The Immortal Had a Guardian Spirit Chapter 14

‘Easy.’

Having gotten two rooms for free as an apology for forgetting him, Raven climbed the stairs with Didi perched on one arm, jingling the keys.

He had to add a few words to get the room he’d been lying in before leaving, in case the innkeeper was surprised by the disheveled state of the room, even though she’d ‘never lent it to anyone else’…

“By any chance, could one of the rooms be 202? That’s the room I got when I first met you, sister.”

“Oh my…! Well, of course! I’ll give you 202 and 203. Let’s see… the keys…”

“…Isn’t that a key over there in the corner of the counter?”

“Huh…? Why is this here…”

“Looks like it was put down for a moment and got pushed aside.”

“Is that so? Look at me, so scatterbrained. I’ve been forgetting things so often lately.”

“But forgetting me was too much, sister.”

“Oh dear, I said I’m sorry, didn’t I? That’s why I’m giving you two rooms.”

“That’s true. Thanks.”

It wasn’t difficult, because everything flowed just as he wanted as long as he gave a gentle eye-smile.

Of course, Dan’s horrified gaze came along as a bonus in the process, but so what? Raven brazenly lifted his chin.

‘If you’re jealous, you try it.’

Though of course you couldn’t even if you wanted to.

The good thing about not being remembered is that no matter what crazy thing you do, it doesn’t matter. No one will remember it anyway, so I just have to forget it too.

A message came down from the guardian spirit, lamenting that the words meant to raise his self-esteem hadn’t raised it at all and had only produced side effects, but Raven just smirked, pretending not to notice.

And then, returning to reality.

Was it when his steps, having found the two rooms without difficulty, paused between them? A small voice came, as if gauging his mood.

“Um… Mr. Raven.”

A call that pulled his consciousness out of useless thoughts.

Immediately, Raven’s head dropped down.

“Why?”

“Just one room would have been fine…”

“…No matter how young you are, isn’t it absurd for a noble young lady to ask to sleep in the same room as an unfamiliar adult man…?”

A child whose very way of speaking showed she was educated couldn’t possibly not know this. Had culture really changed in that short time?

“But… it’s a bother. Having received help already, I can’t impose further here…”

“Ah, forget it. What do you mean a bother?”

I’m the one who did all the bothersome things.

The face of the innkeeper lady, who had been genuinely apologetic, came to mind.

Raven, who had been silent for a moment, ruffled Didi’s hair, set her down on the floor, and handed her the key to room 203.

“She said she’d prepare bathwater too, so wash up first and get some good rest. I’ll leave my window open, so if there’s any problem, call for me from your room. I’ll come find you then.”

“Yes, thank you. And…”

“Hm?”

“Um, there’s something I really must tell you… that is, well…”

She hadn’t even gotten to the main point yet, and the situation was resolving itself, so she seemed anxious. The child, who had been gauging the mood the whole way here unable to find the timing to speak, hurriedly reached out and tightly grabbed the hem of his clothes. A slightly trembling voice, laced with urgency, flowed out toward the man whose expression had vanished, making his thoughts unreadable.

“Please help me…”

A request made not by calculating and beating around the bush on how to persuade him, weighing things, but purely filled with earnestness.

…Indeed, at this rate, they would part ways as soon as day broke. This child likely knew too that, having already arrived at the inn, he might leave her with the innkeeper right away and depart.

A child’s intuition is sharp. The child had noticed that Raven wasn’t going to take care of her. He had actually been planning to do just that.

However.

‘Ah, damn.’

It was such a childlike request.

He would have preferred it if she’d come out brazenly. At the weak voice that reminded him that no matter how much she acted like a noble, she was ultimately a child, Raven froze on the spot.

“I-I know this is shameless. My life was saved, and thanks to you, I’m able to stay at this inn. I know it’s beyond the pale to wish for anything more here.”

“…”

“But I must go to the Capital. Since you are so outstanding in martial prowess, Mr. Raven, you would be able to take me there safely.”

“…Is there a way to contact your family?”

“I can’t trust them. And it’s a situation where receiving help is difficult.”

“…”

“I will certainly repay you. So…”

“Enough.”

Haah. It seems I’ve been snared no matter what. He unconsciously pressed his forehead.

“Even if I ask, you won’t tell me the details, will you?”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Forget it. I’m not curious anyway.”

He had been planning to go to the Capital anyway, so it wasn’t a big problem. He wasn’t so incompetent a person that he couldn’t protect one child’s life on a journey.

However, before that, he had been planning to stop by the territory of the Elven Tribe…

He lowered his hand and took the child into his eyes.

“Is it urgent?”

“Ah… yes.”

“I see.”

It must be. If it weren’t, she wouldn’t have asked a suspicious stranger who hadn’t even been verified like this in the first place.

