As the things he needed began to come together, preparations to leave Belphirn went smoothly.

With a weapon in hand, dealing with the beasts that attacked was the easiest part.

The real problem was this.

Swinging his sword, Ethan sliced off the head of the hyena-like creature in front of him, then leapt upwards.

As he ran over the heads of the pack gathered below, the beasts jumped up on all fours and tried to bite him.

As he struck one that bared its fangs at him, a high-pitched yelp rang out.

Ethan watched as the creature crashed to the ground and then landed beside another that had stopped in the middle of the group.

Unable to bear even that brief moment, If came out from behind the tree where she had been hiding.

Ethan quickly pulled her into his arms and decided it was time to teach her something new.

“Listen carefully. When I pull you in, you stay still. Got it?”

To stop her, who had no patience whatsoever, he had to give broad but firm instructions that would hold her back.

“Why?”

Of course, that didn’t mean it would be easy.

The inevitable question mark appeared again, but by now Ethan was used to it.

As if he had been waiting for this moment, he gave the answer he had already prepared in his mind.

“Because you’re in the way.”

“Me?”

Her eyes widened, as if the thought had never occurred to her.

Until now, robots had probably done everything for her, so she had probably never experienced being in the way of anything – let alone realising that she could be the cause of it.

As Ethan held If in his arms, he drew his shoulder back and slashed at the neck of a hyena-like beast that was lunging at them.

Brown fur with black spots, flattened ears and a black nose that stuck out like a dog’s.

Hyenas might be considered weak – but only by monster standards. To humans, they were formidable enemies.

With jaws and teeth strong enough to crush the bones of beast and beast alike, they were called “the scavengers of the world”.

Moving in packs, they would devour their prey until there were not even bones left – leaving nothing but their footprints.

As the pack, which had already lost dozens of its own, hesitated and retreated, the leader at the back let out a long howl – a signal to retreat.

When they were gone, only the bodies of dozens of hyena-like beasts remained.

Ethan released If from his arms and walked on.

“Yes. I’m afraid you’ll get hurt.”

It was embarrassingly blunt, but after going through situations like this so many times, Ethan had simply given up trying to sugar-coat things.

At least giving her a reason like that made her accept it without argument.

And as if she liked hearing concern from a human rather than a hunk of metal, her eyes even sparkled a little.

During their stay in Belphirn, Ethan gradually laid down rules for If.

Eat only what he gives her – that was the first one, then don’t fly without permission, don’t use ancient technology carelessly, don’t talk about where she came from, and so on.

Completely clueless about how things worked in this world, she needed more attention than a child.

Ethan was constantly having to stop her and teach her things he’d never thought he’d have to explain.

Although the list of rules had grown long and If often showed her displeasure, she obeyed with a sulky look – partly because Ethan provided her with enough comfort to make up for it.

When she found walking difficult, he offered her his arm like a chair to rest on.

If she wanted fruit that was difficult to prepare, he would personally peel it and feed it to her by hand.

He even taught her that if anyone tried to speak to her, she shouldn’t answer, but call for him.

“Well, the supplies are mostly ready. Now it’s her turn.”

Ethan slung the now heavy backpack over his shoulder and looked over at If.

Her shoes, still too big for her, had slipped off again and she was barefoot.

‘Next time I’ll have to tie them on with string or something…’

The chemise she wore, taken from a woman’s corpse, and the dress – the kind worn by peasants, with a laced front like a corset – hung loosely about her small frame.

Over it she wore a long cloak with a low hood.

With the hood up, it covered not only her hair, but her entire face, so that unless someone was looking from directly below, all they could see was her chin.

Still, she couldn’t walk around looking so suspicious all the time.

Every time they passed through a village or town, she’d have to take the hood off – and sneaking over walls wasn’t something they could do every time, either.

“Well, at least we could cover your hair with a cloth.”

It was common for women to wrap their hair tightly in cloth to keep it out of the way, especially when helping their husbands with farm work.

But the real problem was those eyes.

“Why?”

“Because outside of Belphirn, no one has eyes like that. They’ll stand out.”
Click — Ethan clicked his tongue in frustration.

“If only they were a more common color, it’d be easier to hide…”

Maybe she should pretend to be blind. It would be a bit of a hassle, but better than being caught. If only she could cover her eyes with a cloth during inspections…

“Like your eyes, Ethan?”

“Even that would be enough.”

If reached up and cupped Ethan’s cheeks.

Since he had told her not to fly, the fact that she stood on tiptoe to reach him was impressive.

Seeing her tremble on her toes, Ethan obediently bent down to meet her hands.

It was a waist that would never bow to even a noble, but somehow bending didn’t feel so bad for this woman.

As his hair fell forward, If fixed her gaze on his green eyes.

Up close, his white lashes shimmered faintly like moonlight.

And beneath those slowly fluttering lashes, his jewel-like eyes glowed a deep green.

Slowly. Once, twice, three times.

Flinch.

Ethan’s mouth fell open as he watched If’s eyelids move like a doll’s, almost mechanically.

Right before his eyes, her irises – which had shimmered in so many colours just moments before – began to shift.

From the pupil, the green spread like ink in water, until only a single, vivid colour remained, glowing clearly.

