Chapter 267

267th Chapter

Entrance of Fall #3

“It’s not like, you shouldn’t use green branches; you should put dry twigs as firewood so it will burn better…! If you just shove it in without thinking at the start, the embers will go out, you foreigners!”

Nymph Paranoi of Ditch Water gives all sorts of advice while Elpride burns the garbage.

“Do foreigners even know how to properly set fires? That’s why you couldn’t burn even a little bit of the entrance. With Hassan’s torch spreading Hell’s flames throughout the world in such a glorious role, if I were you, I would have burned the entire city by now—!”

“No—.”

Elpride, who had been patiently listening at first, finally seemed unable to endure it after it went on for half a day.

“Can someone handle this nymph? She keeps bothering me.”

“I’d suggest you leave Gaia Continent if you’re feeling wronged—!”

Paranoi took this as an opportunity to avenge herself on Elpride, who had previously bullied her.

Although she looks foolish now, if you consider that this person once used to be a cultist intent only on tormenting others, her arrogant attitude starts to make sense.

Anyone who gains positional superiority tends to think about bothering those beneath them.

“Let’s see some higher flames here—! With this method, we won’t have enough time even if we do it all day—!”

“Hmm—.”

Elpride sighed and finally stretched her back. She wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand.

The garbage incineration site was an odd fit for Elpride. Despite her being smeared with soot, seeing her struggle there was a strange yet oddly fitting sight since Elpride was a mage skilled at handling flames and burning things.

However, she was not using any magic. She was simply using a shovel and firewood to ignite a fire, coughing while handling smoky fumes but continuing the labor silently.

“You foreigners, I hear you know how to use quite capable fire magic. Why don’t you use it? You could drastically reduce the working hours—!”

Paranoi apparently couldn’t understand why the fire mage Elpride kept struggling by manually stoking the fire and enduring the smoke.

Elpride answered her.

“It would eliminate the sense of repentance. I’m paying for my sins. If I used magic, it would negate the meaning of enduring this hardship.”

That’s right.

This seemed to be her own way of repentance.

To be frank, according to rumors from the same town, she has been moving from place to place, fulfilling her promises of apologies and compensations, just like me.

And apparently, the reactions have been fairly positive.

Her fairy-like appearance easily draws sympathy and goodwill from people, so unlike me, she probably doesn’t have to deal with being stoned or criticized.

Still, I never expected Elpride to endure such hardship willingly. After all, she’s always been a person who was kind to others while showing a violent side only to me.

It’s not abnormal that this person expresses profound regret and self-criticism over the harm she caused others by setting fires.

Ffff, fffs—.

While Paranoi rested in the shade, exhausted from talking too much, Elpride and I silently shoveled trash from the ground and threw it into the large incinerator’s flames.

Sweat poured from my entire body, and my arms began to hurt, but I was enjoying this situation.

Performing repetitive tasks without thinking, only moving my body—it’s hard to imagine something that clears your mind better than shoveling.

When I was moving my arms mindlessly and feeling nothing, Elpride spoke to me with a small voice, like embers that were dying out.

“Why did you do it that way back then?”

“What do you mean?”

“You took responsibility for the sins I committed.”

“…”

“My ears are not deaf either. It’s now a well-known story throughout the East-West Passage, famous on the bad side, though.”

“Well, fame suits you then.”

“Weren’t you aiming to become a Gold Tier adventurer? The notoriety would be a big drawback for you. So, why did you do it? Was it to leave me some kind of debt?”

“If that’s true, do you actually feel indebted to me?”

“No—.”

“I knew that. I was just tired of weighing things and deceiving myself, that’s all.”

Our short conversation ended there.

“Well, anyway, I should thank you.”

“What?”

“Not really, it’s too hot.”

As if the scorching sunlight had become too intense, Elpride soon headed toward the shade of a tree where Paranoi was lying, taking a nap.

Thanks to the recent boon of 《Burnt Skin》, I have developed some resistance to the heat and continued working without rest. Yet, when my body and mind get even a little relief, thoughts flood in like a tsunami.

Still, the more work I do, the less there is left to do, and eventually, there will come idle moments when all I’ll do is raise my head upward.

d*mn.

At a moment like this, someone suddenly hurled something toward me. It turned out to be a water skin filled with cold water.

“You should drink this.”

Elpride must have brought it. Since I was extremely parched, I didn’t just drink it—I also splashed the water on my face like taking an impromptu shower.

“Hey! Who said you could drink it all?”

“Well, wasn’t it given to me to drink?”

“She said you could have a sip. We’ll still need it this afternoon.”

“Is that so?”

After the arduous work, the feeling of the cold water rushing into my body, soaked by sweat, was one of the most refreshing experiences I’ve had recently. The cooling breeze that followed helped soothe my sweat-covered skin.

