Chapter 21
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: The Man Receiving Ejaculation Management
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Ashy and I headed out of Lizn together, starting our search for the Black Mage.
Ashy spread her mana around to detect traces of the Black Mage's demonic energy.
"Ooh, Hero...!"
"Shut your mouth, you're too loud."
"Y-yes, got it...!"
Marie Abi hurriedly clamped his mouth shut.
Ashy’s growling voice carried a clear intent to kill.
She didn’t want to hear it.
Hummm-. Hmm-.
Mana rippled around Ashy.
The silver aura enveloping her was unmistakably the aura emitted by mana users—an emanation of mana light.
A color that should have been ashen gray, now silver.
In other words—
It meant that through her mental growth under Luke's influence, she had awakened as a Hero, as an angel, coming to understand peace and balance.
‘...Should I assume her power carried over intact from the regression?’
No, that couldn’t be it.
If it had, she would have been hunting demons right after regressing.
The fact that fiery Ashy wasn’t doing so was simple: it wasn’t that she wouldn’t, but that she couldn’t.
That was the right way to think about it.
Her level right after graduating from the Academy.
Overwhelmingly stronger than her Academy peers, but weaker than top-tier active Heroes.
That seemed like a fair assessment.
‘The silver mana light, symbol of angels, can only be used after mental growth... As a regressor, Ashy should naturally be able to wield it.’
I trailed closely behind Ashy.
Ashy gripped my collar tightly and took the lead.
"That way."
Ashy, sniffing out demonic energy like a landmine-detecting dog,
pointed in a direction as if drawn by something.
Her fingertip aimed not at the road, but toward the forest, and Marie Abi’s eyes widened as he stared at her.
It was like looking at a dog facing a field of snow.
One word, and she’d charge like a mad hound.
Ashy quickened her pace.
If she ran at full speed, no one could keep up, so she strolled at a moderate speed.
"Hek, hek!"
Even that was overwhelming.
Marie Abi and I couldn’t run far before gasping for breath.
I was especially bad.
Marie Abi, struggling to survive in this fantasy world, versus me, fattened up relying on modern society's peace.
No need to say who was worse off.
"H-Hero! Shouldn’t we hurry?! Our Mari...!"
"Don’t rush me."
"Ugh...!"
Marie Abi blurted out in desperation.
The response was laced with killing intent, the kind that evoked thoughts of death.
Marie Abi swallowed tears and followed Ashy.
His glare at me wasn’t exactly friendly.
"Looks like Puppy and I need to work out more. Your stamina’s too pathetic."
"...Huff, huff...!"
Ashy giggled as she yanked the collar.
My half-stopped body was dragged along.
"Ah."
Ashy, who had been so leisurely, stopped dead in her tracks.
My dull senses rang alarm bells.
"Dunno what it is, but it feels like Black Mage magic."
"Ah, aah!"
Ashy’s response was lukewarm, unbefitting a Hero.
She muttered like it was someone else’s problem, leaving only Marie Abi trembling in anxiety.
He reacted more strongly than anyone to the words "Black Mage."
"We can’t go this way."
Ashy released the collar.
Did that mean she was letting me go?
Probably not.
"Go back to Lizn and wait."
Ashy commanded, looking at me.
The atmosphere was utterly different from her usual speech.
Serious.
She truly meant for me to go.
Together, we’d just slow her down and get in the way, being weak.
"...The kid’s still alive, I think."
Ashy said, shooting the man a glance.
With her eyes, she signaled: Take him and go.
The man who had lost his child didn’t argue with Ashy’s words.
Like a child awaiting a miracle, he nodded and pulled me along.
The man’s arm trembled violently.
Ashy drew her Holy Sword.
She kicked off hard and shot toward the direction we’d been heading.
Like a cannonball.
Dust billowed up in clouds.
I covered my nose and coughed dryly.
Cough, cough-.
Cough, cough-.
Ashy had long vanished.
Between the forest paths, we exchanged glances before turning back.
There was nothing more we could do.
"Please, please... Sun God, from now on I’ll faithfully pay my holy tithes, so please grant a miracle..."
Marie Abi clasped his hands in prayer.
The words were absurd, but his trembling voice held truth.
A crude, foolish prayer, yet sincere in its desperation.
Even this man, who seemed ready to live selfishly, grew endlessly fragile before what he cherished.
A man with nowhere to lean called upon the god he vaguely believed in.
Begging for his daughter to be alive.
‘...I don’t really know.’
I hoped this man felt the same emotions I had at the auction house.
All I could offer was such a prayer.
We returned to Lizn.
I was broke now, with nowhere to sit.
I followed Marie Abi to his home.
"Lian, is Mari...! Huh...?"
The moment we opened the door, his grandmother greeted us.
