Suicide

"Did you... Jump into the water on purpose?"

My hand froze in the air while holding a few strands of my hair as I stared right at the young master's eyes.

'Oh? He found out?'

I guess my demander of a few minutes ago was strange enough for anyone to guess that something was wrong with me. As it seems, Alaric is not really a fool after all.

"Did you... Was it a..."

Alaric drew in a gasp.

"Was it a suicide?"

"...."

My mind momentarily stopped functioning.

"You... You jumped into the river on purpose... And you were mad that I attempted to save you and... And... That time when we were attacked! You jumped in front of the blade and nearly died as well! You also drank my tea- Oh no that was an accident but that time you nearly died as well!"

"...."

I stood there as Alaric babbled out nonsense as much as he could, only staring at the man's amber eyes in a daze. My previous guess was wrong. Alaric is indeed a fool.

"Ian! Why? Why do you want to end your life?"

"...."

Tap

Alaric took a step closer to me.

"Life is precious! You shouldn't treat it that way! You can't die like this you are still too young!"

The man who was calling me young could probably be considered the age of my son, if I ever had any, and was seizing me up with concerned eyes as if looking at a pitiful creature that had lost its way home. I didn't know how much I was supposed to act in this awkward situation and how should I respond to this man.

Alaric grabbed my shoulders and shook my body a little bit.

"Look, Ian! Your life matters a lot! Do you understand? You shouldn't think about death, but about how you want to build your future."

"...."

I can't build a future dude, I just keep regressing whatever I do!

"Is it because you are a servant? Is life hard for a servant? But I'm your master, you could've told me about it! I could solve your problems if I knew!"

"..."

Shake Shake Shake

My body got swayed back and fro.

'I didn't want to attempt suicide, but even if I wanted to, you would be the reason for it!'

Of course, I kept those words to myself.

"E-even if I can't help you and you don't want to talk to me, you still have to seek help from someone! Ranger is a little bit scary but I'm sure he cares deeply about you, Ian! Ian!"

Sniff

On the edges of Alaric's round eyes, small, transparent tear droplets were gradually forming. His face was flushed and his eyes were red. He stopped his words to sniff a few times, his grasp on my shoulder tightening at the same time.

'What?'

Why is he crying? No, he is not crying, but he is about to cry? Why is he so agitated all of a sudden I didn't even answer him about this suicide attempt! First of all, we are not even close friends yet! Why would he care about me dying or living any way? Isn't he overreacting? I know he has turned into one of those kind and caring types of people, but this is still not normal! This is not worry or concern for someone but more like panic.

"I-is it that bad? Can't you talk to me about it to me? But if you don't see me as a friend then... Then... But there are no psychologists in this world! Ian! Ian! Sniff! Ian, please don't die!"

"...."

I hope I had told him that I want to run away from this place. Maybe... Maybe he'd let me run away without stopping me if I'd asked him for help... Yeah, that would be a lot better than the situation that I'm in.

"It's not how you think, young master!"

Sniff sniff

My words didn't seem to have much of an effect, instead, Alaric started crying almost instantly.

'Someone save me!'

I don't know how to console people!

"Ah, look! I didn't jump into the river to kill myself! I actually don't like death! It's not comfortable at all. Living is a pain in the ass, but living is a pain in the ass as well. By killing yourself, you are only transferring from this ass-pain to the other ass-pain! As someone who doesn't like pain, I don't really intend to kill myself for the time being!"

Smiling, I spat out anything that came to my mind.

"...For the time being? You mean you have plans of killing yourself later?"

"...."

Is that all the thing you got from my words?

"What I meant is that..."

I stopped my sentence midway and my brows knitted unconsciously. It was because I sensed something strange for a second. There was a slight lingering feeling of danger that was growing stronger and stronger as if the danger was getting more and more deadly in the span of a few seconds.

'Huh?'

What just happened? Is something approaching us? Are there monsters hidden in the jungle or is it an assassin?

Grrrrrr

Just at that moment, a low voice entered my ears. It was a quiet growl, a sound that didn't belong to a human or to a monster. I looked away from Alaric and kast my gaze to the empty area behind his back. Without any difficulty or even having to search a little bit, the sight of numerous small shiny dots entered my view.

Grrrrr

Grrrrr

Grrrrr

Even Alaric noticed that something was not wrong and turned to look behind him after hearing the growls, only to face the same scene as me.

"W-wolves?"

His tear-soaked face paled and his muscles tensed. With his grip tightened around my shoulder, even more, Alaric took a step away from the group of beasts that were appearing behind him one by one. He opened and closed his mouth several times, but no voice left his lips. It was clear that he was scared out of his mind, but he was unable to express anything.

I can't say I was calm at that moment. Besides the initial shock that came to me due to the sudden appearance of danger, there was also confusion about the reason why all these beasts were gathered here. It could be said that coming across wolves and other wild animals in this jungle was a normal thing, but it was not so normal for a huge number of them to move together on the outskirts of the jungle.

Grrrr

Growl

Grrrrr

The bests gradually and slowly walked towards the two of us, closing the distance between themselves and their future foods little by little.

"I-Ian..."

Alaric slowly muttered as he pulled me back with himself.

"We have to run!"

He didn't take his eyes off of the beasts at all, not even while talking to me.

"We can't outspeed these beasts..."

There was not even the slightest chance for us to do so. We'd be torn to shreds if we attempted to run.

"Then what?"

At his answer, I glanced at the river just beside us.

"Jump in there."

"...Pardon?"

Before the puzzled Alaric could understand what he was supposed to do, I took two big steps and jumped inside the river.

I jumped in the water after pushing Alaric into it.