Rehabilitation Therapist for the Broken Warrior – Chapter 117

Finally, towards Teacher Hop Harvey…

I grip the sword tightly and push it down my throat.

Pain must be just a moment.

A temporary agony to end eternal torment.

When I open my eyes again, surely…

…,

‘…?’

But contrary to my expectations or hopes, no matter how hard I tried, the sword wouldn’t move.

I was surely pulling the blade inward with all my might, so why wasn’t it budging?

I opened my eyes to check the Holy Sword, but there was nothing wrong with it.

There was nothing here except for me and the sword.

Yet, it felt as if the sword was blocked by something.

This is…

‘It’s space. The space is blocked. Is Mirae still alive?’

I turned my head to the place where Mirae had disappeared, but there was nothing there.

Even the remnants of the white ash she rode away on were gone without a trace.

But why is the space blocked?

Speaking of space, if there’s anyone other than Mirae who can use it…

“Zion. Are you trying to run away to somewhere else again?”

“……!”

Th-that voice is…

***

Finally catching up to Zion, he pressed a sword against his neck as if intending to commit suicide.

What the heck is going on?

I had come this far with a firm belief in Zion, but the scene unfolding before me was shocking enough to shake that belief.

While I used Space Movement several times to catch up with Zion, who continuously moved northward, I couldn’t help but wonder why he was moving so quickly as if he was in the middle of a battle.

It was as if Zion was deliberately distancing himself, knowing I was following him.

How could such a situation unfold?

Did he think it would be endless if he kept running away from me, and was he trying to show me his dying form?

“Zion. Are you trying to run away to somewhere else again?”

I blocked the space to prevent Zion from getting hurt and tried to get him to look back at me.

“……!”

Zion, sitting on the ground with the Holy Sword pointed down, looked up at me.

Was he so shocked that I had appeared that he couldn’t believe it, his eyes widened in surprise and tears began to flow profusely?

That means he hadn’t intended to show me his dying form at least, right?

Although I felt a bit relieved, I needed to ask him why he did that.

“Zion. Why would you do something like this… are you trying to go to a place where I can’t find you this time?”

“No, no…!”

Zion shook his head quickly like a willow tree in the wind.

“I thought you were, ugh, dead…!”

“Dead? Why is that?”

“Mirae… ugh, said you were dead. And at home, ugh, there were bloodstains…”

For some reason, Zion’s face turned bright red, and he was sobbing as he looked down, unable to speak properly.

I sat in front of Zion, who was curled up and crying, matching his eye level.

“Calm down, Zion. I’m still alive.”

So Mirae told him I was dead, and he thought I was because he saw such traces when he came to my home.

If Zion had come not through the Gate but by chasing Mirae like I initially suspected, it seemed right to think that Mirae had already dealt with Zion.

Yet, to think he would try to die following me.

If I had been even slightly later…

“Teacher Hop…”

“I’m right here.”

As I calmed Zion down and sorted my thoughts, I noticed that Zion’s grip on the Holy Sword loosened, causing it to fall to the ground.

He looked at me with trembling eyes and reached out with his hand, which had just released the sword.

“Can I hug you?”

“……”

On the outside, he looked perfectly fine, but Zion had been so broken that he almost tried to cut his own throat.

Once again, Zion clung to me without hesitation.

And I, too, couldn’t help but find him incredibly lovable.

Indeed, we remain unchanged.

Even though I knew it was an emotion rising under suggestion, it was still something I had chosen to find Zion.

My feelings of love for Zion were real.

That’s why even more,

“It’s not time yet.”

“…What?”

I couldn’t just accept Zion without question.

I couldn’t move forward by brushing over the situation while leaning into Zion’s delusion.

“There’s something I need to apologize to you for, Zion.”

I could explain everything right now, but that wasn’t what we needed.

Zion’s departure wasn’t because I had told lies.

It wasn’t because Zion no longer loved me.

“Zion. We have loved each other, but looking back, we’ve always been uncertain about each other, haven’t we?”

It was simply because my heart had wavered.

Because I hadn’t been able to trust Zion.

Therefore, we had needed nothing more than to confirm each other’s sincerity.

“Zion always trembled with anxiety, worried that I might not like him. When he was broken, he thought that was the reason, and when he learned my secrets, he believed it was because he wasn’t broken… He was so anxious that he tried to break himself just to make me look back at him.”

“And the same goes for me. I was anxious that you might discover why I liked you and that you might find out about the lies I told… I was always worried that if you uncovered those secrets, it would push us away like it has now.”

I gazed at Zion as I quietly recalled past events.

Now it was time to make him realize.

The truth that could only be realized after being apart from Zion.

The fact that Zion had probably been unable to realize because he thought I was dead.

“Zion.”

“Yes, Teacher.”

“You said I was your last, but what do you think is the reason I came to find you like this?”

“Um…”

“Do you think it’s because I wanted to see Zion break down, knowing that you would obviously be broken without me? Or do you think it’s because I wanted to touch you or demand services from someone who’s not able to refuse me, fulfilling my desires?”

“That’s… that can’t be true!”

Zion shook his head in surprise.

“It can’t have been the reason you came here, and I can’t have thought that either!”

“Then why is it?”

“……”

Zion looked up at me with shimmering eyes that were sometimes filled with tears, then quietly looked down and replied.

“I… wanted to see you. Because you love me.”

“Exactly? It’s such a simple fact, yet why were we so anxious about each other…?”

As I extended my hand to Zion and nodded in agreement, only then did Zion throw himself into my embrace.

