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Translator: penny
Chapter: 267
Chapter Title: Autumn's Entrance
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“That’s not it—use dry branches for kindling, not fresh ones, or it won’t burn properly...! If you just shove them in like that from the start, the flames will die out instead, you invasive species!”
The nymph Paranoia hovered around Elfride as she incinerated the trash, nagging her with endless advice.
“Invasive species can’t even start a fire properly, huh? That’s why you only managed to burn a little of the east gate. If it were me, with the honor of wielding Hassan’s torch to spread the flames of hell across the world, I’d have torched the whole city—!”
“No—”
Elfride had listened quietly at first, but after half a day of it, she finally couldn’t take it anymore.
“Do something about this nymph. She keeps bothering me.”
“If you’re upset, just leave the Gaia continent—!”
Paranoia latched onto Elfride like she’d finally found a chance to get revenge on the elf who’d tormented her before.
She might look like a fool now, but considering how she used to be a cultist obsessed with harassing people, her smug attitude made sense.
Once anyone gains the upper hand in a relationship, they start wanting to lord it over those beneath them.
“A little higher, make the flames even higher—! At this rate, we won’t have enough time even if we work all day!”
“Haah.”
Elfride let out a sigh and straightened her back. She wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.
A trash incinerator was the last place you’d expect to see Elfride, and watching her covered in soot, laboring away in a way that didn’t suit her at all, felt strangely off.
On second thought, maybe it fit her perfectly. She was a fire mage, after all—great at setting things ablaze.
But instead of using her magic, she was just shoveling in firewood and trash with a spade. She coughed from the acrid smoke but kept at it silently.
“I heard invasive species like you are pretty good at arson magic. Why not use that? It’d cut the work time way down...!”
Paranoia, though, couldn’t fathom why a fire mage like Elfride was manually stoking the flames and choking on the sparks.
Elfride answered her.
“Then it wouldn’t mean anything as penance. I’m paying for my sins here. Using magic would defeat the purpose of all this hardship.”
I see.
This must be her way of atoning.
Rumors from the east gate said she’d been going around clinics and other places, just like me, promising apologies and reparations.
And people seemed to respond pretty well to it.
Her fairy-like looks probably made it easy to win sympathy—unlike me, she wasn’t getting pelted with rocks or jeered at.
Still, I hadn’t expected her to take on grunt work like this so willingly. Then again, she’d always been kind to everyone except me, showing only her violent side around me.
It wasn’t surprising if she felt shocked and self-loathing for setting fires that hurt others.
Shovel by shovel, scrape by scrape.
With Paranoia tiring of her own chatter and resting in the shade, Elfride and I silently scooped up trash from the ground and tossed it into the roaring incinerator flames.
Sweat poured down my body, and my arms were starting to ache, but I liked this situation.
Just moving my body on autopilot, no thoughts at all. Nothing empties your mind like shoveling.
As I mechanically swung the spade without a single thought, Elfride spoke up in a voice as faint as dying embers.
“Why’d you do it back then?”
“Do what?”
“You covered for my crimes.”
“...”
“I’ve heard plenty myself. Everyone at the east gate knows the story of the Samaritan by now. Not in a good way, though.”
“Is that so? Guess it’s great being famous.”
“Weren’t you aiming for Gold Tier adventurer? Infamy like this has to be a huge setback. So why? Trying to make me feel indebted or something?”
“If I said yes, would you actually feel guilty toward me?”
“No—”
“Knew it. I was just tired of overthinking and scheming, that’s all.”
Our brief exchange ended there for the moment.
“...Still, thanks, I guess.”
“What?”
“Nothing. It’s too damn hot.”
The sun was beating down relentlessly, making the blazing heat unbearable, so Elfride headed for the tree shade where Paranoia was napping.
Thanks to my recent blessing—【Sun-Kissed Skin】—I’d built up some heat resistance and kept working without a break. The moment my body or mind relaxed even a little, thoughts would come crashing in like a tsunami.
