Chapter 61
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: The World Assembly Has Romance (5)
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Every street corner we passed was filled with nothing but worry and sorrow.
The long road was crowded with frail elderly folk and young people struggling to stand. Sturdy walls stood firm, but inside them festered rotten wounds that greeted us.
The carriage slowly made its way down the rough street in heavy silence. Seren, who had been just a child, the twins, and my own expression had all sunk low, finally grasping the reality before us.
We had known the world was in peril, that people were dying even now.
All those sights we had passed—had we merely clung to false hope because our camping trips together hadn't been so bad?
We had vowed to bring salvation, yet we hadn't even sought a proper view of the truth.
The carriage halted briefly at an obstacle by the roadside.
My eyes met those of a child guarding a withered old man. Draped in a tattered, ragged sackcloth, the child looked up at me with a face still streaked with tears.
I opened the carriage door, reaching out a hand. My heart ached to give the pitiful child at least a bit of food.
But a single sword blocked my path. Sio's familiar blade shut the opening door and swatted my hand away.
"Hero, what do you think you're accomplishing by giving that kid one little thing? Is that salvation? You think handing a starving child a bundle of jerky saves them?"
"...At least it would fill their belly for now."
"Would it really? Believing that kid could even keep hold of that jerky... that's seeing the world through far too rosy glasses."
Sudden food would make the child a target for everyone around.
"So cut the half-hearted pity and sit down. Getting to the earl's manor comes first. If you have eyes, look at those people's gazes properly."
Sio's scabbard pushed against my chest, and I sat back down without another word.
The carriage rolled forward again, and as Sio said, I gazed at the people along the street.
Children, adults, the elderly. Whether sprawled on the roadside or not, their eyes toward the carriage held no kindness. They glared at us, offering no trust to outsiders who hadn't shared their impoverished lives.
To them, we weren't the hero's party—we were just unwanted strangers.
I withdrew my gaze with a bitter heart.
The carriage arrived at the earl's manor at the end of the street, and we followed the waiting butler's guidance to the drawing room.
"Arsius... the earl's manor is a mess too."
Seren's soft murmur beside me rang true.
The manor had looked grand from afar, but up close, its shabby state became clear. The garden at the entrance was little more than an empty lot.
Even inside the building, our impression didn't change. The long corridor lacked any real decorations, lined only with portraits of past earls.
"You may enter."
The butler knocked on the drawing room door, and upon hearing permission from within, ushered us inside.
The drawing room held only a table and chairs around it. In one of those chairs sat a dignified elderly man.
"You've had a hard journey. Hero's party. I am Studia Shyrn, of the earl's family that guards Shyrn."
Studia Shyrn, guardian of Shyrn.
He greeted us warmly like that.
The romantic escape of those two didn't last long.
Because of the long-distance teleport cast without a thought for Seren's peril, only the hollow echo of depleted mana remained.
Adjusting his power to avoid harming the lecture hall or the hunters might have been a misstep, in hindsight. The hunters quickly regained their senses, with Sihyun at the lead, catching up and pinning our feet.
We had walked out slowly anyway, so it was catchable, but I hadn't expected them to close the gap so boldly despite sensing the difference in strength.
- Um, excuse me... could we at least go together for now...?
Even the aggressive hunters tucked tail, politely pleading.
- We... hastily ended the broadcast before you fought the hunters, just in case. We'll forget what you showed us if you do the same...
The assembly staff came too, begging earnestly.
Luckily, perhaps. My appearance that should have aired was somewhat covered by their consideration.
Seren still slept soundly in my arms. Whether because reuniting after so long felt that good, she smiled in her sleep, hugging my neck tightly.
"Oppa."
The worries filling my head vanished in those two syllables. Her tone was that chilling, so I cautiously turned to look at Sihyun.
"Yeah...?"
"So who's that woman?"
Her cold glare made me stammer.
"Seren..."
"Not her name—what's she to you?"
What was Seren to me?
