Elicia wiped her mouth and shouted at me.
"Don't come any closer!"
Elicia, startled by my approaching footsteps as if she had seen the devil, gasped, reacting sensitively to even the slightest movement.
"I told you not to come..."
"..."
"You are not human."
"yes?"
"You... are not human."
I was taken aback by Elysia's frail appearance, the first time I saw her. She was said to be the most delicate of the apostles, but she was still a pillar of the pagans.
Elicia's weak appearance actually made me nervous.
Elicia questioned me in a trembling voice. As if she had no intention of answering my question, she moved away from me on trembling legs.
"Why."
"..."
"How can you stand still?"
“Why is that, I….”
"I'm rotten and decaying from evil! Why... why am I still alive?!"
Unable to offer a coherent answer to Elicia's aggressive question, I kept my mouth shut. It felt strange to ask someone who was alive and well why they were still alive. And to someone who was living happily, at that.
"..."
It was a question asked by the Apostle himself, but I, unable to answer, simply held my sword straight and took a deep breath.
Two keywords came into my ears.
One is 'death.'
Another one is 'A person who should not be alive.'
In the novel, Elicia excels at seeing into people's inner selves, but this seems to be the first time she's spoken about "existence" in this way. She's even been terrified by the very existence of people.
She was a woman who didn't tremble even in front of the Pope, so I had no idea how she would react to Elicia's new appearance.
One thing is certain.
I guess I'm not a regressor.
All of Elysia's words implied "regression," but unfortunately, I was a possessed being, not a regressor. I didn't even want that ability.
I shrugged my shoulders at the unanswerable question and decided not to think too deeply about it. It would just be the ramblings of an apostle spouting uncertain words.
I observed Elicia's movements keenly, thinking that it was either due to the influence of her resistance to black magic or her resistance to mental magic.
"no..."
Elicia clutched her head and breathed heavily.
“This can’t be happening. I must have seen it wrong…”
"..."
"Ugh…."
It was visible in Elicia's eyes.
The emotions shown to a person facing death.
The emptiness of being executed.
The injustice of being killed in war.
Regret for not being able to protect the person you love.
and.
"Uuuuup... Gulp...! Gulp...!"
The regrets and love and hate of countless people could be felt from him.
Elicia reached out to Ricardo. It was disgusting and frightening, but she felt compelled to look into what those feelings meant.
-Whoaaaah!!
But I quickly reached out.
"stop."
I couldn't help but put down my outstretched hand at the cold sound of the lion's voice.
Elicia took a deep breath and looked into the eyes of the man who was glaring at her.
The 'gray' of regret.
The 'purple' of love and hate.
And the 'golden' color that symbolizes confidence made him who he was.
"...ha."
Elicia clicked her tongue at Rowan.
Because seeing someone's emotions shine so brightly made me feel like my own color was being tarnished.
"A false hero has appeared."
It was disgusting.
The earth trembles.
Just as the two monsters locked eyes, the wind blew throughout the mountain, shouting an alarm.
I hugged the unconscious Sharltia and Hannah and whispered softly.
"Let's jump."
I decided to leave the rest in their hands.
*
Peace came when the mountains disappeared from the map.
I laid the unconscious students down in the village and took a deep breath.
"Whoa... why is this kid so heavy?"
In particular, I sighed even more deeply when I saw Ruin.
I shook my head, kicking Ruin's side as he passed out, foaming at the mouth. He was supposed to be the sub-male protagonist, but it was a sight to behold, transformed into spam.
It was his own fault, but I felt a little sorry for him for having been so badly ruined.
"Idiot."
"Ugh... Ugh, don't come!"
"Even when you sleep, you make a lot of noise."
I shook my head.
The students who had finally regained their senses sat on the village benches. Yuria, Mikhail, Shalltear, the Crown Prince, and others. The one in the best shape was Hannah, after all. She was the strongest and most resilient of the group.
I glanced at Hannah, who was reporting stiffly to Rowan, and smiled bitterly.
"I should have just said I didn't know."
-The number of people who departed is.
-24 people. No deaths.
-I see. Then...
I was trying to avoid getting involved in work, but seeing Hannah talking to Rowan made me feel that way.
'Still, it's amazing.'
No matter how much I disliked Rowan, I thought of Hannah as the younger sister of her older brother, seeing her clearly distinguishing between public and private life.
-That's all.
-...
-If you need more detailed information, you can come to the academy later and check.
-Hannah.
-...
-Can you spare me a moment?
-No, Count.
-...
It didn't seem like the story would end easily.
I carefully moved to the seat and walked towards Sharltia, who was sweating profusely.
"Your Majesty."