“…Ha…”

It was his colour.

No – to be precise, it was identical to Ethan’s own eye colour.

“Is that good enough?”

“Now you change your eye colour too?”

And without magic. Ethan let out a breathless laugh at the question.

“I don’t change them. They just change.”

“They change on their own?”

“When I look at something for a while, it changes. One colour gets boring very quickly, you know? To put it simply, I copy it – like the colour of the sky up there, or the grass and dirt down here. But if they changed every time I looked at something, it’d be annoying, so I have to look at a colour ‘for a while’ to make it stick. You could say it’s like an on/off switch.

What the hell is she talking about?

Ethan couldn’t believe it – how could she change her eye colour just because she got bored?

Following that thought, he suddenly reached out and grabbed If’s chin, his hand big enough to hold both her chin and neck at the same time.

“If you want to look for a while?”

“Yes.”

It had only been a few seconds. Barely a minute – just a handful of seconds.

Which meant… she had never looked at him for that long before.

Not even when they were alone.

Even though she trusted him with everything.

Even now, when his hand could easily snap her neck with the slightest wrong move, she just blinked up at him innocently.

She had placed her entire being in his hands, yet she had never truly looked at him for even a few seconds?

At this point it was clear.

This woman had absolutely no interest in him.

Not even an ounce.

In fact, even less interest than she showed in those beasts lying dead over there!

Ethan’s pride was crushed.

It was like watching a loyal dog, one that had always followed him, suddenly run off to fawn over someone else.

It was a petty, childish kind of jealousy.

“It can be reset, though.”

As she blinked, a faint glow shimmered around her eyes and they returned to their original colour.

Ethan, unable to hide his frustration, pulled her chin back towards him.

Their eyes met, her lashes fluttered slowly – and her eyes turned green again.

“What about your hair?”

No, never mind. If her hair changed too, people might think they were siblings.

Ethan, realising he had asked without thinking, shook his head – but If was already answering.

“My hair won’t change. Only my eyes can.”

“That’s enough.”

The hair could always be covered.

And as for her appearance, nothing much would happen as long as she stayed by his side.

Squirming out of Ethan’s grasp, If made her way to the corpse of a hyena-like beast.

“Hey, hey, that’s filthy. Don’t step on it.”

‘What is she thinking, walking around barefoot like that?’

At Ethan’s warning, If tilted her head.

“Why? Ethan, you have blood like that too. So are you dirty?”

Sure, If had blood, but to call it “blood” was a stretch – it was more like a healing potion than actual blood.

Looking at her, Ethan replied dryly.

“It’s on the ground.”

“Oh.”

“Right.”

At If’s easy acceptance, Ethan let out a sigh – a sigh of relief that for once he hadn’t been dragged into another endless series of questions.

At least she understands that things on the ground are dirty, he thought, genuinely relieved as he scooped her into his arms.

***

‘I can’t believe I made such a basic mistake. After all the times I’ve dealt with these hyenas, I never thought I’d get caught off guard like this.’

Ethan frowned as he took off his jacket.

The shell of a Locus made good armour material as a by-product, but since it hadn’t been treated properly, it didn’t hold together very well.

Especially as it was wrapped in old, worn cloth from a corpse – of course it would be loose.

Still, for it to break when he was fighting hyenas seemed like pure misfortune, even to him.

Besides, fighting in a way he wasn’t used to had led to many mistakes.

Having never guarded anyone before, Ethan often forgot there was someone at his back – and that was a dangerous weakness for him.

No matter how much he tried to fix it, after decades of living that way, it wasn’t something he could just change.

As a result, Ethan kept getting holes in it, and in the end, he took a hit from a hyena.

‘What is armour worth anyway?’

Ethan had fought many times without a weapon or armour.

If he hadn’t been carrying supplies on his back this time, he wouldn’t have been so badly hurt.

Blood poured from a deep gash in his side.

If, crouching quietly beside him, looked around before picking up a sharp stone.

“Don’t.”

Seeing her blatant, obvious move, Ethan quickly grabbed her wrist, snatched the stone away and threw it far away.

“Why?”

“It’ll heal soon enough.”

“No, it won’t.”

If refuted Ethan’s words firmly.

She had already scanned his body.

Judging by the amount of blood loss and the size of the wound, natural clotting would take a week and full recovery would take two months.

Of course, with that much bleeding, he would die of blood loss long before that.

“I said it’ll heal. Hey, you may not know this, but something like this is…”

Ethan trailed off, grimacing as dizziness washed over him.

“Do you hate blood?”

If tilted her head, clearly unable to understand.

Ethan didn’t answer, just kept staring into the fire.

‘Should I cauterize it with fire?’

With nothing to stitch, there was no better way to stop the bleeding.

As Ethan stared into the flames, lost in thought, If thought quietly – then suddenly reached out and pulled him closer by the neck.

“Would you like to try this?”

What she offered was none other than her pink tongue, slightly protruding, with a bead of clear saliva at the tip.

“Technically, it’s a portion of the cells that flow through my blood. Not just blood—other bodily fluids like saliva serve a similar function. The healing is slower, though.”

Did she even know what this gesture meant?

Even though Ethan was sure her intentions were innocent, he couldn’t help but read it as something far more seductive.