Chapter 120

Chapter 120. Personal Consultation (2)

Knock knock.

Standing in front of Professor Elisha’s office, I cautiously knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

A voice called from inside.

I slowly opened the door to the office.

“You’re here.”

Upon opening the door, I saw Professor Elisha, dressed in her usual black suit, with a cigarette in her mouth and her slender legs crossed.

“Sit down. I’ll get you something to drink.”

Professor Elisha, extinguishing her cigarette in the ashtray, stood up from her seat.

She walked over to the shelf and then turned to ask me.

“Whiskey? Wine?”

“Isn’t it usually coffee or tea?”

“Among non-alcoholic beverages, only water is worth drinking.”

“That sounds like something an alcoholic would say.”

“Hehe. It’s fine. Heroes don’t get things like alcoholism anyway.”

As she said, a hero’s body has far superior immunity compared to an ordinary person, so no matter how much alcohol they consume, they won’t get addicted.

‘Thinking about it, being a hero is kind of cheating.’

Long live the Holy Mark.

“Then, whiskey it is.”

“Got it.”

Professor Elisha filled a glass with ice and poured whiskey into it.

Taking a sip, the strong alcohol along with the oak flavor stimulated my nose.

It was an unfamiliar taste for someone like me who usually drank cheap beer.

“Hmm.”

I pretended to savor the taste, stroking my chin and closing my eyes.

In truth, I couldn’t distinguish the taste of whiskey at all, but as a man, I couldn’t help but want to show off a bit when it came to alcohol.

“The first taste brings a strong oak flavor. Then, a sweet vanilla flavor swirls in the mouth, and at the end, a subtle woody aroma lingers, indicating a fairly high-quality whiskey…”

“It’s a cheap 27-gold whiskey from the convenience store.”

“Damn it.”

Well, if you’re going to give me something, at least make it a good one…!

“Hehe. Candidate Dale, you have such a cute side too.”

Professor Elisha chuckled and sipped her whiskey.

“Now, then.”

Clink.

Professor Elisha set her glass down, her purple eyes gleaming.

“Can I hear your answer to the question from before?”

“Before I answer, may I ask why you thought that way?”

“Hmm. Why I thought that way, huh.”

Professor Elisha leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.

“As I said before, Candidate Dale, you’re too strong. Excessively so.”

“Do you think I came from the future just because I’m strong?”

“No. That’s not it.”

Professor Elisha shook her head slightly.

“In terms of strength, while not as much as you, Candidate Yuren and fourth-year Candidate Aaron are also strong. They could also be described as ‘out of the norm.'”

But.

Professor Elisha narrowed her eyes.

“Candidate Dale… is different. Should I call it experience? It’s embarrassing for me to say, but the calmness you showed when the Grand Archbishop of Madness invaded was far superior to mine.”

She took out another cigarette and put it in her mouth.

“This isn’t the only time. During the mid-term evaluation when a Palan-class monster broke into the exam site, and when Bishop Harris set a trap in the village, you were the same.”

You always remained calm and took immediate action.

As if you had experienced such things many times before.

“Candidate Dale, your unprecedented strength can be dismissed as mere talent. As you said, just because something hasn’t happened before doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future.”

Whoosh.

The end of the cigarette glowed red.

“But the experience you’ve shown so far… cannot be explained by talent and effort alone.”

That’s why.

You concluded that I came from the future.

“Haha.”

I swallowed a bitter smile and wiped my face.

I gulped down the whiskey in the glass and spoke.

“That’s right.”

“Huh?”

“I did come from the future.”

“……”

Perhaps she hadn’t expected such an answer.

Professor Elisha’s eyes widened.

“…Are you serious?”

“Didn’t you ask, Professor?”

“……”

Professor Elisha, looking confused, pressed her forehead.

“The ‘two’ powers sleeping within you… is that the reason?”

“Probably. I don’t know for sure.”

I smiled bitterly and shook my head.

Professor Elisha flicked the ash from her cigarette and asked.

“If you’re a regressor, how far into the future did you regress from?”

“How far into the future…”

Well.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“It’s been too long to count accurately.”

“…What do you mean?”

“The last time I counted was about 7,000 years ago… maybe over 10,000 years. And there was still a long time after that.”

“W-wait. 7,000 years? 10,000 years? What are you talking about?”

Professor Elisha stood up abruptly, looking at me with a bewildered expression.

I leaned back in my chair and tapped my left chest.

“You know, right? That I have the ‘Blessing of Resurrection.'”

“…Don’t tell me.”

Professor Elisha’s face turned pale.

“Not just death… but does it also stop aging?”

“Aging is just another form of death.”

I nodded slightly.

“……”

Professor Elisha stared at me with a stiff expression.

