—Third-person point of view—
Surprised by his horse's new behavior, Igris leaned forward with curiosity.
"My friend… pull yourself together. We have things to do."
Shadowmane stood there and neighed dramatically.
"Life is meaningless, my existence is meaningless! My soul is gone now, my feelings are dead."
Igris's eyebrow twitched violently, while Ciri looked back and forth between the two with curiosity.
"Igris… is your horse all right?"
Embarrassed by his horse's strange antics, Igris slapped a hand over his face and sighed.
"…I think he's having a small shock… apparently he's fallen for your horse quite badly… he's reciting verses like a poet."
Hearing this, Ciri blinked and looked at Igris suspiciously.
"Are you making fun of me? Can a horse even do that?"
Igris shot her an annoyed look.
"Don't underestimate horses, Ciri. They're among the most intelligent animals. Should I remind you about Roach?"
Ciri flinched slightly, and Igris continued.
"In my people's ancient traditions, horses were regarded as primordial companions, and if a man was unmarried, he swore by three things: his horse, his weapon, and his banner. So don't speak lightly of horses in front of me…"
Then, sighing, he dismounted and grabbed Shadowmane's stirrup, tugging it.
"Come on, let's have a short man-to-man talk… Ciri, give me three minutes."
Ciri watched the man and horse walk off in a puzzled way.
"All right."
Then she looked at Snowball.
"…Our first day in this world is turning out quite interesting, isn't it?"
Snowball nodded, neighing softly. Ciri sighed and looked at the pair again, but her gaze lingered on Igris's back.
"What a strange man…"
Once Igris had moved far enough from Ciri, he stopped Shadowmane, stepped in front of him, and looked up at him.
"Did you seriously fall into depression? From a single rejection? And it's not even your first rejection."
At these words, Shadowmane neighed dramatically.
"You don't understand!"
Then he flopped sideways and lay down on the ground in theatrical despair.
"You cannot know the fire burning inside me! What do you know about women or love? You haven't touched a woman even once!"
Unfazed and indifferent to his horse's jab, Igris stared at him blankly.
"My friend… in my faith, a man shows interest only in the woman who will be his wife. If I show interest once, it means I want a serious relationship with that woman. Don't confuse me with yourself or with other men."
Ignoring Igris's words, the horse rolled dramatically on the ground again and neighed sorrowfully.
"Ahh… Snowball… white as her name, noble and round… if only she would come to me, my fire would be extinguished…"
Faced with this spectacle, Igris felt a headache coming on.
"At this rate I'm going to get a migraine… no reincarnator or isekai protagonist has ever experienced things as absurd as I have…"
Igris took a deep breath.
"My friend, I suggest you get up now and put an end to this nonsense… we have work to do. First we'll pick up the people we're supposed to, and in Rivendell you can be a drama queen as much as you like."
Shadowmane rolled over and turned his back to Igris, neighing dramatically.
"Go without me… I will rot here… I will be torn apart by wargs and eaten by orcs."
Igris's eyebrows twitched. He finally snapped.
"Hey! YOU'VE ONLY KNOWN HER FOR HALF AN HOUR, AND YOU HAVEN'T EVEN HAD A PROPER CONVERSATION WITH HER! WHAT DID YOU DRINK, MAN!?"
Shadowmane turned his head and looked at Igris.
"Half an hour? It felt like half a year to me… what would you know about love?"
Shadowmane threw himself to the ground again, neighing as if in tears.
"Snowball… Snowball…"
"…I should have been the crazy one, but this fool has completely lost it… Looks like it's up to me now."
Igris approached his horse, removed his helmet and placed it into his inventory. He grabbed the stirrup with one hand and pulled Shadowmane's harness with the other. As the horse lifted his head in surprise, Igris suddenly slapped him hard.
'SLAP!'
The sound echoed across the area. Shadowmane staggered from the blow, while Ciri watched from afar in astonishment, her mouth slightly open. Igris grabbed his horse's head with both hands and looked straight into his eyes.
"GET UP AND PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!"
Shadowmane, a clear handprint visible on his face, looked at Igris in a daze.
"I can't… I don't want to…"
Already stressed, constantly making plans in his head and now forced to deal with this absurdity, Igris fixed his horse with sharp eyes.