Well… as for being suspicious, this child was in the same boat.

‘…A victim of the gate and a young child at the same time.’

Conditions he couldn’t shake off just because it was bothersome, just because she was suspicious. The child’s particularities were too strong, and Raven let out a sigh.

…Let’s think positively. It would be hard to shake off Dan right now and go to the Elven Tribe’s territory anyway…

“I’ll take you to the Capital.”

“!”

“So rest easy.”

Stopping by the Capital first wouldn’t be so bad either.

With a body that can’t die anyway, putting off going to the Elven Tribe’s territory was fine. The reason he wanted to heal the wound was also just because the bleeding was bothersome.

[Guardian spirit ??? lets out a sigh.]

…Though the guardian spirit doesn’t seem to see it that way.

Raven pretended not to notice and turned his body to open the door to his room.

He entered, closed the door, and sat down on the edge of the bed. His gaze, scanning the familiar room, settled calmly.

[Guardian spirit ??? asks why you deliberately got a separate room.]

“Asking that now, for someone supposedly smarter than me… Well, as you know, there are several reasons.”

First, there’s a small part of him that wishes she’d forget him.

Even though he accepted the request, it would be a gain if the person in question forgot. Since this is an inn anyway, even if she forgot him, she’d surely manage to contact the right people and return on her own. Considering that all inns also function as a kind of communication network, there’s nothing to worry about.

Furthermore, even putting aside such minor reasons.

“But what bothers me most is, after all…”

[‘Suspicious.’]

“Exactly.”

So you knew after all.

It’s just as he says. The timing was too coincidental.

“Ever since the incident with the youngest disciple, I’ve gotten a bit paranoid.”

Isn’t the situation contrived? Dan had been verified through the great ordeal of ‘his sister’s death,’ but ‘Didi’ was not. To confirm that, he had to get a separate room.

Raven gathered his long, flowing hair with his hand and tied it low, murmuring.

“Isn’t Didi’s way of speaking too stiff for a noble young lady? If we assume she’s an heir of a martial family, it could be, but it’s a strangely familiar manner of speech.”

It bothers me.

“Besides, I caught a familiar scent on the way here. At first, I thought I was mistaken because it overlapped with the smell of monster blood…”

A smell of blood that he’d smelled to the point of utter disgust.

The scent that grew stronger even after leaving the area where he’d clashed with the monsters couldn’t possibly be his imagination. He couldn’t say it was from his own wound either, as the direction was definitely different, so what remained was obvious.

There’s no way a civilian would be wandering around in the dead of night, not valuing their life.

“It seems the ones who kidnapped ‘Didi’ are dead.”

He’d have to check the bodies to be sure, but if his guess was right, at least the fact that she was kidnapped would be true.

Anyway, he had been planning to properly check this part too. If she really had been kidnapped, a carriage or horses would have been used, and an abandoned carriage, wheel tracks, hoof prints, and the like would have remained on the ground.

“Checking bodies is much easier than finding and confirming living, moving ones, so I don’t mind either way, but the problem is…”

[Guardian spirit ??? expresses doubt about their deaths.]

“Right. That’s what’s strange.”

The monsters that poured out were definitely all dealt with by the guardian spirit before they could go far.

Even Didi, who was right in front of the gate, was unharmed, so isn’t it absurd for people who abandoned everything early on and ran far away to be killed by monsters?

“Why did they die?”

—No.

“Who killed them?”

Was it a wild beast whose presence he hadn’t even felt, or was it some other ‘someone’?

“For now, I’m trying to think it might be a monster that got missed…”

But I have a feeling it’s not that.

In any case, as long as there’s even a sliver of a chance it was a missed monster, checking is mandatory.

Pausing briefly from his thoughts, tilting his head, Raven soon rose from his spot and approached the window. A very light mutter followed.

“Well, before that, I need to know if they are indeed the people I predicted.”

So let’s move for now.

He placed one foot on the window frame. Just as he was about to jump down without hesitation, Raven flinched, meeting the eyes of a crow glaring sharply outside the window.

“…”

“…”

Even though it’s just a bird, he blatantly felt a sharp gaze that seemed to say it had expected this.

Having halted and engaged in a staring contest—or not quite a staring contest—with the crow, Raven quietly lowered the leg he’d placed on the window frame. This time, his goal wasn’t to shake it off, and he planned to go out and come back soon, so there was no reason to tiresomely start a chase.

‘This damn stalker…’

As if to show it, he took off his outer garment and threw it onto the bed. There had to be at least some proof that he’d return, so it wouldn’t come chasing him in person. The shard soul… he’d long given up on that.

Now that he’d been caught, it was better to go out boldly through the door rather than move around suspiciously in secret. Raven turned his body and opened the door.

