“Why is your expression like that, Senior?”

“Uh…huh? What’s wrong with my expression?”

“I wouldn’t know, of course. I was just saying that as a joke.”

“…”

In the morning that came again, Haru tossed out a pointless joke as she always did. Normally I would have just brushed it off, but perhaps because of what happened last night, I simply couldn’t. And Haru wasn’t the type to let such a change pass unnoticed.

“What’s this. Your reaction is peculiar. Something must have happened last night, I suppose?”

“Just eat your bread.”

“I tried some yesterday and it was barely edible. Anyway, why can’t you answer? Saya, did something happen?”

“…”

“Hmm. Something really did happen, didn’t it. You’re making me imagine wicked things.”

When neither of us could give a proper answer, Haru put on a sly expression. Then with subtle hand movements, she repeatedly drew and sheathed her sword. The repeated clink-clank was extremely grating on my nerves, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything and turned my gaze toward Ms. Rebecca.

“More importantly, where are we right now? You still have the map, right, Ms. Rebecca?”

“I do. By the way, Lope. Do you know how to read a map?”

“Somewhat. So we’ve been traveling for about a day…and the only city near the Capital that’s nestled against mountains would be here…so we’ve come to around this area?”

“A bit further up than that.”

Ms. Rebecca pointed to a spot higher than where I had indicated. It was quite a distance from the port where we had first arrived, but the final destination still felt impossibly far away. Of course, it wasn’t yet the stage to be disappointed, so I stared intently at the map.

“We haven’t strayed far from the originally planned route. We could keep going as is and look for transportation…or it might be fine to check the railway area as you suggested, Ms. Rebecca.”

“I was going to bring that up anyway. Even if it’s a very low possibility, if trains are still running, it would be well worth checking. So I was thinking of slightly adjusting our route toward the Capital. There are still undestroyed cities in that vicinity.”

“The Capital…isn’t it a bit dangerous? It was swept by dragon fire. There might be even more Hatchlings lurking there.”

“That might be true. But it might not be. Even the place where we encountered a Hatchling yesterday was quite far from the blast center. Perhaps Hatchlings have already spread across the entire continent. If so, there’s even more reason to head toward the Capital.”

“Why is that?”

“We need to prepare equipment to fight them. As you saw yesterday, an ordinary crossbow can’t even pierce a Hatchling’s skin.”

“…Can we really obtain such equipment?”

“This isn’t the first time humanity has faced Hatchlings, Lope. Besides, the military these days operates more anti-monster weaponry than anti-personnel weapons. There are many military facilities in this area, so we should be able to scavenge some decent equipment.”

Ms. Rebecca pointed to a city below the Capital. Then, unexpectedly, Erika reacted.

“That place…”

“Do you know it, Erika?”

“Well…that’s where my home is. If it hasn’t burned down yet, that is…”

Erika trailed off and looked up at Ms. Rebecca. Her face clearly showed a hint of being moved. It seemed she thought Ms. Rebecca had deliberately been considerate of her.

“Are we going there?”

“We probably will. As I mentioned earlier, there’s a chance of securing equipment, and we can check on the train operations while we’re at it. If we could meet your parents there, Miss Erika, that would be even better.”

“That…that’s right. Then my parents could certainly help everyone. They have deep connections with railway officials. If…if they’re still alive…”

“I’m sure they’re alive.”

Ms. Rebecca offered a faint smile, and Erika bowed her head as if expressing gratitude. Had I not known the circumstances behind it, I might have mistaken it for a heartwarming scene.

But to me, it felt like nothing more than Ms. Rebecca’s struggle to quickly shake Erika off.

As if to prove that thought, her smile faded quickly. It was because her heart—the one part of her that couldn’t be replaced by machinery—felt a pang of conscience. Ms. Rebecca let out an inaudible sigh, then raised her head as if nothing had happened.

“Then let’s get moving. The sooner, the better.”

“It would be nice to find a carriage on the way.”

“The chances are slim to none, but one can hope.”

In the midst of the bleak reality, we slowly rose from our spots. Unwashed fatigue and wounds screamed from all over our bodies, but we had no luxury of time to wait. And so, we once again stepped into the crumbling world.

Just as Ms. Rebecca had said, no matter how much we walked through the city, not a single carriage came into sight. If anyone had the luxury, they would have ridden off on horses; if not, the horses would have been eaten long ago. The only things we could use right now were our own two legs.

Naturally, our pace slowed compared to riding in a carriage, and the surrounding scenery began to catch our eyes. Only then were we able to fully take in the reality of this world.

And it was by no means a pleasant sight.

“Haa…”

The meaningless sigh drifted upward in billowing clouds toward the high sky. Following its path upward, bare branches facing winter came into view, along with corpses hanging from them like fruit. From the bodies of those who had hanged themselves, unable to overcome despair, oozed a viscous residue—the lingering attachment to life they had failed to discard.

