Ayul came to visit on the third day after he had stayed in the tent.
It was just before dawn, and Encrid was in the middle of moving his body using the Isolation Technique.
As he was sitting in front of the tent, Ayul approached.
Her sun-kissed brown skin, the patterns drawn on her face, and her bright, twinkling eyes made her appearance distinct.
She looked different. Her expression seemed much softer than before.
At least she didn't seem like she was about to chop someone's head off with an axe anymore.
Her words were also different from before.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Ayul."
Her temperament was completely different from the first time they met. She was calm.
Perhaps it was fitting to say she was from the West.
Encrid seemed to understand the nature of the Westerners.
They were straightforward and didn't beat around the bush.
Just like Rem.
"Greetings seem unnecessary now, don't they?"
Encrid said indifferently as he stretched his muscles, grabbing the tip of his left fingers with his right hand and flipping his arm over to press it down.
It was a process of loosening the muscles and tendons from his elbow to his wrist.
Flexibility isn't achieved overnight. It requires daily effort and training.
Of course, Encrid had been doing it for years.
As Ayul watched Encrid loosening his body, her gaze casually swept over his physique.
Despite his large frame and muscular build, his movements were remarkably fluid. His muscles were tough, firm, yet flexible.
If cannibals saw him, they would shake their heads in disbelief at how well-defined his body was.
Cannibal brats tend to dislike tough, rigid bodies.
"Even so, it's proper to offer a greeting."
Although she had taken a detailed look at the body of an unfamiliar man, there wasn't any emotion in her gaze. Ayul remained calm.
"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter much either way."
When Encrid gave a casual nod, Ayul asked,
"Can I speak casually to you?"
"That's fine with me. It's more comfortable."
After they settled into a casual tone of conversation, Ayul felt some gratitude toward Encrid, who had become a human totem.
"Would you like me to show you around for a bit?"
Ayul said, gently holding onto the colorful skirt she wore.
Encrid suspected that there were probably two long daggers hidden under that skirt.
Even without seeing them, he could tell by her gait and gestures.
Her steps were uneven in weight. Her right foot was heavier. That likely meant there was a heavier weapon hidden on that side.
When he first saw Rem, a woman who swung an axe, he didn't think she would walk around unarmed either.
Anyone could tell Ayul was a warrior.
Her appearance and demeanor reflected that.
The billowing skirt seemed perfect for hiding something.
If she were Rem's wife, she might even use that skirt to obscure her opponent's vision in battle.
In any case, the madman who saw everything as a sparring match gauged her skills again.
With her back to the sun, Ayul waited for Encrid's response. The early morning sunlight was starting to fall upon them.
The sunlight warmed the dry air, making it enjoyable to move his body in this place.
Encrid had just finished warming up. He wiped off the light sweat with a dry cloth and entered the tent to ask Hira if it was okay to leave the tent for a while.
"Could you be back before noon?"
Hira asked, sounding almost like a request. She had noticed that he hadn't slept properly for three days and wondered if he was okay.
Encrid nodded.
Some of the people lying around the camp recognized him and greeted him. After three days, more of them were starting to recover.
One of them was the child he first encountered.
"My name is Ziba. I plan to marry you one day."
The child was bold.
Upon hearing that, Luagarne puffed out her cheeks and even stuck out her tongue with a laugh.
"Get in line, human child."
"Huh?"
"There's already a line of competitors ahead of you."
Ziba pouted for a moment at those words.
For her to say something like that as soon as she could walk again, announcing she would be a future bride, she was indeed a bold child.
Her mother had heard her, but she remained indifferent.
Shouldn't she be stopping her?
The sword-wing woman still laughed heartily, while the other woman without a daughter continued to sleep as quietly as a mouse.
Well, various things had happened. For now, it was still Ziba's nap time.
She had kicked off the thin blanket covering her and exposed her belly.
Her mother pulled the blanket back over her free-spirited child and asked,
"Shall I follow you?"
It was a question offering to assist him if he needed someone to wait on him.
Encrid shook his head and stepped back outside.
"Let's go."
Ayul said, and Encrid followed her.
In front of the tent, there was a man who had been staring at him strangely for several days, but Encrid ignored him.
