Chapter 155
Chapter 155
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 155
Chapter Title: 45-1. A Helplessness That Devours People
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Another status window popped up.
The remaining 90% I needed to gather to see the ending. 10% was still a far cry from enough.
But now it was my turn to give back to her.
The gentle pure white wolf who had promised to teach me about love.
If Pine Granasia didn't know love now, then I could show her.
Love isn't a one-sided emotion from just one person.
Harem route... Could that really be called happiness? I didn't think so.
It was time for Pine to receive the full love of one person. That was only fair.
I might not be able to change her tragic past, but her future? That I could change.
No way. How sincere was Pine Granasia when it came to love?
'Come to think of it, how did Pine become such a pure love advocate back when she was the Saintess?'
Everything should've been forgotten due to her amnesia. And she wouldn't have ignored the Demon King's power either...
"...Pine?"
"Mmm. Licht's... scent..."
There was strong pressure around my waist. Pine had been nuzzling into my body and sniffing me for a while now.
Her wolf tail was thrashing like it had a motor attached, and her ears were laid back flat, a sign of utter contentment.
"Pine, could you let go now...? My ribs are gonna crack..."
"No way. Soo-hyun has to listen to Big Sis Pine."
What the hell had happened in this past to make Pine talk like that? Was the status window telling the truth?
I had heard my younger self call her "big sis" earlier, though.
"I wish you'd be a little more... honest, Licht."
"Any more honest here, and we're in trouble."
Pine looked up at me, puffing out her cheeks. It was oddly charming, the way she vented her frustrations.
"You're always like this. Trying to shoulder everything alone."
"...Sorry."
Pine's gentle smile drew my gaze, and her cheeks, flushed pink from crying then laughing, looked like a blush.
"It's okay. Big Sis will wait for you."
She called herself "big sis" with a beaming smile. Where had the usual empty glass knight gone?
"Got it. Big Sis Pine..."
"Hehe, this is way more fun to tease..."
She tickled my back with the arms wrapped around me.
At this rate, she wasn't a wolf—she was a fox spirit. She'd have succeeded in digging out my liver.
"Pine, keep that up, and I won't just sit here."
I couldn't let her have all the fun.
I gently stroked the tail swishing in front of me, and her body trembled.
"Hah... Eek...!"
Maybe I should brush it like fur. So soft, though. Like a massive body pillow.
"Licht... Don't...!"
For someone saying "don't," her tail wasn't avoiding my touch—it was leaning right into it.
"Nope. Big Sis."
Pine was like this when I stroked her head too—her body was often more honest than her words.
"...Hah... Total pervert. Pervert."
Only after her face turned completely red did she finally let go.
"Licht, you're from a world like this, right...?"
"...Probably. This is my childhood era."
The night sky, bathed in soft moonlight. Pine Granasia began asking about my origins.
"...Pretty."
Her profile as she gazed, entranced, at the light spilling under the streetlamps.
Her hands clasped demurely, like she was admiring fine art. Cute. Precious.
"When I first fell here, I was clueless and terrified... Amazing."
She was admiring the scenery, having apparently forgotten this might be Tar Dune's trial.
I stepped closer and lightly took her hand. She glanced at me, flustered.
"I prefer night views over daytime ones, Pine."
Streetlights flickering on one by one, the road growing softly illuminated. I whispered to her.
"...Why? Night's dark. You can't see the scenery...?"
I wanted to know more about the parts of her I didn't understand. I didn't want to run from my feelings anymore.
"Because there are things in this world that only reveal themselves once darkness falls."
Like people's lives.
The light steps of office workers heading home.
The smiles of families leaving a restaurant together after dinner, laughing.
A middle-aged man carrying a cake—maybe a family birthday?—chatting happily on the phone. His excited voice carried over.
"If it weren't dark, the bright parts wouldn't stand out, right? I like these little lights."
In the summer night filled with cicada song, people of all ages on the street lived carrying their own lights.
"I see. Got it..."
Pine leaned her head on my shoulder with a soft thunk. The soft feel of her hair, the gentle weight.
"It's really... like a fairy tale world, Licht."
Whoosh—a plane passed overhead.
A steel bird crossing the sky. Pine watched it go, no longer startled. She'd crossed the threshold of shock.
"The prince from a fairy tale..."
Her tension eased, her trembling stopped. Hard to believe this was the same person who'd been right in front of me moments ago.
