Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Those Who Send Me Off (2)
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I couldn't even remember where or how I'd moved.
Without even the presence of mind to think that much, she just ran blindly.
Her destination was the academy dormitory.
Even as her breath grew ragged and her hands and feet trembled, the only thought in her mind was that she had to get there.
To confirm the truth.
A reality she couldn't believe even after hearing it... no, one she absolutely shouldn't believe.
The fact she'd denied endlessly even as she ran was right there.
On the second floor of the dormitory.
In front of that door she'd never seen before but instantly knew whose it was.
"Let me gooooo──!!!"
A woman screamed, tearing through the gap between the men blocking the door.
The blue-haired girl was proving that unbelievable story true.
"Ken...! Hic, Keeeen──!! Let go of me! I said let go...!!"
Men blocking the entrance to the room.
A girl struggling to break through that wall and reach the precious someone beyond.
And behind her, a red-haired girl staring blankly at the scene with dead eyes.
At that nightmarish sight, Emily's legs gave out, and she collapsed to the floor.
"Emily!"
Even at the voice of her worried friend, she just stared blankly at the reality before her eyes.
No.
...No.
This is a dream.
I've had enough cruel nightmares to be sick of them.
This is just one of them.
She whispered that to herself.
But the girl's continuous screams kept reminding her that this was reality.
"Ke, Keen..."
Tears welling up, Emily struggled to her feet.
"Ken... Ken."
Calling the name of the boy she desperately sought.
Calling his name, hoping for a response.
With staggering steps, Emily approached the cruel reality.
"Get out of my waaaay──!! Hic, let me go to Ken, pleeeease──!!"
──Shaaaarp!!
Unable to hold back any longer, sharp ice spikes erupted around Mary, threatening the men.
The tips of those spikes weren't meant just to scare.
They carried the clear intent to kill those blocking her path.
"...──Keeeenn!!"
Finally shoving aside the obstacles in her way, the blue-haired girl rushed to the boy she wanted to reach.
And Emily, watching from behind.
She too was struck by the reality she'd denied, through the gap between the men.
"......Ke...n."
Emily watched the scene in a daze.
Her eyes lifeless, only lost tears streaming endlessly down her face.
The sight reflected in her eyes.
Was Mary clinging to the boy whose body had gone cold, wailing in despair.
'......No.'
In her dazed mind, a single voice echoed endlessly.
No.
No.
...No.
She kept denying it in her heart.
But the unbelievable scene before her eyes tore at Emily's chest, proving it wasn't a nightmare.
"No."
At that moment, another girl's voice came from behind Emily.
She slowly turned her head, and there stood the red-haired girl, looking at her.
Eyes as dead as her own.
"Ken isn't dead, Emily."
She smiled with those lightless eyes as she said it.
"...Ra, Rafne."
"So there's no need to be sad... Ken didn't die."
The girl took her hand gently.
But to the smiling girl, Emily.
To the girl denying this reality just like her.
Could only speak the cruel truth.
"...Stop it, Rafne."
"Why? It's true. Ken didn't die. I told you he didn't."
"...Stop... hic, please stop."
The girl who, like her, had been saved by him, relied on him, and loved him.
Emily knew better than anyone how impossible it was for her to accept this reality.
So, tears streaming, she pulled her into an embrace.
"Hic... ugh, sob."
And she could only keep crying.
If she let this girl's heart break like her own and turned away from reality herself, she would have no face to show the dead boy.
That's why she embraced the girl before her.
She held the sorrow she was turning away from.
"...What? Why are you doing this."
Even the girl with the bright voice grew somber.
"...Hic... if you keep doing this... if you keep acting like this... ......it really feels like Ken died..."
Finally, she burst into the emotions she'd held back.
"Waaaaah...!"
Emily gently stroked the head of the girl crying in her arms.
In place of the boy who could no longer do it.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A few days passed since Ken's death.
The funeral hadn't been held yet.
His body was kept in the academy's temple, and many people began investigating his death.
Only those close to him in life visited his coffin to share their grief.
And the man who had been his teacher stared vacantly at the coffin.
"...I... I failed to keep my promise to you."
In the past, when Ken had helped him with his goal.
The oath he'd made before the sword he'd forged with that help, receiving his grace.
The vow to help him no matter what, to protect him and their precious ones with the sword he'd made.