But the more I worked, the less there was to do, and eventually, I had time to look up at the sky.
Damn it.
Right then, someone chucked something my way. It was a leather waterskin filled with cold water.
“Drink that at least.”
Elfride must’ve brought it. Thirsty as I was, I didn’t just drink it—I splashed it all over my face like a shower.
“Hey! Who said drink it all!”
“Well, you gave it to me to drink.”
“I meant a sip. We’ve got afternoon work too.”
“Oh.”
After all that labor, having cool water flood my gut felt like one of the best things I’d experienced lately. A cool breeze happened to blow by, chilling my sweat-soaked body.
Time for a short break.
With today’s work mostly done, I plopped down carelessly in the shade. My pants got filthy, but whatever.
“So, what’re your plans now?”
Elfride spoke up.
“Plans? Afternoon shift, then clock out.”
“No, I mean long-term. How do you plan to live in this city? At this point, maybe it’d be better to leave and settle somewhere else.”
She was a veteran adventurer, so her advice carried weight.
“Another city, huh.”
“You’re splitting up with that pink-haired girl too, right? Did you break up?”
“Don’t ask.”
Of all things, she brought up Luna.
“Urk.”
Elfride made a weird noise. When I looked, her mouth was stretched in a bizarre grin. It was so creepy it soured my mood.
“Why’re you laughing?”
“Me, laughing? Don’t lie. Why would I—”
She touched her mouth, then quickly turned her head away from me. Here I was suffering over relationship woes, and she was amused? What a spiteful wench.
Ah, but mentioning Luna just made everything feel hopeless again.
Like landmines everywhere, ready to blow off my feet. Then, as Elfride glanced away, she muttered something that passed by like the wind.
“...Wanna go back to Calcutta with me?”
“What?”
“You bailed me out this time, so I owe you. Once this mess is sorted and I’ve got no more responsibilities, come back to Calcutta with me.”
“...”
Instead of answering, I shut my mouth. Unhappy with the silence, Elfride added calmly,
“Don’t get the wrong idea. Just partying up temporarily. Mages need frontline tanks—you know that. The White Silver Roses won’t take me back in their party anymore.”
“A proper party? Equals?”
“Depends on you. What do you say? Until we both settle in new cities. Or we could roam the kingdom together a bit longer. Or cross the sea to somewhere no one knows us, where nobody cares.”
“Sounds nice.”
I gave a vague reply. I could see Elfride’s soot-blackened ear twitch as she turned her head. Happy I agreed, maybe.
“But I can’t. That’d just be running away.”
“What?”
“Dodging the problems in the end. That’s why I’m doing this hard labor. And now that I’ve shaken off those heavy shackles, I feel light.”
Shff.
I stood up again.
*
*
*
Lost in the work, I ended up incinerating tomorrow’s quota too. At this rate, I’ll finish the incinerator job in no time.
Tomorrow’s problem for tomorrow.
With that thought, I wiped my forehead with the dry towel from the incinerator foreman.
“You handled two or three men’s worth at once. Impressive.”
He seemed to like how I’d worked silently under the blazing sun without complaint.
No woman hates a quiet, hardworking guy.
I hadn’t tried to impress him, but maybe work would get easier from tomorrow. Just as I felt a flicker of hope, he said,
“By the way, someone’s waiting for you. A guest. Pretty young lady.”
“A lady?”
“She’s sitting in the office chair over there.”
Wondering who it could be, I racked my brain. Plenty of guesses, but I tensed up wondering if I was right.
And I was.
“Hassan—”
In the cool, clean office sat Luna, her hair neatly tied up as always.
But she didn’t greet me with her usual bright voice or smile.
The gap from her usual cheerful image made her stern demeanor feel intimidating.
“Hassan, why’d you ignore all my requests to meet?”
“You know my situation right now...”
I sat across from her.
Luna looked even prettier than before. Nice makeup, new earrings I hadn’t seen.
