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“Kisho, we’ll be camping over there.”
Kisho stopped going over their food and item rations and looked up to her.
Right in front of him were Sunrise and Waker waiting in silence for his response. The handsome-looking knight tapped her heel against the soil, creating a little hole in the process. At the same time, her companion, whose face was still left a mystery for many years now, had their hands idly fiddling with the wooden surface of their magical staff.
From the looks of it, the two, though such actions were discreet, looked like they were itching to get out of this certain area at once.
Now acknowledging Sunrise’s words, he nodded. Then, for a brief moment, he watched her and Waker walk away to an area not far from where their base camp were stationed.
As their backs became anything but shadows lingering about in the background, he heaved out a sigh at the sight before turning away and returning to his task.
They never took kindly to Dawner, do they? He could tell from the way they distanced themselves from him and those distrusting looks they cast at the blonde-haired hero whenever he made suggestions. If Dawner wasn’t engaged with Her Highness the Princess, perhaps they might treat the latter with more indifference.
Again, he sighed in dismay. He was most aware of it because he was the only one interacting with him, whether or not he wanted to.
Feeling an impending headache from the front of his head, Kisho shut his eyes and had one hand rub at his eyelids and temples.
‘But then again,’ he thought as his skin folds grew stiff, ‘it can’t be helped with the way he is. And let’s not forget that he made quite a ruckus this morning.’
With a sense of visible discomfort, he groaned from recalling it; their fixed-time sleeping was abruptly interrupted by those loud chuckles Dawner made, forcing them to start their adventuring so early…
And it wasn’t at dawn when it all happened!
But thankfully, with a god-awful timing of waking up and moving on also came with them retiring the same way. Well, much earlier than supposed to was what he meant.
As the sun slowly settled down and away from the sky, Kisho removed his hand from his face. He then proceeded to breathe in and out with ease, feeling a whole lot grateful that he could catch up on all the sleep he lost. But before that, he still needed to make sure that their supply–
“Kisho, hey!”
Oh, speak of the devil…
Even without looking up, he could tell that Dawner greeted him with a wide grin on his face, so blameless and carefree as if he had nothing to do with the early morning incident.
If this guy was actually aware of it, he hadn’t the faintest clue. And he’d rather not dwell further on the idea, both from complete disinterest and his desperate need for sleep.
With his eyes and hands still on the job, he asked, “is there something you need?”
Through his several years’ worth of journey in accompanying Dawner and the others, Kisho soon found that words and actions requiring the bare minimum effort to politeness became the norm to him. It so rarely exhausted him while also allowing some room of necessity to converse with the latter.
Though Sunrise and Waker may neglect to recall from time to time, Dawner was still the Hero given the duty of smiting down the Demon King and rescuing Her Highness the Princess from the Demon Castle. That fact alone made the citizens and the rulers of Goodereste view the man as a beacon of light and…
Well, it helped him put up with him a little more. Be it his terrible sense of direction, via tossing down a stick and following the direction it landed on instead of using a map, and the ridiculous choices he made that got them killed–
A little more, he was sure of it.
A little more, again, he insisted on.
Once the words left his mouth, he went on grabbing one of their water canteens and placing it on the palm of his hand to weigh it. Whether or not Dawner responded to his question, he cared little for either actions he chose to.
Or so he thought.
“I apologize for what happened earlier.”
And the water canteen on his hand slumped down a bit to the side, a slow gradual until it eventually dropped to the ground.
A loud thud that lasted a second in the midst of this silence.
Kisho blinked blankly and the firm line in his mouth came loose, utterly unsure of what to make of this;
Dawner apologized…?
But he caught himself just as quick with a shake of his head, urging himself not to display any more discourtesy in front of him. With a cough to clear his throat, he inquired in a measured tone of caution, “…was there a reason for it?”
Through the dim light provided by the fire, he can feel the airs coming out of the hero’s breathing, like small gushes of wind amidst all this early evening heat. He seemed to be contemplating over his question as he slowly breathed in and out, how strange.
It usually took no longer than a second for Dawner to prompt out a reply, quickly and without much consideration at that.
But instead of giving a meaning to such an oddity, Kisho waited without a word nor a thought about it while moving on from weighing their water canteens to segregating their still edible foods from the rotten bunch.
He took note of them; a couple of them were insect-infested and some of them slowly had their surfaces covered in molds or shades of brown. He sighed again, his chest heavy with pestering irritation.
He then dumped them into the ground where they can become one with nature. Their food supply really did go bad so easily, especially in this kind of weather. If only they had enough time and the ingredients to preserve their–
“Well, I thought I heard my friend Mao,” finally, his companion answered.
This time, Kisho stared straight at him, food drippings still on his hand. He watched closely as Dawner broke into a nervous laugh and a hand scratched the back of his head.
He was shrugging off his awkwardness, it seemed. But that was a trait that he wouldn’t dream of associating with the man.
And yet, here he was, doing just that.
