------------------
HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Join our Discord for release updates!
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
------------------
Chapter 156
She finally reached out to me, pleading for her life with desperate cries, but I had no intention of saving her.
There was no way to save a corpse that was already dead.
Maybe if it were Luna, but she wasn’t here.
And even if she were, I wouldn’t have saved her.
Just like that, she stiffened, as if completely burned to ashes, and fell silent.
At the same time, as if they had been waiting, vengeful spirits swarmed toward her soul, tearing at it as it left her lifeless body.
Her soul was stronger than that of an ordinary specter, but surprisingly, the number of spirits in this cursed castle was beyond imagination.
There’s no place without spirits, but this is excessive.
As the spirits devoured her, her screams didn’t last long before fading into silence.
* * *
With the appearance of the Forbidden King, the octowhale, the suspicions that I had destroyed Remilish were bound to decrease significantly.
I was only captured under the charge of killing Baron, not for directly attacking the place.
The Pinas Archipelago had been willing to go to war, but with this development, their justification for challenging the central continent—specifically, Bata—was now weakened.
"Were you here to pick up your subordinates?"
As I was moving to rendezvous with Luna after leaving the castle, I halted and asked the question.
From the nearby darkness, a cloaked figure emerged silently.
The leader of the Moon Watchers.
Among all the people I had encountered, except for the Sword Saint Osberg, she was the strongest.
No, considering the abilities she kept hidden, she might even be stronger.
"My subordinates owe you."
"I heard everything. You ordered it, didn’t you?"
“……”
She remained silent.
"How did you know Arsha was here?"
"Do I have a reason to tell you that?"
"If you keep being uncooperative, I won’t have much of a choice."
I muttered in a low voice, almost as a threat.
She then reached into her cloak and threw something at me.
"What’s this?"
"An artifact. It will help restore your sister’s mind. Keep it around his neck."
As I took the artifact and infused it with mana, an intricate magical sigil shimmered into view.
Oh, I haven’t seen this method in a long time.
It’s a bit different from modern magic systems, but it’s certainly efficient.
"You know what this is, don’t you?"
"I don’t. But you do, don’t you?"
She spoke as if she knew me well.
It wasn’t the first time she had acted this way.
"That artifact contains ichor, a rare material."
Ichor.
It’s known as the blood of the gods.
Of course, it’s not literally divine blood, but there’s no denying that it’s a rare substance.
"I doubt you’d answer even if I asked. You came to retrieve those two, right? Take them."
Judging by the artifact’s structure, I was certain it would be effective.
"Leon Cascadia."
As she called my name again, my steps halted just before I turned away.
"If your sister regains her mind… No, forget I said anything."
Just as she turned to leave, I conjured a light bomb and hurled it at her.
Boom!!
"…What are you doing?"
She dodged it effortlessly, but I hadn’t aimed to hit her.
Now that I thought about it, hadn’t the leader of the Moon Watchers always interfered at the last moment, making things unnecessarily complicated?
I just had to see her annoyed face.
"Hey."
"What?"
A cold, distorted voice responded.
"There are two things that make people really angry. The first is stopping mid-sentence, and the second is…"
She remained silent, as if waiting for my next words.
Instead of answering, I activated a spatial magic circle.
"You son of a—"
Realizing she had been played, she let out a curse, but I simply raised my middle finger and vanished through space.
That felt good.
* * *
Arsha’s body had recovered to a certain extent.
However, the mental damage was severe, and she still hadn’t regained consciousness.
Since prolonged travel in this state would be a great burden on her body, I forcefully gathered mana and cast an 8th-circle Warp spell in one go.
As for Vag Ensaile, who had brought us here, he remained to finish his business.
With the outside world believing that the Remilish family had been wiped out by a giant monster instead of me, his staying behind wouldn’t cause any problems.
Things were chaotic, but he only needed to deliver the goods and leave.
"Arsha!!"
As soon as she saw her slumped on my back, Melissa dropped to her knees, her legs giving out beneath her.
She had thought she lost both her parents and Arsha in the accident, but now, her youngest sibling had returned alive.
The joy she must have felt was beyond words.
Of course, Arsha was still unconscious, but the fact that she was alive was enough to bring her immense relief.
"Let’s lay her down. She must be exhausted."
"Is her body okay?"
"I’ve finished treating her, but we need to wait for her to wake up."
Melissa looked as if she wanted nothing more than to hold her, but she followed me without complaint.
On the surface, she seemed fine, but her roughly cut hair and tattered clothes showed just how much she had suffered.
