Arc 2 - Chapter 6: Stepping on Others (4/4)

After a few seconds, Lethi's voice came from the entrance of the inn and reached Yu. Immediately picking Yurine up, Yu jumped down the stairs two at a time.

Meanwhile, Yurine, who was suddenly picked up, was tapping Yu's shoulder to put her down after she recovered from her shock.

"Put me down!"

"Wait two minutes!"

He could see Lethi calling to him through the open inn door. The old ship captain was looking up.

Down from above jumped the swarthy man carrying a blonde woman in his shoulder.

Yu didn't know when his feet touched the ground, he flew out of the inn and started chasing the swarthy man, leaving the old sailors behind.

In the shoulder of the man he was chasing was probably Camaeron Don, who was actually a man.

"Why don't you cast a spell or something and knock them down!"

There were two reasons why they were running away from Yu. The first was that they didn't know Yu and thought he might be strong; the second was that they were afraid of Yurine, not Yu.

But no matter what their pursuers were running from them for, Yu was fast enough to catch up.

Still, he was not a good enough runner to overcome a long run. If they couldn't stop them in the next two or three minutes, he would tire and slow down.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Yurine, still being carried by Yu, raised her hand and the winds that had begun to gather at her wrist shot out in a horizontal column towards the two fleeing figures.

The man carrying Camaeron Don sensed Yurine's spell and slid to the right with a two-meter leap to avoid the column of winds that was moving straight ahead.

The spell went straight through and hit a tree, shattering its trunk.

"Did you try to kill them?"

"I couldn't adjust the setting."

By the time they left the area of buildings in the harbor behind, they had been running for over a minute and Yu was getting tired.

The harbor strip was divided into two parts, the area where the ships anchored and the area that was usually used as a warehouse.

The man they were chasing was fleeing to the warehouse area. He must have known it better than Yu, and if Yu lost sight of him, he might lose the only chance he had to catch Camaeron Don.

The dark-haired man entered a rocky area, skipping over the rocks like a parkour athlete. Yu followed him into the rocky area, but he couldn't move as fast as he could on the rocks.

He had to slow down to avoid losing his balance and falling, and the one they were chasing was catching up.

"Fire where he steps!"

"Fire what?"

"Just throw your magic!"

Yurine was confused, unable to understand Yu's term from the era of gunpowder weapons, and Yu, unable to find the right expression, chose words that would be more understandable to Yurine.

As before, Yurine threw a pillar of wind at the next rock the man they were chasing would step on. The dark-haired man felt the magic coming, but there was no other boulder for him to jump to, his foot made contact with the rock at the same time as the magic did. The rock shattered and the swarthy man and Camaeron fell into the water.

"We did it."

He set Yurine down and strode confidently over the rocks to where their prey had fallen.

"Don't try to escape, surrender if you don't want to be harmed."

He was holding Yurine's shoulder for his own safety, for the moment he left her he would have been destroyed by the dark man, who was much bigger than him.

A thin, white hand appeared on another rock. When that hand pulled the body it was tied to onto the rock, Camaeron Don appeared.

"Camaeron Don, don't try to escape." Camaeron fell on the rock. He was wearing a one-piece dark blue women's dress and it was wet.

It had started to rain. At first it was a light drizzle, but in the blink of an eye it picked up speed and became hard enough to hurt Yu's head.

Yu took another step and the dark-haired man carrying him jumped out from where Camaeron had come out.

Frightened by the sudden appearance of the man, Yu lost his balance and fell between the rocks into the water.

"Y-" He heard Yurine's voice, he was about to say his name but at the last moment she swallowed the word.

Then a man's harsh cry was heard, and by the time Yu climbed back onto the rocks and emerged from the knee-deep water, Yurine had sent the man back into the rocks with her wind magic.

"It hurts!" He was angry because he had hit his head as he fell, his hands peeling from scraping against the rocks.

"He's running away!"

Yurine reminded Yu, distracted by his pain, of their purpose. Camaeron Don had crossed the rocky area and was running in the direction of the big warehouses.

But he wasn't running fast, he was limping because he had injured his foot when he fell.

"Pathetic." That's what Yu thought of the fleeing Camaeron. Together with Yurine, he crossed the rocks, went out onto the plain and ran after Camaeron.

Camaeron didn't know where he was going either, and as he tried to dodge Yu by going between buildings, he ended up in a dead end.

Yu and Yurine had Camaeron cornered as the rain continued to fall heavily and thunder rumbled.

"It was so easy, it's not even midnight." He had worried about the difficulty of the mission, but now he marveled at its ease.

With nowhere to go, Camaeron turned away, his long blond hair wet and stuck to his cheeks. Whether it was tears or rain running down his dark blue eyes, Yu could not tell in the night lit only by the moon and stars.

"Now let's end this."

He had no intention of using it, but he wanted to scare him into behaving, so he pulled out the dagger hidden at his waist and showed it to Camaeron. "Don't make us use force. We will take you to your father-"

"NO!" It was not clear whether the thin voice belonged to a man or a woman, but what was clear was Camaeron's fear.

He shouted and threw the magic stone at Yu, who had not seen where he had gotten it from.

Yu, not expecting a move from him, froze in surprise. If it hadn't been for Yurine, the stone would have hit Yu in the face, leaving wounds that would have made him give up on life, and perhaps kill him.

But Yurine was here, she used her wind magic and the stone changed direction in mid-air, traveling back as fast as Camaeron had thrown it.

Camaeron fell to the ground screaming when the magic stone hit his leg. The stone exploded when it hit his leg, leaving a wound Yu hadn't anticipated and tearing off part of his leg.

"It happened so fast."

Camaeron groaned in pain on the ground. Yu knew his father would kill him after he had taken him in, but it hurt to see him in pain.

