Chapter 19
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Reunion
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"Cough! Cough!"
Amid the rubble of shattered ice, I hacked up a lung. My whole body throbbed. If that hit had landed right, I'd have crossed the River Styx and been high-fiving the other guys by now.
"You crazy elf bitch...!"
I tried to brush off the dust and haul myself up. But I couldn't.
Fwoosh!
She'd blinked right on top of me in an instant with spatial leap magic.
"Hey."
"Uh, wha?"
She grabbed my collar and shook me roughly.
"Who are you? Which bastard are you!?"
"What?"
"What kind of idiot shows up in front of me wearing that disgusting mask? Huh? You got a death wish? Did you read my memories? Illusion magic?!"
She wasn't even listening to me.
"That guy's been gone for 500 years! Vanished after babbling some nonsense about logging out or whatever! And you dare impersonate that annoying face?!"
Erendel's hand shot toward my face.
Squish!
"Aaaagh!"
She pinched my cheeks and yanked with all her might.
"Take it off! Take it off, I said! Rubber? Magic? Show your real face before I skin you and salt you alive!"
"Ow, you psycho bitch! This is my real skin!"
"Don't lie! There's no way that guy's alive! Humans don't live 500 years! You fraud!"
She denied reality, stretching my cheeks like mochi. Her eyes brimmed with tears, but her grip was iron-strong.
"Spit it out! Which organization's assassin? Black mage? Where'd you peel that face skin from?! Where's his body?!"
At this rate, my cheeks would rip or she'd choke me out. I pulled my last card.
"Argh, fine! It's me! Kasian Revnant! You still owe me that 50 gold you borrowed for booze back in the day!"
"...!"
Her hands froze.
"And you! When you blew up the magic tower lab with your artifact experiments, I covered for you and saved you from disciplinary action!"
"..."
"Want one more? When you get drunk, you always trash the elves as country bumpkins stuck in the woods! And you badmouthed Queen Titania for having flowers in her head, got caught, and got chewed out all night!"
Out poured the damning black history. Erendel's face went blank. She hadn't let go of my cheeks, but the strength drained from her grip.
"R-Really...?"
Her lips quivered.
"Really... that bastard? That shameless, rotten-personality jerk?"
"Yeah! You damn elf!"
I clutched my stinging cheeks and bellowed.
"After 500 years, instead of a hug, you blast me point-blank with explosion magic? If I weren't tough, you'd be the comrade-killer in the history books, you idiot!"
"Hey..."
She dropped her staff with a clatter.
"You... rotten bastard!"
Thud!
She lunged and wrapped her arms around my neck. The momentum sent us tumbling into a snowdrift together. Her tousled golden hair spilled across my chest.
"Hic... Waaah!"
No dignity left. The grand archmage bawled like a lost kid who'd found her mom.
"Why... why'd you come back now! Everyone's dead... Everyone left me behind! Alexander's gone, Kyle's gone, Lucia too...!"
My shoulder soaked through with her tears.
"Erendel..."
"Do you know how scary it is to be left alone? You humans go first and that's that! But me... I stayed behind, cleaning tombstones! Waiting day after day while the Empire rotted!"
She clutched my clothes tight and pounded my chest with her fists. But it didn't hurt. There was no strength in those blows.
"Liar said you'd come back! Said it'd be soon...!"
I never said that... She must've twisted her memories to what she wanted to hear. 500 years was long enough for that.
But I didn't want to fact-check and ruin the mood.
I gave a wry smile and patted her back. For me, it was just a day. But for her, it'd been 500 years of hell, outliving all her comrades alone.
"Sorry. I was a bit late."
"Sniff... Jerk... Rotten guy..."
She sobbed into my chest, snot and tears flowing, for what felt like forever. When the cries finally subsided, she lifted her head and glared at me with puffy eyes.
"You're really alive, right? Not illusion magic? I'm not hallucinating from loneliness?"
"I'm alive. Standing on my own two feet."
"How? You vanished! With the light!"
"Damn descendants forced me back with a summoning circle. To save their crumbling Empire."
"Th-Then...! What'd you do first when you got here?!"
Erendel sniffled, her watery eyes fixed on me.
"Uh...?"
I froze at the sudden question, and hope bloomed in her gaze.
"You thought of me first, right? Went nuts looking for my grave 'cause it wasn't there... Or wailed my name till the palace shook? Right?"
Her eyes sparkled with expectation. I was speechless.
"..."
I couldn't say it.
That right after arriving, I slapped the Emperor, grabbed a weapon, then planted black magic in your fellow elves and made them explode gruesomely, bones ripping from flesh.
No way I'd tell a comrade, "First thing I did was blow up your kin with black magic."
"Uh... well."
"Why can't you answer? You didn't do something else, did you?"
Her eyes narrowed sharply again. Sweat beading, I deflected quick.