And furthermore…
“Maou...?”
He raised a skeptical brow at this, an unpleasant feeling worming its way in his chest. It could’ve been a title or a name of similar pronunciations and characters, but from the way Dawner had exactly said it…
It was almost like he was referring to the Demon King himself.
All at once, it filled him with a sense of panic and dread, just from entertaining such a dangerous notion.
No, no. Impossible. Even if this man was a deadweight to the team at times and a fool, he’d always prided himself in being so fiercely loyal and dutiful to the people of Goodereste and most notably, its King and Queen. So, how can this be–
“Yes, Mao!” Dawner reiterated, a gleeful tone to his voice.
At that, the breath that Kisho didn’t realize he held back was released in sudden bouts of heaving. Hearing it for the second time, he paid careful attention as he took in that slightly different pronunciation. Right from the end of it.
Making it something else entirely and letting him know that his initial thoughts turned out to be false. Thankfully so.
But as relief came to ease down his stiff nerves, so did this spinning sensation in his head. Something he deemed to have come from his mental exhaustion and lack of sleep.
He chose to ignore it. As much as he could. For now, he had a task at hand and a comrade to listen to.
“And?”
“Remember that time when I told you that the Princess and I were in the forest, playing a game of race after we got separated from our attendants?”
As he wiped his hand clean with a spare cloth, he nodded in reply.
How could he and anyone else in the country have not known of that rather infamous incident from fifteen years ago? That very day when they found the Princess coming out of the forest unscathed without a young Lord Dawner by her side and that the King and Queen immediately issued a nationwide search party for him…
Yep, definitely a certain ‘mishap’ that was forever to be engraved in their minds. And not to mention…
The same went for him being reported as deceased for some time due to no success of finding him and that same boy suddenly showing up in the castle grounds half a year later….
On his own at that.
No, scratch that. The latter one was an even more shocking turn of events if you asked him. But anyhow…
No one but the royal court knew what became of him during his time in the forest, but it seemed that some of said knowledge will also be extended to him.
He hummed softly in light contemplation, finding the situation not all too unpleasant with him listening to Dawner narrate his experiences and continuing on his work. Undisturbed by anything else.
“So you mean to say that you met this Mao along the way?” While having asked that, Kisho cast a second-lasting glance from behind him, giving their other teammates a quick inspection.
There he saw in the distance that Sunrise and Waker had long since been huddled up inside of their makeshift beds. Good, plenty of sleep was what they needed.
Slowly turning his back on them, reassured at the sight of those two already resting, he returned his attention to Dawner.
“Yep, that’s right!”
As expected, when Dawner took a seat on a log next to him, he began with his recounting. With an almost earsplitting voice and sparkling eyes, he said, “I first met him when I fell into a ditch and saw another child there!”
That feeling of worry swelled up, having him whip his head around again and frantically hope that the other two weren’t awoken by the shrilling of his voice like it did earlier.
And thank goodness it didn’t. The considerable distance they had placed between themselves and him with Dawner was a good call, but still…
Shooting the younger man a scolding look, Kisho whispered sharply to him, “Dawner, lower your voice,” before allowing him to follow where his gaze was hinted at.
“Oh, sorry,” and his voice took on a much quieter tone before going on, “though, after we got out of it, I was cautious around him at first because I mistook him for a demon. You see, he was wearing such a big-horned headband as a hair accessories that looked too convincing…”
He released a grunt as that feeling left him. His comrade’s unintentional insensitivity to others was nothing new and having dealt with it on many occasions, he was quick to move on.
Instead, he was mildly curious, enough so that he wanted to go over the description he just heard.
Demons horns for a hair accessory, huh? While this concept was not so common, he’d known about it from merchants whom they crossed paths with from time to time; they informed him that circus troupes, researchers with keen interest on demons, or travelling merchants like themselves would often adopt such a habit to impersonate them, all for the sake of their own protection.
‘It’s a good strategy,’ he mused to himself, ‘most definitely to those who hardly had any combative experience, but it’s not too effective on the long run.’
Then, that meant it was only useful for short-termed encounters that were inevitable to avoid like this Mao person did with Dawner until the former figured out his comrade was a human. And Kisho simply left it as that before replying to him with another inquiry, “somehow, Mao seems like a nickname. Is that truly his name?”
“Nope, it’s the name he used to introduce himself after I asked him to call me ‘Yu’.”
He merely nodded along with it and then pulled out a piece of paper from his pockets. Proceeding with his next task.
Unfolding it to reveal a handmade map of the area they’d been scouting for the past three days, he also took out a fountain pen to use it into adding more details. Recording the few ones they discovered today.
Leaning a bit closer to the campfire, he heard Dawner clearly over his working progress, “since we were both stuck in such a predicament at the time, I made the proposal of me and him travelling together until both of us have found our homes.”
“Did he quickly warm up to the idea?”