He moved closer to Camaeron, his pain reminding Yu of his helplessness against the Joy.

"Kill me," Camaeron said, pleadingly.

He was beautiful when you ignored the fact that he was a man and looked at him roughly. He was just as he had been portrayed in the miniature portrait, with a smooth white face and long, straight straw-blond hair. Her eyes were dark blue.

"But don't take me to my father..." When the lightning lit up the night again and Yu got closer to him, he could see fear and tears in the blue eyes.

"Why did it happen so fast?" He was someone he hadn't even known existed until a few hours ago, someone he had never seen until five minutes ago.

But a man he hadn't even known existed a moment ago was now in front of him, begging him.

"I don't want to kill you." He bit her lip, unable to say the words aloud.

He didn't want to kill Camaeron Don, but he believed that if he didn't kill Camaeron, Pepe Don would kill him to hide Marino's death.

To survive, he had to kill him and hope that he would be cut off from Pepe Don forever.

"I'm not going to kill you, we're going to Pepe Don." If he had to die, it had to be by the one who gave the order, Yu would not get blood on his hands.

"Why?" Camaeron was still in pain, his hands bloody from holding his shattered leg, and the pleading look in his eyes continued to hurt Yu.

"Because I want to stay alive too." Yu answered without thinking, not knowing why he was being honest.

Anger, then understanding, then acceptance appeared in Camaeron's eyes as he lay on the floor.

Yu was worried that if he talked to him anymore he would gain empathy and lose the cruelty needed to complete the task.

"Why are you laughing?" But despite his worry, he couldn't suppress his curiosity when Camaeron started laughing.

"It's normal, isn't it? This is the world, forcing you to step on others." His voice, which gave no information about his gender, trembled.

"I'm not interested in your philosophy."

Camaeron's thin lips trembled constantly as his frayed nerves formed a painful smile on his face.

"Please, kill me, don't take me to my father." Camaeron crawled closer to Yu and held onto his legs.

Unable to suppress a feeling of pity, Yu felt both disgusted that he was a man and sad that he was in such a pathetic state.

"I don't want to kill you!"

He pushed Camaeron, and Camaeron, who had no strength in his body, fell to the ground. He was hurt, and Yu felt instant regret for pushing him and making him hurt.

He was going to apologize but thought it would be ironic since he was the one who was going to get him killed. Yet his heart ached for the cruelty of his act.

"Please, if you take me to him... again..." He didn't finish his sentence. Camaeron grabbed Yu's right hand as Yu bent down to pick him up and take him away. He still held the dagger he had pulled out to scare Camaeron.

"Stop."

"Don't take me to him, I beg you kill me yourself."

He was begging a man he didn't know to kill him. Yu felt the strength in his arm fade, Camaeron had put the point of the dagger to his chest.

Only when he realized that the tip of the dagger was touching him did Yu regain control and stop himself.

"You want to survive too, don't you? I understand..." Camaeron's voice was getting lower and lower. "Someone is stepping on someone, I understand, but if this pain is to end, let it not end at his hands. I don't want him to touch me again."

"W-what you said?"

When confusion drove Yu into a void, Camaeron took advantage of it, grasping Yu's hand in both of his and pressing the dagger to his chest.

Unable to do anything about the sudden turn of events, Yu could only stare at Camaeron's face, hardened by pain. His hand was trembling. Camaeron's hands dropped and he let go of the dagger.

"What is your name?" said Camaeron. He was putting all his strength into speaking and raising his left hand to wipe the blood he had spat on Yu's face.

"Y-Yu…"

He was still dazed, everything was out of his control. Or he just wanted to believe that.

"…Valarfin."

"Yu Val...ar...fin..." Camaeron spelled Yu's name as he took his last breaths. "Your face is more beautiful than my father's."

Yu couldn't even swallow, he just looked into Camaeron's eyes.

Not wanting the last word to be about his father, Camaeron tried to say Yu's name again. "Yu... Val..."

With tears still streaming from his dark blue eyes, Camaeron breathed his last before he could finish the name on his lips.

"Why?" He had stopped fighting when he realized he had nowhere to run. Instead of begging to live, he had begged Yu to kill him, accepted death in a way Yu never could.

And when he left, he left Yu struggling with one question in his mind.

"Why? Why?"

How could things have moved so fast? He couldn't understand, he couldn't understand anything.

"Why?" He looked at Yurine as the word swirled in his mind. 

She had watched the whole thing without making a sound, but her silence was not because she found it normal. On the contrary, she was horrified.

Yurine's red eyes widened and her pupils shrunk. She stared at Camaeron's dead body in Yu's lap as the rain soaked her whole body.

"Yurine..." he called out to Yurine for emotional support.

When Yurine looked at him, what he received was not support, but an angry glow that reinforced his guilt.

"Look at me, human!" Yurine was unable to resist her voice, she looked him in the eyes. Yu was holding his breath like a soldier obeying an order. "I did all this for my mother! DO YOU UNDERSTAND? FOR YOU TO BRING MY MOTHER BACK!"

"Yes," Yu said, but he said it in his heart, he was in no mood to speak with his tongue.

"I did it to get my mother back..." Yurine clenched her fist, Yu was scared. "For my mother... for her..."

He understood, he felt guilty too.

Yu's guilt was even stronger for making Yurine feel guilty too.

As the pit in his chest sucked the remaining ounce of happiness out of him, he looked back at Camaeron Don, dead with his eyes open.

"Why?" he whispered. "How did it all happen so fast, how did it all come as a fait accompli?"   

His scattered mind could not find the answers. Grief was preventing him from thinking clearly.

He closed Camaeron's eyes, it was time to go.