Lowering my gaze slightly from there, lumps of flesh strewn along the roadside filled my vision. Had we come a little later, we might have seen streets full of bones, but unfortunately, they hadn’t rotted enough yet. Yet none of them retained a proper shape, making it impossible to distinguish whether they belonged to humans or beasts.

So this is how humanity corrodes. I ended up learning a philosophy the Academy never taught me from the roadside. Whether human or beast, once dead, the stench of rot was the same.

So this is why she was still wearing a gas mask. I glanced at Saya. And by coincidence, I met eyes with her—she had been staring right at me.

“…?”

“…!”

When I gave her a questioning look, Saya quickly looked away and stared straight ahead. Even so, her eyes kept drifting back toward me no matter what. Finding Saya’s magnet-like gaze somewhat overwhelming, I turned my head slightly without realizing it.

Then, like a ghost, Haru’s voice trailed after me.

“I’ve never wished more desperately for my sight to return than at this moment. Did something happen between you two?”

“Haru. Be quiet. Those creatures have acute hearing.”

“But if we keep walking like this, I’m going to die of boredom. When you can’t see, having everyone around you stay silent makes you feel like you’ll truly go mad.”

“How did you even survive at the Academy?”

“Let’s see. Should I say that when you’re getting intimate with your Senior, there’s no time to be bored? Wait. If you hit me, I’ll scream. We’ll all die here together.”

“You really are…”

“Shh. Stop for a moment. There’s something over there.”

At Ms. Rebecca’s voice, we all tensed and lowered our stances. But nowhere did the massive form of a Hatchling come into sight.

Instead, a massive lump of charcoal caught my eye in the distant fields. It was quite far away, and so thoroughly charred black that guessing its original form was difficult. But Saya reached a conclusion after just a brief glance and spoke in a low voice.

“Wings.”

“Wings?”

“Yes. A Hatchling’s wings.”

“Which means…”

I looked around once more just in case. Still, nothing caught my eye other than that charred lump. It seemed all that remained here was the creature’s wings. Erika must have reached the same conclusion, as she spoke with hope in her voice.

“That means…someone cut those off. Maybe there’s a military unit nearby? They defeated a Hatchling and burned the remains just in case. That must be it. Right?”

“That’s possible. Or it could be that they fought among their own kind and ended up like that. No creature can avoid conflict among its own species, after all.”

“That…could be true, but…”

“Both are possibilities, Student Council President. Whether the former or the latter, it’s not bad news for us.”

“How about we go and check? There might be something…”

“That is not a good idea.”

Ms. Rebecca spoke in a suddenly serious voice. Then she looked at all of us and said.

“I’ll say this in advance—if you ever encounter a Hatchling’s corpse, never approach it. Never.”

“Is there a particular reason?”

“Isn’t it obvious that if you get a hatchling’s blood on you, the mother will become enraged?”

Suddenly, a story she had told before came to mind. The tale of the elven swordsman who had been slain by a dragon. The conclusion she hadn’t finished back then now surfaced as curiosity.

“Has there been a precedent?”

“I was simply talking about common sense. A mother would never forgive anyone who carries the scent of her hatchling’s blood. Facing a dragon itself would be the worst-case scenario, but something even worse could happen. So if, by any chance, a situation arises where we have to kill a Hatchling…”

“…”

“I will be the one to do it.”

Ms. Rebecca finished speaking with a heavy tone. Within those words lay the sense of atonement that had continued from the island. But before that weight could fully land, Haru spoke in a nonchalant tone.

“She always has to show off all by herself. Whatever. Someone carry me. My legs hurt.”

“…Then I suppose I will.”

“I told you not to do that, Haru.”

“No, it’s fine. How hard must it be to walk when you can’t see what’s in front of you.”

It was truly a child’s tantrum, but Ms. Rebecca carried Haru on her back with a somewhat amused expression. Perhaps because she was the only one who would indulge such behavior, Haru no longer complained about the metallic smell either.

A girl who couldn’t see and a woman who had lost most of her body. Both of them missing something essential, the sight was particularly poignant. Instead of adding unnecessary words, I cast my gaze toward the horizon. Unlike the horizon I had seen from the island, the boundary where sky and earth met seemed impossibly far away. As I stared into the empty air, Saya’s body warmth wrapped around my palm.

In my hand, two marks still burned.

…

Whether by chance or fate, in that moment I locked eyes with Ms. Rebecca. She looked at me impassively, then gave a slight nod. It was surely an insignificant gesture, but my mind became tangled in complicated thoughts.

Even so, I nodded back for the time being. Our unread thoughts, unable to collide, scattered into the empty air.