"Why... did you have to die so suddenly like this... Ken."
"...Zeke."
Siegfried took Elis's hand on his shoulder, lowered his head, and trembled.
Unsure how to comfort him, Elis simply stood quietly behind him.
Then, her eyes caught sight of a girl.
A girl sitting with her knees hugged, guarding the side of the coffin.
"...Mary."
"......Elis... senior."
At her call, the girl lifted her head weakly.
Dull eyes, as if her soul had fled.
It was hard to even imagine the shock Ken's death had been for her.
"Are you okay? Have you eaten?"
"......"
She wanted to say something comforting, but seeing her like that, the words wouldn't come.
She could only worry if her health was breaking down too.
Mary lowered her head again at the question and buried her face in her knees.
"......No."
A short reply.
She was in no state to swallow food.
She still couldn't believe it.
The person she loved had died.
Just like that, overnight.
Without any warning.
The day before, they'd been laughing and talking.
"...Why... why of all people... did it have to be Ken."
"......Mary."
"Why... hic... why did they have to take Ken of all people..."
She spat words of resentment, unsure who they were aimed at.
In a voice choked and hard to get out.
Tears falling from lightless eyes.
"...I haven't even properly thanked him yet... hic."
And finally, she buried her face in her knees.
As if she couldn't face this cruel reality any longer.
Hoping she'd wake from this dream soon.
"Um, Mary... listen."
Her heart aching for the girl, Elis chose her words carefully.
"There's something I want to tell you..."
She brought up a story, hoping it might help her condition.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Emily was in her dormitory room.
Not on the bed, but sitting in the corner on the floor, hugging a pillow.
Like this, for days without eating, she sat staring blankly at the floor.
When she couldn't bear it anymore, she'd collapse unconscious.
Upon waking, despairing at the unchanged reality, she'd hug the pillow and sit again.
She couldn't accept it.
His death, so sudden.
"...Hic, sob."
Even now, realizing how much she missed him but could never see him again, tears flowed once more.
She'd cried so much she thought no more tears would come.
But they fell anyway.
"...I haven't even properly apologized yet."
The wrongs she'd committed against him.
The foolish, childish days she'd hidden her feelings by hurting him.
The day he died was supposed to be the day she'd buy him food as atonement.
What came to mind was their last conversation.
"Hic, if I'd known it'd be like this... sob, I shouldn't have said those things..."
The harsh words she'd blurted out in shock and shame at his rejection.
And she cursed herself for not talking to him for two days after.
What the hell was that pride of hers.
Why had she turned away from someone so precious.
If she'd known he'd leave like this.
At least at the end.
If she'd smiled and said goodbye.
It wouldn't hurt this much.
"Ken... hic, Keeen... huhic, Ken..."
She called his name endlessly, but he couldn't hear.
The words she wanted to say──I'm sorry, I like you, thank you.
They could no longer reach him.
As Emily buried her face in the pillow, blaming herself and crying.
──Knock knock.
Someone knocked on the door.
"......"
Emily stared blankly at the door.
No answer came despite waiting.
As if entranced, she stood and approached the door.
Staring at the doorknob.
Her mind said it couldn't be, but 'what if' spread through her.
What if opening this door revealed the person she longed for.
Slowly, she did.
She turned the knob and opened the door.
"...Emily."
"......Ah."
"...I'm sorry to come so suddenly."
Unlike her hopes, it was Mary on the other side.
"Wh-what... is it? At this hour. Are you okay?"
"It's weird hearing you say that... Are you okay, Emily?"
"......Yeah."
Neither was in normal condition.
Days without proper sleep or food.
So they pitied each other equally.
"More importantly, Emily. I came because I have something to ask."
"...What?"
The last time she'd seen her, her eyes had been lifeless, devoid of spark.
Now, facing Emily, Mary's eyes were the same, but they held clear resolve.
As if she'd made up her mind, she spoke.
"......Do you know about the Child of Prophecy?"
"...The Child... of Prophecy?"
At those words, Emily's shoulders trembled.
It was a name for her too.
And recently, she'd endured the agony of cutting her own flesh because of that name.
"Why... the Child of Prophecy?"
Mary fell silent at her question.
As if preparing to say something hard.
And when she spoke, her eyes.
Bore killing intent.
"They say... the Child of Prophecy is the one who killed Ken."