"Nah. What fairy tale has a prince wandering around in a black helmet?"
Pine spoke in a sweet, coaxing voice.
"...You're my knight, Licht."
A tiny voice, like sleep-talk.
The title she'd used back when she was the Nameless Saintess. The air around us felt warmer.
Who'd have thought I'd hear those words from Pine again?
That instant, another status window appeared before my eyes.
The Love Meter dropping, just like before.
A bad feeling hit me. This only happened when there was a threat nearby.
'Why's it dropping now...? Don't tell me...'
Tar Dune's temple normally required a party of four.
But unlike that, only Pine and I were inside the temple.
What if the hero couple hadn't entered? Could that be why this miracle was happening?
"Pine, we need to get out of here. Now."
A new black door had appeared in the distance. I stood and ran toward it.
The underground prison of the Granasia Empire.
A place said to be impossible to escape due to hundreds of magical barriers and a labyrinthine structure.
"Well, this idiot's ordeal is finally over."
The red-haired man in sunglasses muttered shortly as he eyed the iron chains binding his hands.
After being thoroughly crushed by Emperor Locke, Finn had been imprisoned here.
A ruthless axe had hacked his body to shreds, leaving him barely alive.
The Demon King of Helplessness hung against the wall like a cicada, limbs bound immovably.
"Damn it. If only there'd been a bit more room to summon the giant... I could've smashed that emperor flat."
His hands trembled with rage.
"...Am I gonna rot in a dump like this?"
The guards were elite too. Every one wore the armor of imperial knights.
No one seemed able to enter and rescue Finn.
Except for one person.
"Urgh...!"
Agonized screams echoed from afar, followed by thuds as guards collapsed one by one before his eyes.
In the now-silent space, like a graveyard.
"...Shh."
Someone placed a finger to their lips beyond the bars. A figure like overlapping shadows in the dark.
"Magic Hat? What's with that look...? Another disguise?"
Only after spotting the black mask at her waist did Finn realize she was the Truth Demon King.
"That's harsh. This is my 'real' appearance, Finn."
A woman with black bobbed hair. It was Blanc, the academy assistant.
"Well, I'm just a cheap circus clown. Can't blame you for not knowing."
She collected the dagger from his nape and gave Finn a sly smile.
"Finn, what if I'd been late? Almost had to follow your little bro."
"Shut up. My little sister's alive—"
Finn scowled and thrashed. Chains rattled through the prison.
"I know, I know! Once the prophecy comes true, it'll all be fine. Don't worry."
With a deep sigh, Blanc shifted back to her magician's outfit.
"Sheesh, it was a joke to lighten the mood. You really have no sense of humor."
A single card flew toward the lock. A black-joker-marked trump card.
Pop! Dozens of magic circles shattered. The lock unlocked as easily as a dagger hitting a target.
"...Intinium's already been moved to a better spot, so no worries there."
Blanc swiped with her card, and thick manacles snapped in half. Clang—the chains hit the floor.
"You been feeding the meat? He won't last without it."
Finn stretched his long-immobile body, cracking his neck and wrists. A muscular man.
"He's handling that fine~! Told 'em Lycanthrope meat's super nutritious."
Blanc grinned, her smile twisted in eerie confidence, like she had more schemes up her sleeve.
"Good. Time to punch Locke right in the face—"
Finn grimaced at her smug expression and prepared to move.
"...No, once you're out, hide until I come get you again."
Trump cards shuffled in Blanc's hand. A hovering stack of paper.
"Why should I? Don't I owe that bastard who threw me in here some payback?"
Finn ground his teeth, trying to defy her order.
"Don't get cocky, hero who lost his holy sword."
"..."
His minor rebellion was ignored.
"You really wanna skip seeing your real little sis?"
Blanc smiled innocently, though it was laced with threat.
"...No, can't have that."
Finn headed for the exit, fists clenched in lingering fury.
The moment the man vanished into the darkness, Blanc started clapping.
"Okay, okay! Guards! Time to wake up~!"
At her call, the soldiers—who'd looked dead—rose.
Click, click. The revived corpses knelt before the Demon King.
Watching the scene, the woman pulled a monocle and red revolver from her bosom.
"In the end, when the real one's dead, the replica becomes the genuine article!"
Blanc spread her arms wide, as if addressing a crowd.