Let me rest for a bit.

Since the day’s tasks were already mostly done, I sat down anywhere under the shade. Even though my pants were getting dirty, it no longer mattered.

“So, what do you plan to do from here?”

Elpride spoke to me.

“What do I plan? In the afternoon, I’ll just keep working, then go home.”

“No, I don’t mean that. What do you plan to do from now on in this city? You are at a level where it might be better to leave this city altogether and settle somewhere else.”

Elpride is an experienced adventurer. If she says it, it must make some sense.

“In another city…”

“That pink-haired girl, you should distance yourself from her too, right? Did you break up?”

“Never mind that, don’t ask.”

That Elpride would bring up Luna of all people.

“Hmph—.”

Then, Elpride let out an unusual sound. When I turned to her, I saw she was smiling strangely—a very odd expression that irritated me greatly.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Laughing? Don’t lie. Why would I—”

She touched her lips, then turned her head away from me. This person finds joy in seeing others suffer over matters of love. What a terrible girl.

Ah, but it made me feel hollow again, now that Luna’s name was mentioned.

The landmines scattered everywhere seem to be exploding around my ankles. And then, as I turned my head away from her and slightly glanced back, Elpride suddenly said,

“…Will you come back to Kolkata with me?”

“What?”

“There’s a debt between us because of this situation. And with the way things have wrapped up well, now that there’s nothing left for me to be responsible for, won’t you come back to Kolkata with me?”

“…”

Instead of answering, I simply closed my mouth. This seemed to bother her, so Elpride added something in a calm tone.

“Don’t misunderstand. I just mean working together for a while in a party. You know well that a mage needs a front-liner, right? The Silver Rose’s members seem to want to stop inviting me into their party.”

“If it’s a party, will it be an equal one?”

“That’s up to you. How about it? Whether you or I, we both need to establish ourselves in a new city. Or maybe we could travel around more places in the kingdom together. We can even cross seas to places where no one knows us, free from other people’s expectations.”

“That’s a pretty good story.”

I gave her an adequate response. Upon hearing this, I saw Elpride’s black, soot-streaked ears twitch in delight, possibly because I seemed to agree with her idea.

“But I can’t do that. It feels like running away.”

“What?”

“Ultimately, it would be avoiding the problem and running away. That’s why I’m enduring this hardship. And now, my heavy shackles feel like they’re finally lifting a bit, my body feels lighter.”

Sheepishly,

I stood up again.

*

I was so caught up in the work that I ended up incinerating all of tomorrow’s quota too. At this rate, my duties at the incineration site might soon come to an end.

Let’s worry about tomorrow’s work tomorrow.

With that sort of mindset, I roughly wiped my forehead with the dry towel provided by the supervisor.

“You’ve accomplished the work of three or four sturdy men, indeed.”

The man likely approved of my wordless labor under the blazing sun.

No one dislikes a man who quietly works hard.

Although I wasn’t trying particularly to impress him, my job might be a bit easier from tomorrow onward. When I was just starting to enjoy the anticipation, the man spoke up.

“By the way, there’s someone waiting for you. A beautiful young miss, it seems.”

“A young miss?”

“There, she’s sitting on the office chair waiting for you.”

Upon hearing the supervisor’s words, I wondered who the woman visiting me might be. There were several possibilities, so I felt a little tense as to whether my thoughts were correct.

And I was right.

“Hassan—.”

The office, quite cool and clean, housed Luna sitting with her well-groomed hair neatly tied up, as always.

Unlike usual, she wasn’t greeting me with a bright voice or a smile. The usual cheerful and lively image was nowhere to be seen right now, and this stark contrast added to the intense intimidation.

“Hassan, why did you ignore every time I asked to meet you?”

“You know my situation… right now…”

I sat down in front of Luna.

Luna seemed to have grown even prettier since the last time I saw her. She was adorned with well-applied makeup, and I noticed earrings I had never seen on her before.

Beside her, I, on the other hand, felt like an ungroomed mess covered in soot and sweat, my beard unshaved, and couldn’t help but feel embarrassingly shabby.

“Hassan, you’ve lost a lot of weight.”

As I tried to comprehend the underlying meaning behind that statement, it struck me that it was something Luna would typically say without much thought.

Both of us sat there silently.

Before, even without conversation, I could easily tell what Luna was thinking. Now, I had no idea. The connection we once shared feels severed.

Is Luna thinking the same thing?

Then, Luna opened her mouth, though slowly.

“Hassan, I reflected a lot on several things recently.”

“Ah… I see.”

“After much consideration, I’ve come to the conclusion that I can’t forgive Hassan.”

