“Join… the White Castle?”
Iaar held her empty cup, the water she’d brought up to the rooftop now depleted. Listening to the shouts from downstairs, punctuated by gasps for breath as the person ran, made her feel even thirstier, and she drank more eagerly.
“Oh… right, everyone from the White Castle helped me a lot, otherwise I wouldn’t have heard those one hundred shouts… If you still need me, I can help you.”
Iaar had calmed down now. She didn’t know why she’d gotten so agitated, so much so that she froze the person in front of her and grabbed her shield to smash their head…
What she didn’t know was…
Why it was that she usually couldn’t understand the subtext or implications in other people’s words, but in that moment, she immediately understood that Captain Crimson Flame was talking about Will?
“I was a bit rash today, but… I’ve been wanting to ask you, it seems like the other person didn’t step on my tail, did they?”
“Uh… Iaar, that’s a metaphor. Mentioning Will in front of you and insulting him like that, doesn’t it feel like stepping on your tail?”
“Ah?” Iaar hugged her tail. “Y-yes, that’s right, the tail is indeed an organ that causes you to lose control of your emotions when stepped on.”
After speaking, she looked downstairs again and shouted loudly—
“That’s only fifty-three times, I can’t hear your voice anymore, shout louder!”
She wasn’t good at math, and even counted on her fingers while talking. But she clearly remembered whether the count had reached the required number.
Peflan scratched her head, suddenly feeling that getting Iaar to join might take time.
“I don’t want you to join because of this, so let me explain first. I also have a grudge against this Mr. Adam, so you don’t owe us anything. In fact, you could say you’re giving us an opening for revenge.”
“There’s… a grudge?! Who is he? He seems to know about Young Master and is very indignant.”
“Adam Hysterm.”
“…?”
Upon hearing the surname, Iaar trembled all over, and even her tail drooped with a *thwack*. Iaar was from the Hysterm Family, but due to Will’s peculiar situation, she hadn’t met any of Will’s other siblings. Now she understood where the chilling sensation she felt when she first saw him came from.
“Then that can be considered revenge for Young Master. Young Master hated his brothers the most. He always said that if they hadn’t stolen the inheritance, our travel expenses could have been even more generous!”
“Pfft. So it was that kind of dislike.”
“But… he actually praised me? After all, in the Hysterm Family, everyone dislikes Young Master…”
*—And dislikes me too.*
Iaar hid the latter half of the sentence.
“Because you did well enough. Look, he didn’t even see through your identity. He likes flattery, but he’s willing to recruit people into his team. This shows that as a captain in the top ten, he recognizes that person’s strength.”
“…Is that so?”
Iaar looked at Peflan, almost unable to believe what she was saying.
“That’s right. Iaar, listen, your current strength makes you a much-needed, very, very powerful Shield Saint. No doubt about it. Even if Will is gone, all adventurers will acknowledge this.”
Peflan, holding onto a sliver of hope, wanted to persuade Iaar to “figure it out” and “stay.” To do this, she believed Iaar had to say goodbye to the past and emerge from the shadow Will left behind.
“Meeting Adam was an accident, but you should have realized that you are now in the Adventurer’s Guild, a powerful Fire Dragon Killer who everyone has their eye on, everyone is vying for, and who can completely choose her own life and future.”
As Peflan spoke, she pointed to the captain below, who was still shouting with every step, and faintly, she could hear the adventurers in the Adventurer’s Guild on the first floor cheering him on.
“…A powerful Fire Dragon Killer.”
Iaar, for the first time, truly felt—
She had become strong. Incredibly, incredibly strong. Especially…
She looked at her hands. When someone insulted Young Master, she was able to block their attacks for the first time, pick up her shield, and fight for his honor, take revenge for his honor.
“So that’s how it is. Even before completing the mission Young Master left behind—no, even earlier than that, I was already strong enough?”
“Exactly.”
