Chapter 97
Chapter 97
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 97
Chapter Title: Enough with the Crying Already
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News of the Valheim Heavenly Knight Order defeating the 8-star Erosion Beast Agarez spread across the world.
As the incident had unfolded in the Magic Realm, nations everywhere were naturally keeping a close eye on its developments.
At the same time, people showered praise on the Valheim name, saying it was only to be expected.
Evaluations of Lilysh Valheim, a direct descendant of the family, rose even higher.
To take down an 8-star Erosion Beast with the knight order suffering not a single casualty.
No matter what anyone said, it was proof of her capabilities.
Word even spread that she would surely become one of the Ten Heavenly Heroes of the realm.
However, behind all that.
No one knew of the one person who had confronted Agarez more desperately than anyone else.
Because that person himself had tried to hide his identity, Lilysh had kept quiet for the time being—until Krash opened his eyes.
Thanks to that, the Holy Kingdom was thrown into an uproar.
When the worldly commotion finally died down.
Krash opened his eyes in a treatment room of the Holy Kingdom.
"You're not the type to leave alone. Stop sulking every day and come out. There's a festival right out front. Come watch it with me... just the two of us."
Krash stared at the ceiling of the treatment room for a moment.
A memory that had brushed past in his dream lingered even after he woke.
Sunlit hair shining vividly, and a woman pretending otherwise but unable to hide her embarrassment.
"I know. Someone else got cursed again. I can tell just by looking at you. I know. But can't you prioritize your own life for just one day?"
And the face she made that day, trying to hide her disappointment when he didn't go out.
After that, the two of them barely spoke.
Krash shook his head to dispel the resurfaced memory.
He slowly sat up, and the pain that had wracked his body was gone, washed clean.
This feeling... she must have healed me.
Krash turned toward the voice.
There sat a crow by the sunlit window.
It was Crimson Garden.
"I did. Thought I was a goner."
"We took down Agarez."
Krash scratched his head sheepishly.
He felt refreshed inside, having slain one of the harbingers of doom.
At that moment, Crimson Garden approached Krash.
Crimson Garden knew full well that Krash was a regressor.
Yet even to her, his tenacity seemed abnormal.
Krash threw himself into everything with near-mad fervor.
And without sparing his own body a thought.
Crimson Garden didn't know the circumstances that led to his regression.
That's why she asked.
Why go this far?
The question brought Arthur to Krash's mind.
Someone had once asked Arthur something similar.
Of course, back then, the reason differed from Krash's—it was because Arthur was too ruthless.
Still, the fact that he'd faced the same question remained.
And Arthur had answered thus:
"Even if I told you, do you think you'd understand?"
No one can fully comprehend what they haven't experienced themselves.
That was why Arthur said:
You, who hasn't seen doom right before your eyes or regressed, what would you know?
Thus, Arthur saw those around him as expendables.
He used people ruthlessly with words, surrounding himself only with horses that would never betray him.
Krash wasn't much different.
A little less so than Arthur, but he too treated people like chess pieces.
The only difference was that Krash included himself among those pieces.
In the life he'd lived, Krash had never once put himself first.
He was self-aware enough to know he was an expendable for stealing curses.
So even after regressing, Krash remained the same.
The notion that he himself was just another chess piece had rooted deep in his life.
"Can't you prioritize your own life for just one day?"
The words from his dream resurfaced.
Krash looked at Crimson Garden.
What if he told her about the doom? Would she become as desperate as him?
Or accept it with detachment?
He didn't know.
But Krash opened his mouth anyway.
"It's necessary for me to live as myself."
There was only one time Krash could live for himself.
Stopping the doom.
Crimson Garden said nothing, simply gazing at Krash.
Soon, she let out a quiet sigh, spread her wings, and flew toward the window.
Crimson Garden continued after her silence.
With that, she flew out the window.
Watching her go, Krash chuckled for a moment.
Classic Crimson Garden.
The door to the treatment room creaked open.
Bianca stood there, holding a washbasin and cloth.
She closed the door quietly as if she hadn't seen Krash yet, then lifted her head.
Their eyes met.
Clang!
She dropped the metal basin full of water to the floor.
Krash froze at the sight.
He had promised Bianca he'd return safely, but he'd come back in the worst shape yet.
He had nothing to say.
Bianca approached slowly.
Her usual expressionless face arrived before him, and she spread her arms wide.
Understanding the gesture, Krash smiled wryly and slipped his arms under hers.
He wrapped them around her back in an embrace.
Bianca trembled quietly in his arms.
"Sorry."
As Krash apologized, Bianca said nothing, only burrowing deeper into his chest.
He stroked her hair, and she spoke.
"Please introduce me to the teacher you mentioned, Master Krash."
So it had come to this after all.
"Sure."
Training together before the academy didn't sound bad.
The door creaked open again.
A woman with peach-colored hair under a veil and Blavi of the Heavenly Nine stood there.
"I told you, I'm just here to confirm he's awake and I'll head back. I have responsibility as a girl too. Here as a member of Sephira, uh, he's awake!"
As if notified by Sephira, Sayrang—who had been talking into her magic device—turned this way.
