon as Arpel finished all his work, he ran towards the inn at the fastest speed he could muster. Through the door he flung open without hesitation, he saw the child wrapped in a blanket.

Just as his face brightened instantly, his savage gaze fell on Lexia as he noticed the gaunt face.

“You…”

“I’m innocent! I gave him proper food, but he wouldn’t eat! Do you know how hard it was for me to comfort him as he kept having nightmares all night?”

Lexia’s voice, with a sulky expression and even pouting lips, was thick with indignation. After narrowing his eyes at him for a moment, Arpel’s gaze returned to Rohan at the word ‘nightmares’.

“Did you have nightmares?”

“Yes…”

Rohan answered docilely and got down from the bed, removing the blanket. He moved quickly, as if wanting to approach Arpel, but perhaps due to suffering from nightmares all night, his feet got tangled and Arpel hurriedly embraced the child’s body as he was about to fall.

Of course, Lexia watched this scene incredulously. The little one, who had been holding his breath with no expression the whole time he was with Lexia, smiled so gently as soon as Arpel appeared.

He thought only one person became a completely different person when dealing with others, but it turned out the other party was the same.

For some reason, he felt like he had eaten a bunch of sweet potatoes.

“Because Arpel wasn’t here…”

Of course, Rohan, who didn’t care about Lexia’s circumstances, whispered in a small voice while comfortably nestled in Arpel’s arms. Arpel’s face was quickly tinged with guilt upon hearing the child’s voice.

“I’m sorry. It must have been hard.”

“Please don’t leave me again… okay?”

Arpel, who had thought until just now that his choice was right, was greatly shaken by those words. There was a hint of hesitation in the whining voice.

The golden jewel-like eyes that always sparkled were now wavering. The child, who had nightmares and suffered because Arpel wasn’t there, was watching Arpel’s reaction even with just one small whimper.

It felt strange. His eyes seemed to be getting hot. He thought the nightmares had stopped, but that wasn’t the case. It was natural for him to still be anxious, but it seemed he had been suppressing it all just by having Arpel by his side.

Despite agreeing to become family, he didn’t know this one thing. As Arpel’s brow furrowed, Rohan, who had been quietly nestled in his arms, raised his small hand to rub the wrinkled brow.

“…Alright. I won’t leave you again from now on.”

He didn’t want to see the child in pain ever again. While a part of his mind shouted that he might have to do similar work to this request again, Arpel thoroughly followed his instinct.

He couldn’t bring himself to refuse Rohan, who was looking at him with such sad eyes and pleading with his whole body not to leave him.

Only then did Rohan smile brightly with a relieved face, and Arpel brushed back the child’s sweaty bangs. The forehead that touched his hand was warm. It seemed a slight fever had developed, probably due to crying heavily at night.

He needed medicine for Rohan, and since it seemed he hadn’t eaten properly, he also needed to request food that wouldn’t be too hard on the stomach. With the money from this request, he didn’t need to worry about future expenses, so if he gave a generous tip, they would gladly bring out the food.

Arpel went outside while embracing the child.

And Lexia was suddenly left alone.

“Huh… really now.”

Lexia finally spoke up. Because they had created their own world as if only the two of them existed in the world, he couldn’t bring himself to interrupt and had to stay quiet like a sack of barley.

For Lexia, who belonged to the group of experienced people, it was truly a fresh experience. No one had ever treated him like a sack of barley before.

He felt dumbfounded, yet not angry. The way they looked at each other was so desperate. It was like watching a melodrama.

If his partner had seen this scene, he would have burst into cheerful laughter saying, “I knew you’d be like this someday!”

Lexia was only able to talk about the request with Arpel again after Arpel had returned from feeding Rohan, personally giving him medicine, and patting him to sleep.

Although he thought he might be grabbed by the collar for making the child so gaunt as soon as he put him to sleep, surprisingly, Arpel approached him calmly. Even his eyes, which were always coldly frozen, held a very slight warmth.

“…Thank you.”

“What? Could you say that again? I think there’s something wrong with my ears.”

Only after receiving a fierce glare did Lexia realize he hadn’t misheard, and he made an unfamiliar expression. Anyone who had ever conversed with Arpel would have felt this emotion. He was a person who really didn’t suit saying thank you.

On the other hand, Arpel was sincere. He wasn’t the type to say empty words in the first place. When he first learned that Rohan hadn’t been fed properly, he was furious, but as he went downstairs to check on Rohan, he discovered an unexpected fact.

Rohan had a habit of scratching his neck with his hands when having nightmares. If his hands weren’t held tightly, he would continue this behavior. Given the considerable strength, if he had been left alone all night, there should have been many scratches on his neck.

But Rohan’s neck was clean. That’s why Arpel thanked Lexia. It was clear that he had been holding the child’s hands tightly until Rohan woke up. Only then did he remember the quite wronged look on Lexia’s face. Although not as much as Rohan, he looked considerably more tired than yesterday, probably due to staying up all night.

“…Well. It was just what I had to do.”

Lexia, who had been wearing a sly smile throughout their conversations, glanced away. It felt quite strange to receive thanks from none other than Arpel.

Although he had only known and talked to him for a very short time, each of his actions was etched in his mind due to the strong impression he left. He thought it wouldn’t be bad to maintain a good relationship with him.

“I’ll hand over the documents and the three people you requested, so call your people.”

“But my hands are empty?”

Just then, a shadow that had been rippling on the floor suddenly popped out. Like reaching out and waving a hand, a strange black mass wiggled back and forth.

Silence fell between the two. Lexia, who had been carrying on the conversation, kept his mouth shut, unable to understand what this situation was about.

“Spit it out.”

Of course, Arpel didn’t care about Lexia’s reaction. He just tapped the protruding shadow and said only two syllables.

The radius of the shadow widened, and papers poured out like a flood.

Naturally, Lexia was dumbfounded by the flood of papers, and Arpel, worried that Rohan might wake up, put the papers back in. When the papers that had clearly been piled up like a mountain disappeared like a lie this time, Lexia burst into a hollow laugh and held his brow.

“…Looks like I’ll need to call a lot of people.”

He didn’t know exactly what had been done, but it was clear there was a lot of luggage to be transported. Lexia looked at Arpel with strange eyes.

“Surely not people too…?”

“Who knows.”

It was a signal not to dig any deeper. Lexia, who indirectly learned that the mysterious black thing could swallow not just objects but possibly people too, decided to keep his mouth shut.

It was a very wise choice.

“Carry this in your hand.”

“This is different from the one earlier?”

“That’s the final version.”

Arpel, who originally planned to put it among numerous papers and let them find it themselves, handed over the final research journal willingly. He considered the debt for taking care of Rohan paid.

Lexia promptly took the paper and immediately made a serious expression as he started to examine the contents inside, turning the pages. As Arpel, having finished his business, turned his gaze to Rohan and kept his mouth shut, only the small noise of turning pages was particularly loud in the room.