"I HAVE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS THAN YOUR PROBLEMS! I'M GOING TO BUILD A KINGDOM, THERE ARE THROATS I HAVE TO FEED, AND YET I'M HERE DEALING WITH THE HEARTBREAK YOU DEVELOPED HALF AN HOUR AGO! YOU FELL IN LOVE? FINE! THEN GET UP AND PROVE IT! THAT HORSE AND CIRI WILL BE WITH US FOR A LONG TIME FROM NOW ON! YOU'VE GOT PLENTY OF TIME! BUT IF YOU WANT TO STAY HERE, THAT'S YOUR CHOICE! YOU HAVE BECOME THE GREATEST SHAME OF THE FIRE MANES, SHADOWMANE!"
At these words, Shadowmane flinched, focusing on a single point, then looked at Igris with sudden energy.
"Snowball… will travel with us!?"
Igris rubbed his face, shaking his head.
"You weren't listening to us from the very beginning, were you?"
Ignoring the question, Shadowmane sprang to his feet at once, then hesitated for a moment.
"But… can I do it?"
Igris stared at him blankly.
'What am I even dealing with… If Yavuz were here, he'd be laughing himself into a fit.'
Sighing impatiently, he spoke.
"I don't know… but I think you can."
Shadowmane stepped closer to Igris, until only a few centimeters separated their faces. They locked eyes.
"How!?"
Igris's eyebrows and mouth twitched violently; he forced a smile.
"…Show interest, don't approach other females, keep trying to please her, give her gifts… is that enough?"
Shadowmane looked at Igris carefully, suspiciously.
"That's all?"
Igris's patience was on the verge of snapping.
"Yes! Now can we go!?"
Shadowmane looked at Igris, then at the horse a few meters behind them. When Snowball glanced at him and quickly turned her head away, Shadowmane looked back at Igris with sorrow in his eyes.
"…I'm not very confident in myself…"
Igris could not endure it any longer. His eyebrow twitched, and his voice dropped to a low, chilling tone.
"Shadowmane…"
Igris's eye color shifted to violet, and his irises narrowed slightly, becoming almost vertical.
"We need to move now! Either gather that confidence, or I'm leaving."
Shadowmane recoiled in surprise.
"Boss! What's happening to your eyes? You're starting to give off a terrifying feeling."
At these words, Igris was taken aback.
"What do you mean?"
His distraction caused his eyes to return to normal. Taking a sword from his inventory, Igris used its reflection to examine his eyes.
"…My eyes look perfectly normal… are you joking, Shadowmane?"
Shadowmane shook his head violently.
"NO! They definitely weren't normal! They were glowing purple."
Seeing his horse's serious expression and hearing those words, Igris flinched.
"What!?"
Igris sank into deep thought. He raised his armored right hand and looked at it; the obsidian arm from the previous night came to mind, and now his horse was telling him that his eyes had changed.
"…So this must be what my uncle was talking about… my blood is awakening… when we return, I should consult the old wizard… though I'm still upset with him…"
Thinking of Gandalf, Igris sighed, then dismissed the matter for the moment and glanced at the system screen.
"Shadowmane, we really have to go now. You can win Snowball's heart in Rivendell; after all, you'll be able to spend time alone there."
Hearing this, Shadowmane flinched, then immediately became energetic.
"Alright! Come on, get on!"
Igris sighed and mounted his horse. Slowly approaching Ciri, he looked at her with embarrassment and spoke.
"Please keep what you saw here a secret… it was very embarrassing."
Ciri silently nodded, then looked at Shadowmane. The horse snorted, vapor rising from his nostrils as he breathed proudly, puffing out his chest while looking at Snowball. Snowball, however, completely ignored him. Seeing this, Ciri spoke calmly.
"Is he alright?"
Igris shrugged indifferently.
"More or less… he's in love."
Ciri's eyebrows rose, while Snowball continued to ignore Shadowmane completely. With a sigh at the situation, Igris turned his horse.
"Come on, Ciri, let's go."
Ciri nodded. As the two moved a little faster, Igris asked,
"How were you able to follow Zoltan?"
After Ciri calmly explained, Igris looked at her with admiration.
"Clever! That's the kind of thinking I'd expect from you."
Ciri, surprised, blushed slightly. Not noticing her reaction, Igris thought for a moment and then asked with curiosity,
"So how did you get here? Didn't they catch you?"
At this, Ciri hesitated for a moment. She did not want to talk about her situation before she clearly knew Igris.
"They caught me… but they didn't care."
