Chapter 31
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: I'll Definitely Become Real and Return
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Tail stood there in a daze, as if he'd been struck on the head with a hammer.
He asked urgently.
"Are you sure? You definitely delivered it?"
Tail's voice trembled faintly.
"There wasn't anyone else watching nearby, or any signs of people around?"
Khan replied with a hint of irritation.
"Do you think I would deliver it carelessly?"
He sighed and continued.
"I know it's hard to believe, but it's the truth. Accept it, Tail, even if it's painful."
Khan's low voice muddled Tail's thoughts.
"I even cast a sound-blocking spell while delivering the letter, but both of them refused to take it."
"Haha..."
A feeble laugh escaped Tail's lips.
It didn't make sense.
Those people he'd been so close to?
But upon a little more thought, the answer came.
No. It's possible.
Tail sorted out his thoughts inwardly.
I'm just a commoner, and they're people of great standing.
Daring to send them a letter.
Of course they wouldn't accept it.
Thinking that way eased his heart a bit.
Khan, who had paused, asked cautiously.
"You okay?"
Tail let out a wry chuckle.
"Yeah. They live in a completely different world from me."
People in positions utterly unlike his own.
And probably people he'd never see again.
If he ever did, it would be from a distance, just a glimpse.
That much at most.
Tail smiled faintly.
He could feel Khan watching him with worried eyes from behind the peephole.
"I'm fine. I'll be fine, so don't worry."
It was just a momentary shake.
He'd only harbored a small hope.
"Actually, this works out better."
Tail forced the corners of his mouth up into a smile.
"If those kids had accepted the letter, you'd have to keep working for it, Khan."
Khan said nothing at the sight of Tail forcing cheer.
A short silence flowed, then Khan spoke with difficulty.
"They seemed to be living happily."
"..."
Tail couldn't speak.
As if understanding, Khan continued.
"So live well, like you're showing them. Happier than anyone."
Tail let out a short laugh.
He realized this was Khan's way of comforting him.
"Yeah. I have to."
Tail clenched his fist.
It was time for him to wake from the dream now.
That thought made his heart feel a little lighter.
"Thanks for the comfort, Khan."
"...I just said what needed saying."
Tail smiled faintly at Khan's words.
"Alright. I'll head out for today."
With that, Tail walked weakly out of the room.
After Tail left, leaving him alone, Khan—no, Demon King Enis—slowly stepped out from behind the peephole.
Her beautiful long silver hair swayed lightly with each step.
Her obsidian-black eyes were coldly sunken.
Enis perched lightly on the sofa.
"Haa."
She let out a short sigh and extended the hand holding her wine glass to the side.
Her closest aide, Leon, who had appeared at her side, poured wine into the glass with a deferential gesture.
Enis stared silently at the red wine in her glass, then spoke.
"Zephyran."
A voice as cold as frost emanated from her lips.
Leon bowed his head and replied.
"He went to investigate as you commanded."
Enis blinked slowly.
She took a small sip of the wine, its smooth yet tangy taste filling her mouth.
It was a high-proof liquor, but Enis felt no intoxication.
At the same time, Tail—who had just come and gone—flashed in her mind.
More precisely, Tail's face in despair upon hearing they'd rejected the letter.
She murmured blankly in a small voice.
"Why did I hide it?"
Enis recalled meeting Chloe and Cecilia.
It was true that both had refused the letter.
However.
They looked so pained.
The expressions of the two girls as they refused the letter had seemed so sorrowful.
Fragile and tormented, like people on the verge of collapse.
Just from that, she could tell.
They hadn't forgotten Tail.
They'd refused for some reason.
If I'd just told him that, it might have been great comfort to that fool.
It might even give Tail the strength to endure his long wait.
But strangely, I didn't want to say it.
Enis hadn't wanted to give him even the smallest hope.
She wanted him to rely on her more, by taking away that hope.
So she'd lied, saying Chloe and Cecilia were doing well, that they seemed happy.
Enis swirled her wine glass lightly and murmured.
"Right. Bonds between humans. No need for me to force them together."
The blood-red wine shook gently in the glass.
Yes. That was all.
Nothing more.
But Leon's expression grew subtle as he watched her.
He hesitated, then glanced at her face and said.
"Demon King. That's forcing it."
To him, it just seemed like she was concerned about Tail.
What need to force human bonds?
This wasn't forcing them together—it was forcibly tearing them apart!
The words rose to his throat, but he swallowed them.
Because Enis was glaring at him.
"Leon."
"Yes, Demon King."
As Leon bowed and answered, Enis's cold voice pierced his ears.
"If you don't want a beating right now, get out."
Her sharply resounding words had barely ended when Leon prostrated himself and vanished.
As complete silence filled the space, Enis let out a long sigh.
For now, she needed to wait.
Her capable Zephyran would soon return with information on Cecilia and Chloe.
About why they'd had no choice but to change their stance so suddenly.
No need to tell Tail specifically.
In this room glowing with crimson twilight, Enis's black eyes gleamed.
Back in his monastery room, Tail sank into thought.
I could give up on those kids like this.
He'd told Khan he would, but truthfully, he didn't want to.
He wanted to reach them, even if just a little, from this distant place.
Tail's eyes flashed.
If I can't approach them as a commoner...
Then he'd somehow obtain a noble title.
Just as they'd come to his world, now it was his turn to go to theirs.
Probably impossible.
Reaching those two girls, born as nobles among nobles, might be like reaching for stars in the sky.
If Tail was just starting to learn to walk, they were already racing away in carriages—an absurd chase.
Yet Tail didn't want to give up.
Because those star-like girls had approached him as if by fate.
So now, approaching them was his role.
It's my turn to become real now, too.
He'd lived his life steeped in pessimism.
Thinking this world might just be a fake crafted by some incomprehensible idiot.
But now, things had to change.
Tail called up his status window for the first time in a long while.
Note: Actual stats will begin displaying after talents develop through consistent training.
Swordsmanship... S.
With the money he had now, buying a title was hopelessly short.
He couldn't take on Prometa's work right away either, not knowing what lay ahead.
Besides, astrologers were nothing more than amusing toys for nobles.
So the path for Tail was one alone.
Having decided, Tail immediately headed to the monastery training hall.
The long-abandoned hall, unused by anyone, reeked of musty dust.
Tail unhesitatingly picked up a battered wooden sword from one side.
Untended, its rough handle grated from palm to fingertips.
As if mirroring the thoroughly rusted state of Tail's mind.
I'll strip it away.
With a resolute expression, he swung the wooden sword.
Whoosh-!
If once was hard.
Whoosh-!
Twice.
If twice wasn't enough.
Whoosh-!
Three times.
He kept swinging the wooden sword.
How many swings later.
The handle grew slick first with burst blisters, then with blood seeping from cracked wounds.
But Tail didn't stop.
This was training.
Whoosh-!
Training with a sword he'd never touched before.
Whoosh-!
Training for his own frail spirit, which had lightly dismissed everything until a truly important presence appeared, only to lose it powerlessly.
Tail stopped only the next morning, when Yujin—who had scoured the monastery searching for him—finally found him and screamed.
"Huff. Huff. Huff."
His heart pounded.
The sound climbed his chest, drumming against his eardrums.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
It felt like the fake him was peeling away.
And just one step.
Merely one step, but.
A feeling of drawing closer to the real him.
Just a bit longer... wait just a bit.
Even if his body shattered.
Even if he paid with his soul.
He'd definitely become real and return.
Tail murmured that as he gripped the wooden sword's handle tighter.
And so.
Five years swiftly passed.