Chapter 56

He laughed. Though there was no one who could revive the dead. What a joke. Anyway, Nain, who only had one life, obediently entrusted his body to Ash. But he couldn't help flinching every time he heard explosion sounds, and each time he felt Ash enjoying himself behind his back.

'How are they fighting?'

Even trying to imagine from just the sounds, he couldn't picture the scene.

As the age of war ended, battle mages naturally walked the path of decline. Of course, on festival days once or twice a year, they would compete in magical duels with prizes at stake, but that couldn't become the main occupation of mages. It was merely festival entertainment. Though mages' magical duels were impressive, real combat by those who transcended human limits would be even more realistic. How magnificent would close combat using abilities be?

He had heard that after training ended, they would check points for improvement while showing videos of the training process. Since he couldn't go see the Espers' battle directly now, he would definitely ask to see it when it ended. Nain clenched his fists and resolved inwardly.

A long time passed. Looking toward where the loud sounds were coming from, picking off leaves stuck to his face, watching squirrels climbing up tree trunks—his legs were about ready to cramp up. He wondered what Ash was going to do, but when he looked back, he was sleeping with his eyes closed.

'So carefree...'

He fell asleep again in no time. Nain, as if he'd been waiting, took out a book from his spatial expansion pocket. The old book he'd found on the bookshelf in his room still smelled of dusty paper. There were many types of stories here that he hadn't read before. It was one of the few good things about falling into this world not long ago.

When the book pages had turned about a hundred pages, groaning sounds began coming from behind him. Thinking it was sleep talking, he tried to ignore it, but when he felt Ash's body against his back twitching, he turned his head to look.

"...?"

The skin of the man who had been dozing with the back of his head against the tree trunk was pale. His drooping fists were clenched so tightly that his veins bulged, and Ash's chest, breathing laboriously and shortly, heaved intermittently. Particularly around the crown of his head, black fog had gathered thickly as if clouds had formed there.

It was a nightmare.

Suddenly Nain remembered him saying that last night too, and the night before, he couldn't sleep properly because of dreams. If it was such a thick nightmare, it wouldn't be an ordinary harsh kind. He could shake Ash awake to chase away the nightmare, but seeing how he had been nodding off even in the car making loud engine noises, it might be better to let him sleep like this.

'Ah, I have one.'

Instead of waking him, Nain searched through his pocket for something. He pushed an unwrapped candy into Ash's open mouth. It was something parents of young children who feared formless beings and were afraid to sleep alone would often buy.

The children would encounter the happiest moments of their lives in their dreams. When children who encountered good memories no longer feared sleeping alone, they wouldn't need good dream candy anymore either.

This was low-level dream magic that pulled up memories from the unconscious based on past memories. Dream magic became even more effective when mixed with fragrant sweeteners and sugar.

Of course, Nain hadn't bought such childish things with his own money. Every time he went to see Cheche, she would give him armfuls of them, and even after distributing them widely around, there was always a fistful left over. She always pressed bags full of candy into Nain's hands saying, "Have sweet dreams, baby."

'She must have forgotten how old I am.'

Nain grumbled every time he received candy, telling her not to treat him like a child. Well, Cheche treated even the emperor and empress, who were over forty, like children, so in her eyes Nain might look like a newborn baby.

He had deliberately put in candy so he wouldn't wake up, but making his efforts meaningless, Ash opened his eyes after really not very long. As his lowered eyelids lifted, his exposed pupils were blurred without focus. He blinked a couple times, then looked at Nain and raised his eyebrows.

For a moment, it seemed like a subtle expression crossed Ash's face. Ash reached out with a dazed face.

"...?"

His cheek was firmly caught in his grip. Squish squish. Ash freely fondled Nain's cheeks, then realized it wasn't a hallucination and let out a sigh of relief.

"Sorry. I thought it was a dream."