Peflan had been waiting for Iaar to say this. She took out the orange juice she was holding and poured it into Iaar’s empty cup placed on the railing—because she remembered Iaar’s words, “Canines cannot touch alcohol.”
“He wasn’t lying to you. You have your own future now, even without Will. Of course… that’s not entirely true, as your Young Master did cultivate you and allow you to become who you are today.”
She still chose to lay the groundwork for a long, long time. As expected, this little maid was just a bit slower than others. Even after using a shield strike that had terrified the entire Adventurer’s Guild, the top ten adventuring teams, and the only Witch currently in human society, she still hadn’t realized how strong she had become.
From a goal perspective, she was aligned with Crimson Flame. They both wanted to recruit the powerful Shield Saint, Iaar, as a team member. However, Peflan wanted Iaar to realize it herself—
“I’m an outsider. In our eyes… you are no longer that maid of Will’s, oh of course, you’re not Will’s dog either. You are perfectly capable of doing things that Iaar can do—and you have the strength for it.”
“I…”
Iaar leaned against the railing on the rooftop, listening to the repeated shouts of “Will Hysterm is Entak’s number one good captain.” She clenched her cup and gazed at the orange juice inside. Her words caught in her throat, her tail wagged restlessly, and her ears twitched back and forth slightly. These were all signs of her inner turmoil.
“Iaar… is very lost.”
After a long silence, she took a deep breath. Her lips parted and closed multiple times before she finally spoke using “Iaar,” the self-reference she’d used for nearly twenty years. Her gray eyes remained fixed on the orange juice.
Perhaps it was because she had defeated the Fire Dragon again today. Perhaps she had been “praised” by someone today. Perhaps she could now make those who once looked down on Young Master shout “Young Master is number one” one hundred times.
She looked down at Adam, whose voice was now hoarse, and calculated that he had only reached the seventies.
“Iaar just wants to complete Young Master’s mission, because he ordered Iaar to do it. Iaar is very scared… very scared that Young Master will one day abandon Iaar on the side of the road, and then Iaar will have nothing. Iaar will become a pathetic little dog that dies alone in the cold forest…”
“Yes, please continue.”
“From the moment Young Master acknowledged Iaar, from the moment he showed a side that made him dependent on Iaar, from the moment he found a mission for Iaar, who was lost and should have died that winter night, not knowing who to rely on to keep living…”
Iaar’s tone of voice became calmer and calmer, carrying a nostalgic tone of dwelling on the past.
“Iaar realized that Iaar could never leave him.”
“But you are different now.”
Peflan patted her shoulder. As a maid skilled with a shield, her shoulders were very sturdy.
Iaar swirled the orange juice, taking advantage of her good mood today to say what she wanted to say—
“…Iaar understands.”
“No matter what happens now, Iaar will not freeze to death in the winter forest. Iaar now possesses the power of ice to control the cold.”
“Even if Iaar leaves the Hysterm Family, Iaar can find a team that will accept her and make a living. It’s completely possible.”
“Iaar is no longer that pitiful dog adopted by Will. She is a half-beast wolf who can truly kill a Fire Dragon single-handedly.”
Hearing herself say these words, Peflan thought her plan might actually succeed.
“That’s right, so you can really consider… other futures, can’t you?”
Peflan seized this opportunity to once again extend the White Castle’s olive branch to Iaar—
“For example, the White Castle, where we fight together, could be your new home. You see, we’ve come back to the original question.”
A new home?
A new future?
A new… Iaar?
A gust of wind blew, lifting Iaar’s ears on top of her head, making her wolf ears bounce elastically. She listened to Adam’s shouts carried on the wind.
Seventy-fifth time, seventy-sixth time, seventy-seventh time… The more she heard, the more she felt a sense of catharsis, but the more cathartic it felt, the more she realized…
A new future did not exist. Iaar shook her head.
“…As expected, you still refuse?”
“Miss Peflan, you want Iaar… to move on from Young Master’s death, right? But perhaps it had the opposite effect.”
“Opposite effect?”
