Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Those Who Send Me Off (4)
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I watched my own death.
Mary clutching my corpse and sobbing her heart out.
Emily holding Rafne tight as she wailed.
Rafne, whose faith in my return had been shaken by the sight of them, shed tears as well.
And I watched it all.
...This hurts more than I thought.
I knew they'd grieve my death.
But I hadn't expected the atmosphere to be this devastating.
I'd only told the truth to Rafne, who might go berserk if I vanished.
...No, actually, this might be for the best.
From the killer's perspective, Mary and Emily acting unfazed despite their friend's death would have seemed suspicious.
So without this ploy, they wouldn't have gleaned any hints.
I'd have to revive empty-handed.
Then the next victim would appear.
Whether that was Mary, Emily, or someone else—only the killer would know.
It was a heartbreaking pain I had to endure.
And so, in soul form after death, I watched those mourning my passing.
This was the way to clear the event quickly using the scroll.
"I have something to say..."
—Found you.
In the game, if Emily died in this event.
The killer would approach the character grieving her death the most and say this.
The Child of Prophecy killed her.
You must find her.
In the game, with Emily dead, I didn't get why they wanted the Child of Prophecy... but now...
Looking back, it was all a ploy to find Rafne.
They used someone burning with vengeance over a death to track down the Child of Prophecy.
Then claim her once found.
Both the previous loop event and this one.
The Demon Army bastards were filthy to the point of nausea.
The one who scissored Emily while savoring her agony.
The one exploiting grief over a loved one's death.
Fueled by rage, I gained the hint and silently waited for revival.
But then.
A variable emerged.
"...The Child of Prophecy is... me."
Those were Emily's words to Mary, whom she'd sought out to join forces.
Unlike the game, my death left a twist: another Child of Prophecy, Emily, still alive.
The Demon Army scum wouldn't have known.
That Emily was another Child of Prophecy.
"...Elis. I have something to ask you."
And with that, Mary realized the killer's identity.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The swirling shards of ice and dust began to settle.
His shocked expression emerged.
Phew, barely blocked it with the dragon bone sword...
Ken shook his numb hand from Siegfried's sword strike.
And at that sight.
Mary couldn't trust her eyes.
"...Ken... is that you?"
A voice laced with disbelief.
It couldn't be.
Maybe just someone who looked similar.
But that familiar voice rang clear.
Mary gripped the lifeline before her.
Even if it was rotten, she wanted to cling to that strand of hope.
And the man responded to her hope, turning with a smile.
"Sorry, Mary. I had to step away for a bit."
Mary threw herself into his arms.
—Poof.
"M-Mary?"
His solid frame caught her firmly. If this was a dream, she never wanted to wake.
But his gentle embrace told her it was real.
"Ken...! Sniff, Keeen...! Y-You're really Ken, right? ...Sob, you're alive...?"
Tears streaming, Mary looked up at his face.
The reality she'd denied, the prayers for it to be a dream—they'd come true. The pain that had corroded her heart melted into tears of relief, soaking the floor.
Ken smiled at her question.
"Yeah, I'm really alive. So stop crying now."
"Sob, Keeen...! Ken...!"
With tension released, Mary collapsed there.
And wailed in his arms.
Another watched from the clearing smoke.
"...Ken. ...Is that really you?"
The man trembled, incredulous at the changed form.
Siegfried eyed Ken dubiously.
The aura and voice matched the boy in his memory.
But this body was slender and toned, not the round shape he recalled.
Yet the boy smiled and replied in that familiar voice.
"Surprised, huh? Don't worry, I'm not a ghost or anything. ...More importantly."
His gaze shifted.
To Elis, who had been hiding behind a tree watching until moments ago.
Siegfried caught the implication and hurriedly blocked the path.
"No, Ken! Elis couldn't have...! There must be some misunderstanding!"
Ken had blocked Siegfried's full-powered strike.
A league beyond their training sessions.
If even Ken threatened Elis now, Siegfried lacked confidence to protect her.
To reassure him, Ken raised a hand calmly.
"It's fine, Senior. ...She's not the culprit."
Ken gently set Mary down and stood.
"But the culprit is attached to Senior Elis."
Ken's eyes sharpened.
Siegfried's senses heightened as he turned to Elis.
"S-Sieg..."
Meeting his eyes, Elis teared up and called his name.
"N-No...! I didn't do it! They're lying! Zeke, you'll believe me, right...?"
Tears flowing, she pleaded.
Trembling in fear.
Hoping her childhood friend would trust her.
Siegfried's hand shook on his Black Blade.
His clenched fist held complex emotions.
Ken watched from behind, worried.
"Senior..."
He knew what Elis meant to him.
Bracing for potential hostility.
But Siegfried's blade wasn't aimed at Ken.
"S-Sieg...?"
"I trust Ken."
His eyes on Elis evoked a sharp wolf.
Blazing with fury.