She pocketed the device mid-stride, spotted Bianca in Krash's arms, and gave a wry smile.
"That person worried a lot and cried buckets. You'll have to comfort her plenty."
"You're the one barging in on the comforting."
"Astrology can't see inside rooms like this."
It sounded sincere, but Krash took it as a joke.
"More importantly, wasn't hiding that you're a Valheim direct descendant a bit much?"
"You didn't ask."
"Well..."
Sayrang shut her mouth.
She hadn't asked, after all.
"Anyway, thanks for sending the escort."
Blavi had reached Agarez before the Azure Sea Knights even exited the Magic Realm.
That alone showed how faithfully he'd carried out Sayrang's orders.
If I'd just waited a bit for Blavi, it might've been easier.
Hindsight, of course.
He couldn't afford to burn more stamina waiting for an uncertain arrival.
"It's done. That was the deal. Even without it, I'd have sent help once I heard the news."
She shuddered, recalling what Mirvis had said.
Krash knew exactly what, so he felt no pity.
For one thing, that girl was the author of the erotic novels Evelask often read.
Hidden in her third drawer were her own erotic tales.
Sephira's princess moonlighting as an erotica writer.
He remembered how absurd it felt when he'd first checked her room.
Never thought I'd end up using that.
Anyway, Krash decided to get to the point.
"So, about the other deal?"
Asking while stroking Bianca's hair, Sayrang fell silent.
Krash knew far too much, suspiciously so.
So she knew his prophecy of her death wasn't mere fabrication.
After some internal debate, she sighed.
"Fine. It was a deal with no loss for us from the start anyway."
What Krash wanted was the Heavenly Death Star.
Losing one didn't mean Blavi would abandon Sayrang—their bond with Sephira ran deep.
So she could part with it readily.
"More than that, are you okay? Telling me so many of your secrets?"
Sayrang knew Krash had three skills.
One of which could steal skills.
But Krash didn't mind much.
Things would come out eventually as he pushed forward anyway.
"You don't want your secret exposed either."
Sayrang stiffened.
By sending Blavi, she'd tacitly admitted it was her weakness.
Meaning she'd never go around blabbing Krash's secrets.
"Guess we're a secret society now."
Sayrang forced a smile.
For some reason, the word "society" made Bianca cling tighter, but Krash let it be.
"Blavi."
At Sayrang's call, Blavi stepped forward.
"What do I need to do?"
"Just give permission in your mind to hand over the Heavenly Death Star."
Blavi followed Krash's instructions faithfully.
Krash raised his hand toward him.
Target: Blavi. To steal: Heavenly Death Star.
Black Hood activated from Krash's hand without a dial.
At that instant, Krash's body froze.
An absurd surge of killing intent erupted from deep within.
So that's what it feels like.
It resembled the curse of the Slaughter Demon from before.
At the same time, the Eye Doll's effect strengthened along with the Heavenly Death Star.
The Heavenly Death Star amplified curse power.
The surging intent was crushed by the Eye Doll in an instant and vanished.
The encroaching madness was suppressed along with it.
After absorbing so much World Erosion this time, controlling the madness had been precarious.
The Eye Doll's boost from the Heavenly Death Star solved it all.
And that wasn't all.
The Heavenly Death Star boosts physical abilities proportional to killing intent toward others.
He itched to test his body right away.
"No. You need rest."
But Bianca, sensing his thoughts, spoke with furrowed brows.
Krash knew the saintess's powers well—it was surely a full recovery.
But since Bianca felt guilty, he decided to hold off.
"Blavi, how do you feel?"
Meanwhile, Sayrang turned to Blavi.
Blavi clenched and unclenched his fist, looking at Krash oddly.
"Like the chains squeezing my body are gone."
"Sounds like a good feeling. Glad to hear it."
Sayrang smiled in satisfaction and turned to leave.
"Then I'll be off. Don't want to interrupt your time together."
"Yeah. I'll come save your life when the time comes."
"I can protect my own life."
She snorted a laugh and turned to go.
As she gripped the doorknob, Sayrang looked back.
"One thing I'm curious about. Where will you be next year?"
She could just check with her fancy astrology.
Why ask directly?
Though puzzled, Krash answered—it was fair trade for the Heavenly Death Star.
"Raheln Academy."
"Hmm."
A smile played on Sayrang's lips as she subtly lifted the corners under her veil.
"I see. Have fun at the academy. Oh, one more thing before I go."
She continued as if it were a bonus.
"The fake saintess who appeared in the Holy Kingdom recently... is she really fake?"
Krash sighed at the words.
"Testing if I'm a prophet or not?"
"Who knows?"
Why did all astrologers love these cryptic attitudes?
Krash couldn't fathom it.
"She's not fake."
Not real either, for that matter.
Just one certainty.
The fake saintess would shake the Holy Kingdom to its foundations.
"That answer's enough."
Sayrang finally opened the door.
"Please help my friend Astria a little."
"What'd your astrology show?"
"Nothing."
Krash watched her go, her peach hair swaying—honest as ever, even when he didn't buy it.
Just one thing.
She hid that Astria's future, which should have been visible, had suddenly become blank.