A crimson blush rose to Riftan's face.
He lowered his head toward her and gritted his teeth.
"It ended?"
Maxi didn't back down, staring back at him.
"N-No!
You're the most...
t-stubborn person in the world!"
"Stubborn?" He gaped at her, as if doubting what he had heard.
“Are you calling me stubborn?” he retorted, raising his voice.
"You?"
"That's right!
I called you stubborn!
So what?"
Riftan's face contorted at her defiant gaze before he exploded in anger.
"This is hilarious!
You're as stubborn as a mule!
When have I ever managed to bend your will?!"
Maxi hesitated.
He realized at that moment that he had always done what he wanted, even if Riftan didn't approve.
Still, he couldn't bring himself to admit it in a humble way.
“I-I-I-That goes for you too!” she screamed, refusing to be appeased.
"You always...
always refused my offers of help.
Whenever...
I wanted to do something for you, you always seemed very dissatisfied before cutting me off.
I understood...
your rejection in the past.
After all, I wasn't competent, and y-you had more talented people around you.
B-But now I'm officially a mage!
And yet you refuse to acknowledge me!"
“That’s not true!” Riftan countered.
"If I hadn't recognized you as a mage, I would never have allowed you to come to this cursed land!
You have no idea!
No idea how hard it was for me to watch you go hungry, sleeping in the dirt, shivering in the cold.
It made me miserable, but I stayed silent.
It was a test of patience not to interfere!"
The muscles in his broad neck twitched as he spat out each word.
"All I want is for my wife to live an easier life.
My greatest desire is to leave this treacherous place immediately!
Is that a sin?"
"I...
I don't want to hide alone.
Live comfortably while you...
can't you see that I care about you much more than you care about me?
How could I leave...
knowing that m-my husband is in danger?!"
His words echoed through the air.
A strange expression distorted Riftan's features, as if he couldn't understand why anyone would care so much about him.
Maxi realized that perhaps this was the core of his problems.
With no one to protect or care for him, Riftan always had to fend for himself.
Even someone as ignorant of worldly matters as Maxi could imagine the kind of treatment he would have received, growing up as a mixed-blood orphan.
And as he grew older, the likelihood of someone kind taking him in would have become even smaller.
The idea that someone was concerned about his well-being could simply be incomprehensible to him.
He had no idea how much she cared about him, about his safety and happiness.
As soon as she realized this, all fight left her.
“Do you have any idea… h-how worried I was when you didn’t come back?” she murmured.
“I've survived far more dangerous campaigns than this one,” Riftan grumbled, genuinely frowning.
“Such concern is almost an insult to a knight.”
Her confusion only made her angry again.
I was about to retort when someone cleared their throat.
Turning his head quickly, he saw Ruth looking at them with exasperation.
"I suggest you postpone your second fight until another date before you embarrass yourselves even more.
I can hear you from the cave."
Realizing he had screamed at the top of his lungs, Maxi's cheeks turned beet red.
Ignoring the fact that his face was now a beacon of shame, he pushed Riftan away with feigned indifference to pick up the pan he had dropped.
He quickly filled it with snow and walked away.
To Maxi's relief, Ulyseon regained consciousness before nightfall.
He was startled when he saw her and Ruth, and quickly stood up.
“Lie down again,” said Ruth.
“You will feel weak from losing so much blood.”
Ulyseon stubbornly sat down.
The color slowly returned to his cheeks, making his face look less like plaster.
"It's shameful that you saw me like this, my lady.
Please forgive me for bothering you," he murmured despondently.
Riftan had spread a mat nearby.
He said flatly: "You have a lot of blood.
All of it flows into your head during battle.
How many times have I told you?
Also pay attention to your defense."“But I still managed to kill more lamias than anyone!”
“What’s the point if you get hurt?”
Ulyseon shrugged.
“I have no excuses.”
"A-Are you hungry.
G-Would you like some porridge?" Maxi gave the young knight a reassuring smile and filled a bowl with hot barley porridge.
He looked at her with an embarrassed expression as she handed it to him.
He soon began devouring the clumsy mixture.
Geoffrey's claim that they had been starving for days was no exaggeration.