"..."
"You've been through a lot."
"ha..."
"Are you okay?"
"..."
Shalltear remained silent. She simply ran her dry hand over her face, seemingly unresponsive to the advances of the world's most handsome man.
‘It’s awkward…’
Perhaps because it was her first time meeting an apostle, she seemed to be mentally exhausted. Knowing that a handsome man's glances can be a great comfort in times like these, as someone with experience, I offered some clumsy consolation and sat down next to Shalltear.
Because I too was comforted by the young lady.
-Fuck! I almost lost to Ricardo!
There was nothing to emulate, though.
"Ugh."
A true gentleman would have said nothing and just stayed by her side, so I kept my mouth shut and waited for Shalltear to regain her composure.
"Phew."
After about three minutes, Shalltear let out a deep sigh and raised her head. She must have quickly sorted out her complicated thoughts. She exhaled calmly, then accepted the glass of water I offered her and began to drink carefully.
-Horeuk.
"you."
"yes."
"What on earth is it?"
Shalltear looked at me with eyes full of suspicion and said.
“You’re always there when something happens… Do you have the ability to see or predict the future?”
I scratched the back of my head with an awkward smile at the rather perceptive question. It made me think, "Isn't that what a student body president is?"
Shalltear sighed with a worried expression on her face.
"No matter how much I think about it, it's strange. This incident and what happened at the Academy are both so strange."
"You could think of it that way."
"uh?"
"Because I'm such a talented person."
"...don't joke around."
I teased Shalltear with a vague smile. People with good intuition tend to be swayed by vague answers.
"Huh..."
I smiled faintly, making Sharltia's thoughts even more complicated.
“If you look into the future….”
"Gulp..."
"Shouldn't I have stayed at the Academy?"
"That's... true."
Shalltear nodded, accepting the futile suspicion. Then, she gazed at the ripples in her glass and muttered.
"thank you."
"..."
"Thank you for your help. If it weren't for you, this whole thing would have been... dead."
“If you reward me with abundant money….”
"..."
"Just kidding."
Shartia gripped her glass of water tightly as if she was angry and spoke in a slurred voice.
"This time, I was largely responsible. I failed to make sound judgments and foolishly tried to solve the problem on my own."
"That's right."
I nodded and gave a small nod to Shalltear's words. Then I offered her a small word of comfort.
"But, in that situation, anyone would have done the same thing."
"uh?"
"This was planned longer than you might think. Going back and sorting things out will be difficult, but that's the way it is. I think it was a rewarding experience."
I lifted my glass of water and looked at the place where the church had been.
"I think it ended pretty well."
"You... as expected."
I stood up with a meaningful smile, then walked away with my hands in my pockets.
“Thoughts are free… ugh!”
And I almost tripped over a rock and fell.
"Phew..."
Shalltear shook her head, letting out a hollow laugh. "I'm crazy," she muttered to herself, watching him walk away calmly, and letting out a small sigh.
"thank you."
I walked for a while, waving my hand.
Check on Mikhail's well-being.
-Are you okay?
-How did you…!
-Because I missed you. Of course, I didn't come here because I missed you.
-...
He also tried to soothe Yuria's rough breathing.
-Ugh...ugh...Ricardo!
-Oh my... Aren't you hugging me too much? My heart is touching.
-Thank goodness... Thank goodness!!
-Of course I feel good.
I walked for a long time.
and.
"...Butler."
I could see Hannah with a heavy expression.
Hannah seemed to be thinking a lot. She felt the immense gap between Rowan's overwhelming power and the help she received from him. It's strange that her thoughts weren't complicated.
He's the flower of the prosecutors, the one every prosecutor should strive for. I thought he might be feeling skeptical about his boastful attempts to achieve success on his own.
I smiled slightly and looked into Hannah's eyes.
"Why are you calling me?"
"I..."
Hannah clenched her fists and lowered her head.
"I think I heard something I shouldn't have heard."
“Huh? What does that mean…?”
"By any chance, butler."
Hannah looked me straight in the eye and said.
"Are you married?"
"...?"
"No, that woman said so. She said that many relationships are tangled."
"?"
At Hannah's words, I let out a hollow laugh, with countless question marks floating over my head.
"I've never even dated, let alone been divorced."
"yes?"
"Really."
"Ah... yes?"
Hannah looked at me with a blank expression and snorted.
"Really?!"
"yes."
"Are you really that upset because of that?"
"...It's not just that. Because there's someone to persuade."
"yes?"
"no."
"What is it?"
Hannah and I talked and laughed for a long time.
and.
Hannah was thinking to herself.
-How many times have you died…?
I mean the word 'death'.