Chapter 185
Chapter 185
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 185
Chapter Title: 19. Life is a Series of Escapes (9)
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# 185
#10 Their Circumstances: One Elf's Circumstances.
“What’s wrong?”
“Big Sis~”
Ellis, who had just woken up, rubbed her eyes and staggered toward me.
“My body feels heavy~”
“You’re still half-asleep.”
In truth, it was probably because her body had actually grown, but there was no need to tell her that.
“Unn~”
With her eyes half-open—whether they were truly open or still closed—Ellis somehow made it over to me.
“I wanna go to the bathroom~”
“Yeah?”
Unlike during the day, her ample chest brushed against me.
Her pink hair, which had only reached a little past her shoulders, now extended down to below her waist.
It would normally be shocking, but I’d seen it happen several times during our travels, and I’d heard she was a half-demon, half-human, so it didn’t surprise me.
However...
“Soft and squishy~”
The way she kneaded her chest—soft yet oddly—was something I couldn’t help but be startled by!
“Don’t you need to go to the bathroom?”
“Unn~”
Worried that leaving Ellis like this might lead to trouble(?), I supported her as I led her to the bathroom.
“Come out when you’re done.”
“Okay. Big Sis~”
I quietly waited in front of the bathroom door.
At first, it had been surveillance as the Hero instructed, but now it was more like protection.
Elves and dwarves, who rarely interacted with other races, didn’t care much about race.
They harbored less hatred toward demons than toward humans—many even despised humans more.
But most humans and members of certain churches were different.
Some tried to kill demons as irreconcilable enemies simply because they worshipped gods opposed to their own.
If it weren’t for the Hero and Hill, who prioritized peace as members of the Church of Nature, things wouldn’t have ended so quietly.
“Of course, I doubt any other hero could have won...”
Honestly, I couldn’t accurately gauge the power of Naruan, the man said to be the Hero’s teacher.
A human walking around with a dragon as a pet?
Was he really human?
And what was that attack from the silver-haired girl, his supposed daughter?
That soul-draining strike defied all explanation—it was an utterly terrifying assault.
“Ugh...”
The memory alone made goosebumps erupt across my skin.
It was frightening.
The pain etched into my body, memory, and soul began poking its head above the well of recollection.
“Don’t think about it, don’t think about it, don’t think about it!”
I slowly exhaled, steadying my breathing.
My mind gradually calmed, and the terror from that moment began to fade.
“Phew...”
It took quite a while to exhale one final sigh and banish the fear completely.
“Huh?”
Yes, quite a while.
Meaning Ellis had had more than enough time to finish in the bathroom and come out.
“Ellis?”
Just in case, I lightly knocked on the bathroom door.
She’d been so sleepy she hadn’t even noticed her own growth, so she might have fallen asleep in there.
“Ellis? You still in there?”
But what was this unease creeping over me?
“Ellis? Big Sis is coming in?”
No response even after repeated knocks, so I opened the bathroom door and stepped inside.
The door wasn’t even locked, as if she’d been half-asleep.
But the moment I opened it, I felt not the usual bathroom air, but a chill winter breeze.
“The wall? Who?!”
A cleanly severed wall, sliced as if by a sword, let in the cold winter wind.
“Damn it...”
I rushed to the empty bathroom and the severed wall, but no one was in sight.
“Ellis? No, she doesn’t have that kind of power.”
She had the innate demonic power typical of her kind, but Ellis was a descendant of a succubus, known for lacking combat ability.
Even a pure-blooded succubus couldn’t wield such power at her age, and besides, Ellis didn’t even know she was a succubus descendant.
So who had been waiting in the bathroom ahead of time?
Someone with the skill to deceive me?
“First, report to the Hero... No, before that, the dragon!”
The sudden event flooded my mind with thoughts, making it hard to prioritize.
I’d been taught to handle the nearest issue first in such cases.
“Of course...”
The most immediate task.
I rushed back into the room to check on the dragon that had been there, but only the cold wind blowing through the window greeted me.
“Damn it...”
A planned escape.
I’d suspected as much, but for the Hero’s prediction to come true!
“Hero!”
I sprinted toward the Hero at full speed.
And upon entering his room, what I felt was...
“Why?”
The cold winter breeze again.
From the open window letting in that breeze, the Hero flashed a bright smile and said,
“Selena, you’re here? Let’s get out of here!”
#11 Their Circumstances: One Hero's Circumstances.
After the Instructor refused to escape with me, I fell into deep contemplation.
Why wouldn’t she run away with me?
Was there a trap?
Was she planning to get caught by the princess without a fight?
After agonizing over every possibility, I reached a simple conclusion.
I was screwed anyway.
So I had to run.
And there was a high chance the Instructor would escape too.
All I had to do was secretly follow her trail!
That’s right.
She was free to leave me behind, but I was free to pursue her!
