Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Daniel McKlein
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Guardian of Yggdrasil, Eris.
I couldn't wrap my head around why she was here helping me.
Maybe she'd visited Elgrid around this time? Or did she remember me? Doubts swirled in my mind.
I had a flood of words I wanted to pour out to her, to catch up on lost time, but I swallowed them down.
We'd just reunited, and I had no intention of parting ways right away. First, I needed to deal with these interfering beasts.
Trusting her magic to handle the bugs, I ignored the ones charging at me and gave chase to Abiel.
"Get lost! I said get lost!"
Abiel, abandoning all pride and crawling on the ground like a bug itself, moved with astonishing speed, like a fish in water.
'At this rate, he's too fast to catch.'
If I had a weapon besides my sword, maybe, but right now, I had no options. I bit my lip, wondering if I'd have to throw it, but then...
A gentle breeze rustled, and my legs felt light.
They moved at incredible speed, as if they weren't my own. I was startled but not unfamiliar with it.
Eris's support magic.
Glancing back, she met my eyes with a slight nod, then continued sweeping away the bugs without a word.
'She's always been amazing.'
Blasting bugs with gale winds while double-casting support magic on me.
Knowing it was truly her eased my heart in a strange way. I ignored the faint smile tugging at my lips and closed in on Abiel.
"Y-you crazy bastard! Get away from me!"
The thing started firing secretions wildly.
They looked filthy and dangerous, so I dodged with a grimace. The ground where they hit melted away.
"Disgusting."
"Shut up!"
He reached the academy's edge without hesitation and began climbing the fence.
But then.
Kwachak.
"Gaaahhh!"
I leaped at him, driving my sword into his back.
He thrashed desperately to escape, but it was futile—he was skewered and pinned to the fence.
Seeing him like that made me want to taunt him.
"You crawled around like this to survive, but called kids ugly and repulsive for doing the same?"
"Sh-shut up!"
He'd acted all grand like some army lord moments ago, but look at him now, flailing pathetically.
They claimed ancient beast nobility, but at their core, they were just monsters devouring others alive to survive.
Of course, not all beasts were like that—some transcended their kind and knew true honor.
"King of bugs? Then die cleanly without this ugly struggling, like you told Adriana."
How could he act superior when he looked no different from her now?
But he raged back.
"I'm different! Different! I've lived eons to become king of bugs—how dare you compare me to some witchling who hasn't even lived a few years!"
"You're right. You're different. You're just a bug."
I slowly pressed harder on the sword.
"W-wait! Please! Mercy...!"
Kwaduduk!
The blade sliced upward from his gut, neatly cleaving his upper body and head in two.
His revolting guts spilled out, and his corpse thudded to the ground.
"Don't feel too hard done by. You were doomed to die anyway."
In my past life, when I encountered the ancient beasts in the Demon Realm Forest, Abiel was already dead.
Whether he died here or there wasn't clear, but either way, no big loss.
Glancing up, the bugs, leaderless and chaotic, attacked people wildly.
But it looked like I didn't need to step in anymore.
"Whew, not for nothing is she in a high position."
While Eris and I drew their attention, the Dean and professors had evacuated everyone and were trapping the bugs with magic.
"Magic sure is convenient."
Watching the bugs get sucked into spells like magnets, vanishing—it was fascinating.
It would've taken me all day to kill them.
Standing blankly before Abiel's corpse, staring at the sky as the bugs disappeared, I heard footsteps approaching: the pointed-eared woman.
She glanced at the bisected meat pile that was Abiel and smiled faintly.
"You've taken care of him thoroughly."
"......"
A beautiful voice.
It really was her.
Eris stood before me, smiling.
I rubbed my eyes, but she was still there, the thick scent of forest tickling my nose naturally.
Did she regress like me? Was that why she came?
Hope bloomed.
"I came looking for you."
She took my hand and smiled brightly.
"Ah, ahh......"
My chest tightened.
I rarely cried, but tears threatened now. I rubbed my eyes.
Just maybe...
All those nights hoping she'd returned like me felt rewarded.
The days ahead with her excited me.
"Chosen of the Sun God Helios."
If not for her next words.
"......What?"
"I came to teach you how to use that great power you've gained and to warn you. Amid the chaos of everyone fleeing, I watched with my own eyes as you alone charged at the mighty beast."
What was she saying?
"Righteous one. I think I understand why Helios chose you. To think a human like you still exists."
"......"
"You bear great power and the Sun God's blessing, yet shoulder the heaviest burdens in the darkest places. Today, Guardian Eris has witnessed your heroic deeds. I will never forget."
"No, wait."
Realizing the misunderstanding, I yanked my hands free from hers.
"Helios? Sorry, but I've never been chosen by anything like that."
"Pardon? But......"
She tilted her head, staring intently, her expression shifting oddly until she let out a weird "Eh?"
"Huh? W-wait a second! No marks on your hand or chest? Like, whoosh! Glowing and everything...?"
"Nothing like that."
Did she always have this ditzy side?
She'd always been so poised around me before, so this was fresh—and oddly amusing.
"R-really? Sorry. But how could I mistake that?"
She frowned, arms crossed, puzzled. A habit she'd had back then too.
"......"
Watching her, a bittersweet smile formed.
As an elf, she looked no different from my memories ten years from now. Maybe her hair was a bit shorter?
[What if...]
Her shy question in the dark forest depths overlapped with now.
[If everyone died and only we two survived, would you marry me?]
Even in the gloom, her blushing face, red as if about to burst, was vivid.
[Humans extinct, elves extinct— you'd be my only match left.]
From our cold first meeting, who'd have thought we'd end up like that?
She'd come seeking me as Guardian to find herbs for the plague ravaging her people.
It was purely business at first; we barely talked.
[We'll be the new humanity's progenitors. Half-elves ruling the world—who'd have thought?]
Elves were kind to their own but rejected outsiders harshly.
"S-sorry. I must have misunderstood."
As she bowed apologetically, I offered my hand calmly.
[Come to think of it, what's your name? I've just been calling you Sherpa.]
"Daniel McKlein."
"Pardon?"
Finally, I could answer.
I'm so sorry it took so long.
"My name is Daniel McKlein."
Thank you...
for being alive like this.