Adventurer's Guild Café: I Was Wrongfully Exiled by the Saint, So I Will Enjoy My Second Life with My Fluffy Friends - V 2.2 Chapter 6.3

“Have you calmed down?”

After crying my heart out, my tears had stopped on their own.

“I-I-I’m sorry…”

Once I cooled off, I realized just how outrageous my behavior had been. I’d clung to Gier. Worse, I had bawled my eyes out against him…

While I was flustered and fidgety, Gier chuckled.

“I once had someone do the same for me.”

“…?”

“When I was terrified, unable to make a decision, that person did this for me.”

Saying so, Gier looked straight into my eyes and spoke firmly.

“You’re not weak. But right now, no matter what I say, it probably won’t reach your heart.”

His expression tightened a little, as though he were nervous.

“Kuna, there’s something I want to show you.”

“Something you want to show me…?”

Gier nodded.

“…There’s something I want to convey to your heart. And if that’s the case, then I need to be sincere, or else my words won’t reach you. That’s why—I’ll show you. Only you. The real me.”

With that, Gier suddenly sank to his knees before me.

“! Gier, what are you—”

I tried to stop him in a panic, but right at that moment, Lulu padded over to our feet. The flame glowing inside the stone on her forehead lit up the space around us.

Gier lowered his head. As he did, his hair slid aside, and for an instant, something beneath caught the light and gleamed.

“Ah…”

Come to think of it, the same thing had happened inside the dungeon. A jewel-like glimmer, hidden in Gier’s hair.

“Go ahead. Try touching it.”

Urged on, my hand moved of its own accord toward that glimmer. There were two of them, perfectly symmetrical. As I brushed them lightly, I felt something hard, with a rough, uneven surface.

The moment I touched it, I understood.

—These are… the remains of broken horns…

“Gier… these are…”

When I gasped, Gier gave a small nod.

“Horns. They’ve long since been broken, but when I was young, there were small ones growing here.”

Seeing me struck dumb, Gier gave a wry smile and stood back up.

“I’m not human.”

“Not… human…?”

In a hoarse voice, I asked, and Gier nodded.

“I wasn’t hiding it. It’s just… talking about it was too painful. That’s why I kept silent. I’m not human. I’m of the race called Majin. And I, too, was born in the Kingdom of Aluda.”

“Eh…!”

A Majin. From the Kingdom of Aluda. Everything Gier was saying was new to me, and it left me stunned.

I’d heard fragments of stories about the Majin before. They looked like beautiful humans, but all of them bore splendid horns on their heads, and their bodies held an overwhelming reservoir of magic power. Yet because of that tremendous power, the chances of their children being born safely were extremely low, and their race was on the brink of extinction. For Gier to be one of the last Majin… and from Aruda…

I looked up at him in disbelief, and Gier spoke again, his voice slightly subdued.

“I don’t really know the details of my origin. But I do remember… when I was little, being carried off in a kidnapper’s wagon and taken to that country.”

“…”

“These horns were broken back when I was a child, in the house I was handed over to.”

Nowadays, it’s forbidden. But up until a few decades ago, beastkin and demi-human children with beautiful appearances could be bought in Aluda for money and kept like pets. Only Aluda insisted on dividing humans and other races like that. Those children should have been raised just like humans, but if they didn’t grow as their owners wished, they were treated cruelly…

He never said it outright, but perhaps Gier had been one of them.

“Without feelings, without will, I just lived on, because that’s all I could do.”

Just as my wolf ears are a precious part of me, Gier’s horns were a vital part of his body. If something so important had been broken… his life must have been unbearable. My chest tightened, and I found myself lowering my gaze.

But Gier’s voice wasn’t filled with despair.

“…But there was someone who reached out their hand to me.”

“!”

“He’d come to Aluda by chance, on a commission. He said, ‘If you’re gonna be a wreck anyway, you might as well be a wreck with me—it’s more fun that way,’ and he pulled me along.”

Could it be…?

As I pictured a certain someone, Gier nodded.

“That’s right. Kiril. Kiril dragged me, kicking and screaming, into the light.”

—So that was why Gier only ever seemed so open with Kiril-san. The hurried, frustrated, even angry expressions I’d never seen him show anyone else… he showed them only to Kiril-san. I always thought it was because they were partners, bound as a team. But now I get it. Long before they became buddies, Gier had been with Kiril since childhood. They were practically real family.

“I was terrified. Leaving that place… Even so, I only knew how to survive in that darkness. Then suddenly, light came pouring in, and it scared me out of my wits. But he… he held onto me and showed me just how warm and gentle that light could be.”

“Gier…”

Gier took my hand in his. His body, once cold, now radiated heat.

“That’s why—I’ll do the same for you, just as Kiril did for me. I’ll lead you into that light.”

I had always wondered why Gier treated me so kindly. But now I understood. Our circumstances were so very alike. And Gier… Gier had carried it forward. The warmth he received from Kiril-san, he was now passing on to me.

“You’re not weak, Kuna. I know, because I’ve been watching by your side all this time. You said it yourself, didn’t you? That what truly matters is how a person chooses to live. You’ve been fighting against your fear all along. So tell me—how could someone who faces their fears head-on ever look like a coward?”

When I looked at Gier’s face, I saw sweat beading across his forehead. He must have been incredibly nervous, saying all of this. Of course he was. To dig up his own trauma and put it into words… no one would ever want to do that. And yet, to make sure his words truly reached my heart, Gier had borne that pain and shared his secret with me.