Igris's eyebrows rose; that sounded utterly absurd to him.
"They didn't care about you—the Lady of Time and Space?"
Ciri tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear with her finger and spoke.
"…I don't fully understand it myself…"
Suspicion flickered across Igris's face, and his brows furrowed.
"Did they do anything to you?"
Ciri paused, then spoke without meeting his eyes.
"They didn't really do much…"
Faced with the evasive answer, Igris's frown deepened.
"It feels like you're not telling me something… but we just met, so it's normal not to trust me. You can tell me when you're ready."
Ciri was silent for a moment, then nodded. Igris continued curiously.
"So what was your father doing?"
Caught off guard by the question, Ciri looked at him in surprise.
"Why did you ask about him?"
Leaning one arm on Shadowmane and resting his face in his hand, Igris replied in a casual tone,
"Just curious. I'm a fan of his."
Ciri's brows knitted together, and she asked suspiciously,
"The Emperor of Nilfgaard?"
Igris flinched, looking disgusted.
"That damned bastard! No, not him! Right… that bastard was your biological father… I meant Geralt."
Ciri flinched slightly, then looked down.
"He's well… living with Yen… let's say he's half-retired."
Having expected that answer, Igris rolled his eyes.
"I'll never understand what he sees in that woman…"
Ciri frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Spreading his hands, Igris replied,
"She's the one who causes Geralt the most trouble… if it were me, I wouldn't go anywhere near her… It's one of the rare things Jaskier is right about."
Ciri looked at Igris curiously.
"How much do you know about their relationship?"
"Me? It's not a subject that interests me much—I don't like erotic scenes—but in my world? It used to be quite a popular topic. There were even endless debates about Yennefer or Triss."
At this, Ciri stared at him in mild shock, unwilling to believe it.
"You're joking, right? Something like that really exists!?"
Igris looked at her for a moment. He hesitated briefly, considering whether or not to mention the discussions about her as well, then cleared his throat and spoke.
"…Yes, it happened…"
Noticing his hesitation, Ciri's brows drew together suspiciously.
"What aren't you telling me?"
Remaining calm under the question, Igris avoided eye contact and looked ahead as he answered,
"Forget it. It's not important—just some foolish thoughts from certain fans. It doesn't matter."
Ciri looked at him for a moment, then nodded and looked ahead again. After a pause, she asked curiously,
"Igris…"
"Hmm?"
"…Do you miss Yavuz?"
Igris flinched, looking at her, and remained silent for a moment.
"…So you watched my previous life…"
Ciri felt a brief pang of embarrassment, but Igris didn't seem to mind.
"It's fine. I already know yours, and now you know mine—so we're even… It'll probably make it easier for trust to form between us…"
Igris sighed and looked up at the cloudy sky.
"As for your question… yes… he was like a brother to me… I wonder what he's doing now."
After hesitating for a moment, Ciri spoke.
"I heard some things…"
Igris turned to her quickly, speaking with sudden excitement.
"Really!?"
After Ciri nodded, Igris immediately asked,
"Can you tell me? Please, Ciri!"
Ciri paused briefly before answering.
"I don't know if what you hear will please you…"
Ciri carefully told Igris what she had learned from Mephisto. Listening attentively, Igris sighed—then a faint grin spread across his face.
"Damn it, Yavuz… you should've lived a quiet life after I died."
Then he laughed. Seeing this, Ciri looked at him with curiosity.
"Why are you laughing?"
After a brief chuckle, Igris spoke.
"Because I understand him… if he had died instead of me, I would have done the same."
Ciri looked at Igris in a strange way.
"But at the same time, you're sad?"
Igris grinned at her.
"I'm sad because he's out there wrecking the place and beating people up without me."
He let out a deep sigh and looked up at the sky with a dramatic expression.
"Ah… those were the days… we'd beat men, get chased, then beat them again."
Ciri stared at Igris oddly.
'…This man is definitely unlike anyone I've ever met.'
Igris looked at Ciri with curiosity.
"So? What have you been doing?"
Caught off guard again, Ciri was startled.
"What do you mean?"
Shrugging, Igris asked,
"What did you do after the Wild Hunt? From what I saw, you became a Witcher, but after that?"
"Why are you asking?"
"No reason. We still have some distance to cover, I just felt like talking."
"…"
Igris looked at her for a moment, and when he saw her staring blankly at him, he let out an exaggerated sigh.