He rolled the candy in his mouth and briefly glanced toward the book Nain was reading, then quickly lost interest again. His drooping arm wrapped around Nain's waist in an embrace. His warm body, just awakened from sleep, cozily enveloped his back.

"I dozed off for a moment... You should have woken me up."

"Didn't you sleep properly yesterday? I saw you dozing in the car earlier too."

"Should we go down?"

"..."

Even while wondering why he was changing the subject, instead of answering, Nain closed his book. Just like when they came up here, if Ash decided to go down, going down was right. After all, Nain was just a Guide assisting Ash—the main subject of this training was Ash.

If he hadn't fallen asleep, they might have gone down sooner. Ash always alternated between several tasks at once and got bored very quickly. Sitting still on a tree branch where he couldn't move his body freely was behavior that didn't suit his temperament.

Ash's attitude suddenly changed at Nain's nod. He grabbed Nain's waist tightly, turned his body, and jumped down from the high tree. Whoosh. Gravity pulled them down.

"Ah!"

Nain gasped and let out a short scream. He hadn't said they'd go down like this! His vision went dizzy.

For a moment, a revolving lantern flashed through Nain's mind. His first day horseback riding, the day he entered the academy, the day he received his class representative appointment, the memory of receiving a top-grade artificial magic stone as a gift from Cheche...

Various good memories flashed by, and when Ash's smiling face finally came to mind, he suddenly felt heated and snapped back to consciousness. Nain came to his senses with a start. He absolutely didn't want the man's memory to become his life's last memory.

Ash, who had landed softly on the ground with Nain tucked under his arm, loosened the strength in the arm holding Nain. Nain, who barely managed to set foot on the ground without falling, trembled.

'I thought I was going to die...'

Nain stood precariously on shaking legs, repeatedly taking deep breaths in and out. Deep breathing made him feel a little better. Ash looked down at Nain, who was trembling while supporting himself on his knees, with a somewhat apologetic expression and muttered.

"Sorry... Were you startled? They told me not to overuse my ability."

"Who did?"

"The doctor."

"..."

Nain was about to get angry but then understood. It was better to listen to doctors. It seemed like it would have been better not to climb trees in the first place...

"Didn't you say we should hide and endure until only one team remained?"

"I can't help it because I keep getting sleepy when I stay still. It doesn't matter when I'm alone, but what if Nain falls to the ground and dies while I'm dozing?"

"..."

He had nothing to say. That was certainly something to be careful about. He shouldn't die. Ash stared intently at Nain, who was pursing his lips, then added, "I wasn't trying to scare you." He grabbed Nain's arm. When his large hand lightly wrapped around his wrist, the feeling was strange.

"Now that I look, your muscles are barely there enough to keep you alive. I guess you lived without doing any exercise."

"I'm average."

"You're not average. You're very soft."

"...You're probably too muscular compared to ordinary people. This is normal for regular people."

"You can't handle guns for shit either."

"Being a little bad at that doesn't ruin your life. And I'm healthy, you know?"

"This level won't do."

Well, compared to active Espers whose daily lives were entirely composed of such things, it couldn't be helped. They were no different from soldiers. Though he couldn't say his physical fitness was amazing, it was still above average.

Nain looked at Ash, who was treating him like some kind of bag of bones, as if he was incredulous. He really just had a constitution that didn't build muscle easily. This was the first time anyone had ever pointed this out to him.

"To be useful in gates, you'd need to be toughened up, but I can't put Nain through that..."

"Do I go into gates too?"

"Are you scared?"

"..."

Honestly speaking, he couldn't say no. He'd never actually seen what gates were properly, but he'd heard about them. Thinking that he'd have to enter places where monsters came out and several people died was a bit chilling.

"It's okay, Nain. I won't let even a hair on your head get hurt, so you don't need to be so afraid."

"How?"

Nain looked at Ash with a reluctant expression, only rolling his eyes. Well... Ash smiled deeply with his long eyes narrowed.

"If worst comes to worst, I might even turn back time."