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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Peptobismol]
[Proofreader - Demon God]
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Chapter 170 - Summer Vacation at the Duke’s Manor (1)
At last, Linus and Celine escaped from the illusion.
Kaiden apologized to them as well.
True to his heroic nature, Linus forgave everything, and so did Celine.
But the one who truly needed to apologise wasn’t Kaiden.
Releasing Kaiden, I turned to Lormane.
“Lormane…”
“No, please don’t.”
Lormane smiled gently and shook her head.
“In the end, everything you said to me was true from your perspective, Dian. I don’t want you to apologize or bow your head to me.”
“Even so…”
“If you insist, then hug me just once.”
As she opened her arms, I had no choice but to laugh and embrace her tightly.
“This is an honor.”
Linus and Celine approached and offered their apologies to Lormane as well.
Once again, Lormane simply smiled and reassured them that it was all right.
Her smile was so radiant that, for a moment, I wondered if she might be the saintess that hadn’t yet appeared in this era.
Ah, speaking of gratitude, there was one more person I needed to thank.
But that person was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Hindrasta?”
“She bolted as soon as she saw me.”
Linus said, pointing to the floor.
A puddle of liquid trailed from where Hindrasta had been standing all the way outside the professor’s office.
Great. Now I’d have to clean that up.
# # # # #
Linus and Celine returned home.
Now that everything was over, there was no reason for them to stay. They had their own responsibilities, like caring for Lumien.
Lormane, too, said she needed to leave right away.
She still had unfinished business to take care of, namely, purifying the lair of the dark mage who had created the current Kaiden.
“My mother’s…”
Kaiden hesitated, and Lormane asked gently.
“Do you want to visit it one last time?”
“Well…”
Kaiden glanced between Lormane and me before lowering his head.
“It’s okay, Kaiden. Be honest with yourself. Don’t think about anything else.”
“In that case… yes, I’d like to go.”
At his words, Lormane smiled warmly.
“All right. Then open a dimensional gate for us. It’s too far to go back by horse.”
Kaiden raised his hand to cast the spell but hesitated, turning to look at me.
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“If you’re okay with it.”
“Let’s go.”
“Thank you.”
In an instant, we were standing on a gravel field.
What the—?!
Lormane and I were so startled we exchanged wide-eyed looks.
“How… How did we get here without a dimensional gate?”
“The gate is just an auxiliary tool. If you understand magic well enough, you can move without one.”
“I see. Impressive.”
I muttered, realizing Kaiden’s reputation as one of this era’s Archmages was well-deserved.
The atmosphere here was eerie.
The barren, rocky hill was littered with hundreds of skeletons.
Was this the place mentioned in the diary? The corpses of the Demon King’s soldiers who had come to take Kaiden?
Even the moonlight felt oppressive, casting an ominous glow over the macabre scene.
“Oh, you’ve arrived. But who are they…?”
As we climbed the hill, special task force members stationed there came to greet us.
“They’re my companions, I vouch for their identities.”
Lormane said. With that, she led us further up the hill.
Amid the jagged peaks of rock, we came upon what looked like a crumbling grave.
A crude stone house made of rocks and branches, much like the hut Kaiden had hidden in on the dormant volcano.
So this is where Kaiden was born…
To think he lived in a place like this…
The inside of the stone house was shocking.
Even accounting for the years it had been abandoned, it was unfit for human habitation.
There were no utensils, no tables, no chairs, none of the basic necessities for a livable home.
It looked more like a pen for livestock, with straw strewn on the ground.
Kaiden stood at the threshold, saying nothing, staring at the interior.
His face was unreadable, a mixture of emotions impossible to identify.
“This way.”
Lormane called, guiding us to a black, rectangular hole in the wall.
“It’s a subspace created with dark magic. It leads to what seems to be a research lab.”
Following her inside, I grimaced at the sight before me.
It was filthy, damp, and looked like a dungeon.
Old tables littered with books and writing tools were surrounded by puddles of unknown liquids on the floor.
Rusty cauldrons, millstones, hooks, and knives, none of which seemed suited for cooking, were scattered about.
But what stood out most were the piles of human body parts.