"Haaah… taciturn like Geralt."
Ciri's eyebrow twitched, but Igris ignored it, leaning forward and whispering calmly to his horse.
"Shadowmane, stop flirting and focus."
Shadowmane's ears perked and turned back; Igris had used a serious tone. Ciri watched them blankly, but Igris paid it no mind.
"How are the pests?"
Shadowmane understood, sniffing the air and sensing the surroundings as he walked for a few seconds. Ciri couldn't make sense of the strange situation; she couldn't understand animals like Igris could. When Shadowmane finished, he lowered his head.
"They seem motionless… I'm not sure."
Igris frowned.
"What do you mean?"
After a pause, Shadowmane neighed.
"…A strange feeling… boss, why couldn't the Elves detect them?"
Igris's frown deepened.
"Could it be because they're close to the border and in a blind spot?"
Shadowmane turned back and looked at him oddly.
"In Lord Elrond's lands? Really?"
Igris thought for a moment but found no answer, sighing as he spoke.
"Forget it… Gilan and Halt will handle it."
Unable to hold back, Ciri asked,
"What are you talking about?"
Igris shrugged lazily.
"Nothing, just idle chatter. Since you didn't feel like talking, I figured I'd talk with my horse."
"…You're very strange."
"Says the Lady of Time and Space who travels between dimensions."
"…"
"Ahh… so you avoid arguments with silence, tch tch."
Ciri's eyebrow twitched violently. Meanwhile, Igris glanced at the system panel.
System: [You will approach the target in 10 minutes. Elves will be dispatched in 1 minute.]
Falling silent, Igris spoke through thought.
'Now tell me! What's their psychological state?'
System: […254 of them were captured. For many years they were subjected to intense torture and humiliation. Some were fortunate enough to commit suicide… but the rest were not so lucky.]
Igris's brows furrowed; this time there was no trace of his usual mocking ease in his voice.
System: […The last one endured for more than 278 years, but in the end he went mad… the others suffered severe trauma. Some forgot they were thinking, free individuals and turned into empty bodies that move on command… Some are no different from toys… some even believe themselves to be pets.]
Listening to this, Igris's eyes grew cold.
'The last one… tell me about him.'
System: [His name is Vaelor, the unit's second-in-command. What he experienced…]
The system slowly explained Vaelor's condition, the reason for his endurance, and what he had lived through—roughly but focusing on the essential points. Igris's brows knitted together; the veins on his forehead swelled, his pupils narrowing slightly, almost vertical. He was furious, but he remained silent… there was nothing he could do.
'This man is a true warrior… no, more than that…'
Igris's respect for Vaelor rose to its peak. In his mind, he placed him alongside the fallen soldiers of his own world—perhaps even equal to the ancestors for whom epics had been written.
At that moment, a hand grasped his shoulder and shook him. Igris turned and looked at Ciri. She spoke.
"Are you alright?"
Igris nodded, then paused for a moment and let out a deep breath. With a serious, indisputable gaze, he looked straight into Ciri's red eyes.
"…Ciri…"
Ciri flinched slightly under his serious look.
"Yes?"
"You see your life as a tragedy… but you don't realize how fortunate you actually are."
Ciri's brows furrowed; she felt a flicker of anger, but there was a weight in Igris's voice.
"What do you mean?"
Igris drew a deep breath.
"When you see the ones we're about to meet, don't speak, don't comment, don't look at them with pity. Put on a mask of cold composure… the lives of those who are coming were no different from hell."
Ciri's brows tightened, but when she looked into Igris's eyes, she said nothing. Igris also said no more, though certain calculations were already forming in his mind.
'…It seems I'll have to tell Lady Galadriel about my ability… honestly, I want to keep my interactions with her—or with any members of the White Council other than Gandalf and Elrond—to a minimum…'
Igris exhaled in frustration; the matter weighed heavily on him.
'…The system really makes my work harder… but I can't take those Elves with me, not in their current state… they would only be a burden. What they need is not war but healing and a friendly hand… and in Middle-earth, the ones best suited to mend mental wounds and trauma are the Lady of Light and the Lord of Rivendell…'
As Igris and Ciri continued forward, talking, Shadowmane kept casting glances at Snowball, while Snowball completely ignored him. Igris told Ciri what he had learned from the system, and Ciri listened with furrowed brows.
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(3085 Words)