[484] The Night of Heaven (2)
When Gaold stepped out of the cave, Gangnan was nowhere to be seen, but footprints on the ground led into the forest.
Her face was painfully contorted as she searched for the darkest, most secluded spot among the trees.
Suppressing the groans that slipped from between her clenched lips, she stamped her feet and scanned her surroundings.
In the end she couldn't hold it any longer. She darted into the underbrush, pulled down her trousers, and collapsed.
She had held it for two days straight; her bladder felt like it would burst.
It was more agony than relief, and only when the sharp pain finally gave way to the cool ease of release did her expression calm.
But the relief was brief. Her eyes sharpened and she began scrutinizing the area with suspicion.
Leaving the south had taught her one rule about the world: never give anyone an excuse.
Harder. Like a beast. Attack before suspicion becomes certainty.
That was how the last descendants of the wolf tribes survived.
"How long did you hold it?"
Just as Gangnan was getting to her feet, Gaold's voice came from the trees.
Moments later the bushes parted and he emerged, gaunt and haggard.
Though the forest hid the moon, his eyes seemed to glow with their own light.
Gangnan wrinkled her nose; a flash of anger crossed her face.
This man, like other men, clearly harbored impure intentions.
The only difference was that he was a master—someone whose presence she hadn't even sensed.
"If you hold it too long you'll get sick. Did some men do something rough to you?"
A cold smile carved Gangnan's mouth.
No man who asked that sort of question had ever truly cared for her.
"I am a wolf. Treat me like a human and I'll kill you."
"You're a woman, Gangnan."
Gaold stepped forward.
His movements were so calm she felt as if he floated above the ground, and she staggered back.
"And I'm a man."
She backed up without thinking and hit her back against a tree stump.
Before she knew it, Gaold was right in front of her.
"Anything can happen."
When the madman's gaze chilled, Gangnan realized staying still meant the end and launched herself at him.
She spun into her signature low kick. There was a soft pop from Gaold's leg.
What was that?
It felt like striking an airbag—no shock at all.
"Ugh!"
Gaold's hand landed on Gangnan's shoulder and pinned her down.
Powerless, she crumpled to the ground under his shove.
He sat on her stomach and pressed her shoulders with both hands.
"L-Let go! If you don't—"
"Don't run away from yourself."
Gangnan's mouth snapped shut.
"Don't fret over whether you're a woman or a man. That's already decided. What matters is what you can do."
Gaold leaned in and she flinched.
The fear imprinted on her left no room to breathe.
"Now, tell me. At this moment, what can you do?"
She could do nothing.
Her body was completely restrained, and Gaold's ability surpassed anyone she'd ever met.
You can't win by running.
She wasn't as strong as Gaold, but Gangnan was clever, and his words slid into her head.
"Um, I haven't pulled my pants up yet."
Before Gaold could check, Gangnan gritted her teeth and headbutted him.
There was a crack and his body flew backward.
"Arrrgh!"
She sneered in triumph and stood up.
"Hmph. How's that? Now—"
But Gaold's condition was not normal.
Though she had struck with everything she had, a typical person might at most faint from such an impact—not writhe in agony like this.
"Arrrgh! Aaargh!"
Gaold clutched his head and rolled on the ground.
Far more sensitive to pain than ordinary people, he felt as if an iron rod were stirring his brain.
When Gaold's screams didn't stop, Gangnan finally realized how serious it was and dashed to him.
"What's wrong? What happened?"
"Arrrgh! Aaargh!"
"Try to speak! Tell me where it hurts!"
No matter how loudly she shouted, Gaold couldn't hear her. He was consumed by pain; he would have to endure the night in agony, and that became the beginning of a long bond between them.
As they wandered the world for training, Gangnan slowly learned about Gaold.
He wasn't one for chatter, but the stray things he said together sketched the life he'd led.
He was traveling to meet someone.
Adrias Miro.
When Gangnan first heard that the world was being guarded by one woman, she couldn't help but feel respect.
"Then is Miro the strongest woman in the world?"
"There is no such thing as the absolute best at combat. But officially, yes. Miro represented humanity; there was no one who could defeat her."
Gangnan murmured and watched Gaold walk away.
The strongest woman in the world. Was that the woman he loved?
"What if I become the strongest in the world?"
Gaold turned his attention to the bold words of a girl who hadn't yet reached his waist.
"If you want it with all your heart, maybe you could reach it. But I think it's probably impossible."
"Why? I'm not afraid of anything. If I can become strong, I'll do anything."
Gaold acknowledged Gangnan's stubborn guts and her natural talent as a fighter. If she kept growing like this, her body would become a weapon.
