Ochiden V8 - Prologue: Ryner and Sion

Volume 8

Prologue: Ryner and Sion

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It was raining.

“…It’s about that time of year, huh?” The jailer said.

Ryner looked up from the thick book he’d been reading. “Huh? What?” He asked the jailer who’d come to bring him his meal. 

“I mean, I just looked out the window, see, and it was raining.”

“…Rain?”

“Yep. So I said it’s about that season.”

“Hmm.” Ryner looked up at the jailer with sleepy eyes. Then he looked around his dark and depressing cell. He didn’t have any windows, or really any light at all. “It’s already that time of year, huh…”

“Suuure is. I’m not a fan, personally. Plus it was sunny earlier, so I didn’t think to bring an umbrella.”

“An umbrella… yeah, that’s right. You’d want to have an umbrella for the rain,” Ryner mumbled. Because he hadn’t seen the sun the entire time he’d been in here, it felt extremely strange thinking back to such ordinary things.

Roland was in the far south of Menoris, so even though it had twelve months in a year just like any other place, the seasons passing weren’t all that hectic. Instead, it was warm year-round. But it didn’t rain year-round. There were two distinct rainy seasons - the one that came just before summer and the one that came just before winter.

The rainy season in question here and now was the latter.

“…I thought it was getting cold,” Ryner said as he slouched his shoulders forward.

The jailer nodded. “Yeah, it has.”

“But you shouldn’t worry about the umbrella. Last time your wonderful bride brought one for you.”

“Yeah, but we had a fight yesterday!”

“Again? What, are you guys having problems with affairs?” Ryner asked.

“I’m not having an affair, dumbass.”

“Yeah, you don’t really seem like the popular type.”

“I could send you flying, y’know.”

“I didn’t mean you were the one having an affair,” Ryner said. “She is.”

“Huh!? W-whoa, my wife isn’t that kind of person!”

Ryner smirked. “So our head-of-house says, but she’s already lost the spark and is making a run for—”

“Is this your way of telling me that you’re prepared to go without food today, Ryner?” 

“Noo, I was kidding! Just kidding!! It was a cute joke, right? Even just a little?”

“There’s two types of jokes - the ones that are okay to make and the ones that aren’t. Apologize if you want to eat today.”

“Nooo…”

“Then you’re not eating!”

“Aww, okay, I got you,” Ryner said. “Sorry. I’m sure your wife is worrying about how you’ll fare with the rain this very moment.”

“R-really?”

“Yeah. Your daughter’s worrying about daddy, too.”

“She sure is a good kid!” The jailer said, smiling with pure happiness.

Ryner held his hands out. “Okay, now gimme food.”

The jailer nodded. “Alright, you can have some. I’m in a good mood now so I’ll bring you some bread for a snack later, too.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. I’m thinking about going home early because of the rain. That way I can eat with my family.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Ryner took his meal from the jailer. It was a simple meal with nothing but a bland soup and chunk of bread, just like always. But he was already used to it.

Actually, he hadn’t been interested in this food since the beginning. Even before he was jailed… he’d already lost his interest in food.

“……”

He didn’t mind. This wasn’t a hard life, after all. He could eat, sleep, and exist like someone’s forgotten pet with an empty mind. It was easy.

But the jailer looked down at him, sad. “It must be tough for you.”

Ryner looked up. His cheeks were full of bread. “Huh? What is?”

“You’re here all the time… You’ll be here for the rest of your life, unable to eat anything but bread and stew.”

Ryner looked at the rest of the dry piece of bread in his hand and smiled faintly. “It’s easier to get used to this than you’d think.”

“So that’s what it’s like, huh?”

“Mm.”

“I see… But listen. Tomorrow, I’ll bring another lunch for you. A homemade lunch from my wife.”

“Ohh, nice. Your wife’s a great cook, huh?”

“Yeah. That’s why I’m so happy.”

“You admit that that’s why?”

“Ahaha. Anyway, look forward to tomorrow!”

“I will. I’ll pray that you two get along so that I can have my lunch tomorrow!”

“Huh?” The jailer said, and for a moment he looked surprised. Then he pressed a hand to his head. “Ah, right. We were fighting…”

“You already forgot? You two sure get along well.”

“You know how it is. Anyway, I’m heading home. Sorry if I can’t get you that lunch.”

“Oh, alright. I’ll wait without expecting too much. Do your best to get along with her.”

“Yeah. I’ll try to get back on her good side,” the jailer said. Then he left.

Ryner pushed the rest of his bread into his mouth, then looked back down at the book he’d been reading.

“……”

His surroundings quickly became eerily quiet. He was surrounded by absolute silence. Absolute stillness. He was in the midst of solitary confinement, a special kind of emptiness resolved for only the most heinous of criminals. How long had he been here now?

It was enough to make a man go crazy from loneliness, but… Ryner was already painfully used to being alone. Because that’d always been his reality, ever since he was born.

The closer he got to someone else, the more he’d hurt them. So the further he stayed from others, the less he’d hurt them.

“Ah… but I kinda…”

Just a little… 

“…Have too much free time.”

 He looked up at the ceiling with half-lidded eyes. Because there was nothing to do here, he ended up thinking of all sorts of things that’d already happened. Stuff like the smiles of his friends who’d died on the battlefield used to have, or Kiefer’s tears.

Stuff like how Sion took responsibility for everything himself, and how he was probably forcing himself to smile through his anxiety even now, even if came out looking stiff.

“……”

None of that meant anything here. It was too detached from the outside world. So it didn’t matter what face Sion was making right this second, or what was happening outside of his cell. He didn’t have access to any of that information either way, after all.

Ryner narrowed his eyes and looked at the bars of his cell. He was able to see countless magic circles meant to nullify spells. This was a prison meant to keep all potential escapees in, no matter what spells they tried to use to escape.

When he looked at those bars, Ryner felt reassured. Even if his eyes made him go berserk, he’d be deep inside of this prison, unable to hurt anyone.

“……”

He felt that slight reassurance right alongside the loneliness of being here in the first place— 

“Ah, wait. Uncle just went home without getting that extra piece of bread he promised, didn’t he?” Ryner mumbled to the empty cell and laughed softly.

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