My Friend’s Harem Is Obsessed With Me – Chapter 208

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Crackle, crackle.

Rin built a small fire and sat before it, the ground around her scarred and broken from the fierce battle. It wasn’t an ideal resting place, but she was too exhausted to move.

She leaned back against a rock, her body heavy with fatigue.

She had assumed that after making Sharcal her servant, the rest would be easy. Even Kurika had his limits.

With her overwhelming forces, she had expected a swift victory, but…

Kurika was a force of nature.

No matter the size or strength of his opponent, he demanded their full attention, their utmost effort.

Rin remembered his crazed eyes as he single-handedly pushed through her army, reaching her, and she exhaled.

But she had won.

That was all that mattered.

The two new additions to her army were the strongest forces she could obtain on this continent.

‘I just have to stay focused.’

As long as her mind didn’t break, conquering the continent was within her grasp.

“……”

Yet, she felt no sense of relief.

She knew the destruction of the continent, the slaughter of its inhabitants, was almost inevitable.

“The treasure vault…”

Rin, having recovered somewhat, slowly stood. She couldn’t rest. She had to reach the gods’ vault, guarded by Kurika.

She needed to acquire any potential weapons or artifacts.

The journey wasn’t difficult.

Most of the magical beasts in the forest were under her control, and the greatest obstacle, the vault’s guardian, was now hers.

The air within the large cave was different from the stifling atmosphere of the Demon Realm Forest.

“……This is…”

The vault was filled with remarkable artifacts. Some she could use herself, others seemed more suited for her friends.

But she didn’t summon them. Seeing them would only shatter her fragile composure.

The thought brought a wave of loneliness, a chilling emptiness that settled in her heart. She couldn’t bear it, and she reached out.

Daniel, wearing the Aios Academy uniform, appeared before her.

His eyes, still vacant due to the Sun God’s curse, stared into nothingness.

Rin gently embraced him.

“You’re cold.”

Daniel’s body was cold, like a wax figure. But she held him close, finding solace in his familiar scent and touch.

“Daniel…”

She whispered his name.

She knew he wouldn’t answer, but the silence ached within her.

“……Huh?”

A sudden realization struck her, a moment of clarity.

When Daniel returned, he would retain these memories. He was cursed, but not dead.

She could do more for him than simply destroy the world and send him back.

Sharcal had described his heart as dormant after centuries of existence, and Rin felt the same.

Her heart, forced to orchestrate unimaginable tragedies, had been numb, barely beating, but…

Now, it quickened its pace.

“D-Daniel.”

Rin gently sat Daniel down on a crate, a makeshift chair that wouldn’t hurt his backside. The vault, thankfully, had some furniture.

She took a deep breath, wondering where to begin, then realized it didn’t matter.

There was no rush.

She had plenty of time.

And Daniel was always with her.

“Daniel, listen carefully. The Chokugen Faction is more dangerous than you think. When they destroyed Dobeliya village, I found their hidden base there. And shockingly, their leader is…”

“Finding the Pirate Lord wasn’t difficult. Elgrid was a hub for trade, so many pirates came looking for opportunities after its fall. The pirates and the Chokugen Faction have a special relationship. They supplied the drugs that ruined Sen…”

“Do you think Sharcal’s staff was truly destroyed in his self-destruction? I’m investigating, and I don’t think so. You said the Priestess of Time appeared after Sharcal’s self-destruction in the first iteration. I think she hid the staff somewhere. It’s more powerful than you think…”

Secrets of the world, revealed through destruction and devastation. Rin began to unravel the hidden truths she had discovered.

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Within the burning forest…

The elven city, nestled beneath the massive tree Yggdrasil, was in ruins, though no bodies remained.

Rin summoned Daniel there.

Trembling, a far cry from the composed girl who commanded the Army of Death, she spoke,

“Daniel… Yggdrasil wasn’t just a tree. She was a living being, with a soul. And don’t worry about Artemis’ mark. It’s not unique to Eris. It’s been passed down through generations of Guardians. Fortunately, she’s… not an apocalypse.”

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Rin’s condition worsened with each passing day. Dark circles under her eyes testified to her sleepless nights.

She couldn’t sleep, not even for an hour. The weight of her actions, the countless lives she had taken, was crushing her, but…

She summoned Daniel again. She didn’t want him to see her like this, but she had to tell him.

“This is Aquaris, the City of Water. I remembered something from Artemis’ mark. If Ares is the Following Apocalypse, there might be another one after him. So I’m looking for it.”

Daniel’s gaze remained fixed on nothingness. Rin wished he would look at her, even just once, but she knew it was a futile wish.