Having reached that conclusion, I used every method at my disposal to monitor the Instructor.
If she was fleeing, tonight was the perfect time.
I still remembered what she always said.
As expected, it happens at night!
And sure enough, the Instructor vanished without a trace, like a mouse or bird in the night.
The moment I realized it, I woke Hill, who had already heard my plan and finished preparing to flee. He rushed to my room.
Selena was watching Ellis, so she’d probably show up soon.
“Hero!”
Right on cue, Selena burst through the door.
“Why?”
“Selena, you’re here? Let’s get out of here!”
“Huh?”
Selena looked baffled, but time was short.
Even for my comrades, running through the royal palace at night was dangerous.
They’d likely send people once they realized something was up.
“Follow me!”
I leaped out the window, using magic to muffle even the landing sound.
“Hill!”
“Yes!”
After landing safely, I signaled Hill with a hand gesture. He lightly jumped down from the window soon after.
“I never imagined I’d experience jumping out a window.”
“You never know what life throws at you.”
“Isn’t this your first time?”
“Yeah. I did it a lot back in the day.”
Mostly when I was with the Instructor.
Magic bombardments would hit while I slept, so jumping out windows was the only way to survive.
Ah, of course, no one actually died.
But that made it even scarier somehow.
It felt like a promise not to let us die peacefully.
That determination peaked with the arrival of the bat later on.
“Hero!”
Lost in old memories, a sharp high-pitched voice rang out right beside me.
“Shh, keep it quiet.”
“Explain!”
Well, unless you’re ex-Evil Organization, you’d panic if a comrade suddenly told you to jump out a window.
So I decided to explain properly.
“We have to follow the Instructor.”
“I know that.”
“And escape this kingdom while we’re at it.”
“That I don’t get. Aren’t you supposed to get engaged to this country’s princess?”
“Yeah, no.”
Selena looked confused at my quick denial, but we didn’t have time for that.
“We need to hurry and catch up to the Instructor first.”
I lightly summoned spirits to begin the pursuit.
The spirits couldn’t track the Instructor or the bat, but Ellis and her pets were different.
Not only Ellis, but even her pets had greater talent than me, making it easy to attach spirits to them.
This would let us catch up to the Instructor easily.
*Or so I thought.*
My opponent was that Instructor.
I’d heard from Mira that the Instructor was Niserwin Ain, the summoner at the pinnacle of the art.
And the continent’s strongest academy.
The one who brought revolution to Yuglasia Academy, where mere enrollment lets anyone surpass their limits and become the best!
It had produced the youngest Swordmaster, youngest Archmage, youngest God-tier Summoner, youngest Great Demon Summoner, and youngest Spirit King Summoner in history. A monstrous place.
It sounded absurd, but if the Instructor made it, it made sense.
I’d received similar training in a similar environment.
Would the creator of such a monstrous academy not know about spirits, a type of summon?
No way.
She’d likely noticed and turned it into a trap.
So I’d counter that counter, track her escape route—but she’d predict that too...
“Urgh...”
Layering predictions upon predictions brought me right back to square one.
“Hill, any oracles?”
“None.”
The most reliable was divine power, but the Instructor was rejected by the world itself—even gods couldn’t track her.
“Then that means the Instructor is with Ellis...”
According to Hill, even the space around that singularity rejected divine power.
To exert influence within that range, the god needed proxies like church heroes or saints—that was the word from the God of Nature.
So if the God of Nature couldn’t find Ellis, they weren’t moving separately.
“Then let’s follow the trail.”
Following the spirits I’d attached to the others—not the Instructor—we soon arrived at a corner of the castle wall.
“My teacher truly is amazing.”
“I can see why you say that, Hero.”
“The traces look fresh, like it was made recently.”
What left the Hero and his party in awe was none other than a dog hole.
Barely big enough for one person, but punched into a national capital’s walls? That changed everything.
Regular soldier patrols and magic-warded walls, yet here it was!
We hadn’t been in the castle long, amplifying the shock.
“Great. We’ll use that to get out.”
A ready-made path.
Simpler than climbing walls or passing gates!
“Hill first, then Selena. I’ll stand watch and go last.”
I’d handle lookout to prevent accidents.
If alone, I could escape even worst-case scenarios.
“If something happens to me, head back to the Church of Nature first. We’ll regroup there.”
“What about your teacher then? Abandon the oracle?”
“Oracles only matter when we can act. Probably another church will move.”
Of course, no other church could catch the Instructor.
But right now, my escape came first.
I had to escape to catch the Instructor.
“Best case, we slip out and tail her!”
Luckily, no soldiers or knights showed up while Hill and Selena escaped.
After a while, I crawled through the hole after them and emerged outside.
And then.
“Welcome, Hero!”
“Huh?”
The first thing I saw was Hill and Selena with extremely awkward smiles.
Next was the princess, beaming with pure joy in stark contrast.