"I don't know who you are, but... to dare use Elis for this."
His erupting rage and skin-pricking killing intent made Ken's shoulders tremble from behind.
And Elis, facing it head-on.
Erased her frightened look.
"......Ahh."
—Splash!
Black liquid burst around her.
It enveloped Elis, swelling her form.
Into a massive creature.
"...—Indignant... ahh, so indignant. ...How do you live, human."
The creature spoke with eerie resonance.
"...What the hell is that."
Even Mary, slumped, rose tensely.
"Ken, help me. ...What do I do?"
Siegfried gripped his Black Blade, glaring, and asked Ken.
Ken readied his sword too.
"Senior Elis has some unfamiliar accessory. Destroy it. ...But."
Ken had little time.
He had to end it in one strike.
But he saw two accessories on her.
Necklace and ring.
"Which of the two is the real one..."
In this event, the charm-inflicting accessory spawned randomly.
In the game, it attached to someone close to Emily, so the new one was obvious.
But Ken couldn't tell which was the entity.
"It's fine."
Siegfried, poised, spoke to the pondering Ken.
"Clear a path. ...I'll smash the accessory."
"You sure? You used a lot of power just now..."
"Doesn't matter."
His growling reply made Ken fall silent and focus on the foe.
Siegfried was furious now.
Teeth or gums, he'd bite it to death.
"Mary! Help us!"
"...—Yeah!"
With Ken's signal after sorting the situation.
—Flash!
Mary unleashed cold air, erecting ice pillars on both sides of the black liquid.
—Kieeeing!
The liquid's body froze on contact.
"...—Indignant... indignant. ...Vile humans."
—Splash!
The attacked liquid willed streams from its body.
Like mud, it instantly engulfed Siegfried.
Ken blocked the front.
"Hah!"
—Boom!!
Ken's leaping swing scattered dozens of tendrils like dust in fierce winds.
"Thanks, Ken, Mary."
Siegfried, draw-stanced and ready.
Mana surged to his legs.
He shot forward.
Boom!!
Explosive leg power shattered the ground in a ferocious charge.
His form thinned like a black ray.
Reaching the liquid instantly.
"...—Indign..."
——Splash!!
His slash cleaved the liquid body in half.
Maintaining speed.
Siegfried snatched Elis dormant within.
...This is it!
The unfamiliar ring on her left ring finger.
He yanked off the ominous ring.
Glurp, glurp.
Black liquid poured from the ring, trying to cover Elis again.
"...—Ken!! Catch!!"
Before it touched, Siegfried whipped his hand.
The flying ring zeroed in on Ken.
"...Hup!"
—Crack.
Ken's strike shattered it.
"...—Ah... ahh... ah—......"
With the ring's destruction.
The voice cut off like a disconnected signal.
The entity's body decomposed into black droplets, dispersing into nothingness.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ ...Good. Ended it in time.
He'd dispatched it swiftly.
A mistake overrunnning time would've been trouble.
"...Alright then."
—Poof.
As Ken turned to wrap up, something small hugged his waist.
Mary buried her face in his chest, still.
Trembling shoulders.
Probably crying.
"...Sorry. Must've been tough...?"
"...Sob, you think... sniff, that's something to say...?"
Mary's slender arms squeezed tight.
A binding vow never to lose him again.
Trembling shoulders and her hot body heat.
"Don't... sob, ever... ever disappear again."
Ken smiled, placing a hand on her head.
... Grrrrowl.
"Ah."
"......"
Sudden stomach growl.
Ken chuckled awkwardly, scratching his head.
"...Uh, can we eat first?"
Mary, mid-tears.
"......Pfft."
Laughed without wiping her eyes.
Feeling Ken's return sink in.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Not long after Mary bolted from the dorm.
Emily, pondering pursuit, ended up perched on the windowsill, staring blankly at the darkening sky.
She'd flared with vengeful fury hearing Mary's tale.
But it was just rumor in the end.
The absurd claim that the Child of Prophecy killed Ken.
And the story's protagonist was none other than herself.
......Ken.
Feeling all futile, Emily just gazed at the sky.
Her last words to him haunted her mind.
Lost in regret, wasting empty time.
—Tap.
Tap.
Something small knocked the window.
Her gaze naturally turned, spotting the culprit.
Unbelievable sight.
Ignoring reason's denial.
Emily dashed out the door on a wing of hope.
He was dead.
Yet her trance-like descent down the stairs showed a ghostly pallor.
Disbelief and hope mingled oddly.
Rushing to the first floor.
Out the front door.
Around to the dorm's rear below her room.
"...Uh, ...surprised a lot?"
"...Ke... n."
There he stood, awkwardly waving with a sheepish grin.
The form she'd prayed for so desperately, right before her.
I don't care if I'm going mad.
Tears welled as she stared blankly.
"......Ken... Keeen."
Trembling hand outstretched, approaching.
"......Keeen!!"
Into his arms.