Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: Under the Magnolia Tree, Remember Me
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I've occasionally mulled over a certain saying.
They say love fades with time, that nothing can stand against the relentless march of time.
Looking back now, that's utter nonsense. It was those people's hearts that fell short. Just an excuse to rationalize falling for someone else.
"Licht, take it slow."
"Keep just a little distance, please. Or I'll use magic..."
I was living proof that flatly refuted such nonsense.
For fifteen whole years, I'd never felt a thing for anyone but Pine. To be precise, no one else could ever measure up to her.
"I can't help it—I'm too anxious."
They say half the world is women, and you're bound to meet someone great someday. But what can you do when that just isn't true?
I hated the lyrics in all those breakup songs and love songs you hear everywhere. They treated the heavy emotion of pure love so lightly, burning through it like nothing.
Back in the day, there were plenty of great songs, but the stuff coming out these days? All pretty much unlistenable. No emotional depth, I guess.
Spring brings love songs, autumn and winter bring breakup ballads. Always the same old thing.
"Licht, watch the step ahead."
"Ah... Got it."
I glanced at Pine, clinging tightly to my side and supporting me. We were so close I could hear each other's breaths.
Her heart is just too kind.
Other people say when they get isekai'd or reincarnated, they start new families elsewhere. I just couldn't relate.
This woman's great, that one's great too—can't choose, blah blah blah. What a load of crap.
"Um, Miss Pine? Why's your tail wrapped around my leg?"
"...You don't like it? It makes me feel secure this way."
"It's so fluffy. Thank you."
"Pervert..."
There's only one person in the world as sweet as my Pine. You can't compare apples to oranges. I couldn't help but chuckle softly.
"Licht...? Are you hurting?"
"Just happy, that's all."
I thought the helmet would hide it, but no dice. Simply talking to her like this, having her so close—it made me happier than I could say.
Could I die content right now?
I'd thought the same earlier, but maybe this really was paradise. A beautiful white-haired beauty nursing me, peeling fruit and feeding it to me by hand.
"What if this is actually heaven, Pine?"
Her snowy wolf ears twitching every which way—how adorable was that? I wanted to touch them again, but she'd get mad.
"You really are hurt..."
Her softness pressing against me everywhere—I wasn't even sure if it was okay. So different from my hardened body, forged through sword training.
How much time had passed?
"Almost there."
"Yeah, Licht."
We finally pushed open the last door and stepped out of the infirmary. The outside air hit us, slightly muggy after so long indoors.
"That's Professor White Magnolia, Pine."
At the far end of the training field stood a woman with long brown hair and a man with blue hair—White Magnolia and Dennis, finally free from Head's schemes.
Normally, they'd be sobbing and embracing the second the seal broke. Why were they just standing there silently?
"She saved my life back when Magic Hat nearly killed me."
Something up? I stepped forward to get closer.
"She's a woman, Licht."
Pine growled low beside me. A misunderstanding, clearly.
"It's just a mentor-priestess relationship. She's also Professor Dennis's lover."
"Player... All men are the same."
"Pardon? What do you mean?"
What? I glanced over—my Pine was gnawing her lower lip, glaring daggers at my second mentor. Jealous of Dennis and the Heavenly Demon's bond, maybe?
"Pine, don't bite your lip. You'll hurt yourself."
"...But I won."
Then Pine thrust her chest forward, just like in my dream. What the hell had she won...?
"Heh heh, see? Heart's racing."
"..."
Ah, the game's physics engine is impressive. Something jiggled up and down dramatically, reminding me of the sensation from leaving the infirmary.
"Please don't do that to anyone else..."
"Only for you, Licht."
I wasn't sure if I was hot from being with Pine or if I'd caught a summer cold.
"...Perverted souls need discipline."
My face burned, blood rushing to it. Folks around town, my Pine's turned into a total vixen.
"Sorry, Pine."
Was this karma for not recognizing her all this time? Foxes are monogamous like wolves, after all.
I silently recited the Heart Sutra in my mind while watching Knight Heart's protagonists reunite.
The Demon King's assumption that time erases love didn't apply to Dennis.
"Kuhahaha! Looks like my bold disciple pulled it off, Dennis."
"No, our disciple. Magnolia."
"Oh? Now you're refusing to yield to me?"
His desire to one day rescue her from Head had stretched nearly twenty years. Even blinded by ignorance, unable to recall her face or name.