Stacked like mannequins in pieces, they weren’t real bodies but artificial constructs.
The dried clay around the severed edges made it clear they had been crafted, likely golems.
“Ugh!”
As I inspected more closely, I recoiled at the sight of Kaiden’s severed head lying on the ground.
Now I noticed there were many with Kaiden’s face.
So these were failed prototypes of the dark mage’s experiments…
Kaiden had been born here and studied magic in this place…
He approached a nearly collapsing desk and ran his hand over it.
“This is where I used to study. I didn’t even sleep, I just kept studying all day. I’m a golem, after all.”
Kaiden smiled bitterly.
“Back then, I thought this was such a cozy space. It’s strange how the human heart works. Now it just seems filthy and outdated. Though, of course, I’m not human.”
“That’s not true, Kaiden,”
Lormane said softly.
“If you have the heart of a human, then you are human.”
Kaiden didn’t respond.
“What should we do with this place now?”
“Destroy it. There’s nothing to gain by leaving it intact.”
Kaiden lifted his hand from the desk and nodded.
“I’ll collapse it completely with magic. Let’s step outside.”
Once we exited the subspace, Kaiden flicked his fingers.
With a deafening crash, the stone house was swallowed into the ground.
Unless you knew something had been buried there, it blended perfectly with the surrounding terrain.
“Clean work. Let’s head back.”
Just as I turned to leave, Lormane grabbed my wrist.
I looked back to see Kaiden standing silently, staring at the remnants of the collapsed house.
“Goodbye, Mom. There’s nothing left of you in this world anymore. I just erased it all.”
Kaiden’s voice was calm as he spoke.
“I couldn’t fulfill your dying wish to overturn the world. Instead, I helped the people trying to kill Father. It seemed like the better choice.”
A faint smile touched his lips.
“Born with cursed dark magic, you lived your whole life hating the world. Perhaps, in death, that hatred has finally softened.”
A moment of silence.
“Mom…”
Kaiden’s voice wavered slightly.
“You never loved me, not even once. But I’ve always loved you. From the moment I first saw you, until now. I’ve missed the moment you held me in your arms.”
Tears began to flow down his cheeks.
“I don’t know if ‘rest in peace’ is the right thing to say. But I don’t have anything else to tell you. Rest now. And if possible, let’s meet again someday. Then… please hold me….”
Kaiden hastily wiped his eyes with his sleeve.
“Please hold me again, like the first time we met.”
I didn’t know what to think.
How could Kaiden still love and long for a mother who had never loved him?
But seeing Lormane quietly weeping beside me made me feel like I was the only one who didn’t understand.
Even as a golem, Kaiden might have a heart more human than mine.
# # # # #
And so, the great incident of Kaiden’s illusion magic came to an end.
A tragedy born from misunderstandings and pain, all stemming from the Demon King.
In hindsight, supporting the protagonist to safely reach the story’s conclusion, rather than disrupting it with knowledge of the future, had been the right choice.
That I had cut down the Demon King… well, Kaiden’s illusions had been so powerful that I had almost forgotten.
But it didn’t matter. The world believed Linus had done it, and that was fine by me.
I never cared for the title of Hero. If I had, I wouldn’t have parted ways with Linus ten years ago at the drawbridge in the capital to live in seclusion.
My goal was to see the story through and retire peacefully.
Though I had been forced to come to the academy, life here was comfortable enough. It wasn’t bad.
As I reached this conclusion, a sudden thought hit me.
Wasn’t summer vacation starting tomorrow?!
Damn it.
I’d been too busy dealing with everything to plan where I’d go.
Back in Brunswell, I used to spend the hottest days of the year at a nearby resort with Olysia.
Where should I go this year?
I should check if there’s somewhere near the capital to visit.
Then again, I might end up spending this summer somewhere unexpected.
“Here you go, Professor.”
“What’s this?”
I asked as Knightley handed me an envelope in my office.
“Is this a belated payment for the private lessons? Seems a bit thin for that.”
“It’s an invitation.”
“An invitation? For what?”
“For you to spend the summer vacation at my family’s estate.”
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Peptobismol]
[Proofreader - Demon God]
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