But from wandering the world he had learned something and didn't want to foster false hopes.
"This isn't about talent. It's not just about effort."
"Then what is Miro like?"
"She is—"
Gaold looked out toward the dun-colored windswept horizon of the desert and spoke.
"Something beyond human. We call her human only because there's no better word."
She stopped to chew on his words, then pouted and fell into step behind him.
"Hmph. But I'll still win in the end."
They arrived at the Akkad Desert in the kingdom of Paras.
Gaold said he would train there to overcome his sensitivity to pain.
The desert was a land of death, and to survive they needed something more than strength: utter misery.
In the underground cave they occupied, Gaold's screams echoed every night while Gangnan hunted day and night to sustain that torture.
The madman and the wolf, hiding deep in the desert, survived by clinging to each other's warmth.
Even now Gangnan couldn't define the nature of their relationship.
Family? Friends? Comrades? Lovers? Enemies?
Where ordinary people would need many others to experience life's emotions, the two of them found them only in each other.
Otherwise they couldn't go on.
Then one day Gangnan suffered the world's most terrible tragedy.
"Ugh, I'm exhausted."
She trudged back into the cave with a sack of desert insects, tired and weary.
Then she heard Gaold's tearing scream.
She'd heard those screams every day, but this one sounded different—there was a dissonant, anxious wave in it that filled her with dread.
"Sir!"
The sack burst and the insects scattered in all directions.
By the time she reached the back of the cave, the screams had stopped.
Trembling, she found Gaold collapsed on the floor.
"Sir! Sir, what's wrong?"
"Uuuuu—"
Gaold's eyes were fixed on the ceiling; drool leaked from his mouth.
Knowing the nature of Gaold's condition—a self-sustaining mutation—she intuited what had happened.
Pushing his pain threshold in repeated experiments had finally caused an abnormality in his brain.
He had fallen into hell.
There was no telling when, or if, he would return; he was trapped in endless agony.
"Sir! Please get up!"
It was the first real fear she had ever felt.
They had been everything to each other; she couldn't imagine a world without Gaold.
So the fourteen-year-old did nothing but call for him until her voice went hoarse, waiting for him to come back.
Eventually she collapsed into his arms as consciousness faded and passed out. She slept for three days, then slowly opened her eyes as if awakening from a thousand-year sleep.
But seeing that Gaold still showed no sign of waking, a grim resolve had replaced the old expression in her eyes.
Ssssss.
Her keen hearing picked up the scuttle of an insect across the floor.
She paused for a moment, then quickly reached out and pinched the bug between her fingers.
She put the thumb-sized insect in her mouth and chewed it. Placing her lips to Gaold's, she pushed the broken bits of nutrition into him.
She brought a canteen to his lips and, voice steeled as if making a vow, said, "Wait, Sir. I'll save you. I'll bring you back no matter what it takes."
Gangnan left for the city of Paras.
Doctors, medicine, magic, information—
Whatever she needed, it would cost money.
Would Gaold know?
Would he know how she had to live during that year he lay unconscious? The hardships she endured to care for an adult who was little better than a vegetative human?
She never once spoke of those days. She only endured, waiting for Gaold to wake.
Then, as if by miracle, he opened his eyes. The anger and resentment that had piled up inside her vanished without a trace.
"Huu."
When Gaold finally came to, the ceiling above him was not the dank cave of hell but the modest rafters of an inn.
Soon the door clicked open.
Gangnan returned with food and medicine. Seeing Gaold blinking up at her from the bed, her heart nearly stopped.
"Sir..."
She flung the sack aside and leaped into his arms, sobbing.
"Sir! Sir!"
She was fifteen now; only a year had passed, but Gaold found her physical and mental growth unfamiliar.
"You saved me."
She shook her head and wiped her tears.
He had come back. She would no longer be alone.
"Don't ever do that again. Promise me. Never leave me."
Gaold stared at her face.
He didn't ask because he already knew.
He knew the hell she had fought through alone to protect him.
He pulled her into his arms.
"Let's go back to Tormia. I won't ever leave you again."
Having escaped hell, Gaold's discipline had reached a new level.
It was time to begin in earnest.
Return to Tormia and become head of the Mage Association.
Nothing less would be enough to reclaim Miro, and Gangnan would be his second-in-command, playing a central role in the plan.
Gangnan nodded again and again in his arms.
All the sorrow she'd endured rose up and made her weep, but she couldn't let Gaold see it.
"Sir, I've decided on something this time."
She lifted her head as if a thought had just occurred to her. Gaold smiled and asked, "Yes? What is it?"
With a bright grin she said, "I'll become the second-strongest woman in the world."