Chapter 15: A New JourneyWe had been on this dirt road for so long that the moon had disappeared, and the sun now crept over the horizon.

  The forest where I had spent so much time—where I had met Iris—had long since faded into the background.

  From here on out, everything was new.

  A world I once called fiction was now my reality. And beside me was Iris, a girl I had rescued from sve traders.

  Iris... she was such a mystery.

  I knew nothing about her—where she came from, who her family was, or even what kind of life she had before all of this. And judging from how she acted, she didn’t seem to know much about her past either.

  No family. No friends. No home to return to.

  She had told me she would follow me wherever I went. It was touching—really, it was. But... how long would she keep that mindset?

  One day, she might gain her independence. Find her own path.

  And when that day comes...

  Will we go our separate ways?

  I shook my head, pushing the thought away.

  Get that out of your head, Shiro. Stop thinking negatively.

  Right now, what mattered most was survival.

  And for that, we needed to grow stronger. No—the strongest.

  I had to admit, making people fall to their knees without even lifting a finger was an insanely cool ability. And when Iris’s power evolved? It would be even better.

  I couldn’t wait to see her growth firsthand.

  A few hours ter...

  The sun was high in the sky.

  Every now and then, we stopped to give the horses a break and stretch our bodies. I had no idea how far we were from civilization. I wondered if those women and children had made it back to their vilge safely.

  Iris had been quiet this whole time.

  I wanted to start a conversation, but I had no idea what to talk about.

  Then, she suddenly spoke.

  “If we keep this pace, we’ll reach a vilge by sundown.”

  I blinked. “Huh? Have you been there before? How do you know?”

  “No, I haven’t been there,” she said simply. “The wind told me.”

  I paused. “...The wind?”

  Did I hear that right?

  I stared at her, trying to decide if she was messing with me, but her expression was calm—completely serious.

  You know what? I wasn’t even going to question it.

  This world had already shattered any sense of common logic I once had.

  “Alright. That sounds a little weird, but I trust you.”

  She turned to me. “Why?”

  I hesitated. “Why, huh… I don’t know. I just do.”

  But now that I thought about it… why did I trust her so much?

  Ever since we met, I had let my guard down completely around her. That wasn’t like me at all.

  It was strange.

  And for some reason…

  Thinking about it made my heart race.

  Could I be—?