I'm A Sucker For Extras - Chapter 58

Chapter 58

Aidan gripped the hilt silently.
 
A skilled warrior, he managed to effortlessly place his left hand on the pommel without so much as a dull thud as the scabbard met.
 
Fortunately, Kalihiel didn’t seem to notice Aidan’s movements.
 
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he seemed uninterested in his actions.
 
“I know of Cloria, but I have no idea where she is. Why are you looking for her now?”
 
Kalihiel tilted his head at Aidan’s question. It was a puzzled gesture.
 
“What a strange question. It’s Hieldieta’s child. Is there another reason for Hildieta to look for Cloria?”
 
“…….”
 
After answering the question, Kalihiel raised his head again.
 
It wasn’t all the way up, but his head was already well above the coniferous forest canopy.
 
“Right……. That’s right. You don’t know.”
 
Kalihiel stared at the sky, his glassy blue eyes shining.
 
“Surely…… could find her, he thought, but… I should find her for him…….”
 
The stars in the night sky sparkled against those clear pupils, making them twinkle.
 
-Woof. Oooooooh.
 
Kalihiel howled again, softly. Once to the north and once in all directions as he spun around. He threw a deep cry in every direction.
 
It was as if he hoped Cloria would hear him and come to him.
 
Brody, trapped in the blanket, unable to move, heard their conversation and Kalihiel’s cries.
 
The sound traveled through the blanket, but the vibrations traveled through Brody’s head and into his chest in deep ripples.
 
It was as if Kalihiel’s heart—Hildieta’s heart—had been transmitted to her.
 
She couldn’t move a finger and couldn’t cover her ears. Brody shuddered softly, taking in the sound with her whole body.
 
Was it fear, or helplessness, or just being so, so, so sad?
 
A tear rolled down her frosted brow.
 
The droplets froze at the edges of her cheeks, barely touching the ground.
 
‘Hildieta, you stupid fool, why did you do this? Why did you let her go? ’
 
Puddle. Crying for a long time, Kalihiel bent his elastic saccaman legs and stretched a great shroud from his shoulder blades.
 
His eagle-feathered wings spread wide, covering the coniferous forest overhead.
 
As the great wings moved up and down, the surrounding trees began to sway in concentric circles.
 
Aidan held Brody in a blanket to keep him from being blown away by the wind.
 
With that, the icy tears on Brody’s cheeks vanished.
 
Soon, with a majestic flap of wings, the mountain-like body rose into the sky.
 
Luckily, the vast expanse of sky was kind enough to embrace even such a large creature.
 
And with that, Kalihiel was gone.
 
Aidan hastily dispelled the icy aura that had enveloped Brody.
 
Her pale face, blue lips, eyebrows, and skin were dotted with frost.
 
Aidan stroked Brody’s face, feeling horrible.
 
He’d done it to protect her, and now he wondered if he’d misjudged her. Her whole body began to tremble, wondering if she had just died.
 
This damned ability could freeze, but it couldn’t melt.
 
He should be thankful that his own body temperature was high.
 
Aidan held her and rubbed her cheek urgently. Thankfully, the warmth was slowly returning.
 
Brody immediately frowned as the warmth returned and her body moved.
 
She gasped for breath and spoke through quivering lips.
 
“I’m……h…….”
 
“Yeah, yeah, I hear you.”
 
“It… was… supposed to be…”
 
“…….”
 
Brody’s eyes filled with resentment. Aidan locked eyes with her for a moment, and then his heart sank and he couldn’t meet her eyes anymore. There was no face to look at.
 
Brody struggled to lift her frozen hand. Her arm shook from the lack of movement, and with that shaky hand, she grasped the front collar of Aidan’s shirt.
 
It was a gesture that told him not to avoid the conversation.
 
Aidan forced a response.
 
“I had to hide you from Kalihiel. It was the only way to get rid of the energy.”
 
Brody’s grip on her clothes tightened once more.
 
She barely managed to keep her teeth from clenching, and she spoke with difficulty.
 
“Why, why are you doing that? ”
 
“…….”
 
“Why, you’re trying to hide me. You’re going to fight Kalihiel alone, so that I can live unharmed while you get hurt or killed?”
 
Aidan understood what Brody was trying to say.
 
Perhaps it echoed what she’d said earlier, when she’d heard the story of Hildieta and Cloria.
 
They should have respected Cloria’s wishes to be by his side, even if it meant Chloria’s death.
 
‘But…….’
 
Aidan was not convinced.
 
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to respect her.
 
He just couldn’t let her die.
 
He understood Hildieta’s feelings. He wanted to save her, even if it meant getting down on his knees, tearing his own body to shreds, or enduring any consequences. He wanted to hold on to that sliver of hope. He couldn’t help but feel that way.
 
In the end, he failed. He’d let her die.
 
‘It shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Hildieta and Cloria shouldn’t have been together.’
 
He gathered his resolve once again. So, the next words that came out carried a cold light.
 
“We are all safe after all, and I apologize for leaving you cold.”
 
“……ha.”
 
Brody sighed in disbelief.
 
Aidan ignored the sigh and pulled her into a hug.
 
Then they couldn’t look each other in the eye anymore, which felt like a sign to Brody not to say anything more.
 
Brody shivered like a small animal in his arms, waiting for her body temperature to return.
 
Brody was confused by the mix of Kalihiel’s cries he’d just heard, the sight of Aidan blindly defending himself, and the anger inside her.
 
