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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: TushChen
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“Now!”
Boom!!
With a loud bang, magic fired from my fingertips.
The siege spell precisely pierced the forehead of Cluak, who had been charging towards me.
Something exploding filled my ears, and Cluak’s massive body was revealed before my eyes.
I slowly took off the glasses and tossed them aside.
As the smokescreen created by the scattered snow subsided, Cluak could be seen falling backward, spewing black beast blood.
I staggered to my feet and approached Cluak, whose enormous body was shaking and convulsing.
*Ding!*
*Ding!*
*Ding!*
*Ding!*
*Ding!*
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Messages were popping up, all saying that I would die soon.
Judging by my gradually blurring vision, it seemed like I was actually about to die.
Despite the system declaring me a walking corpse, I moved my feet with great difficulty and stood before Cluak.
“H-how… d-did you… see me?”
As expected of a destruction-class magical beast.
Even after having his forehead pierced by the siege magic and rendered entirely immobile, he stubbornly clung to life.
Though having his eyes blown out seemed quite painful.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t kind enough to answer such things individually.
Especially when I was dying.
I reached out my hand to him and delivered the finishing blow with an attack spell.
Thud!
Cluak’s life, which had been tenaciously holding on, was extinguished without even a dying breath.
After confirming the gushing black blood and the lifeless eyes of Cluak, I collapsed to the ground, losing all strength.
“Ah… damn it… I’m really going to die.”
*Ding!*
*Ding!*
*Ding!*
I closed all the system windows that kept appearing, utterly unrelated to my survival, and looked up at the sky.
White snow was falling endlessly.
‘Am I going to die like this?’
I was still only 8 years old.
This was too unfair.
In my previous life, I died before properly experiencing adulthood, and here I was, dying at the age of 8.
Was there such a cruel fate?
I had struggled with all my might to live even a little longer, but…
At that moment, a shadow fell over the sky.
Nias was looking down at me.
Snow had piled up on her glossy black hair.
Nias’ obsidian eyes were shining with an indecipherable emotion.
If it were now, she could definitely kill me.
Congratulations Nias. You’ve achieved your goal.
I looked at Nias and moved my lips.
I intended to say that, but my mouth and hands moved differently.
“Hey. Pig. I picked this up on the way.”
I held out the rag to Nias.
Nias hesitated and hesitated before finally accepting the rag I offered.
And gently hugging that rag to her chest, without even brushing off the snow, she buried her face in it.
“Young Master, I… I’m happy. This is a first for me.”
Amidst the fluttering white snow, I saw a single snowflake settle on the tip of Nias’ eyebrow.
And the moment Nias closed her eyes, that snowflake melted and flowed like a teardrop.
Then, looking up at me with eyes clouded by that moisture, Nias gave me a beaming smile.
It was just a rag.
What was there to be so happy about?
“Yeah. Well, good for you.”
*Ding!*
*Ding!*
It was too late.
And I still couldn’t buy Resurrection.
Nias seemed to mutter something more, but I never heard it again.
Darkness was descending upon me.
Perhaps this was the end.
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Nias felt the warmth of the blanket the boy had given her.
It was covered in snow and a complete mess, so it was terribly cold, but Nias still liked this blanket.
It was the first time.
For the first time, what the world had taken from her was returning.
“I’m really, really happy. Young Master.”
Her vision was gradually blurring.
At first, she thought it was because of the snow, but it was her own tears.
That fact was a bit amusing.
What she thought had dried up during her time as the Demon King was now pouring out like this after meeting this boy and becoming Nias.
Nias slowly placed her hand on his cheek.
A warm touch.
He was still, still alive.
Nias knew this was the perfect opportunity.
She didn’t even need to lay a hand on him herself.
If she just left him like this now, this frail boy would slowly die.
As the Demon King, that would be the ideal outcome.
She could find another hero and proceed with her plan.
However, Nias hesitated.
Something had changed.
Because of that, everything inside her had been completely destroyed once and rebuilt again.
“I… like you, Young Master.”
Nias liked this boy.
The boy had stepped into her heart, filled with cold and pure white snow.
And he had boldly pushed his way in and engraved something unforgettable.
That emotion had swelled up considerably before she knew it and filled Nias to the brim.
“I want you to live.”
There were countless times she had wished for someone’s death.