"N-No! Of course I thought of you first! That's why I rushed here without changing! See? This is that same coat from 500 years ago!"
Not a total lie. I hadn't changed clothes. Technically, no clean ones, so I laundry-spelled them nightly—but skipped that detail.
"Hng... You're the only one."
Erendel buried her face in my chest again, and I sighed in relief, pressing the demon sword at my waist.
=====
The tower's interior was surprisingly cozy. Nothing like the flesh-cutting blizzard outside—powerful warming and dehumidifying spells ran 24/7.
But.
"Hey."
"What?"
"You don't clean?"
I surveyed the "living room"—barely worthy of the name—and clicked my tongue.
The floor was piled tower-high with half-read grimoires, empty teacups, cookie crumbs, and mystery alchemy vials rolling around.
"Not an archmage's home, looks like a landfill."
"Sh-Shut up! Busy with research! Genius desks are chaotic by nature!"
Erendel flushed, kicking robes and underwear(?) off the sofa into a corner.
"Sit. I'll brew tea."
She shoved me onto the sofa and stomped to the kitchen. Soon, she returned with two steaming cups.
A subtle aroma. Her favorite elf specialty tea.
"Drink. No poison."
"Thanks."
I sipped. Warmth flowed down my throat, thawing my chilled body.
"Ahh... This is the real deal. Leagues above that sugary palace sludge."
"Hmph. Obviously. 500-year-aged world tree leaves. Saved for when you..."
Erendel trailed off, coughing.
"Nah, just couldn't toss 'em. Don't get ideas. Shelf-life ending, so using up."
"Sure, sure. Thanks for the 500-year-expired tea."
I chuckled, setting the cup down. My gaze shifted to the wall. One spot had bugged me.
In the messy living room corner, a spotless display case—the only clean thing. Cherished relics inside: Alexander's chipped greatsword, Kyle's sword, Lucia's rosary, my spare dagger.
"..."
Hating humans, isolating from the world... yet what she missed most were humans.
"Mini-museum?"
I teased lightly. She averted her eyes, grumbling.
"Just... trophies. To remember my great feats."
"Well-kept. Polished daily?"
"Sh-Shut up! Just preservation magic! Who polishes daily?!"
Ears red as she yelled—definitely daily. I smiled silently, sipping more tea.
My chest ached. How'd this stubborn hag survive the loneliness?
"So."
Erendel shifted topics, feigning seriousness.
"How've you been? 500 years passed. Where were you? Really went to another world?"
"Yeah. Long story. Lived normally. Ate, slept, even tried school."
Though dragged back in a day.
"School? You? Pfft."
She scoffed.
"You in an academy? Didn't punch the teachers?"
"Hey, I was a model student. Anyway, normal citizen there. No magic, no monsters."
"Peaceful."
"Yep. Till these blockhead descendants spun a summoning circle and yanked me back."
I leaned back, sighing.
"Arrived to a circus. Empire on death's door, mages all flash no substance, fireworks only. Alexander's weeping in his grave."
Her face crumpled. Touched a nerve.
"Ugh, don't get me started! Don't even mention those idiots!"
She slammed her cup down, exploding.
"Know why I quit teaching? No brains! Mana efficiency? Basics? Can't even memorize spells, yet strut as grandmages! Same as kids playing pretend!"
Profanities flew like rap.
"No style? Idiots! Magic's about destruction! But flashy-only? Bash their heads with my staff!"
"Whoa, calm down. Blood pressure. So you stormed out?"
"Stay longer, I'd smash their skulls. For my sanity. Why else hole up here? Waste air sharing with them!"
She chugged her tea, fuming. Buried rage erupting. I sighed, gazing out the window at the endless blizzard.
"But why's the weather here like this?"
Her expression turned grave.
"You felt it too. Senses intact."
"Not just cold. Like that ice legion commander bitch from 500 years ago."
"Curse. Ancient primordial curse."
"Cause?"
"Dunno."
"What?"
"Don't know. Went to the northern border multiple times. But mana circuits freeze—can't scout after. Only one thing clear."
Erendel pointed her staff out the window.
"It's creeping south slowly. Something's inside, for sure. Problem is... I don't know what."
"Even you can't analyze it?"
"...Yeah."
She bit her lip in frustration.
"Tried everything. Can't fully block it with my magic. Recent barrier halted descent... but just holding."
Fatigue flickered in her eyes. Alone in these mountains, blocking an unseen disaster. Unthanked.
"Good work."
"Shut up. Didn't do it for praise. Just hate my yard getting messy."
"..."
Unknown threat baffling even Erendel. Main boss this round ain't the Demon King.
Difficulty's insane. Regroup hero party?
"Speaking of, need mages? To fix the Empire."
"Tower's all quacks. Useless. Most can't even do gravity magic."
I grumbled. She smirked.
"Knew it'd come to that. Got insurance."
"Insurance?"
"Trained an apprentice."
"...?"
What'd she raise?