A spirit driven mad by the loss of his lover and eight hundred years of agony, he faces danger alone to protect Brody’s life. Somehow, she found it hard to plead in front of him that she could take care of herself.
 
If Aidan hadn’t protected her, would she have been harmed by Kalihiel?
 
If Kalihiel had set his mind to it, would Brody have been able to handle it? Would the plant mage’s abilities have been enough to fend off the giant creature?
 
‘You won’t know unless you try.’
 
To Brody’s surprise, the thought occurred to her.
 
As usual, she hated being removed from situations against her will.
 
If there ever came a time when she needed protection, couldn’t she just ask Aidan to protect her then?
 
As she leaned back, the commotion in the woods gradually died down, and Brody’s trembling eased.
 
Aidan was frustrated, but at the same time, the embrace, the touch, the breathing—all of it, trying to keep him warm—was so sweet. that Brody could only bite her lip in silence.
 
When he was sure the danger was gone, Aidan stood up, still holding Brody in his arms.
 
Without another word, they returned to their camp.
 
The scattered barracks were quiet. The campfires had long since been extinguished, and not even a wisp of smoke remained.
 
Aidan walked to his barracks and set Brody down, leaning against the tree he had planted earlier. Freezing, thawing. Brody simply leaned against the tree, helpless.
 
Aidan ignited the campfire again.
 
Suddenly, there was a rustle of activity throughout the forest: the rustle of leaves, the crunch of snow.
 
The knights were returning.
 
One, then two, then twenty-one. Aidan knew by instinct that all the men were safe, but it was still reassuring to see them in person.
 
The knights hesitantly gathered around the freshly lit bonfire.
 
“Your Grace, my lady, are you safe?”
 
The knight asked. Aidan nodded lightly.
 
“We were surprised. It’s one thing for Your Grace, but with My Lady here too, we didn’t expect you to be lured out.”
 
The knights nodded eagerly at their leader’s words.
 
Looking at their slightly moist eyes illuminated by the campfire, it was clear that they were all deeply moved.
 
It wasn’t because Kalihiel had been lured. Aidan was caught up in the thought that he needed to get Brody to safety.
 
But he couldn’t say that in front of the knights. Aidan didn’t answer; he just frowned.
 
But the knights, accustomed to Aidan’s stern expression, could not fathom his thoughts.
 
“My lady, you’re quite surprised, aren’t you?”
 
Teddy asked gently.
 
“No, not at all. With His Grace protecting me so securely, is there even room for me to be scared?”
 
Brody said, pulling herself away from the tree so as not to worry them.
 
“Ohh,I see.”
 
At her words, the knights were filled with awe for the Duke, and Aidan, on the other hand, felt another thorn in his side.
 
Brody’s words were clearly meant as a rebuke to Aidan.
 
“Well, you don’t look very well, My Lady, even if you say so. Your lips are blue.”
 
“Oh, it must be because I’ve been away from the campfire and it’s a bit cold.”
 
At her reply, the knights bustled about in exaggerated surprise: 
 
“Hey, start the fire again!”, “Hurry up and heat the water bag!”, “Put the pot on, I’ll get the bag~!” 
 
After a while of commotion, Brody was given a warm waterbag trench again.
 
“Thank you.”
 
Brody said, hugging one of them tightly in her arms. She appreciated their gesture because it really did help with the cold.
 
“It was Kalihiel……, right?”
 
“How could something like this happen? Huh? Am I seeing things correctly?”
 
After putting out a series of hurried fires, Teddy got to the point he’d been dying to make.
 
The knights began to chime in, one by one.
 
“It can’t be anything else with that appearance. But, really, huh? Really, really?”
 
“It must be, really. Unless our Wolf Knights have gone collectively mad? Are you crazy?”
 
“I’m not, but are you?”
 
“I’m not either.”
 
As they exchanged ridiculous, meaningless comments about the other’s insanity, they finally looked at Aidan.
 
It was as if they were asking him for confirmation.
 
Aidan nodded with mixed feelings.
 
“It’s Kalihiel.”
 
Gulp. The knights swallowed dryly.
 
The Duke had confirmed it. It is indeed Kalihiel. Kalihiel, the steed of Hildieta, who existed only in tales and bards’ songs, had made his grand entrance into the North. It was at this time, too, that the North parted ways with the Empire after much hardship.
 
Teddy’s lips moved.
 
“Uh, I think Hildieta, the Ice Spirit, is awakening.”
 
Opening his eyes in anticipation of a new beginning for the North, to bless them?
 
The knights nodded, convinced by their own thoughts.
 
Again, Teddy, with the softest tongue of them all, spoke.
 
“I think the time of the North is coming!”
 
“Waaaah!”
 
“Ether, ether, hiel!”
 
“Ether hiel!”
 
“Ether Hiel!”
 
Ether Hiel, meaning eternal ice. They chanted Ether Hiel over and over again, praying that Hildieta would bless their children and that their northern lands would last forever.
 
The thunderous shouts of the knights pierced the deep snowy night forest.
 
~~ The warriors of the North look to the North of the North. With hearts of ice, they guard the world.~~
 
The words were the same, but the song sounded distinctly different from the one sung solemnly at the campfire earlier.
 
Only Aidan and Brody, who had seen Kalihiel face-to-face and heard the story, could watch the rejoicing knights with mixed feelings.
 
Brody looked beyond the conifers to the blackened sky.
 
Kalihiel’s wistful cries still echoed in her memory, above the majestic song of the knights.