Her eyes, sparkling with expectation, dimmed to disappointment in less than a second.
"...The Hero went to deal with the Black Mage."
Marie Abi—Lian—trudged over and sat in a chair.
Grandma looked at me with a face full of questions.
She wanted an explanation of what had happened.
"Well, you see."
I slowly explained the situation.
How we’d gone out and come right back.
"......"
Grandma’s lips quivered.
Her weathered face twisted in fear.
"Oh dear, Mari... Mari..."
"The Hero told us to wait, so let’s wait. The Hero will save our Mari."
Lian tried to think positively.
Unlike Grandma, he was doing his best to trust Ashy.
With nothing else he could do, it was almost like flailing.
"...For now..."
Lian glanced at me.
I might look confusing with this dog collar, but I was technically the Hero’s companion.
A position that got respect wherever I went.
"I’ll at least bring you some tea."
Lian composed his anxious feelings and offered me a seat.
I sat in an empty chair, waiting for tea.
"It’s black tea from the Rosebell Territory."
Lian set teacups on the table.
Three in total, including his and Grandma’s.
Steam rose gently, but the cups themselves were plain.
It gave a rough idea of a small-city citizen’s living standard.
I took a sip of the black tea.
The sweet, mild taste lingering on my tongue wasn’t bad.
But it fell short of what I’d had from Prim.
The quality was just lower grade.
"......"
The mood was grim.
With their granddaughter and daughter missing, no one could be cheerful.
I started feeling depressed too.
I hadn’t done anything wrong, yet I felt guilty.
Just sitting there felt suffocating.
‘...Luke handled atmospheres like this so well, comforting everyone.’
Reading about it was one thing; experiencing it firsthand was entirely different.
People who lost loved ones to Black Mages were the most violent and emotional.
Some even lashed out at Heroes.
Luke embraced it all and endured.
To save those suffering from demons, he walked a path stained with blood.
As a result, his will drained away, he collapsed, and fell into a crisis from which he’d never rise...
‘That’s when Ashy saves Luke—the Hero closest to trash undergoes a complete turnaround and appears.’
Ashy, the female character set as the heroine, had her role changed to Luke’s awakening trigger.
Not enough with that, in the final battle with the Demon King, she shines as the duo sealing the Demon King alongside Luke.
Ashy had been through it all once.
She knew how to defeat the Demon King.
First, grow the Holy Sword.
Find reliable companions and hunt demons.
She couldn’t do it alone—
Lian’s leg shook incessantly.
Grandma paced aimlessly.
Their hardened expressions made it hard to speak.
All we could do was wait for Ashy to return quickly.
I found traces of the Black Mage.
The vivid demonic energy lit up my vision.
I sent Mari’s dad and Kang Ajin back to Lizn.
Moving together risked losing the trail, so I decided to go alone.
The scenery around Ashy changed in an instant.
At full throttle, she flew like an arrow.
It hadn’t even been a week since regressing.
Ashy was steadily regaining her power.
Quickly, from her fresh Academy graduate level—
‘...Stress relief really seems to help.’
Kang Ajin had said it before regressing.
That Ashy had limitless potential.
If she suppressed her anger and viewed the world positively, she could reach greater heights.
Back then, she’d dismissed it with harsh words.
Ignored it as nonsense advice.
But Kang Ajin had known.
That angelic blood flowed in Ashy’s veins, and awakening it required shedding negative thoughts...
Her power was rising sharply.
No special training, but her body grew stronger through memories of the previous timeline.
Once the Holy Sword leveled up, demons would fall easily.
‘Save the kid first.’
I raced along the demonic trail.
Moving almost like Blink.
Up the mountain following winding paths, shattering barriers, finding the cave.
All in under five minutes.
"H-how did you get here...!"
The flustered Black Mage aimed his staff at Ashy.
Demonic energy gathered in the obsidian-embedded magic staff.
Behind the Black Mage, children were bound.
He’d been experimenting on Lizn’s kids.
"Mari?"
Ashy called out one child’s name.
A girl’s eyes widened, and she squirmed.
A child with neatly braided brown hair.
Looked about seven.
"Hm, she’s kinda ugly."
Ashy gave a flat impression of Mari’s face.
Meanwhile, the Black Mage’s spell completed.
"Abyss Lightning!"
Black lightning shot toward Ashy.
Slash-.
The Holy Sword cleaved the magic.
Silver sword energy shattered the black lightning.
Ashy leisurely checked the hostages.
One, two, three...
The Black Mage before her eyes wasn’t even worth noticing.
"Just the reward for these would be a fortune."
"Y-you...!"
"Let’s go home quick, kids."
"Ah...!"
No need to mind the Black Mage.
The Black Mage’s head rolled forward to the children.
A shocking scene, but not a single child cried.
Relief at being alive choked back even their tears.