“Huh? What?”

“Someone you want to die with.”

……Suddenly?

I was flustered by the somewhat extreme word choice, then came to my senses and said.

“When you put it that way, it sounds strange. Since we’ve both lived good lives, I meant let’s go to heaven together if we’re going anyway.”

“Either way, you want to be with me until the end of your life.”

Carl summarized it his own way again and smiled with subtle satisfaction.

Does it work out that way? Well, thinking about it, I guess it does……?

He reached out his hand toward me as I felt confused and warned.

“There are many stones on the ground, so be careful not to trip.”

Then he himself stumbled briefly after catching his foot on a rock.

“Carl, are you okay? Should I go in front?”

I hurriedly grabbed Carl’s sleeve and didn’t miss the opportunity to tease him.

“Why aren’t you answering? Are you embarrassed and ashamed because you almost tripped after telling me to be careful?”

“……Do you have to ask when you already know everything?”

Carl’s ears turned bright red, clearly visible even in the dark cave.

“Should we hold hands?”

I suppressed my laughter and teased him again, pretending to be serious.

“What if you try to trip again? If we hold hands, I can catch you.”

I expected Carl to jump up and refuse, but.

“Then hold on if you want.”

Breaking my expectations, he firmly grabbed my hand.

Huh? This isn’t right…….

I was dumbfounded as I ended up walking while holding his large hand like a child.

Meanwhile, the warmth transmitted through our clasped hands made me feel warm in the cool mine.

Hmm, it doesn’t seem bad either.

As I was suppressing the strange embarrassment that was oddly rising,

“But why did you come to dig magic stones in the mine? Is there an urgent reason you’re looking for them?”

“……To make an antidote for the curse the tower master is under.”

“Ah, so you’ve thrown yourself into danger for someone else’s sake again.”

“No, no!”

I hastily denied it, but of course it didn’t work at all.

Eventually an uncomfortable silence enveloped us. As I walked while watching Carl’s mood unnecessarily, the magic stone detector in my hand showed a reaction.

Beep beep, beep beep.

“Oh? There seems to be a magic stone around here.”

“Good timing.”

Since we had already entered the deepest part of the mine, Carl dug the ground as the detector indicated.

I also helped beside him and dug for magic stones. After a moment, I operated the appraiser on a magic stone that appeared with a sparkle.

[100-year-old magic stone]

Hmm, unfortunately it’s 50 years short.

Feeling disappointed, I used the detector to find another magic stone.

50 years, 70 years, 85 years, 123 years…….

Just when we were both sweating profusely and becoming exhausted from digging up all sorts of magic stones, the desired phrase appeared on the appraiser.

[150-year-old magic stone]

“Jackpot!”

I grabbed the stone that emitted a mysterious light befitting an old magic stone, held it up above my head, and shouted.

Carl approached me as I didn’t know what to do with joy and wiped the dirt from my cheek.

“What’s a jackpot?”

“I don’t know exactly either. I just felt like I had to say that somehow.”

“Anyway, since you found what you wanted, let’s get out quickly. Master, you’re completely filthy right now.”

“Come on, like you’re not?”

“You’re probably worse than me, Master.”

He chuckled and tapped my forehead lightly, then picked up the tools.

As I always feel, despite his cold appearance, he was a person with gentle and delicate touches.

Earlier too, when he grabbed my face and brushed off the dust, I could feel him being as careful as if handling a doll, and that strange embarrassment almost rose again.

“You can take good care of the magic stone, right?”

“Of course, what do you take me for?”

“Then I’ll carry all the rest of the luggage, so you just—”

Rumble.

Carl’s words were cut off by sudden vibrations. For a moment our eyes met, and I could tell we were thinking the same thing.

“Run!”

“Yes!”

I hugged the magic stone to my chest and tried to return the way we came, but the ground began to shake greatly and crack.

That alone was problem enough, but there was a bigger problem.

“Carl!”

“Don’t come! Just get out!”

A crack appeared in the ground between Carl and me, who had been only two steps apart.

