“Why are you making a stupid face?”
When the man remained still, stunned, Erich threw away the man’s hand and pulled Rayan to him. Stumbling, Rayan stood behind Erich. As Erich became an adult, he grew up a lot, but Rayan had to glance up to see if he had grown any taller.
While Rayan followed only Erich with a blank gaze, a group of men who had regained their senses made stern expressions. Erich easily ignored them and turned around.
“This goddamn bastard, do you know who I am!”
“A gangster.”
“What?”
“Louse.”
“Or are you a crook?” Erich managed to get under their skin without changing his expression. His sarcasm was first-rate.
Rayan worried, what if Erich got hit by them? He might be taller than them and look down on them, but they are much wider sideways than him. Fearing that he might get hurt, Rayan tugged on the hem of his clothes.
Erich glanced in annoyance at the tug from behind, but he didn’t shake off Rayan’s hand.
“This bastard!”
The man’s face flushed red with contempt. He clenched his fists and trembled as if he was going to punch Erich in the face at any moment. Rayan flinched, ready to stop him if he had to.
“… What are you going to do?”
Even if he could have guessed Rayan’s intentions, Erich looked down at him in disbelief.
“How dare you ignore me?”
The man finally exploded at the sight of the other who was focusing on Rayan as if he didn’t care about him. He shook his clenched fist violently. Rayan jumped right out. He couldn’t stand by and watch Erich’s pretty face get scratched. However, Erich was quicker, grabbing the man’s wrist and twisting it.
Erich broke his arm and crushed the man’s off-center body while simultaneously stomping down hard on his back with his foot. Thud. Along with the sound of something twisting, he also heard a gasp of pain, but Erich did not let go of the man’s arm. The arm bent backwards was crooked in a grotesque shape.
“You’d rather have been ignored.”
“Uh, urgh…!”
“Yes?”
The man struggled wildly to get free, but Erich, who held him down, didn’t seem to be affected in the slightest. His expression was nonchalant, and his breathing was calm. He even had the luxury of raising an eyebrow at the other party, as if daring the other.
However, the man couldn’t move hastily because they were suppressed by Erich’s temperament.
“Also, the word ‘dare’ is not to be used casually, you.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Ft- et…”
“Pa’r j kbgv atja lr bcis jqqgbqgljaf obg wf ab erf.”
“Kt- atf uejgvr…”
Ktf wjc ktb kjr ujrqlcu obg tlr ygfjat ibbxfv obg atf uejgvr.
“Xejgvr?”
“J- Jjii atf uejgvr.”
“Vegf. Vtjii kf mjii jcv rff ktb ufar ajxfc jkjs?”
Sglmt rcbgafv jcv gfqilfv msclmjiis. Lf kjr atf tlutfra jwbcu tewjcr, rb atfgf kjr cbatlcu ragjcuf jybea tlr gfjmalbc. Ktfgf kjr cb vbeya atja atf uejgvr kfgf jirb tlut-gjcxlcu qfbqif, yea lcmbwqjgjyif ab Sglmt.
“Um.”
However, Rayan didn’t want to see Erich do this any more. He shook the hem of his clothes that he was holding on to. Erich’s gaze turned to Rayan.
“…”
Seeing the look on his face, Erich removed the foot that was trampling on the man’s back. Only then did the man groan and curl into a ball. His arm was already hanging limply and strangely. Erich glanced at the man with a cold gaze and grabbed Rayan’s hand and went out.
There were no words to hold them back this time.
***
Rayan’s wrists were throbbing from being tied up the previous day, but he didn’t show any signs of pain, lest Erich let go of his hand. Erich strode briskly without looking back. It was only at the corner of the road where it was deserted of people that his pace gradually slowed down. The sound of the waves could be heard faintly from somewhere.
As soon as Erich turned around to Rayan, his black hair was dyed the original golden color.
“You.”
There was a slight nervousness mixed into his suppressed voice. Rayan’s eyes were drawn to his hair, but he quickly looked at Erich’s face.
“If you’re in trouble, you should ask for the guards to be called. Are you that stupid?”
“…”
“This kid, you even have the cheek to go to a bar in the daytime and drink.”
The unexplained irritation quickly turned into nagging.
Erhart couldn’t understand himself at all. It’s ridiculous that he traced Rayan’s trail through a familiar, but as soon as he knew his whereabouts, he left the castle and went to see him. Besides, he couldn’t stand to watch him get into trouble as soon as he found him. And also, his wrists were bothersome to hold because the wrists were just thin flesh wrapped around a skeleton
Although he was the one who threw him out via Karel.
