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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Before entering Estia’s dream… Lee Jun-woo was stuck in that moment.
The day Aina lost her life.
She shouted at Lee Jun-woo, who stood there in a daze,
“What are you doing, you idiot!! Move, quickly!!”
Yes, he had clearly heard Aina’s voice back then.
Aina yelled at him, urging him to snap out of it.
He was running away from the Demon Lord who was chasing them, holding her hand tightly.
That creature was beyond the capabilities of their party to handle at that time.
They hadn’t anticipated the sudden betrayal.
Aina glanced back and shouted in frustration,
“I can’t believe that bastard betrayed us…!! Wait…!? Where’s the priest?!”
Irina, the party’s swordsman, replied,
“Daniel died first. That traitor must have known. That the priest is the most important member of a party. What a shitty situation.”
“Damn it. Damn it. Damn it…!! That piece of shit…!! We accepted him into the party, and he dares betray us…?!!”
Aina cursed, clutching his hand tightly as they continued to flee.
His heart ached watching her.
Suddenly, the scene shifted from their escape.
It was a vision of the past.
‘…Is this that place? When the party had four members, before that bastard joined.’
A pitiful man was looking for a party on the street.
A boy with nothing but the clothes on his back.
Perhaps Aina was reminded of when she first met Lee Jun-woo.
Looking at the black-haired boy, she asked them,
“Hey, should we take him as a porter? Our luggage has been getting heavy lately, and Jun, you still haven’t mastered Spatial Magic.”
“…You can’t use it either, Aina. How could I?”
“I told you to call me Master, you little shit! You wanna get beaten up!?”
Aina tried to hit him with her staff.
Of course, with her lack of athleticism, she couldn’t land a single blow.
The reason he learned Spatial Magic while coughing up blood… was definitely because of that memory.
Back then, he dodged Aina’s attacks and approached the shabbily dressed boy.
“You’re looking for a party?”
“Y-Yes! I’m looking for a party! I can do anything!”
“Hmm…”
He was innocent and eager.
Though he didn’t look reliable, his eyes were appealing.
But they failed to see beneath the surface.
He shouldn’t have made that choice back then.
The deaths of his party members were all his fault.
It was his misjudgment, one that even Minerva hadn’t foreseen.
“Alright, Aina. Let’s take him as a porter. I like his eyes.”
“I was going to do that anyway, even if you didn’t say anything. You’re acting like you’re the leader or something. Hey, you there, what’s your name?”
The boy blushed at Aina’s question.
Perhaps back then…
If he had noticed the emotions hidden within the boy, if he hadn’t taken him into the party as a porter, Aina wouldn’t have died.
The boy, looking at Aina with admiration, replied,
“My name is Raul. I-I’ll work hard as the party’s porter!”
Raul, the boy, answered cheerfully.
With the boy’s smile as the last image, the scene changed once again.
Back to the scene where they were being chased.
Raul.
He was chasing after them, transformed into a disgusting, fleshy mass, having abandoned his humanity.
“G-Give her back-!! Give her back right now…! Sh-She doesn’t belong to you-!! Jun-!! Aina loves me-!! She could never love you-!!”
His voice was still as repulsive as ever.
After killing ‘Envy’, who introduced himself as the Demon Lord of Envy…
Raul muttered to himself in a corner before turning into that fleshy monstrosity and killing the priest.
Seeing the man he had grown close to over three years die in an instant was an unbearable sight for him back then.
“D-Damn it! Jun, what are you doing! Move your legs! E-Even if I die! Y-You can’t die! Why is that crazy bastard acting like this…!!”
“…He changed after seeing us hug.”
“What the hell are you talking about-!! He didn’t act like that when we hugged all the time-!!”
“…The Demon Lord of Envy. It seems his power… has transferred to that porter bastard. Let’s run for now. There’s no other choice.”
He had received Minerva’s problem back then and chosen to run away.
With Aina and Irina.
But as time passed, the fleshy mass only got faster, and their pace naturally slowed.
Starting with Aina, the party’s mage, who had the least stamina.
‘Damn it…’
He didn’t want to relive this memory again.
Because of the Demon Lord of Lust’s ability…
He was forced to revisit the memories that had tormented him all this time.
With a heart heavy with guilt, he looked ahead.
