Honestly, I couldn’t believe that Lili, the Demon King’s subordinate, hadn’t harmed the Mage, but seeing the Mage healthy after waking up made me feel a bit sorry for doubting her unnecessarily.
‘She’s definitely not a liar.’
I slightly bowed my head as an apology, though Lili couldn’t see it.
But that didn’t mean the Mage was completely back to normal.
She kept muttering, “Was that a dream?” with a gloomy expression, and I couldn’t entirely blame Lili for giving her sweet dreams, considering the situation.
I just hoped the Mage could get through this well.
As I gazed at the Mage with a pitying look, Nameless, who seemed a bit uncomfortable, stepped in front of me and spoke.
“What’s wrong?”
“Master, have you thought it over?”
“…Were you being serious?”
I rubbed my face.
“Really? Didn’t you like it too?”
A sigh escaped from me at Nameless’s genuinely innocent face that showed zero hidden motives.
“I think it’s cool, Cheon—”
“AAAH! Please, just don’t! I’m sorry!”
Nameless was acting like this because of our conversation from the previous day.
…What happened between Nameless and me last night?
After listening to my ramblings for a while, Nameless frowned like he couldn’t understand and opened his mouth.
“Isn’t it just enough to build your organization, Master?”
“Hmm, didn’t I just say that? I said I’d be building a force.”
Nameless shook his head firmly.
“It’s a bit different. What you mentioned doesn’t quite seem like an organization.”
What?
Nameless was rejecting my opinion straight up; that shocked my face into a strange twist.
“Why is that?”
“You may have a connection with me, Master, but the people who follow you don’t, so there’s no bond—no, camaraderie either.”
“Hmm….”
Is that so? It kind of makes sense.
As I was uncertain, Nameless continued talking.
“Rather than pretending to be their mental support, wouldn’t it be better if you took on the role of their ruler to unite them?”
“Ugh… you know I don’t like having a lot of people around…”
Just imagining it made my stomach churn.
To think I should act as a ruler; I stuck out my tongue and frowned in disgust.
Nameless gave me a puzzled expression before speaking as if trying to persuade me.
“Why don’t you consider it positively? Building an organization would help you achieve your goals instead of hindering you.”
Hmm, the way Nameless was saying it made it sound reasonable…
He wouldn’t do anything harmful to me, right?
As I tilted my head, Nameless’s eyes got stuck on the uniquely popping hair on top of my head.
His gaze was moving left and right as if it were tracking my hair.
“Well, taking it slow wouldn’t be a bad idea.”
“Right, and since the group you lead is likely to be recognized by the Empire and the Church as the Demon King’s force, we probably won’t be able to do any open missionary work.”
Ah, I hadn’t thought about that…
It seems like Nameless is more serious about this than I am.
I awkwardly mumbled.
“There’s an approach somewhat similar to what you initially said, Master.”
Oh, did I actually say something good?
I couldn’t help but smile happily.
Nameless suddenly flinched at my hair, trembling slightly before continuing.
“I think the best place to start missionary work would be in the poor areas where people aren’t too observant.”
How can he come up with such ideas in such a short time?
Could it be because he learned from me?
My shoulders puffed up with pride.
“Well, if you say so… but why are you so serious about this?”
Could it be that he’s playing at being the leader of a secret organization or something?
Imagining Nameless swinging a toy sword around pretending to play house made me chuckle.
At my silly mental image of Nameless, he looked quite genuinely confused.
“Uh? Wasn’t that what you wanted to do, Master?”
What?
“Why do you think that?”
“Well, when we lived in that shack, you would often raise your wooden sword and shout, ‘I am Cheonma!’ wouldn’t you?”
“What?”
I froze. Did I really do that? Nameless must be mistaken.
I turned back to him, making an unpleasant noise.
“Haha, what are you talking about? I never did that.”
An awkward laugh escaped me as cold sweat trickled down my forehead and neck.
“Uh? Every time you were alone at the training ground, you would say you had a million followers from the Cheonma Church and your right-hand man, the Sword Master, Nameless…”
“AAAHHH! Shut your mouth!”
I tried to forcibly cover Nameless’s mouth, but he quickly stepped back and kept talking.
“Why not? I see it as a good thing.”
“Stop!”
Nameless dodged my hand trying to cover his mouth and continued.
“It’s known to the outside world that we’re cooperating with the Demon King, isn’t it a brilliantly fitting name?”
“…”
“Combining Cheon from your surname with Ma from Demon, I thought you could see the future!”
“…”
“And the name you gave me, Sword Master, seemed wobbly at the start, but thinking it over, it’s really cool.”
“Ugh…”
“Master…?”
Digging up someone’s dark history isn’t something a devil should do!
My fists clenched tightly, and my shoulders trembled as my vision began to blur.
“No… this is what you wanted…”
I screamed as if bursting.
“Hick, that never happened!”
At this moment, the authority of the Master plummeted below the ground.
…
Nameless’s words brought back dizzying memories from yesterday.
I realized that what I recalled wasn’t a memory; it must have been a dream.
Ah, I see, it was just a dream after all.
There’s no way that could be reality.
A silly smile crept onto my face.
Nameless looked at me with a slightly disapproving expression.
“Hmm, what’s up?”
“Nothing… I came to call you since the carriage is about to leave.”
“Okay, let’s go then.”
The carriage rode for three days straight, and we finally arrived at our destination.
During the ride to the village, my mind wasn’t entirely clear, so I couldn’t have meaningful conversations with Nameless; we mostly exchanged light chatter.
As I jumped off the carriage and looked around, there weren’t many distinguishing features except for a few parked carriages near the entrance of the village.
Considering the size of the castle walls we saw on our way, it was probably bigger than the village Nameless and I visited first.
My heart started racing for no reason.
“Master, shall we book an inn first?”
“Hmm, let’s do that.”
Since there were many people walking down the street, I held Nameless’s hand tight to ensure he wouldn’t get lost.
Nameless blushed as he looked down at our joined hands, then shook his head and walked on.
Hmm, how shy.
Holding hands to not get separated from the group is only natural.
I nodded.
Nameless definitely seemed to have a rough idea about the outside world compared to me, so finding an inn was easy.
We reserved a place close to the entrance of the village, and for some reason, we ended up sharing the same room again, but thankfully there were two beds.
‘It didn’t bug me at all.’
But seeing Nameless being overly shy was just ridiculous.
When we were kids, it was no big deal to sleep together, but now he seems hesitant just because he’s grown a bit.
My feelings soured, and my lips puffed out.
They say raising kids is no use after all.
What our ancestors said seems to be true.
Seeing through my thoughts, Nameless approached me with a grin.
“Master, shall we unpack and then go explore the village a bit?”
“Hmm, sure, if you really want to go, then it wouldn’t be bad to join you.”
“Yes, I think it might be boring to go alone.”
Nameless was being overly dramatic, but strangely, I didn’t feel bad about it.
No matter if it’s an act or not, he was thinking of me.
I smiled back at Nameless, feeling proud of his attitude.
“Alright, let’s go.”