It was also Erhart who declared that there would be no intention of meeting him again. However, he was constantly bothered in many ways. Not even the dirt under his fingernails would have bothered him this much.
“I am old, … yo.”
Rayan muttered, hiding his hand behind his back, as if he was worried that he might be grabbed by the wrist again, which was unpleasant, but Erich managed to look away and sarcastically retorted.
“Like heck you are.”
“It’s true.”
When Erhart snorted, Rayan insistently denied it, but he didn’t believe him. Looking at that face, no, looking at that ignorant figure, how could anyone believe that? The smell of alcohol wafting was inconsistent.
“Because you are old, you were drinking cheap rum even with that money. Or did you drink it because it was flavored and you thought it would taste sweeter?”
It was a plausible suspicion. For that matter, the number of bottles of liquor he had glimpsed earlier on the table where Rayan sat was disturbing, but he pretended not to notice.
“Even if it’s bitter, I can take it.”
Rayan continued to protest.
Erich, who met again, became very good at making him feel wronged. First of all, he wasn’t a dunce. He only hesitated a little as he tried to figure out how to get the thugs out of the way without hurting them much. And Rayan was much older than Erich anyway.
‘… A mermaid’s lifespan is longer than a human’s, so if you take that into account, you can’t be said to be much older than me, Rayan.’
Of course, even back when Erich had his memories, he didn’t want to admit it, saying that humans and mermaids seemed to have slightly different ideas of age. Rayan pretended not to listen, and Erich also didn’t accept Rayan’s opinion, so the difference in opinion about age between the two had never been narrowed down.
“Forget it.”
Again, the topic quickly changed.
“I hear you’re a minstrel.”
Rayan was a bit embarrassed by the title he was referring to, but nodded. He was full of questions he wanted to ask. Was it peaceful last night, did you sleep well, did my song soothe you?
“Fine. You do have a gift for singing.”
“…”
“It wasn’t Niels Canavan’s exaggeration.”
Rayan’s face brightened. Looking closely at Erich’s words, it was ultimately a compliment. To say he has a talent means that his last night was peaceful. Of course. He sang a song in the language of mermaids, gathering every ounce of magic he had. There was no way it wasn’t working, but he was glad to hear it.
“What.”
Erhart was perplexed inside. It wasn’t a criticism, but it wasn’t a compliment either, but Rayan smiled so brightly. The spotless white smile contained only joy without any motive.
“…”
The bewilderment was short-lived. Erhart looked into Rayan’s face as if he were an idiot and blurted out.
“Why are you smiling?”
Like that, it’s so strange that he couldn’t take his eyes off it.
“It’s just, I like it.”
I like it. All of it, without missing a single thing. At the unexpected answer, a flicker of embarrassment flashed across Erhart’s face. But it was fleeting.
“Don’t smile.”
Erich, who had been watching Rayan’s smiling face somewhat obstinately, erased the expression that came to his mind and spoke through gritted teeth. Rayan’s smile faded for a moment by the unexpected words, and he clicked his tongue again, as if he didn’t like that either.
“Don’t even make that face.”
“Then what?”
“… Don’t even ask me.”
What did that mean? Should he frown? Or should he just ignore it and smile? Rayan looked up at him with clear eyes as if demanding an answer. He thought he would tell him not to look at him like this then. At this point, Rayan also had a comeback.
“Why isn’t this better yet?”
What unexpectedly caught Erich’s attention was the scratch on his cheek. The wounds of last night should have healed in one day. He used to be very resilient, but that was a thing of the past.
Rayan covered his cheek and tilted his head slightly. He didn’t want the scars he caused to remain in Erich’s memory. When he later finds his memories, he would blame himself.
“… Ah.”
Rayan, who was about to take a step back to cover up his wound, blinked as he suddenly stopped at the black flickering vision. The ground shook as if to mock his dizziness.
“What’s wrong with you all of a sudden?”
“…”
“Hey. You?”
He let out a short breath, closed his eyes, and then opened them, but the strength that supported his body was gone. Rayan threw a glance at Erich before closing his heavy eyes. A voice was heard along with hands that embraced the collapsing body. ’So my name is… Rayan.’
I can’t wait for his memories to come back >__<
Thx for the ch :3