She continued,

“Kurika said an ordinary god couldn’t destroy the continent. He was right. The Goddess of Death, the Sun God… they’re all powerful deities. So I looked into the followers of Poseidon, the God of the Sea, but… no one had his mark.”

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Standing before a massive dragon, Rin summoned Daniel once more. Autumn had arrived, the air growing colder.

Rin’s eyes were unfocused, her body weak, as if she could barely stand. Anyone seeing her would have insisted she rest, but…

She spoke,

“This is Dragon’s Boundary. Daniel, the dragon Shakarim, worshipped by the dragon-kin, is said to be slumbering, but that’s not true. He’s awake. He’s just pretending to sleep because he’s deeply disappointed in the dragon-kin. Jane, the Dragon Priestess, knows the truth. Find her.”

She had conquered Dragon’s Boundary in the zeroth iteration, but she hadn’t known these details then, having simply sent her army to destroy it.

“To stop the Following Apocalypse, we have to stop the meteor. And I think Shakarim, the Dragon God, can help us. I also think Yggdrasil might be able to help.”

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“Daniel, won’t you say something?”

“I’m… so tired… The screams… they haunt me. I don’t want to kill them, but I have to…”

“Please, Daniel. Just once, let me hear your voice. Please, Daniel… please.”

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In a cavern lit by flickering torches, surrounded by the tools of the dwarves…

Rin carefully placed a white dagger before Daniel.

It was the Sealing Dagger, entrusted to Kurika by the Goddess of Time. But then, she pulled another dagger from her robe.

Identical to the first.

“Daniel, look. The dwarves had another Sealing Dagger. I can’t talk to the Goddess of Time anymore, so I don’t know why, but you should investigate. She hasn’t told us everything. Perhaps it’s a pact with the other gods?”

She gently stroked the dagger with her finger.

“Two daggers… does that mean there are two apocalypses? Perhaps the Earliest and the Following are the only ones? I found a boy who claimed to have the Lightning God’s mark, but it wasn’t true. I don’t think anyone else has a mark from a higher-ranking god.”

Rin lowered her head, her voice a whisper.

“If Ares and I are the only apocalypses, why were we chosen?”

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Amidst the destruction, a small village remained untouched.

The human kingdom, Yggdrasil, the beast-kin kingdom, the dwarven cooperative, the dragon-kin temple… all had fallen, but this village endured.

Though the threat of the apocalypse loomed, the villagers lived in harmony, helping and supporting each other.

It wasn’t a village of a single race.

Humans and elves laughed and worked together, beast-kin and dwarves built houses side-by-side, and dragon-kin shared food with everyone.

It was a place of true harmony.

And within this village, a young girl diligently wove clothes, preparing for the approaching winter.

She was barely ten years old, but she worked diligently while her mother was away.

A woman walked past.

Her robe, worn and tattered, bore the marks of countless hardships. A man in a similarly worn school uniform followed behind her, his eyes vacant.

The girl, raised to share with others, couldn’t bear the sight.

“Miss! Your clothes are…”

“……Did you call me?”

Rin turned her head, looking at the bold girl. The girl’s eyes widened in surprise.

Rin looked like a zombie, her once-beautiful features now haggard and worn, her shoulders slumped, her hair tangled and dry.

It wasn’t just her clothes.

But the girl could only offer what she had.

“You won’t survive the winter in those clothes. I’ll give you some of ours, while my mom’s away. Choose whatever you like.”

“……”

“Hurry. Your brother will be cold too, won’t he?”

“Ah…”

The girl was right.

Daniel, in his summer uniform, wouldn’t survive the harsh winter.

Rin could have simply enveloped him in her darkness, but lately, she had been holding his hand, keeping him close.

“Then, I’ll accept your offer.”

Rin chose some clothes.

She had always thought black suited Daniel, so she picked a black shirt and robe.

“……Nice.”

Rin smiled faintly as she saw Daniel in his new clothes. It was the first time she had smiled since her return, her facial muscles stiff and unfamiliar with the expression.

The girl, seeing her smile, beamed and brought something else.

“Here, you should wear this! It’s a couple’s robe!”

“A couple’s robe…”

“Your brother looks sick. I hope he gets better!”

The girl skipped back to her stall, and Rin discarded her old robe, carefully putting on the new one.

The same black robe as Daniel’s.

A genuine smile, not a forced one, finally graced Rin’s lips.

But just then…

“T-The apocalypse! The calamity has come!”

The girl’s mother, returning to the stall, screamed in terror.

The girl, who had been eager to show her mother her act of kindness, was met with…

“I’m so sorry.”

Rin’s heartfelt apology was carried away by the wind, a harbinger of the approaching winter.

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