She moved her lips a few times, then asked in a trembling voice.

“…Can you tell me? About the future… no, about your past life.”

“It’ll be a long story. Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

Professor Elisha nodded and sat back down.

“Whoosh. Well, where should I start?”

I took a deep breath and began to speak.

About graduating from Reynaldo Hero School at the bottom of my class and becoming a lowly mercenary.

About finishing ten years of mercenary life and forming a party with Yuren, Iris, Berald, and Senior Sophia.

About becoming one of the ‘Last Five Heroes,’ humanity’s final hope.

About the final battle with the Devil God and being left alone in the world.

About wandering the continent for thousands of years in search of the Primordial Flame.

Stories only I knew.

Stories only I carried.

Stories I had never told anyone before.

“…That’s all.”

By the time the long story ended, darkness had fallen outside the office window.

Clink.

I emptied the whiskey glass, not knowing how many glasses it was, and set it down on the table.

“……”

Professor Elisha silently looked at me.

Her purple eyes were trembling.

“Candidate Dale, you…”

She bit her lip and continued.

“…How much of a terrible life have you endured?”

Tears welled up in Professor Elisha’s eyes.

Her usually stoic expression, which wouldn’t flinch even if pricked with a needle, was now twisted with sorrow.

I let out a bitter laugh and shook my head.

“It’s nothing. It’s all in the past…”

‘All in the past?’

A voice echoed in my head.

A voice so familiar.

My own voice.

“……”

Suddenly.

My vision flipped.

A white snowy field spread before my eyes.

A raging blizzard.

White breath escaping through my lips.

Feet sinking knee-deep into the snow.

A curtain of silence.

A white.

A white world.

“…Ah.”

It’s nothing?

All in the past?

‘No.’

That can’t be.

It’s not.

“Ah, uh.”

“Candidate Dale…?”

It’s flooding back.

Memories I had forgotten, emotions I had suppressed.

Like a broken dam.

Pouring over me.

“I was… lonely.”

Fragments of overflowing emotions slipped through my lips.

“Lonely enough to die… but I couldn’t die… no matter how much I endured, endured, endured, endured, it never ended…”

I vomited out the suppressed emotions.

“Even though I knew it was a hallucination, I laughed and talked like an idiot… repeating the same stories hundreds, thousands of times…”

“Candidate Dale.”

“But still… it never ends! No matter how much I smash my head, cut my throat, tear out my heart, burn my body! No matter what I do, I come back to life!”

“Candidate Dale!”

Professor Elisha grabbed my shoulders.

My vision flickered, and the snowy field returned to the office.

“…Are you back to your senses?”

“Haa, haa.”

I gasped for breath and swallowed dryly.

“Sorry. I got a little carried away.”

“……”

“Well, it’s getting late, so I’ll take my leave now.”

Thud.

I stood up and turned to leave.

Then.

“Candidate Dale.”

Professor Elisha grabbed my hand and pressed her lips together.

The soft sensation transmitted through her lips.

Tongues intertwining.

“…Feeling better?”

After a short kiss, Professor Elisha cupped my cheeks with her hands and asked.

“……”

I touched the lingering warmth on my lips and chuckled.

“You smell like cigarettes.”

“Hmm. Not something you should say to someone you just kissed.”

Professor Elisha smiled faintly and gently hugged me.

Pat pat.

She patted my back as if comforting a crying child.

“Sorry for making you recall forgotten memories.”

“……”

“Hmm, by the way…”

Professor Elisha, who had been thinking with a serious expression, suddenly brightened up and flicked her hand.

“Then, technically, Candidate Dale is thousands of years old, right?”

“Well… if you count my past life, that would be the case.”

But honestly, I didn’t feel like I had ‘aged.’

If aging means mental maturity from various experiences, all I experienced in that snowy field was extreme solitude and loneliness.

“Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.”

“…What is it?”

“Hehe. Then, doesn’t that make Candidate Dale older than me?”

Professor Elisha’s purple eyes sparkled with excitement.

I swallowed a dry laugh and looked at her.

“Does it matter who’s older?”

“It does.”

Professor Elisha grinned and sat on the table, crossing her legs.

“From now on, I’ll call you ‘Dale Oppa.'”

“……”

“Dale Oppa.”

For some reason.

Even though it’s a term that ranks 1st or 2nd in the list of terms men want to hear.

Instead of sweet excitement, I felt an unpleasant sensation, as if bugs were crawling on my skin.

“Professor Elisha.”

“Hehe. What is it, Dale Oppa?”

“……”

I shook my head and let out a deep sigh.

“It doesn’t suit you.”

“…Tch.”

And so, the secret(?) personal consultation with Professor Elisha ended.

With a feeling of lightness in one corner of my heart.