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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“…Well… where should we go?”
“Haa… let’s just grab something to eat.”
“Hee hee.”
A faint smile touched Eve’s lips, remembering when they’d walked these streets in their school uniforms.
She reached the end of the street and saw a cafe. The name, the interior, even the owner had changed.
[This place is really good!]
[Coffee is coffee… whoa, this is good.]
[Right? It’s a bit expensive, but worth it.]
[…Just one more sip.]
[Buy your own!]
Her cheeks flushed in the cold wind. She pulled up her sweater, covering her mouth, a complex expression on her face.
“So many memories in just one year.”
She’d spent her third year at Aios Academy with Daniel McLean. Just one year.
Yet those memories were more vivid than the other four years combined.
“I remember now why I left Elgrid.”
She’d left immediately after graduation, unable to bear the constant reminders of him. She’d fled back to her hometown.
This time, she’d returned for a meeting with her publisher.
She entered the luxury hotel they’d provided. She was on the top floor, the tenth. She stretched and took out her typewriter.
“They didn’t have hotels like this before.”
Elgrid had changed, developed. The hotel, the tallest building in the city, dominated the skyline.
Click, click, click.
She sat at her desk and began typing.
After a while, she looked out the window at the city below.
“Oh…”
Her eyes began to water.
She’d thought she’d be over it after three years, but…
The city was filled with too many memories, too much sadness.
“This is too much.”
She rested her hand on the typewriter and lowered her head, tears dripping onto her chest and the floor.
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked.
She wiped her eyes and turned towards the door, but the knocking continued. It wasn’t the door.
“Hello.”
A blonde elf, floating outside her window, smiled brightly.
“It’s cold out here. Much colder than the forest.”
– Tell me about it. My staff’s freezing.
Eris Anen Serier and the Yggdrasil staff.
Eris brushed off her clothes and grinned at the stunned Eve.
“I’m currently unemployed, and I’m trying to cross something off my bucket list. Can you help me?”
“Uh…”
Eve was speechless, and Eris pulled out a small crystal.
“I was going to do this alone, but… I can share.”
“…Share what?”
Eve was confused.
Eris winked playfully.
“Shares in the Sherpa.”
– She won’t understand.
“Oh, right. Sorry. I call him Sherpa at home.”
Eve’s eyebrow twitched. She was offended.
Eris smiled.
“I mean Daniel.”
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Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Water droplets landed on my nose, trickling down to my eyes, and my eyelids fluttered open.
I was in a dark, cave-like place.
“Uh…”
My throat was dry and scratchy. I tried to speak, but my voice was weak and unfamiliar.
“You’re awake.”
A woman looked down at me.
Her long black hair reached the floor, and her bangs covered her right eye. She had a voluptuous figure, like Eve and Eris, but she looked older, perhaps in her mid-thirties.
I’d never seen her before.
She had a unique aura, familiar yet unsettling. I’d felt it before, but I couldn’t place it.
“Where…”
I sat up. I’d been asleep for a long time, but I could move easily.
She glared at me, took a pipe from her pocket, and said,
“Where do you think you are, after dying? The underworld, of course.”
“…”
My memories returned.
The Following Apocalypse, the Apocalypse of Salvation, stopping time, waiting for Eris, stopping my own time…
“I succeeded!”
My death meant Eris had awakened and killed me.
“Wait.”
I was dead? And this was the underworld?
“Then you’re… the Goddess of Death?”
She smiled, amused.
“Who else would I be? I came to greet you personally.”
“…”
“Why do you think that is?”
I didn’t want to answer.
I stood and ran, but…
“Hey!”
Something was wrong.
I wasn’t eighteen, my age when I died, nor twenty-eight, my age before regressing.
I was ten years old.
Something flew towards me and wrapped around my neck.
A collar and chain. The other end was in her hand.
“You know how much trouble you’ve caused me, right?”
“I think we need to have a serious discussion about this. Perhaps over tea, we could have a civilized debate about…”
She yanked the chain, and I stumbled, falling to the ground. She raised her hand, her face flushed with excitement.
