Clatter clatter!
The carriage carrying the prisoners moved forward with a loud racket.
‘I think this every time, but medieval carriages have absolutely terrible ride comfort…’
The loud noise was one thing, but more than anything, my rear was in serious pain.
Unlike modern cars with their soft leather seats, the carriage had wooden seats that were hard and unforgiving.
Even the cushions meant to absorb the shock were so poor that every bump hit me directly.
Thump!
“Urgh!?”
A groan escaped my mouth, like the sound effect you hear when a critical hit lands in a game.
A direct jolt hit me and I let out a groan with a sigh.
“Agh… my miserable life.”
Rubbing my aching rear, I adjusted my posture.
It was a cheap carriage, sure, but even considering that, the ride was unbelievably rough.
Being jostled like this reminded me of the time I once rode in the royal carriage with Illya.
‘I heard the royal carriages use magic devices to absorb shock and ensure a perfectly smooth ride. I wonder how much something like that costs.’
Considering it was made for royalty, the price was probably so high I couldn’t even imagine it.
Even the famously wealthy Duke House of Egriffina could only afford a few of them, So that probably meant they had functions beyond just stabilizing the ride.
Like… maybe defensive functions?
Or maybe air conditioning?
Those were the kinds of things I imagined as I looked around the carriage.
Due to all the violent shaking, the makeshift cushions laid inside the carriage had been tossed about.
I thought I had nailed them down pretty well.
But this carriage jolted so badly that even the nailed-down ends of the cushions had been torn loose.
With a sigh, I began putting the cushions back in place.
As I turned to fix the last one.
There she was, Iris, already toppled over, unable to keep her balance.
“…She fell again.”
I slowly helped Iris up from where she was lying across the wide bench seat.
She didn’t even look at me—just stared blankly into space.
There was something oddly unsettling about her expression.
Still, I couldn’t just leave her lying there, so I continued helping her up every time she fell.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Now, you might be wondering—why is she even here?
Of course, there was a separate cargo area meant for transporting prisoners.
But the problem was, if we put the final boss in there, who knew what might happen.
Right now, Iris Hildegart was a complete wildcard.
And I was the one assigned to manage that wildcard.
It was based on that judgment that I decided it was better to keep her close and constantly monitor her condition.
‘But seriously, why does she keep collapsing like that?’
Watching Iris fall over again and again.
I began to wonder if she was doing it on purpose or not.
And then, an answer came.
Not from anyone else, but from Iris herself.
Growl.
“Huh?”
Well, more precisely, it was her stomach that answered.
Hearing the sound from her belly, I realized that she had been starving all this time.
‘Come to think of it, they said she kept refusing food, didn’t they?’
I remembered what the maid had told me before we got on the carriage, and realized she was seriously underfed.
Since there was still a long way to go before we reached our destination, and she was in a fasting state, I decided to stop by a village on the way and rest at an inn.
When I told the coachman we should rest at a village for the day, he agreed.
And after about an hour, we arrived at one.
“Whew, fortunately, there was a village nearby, my lord.”
“Yeah, good timing.”
“Then I’ll go ahead and secure a room at the inn. In the meantime, please feel free to look around the town square.”
With that, the coachman left.
Now, only Iris and I were left.
‘First, I should get her something to eat.’
She had already been cleaned and prepared when she was taken out of the Underground Prison.
But apparently, she hadn’t eaten anything since.
I gently took her hand and led her toward a nearby restaurant.
When we entered, there were several people already inside.
I seated her at a suitable table, then walked up to the staff member and handed over five silver coins.
“I’ll take five servings of decent soup. I don’t need change, just bring it as fast as possible.”
“Y-Yes, of course!”
The staff member, clutching the five silver coins, rushed off toward the kitchen.
Watching them go, I returned to the table and sat back down next to Iris.
“Whew… That was a pretty painful expense.”
“…?”
She looked at me with a puzzled expression.
But I couldn’t help tearing up inside as I looked at my now much lighter coin pouch.
People might say it’s just five silver coins, so why the fuss.