“Iaar was constantly completing Young Master’s missions, but she didn’t realize she had fallen into the mire of grief after his departure. Iaar even thought she was moving towards his future.”
Her fingers moved, still counting, even as the person downstairs spoke slower and slower.
“But today, that scoundrel just mentioned it, and Iaar immediately realized he was talking about Young Master. Iaar really wanted him to apologize, and even swung her shield.”
She tremblingly withdrew her hand from the orange juice and hugged her arms, feeling a chill run down her spine. She realized—
“Iaar may have never moved towards a future, even the future written for Iaar by Young Master.”
Will had become every part of her life. She was terrified of Will abandoning her, and terrified of Will no longer needing her, which was why she had even wanted him to stay by her side forever. Because she truly loved every day she spent with Will, loved the days in the Hysterm Family, and missed the self she was with Will at that time. Will was indispensable in her life. Like a pet could never leave its master. She was completely tethered by Will’s leash, the collar around her neck. She simply could not accept not being his little dog anymore; she could only accept serving him alone. Even… even if he was dead, it was the same.
“…Forget it. I think I understand. You really are a loyal dog.”
“Loyal…?”
“Your point of refutation wasn’t about being a dog. Hmm… Have you ever owned a dog?”
“Eh…?”
“Sorry, I seem to have asked a rather strange question to a half-beast. Someone once wrote moving words for pet owners. Your world might be vast, but… a pet’s world might only contain you.”
“If it’s a description of Iaar and Young Master, perhaps it is.”
“Many pets, after their masters die, will stay by their graves. They might even starve themselves, or if not, they might repeat behaviors they used to do over and over. And if they hear anyone speak ill of their master, they will ferociously bite.”
“…”
Iaar seemed to understand Peflan’s description. For her, the mission Will left behind was like a “tombstone,” and she was now the dog guarding that tombstone, having lost her master. Wagging its tail, it carried out every step as if its master were still alive, guarding the tombstone, forbidding anyone from disrespecting it. The moment her master was buried, her future was buried with him. For a dog whose entire value in this world was defined by the master in the tombstone, her time had frozen at that moment.
“Well, perhaps,” Iaar said, wagging her tail. “Iaar… quite likes that description. When Iaar finds the Fire Dragon and can die without worry, telling Young Master this description in heaven, he might laugh.”
Iaar thought. Her last act at Will’s tombstone, wagging her tail, if she could bring the Fire Dragon’s head and apologize properly, perhaps Will would forgive her for wanting to hurt him. She was already willing to curl up at the tombstone and bring the best thing she had, the thing Will liked most, as an apology. Will would surely… surely forgive her. If he forgave her, it would be even better if he could come back…
“…”
After Peflan finished her analogy, she realized she couldn’t convince Iaar at all. She would never join the White Castle, nor any other adventuring team. She would no longer live for herself. But perhaps this wasn’t a tragedy. For a “pet,” for a “dog,” this might be a reward for loyalty. And… perhaps Iaar’s most prideful way of living.
“One hu—One hundredth time! Will Hysterm is Entak’s number one good captain! That’s it… *huff… huff…* Can you let me go now?!”
“Hmph, anyway, don’t let me hear any more bad words about you!”
Iaar casually grabbed her shield from the side, looking like she was about to throw it down.
“You… you you you put down the shield, I dare not, I dare not!”
Watching Adam, who had once looked down on Will and even treated him arrogantly, now flee like a coward, Iaar’s smile disappeared.
“It’s a shame… he can’t see it.”
Realizing she was like a dog guarding a tombstone also meant… She was hitting her own heart, each repetition telling her that Will would not return.
“One hu—One hundred and first time!”
Iaar raised her hand, fingers spread open in the air. She could no longer measure a three-digit number with her hands.
“Will… Will Hysterm…”
Tears welling up, yet with a smile, she shouted again—
“Is Entak’s number one good captain!”
“Is the Hysterm Family’s best Young Master!”
“Is the person Iaar loves most in this world!”