"Go get some clothes for Arsha."
------------------
HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Join our Discord for release updates!
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
------------------
"Yes, Lord!"
A few maids hurriedly left the room.
Melissa sat by her bedside, gently stroking her cheek.
"It’s such a relief… That you survived."
Her voice was thick with emotion, and she couldn’t take her eyes off her for a long time.
At this rate, she might sit there all day.
So, without a word, I grabbed her by the collar.
She might be overjoyed about Arsha’s survival, but there were still reports to be made.
* * *
After hearing everything about what had happened on Remilish Island and the other details I had to report, Melissa clutched her forehead as if she had a headache.
“Haa… So basically, from your perspective, it looks like the King of Forbidden Zone went on a rampage, which gives us room to refute the claims?”
“For now, that seems to be the case.”
“That damn bitch. I should have torn her apart myself.”
Melissa didn’t even try to hide her anger.
“Well, you handled it well, so that’s enough. From now on, let’s focus on Arsha’s recovery and the aftermath.”
She tapped the table.
“I know we’re busy. You’ve been through a lot. So, I’ll take care of the complicated national matters.”
“Can you handle it?”
“If I couldn’t, I wouldn’t have asked you for help in the first place.”
Taking a deep breath, she slowly stepped forward and leaned into my arms.
“Thank you, brother. For saving our youngest.”
Her voice trembled, filled with raw emotion.
Had she ever been like this since she grew older?
Probably not.
Seeing her act this way made it impossible not to feel something.
So, I responded to her sincerity.
Thump!!
“Get off me, you Meganeura-like woman.”
“What the hell, you trilobite.”
Her irritation quickly dried up her tears, which meant I had achieved my goal.
Yeah, that’s how you’re supposed to be.
Bickering like before, just like always.
That was the version of her I had longed to see again during my time in Labyrinthos.
“But there’s still work to do.”
With my thoughts in order, I asked slowly,
“The Holy Kingdom?”
Saint Nadia Ten Lilibel.
Back on Remilish Island, she had hastily left a message that she was heading alone to the Hael tribe.
If we had received something, we needed to return the favor.
“She said she’ll send the rendezvous point once things are settled. Until then, she asked us to stay put and wait.”
It seemed there was an internal issue within the Holy Kingdom.
Since she had made such a request, there was no need to pry further.
“I’ll let you know when the message arrives, so just rest until then.”
Thinking back, it felt like we had been dealing with nonstop problems lately.
A matter between the Holy Kingdom and the barbarians.
It wouldn’t be resolved quickly, so we’d have at least a few weeks of breathing room.
Melissa told me to rest, but the only thing I could really do was stay by Arsha’s side, who had yet to regain consciousness.
If she were to wake up alone, that would be a bitter sight.
“There are no physical issues. Her soul is stable too… But she won’t wake up.”
“She’s mentally exhausted. To be blunt, there’s no telling when she’ll wake up.”
“Sigh…”
“But thanks to that artifact, she’s recovering bit by bit. At the shortest, a few days. At the longest, within a month.”
Even Luna couldn’t treat Arsha’s psychological wounds.
The problem was that, in her unconscious state, she had no means to sustain herself for a whole month.
“Ordinarily, she would’ve already died. You barely saved her. Leon, don’t worry. I’ll take care of her.”
Since Luna promised to handle her nutrition and other needs, I felt relieved.
“That’s reassuring.”
Luna puffed up her chest.
“I’m quite useful.”
“When were you ever not?”
“That’s it?”
She stared at me expectantly, as if waiting for something.
Then, she lightly tapped her cheek with her small finger.
“Hurry up.”
It didn’t take long to understand what she was asking for.
I suddenly felt my face flush with heat.
“Uh… um.”
Thinking about it, she had slept beside me from the very first day under the guise of treatment.
But even after opening up to each other, we hadn’t done anything particularly romantic.
I had even resolved my engagement to focus on her, but at this rate, nothing had changed.
This kind of experience was completely unfamiliar to me.
Overwhelmed by the unexpected challenge, I covered my eyes with one hand and let out a short sigh.
“You’re not going to?”
She was definitely teasing me.
But even knowing that, I couldn’t bring myself to do what she wanted so easily.
Seeing my hesitation, she narrowed her eyes with a smirk.
“Pfft… Cute.”
That attitude, like she was dealing with a shy child—
That attitude was infuriating!
------------------
HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Join our Discord for release updates!
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
------------------