“Well… I only offered because it was worrying to see him quiver so much with fright; I still remember it like yesterday,” he stated so, a hand rubbing the back of his neck. Rhythmic motions in repetition.
With a firm line set in his lips and lazy brows curving a bit, Kisho acceded to his words without much thought. Of course, of course, it was expected of Dawner to lend a hand to those in need.
But still, those would come with a price…
Even if his heart was in the right place, his call to help others usually ended in a complete disaster. Her Highness the Princess falling victim to it the most.
The terrors and downright embarrassing situations she had to face, all thanks to the ‘good deeds’ Dawner had done for her.
It was no wonder the Princess, in turn, loathed even at the sight of him. If she were to find out that Dawner was the Hero meant to rescue her, she'd surely–
Almost instantly, he brushed off that notion, not wishing to mull over it. ‘Focus, focus,’ he told himself in a moment of minor dread and panic, of memories that had nothing to do with him, ‘just focus on the childhood story Dawner is narrating to me…’
“I’m glad I made the right choice then!” Dawner beamed, as quiet as a chatterbox like him can get, “it was fun venturing the forest with him; we told each other stories, played a ton of games, fought some low-levelled monsters, hunted for food and cooked them ourselves, and then–”
His arms flailed about, moving so erratically with limitless energy and spirit and his hand would open and close as if he were grasping for those fond-filled memories…
Only to catch hot air with them.
And then, his arms fell to his sides. A limp move which lasted all but a second before repeating the previous action.
Kisho raised his brows at this, slightly confused to what he’d just witnessed…
His trail of thought came to a halt when he felt his grip loosening on the pen. Retightening his hold, he shook his head in immediate dismissal.
That must’ve been a figment of his imagination, he concluded, a slight exaggeration to what he’d seen his comrade do. It was so like Dawner to talk and behave in ways that held no deeper meaning to them, so Kisho paid no mind to it and continued listening.
After a while of seemingly endless tales of adventures, Dawner’s voice quickly got down to an almost hushed tone, one that made him pause from sketching geographical features on his map. He switched focus, straining to hear him.
“…Mao was really kind to me, you know; he'd smile and laugh at the things I told him, even if they were just gibberish. And when he noticed I had a hard time doing certain things, he’d point it out and help me practice lots until I got better at them,” a ghost of a smile graced his lips when he told him that, “despite not seeing him for many years now, my gut feeling tells me that he’s still the same.”
Baffled by what he was seeing, Kisho just stayed there. Motionless and unsure, but soon realizing that something was up with him.
“And on top of that,” that smile grew wider into a grin; the type that wasn’t meant to inspire a dutiful outlook or heroic hope. It was just bright and relaxed, nothing too special nor meaningful except to the wearer themselves.
It was unlike the smiles and grins he gave to the people of Goodereste and Her Highness.
“After he lent me his cloak because I was shivering from the cold, I got my first compliment. He told me that my blue eyes shone brilliantly through my golden locks…”
Even his voice right now sounded different; small yet so slow and steady…
“By first compliment, I meant that it’s the first one I got from someone around my age and, well… not affiliated with either my family or anyone from the Princess’s.”
An awkward chuckle coming from him and his gaze turned distant.
“I was so flattered that it took me a while to compliment Mao in return by telling him how I liked his voice…” Dawner said with a whisper of a voice, more so to himself rather than him, the listener to his story, “I had truly meant it then. Well, I still think that way, but I wonder if he actually knew…”
Kisho stared at him, taking a real good look at him.
His comrade was still the same in a way; an unreliable narrator to his own memories, trailing off or changing subject at times. Not to mention, Dawner was still cheerful, bright, and optimistic like he always was. However, there were tones of wistful thinking and yearning to it.
It was this kind of rare display, one that he hadn’t seen from him even when talking about the Princess previously, that made him think;
‘Ah, he must be really fond of this Mao…’
Sighing, Kisho averted his gaze from him and looked at their surroundings. The sun had long since settled down and in its absence was the moon in the dark-filled sky; a little source of light in contrast the former, but a comforting presence nonetheless.
Then, he felt the wind around them. Rather than the breezes that were cool to the touch, it was a slightly heated and the kind that made sweat stick to your skin. Still, it wasn’t all too bad…
Easy to get used to unlike a certain someone.
And his attention was back to Dawner who was crouched down in his seat. His fingers idlingly moving dirt around and his gaze was still as distant.
Pushing his fountain pen and map back into his pockets, he told him in a hurry, “w–we can look for him while we’re at it!”
In an instant, his comrade bounced back to his bubbly self and laughed, “ah, whoops! I got too sidetracked. You and I should get some rest now!”
He got to his feet and turned around, but Dawner didn’t leave him be without saying this particular bit, “also, thanks for the offer, but I’d prefer to search for him myself after this mission.”
A flashing smile and he went away, just like that…
Leaving Kisho all by himself, being swept up in a state of confusion and wonder.
‘As I thought, there’s something about him when it comes to this Mao.’