But…
Right now, I was bleeding money from every possible direction, and even a single coin mattered.
And five silver coins.
That was a fortune from a commoner’s perspective, so for me, it was definitely a painful expense.
Of course, our final boss had no idea how I felt and just stared blankly into space.
Not long after I sighed, the five bowls of soup arrived.
I figured that, since I paid such a large amount, they probably even took soup meant for other customers just to prepare it fast.
And upon seeing the soup, our final boss…
‘Huh? Why isn’t she eating…?’
I was caught off guard watching Iris not touch the soup.
Honestly, I thought that if she was starving to the point of physical collapse, she’d eat to survive.
But the problem was—my assumption was wrong from the start.
She had no will to live in the first place.
Now that I thought about it, even when she was locked up in the Underground Prison,
she showed no signs of wanting to survive.
And nothing had changed now.
‘This is… quite the complication.’
Faced with this unexpected variable, I began wondering what I should do.
Then, a good idea came to mind.
‘If she has no will to survive, then I just need to give her one, right?’
But there was one issue with that plan.
‘How exactly do I give someone a will to live…?’
I slowly sifted through what I knew about her.
Surely there had to be something among the information I had that could help with this situation.
And as I kept thinking.
A certain character came to mind.
‘Come to think of it… there was that character.’
Daphne Hildegart.
In the story, she was a one-off side character with nothing more than the label of “Iris’s younger sister.”
There was nothing noteworthy about her aside from that.
She had faded quickly from my memory, but now, she suddenly resurfaced as if forcibly shoved into my thoughts.
As soon as that memory returned, I opened my mouth and said it aloud, “Daphne Hildegart.”
“…!?”
The moment I said that name, Iris’s expression—previously frozen—began to change.
It was as if she hadn’t used her facial muscles in so long that even making an expression felt awkward for her.
The fact that she made a facial expression without even realizing it, It meant that what I said had definitely shaken her.
I took a moment to steady my trembling voice and spoke again.
“Don’t you… want to find your little sister?”
“How do you know about that?”
She spoke for the first time, her voice cracked, and she glared at me with a murderous expression.
With each word I spoke, her emotions started to show more and more.
As if I were awakening the feelings she had buried deep inside.
So I delivered the final line, the one that could become her reason to live.
“If you help me… I’ll tell you where your sister is.”
She looked at me like she was ready to kill, but in her current, severely weakened state, she couldn’t fight back.
She could barely even walk without my support, It would take a good amount of time before she fully recovered.
Watching her like that, I smiled.
“Let’s eat first. That’s in your best interest too, isn’t it?”
At those words, she continued glaring at me like she wanted me dead, but slowly moved her hand toward the spoon.
One spoonful.
Then another.
She began eating the soup.
Watching her eat, I felt satisfied.
No—maybe “satisfied” sounds a little strange?
Regardless, I had succeeded in planting the will to live in her.
That alone made me smile as I watched her.
***
“Sigh…”
After the meal with her, I took a shower and washed myself.
The water was cold, but showers always felt refreshing.
Humming unconsciously, I happily scrubbed my body.
After drying my hair, I went to the bed.
There, lying on the bed, was Iris, who had passed out the moment we arrived.
Well… it seemed like she was about to say something to me, but maybe because of food coma, she lay down on the bed and immediately fell asleep.
‘Well, that works for me.’
If she were awake, all she’d do is interrogate me about where I got that information.
Having time to calm down and talk things out wouldn’t be a bad thing.
With that in mind, I got into bed to get some sleep too.
The bed wasn’t exactly comfortable, but compared to the carriage ride, this was heaven.
‘Come to think of it… I forgot to check on the prisoners…’
I was supposed to be overseeing them, but I’d forgotten and just came here.
Of course, the coachman probably took some measures, but I still felt uneasy.
‘Well, I’m sure it’ll be fine somehow.’
Too tired to care anymore, I shut my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
My consciousness faded away.
And when I opened my eyes the next morning.
“Ah, good morning.”
She was staring at me, surrounded by a mountain of corpses.
…What the hell.