It was a gaze full of love and hate, a mix of resentment and gratitude. It was someone he didn't recognize.
For a Westerner, who was usually either straightforward in liking or disliking, this man was peculiar.
He seemed to be on good terms with Ziba's mother, so there didn't appear to be any ill intentions.
Ayul led Encrid out of the camp.
As they walked between the rows of tents, the sunlight welcomed their steps.
"Did you cut Rem's neck?"
Encrid halted his step mid-stride and then widened his pace. Under his left foot, he saw a trail of ants crawling.
As a human approached, the ants scattered in all directions.
To the side, a dung beetle was rolling a ball of cow dung diligently.
Would Luagarne eat that too?
Probably not. Like humans, she seemed picky about what insects she ate.
"When a person's neck is cut, they die."
Ayul spoke a simple truth.
Encrid already knew that truth.
"It seemed like he did something bad enough to deserve death."
Ayul considered agreeing but stopped herself.
She remembered what happened the day before— the day Rem had slept at her house.
* * *
"I want to have a child."
Isn't it right to say what you want straightforwardly?
That's what Ayul did.
Her partner, upon hearing that, remained indifferent.
"Really?"
He looked the same as always. A face that seemed interested in nothing but axes, battles, fights, and cannibals.
There had been a time when he acted like a mischievous brat, but when did that change?
Ayul stopped thinking about it.
The wedding was only a week away.
Rem had been focused on battles and hunts. From her perspective, it looked like he was running away.
It was just a feeling, of course. Rem would never actually do such a thing.
Ayul propped her chin up and watched Rem swing his axe. The question of whether he wanted to run away lingered on the tip of her tongue but never left her lips.
Ayul saw her own inability to be honest.
What if Rem said he wanted to run away? Would she be able to handle it?
She pushed the thought aside.
It was the first time she had ever hidden her true feelings and said something different. That something was that she wanted a child.
She had secretly doubted he would want the same.
Rem was overflowing with talent, set to be the next chief and eventually become a hero.
How many people could be called heroes in the western lands?
There was one among the cannibal tribes, they said.
So why would Rem want to run away?
He loved this land more than himself.
Ayul liked that about him.
So, it wasn't that. Her gut feeling was probably wrong.
He didn't run away.
A week after the wedding.
He chose to sleep in the fields rather than at home, and he beheaded a man called the hero of the cannibal tribe.
Under the low sky, the wide-spread clouds looked like a white ceiling.
The blood dripping from the axe drew red streaks across that white ceiling.
"Ahhh!"
Her partner screamed in a wild cry, a victorious shout.
After that mad axe swing, Rem left.
Why? No one knew. He didn't say a word.
At first, Ayul was stunned.
'This bastard?'
Rem had said he had never considered another woman besides her as his partner.
They had grown up together, using similar techniques, even their temperaments became alike.
"I don't doubt your mother, but it's like you two came from the same womb."
Her father, who wasn't the chief at the time, used to say that sometimes.
"Really?"
Ayul liked hearing that.
Did Rem?
Was her partner, the person who was supposed to be her other half for life, different from her?
Did their hearts not align?
'Was it just me?'
Had she been the only one who harbored those feelings?
Rem left.
A month later, Ayul's shock turned into anger.
Leaving without even a letter, how could that be okay?
"Forget him."
Her father, now the chief, said. Afterward, many things happened.
Time passed, and the fields bore the traces of all four seasons.
In the summer wind on the open fields, Ayul made up her mind.
If he came back, she would behead him.
Shock and anger had passed, and after the stage of worry, only murderous intent remained.
And then, Rem returned.
"You said you wanted to have a child, didn't you?"
After days of quietly avoiding her, he approached and said this.
Rem's shadow stretched long in front of the tent.
Ayul looked at that shadow and spoke.
"Right now, I'd rather cut off your goods and hang them on the wall."
It was a sharp remark. And by 'goods', she wasn't referring to arms or legs.
She was talking about something that had no use but existed.
Rem scratched his head. Though he could act shamelessly in front of anyone else, he couldn't do that in front of Ayul.
He had abandoned his responsibilities and neglected his duties.
