Rain waited for a few moments.
And for a few moments more.
Eventually, she spoke:
"Teacher... so, about those Memories?"
He grinned.
"Sure, I'll give it to you. But... not here. There's something else we need to do, so let's go somewhere more private."
Rain wanted to say that there weren't really any places more secluded than this one in the army camp, and that going outside unnoticed would not be easy...
But at that moment, her teacher fell into the shadows.
And pulled her with him.
A moment later, they were somewhere else, surrounded by darkness and the damp, suffocating smell of the jungle.
Everywhere around them, the vermilion jungle sprawled. Rain's nostrils were assaulted by countless smells, and her ears were assaulted by countless sounds. The rustle of leaves, the hum of abominable insects, the distant footsteps of dreadful predators... They were in the middle of the jungle, surrounded by darkness. That could only mean one thing...
Rain's eyes widened, and she suddenly felt cold. Her hair stood on end. "Teacher! Did... did you bring me to the Hollows?!"
Of course, she had kept her voice to a barely audible whisper.
He just nodded calmly, as if it was not even worthy of being mentioned.
"Yes. But don't worry... there are no Cursed Nightmare Creatures nearby. Only the Great Ones."
Rain shuddered.
'You bastard! What do you mean, "only" the Great Ones?!‘
Pulling her along, her teacher walked between the ancient trees and entered a small clearing.
There... somehow... Rain saw a familiar brick cottage.
She was too dazed to even bother wondering what it was doing in the Hollows.
This time, she was led to a back door — Rain was pretty sure that it had not existed the last time she saw the cottage, but now, it was undeniably there.
Inside was a vast chamber filled with darkness. And in the middle of that darkness... lay a towering mountain of items.
There were pieces of broken wagons, piles of precious mystical materials, bags of flour and rice, crates of arrows with arrowheads forged from sorcerous steel, barrels filled with unknown liquids, slabs of building stone... and so much more.
There was a very familiar symbol burned into the wooden crates, as well.
...The crest of the Royal Clan Song.
Rain froze.
Raising a shaking hand, she pointed at the mountain of supplies and asked in a small voice:
"Teacher... w—what is that?"
But she knew what it was. It was the supply caravan of the Song Army... what was left of it.
He glanced at the supplies briefly and shrugged.
"That? The supplies meant for the Song Army, of course."
Rain nodded.
'Right.‘
As if that explained anything!
She struggled to speak for a moment.
"But what are they doing here?"
Her teacher sighed.
"Well, I thought: that it would be a real shame to just burn them all or toss them into the Sea of Ash. So, I commandeered them instead. Oh, but don't tell anyone... officially, all these supplies were destroyed..." Feeling like she was losing her mind, Rain took a deep breath, and then whispered loudly:
"But why do you have them?! It was the Lord of Shadows who attacked the caravan! That scary bastard!"
The monster whom even Princess Revel couldn't defeat.
Her teacher stared at Rain with a surprised expression.
Then, he scratched his nose.
"...Wait, you really didn't know?"
What was she supposed to know?!
Rain silently shook her head.
He coughed.
"It's because I am the Lord of Shadows."
Noticing Rain's dumbfounded expression, her teacher smiled pleasantly.
"Just think about it... anyone claiming to be the Lord of Shadow would be claiming to be the lord of me. And even if there was a fool crazy enough to do something like that, I would have probably sent them to see the Shadow Realm real quick... to dissuade them..."