A Letter Home
The Hero's party left the border city of Paparn.
Their original purpose in stopping by the city was to procure materials for a mana bomb to blast through a dungeon's stone wall.
Since they had taken the very magical ore I had brought for Selphy... they no longer had any reason to remain.
Step...
I did not go to see Selphy before they left.
I could make excuses—that they departed too quickly, or that I only heard the news of their departure after they were already gone.
But if I had run to the inn where they were staying the moment I opened my eyes, I would have had plenty of time to see her face.
Step...
Yet, I didn't.
A voice in the corner of my mind had urged me to try and persuade her.
After all, I had spent over ten years of my life living solely for her; it was impossible to discard those feelings overnight.
But every time the impulse to go to her seized me, my body froze, refusing to move.
In fact, terrified that I might run into her while wandering the streets, I hadn't even stepped out of my room for a while.
It felt as though an insurmountable wall had been erected between us.
Step...
In the past, the mere thought of meeting Selphy filled me with happiness. Now, just thinking of her made my stomach churn, bringing back the bitter memory of her calling me a madman and choosing the Hero.
That moment of betrayal had lodged itself in my chest like a wedge, impossible to pry loose.
Creak—...
“Ha. You're here again today.”
The tavern keeper, who was wiping down a cup, sighed as he looked at me.
“Absinthe... A bottle, please.”
Out of habit, I placed a copper coin on the wooden table and spoke while keeping my eyes fixed on the floor.
“Drinking such strong liquor every day will cut your life short, you know? Well, not that I have any right to talk, since I'm the one selling it.”
Mumbling, the owner swept up the copper coin and slid a green bottle toward me.
It was a highly toxic liquor, brewed with low-quality ingredients. Even drinking a single bottle of it was enough to ruin one's health.
If he were a friend, he would never have recommended it...
But honestly, he probably figured a guy like me was just looking to drink himself to death as quickly as possible.
“Heh. Is that him? The crazy bastard who was stalking the Saintess?”
“The Saintess already left the city, so why is he still here chugging booze? He was here yesterday, too.”
“I wonder why the Goddess hasn't punished a guy like that for bothering someone doing such noble work~”
The chatter of the drunks at the table behind me pierced my ears.
They were speaking loudly, clearly intending for me to hear.
Here in Paparn, I was already notorious as the 'madman who obsessively stalked and harassed the Saintess.'
I knew all too well that staying in a city like this would bring me nothing but misery.
Every time I heard the word 'madman,' my heart tore apart. It was a pain more agonizing than any physical wound.
Yet, I remained here precisely to listen to those whispers.
If I didn't hear those words, I felt as though I wouldn't be able to accept reality...
I would deny the truth and become a genuine lunatic, clinging to the delusion that Selphy hadn't betrayed me, that she must have had some hidden reason.
“Thank... you...”
This was self-inflicted torture.
Clutching the bottle in one hand, I limped out of the tavern.
I could only see half of the world.
My vision swayed from my constant stumbling, even though I hadn't taken a single sip of alcohol yet.
The sensation of my vision blurring and my leg going numb when the Hero's mana tore through my body had not been an illusion.
Several nerves connecting my muscles had been severed, leaving my right eye blind and my left leg crippled.
Now, I couldn't even run.
And even if my limbs were intact, it wouldn't matter.
My mana road was currently a tattered rag, its countless ruptures crudely patched over.
Three more times... maybe four at most?
If I channeled mana again, the patches holding my pathways together would burst, and my mana road would be permanently ruined.
Step... step... step...
I kept walking with my awkward gait until I reached the inn district, where my feet ground to a halt.
The street lined with lodging houses.
The grand, eye-catching four-story inn.
And the shabby tavern directly opposite it.
In the alleyway between those two facing buildings...
“Selphy...”
I saw the image of Selphy leaning against the Hero.
A grey-haired man, kneeling and clutching his stomach, stared blankly at the two of them.
...Madman...
Having uttered those words, Selphy turned away from the man, her eyes fixed only on the Hero.
I flinched.
There was nothing there. What remained on the street was merely an afterimage of that day.
I put as much strength as I could muster into my legs, struggling to leave the street as quickly as possible.
My swaying body and limping leg felt more frustrating than ever.
Creak—...
As I pushed past the creaking wooden door, I saw the old man looking my way.
He glanced at me briefly before lowering his gaze, returning to his work.
The owner of this run-down inn never spoke to me, except to ask if I needed food or water to wash.
Even though there was no way he didn't notice an injured outsider drinking himself to death every single day.