"Yeah. I've grown a lot too. Even became a university professor..."
"Too much time has slipped away."
Dennis always longed for spring.
Treasuring the revenge flower the Heavenly Demon gave him, nurturing it with magic. Favoring the coffee she loved after becoming a summoned hero.
"...No longer a boy soldier. A full-grown man now."
"Then Magnolia's a full-blown auntie."
"Take that back. Old man's enough, you brat."
He'd acted on every way he could to remember White Magnolia. Fewer things untried than fingers on one hand.
"So... did you find another soulmate and live happily, Dennis?"
But the Heavenly Demon raised the possibility. In her murim world, men treated love lightly—warriors all.
"Huh? What're you talking about?"
"Obvious, isn't it? Childhood crushes are as fleeting as air."
Men blinded by her allure as the female Heavenly Demon challenged her to duels. Strong ones kept multiple wives as a matter of course.
"...You haven't heard from Licht, have you, Magnolia."
"Honestly, I couldn't believe it."
Dennis sighed. Some say young love isn't real love. True, when he was summoned here, he was still a boy.
"That's precisely what makes first love so pure. You overlook details like looks or wealth."
The man, thinking she'd misunderstood some half-heard line, spoke up. His first love was still his present love.
"I still love magnolia flowers, Heavenly Demon. Believe me now?"
He tried polite speech, like their old talks. Half-banter, half-desperate to ease the awkwardness.
No matter the time passed, the drunkard's love for the dragon never wavered. Matured, rather.
"...Pure and unwavering. Kuhuhu."
The Heavenly Demon met his eyes as she spoke. No defensive magic now—eyes blue as the sea.
"Waiting nearly twenty years for a woman with no charm to speak of... Mountains change in a decade."
"Not great to hear that from the woman I promised marriage to, Magnolia."
"...Dennis."
Her dragon irises curved like crescent moons, her signature fangs peeking as her lips parted.
She moved first, lunging into him. White Magnolia wrapped her arms around the blue-haired man's waist.
"No more liquor—it's bad for you now. Cigarettes are pure poison, of course."
Her dragon tail wagged furiously like a puppy's.
"Why bring that up out of nowhere...?"
"Can't raise a dragon egg all alone, can I?"
"..."
"When man and woman unite, they become one body. Isn't that the law, boy from another world?"
His "Drunken Dennis" moniker faded—he hadn't touched alcohol. Hands trembling from withdrawal.
"Hold me tighter. Feel that shaking?"
"Understood, Heavenly Demon."
White Magnolia pressed closer, giving Dennis a sense of stability. Heartbeats syncing as if they were one.
"Hear me, world!!"
A smile on her lips, the Heavenly Demon cried out to the sky, proclaiming this meeting not an end, but a beginning.
"The cursed spring dragon has fallen in love!!"
Her voice shook the earth, rumbling the air.
A force befitting the Ten Heroes' number-two fighter.
"Fallen prey to the all-knowing Demon King's schemes, our spring dream seemed destined to vanish at a touch—but now, I stand with the man I adore!"
She continued. A love unpaid for decades, finally rewarded.
"Haven't we suffered enough trials?!"
She bellowed at the blue summer sky. Clouds halted in their tracks. White Magnolia and Dennis wished for no more misfortune.
"No reason remains to tear apart these two souls in love!"
A faint moon rose in daylight, aligning with the sun—an impossible sight.
"So... let us two be happy at last. World."
With sheer will, the Heavenly Demon shattered the sky. Onlookers gaped, frozen in awe.
"We'll be happy. Magnolia."
Dennis soothed her. Tears welled in White Magnolia's eyes. Eons later, feeling her lover's warmth.
So warm, so dreamlike—so she wept in his arms.
"...This is enough. I'm more than satisfied."
"One more thing left, Magnolia."
Then Dennis, still embracing her, raised his right arm to the sky.
"What...?"
"Even in summer, we need a touch of spring, right?"
A 3D magic circle formed in his hand.
Multiple arrays formed a perfect sphere, orbited by a satellite-like sphere tracing a line.
"Where'd you learn something like this...?!"
"For my lovely magnolia flower? Nothing I wouldn't do."
Moments later—boom. A massive magnolia tree burst into white bloom behind them.
"...I always remembered. White Magnolia."
The man gazed at his beloved with wistful eyes as the spell succeeded.
"And I always longed for you... Dennis."
Amid falling white petals, the two shared a deep kiss.