* * *
Batista’s build was massive, and as he leaned toward me, the world darkened in an instant.
It was already a dim alley to begin with, but his presence made it feel even darker.
Wow, I’m completely cornered against the wall…
Anyone passing by would think I was about to get mugged.
“That may be true, but you also said it was a misunderstanding, right? So it’s not completely impossible… I was just trying to stay positive!”
“……”
Damn it, I really shouldn’t have said anything about ‘staying positive’ at the end.
The atmosphere just got even worse.
“Fine. Do whatever you want.”
Batista didn’t get any angrier.
He simply gave me a cold stare before abruptly turning around.
What does ‘do whatever you want’ even mean?
Does that mean he doesn’t care anymore?
Was he saying that he wouldn’t interfere if I looked into Gaspar or even met him?
That should’ve been good news, but at the same time, it felt like he wasn’t just cutting ties with Gaspar—he was cutting ties with me too.
Wait, this isn’t the time to be thinking about this.
He’s leaving again!
“Batista.”
I quickly followed after him.
“Are you really mad?”
I called out, but Batista didn’t turn back.
My heart pounded with anxiety.
He’s not seriously planning to just ignore me forever, right?
It was already frustrating enough when he avoided talking about it before.
“Don’t follow me.”
“What if I don’t want to?”
“If you keep following, I won’t go easy on you.”
The fact that he even bothered to respond could be considered kindness, but the content of his response was downright threatening.
If it had been anyone else, I might have just laughed it off.
But with Batista, I couldn’t afford to do that.
The last time he lashed out unexpectedly, I ended up with a sprained ankle.
He really won’t go easy on me.
If I push him any further, he might not stop at just throwing me—who knows what else he’d do?
The thought made my feet freeze on their own.
But still!
This is too much!
“Stay with me…”
I hesitated, feeling incredibly self-conscious, but I forced the words out.
“You have to stay with me…”
If he wasn’t going to explain, then at the very least, he should stay with me.
That’s what he chose when I asked him before.
Sure, he never actually said it out loud or made a promise, but Batista isn’t the type to prove things with words—he proves them with actions.
He did the same back in the village, and even when I first brought up Gaspar, he got angry but still stayed by my side in the end.
So wasn’t that as good as a promise?
I had no idea if it would work now that he was this angry.
But I had to try.
If I just let him go now and he really left for good, what then?
“……”
Finally, he turned around.
The air around him blazed with intensity, but his gaze was ice-cold.
It felt like being shoved into a snowbank.
“Do you want to get hurt?”
Is he seriously threatening me?!
I just brought up his promise, and he’s already resorting to threats!
Of course, I didn’t want to get hurt, so I hesitated.
Even with my usual shamelessness, I couldn’t bring myself to say something reckless like, ‘I don’t care if I get hurt, as long as I stay with you!’
That would only prove how furious he was.
In the end, before I could even come up with a response, Batista turned away again and left.
Watching his back disappear into the distance made my heart ache.
Not only because I was scared he wouldn’t walk with me anymore, but also…
‘It hurts.’
More than anything, I felt an overwhelming sense of hurt.
What is this feeling?
It was ridiculous, but I felt genuinely upset.
The emotion churned inside me, impossible to ignore.
I thought we had gotten really close.
Out of all the people I’d met recently, he was the closest one to me.
But now, just because of someone he cut ties with long ago, he was willing to break a promise he made to me?
To the point of threatening me if I followed him?
No, wait.
What am I even thinking?
This isn’t about me.
It’s about the fact that I made him this angry.
I did something he hated so much that he didn’t even want to be around me anymore.
Don’t let your emotions get the best of you.
That won’t help.
Think logically.
What’s the best way to fix this?
‘Well… I have free time now.’
Batista, who had been sticking by my side nonstop, had finally left.
I had been wishing for some freedom, but now that I had it, it didn’t feel satisfying at all.
If I were truly shameless, I would just take this chance to go see Gaspar.
Even if Batista threw me away, he hadn’t literally thrown me past the city walls.
He was still somewhere nearby.
But…
‘He was shaking.’
The hand that held mine, the warmth of his body when we hugged—I could feel it trembling.
Even in that moment, even in this situation, Batista had been shaking.
I stopped matchmaking because I didn’t want to do something Batista hated.
And yet, here I was, about to do something else he didn’t want.
Batista was kind.
Kind enough to share his bed with me every night just to help me.
Is this really the right thing to do?
‘But! If Batista had just told me everything from the start!’
Then I wouldn’t have clung to false hope!
If Gaspar was garbage, then he should’ve told me exactly why!
If he was really that bad, I would’ve given up without hesitation!
‘Why won’t he just tell me?!’
Frustration boiled over, but I had no right to be mad.
After all, I was keeping my own secrets too.
Ugh.
Should I just tell him everything?
It’d be a total gamble.
If it worked, everything would be solved.
But if it failed, he might think I was mocking him and all the trust I’d built would crumble in an instant.
I let out a deep sigh.
What do I do?
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with a good answer.
I just wandered aimlessly.
Before I knew it, I had arrived at the entrance of the village.
I only realized it because I ran into a group of adventurers returning from a mission.
They looked utterly exhausted, one of them carrying an injured comrade on his back.
“We’re almost there! Just a little further!”
“Stay awake! Don’t close your eyes!”
Adventurers getting injured on quests wasn’t unusual, but the severity of their wounds caught my attention.
There shouldn’t be any monsters nearby capable of causing this kind of damage…
“Damn it, where’s the healer?”
“I checked last time… Ugh!”
The adventurer carrying the red-haired man staggered.
He wasn’t as badly injured as his companion, but he was clearly in bad shape too.
Watching him limp forward, barely holding himself together, made something in me stir.
I already had enough on my mind.
But… there was nothing I could do about my own problems right now anyway.
A little distraction wouldn’t hurt.
I stepped closer to the bloodied adventurers and took a sharp breath.
“Raul!”
* * *
Maybe somthing’s wrong with Gaspar