It could have been his own consideration, but it was more likely that Lady Seria, the savior who brought me here, had said something to him.
She had paid for nearly a month's worth of lodging in advance.
The more I thought about it, the more grateful I felt toward her.
I owed her a debt greater than my own life, and I felt I had to repay it somehow...
But with a body like this, I didn't even know where to begin.
After bowing my head slightly to the old man, I climbed the stairs.
Creak—
I walked up the wooden steps to the second floor.
A short hallway led straight to the door of my corner room.
Creak...
When I opened the door, I saw a bed, empty green bottles rolling around on one side, and a bottle of black ink.
Crumpled balls of brown paper lay scattered across the bed.
They were letters meant for my hometown...
When I first woke up, realized the state of my body, and saw that Paparn held nothing but people who cursed me, my first thought had been to return home to my parents.
I wanted nothing more than to go back immediately.
But I soon realized that returning home wouldn't bring me peace.
Seeing their son return as a cripple would be a devastating shock to my parents.
And then they would ask what had happened.
An accident... a fight with a magical beast... No matter what excuse I tried to make, I knew I couldn't deceive my father.
My father was no ordinary village chief.
He was a man who had once reached the pinnacle of mercenaries on the continent before retiring.
He would see right through my clumsy lies and the shift in my demeanor, and he would use his old connections to investigate.
Once he learned about Selphy, the Hero, and what had been done to me, his wrath would be absolute.
Everyone in the village knew how close Selphy and I had been since childhood.
Even Selphy's parents had regarded me as her fiancé.
Honestly... if I went back and revealed her betrayal, Selphy would never be able to show her face in Magia Bell again.
Revenge was well within my reach.
Yet, strangely, I had no desire for it.
Let's just never see each other again. It would be enough to live as strangers.
Rustle...
Fiddling with the unfinished letter once more, I picked up the quill and began to etch the words onto the page.
I wrote that I had found a good job and might be late returning, telling them not to worry about their son. But as I wrote...
“Ugh... sob...”
A wave of sorrow washed over me, and tears began to fall.
The reason I had crumpled so many pages was because my emotions would boil over each time, leaving tear stains on the paper.
Thud.
Tossing the letter aside, I picked up the bottle of liquor I had bought and drank it straight, without diluting it.
“Cough! Cough!”
I had never been a drinker. Selphy was sensitive to smells, and I knew she would hate the scent of alcohol.
“Ugh... Ah...”
My hands trembled, and my face burned hot.
“It's just... a breakup with one girl...”
Even as I said it, I knew.
Selphy wasn't just "one girl."
She was my most precious person. The one who was always by my side whenever I imagined the future.
I had never once envisioned a future without her.
Thud...
“Ah...”
...I want to die.
As my heavy eyelids closed...
“...Abel! Look at this! Isn't it pretty?”
A nine-year-old girl, smiling as she held out a bright yellow flower that matched her hair. A dark mist shrouded her face, leaving only her mouth visible.
“...I really only have you, Abel. You're the only one who understands me.”
A thirteen-year-old girl, leaning against my shoulder and looking up at me. The dark mist still obscured everything but her mouth.
“...Abel. When we get married later, let's build a house on that hill. We'll have a son who looks like you and a daughter who looks like me. The four of us will live together. Okay?”
A seventeen-year-old girl, hugging me as she spoke. Still, nothing but her mouth was visible...
“...I have absolutely no interest in him! He's just a weird person who's been stalking me since we were kids!”
That face, at least, was perfectly clear.
“Haah! Gasp!”
My entire body was drenched in cold sweat.
A nightmare... I had been waking up to the exact same scene for days.
“Whew...”
My throat was parched. Water. Water. Water. Desperate for a drink, I crawled toward the door.
Creak...
“Ah.”
Before the door sat a pitcher of water, likely left by the old man.
Gulp, gulp, gulp—
I drank like a madman, until—
“Cough!”
Drinking too quickly, I choked and knocked the pitcher over.
On the surface of the puddle spreading across the floor...
I saw the reflection of a scruffy, bearded man. One eye was black, while the other was a faded, opaque white.
“I've... become a complete wreck.”
A hollow laugh escaped my lips.
I looked pathetic.
Did Selphy even spare a thought for me? Or was she smiling brightly by the Hero's side, completely unaffected?
“Ha... Hahaha!”
The thought was so absurd that I couldn't help but laugh.
Standing up on one leg, I picked up the discarded letter and finished writing the rest.
I folded it neatly, set it down, and tidied up the room.
Creak, creak.
I walked down the stairs.
