Chapter 241. What Happened Once Will… (1)
Lin immediately headed off to work on the rewards. Since the accessories weren’t something that he could make in a day or two, Daisy and I had to give up on seeing them for a while.
For the record, although Sipua had committed grave sins of escaping the dungeon and cooperating with a world’s enemy, considering the situation, she was simply given a punishment of 500 years in confinement. When she heard the punishment, she looked at me with longing eyes, but I just ignored them. It seemed it would be an effective punishment.
“Let’s go back, Daisy.”
“Un… Aren’t you reproducing?”
“Am I a bacteria!?”
“Shin-nim, I’ll see you in a bit!”
“You, don’t ever come…”
We left Fairy Garden and returned to the guild house. The guild members, who had been waiting for us to return, felt relieved when the dungeon started operating again, and asked us what had happened. However, as it was too dark to tell them, I gave an evasive answer. Not knowing the truth wouldn’t hurt them anyways.
“Whew, it’s finally over… What’s your plan, Daisy?”
“I’m going to, sleep.”
Daisy yawned. Now that she mentioned it, I hadn’t slept a wink. Just when I was thinking about going to sleep too, Daisy took off her beret in the middle of the hallway, then threw off her coat. Then, she suddenly tilted her head and asked.
“Sleep together?”
“No! And if you’re going to undress any more, do it in your room!”
“You wanted to sleep…”
“But not with you!”
“… Are you going to sleep, with that elf queen?”
“Don’t say that even if you’re joking! Do you know how scared I was!? I’m going to sleep alone, a.l.o.n.e.!”
Although I was exhausted, this whole incident had only taken a day’s worth of time. Other than the fact that Revival had become an A ranked guild, nothing had changed from the day before. Earth was still peaceful, and neither the four remaining kings nor the demon race had appeared.
Since I didn’t want to go back to the dungeon and fight, I decided to just sleep.
I had used Overlord and Hermes’ power… It seemed my body was waiting for a rest after a severe physical labor. After I took a shower, I went to my room in the guild house and fell on my bed like someone who had just finished a marathon. Then, I fell asleep. It felt warm.
When I woke up, Ina was sleeping next to me.
“… Eh?”
When I sat up, Ina mumbled softly. I patted her and kept her sleeping. But why was Ina in my room? I didn’t need to think for long as I could clearly see the door I had left wide open.
“Thank G.o.d it’s Ina…”
I murmured instinctively and trembled. It seemed the trauma wouldn’t go away for a while. I got down from the bed and got changed. I looked at the clock. It seemed I had been sleeping for 15 hours straight. Considering the fact that I usually only needed 3 hours of sleep, it was a surprising amount.
“Mm, I might as well go to the dungeon now.”
That was the only way I knew how to spend my free time! Despairing at my battle-ridden lifestyle, I left the room. When I closed the door silently so that Ina could sleep peacefully, Daisy was standing in the hallway.
“Whoa!”
Daisy stared at me fixedly.
“You said you would, sleep alone. But you slept, with another woman.”
“Ina’s my daughter!”
“… Will the daughter, also think that?”
“Of course!”
Since Daisy was the one saying it, I couldn’t help but worry slightly… No, she was just trying to tease me! As if to prove that this was the case, the corner of Daisy’s mouth curled up.
“Kidding. I didn’t read, her thoughts.”
“If possible, don’t make jokes that are going to give me heart attacks…”
“There is something, I want to say.”
I noticed that Daisy was wearing her formal battle attire which she took off when she went to bed. When she wasn’t going out for battle, she usually wore loose clothes that made the guild’s male members glance at her, so her current attire somewhat stood out.
“You kept your promise, very quickly. So from now on, I will work, for Kang Shin. I will pay back, this grat.i.tude.”
“That’s it…? You did your best ever since you entered the guild. Like you did in the Philippines, for example.”
However, Daisy shook her head and spoke.
“What Kang Shin is doing, I want to do it too.”
“… Hm?”
“What Kang Shin plans on doing, I will do as well.”
“Ah.”
I barely understood what she was trying to say. She had seen through my plan.
“Your goal, I like it. So let’s do it, together.”
“I’m the one who came up with it… But it’s going to take a long time.”
“Un. Let’s do it, together.”
“As you know, the motive isn’t pure either…”
I scratched my head, and Daisy tilted her head in response.
“Motive doesn’t matter. Let’s do it, together.”
“I don’t really understand you… but for now, let’s focus on Earth. We have plenty of time to talk about this.”
“Un. I just wanted to, say it early. I wanted to become, your first ally.”
With that, Daisy smiled lightly. Her waning eyes looked beautiful and her smile also brought a smile on my face. I felt like I had obtained an unexpected, but reliable friend.
“So, do we sleep together, now?”
“No!”
“You sleep with your daughter, but not your ally?”
“You just wanted to tease me, right!?”