I see. That’s right.

Even though I didn’t reply, for some reason, I felt quite calm.

I had mentally rehearsed this many times during sleepless nights. Yet, every simulation always ended with me being deeply shocked or breaking down in tears.

But now that the moment has arrived, I just feel like it was inevitable.

I see, that’s right.

But even the answer still wouldn’t come.

Ah—. Too late now, I’m feeling the backlash. d*mn, it feels like my chest is being ripped open. It feels as if my heart has been carved out of my body.

Since I remained silent, Luna added a few more words.

“It was all lies… Everything you said before. You claimed to love only me, but how could you lie to me every day?”

“I’m… sorry.”

“If you were going to lie, you should have continued lying forever. If you could have kept it all hidden from me, none of this would’ve happened. If you were so foolish to get caught, why did you start lying in the first place? Fool!”

Luna finally could no longer control her anger and shouted, her brows furrowed in deep emotion, tears eventually streaming down her emerald eyes.

A deep sense of guilt overwhelmed me, along with a feeling of heavy numbness in my head.

“Hassan, swear to me. Swear you will only love me from now on. That last time was all a mistake, and it will never happen again. Swear it.”

Luna, without wiping away the tears streaming from her eyes, spoke to me. The makeup around her eyes smudged, streaming down her usually soft cheeks.

Was Luna giving me a last chance?

Making a promise would be easy.

Yet, I knew very well that if I nodded in agreement to what Luna said right now, it would be nothing but another lie.

A bit of hesitation and anguish.

Seeing this, Luna spoke.

“Hassan, you’re so good at lying! Just one more time, just pretend to say it’s alright… isn’t that all it takes?”

“Luna, I’m truly sorry.”

At my words, Luna broke down into sobs. Her carefully done makeup smeared, and her face that was trying to remain stern fell apart, wrinkling like a child’s.

“Everyone keeps reminding me of Hassan. Everywhere I go, if I see black hair, I glance to see if it’s you. When someone comes into the yard, I think it’s you. The two-story house feels so empty now without you.”

“…”

“I don’t know what to do. Even though I know what the right answer is, I don’t want to choose it. Hassan, just one more lie. Pretend like nothing happened, and let’s live well from now on… I’ll try too, as if nothing happened.”

“Luna…”

“We’ve come so far together… We promised to continue growing stronger, aiming to become a Gold Tier adventurer. Our party is supposed to be fixed, isn’t it? Even the name of my workshop uses parts of Hassan’s and my name—.”

With that, Luna started sobbing intensely. Though I could hear some words from her mouth, they were mixed with incoherent sobs and formed no clear phrases.

I…

I knew that this was the final flicker of a burning candle. After this intense outpouring of emotions, Luna would probably try to move on with her routine. And by her side, I might not be there.

Maybe this was the predetermined sequence.

Luna, a flawless child of the gods.

Me, a man burdened with constant worries and regrets, and to make it worse, not even a native of this world—just a nobody.

A completely new feeling that I’ve never experienced. I don’t know how to describe it, and I don’t want to dwell on it.

If I were to put it into a single phrase, it would be this: It feels like my life has somehow broken.

“Hassan, I’m going to curse you! If you walk out of here like this, I swear I’ll put a genuine curse on you! This is… this is a real Voodoo curse!”

From somewhere, Luna took out an odd doll made of straw, placing it on the table in front of her.

She then poked the doll’s arm with a pin that was originally stuck in its head, and suddenly, I felt an intense and clear prick on my arm.

“Ah—! W, What is thi—!”

“Say you’re sorry!”

Every time Luna’s hands attacked different parts of the Voodoo doll, my body felt like it was jolted with needles, and my mind went blank from the pain.

I didn’t expect Luna to have such a powerful technique.

Fff, puush, paak, paak!

“Ah, Ack! Aaah! I’m, I’m sorry! Really, really, it’s my fault! N, Stop it! Ack, Ack—!”

At last, Luna’s hands stopped.

She instantly stopped crying and, with a fiery glare of anger, stared at me intently.

“If you leave me now, I’m sure you’ll soon start fraternizing with other women and forget about me. I know you well. And I can’t stand seeing you like that! So, Hassan, I won’t let you go.”

“Umm….”

“Let’s go to Juno’s shrine. Let’s have Hassan’s wandering heart ‘cured’ at Juno’s shrine. And after that treatment, let’s go to the shrine of Delphi to become officially engaged!”

[Postscript]

Hassan and little Michuri have had their eyes wandering around too much… Now, it’s time for them to pay the price for all their actions…!!! The catfights and complicated affairs will now start making appearances…

And as a side note, Paranoi’s illustration will soon be completed… It’s just been mildly delayed because of busy schedules…!!!