“I would like some water to wash up, please.”
I requested washing water from the old man, who was already awake despite the early hour.
I was prepared to be scolded for being a nuisance, but...
“Pain in one's youth serves as fertilizer to strengthen one's roots.”
“...Thank you.”
There were many good people in the world.
Creak—
After washing and shaving, I informed the owner that I would be checking out, and then I stepped out of the inn.
On the street where the sun was just beginning to rise, busy laborers and merchants were already moving about.
No one looked my way.
People in this world were far less interested in others than I had thought.
“Please deliver this to Mr. Cain in Magia Bell, at the eastern edge of the Alpha Kingdom.”
I stopped by a merchant guild and handed over the letter to be sent to my hometown.
Creak—
As I pushed open the doors of the guild building and stepped outside...
“Good day.”
Standing right in front of me was a middle-aged man dressed unmistakably as a butler.
He had slicked-back silver hair and a meticulously groomed mustache.
Through his narrowed eyelids, his sharp blue eyes gleamed as fierce as a wolf's.
Clad in an immaculate, wrinkle-free black butler suit and pristine white gloves, he looked entirely out of place in these surroundings.
“Who... are you?”
“I am Sebas, the head butler of the Valstein family, serving Lady Seria de Valstein.”
“Ah...!”
Hearing the name of my savior, a forgotten memory flashed through my mind.
I had been on the verge of passing out, so I hadn't heard clearly, but I thought she had mentioned assigning someone to me.
But why only now?
Nearly a month had passed since I arrived here, and he hadn't shown his face once. Why show up now?
“You seem surprised by my sudden appearance.”
“No! No, it's fine.”
“I believe we have much to discuss... Shall we move to a more private location?”
I nodded at his polite request.
Standing right in front of the merchant guild to talk would only cause trouble for others.
We headed toward the empty lot behind the building.
As he matched his slow pace to my limping gait without looking directly at me, I got the distinct impression that he was already well aware of my condition.
“May I ask your name?”
“Ah! I'm Abel.”
“Mr. Abel. Our young lady has helped many people since she was young.”
The head butler began to recount stories of Seria de Valstein aiding those around her.
“Because she cannot easily turn away those in need, she has helped many. However, among them were those whose intentions were not entirely pure.”
“So... you were watching me to see if I was one of those people?”
“Yes. You are quick to understand. I apologize for the discourtesy.”
He bowed, but there was no real sense of apology in his gesture.
Since everyone in this city knew I was the 'madman obsessed with the Saintess,' it was highly likely this butler had also judged me unfavorably at first.
But the reason he had finally appeared before me now...
“After observing the current Hero's conduct and gathering information on you, Mr. Abel—who hails from the same village as the Saintess—I have concluded that you pose no threat to our young lady.”
“...I see.”
“The young lady's request was to ensure that you reach a safe place unharmed. From this point forward, the Valstein family is prepared to escort you to whatever destination you desire.”
At Sebas's words, I was about to say I could go on my own, but then I remembered my physical limitations.
Since I could no longer run like I used to, it was wiser to accept the offer.
The problem was deciding where to go.
Naturally, I had no intention of returning to my home village.
It would be best to head to a large city where I could find work and support myself...
“I have a proposal for you.”
Sebas's words cut off my train of thought.
“Mr. Abel. Is it true that you owe Lady Seria your life?”
He asked, his sharp blue eyes scanning me searchingly.
“Yes. Without a doubt.”
It was a debt far greater than just saving my life, so I answered with absolute certainty.
“In that case, would you be interested in becoming a butler for the Valstein family?”
“Excuse me? A butler?”
What on earth was this head butler talking about?
I was a disabled man, blind in one eye and crippled in one leg.
A high noble family would normally struggle to find staff qualified enough, yet they wanted to hire someone like me as a butler?
“But my body is like this...”
“For a good servant, a heart that cares for the master is far more important than physical capability. I believe that someone who owes a great debt to their master will undoubtedly make an excellent servant.”
Seeing that Sebas was not joking, I began to seriously consider it.
Honestly, if I could get hired, it would be an incredible opportunity.
Serving a noble house was a stable, long-term job with excellent treatment.
But could I, someone who had never done such work and was physically impaired, actually do a good job? Wouldn't I just be a burden?
“Do you not wish to repay your debt to the young lady? I, Sebas, believe that serving by her side as a butler would be a way to repay at least a fraction of that debt.”
As Sebas leaned in slightly to speak, my mind was made up.
“If you will have me, I will do my absolute best!”
Yes. I would repay my savior.