Carl, who had been gesturing for me to hurry and go, staggered and couldn’t cross the cracked ground.

Rumble.

Soon after, the ground he was standing on collapsed downward.

“No!”

I reached out toward the falling Carl. I felt my body briefly float in the air and then drop down immediately.

“Shailyn!”

Carl, who had been flailing his arms toward me, firmly grabbed and pulled me toward him.

We fell together into the dark bottom like that.

***

Drip.

I, who had briefly lost consciousness, came to my senses when hit by a water drop that fell from somewhere.

I moved my body that ached as if beaten and raised my head.

Then I saw Carl lying beneath me with his eyes closed. I hurriedly got down from on top of him and shook his shoulders.

“Carl, come to your senses. Are you okay?”

“……Ugh.”

Fortunately Carl opened his eyes, frowned, and struggled to sit up.

As I helped him get up, I noticed his sleeve was stained red and my eyes widened.

“What should we do, there’s blood……”

“It’s not a deep wound, so calm down. The skin is just torn a little.”

Carl, who comforted me as my lips trembled, showed his injured arm as if it was really okay.

As he said, it didn’t seem to be a serious injury, but the skin was torn and blood kept flowing out.

“Wait, I have a handkerchief.”

Worried it might lead to excessive bleeding, I tied the wound with a handkerchief and stopped the bleeding.

Meanwhile, Carl, who had roughly leaned his body against a pile of stones, sighed and said.

“When exactly will you listen to me? I told you not to throw yourself for others.”

I felt choked up by his scolding words for jumping in to save him.

“Am I a stranger to you?”

He himself had barged into the inn to save me, and even chased me to the illegal slave auction house.

He also threw his body for me, a stranger, but only scolded me, which made me feel hurt, so I spoke back firmly.

“You said you’d be my family, my friend, everything. But am I just a stranger to you?”

“……I understand. I misspoke. I’m sorry.”

Carl, who roughly wiped his dirty hands on his clothes, carefully brushed away the hair that had fallen over my face with his fingertips.

“I thought you were crying.”

“Come on. Your master isn’t such a weak person, Carl.”

When I deliberately replied solemnly, he burst into quiet laughter.

“But Master also knows she’s quite a disobedient master, right?”

“Are you a bondservant who listens well then?”

Where do you get off criticizing when you’re the same?

When I put my hands on my hips and glared, he raised both hands in mock surrender.

Hmph, that’s right.

I tilted my head back and looked up. A faint light flickered from an incredibly high place.

Just how far did we fall? Since we were practically sitting on a pile of collapsed stones, I looked around.

“Let’s move over there. Try to get up for a moment, Carl.”

Rather than sitting uncomfortably on the uneven stones, it seemed better to move to flat ground.

Perhaps because he had taken a lot of impact to his body from embracing me as we fell, I put Carl’s arm over my shoulder and moved slowly as he staggered.

We struggled to cover a distance that would normally take less than a minute.

First, I carefully seated Carl on the ground so he could lean his back against the wall.

And when I crouched down beside him, Carl, who had been letting out faint groans, said.

“If you can go up alone, go. I don’t mean abandon me and go, I mean go call for help.”

“I can’t go. I’m not saying this because I don’t understand what you mean, but my ankle is also aching a bit.”

That was also why it took longer to get here.

I was also in a situation where it was difficult to take each step.

“But I told Michael to report if we don’t return by tomorrow, so people will come to rescue us.”

Carl, who had been quietly watching me curl up while hugging my arms, asked bluntly.

“Are you cold?”

“……A little?”

The mine, which had been somewhat cool from the entrance, became chilly like entering some ice cave when we came deep inside.

Carl, who had been hesitating for a long time while watching me try my best not to show I was cold, finally opened his lips.

“Um…… Master.”

“Yes?”

“This isn’t because I’m a pervert, but I’m saying this because it would be serious if hypothermia sets in.”

“Why, what is it?”

I looked at him puzzledly as he had an unusually long introduction.

When our eyes met, Carl cleared his throat and slightly spread his arms to the side.

“Will you come into my arms?”