“Hee hee! Finally! Revenge! Daniel McLean! I haven’t slept properly because of you! I’ve been waiting for this day! It’s exhilarating!”
“Can we talk…!”
“Come here! I have so much prepared for you!”
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Eris smiled as she accepted the teacup from Eve. She was beautiful, Eve thought.
She remembered a man gushing about Eris’s unmatched beauty, and it made her feel a pang of annoyance.
“So, what’s the meaning of this?”
Eve took a sip of her tea. She’d read somewhere that making tea was like steeping one’s heart.
Perhaps that was why…
The tea tasted bitter.
She considered making a new pot, but Eris seemed to be enjoying it.
‘She has unusual tastes.’
Having lived in the forest, she preferred strong, unusual flavors, the kind most people disliked. Daniel had told her she loved pine cone flavored drinks.
She wasn’t sure what pine cone flavor tasted like.
“The meaning? Ah, you mean the Sherpa?”
Eris chuckled, as if she’d simply forgotten. Eve noticed a change in her.
She used to be reserved, maintaining her composure, but now she seemed more relaxed, like a friend.
“I’m looking for a way to resurrect him. Can you help me?”
Eve stood up abruptly, knocking over her chair. Her knees ached, but she ignored the pain, her hands trembling.
“Is… is that…”
Something she’d only dreamed of, dismissed as a fantasy… Eris was suggesting it as a possibility.
“Is it… possible?”
Her voice trembled with emotion. Eris smiled gently and hugged her.
“Even if it’s impossible, I’ll make it possible.”
It was a reckless statement, an irresponsible answer.
But for someone clinging to the slightest sliver of hope…
Someone who yearned to see him again, to talk, to thank him, to kiss him…
Someone who dreamed of him every night…
“Please…”
Eve buried her face in Eris’s embrace, tears streaming down her face.
“Please, let me see him again, just once.”
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May tied back her long reddish-brown hair. Seeing Eve leave the academy, she sighed in relief and leaned back in her chair.
The Headmaster’s plush chair was comfortable.
It had been a year since she became his secretary.
She often hid like this when her former classmates visited. There was nothing left to say.
She’d started by subtly avoiding conversations, but now she avoided people altogether.
‘It’s not like I committed a crime.’
She sighed and looked at the documents before her.
She’d become the Headmaster’s secretary after graduation.
She’d considered other jobs, but the Headmaster needed someone familiar with the academy, and she, being his niece, was the perfect candidate.
It was blatant nepotism, but her efficiency silenced any complaints.
Delinquents often made excellent employees.
A week ago, the Headmaster had been injured in a carriage accident.
He was alive, but he’d be hospitalized for two months.
So, she was now the acting Headmaster. Some professors had objected, but her impeccable record silenced them.
And having assisted the Headmaster for a year, she didn’t need any training.
She was incredibly busy. She tried to focus, wearing glasses and scribbling notes, but…
“…Haa…”
She put down her pen, took off her glasses, and sighed. Seeing Eve had reminded her of him.
“I’ve forgotten him.”
She repeated it like a mantra.
Yes, she’d forgotten him.
He’d frozen time and left after her heartfelt confession. She’d forgotten him a long time ago.
Her personal crystal ball, connected directly to the Plov family, buzzed.
“Yes, this is she.”
She placed it on her desk. Her mother’s face appeared.
“Are you busy?”
“No, not really.”
She was incredibly busy, but it could wait. She could postpone everything for two months and give it to the Headmaster as a “get well” present.
“Are you ready for what we discussed?”
May’s eyebrow twitched.
“…The blind date?”
“Yes, they’re eager to meet you.”
“I never agreed to this.”
She crossed her arms, but her mother wasn’t fazed.
“Are you going to work there forever? You’re twenty-one. Time to think about marriage. You don’t want to end up an old maid like your aunt.”
“…Don’t tell her I said that.”
Her mother sighed, rubbing her forehead.
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I caught up the free chapters 🥲😭