“Hey, Jun… my dear student…! Go home first… I’ll be there soon…”
“Aina! Snap out of it! We, we can make it. Just a little more-”
“Oh, honestly. You never listen to your Master. I’m telling you to just go… It’s not a Master’s role to hold their student back…”
What is it about being a Master?
Why did Aina sacrifice herself to protect him?
Even now, he couldn’t understand her actions.
Aina, visibly exhausted, slammed her staff onto the ground.
Thud-
And then, she uttered the words that were his last memory of her.
“Thank you for everything… Live well, Jun, I…”
As if she didn’t want to finish the sentence, she bit her lip… and with a tearful smile, separated the space.
She even obscured his vision, as if she didn’t want to show him the end.
He collapsed there, shedding tears, and Irina, barely holding back her own, led him away from that place.
Seeing those memories, which had always haunted him in his nightmares, unfold before his eyes…
His heart ached unbearably.
He barely managed to control his emotions and muttered,
“…What a wicked ability, Lust.”
“No, it’s more like a blessing. Be honest. You were happy to see her again, weren’t you? That woman.”
“…”
It would be a lie to say he wasn’t.
Rust, as if sensing his thoughts, chuckled.
“If you stay with me here. You can see her again and again. Your essence, your life force. Give them to me, and I’ll let you live with her forever in your dreams. Happy memories will always remain in your dreams.”
So…
Choose.
Rust smiled and conjured up an illusion of Aina.
The illusion of Aina simply stared at him.
“Stab her in the heart. Then, you can save the other children.”
“…What if I refuse?”
“A lifetime of happy dreams. A reunion with your beloved Master. A reunion with the woman you thought you’d never see again. How about it? Doesn’t that sound good?”
Rust, as if sensing his wavering heart, smirked and said,
“I’m going to go see the other children, so make your choice~. I hope you make a good one~?”
With those words, Rust disappeared.
She left him alone in a space with Aina.
If she were the real Aina, they would have countless things to talk about, but…
Knowing she couldn’t answer, he remained silent and stared at her.
“…I have to make a choice.”
But…
It was a difficult choice.
Even if she was just an illusion, she looked exactly like Aina.
She was no different from the Aina he held in his memories.
Could he really stab her in the heart?
Could he, who had brought that garbage porter into the party?
He gazed into the eyes of the silent Aina.
The memory of her final moments kept replaying in his mind, numbing his senses.
“I can’t choose. But I have to…”
Even though no problem appeared…
He had to make a choice.
The right choice.
The correct answer.
As he felt the tears streaming down his face, he drew his sword and approached the illusion of Aina.
She was expressionless, but his guilt towards her was unbearable.
“…I’m sorry, Aina. I’m trash.”
Plunge-
With tears blurring his vision, he plunged his sword into Aina’s heart.
Though she was just an illusion, the blood from her heart stained his sword.
Aina’s illusion collapsed to the ground and vanished into dust.
“I’m sorry, Aina… If I had been stronger back then… I could have protected you…”
If he had learned Spatial Magic sooner.
If he hadn’t brought that porter into the party…
Guilt washed over him, making it hard to breathe.
But even in this state, he had to keep moving forward.
“The children… are waiting.”
The children he had kidnapped.
He had to take responsibility and ensure they didn’t suffer any further.
Carrying the weight of guilt and responsibility on his shoulders…
He walked towards the exit.
The trials he had seen in the answer sheet were all filled with pain…
“…I can only pray that they endured it all.”
With a heavy heart, he moved towards the children.
“B-Brother? What’s with the blood on your sword…?”
“It’s nothing.”
First, Estia.
He rescued her from the Church’s dungeon, where she had been suffering in her memories.
Perhaps because it was a dream, she wasn’t intoxicated by holy water.
After rescuing Estia, a door appeared in the air.
‘I have to rescue the other children quickly.’
Lingering emotional aftereffects would hinder their growth.
So…
He took Estia’s hand and opened the door leading to the next child.
It was…
“A wedding ceremony…?”
It looked like a wedding, but the atmosphere was closer to a funeral and there, the Hero’s party’s rogue…
Hare was kneeling, shedding tears in pain.
“St-Stop… Please, stop it… Mister…”
She was watching an illusion of him and Aina kissing right in front of her.
Seeing that, he was filled with rage.
“Don’t think you’ll die peacefully, Demon Lord of Lust.”
He wouldn’t let her die easily.
It was time to wake Hare from her nightmare.
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