I felt Zion’s body, tightly filling my arms.

Her warmth after such a long time, the heartbeat I could feel through our touching necks, and her soft skin…

Even the temperature of her tears, which soaked my back.

“Until now, everything about me has been a lie, but here, I’ll impart the one truth you need, Zion. Just as I lived for you, you are the one and only meaning in my life. During the time I was separated from you, I was also unable to do anything and fell apart. Only my feelings for you… are real. I hope you will trust that and not doubt it…”

Eventually, I, too, felt tears fall onto Zion’s shoulders.

After barely calming my trembling breath, I continued speaking.

I had to affirm it for Zion over and over again.

“I’m sorry, Zion. No matter who I am, I no longer doubt that you love me. And I love you, Zion. Please don’t doubt that I love you anymore. You don’t need to feel anxious, nor do we need to require confirmation from each other. I’ll make a vow as well. Although this place may be the lowest, the darkest, and the most desolate place…”

Zion had given me her name, her sword, and her body, but I had nothing that grand to offer.

I was neither pure like Zion, nor noble, nor even valuable.

But I…

“I’ll give you everything I have. Even if my current self isn’t the most beautiful, I believe it is worth more to you than anything else in the world. So…”

Please believe in me.

Because I believe, I offer myself to her.

To the one who loves me and desires me.

As I pulled away from Zion, I grasped her shoulder and looked her in the eye.

“You’ll accept it, right?”

Compared to the vow that Zion had made to me, it was truly a trifling one.

But I wasn’t embarrassed.

I can face Zion proudly.

Because I have a firm belief that she wouldn’t refuse me.

“……”

Zion’s reaction to receiving this vow was as if she couldn’t believe it, blinking as she looked at me for a moment, then said,

“…Finally, this moment has come.”

Still crying, but somehow looking joyful, she quietly closed her eyes.

“I have always dreamed of being an equal lover to you, Teacher. On the outside, I pretended to give everything, endlessly offering my service, saying you could just be still, but that was only because I couldn’t overcome my anxiety; the truth is, I also wanted to receive. You restored everything I had lost, but you never offered me what you had.”

“Now that I think about it, Teacher Hop must have been anxious as well. Since your true nature wasn’t okay, and because what you did was deceiving me… you couldn’t reveal what you had kept hidden to me.”

“The more I clung to you, the more that anxiety grew, and you must have thought it was an unforgivable wrong. Because I didn’t demand anything and gave you everything while only yearning for your love, it ended up like this. Strictly speaking, I think I deceived you as well.”

Zion opened her eyes again, looking at me with a gentle smile.

Then she raised her right hand and gently caressed my cheek, narrowing her eyes slightly and tilting her head with an ecstatic expression.

“Oh…! Why did I do that? I always wanted to confirm your love, but why didn’t I confirm mine to you? Why didn’t I say I wanted and needed anything you have? I only asked you to take and demand more! And while doing so, I secretly dreamed of being an equal lover…!”

Zion was inching closer, her face coming closer and closer.

And Zion’s remaining left hand rested on my cheek as well.

As if she was about to devour me, she approached, licking her lips.

“Thank you, Teacher Hop. I’ll take everything of yours. No, now even if you refuse, I’ll take it by force. As you said back then, I decided not to live as a hero anymore.”

In that moment, Zion’s warm lips touched mine.

Since she was clinging to me with both arms, I felt like I would fall back, so I reached back to brace myself…

“……”

I simply gave up and pulled her into my embrace.

In the end, I found myself lying underneath her as Zion was sprawled on top of me.

As we felt each other’s warmth, sharing ragged breaths, intense pleasure surged through my spine.

Zion pinned me down as if she were a lion holding its prey, preventing me from moving and continuously taking what she wanted from me.

This act was her consumption and plundering of me.

It was the act of a starved beast reclaiming and realizing its lost life just before dying.

I had no choice but to lie there peacefully on my back, adopting a submissive posture as she desired, surrendering my life as she wished.

“Haah….”

After a while of consuming me, Zion finally seemed satisfied and lifted her hips to look down at me.

She raised her right arm to wipe her mouth, giggling as if she was overjoyed.

“I would love to devour you just like this and make a baby, but…”

“H-here?!”

“I feel most comfortable on the battlefield no matter what I do. There’s no one to watch us.”

“As much as that is true…!”

“Is it impossible for you, Teacher?”

“It’s possible, but I’d rather not.”

“Hmm~ Then I’ll respect your opinion here. Besides…”

Just then, she stood up beside me and offered her hand.

Even though I felt like I had no strength in my body, I managed to grab her hand and get up.

Soon, we were facing each other, having no choice but to turn our eyes southward.

“It would make sense to create a world for our child to grow up in.”

“In the world, the reason why a hero saves the world is…”

“Is it insufficient?”

Since we had crossed over to the north through the Gate, it was now a situation where we had to go through the Gate in the south.

Moreover, since we seemed to be at a fairly high altitude, I had the feeling that I could see the castle walls on the horizon beyond the Gate.

That was right; that was where we lived.

Where I, Zion, and our future child would live.

“That’s enough.”

“Then let’s go.”

Gripping Zion’s outstretched hand, I concentrated my mind and envisioned where we needed to go.

The fighting must be intense by the Gate.

Since we were already overwhelmingly winning, if Zion joined us, we would almost have victory in the Demon King raid.

“Drafting the Simplified Space Movement Array.”

I managed to make it this far.

After betting everything and returning, I had finally grasped a possibility.

“Initiate.”

Now, it was only left to finish this war and turn that possibility into the future.