.｡.:✧ Chapter 52 ✧:.｡.

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Eris.

I couldn’t comprehend why she was here aiding me.

I wondered if she had visited Elgrid around this time or if she remembered me, which raised my suspicions.

Though I had much to say and wanted to clear the air immediately, I forcibly held back.

Having just met and with no intention of parting ways just yet, we had to deal with the demon disturbing us first.

Trusting in her magic to handle the swarm, I ignored the insects charging at me and started to chase after Apviel.

“Be gone! I said, get lost!”

Apviel, abandoning all dignity and literally crawling on the ground like an insect, showed an incredible turn of speed, akin to a fish back in water.

‘It’s difficult to catch him like this.’

I would have considered using a different weapon if I had one, but I had no way to deal with the situation and almost bit my lip in frustration, contemplating throwing my sword.

Then, a gentle breeze made my legs feel lighter.

I was surprised by the sudden burst of speed, as if my legs weren’t my own, but it wasn’t an unfamiliar sensation.

Eris’s support magic.

Glancing back, Eris simply nodded towards me once without saying anything, continuing to sweep through the insects.

‘She was impressive even back then.’

She swept away the insects with a whirlwind while casting another spell on me, double-casting.

The realization that she was indeed the person I knew brought a strange sense of comfort. I suppressed a smile that was forming and closed the distance with Apviel.

“Cr, crazy bastard! I said, get lost!”

He began to indiscriminately spray some kind of secretion.

The secretion that landed on the ground melted it, looking both disgusting and dangerous, so I frowned and dodged it.

“Disgusting.”

“Shut up!”

Finally, at the edge of the academy, Apviel, without a hint of hesitation, started to climb over the wall, but…

Crunch.

“Aaahhh!”

I leaped at him and plunged my sword into his back.

Despite his desperate struggle to escape, he was impaled like a skewer against the wall.

Watching him, I couldn’t help but smirk.

“You struggle so pathetically to live; why then did you insult and despise others for being grotesque and vile?”

“Just, shut up!”

From pretending to be some grand leader of forces to now, his struggling was pitiful to see.

In the end, despite their pretense of nobility, ancient demons are essentially beasts, tearing others apart to survive.

Of course, not all demons are like this; some truly understand honor beyond the limits of their kind.

“If you’re the king of insects, die cleanly, not struggling pathetically, as you told Adriana.”

His posture and Adriana’s, how could he act so noble?

Yet, he screamed in fury.

“I am different! I am! How dare you compare me, who became the king of insects over eons, to a witch who barely lived a few years!”

“You’re different alright. You’re just an insect.”

I began to exert more force on my sword.

“Wait, please! Please, spare me…!”

Crunch!

The sword, lodged in his belly, cleaved upwards, splitting him cleanly from his torso to his head.

The repulsive innards spilled out, and his body thudded to the ground.

“Don’t feel too wronged. You were meant to die anyway.”

In a past life, Apviel had already lost his life in the demon forest when I met the ancient demons.

Whether he died here or in the demon forest wasn’t clear, but since he was destined to die, it didn’t really matter.

Glancing at the sky, I saw the insects, now leaderless, plunging into chaos and attacking people randomly.

It seemed my turn to step in was over.

“Ah, sitting in high places isn’t for naught after all.”

While Eris and I distracted them, everyone had been evacuated, and the dean and professors were containing the insects with magic.

“Magic is indeed convenient.”

Watching the insects being sucked into the magic and disappearing as if drawn by a magnet was truly fascinating.

It would have taken me all day to kill them by myself.

As I stood there, dazed, watching the sky clear of insects, a woman with pointed ears approached, walking steadily towards me.

She glanced at Apviel’s bisected body behind me and smiled slightly.

“You’ve dealt with it thoroughly.”

“……”

Her voice was gentle.

It was really her.

Eris was standing in front of me, smiling.

Rubbing my eyes, there was no doubt she was there, and the deep scent of the forest naturally tickled my nose.

Could it be that she, too, had returned in time like me?

Hope that she had come looking for me began to blossom.

“I came looking for you.”

Eris said, holding my hand and giving a bright smile.

“Ah, ah…”

My heart felt heavy.

I wasn’t one to cry easily, but at that moment, tears seemed imminent, so I hastily wiped my eyes.

Perhaps, just maybe, she had also returned, fulfilling the countless nights of hope I harbored.

The prospect of the many days unfolding before us excited me, almost to the point of exhilaration.

“Chosen by the Sun God, Helios.”

Had it not been for her following words.

“……What?”

“I came to instruct you on the use of the great power you’ve acquired and to warn you. Even as everyone fled, you alone charged towards the mighty demon, and I witnessed your bravery with my own eyes.”

Wait, what is she talking about?

“The righteous one. I see why Helios chose you. There are still people like you among humanity.”

“……”

“With great power and the blessing of the Sun God, yet you choose to bear the heaviest burden in the darkest places. Your heroic deeds today have been witnessed by me, the sentinel Eris. I will never forget.”

“Wait, hold on.”

Realizing she was misunderstanding something, I hastily shook off her hands that were gripping mine.

“Helios? Sorry, but I’ve never been chosen for anything like that.”

“What? But…”

She looked at me quizzically, her expression gradually changing to one of confusion as she made a perplexed sound.

“Eh? Wait, just a moment! Do you not have any symbols on your wrist or chest? Like, suddenly glowing with light…”

“I don’t have anything like that.”

Was she always this scatterbrained?

She had always presented herself with dignity in front of me, so this side of her was both surprising and amusing.

“Really? I’m sorry. But, it’s impossible that I was mistaken?”

Eris, puzzled, crossed her arms and tilted her head, a habit she seemed to have when in deep thought.

“……”

Watching her, I couldn’t help but smile with a mix of amusement and slight bitterness.

Being an elf, her appearance hadn’t changed much from my memory of her 10 years later, except her hair was a bit shorter than before.

“Imagine if…”
The image of her shyly asking me in the depths of a dark forest overlapped in my mind.

“If everyone else were dead and only we two survived, would you marry me?”

Despite the darkness around us, her face, which seemed about to burst into flames from embarrassment, was vividly etched in my memory.

“Well, if humans are extinct and elves are extinct, then you’re the only partner left, aren’t you?”

Thinking back to our first encounter, when she was so cold, I never imagined our relationship could evolve to this point.

At that time, she came to me seeking herbs for a plague that had spread among the elves, bearing the title of sentinel.

Our relationship was strictly professional at first, and we didn’t have many conversations in the early days.

“We would become the progenitors of a new mankind. Who would have thought that half-elves would one day rule the world?”

Given the nature of elves, inherently kind to their own kind but often excessively exclusive towards other races.

“Sorry, I seem to have misunderstood.”

As she apologized and bowed her head, I looked at her with feigned indifference and slowly extended my hand for a handshake.

“By the way, what’s your name? I’ve simply been calling you Sherpa until now.”

“Daniel McLean.”

“What?”

I’m finally able to give you an answer, and I’m truly sorry.

“My name is Daniel McLean.”

Thank you for being alive,

I really appreciate it.

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