The biggest of all was leaving his partner, the one meant to be his lifelong companion, in the lurch.
Rem acknowledged his faults.
That's why he could stand here now and say this.
"What kind of world do you think our child should live in?"
There had been a time when he thought the West was a stagnant land.
He had thought the Westerners were just people who had lost their will to move forward.
'Isn't it better to be a madman chasing immortality?'
No, it wasn't.
He wasn't comparing them to some crazy person who defied the natural order and committed taboo acts.
But it was frustrating nonetheless.
Was it really about stepping forward to seize something? No, that was just an excuse, a justification.
Rem realized that after he left the West for quite some time.
Specifically, after he met Encrid.
There was something he had given up on and forgotten long ago. He didn't even know what it was before he gave up.
'I'll change it.'
He had once had the will to change the West.
But before he could even realize that, he had thrown it away. Forgotten it. Cast it aside.
Rem was a loser, a runaway. And because he accepted that, he couldn't receive the blessing of the spirits.
If the spirits descended upon him, he would die.
That would be the end of it.
There would be no chance to change anything, no opportunity to live.
He couldn't enter the valley of death like that.
Rem had become a fugitive, indulging in the pleasures that remained in the world.
He couldn't face Ayul.
He couldn't show her this pathetic side of himself. And he couldn't ask her to live with a fool like him as her partner and lifelong companion.
So, he ran away.
Ah, how shameful. Truly.
Rem was embarrassed, but he didn't run anymore.
Now that he had learned and understood.
He knew how pathetic he was and how he should live.
Running away wouldn't solve anything.
Rather than living like a puppet in a meager life, it was better to walk a path where he might die. So, he would walk.
But that didn't mean he believed he would die.
He would shout into this unfair world.
This wouldn't stop him.
If he wanted something, he would go after it.
That's what Encrid did.
When he first met him, he thought he was just a reckless man who would soon die.
Then he became an interesting man to observe.
After that, he became a man too valuable to let die.
As the past came back to him and time passed, he saw a leader before him fighting desperately.
With his hands, feet, and body, he expressed everything.
He wouldn't give up or despair.
No matter what stood in his way, he would keep walking.
That was the kind of man he was.
Rem had learned. He had come to realize. He looked back on his life.
He remembered what he had left behind.
Everything had been an excuse.
The directionless wanderer and stray cat were only triggers.
Only then did Rem turn back to face the West. He faced what he had left behind and abandoned.
That's why now he could say it.
"It's embarrassing, but I ran away."
Rem revealed his honest feelings with calm candor.
His words were steady, continuous.
He had gotten better at talking, and now he could explain things quite logically.
He explained why he ran away and that if their child were to be born, he didn't want that child to live in the same land as now.
That had become his goal.
Ayul continued to stare at Rem's shadow.
Both Rem, who was speaking, and Ayul, who was listening, remained calm.
"That's it. If you want, I'll let you cut off whatever you like."
If that was his atonement, he was willing to do it. Rem said, and Ayul lifted her gaze.
From his shadow to his toes, from his shins to his knees, from his knees to his waist, from his waist to his chest, and finally to his face.
At the end of her gaze, she saw his gray eyes.
Rem had always been honest. At least with her.
She had been waiting for this moment.
It would have been better if he had said this earlier, but hearing it now wasn't too late to stop herself from cutting his throat.
"Took you long enough. I'm sorry."
Rem said.
Ayul could not forgive the Rem of the past.
But she felt her partner's struggles deeply in her heart.
Unconsciously, a single tear fell. Dust must have gotten in her eye.
Though today was clearer than any other day, with not a single speck of dust in the air.
Under the bright moonlight, Ayul reached out her hand.
"Take it."
Rem took her hand.
"Just for tonight, I'll let you stay."
Ayul said. Although, it seemed like she would let him stay from now on, not just tonight.
The two of them talked.
Rem opened up about his feelings, and Ayul shared her grievances.
At the end of that conversation, Ayul felt a bit twisted inside.
"Well, I still have things I want to do."
"So, are you saying that after asking for forgiveness as soon as you return, you're going to leave again? Just to grab some sorcerism?"
This bastard?
Ayul instinctively cursed.
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