“…Oh.”

And he faced someone unexpected.

His clear green eyes blinked, holding faint surprise. But only for a moment. A fine smile blossomed across his entire face, centered around his curving eyes.

Raven folded his arms and leaned his upper body against the doorframe. Slowly tilting his head, he softly asked the equally surprised person before him.

“Do you have some business, sister?”

“Oh, oh dear. You startled me, suddenly opening the door… It’s nothing much, just come eat. It’s late, but you probably haven’t had a meal yet.”

“…Ah, a meal.”

Come to think of it, he usually did eat regularly.

Then that child must be hungry too. Since he himself didn’t eat, he hadn’t thought about that part at all.

“I’ll eat later. Instead of me, could you take care of the child next door?”

“I was going to call her anyway… Are you going somewhere?”

“Just a short walk. I have a few things to think about.”

“If you’re too late, it’ll all get cold and won’t taste good…”

“It’s just a moment, really. I’ll be back soon, so don’t worry.”

Then please take care of it.

Raven, who had grinned, turned his bo… dy, but then paused— and looked back at her again.

“Just in case I’m asking… Are there any dangerous wild animals around here, or anything like that?”

“No? If there were, I would have told you to be careful first.”

“I thought so. Then I’ll really be going now.”

He immediately turned his body and crossed the hallway. Leaving behind the voice calling the child and recommending a meal, he went down the stairs. As soon as he came outside, he kicked off from the spot.

Above his head, as if it were only natural, the crow followed.

∞ ∞ ∞

‘…Really persistent.’

Raven glanced upward.

He didn’t care whether the shard soul followed or not, but it was a bit troublesome if it eavesdropped on his conversation with the guardian spirit.

Had he walked for about 10 minutes? Eventually, he stopped his quietly moving steps and raised his head. He waved his hand at the crow, and the black bird, which had been flapping briefly while looking this way, moved far enough away that its sounds couldn’t be heard.

‘I was going to forcibly detach it if it didn’t listen.’

It really isn’t lacking in perception, is it.

Pfft, letting out a light laugh, Raven composed his expression as if he had never done such a thing and called the guardian spirit. A calm voice dispersed into the night air and scattered in the emptiness.

“Brother. Don’t we have something to talk about?”

[…]

“I’m thinking of asking the question I’ve been putting off now…”

A clue about his name.

Since he had a history of making a slip of the tongue on this matter and receiving the guardian spirit’s fury and silence in return, Raven heightened all his senses to be on edge and brought up a different question before getting to the main point.

“You’re not still mad, right?”

Even though you came out yourself and saved me, and we talked normally after that.

“…You said you don’t hate me.”

As the silence seemed to grow a little long, impatient words reflexively burst out. Raven quickly shut his mouth.

That was something I shouldn’t have said right now. I made a mistake.

To harbor suspicions about the guardian spirit while simultaneously hoping he’s still friendly—what could be more ridiculous? There’s no way the perceptive guardian spirit didn’t know about my wariness that unconsciously seeped through.

I’d have no excuse even if I were ridiculed for this. A sneer formed at the corner of his mouth.

‘I really am a selfish bastard.’

Now that I think about it, I don’t think I said the most important thing either.

I’ve grown old for nothing. How could I forget this? Mentally beating himself up inside, he opened his mouth.

A much-too-late apology tumbled out.

“Sorry.”

There was no other flowery rhetoric. Leaving whatever came next to the guardian spirit, Raven resumed his halted steps.

[…]

“…”

Silence flowed.

As if at a loss for words, the guardian spirit, who had been blankly watching Raven from the space of the dead, belatedly let out a sigh. His words fell upon the one gauging his mood, acting as if the delayed answer wasn’t one.

[I’m sorry too.]

“What…? Ancestor… No, brother, why are you…]

[Because I hadn’t realized that I had failed to earn your complete trust. In that situation, my silence must have become terror for you.]

So that was why you didn’t call the guardian spirit even in a dangerous situation.

Because if even in a dangerous situation the guardian spirit didn’t respond, you would truly realize you had been abandoned. If you had been certain that the guardian spirit would never abandon you no matter what, such a thing wouldn’t have happened.

In the end, my actions sealed your lips.

It was my fault for not realizing that Death had sprouted a seed of doubt in you. No, my fault lay first in being complacent and thinking it would be fine, even though I had unconsciously noticed. The guardian spirit swept his hand over his face in wretchedness.

[I still have far to go as well.]

“No…”

[You asked if I was angry? I’m not. What right do I have to be angry with you?]

“…”

[…As an apology, I’ll tell you now.]

There was no need to ask what it was about.

[The clue about my identity, my name, that you’ve been curious about.]