First, a comrade we'd shared. A reliable partner who'd entrusted her back to me over ten long years.
A mentor. The saintess who'd taught an ignorant me about divinity, which I still relied on.
And a little sister. So mature beyond her years that she always looked after us, yet so endearing I always wanted to protect her.
But what now?
Our long journey had ended, so no more comrades needed.
I'd grown enough not to need more teachings, so no mentor either.
And the innocent girl from our first meeting had bloomed into a compassionate, mature woman.
She was none of those anymore.
So.
"Lover."
We'd longed for each other and sought reunion—shouldn't we be lovers? Now that we'd met again like this, that's what we should be.
I declared it firmly, thinking so.
Thud-
The moment I spoke, something hit the floor with a crash.
At the sound's source stood Yuna, staring blankly at me, her cherished bow dropped beside her.
"Siwoo... you're throwing me away...?"
Tears welled up in her eyes, streaming down her cheeks to fall beside the bow.
In this sudden melodrama, even the hunters holding me and the staff backed away to watch the show.
"No, wait. Don't twist my words. And teachers, we're going together, so stick close."
The tense assembly hall shifted to intrigued gazes, snacks appearing in the hunters' hands from who-knows-where.
"Oppa, is this why I asked if polygamy was okay...? Hiding another woman? You're total trash."
Sihyun looked at me in disgust.
"Siwoo... I'll do better... don't throw me away..."
Yuna gazed at me desperately, choking back sobs.
What was this? I'd only come to rescue Seren. Why had it turned into this?
No matter how I tried to wrap it up, neither showed signs of stopping.
"Hehe... I like Arsius..."
Seren just sleep-mumbled happily, rubbing her face against my chest.
Fortunately, Seren's situation wrapped up smoothly.
Since her image hadn't aired, it was secretly shared only with each country's governments and Hunter Associations. The hunters and staff who'd seen her swore silence.
They even earnestly begged us to attend the assembly, so it seemed we'd enjoy it with Seren.
That awkward melodrama ended when Seren opened her eyes.
The two who'd chattered at me endlessly rushed to Seren upon waking. Since they couldn't communicate, I'd cast translation magic on her beforehand.
"Ahaha~ We spent ten years skin-to-skin, sharing hot nights together—what can you do~ Take care of my sister-in-law and the mystery lady from now on."
Clinging to me, she provoked them so much they both got angry, then wore themselves out and collapsed.
Now, with everything settled.
Moonlight spilled through the window, bathing the room. Cool night air lingered, and in the quiet space without noise, only two figures remained.
Seren and I faced each other alone, undisturbed.
Only now, late at night, could she properly sit up. Leaning against the bed, she looked at me.
"Arsius, have you been well?"
Still her gentle voice.
But thinner than the last time I'd heard it, somehow more weary.
"Yeah, I've been good. You, Seren?"
"I haven't been well. It was so hard without you. I thought I could endure... but I couldn't, ahaha..."
Seren laughed awkwardly but continued honestly.
"Honestly... I resented you a bit, Arsius. I knew from the start... you said you'd return eventually, but it still hurt so much."
"..."
I could only listen, unable to reply.
"It was ten years... nearly half my life we spent together. Knowing I'd only looked at you all that time, yet you left like that... I resented you a little."
"Ah, it's eleven years now. Even after parting, I lived thinking only of you for a year."
"Did you know? Sio misses you terribly too."
I knew.
From the journey's start, we'd bickered and annoyed each other, but I'd always seen him as a master, a father.
"I just... kept missing you. It made it harder. I wanted you happy but hoped you wouldn't return—I'm pathetic too."
"So I decided to come. Pretoria doesn't matter anymore. Home, the world we saved—meaningless. I don't seek praise, respect, or worship toward me."
Just let me stay by your side.
That's all I'd ever wanted in life.
As she finished with a faint smile, I simply nodded. Blushing at my affirmation, she offered her slender hand. I took it, and we let time pass like that.