But this was the first time she had wished for someone to live.
She wanted him to live and say harsh things to her once more.
So…
Nias cast a curse on the boy’s body.
“Curse, status transfer”.
In other words, a curse made her and the boy’s physical conditions the same.
Nias felt the wounds being engraved on her own body.
The pain Leonhart had been experiencing slowly seeped into her body one by one.
‘It hurts…’
Blood slowly flowed from her back.
Instead, the boy’s body was slowly healing.
‘We have to get out of the forest. I can’t let him die.’
Nias laid the blanket under the boy and secured it tightly. Then she tied the blanket around her own body.
Nias began walking through the snow-covered forest, dragging the boy and hunching her body.
Warmth gradually left her body, and her feet began to ache.
The wounds transferred from the boy were unbelievably painful.
Blood gradually seeped out, spreading drop by drop on the snow in the Iserk Forest.
Still, Nias walked towards the end of the forest.
The forest where the snow storm raged was no longer lonely.
It was so noisy.
Nias finally felt like she had gained a new life.
And at the same time, Nias felt death approaching her.
‘I won’t be able to reach the castle…’
Then Nias slipped once.
When she fell, it felt like she would never be able to get up again.
‘No.’
Nias gritted her teeth.
To save him, even if she died.
Nias forcibly lifted her body and began walking again.
When the Young Master wakes up, I should make him delicious snacks.
I should put a hypnotic drug in them and ensure he can become a hero.
That’s what I should do.
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Yuria was standing at the forest entrance, her body shivering from the cold.
How dare he treat her, a noble princess, in such a trivial manner?
At this rate, wasn’t she just a sidekick?
When he comes back, she would properly… beat him down…
While making that resolution, Yuria stroked the back of her hand.
Even in the cold snowstorm, the place where that little boy had kissed was still hot.
‘…It’s humiliating!’
Yuria recalled that moment and turned her face red.
Somehow, whenever she stood before Leonhart, she felt like she had become inferior.
It was also a problem that this feeling wasn’t so bad.
‘My knight… hmm…’
Yuria tightly clasped her hands and laughed softly.
Then, as if punishing herself for such thoughts, she slapped her cheeks.
‘What are you doing?! Yuria Rodmas! Get a grip!’
The words of that impudent maid came to mind.
Do you like him, she had asked…?
‘There’s no way I would like such a little boy!’
Yuria desperately denied it, shaking her head vigorously.
Absolutely, absolutely not!
“Huh? Oh… it stopped.”
Yuria noticed that the snow was gradually subsiding.
Sunlight was slowly peeking through the hazy clouds.
As the weather gradually improved, the snow falling on the Iserk Forest began to shine like diamonds.
At that moment, Yuria spotted a figure emerging from the forest and narrowed her eyes.
She thought it was Leonhart, but it was a girl in a maid’s uniform.
“…Help me…”
Even from a distance, the girl was walking with her body in tatters.
Blood was flowing from all over her body, dripping onto the snow below.
And behind the maid, a boy was tied to a torn blanket.
“Kyaaaaah!!”
Yuria screamed and hastily ran over.
Nias saw the princess running towards her and slowly felt her body’s strength draining.
She couldn’t walk anymore.
But for some reason, Nias couldn’t help but laugh.
The endless silence had definitely come to an end.
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I opened my eyes with the feeling of having woken up from a really long dream.
“This again.”
As I woke from unconsciousness, I saw a girl smiling down at me like a flower petal swaying in the breeze.
I was lying under the shade of a tree in the garden, resting my head on the girl’s lap as if embraced by her maid uniform.
“Are you awake?”
I was about to nod my head but chuckled instead and said,
“Pig, get your face away.”
“Again with those hurtful words…”
Although a sad light flickered across her face, what could I do?
I already knew that she was the mastermind, still eagerly targeting me.
Didn’t she try to feed me hypnotic drug-laced cookies just yesterday?
Sitting up, I called up my status window.
This damned frailty was the problem.
It was the reason I had fainted and woke up a whole two years after the Cluak incident.
I am now 10 years old.
[Age 8, 《The Maid’s Change of Heart》 Arc End]
[Age 10, 《The Strongest Weapon According to the Setting》 Arc Start]
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Wait BRO WAS ASLEEP FOR 2 WHOLE YEARS??