Chương 147: Something Tastier Than Hanwoo Ribeye

The next day, Kichan woke Argaon outside the tent. Soldiers who had finished the night watch were coming back in through the palisade. At the cookhouse white steam rose each time the pot lid came off, and people carrying water buckets crossed between the tents. Kichan went around that traffic to Argaon's feet. Argaon was lying with his arm under his head and no blanket. The wind had blown all night, and not one strand of his hair was out of place.

"Get up." A red eye opened halfway.

"What."

"I have something to ask you."

"Now?"

"Yeah." Argaon tried to close his eyes again. Kichan nudged his shoe with the tip of his foot.

"How were the ribs yesterday?" The eye opened again.

"You woke me up to ask that?"

"Were they good?" Argaon pushed himself up on one arm. He ran his tongue once around the inside of his mouth.

"They were good."

"Better than Hanwoo ribeye?"

"The Hanwoo ribeye was just a little better." Kichan nodded.

"But if I said there's food tastier than that ribeye, would you believe me?" Argaon got fully to his feet.

"You. What are you trying to pull on me?"

"There is, though."

"You didn't say anything like that when you first fed me the ribeye."

"Back then I hadn't thought of it either." Argaon studied Kichan's face.

"What food is it?"

"You said you wouldn't believe me."

"I'll judge after I hear it." Kichan looked inside the tent. Riphiel was dividing the water and bread Paul would carry into bundles and tying them. Paul was brushing the dirt off the lower part of his cassock. Outside came the sound of empty bowls being collected. A soldier walked past the two of them, glanced at Argaon, nearly bumped into his comrade, and turned his head away. Kichan spoke loudly on purpose.

"Later I'll take only Riphiel out and buy her some on the sly." Riphiel's hands stopped. Argaon's eyes narrowed.

"Why only Riphiel?"

"Only people who believe should get to eat it."

"I know it's a trick, but I never said I wouldn't eat it."

"Then you do believe me." Argaon glared at Kichan for a long while. Kichan tightened the strap of his bag again.

"So what exactly do I have to do?" Kichan turned around at once.

"I'm not asking for much."

"Should I believe that?"

"You remember the strongest one of the Four Heavenly Kings we talked about." Argaon did not answer.

"Go to his stronghold, set it so it collapses if it's touched, and come back." If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Paul stopped the hand that had been brushing off the dirt. Riphiel, still holding the ration bundle she had been tying, looked at the two of them. Argaon raised one eyebrow.

"Not knocking it down?"

"Yeah."

"Not killing him either?"

"Yeah."

"Only so it collapses if it's touched?"

"Exactly that far." Kichan held up a finger.

"How you do it is up to you." Argaon looked at Kichan for a moment, then held out his little finger.

"Promise." Kichan looked at the finger.

"Promise what."

"When you take Riphiel to eat that food, take me too."

"You don't even know what it is yet."

"All the more reason I have to go." Kichan hooked his little finger around it. Argaon gave the finger one pull.

"If you sneak off with just the two of you, I'll come looking."

"Got it."

"Wherever you go."

"I said I got it." The fingers came apart. Argaon stood and brushed the grass off his clothes. He took neither the money pouches at his waist nor any weapon.

"The location?" Kichan explained the directions he had heard from the guard captain. The northern palisade, the forking road, the low ridge. Argaon heard it once and turned his body. On top of the northern palisade two sentries were changing posts. While one handed over his spear, the other looked down. When his eyes met Argaon's, the spear stopped halfway in the handoff. He raised a hand. Gold light wrapped around his body. His human shape swelled long.

The black clothes vanished into the light, and red scales and wide wings spread above the tent. The soldiers around them raised their heads at the same time. The dragon lowered his body once. The wind burst. Tent ropes pulled taut and the dust on the ground was shoved outward in a circle. Kichan shielded his eyes, and Paul grabbed the hem of his cassock with both hands. Argaon beat his wings once more. The huge body rose over the palisade. Red scales caught the morning light, then receded toward the ridge.

Kichan watched until the figure grew small.

"Will he truly be all right?" Paul asked.

"I told him not to knock it down."

"That is what frightens me more." Kichan only smiled. The guard captain sent horses. Not long after Argaon left, three soldiers stood in front of the tent leading four horses. The horses of the Demon Realm stood taller at the shoulder than the horses Kichan had seen on Earth, and their necks and legs were thick. Along the mane ran a row of short, hard growths like horns. Kichan walked to the horse among the four whose ears were calmly pricked. The horse blew air through its nose.

Warm breath touched the back of his hand.

"This one doesn't bite, right?" The soldier handed him the reins.

"Just don't stand behind it."

"That sounds like it might bite from the front." Kichan took the reins. Riphiel checked her own horse's saddle and stirrups first. She pulled at the leather straps and ran her palm along the horse's flank. The horse only moved an ear and stood still. Paul stood in front of his horse. The horse's shoulder came up almost to Paul's eye level.

"I will get up first." Paul put his foot in the stirrup. His foot slipped. Riphiel caught his elbow from behind.

"Put your left foot in a little deeper."

"Like this?"

"Yes. Hold the front of the saddle and pull yourself up." Paul put his strength into it again. His body rose halfway, and then the hem of his cassock caught on the stirrup. Riphiel pulled the hem free and pushed at the small of his back. Paul barely got seated in the saddle. Both hands were holding the reins too short. When the horse moved its head, Paul's upper body was dragged forward with it.

"You may let them out a little." Riphiel loosened his fingers one by one and set the length of the reins.

"Do not leave my side."

"I believe that is my line."

"I am the one escorting you." Riphiel mounted her own horse lightly. She turned in the saddle and checked Paul's stirrups and the hem of his cassock again. Kichan mounted as well. At first he did not know which side to put his foot in or how deep, so he took a soldier's help. Once he sat in the saddle, the ground was farther away than he had expected. Every step the horse took rocked his body left and right.

"My back is going to hurt if I ride this long."

"You say that before we have even set out?" Riphiel asked.

"I can tell just from sitting on it." A soldier took the reins of the remaining horse. It was the horse brought for Argaon. Kichan said.

"We don't need that one. He went ahead." The soldier looked at the sky. It was the direction the red dragon had vanished in a moment ago.

"Was that one of your party?"

"Yes." The soldier asked nothing more and turned the remaining horse around. The gate of the northern palisade opened. Outside the gate there were two roads. The left one went down between low hills, and the right one climbed toward a rocky ridge. The road the guard captain had described was the right one. Kichan turned his horse's head that way. The horse did not move right away. When he pulled the reins, it only raised its head. Beside him Riphiel clicked her tongue once. Her horse took the first step out.

Kichan's horse moved after it.

"How did you know that?"

"I have ridden Batu before."

"Batu isn't a horse."

"He listens better than you do, Kichan." Paul's horse moved last. On the first step Paul's body pitched backward. Riphiel slowed her horse and came up on his left. One hand held her reins, and the other stayed at a distance where it would reach him the moment he tilted. The three of them left the palisade behind. From behind, the sounds of the front followed them. The ring of struck iron, the sound of carts coming in, the clatter of bowls being cleared from breakfast.

When the road curved, the tent roofs were hidden one by one. Ahead lay the ridge Argaon had flown to first. Kichan took a fresh grip on the reins. Riphiel rode up close alongside Paul's horse. The three horses came onto the same road.