After that, I chased away Daisy who started taking her clothes off to go to bed, then returned to Earth. Now that I thought about it, I had to face Beyond’s 20th Floor Master now. Since it hasn’t been a day since I used Overlord, I was a bit hesitant to fight him. Just thinking about a monster that was a mix of Dullahans and Grim Reapers made my stomach churn.
In addition, I realized that I had not seen my family since I came back from the Sylon continent. Mother was complaining recently about never being able to see her son’s face, so I planned on using this opportunity to show my face more.
“Ah, Shin…”
“Ludia.”
The first one I met after coming home was Ludia. The scene of her in her white priestess robe vacuuming the floor was a bit ironic. The fact that she looked so used to it was also a bit sad.
“I thought you were going to come back home immediately. Did you end up going to the dungeon?”
“No, I just crashed in the guild house.”
“After making me worry to death, really…”
“Sorry.”
I didn’t try to make any excuses. Ludia snorted at my honest apology and went back to vacuuming the floor. As she moved the vacuum cleaner forward and backward with as much skill as my mother, she murmured in a voice that barely went through the vacuum noise.
“It’s fine as long as you’re safe…”
“Thanks for worrying about me.”
“That’s all I can do for you, always.”
Her voice carried a self-deprecating tone.
“Ever since I met you, there hasn’t been a day I haven’t thought about you. You’re really annoying.”
“You were annoying too when we first…”
I quickly dodged a vacuum cleaner swinging at my face. Ludia spoke as she glared.
“How you hate losing an inch annoys me too.”
“I’m just saying what’s right… No, sorry.”
Ludia, who was preparing for a secondary attack, widened her eyes when I apologized. Then, she laughed and went back to vacuuming. She seemed to be finishing up, but it seemed she had more to say.
“I keep thinking about it recently… I’ve gotten calmer now, and I’ve got the ease of mind to look back.”
“That’s… good.”
At first, she didn’t want to even move if I wasn’t around. Now, however, it was fine even if I wasn’t around her for several days, and she didn’t even look for me as she climbed the dungeon with Shuna all day. It was a true improvement. It’s been a month since she last crawled onto my bed as well.
“Like when I first met you, when we reunited… or when you killed Shina.”
“… Ludia.”
It was very rare for Ludia to talk about that incident. Before I noticed, the vacuum cleaner was turned off.
“It must have been because I was overwhelmed with so many emotions. I didn’t know what the emotions I was feeling were. At that time, I thought I was working for revenge… but it seems that wasn’t it.”
“It wasn’t?”
“… I imagined myself on the other side. What I would have done if it was you who died, not Shina. Then, the answer was simple.”
Ludia returned the vacuum cleaner where it belonged. It seemed we were the only ones in the house as it was completely silent.
“How I behaved back then… must have been a desperate evasion.”
I felt like I understood. Seeing her sorrow expression, that was the only thing I could do.
“I was relieved that you didn’t die. Even when my younger sister died… I was relieved that it was Shina who died, not you. If it was the other way around, I would have killed Shina with my own hands, regardless of whether she was the Demon Lord’s spy or not.”
“Ludia, you can stop there.’
“I couldn’t forgive myself for how I felt back then. I didn’t want to admit it. That’s why. Even though the answer was so simple…”
She sighed and continued.
“Shin, back then… No, maybe even before, I must have been in love with you. You must have been more important to me than anything else.”
“Uk…”
As I had just experienced a potentially catastrophic incident that stemmed from love, Ludia’s confession didn’t feel so light. While I was hesitating to say anything, Ludia made a ligh smile.
“I don’t need a reply. I already know you don’t love me back.”
“Ludia…”
“I said I don’t need a reply. Do you need to reject me thoroughly to be satisfied?”
Ah, her usual way of talking was back. Seeing her frown, I swallowed my words.
“So the promise is null. It was just me being stubborn anyways, you don’t need to take responsibility for me forever.”
“But—”
“I said don’t reply, you orc.”
Ludia’s hand slapped my arm. Then, she gently held my arm. A smile had returned to her face.
“You can stay just the way you are. I’ll love you on my own and chase you on my own.”
“It’ll be painful for you.”
“It won’t be, stupid. Being able to stay with someone you love is a blessing in itself… Even if that person is in love with someone else.”
She let go of my arm, then put her hands on my shoulders. She fixed her sapphire-like blue eyes onto me and spoke as if to engrave her words on my mind.
“I don’t plan on ever letting go of this love. It might be burdensome and awkward, but just let me be. Being loved by a persistent girl like me is your misfortune, so… continue taking care of me from now.”
I had the feeling things would be exactly like how she described it. That I would be with her forever. I had no way of distancing myself away from her. Could Loretta do it? No, I was certain Loretta couldn’t, and neither could Hwaya, Ye-Eun, or anyone else.
The day I came to know my love, I obtained a life-long ally and a lovable burden that would follow me eternally.