Compared to her pristine look, I was a mess—soot everywhere, drenched in sweat, beard unkempt. Pathetic, even to me.
“Hassan, you’ve gotten so thin.”
She scanned me up and down.
What did she mean by that? Probably nothing deep—just calling it as she saw it, like always.
We sat facing each other in silence.
Before, I could read her thoughts without words, but now? Nothing. Like the thread connecting us had snapped.
Did she feel it too?
Then Luna slowly spoke.
“Hassan, I’ve been thinking a lot lately.”
“Yeah, I see.”
“And my conclusion is... I don’t think I can forgive you.”
Yeah, I see.
I didn’t reply, but strangely, I felt calm.
I’d simulated this night after night alone—always picturing myself shocked, bawling my eyes out.
But now that it was real, it just felt inevitable.
Yeah, I see.
No words came.
Ah—here comes the aftershock. Damn, my chest feels hollowed out. Like my heart’s been carved away.
As I stayed silent, Luna continued.
“Lies. All lies. You said you only liked me. How could you lie every single day?”
“Sorry.”
“If you were gonna lie, why not keep it up forever? If you’d hidden it, none of this would’ve happened. Why do something so stupid to get caught like an idiot? Idiot!”
Unable to hold back, Luna yelled. Her brows furrowed tight, tears spilling from those emerald eyes.
My head went foggy with guilt.
“Hassan, swear it. Swear you only like me from now on. That last time was a mistake, and it won’t happen again. Swear.”
Tears streamed down her face unchecked, black mascara smearing down her soft cheeks.
Was Luna giving me a chance?
Swearing would be easy.
But I knew deep down that nodding now would just be another lie.
A moment of hesitation and anguish.
Reading it, Luna said,
“You’re good at lying, Hassan! Just lie one more time—say yes, say you get it...”
“Luna, I’m really sorry.”
At my words, she broke into even harsher sobs. Her makeup ran, her cold facade crumbled into a childlike grimace.
“I keep seeing you everywhere. Every black-haired guy on the street—I think it’s you and stare. Anyone approaches the yard, I think it’s you. The second floor feels too empty without you—”
“...”
“I don’t know what to do. I know the answer, but I hate choosing it. So lie one more time, Hassan. Pretend nothing happened, and we’ll live well from now on... I’ll try acting like nothing happened too...”
“Luna.”
“We were doing great together. We said we’d make Gold Tier as a fixed party. My workshop’s named after both of us—”
Luna sobbed wretchedly after that. Words came out, but they dissolved into choked whimpers.
I knew.
I knew this was the flame’s final flicker. After pouring it all out, Luna would return to normal life.
And I probably wouldn’t be by her side.
Maybe it was always meant to be.
Luna was the flawless daughter of noble gods.
I was a man of worries and doubts, not even human in this world—nothing.
A feeling I’d never known. Hard to describe, and I didn’t want to dwell on it.
In one word: like life itself had broken somewhere.
“Hassan, I’ll curse you! If you walk out like this, I’ll really curse you! This is real curse voodoo.”
From somewhere hidden, Luna pulled out a creepy straw voodoo doll and set it on the table.
She jabbed its arm with a needle from its head, and suddenly my arm stung sharply.
“Ow! What the—!”
“Say you’re sorry quick!”
Every poke sent jolts through me like I was possessed.
Never imagined Luna had such a powerful trick.
Stab, poke, crunch, rip.
“Ah, ugh! Ow! S-Sorry! I’m really, really sorry! I messed up! Stop that! Ow, ow—!”
Only then did her hand stop.
Her tears dried up, eyes blazing with anger as she glared at me.
“Hassan, if we break up now, you’ll find another girl right away and forget me while fooling around. I know it. And I can’t stand seeing that! So I won’t let you go.”
“Eugh...”
“We’re going to Juno’s temple. Get your wandering eye ‘cured’ at Juno’s temple. Then to Delphi’s temple for our engagement!”
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