Ulyseon emptied his bowl in the blink of an eye before gulping down the herbal tea that Maxi handed him next.
After watching him eat quietly, Ruth murmured with visible relief, "Well, he's got an appetite.
I guess we can stop worrying now."
He threw himself onto the mat spread out next to the fire.
Soon after cleaning up the monsters' corpses, the Temple Knights returned to the cave.
As they made their beds at the entrance, Maxi made hers next to Sidina, who was still unconscious.
Noticing this, Riftan pulled her to a place beside him.
“You sleep here.”
Although she looked at him coldly, she meekly sat down where he indicated.
She was still upset about the argument earlier, but that didn't mean she wanted to stay away from him.
Lying with her back to him, she looked up at the flickering shadows on the cave ceiling.
Riftan took off his armor and lay down so that he was leaning against it.
The heat radiating from his robust body seemed to penetrate the blanket and infiltrate her.
Tears welled up in her eyes, and she squeezed them as if that could quell her longing.
At dawn the next day, Sidina finally regained consciousness.
She looked around in a daze before her disoriented eyes focused on Calto and Maxi, who were looking at her worriedly.
“We are saved!” she exclaimed.
She sounded a lot like herself, so Maxi sighed in relief.
Although Sidina's body was exhausted, her spirit was fine.
It wasn't long before she started babbling about her experience while eating the barley porridge.
"Maxi, you have no idea what an incredible adventure I had!
Do you know what a lamia bite feels like?
Look at that.
See the marks?
She bit me right in the back of the head with her fangs!
I felt her cold venom spreading through me, and I suddenly had an insatiable hunger to destroy everything!
Is this how monsters feel?
When we get back to the Wizards' Tower, I think I would like to study the nature of monsters!"
“Slow down, Sidina,” Maxi warned, looking at the Temple Knights who were packing their things.
Despite Sidina's excitement, she still hadn't completely regained her senses.
He mumbled incoherently for a while before going back to sleep.
Once it was clear that she would not be able to ride alone, Hebaron lifted her onto his horse.
On the other hand, Ulyseon seemed to have the recovery powers of a monster.
He nimbly climbed onto his warhorse without any assistance.
The unconscious Temple Knight also regained consciousness until they were ready to leave, allowing them to continue without further ado.
Maxi was relieved, to say the least.
They were in a race against time.
Not only were they running out of food, but an even bigger problem loomed over them.
They were almost out of feed for the horses.
Hungry mounts meant they could not continue, leaving them stranded in this desert of rocks and snow.
The riders, aware of this, guided the horses with minimal rest.
Although they tried not to show it, Maxi could tell they were anxious.
The mages were strangely quiet, a clear sign that they too recognized the desperate situation.
When they stopped briefly to rest, Calto took care of watering the horses.
“I think I healed more horses than humans on this expedition,” he muttered.
Although the elder magically cast a restorative spell on the animals, Maxi had never seen him do the same for himself.
Ruth sighed as she cast restorative magic on her uncle.
"That's why I told you not to come.
You should really think about your age."
Too tired to retort, Calto just glared at him.
As soon as the horses had finished drinking, the party set off again over the snowy hills.
By the time they reached the midpoint, Sidina had recovered enough to ride alone, and their relentless pace took them to the ruins before their provisions were exhausted.As soon as he reached the tent, Maxi got off his horse.
His buttocks, thighs and calves seemed to have hardened like pieces of iron.
His face, buffeted by the wind all day, burned as if he had been burned.
Seeing her staggering, Riftan supported her with one arm.
"Are you well?" he asked sharply.
Feeling too exhausted to fake it, Maxi shook her head.
Riftan entrusted his horses to the knights who ran to meet them, and then entered the tent with Maxi.
He laid her down next to a brazier.
The other mages entered and began to scatter across the floor as well.
Hebaron shook his head as he looked at the sprawled out figures.
“I don’t think we’re going to Eth Lene Castle today.”
Maxi stared at him in horror.
Were the knights planning to go to Eth Lene on the same day?
Certainly the situation was urgent, but they had been trapped in their saddles without eating or sleeping.
If it were possible, she would have wanted nothing more than to lie perfectly still for the next few days.