NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9
She was one of the round table heroes in the Guild,
After a long time, she, Eleina…
‘…Ugh…’
She fell to the floor, hugging my knees and begging.
“Please don’t abandon me… I’ll do anything… Please, please… Hoo…”
*
Keyal couldn’t make heads or tails of the situation.
His hand unconsciously clutched his forehead, bewildered like someone nauseous with a headache.
Why did she look so broken?
In a frantic state, he could only flounder.
He embraced Eleina, who smelled faintly of flowers.
As she began to tremble and smile, tears mixed with laughter.
She wiped her tears away, revealing a shy smile.
Flailing her limbs in a frenzy of joy, she was full of life, yet somehow it felt unwillingly the case.
Keyal Kralin’s memories jolted him back to Eleina’s worth.
The hero who had lived like family was now treating herself as a tool, willingly becoming a slave.
Hadn’t she stated it herself?
No, she appeared to be begging while entangled and throwing a fit.
“I’ll do anything, so please don’t abandon me…..”
She was just pitifully pleading to stay close, even if it meant using her as a vessel for everything.
He pulled her arms, which were kneeling in front of the Guild master, close to him.
Evading the cruel gaze of a server who looked at him as if he were trash, he walked as if in slow motion, like a statue.
‘They said eyes can kill…’
*
He booked a room in a nearby inn and stepped inside.
She vaguely unraveled the difficult times she faced after Keyal disappeared, softening her ordeal as much as possible.
Locking the door as stiffly as she could, he patted her back until she stopped sniffling.
Finally calming her down, Keyal watched as Eleina touched the shabby sheet on her small bed.
“What are you doing…?”
Keyal couldn’t contain his frustration and asked.
“Ah… Ah… Well, just… thinking how I can be next to you again…”
Her touch, filled with distant nostalgia, conveyed immense joy.
“This sheet looks so beautiful, doesn’t it…?”
Seeing the messy and dirty sheets made her proclaim their beauty.
It was as if she was a high school girl petting an adorable, fluffy puppy she found on the street.
In her slightly silly demeanor, the mature Elf felt awkwardly unrefined.
“Is that so…? I’m glad if Eleina sees it that way…”
While he was supposed to be the promising hero of Guild ‘Edric’, he wished more to tear his clothes and lay them for her instead.
But if he said that, she would surely reject it.
Keyal, with a hint of sorrow, unconsciously poured his magic into her body.
“Shamak”
He chanted a short incantation.
Shamak, a basic magical ability used by demons that alleviates inner or outer pain, allowing healing through one’s own power.
Little magic began to scout every corner of her body.
Though she said it was nothing serious, Keyal couldn’t shake his deep concern.
‘A thorough examination is necessary…’
As the magic faded, dispersing across Eleina’s body, the results emerged. And Keyal…
“…”
Couldn’t help but frown.
Rushing to assess her body, he found two black orbs, three to four ruby-red ones, and no signs of blue.
The muddier the colors, the more it meant there wasn’t a single well-functioning part left.
So what did the black signify?
The answer was simple.
Eleina’s body was in a state of collapse, barely clinging to its last functioning ability.
Outwardly, she appeared fine. However, the likelihood was she had concocted something to ease her own worries.
Using the Spirit’s power to regulate her body temperature and calling upon nature to cover and compose herself, even someone ailing could appear healthy.
Only then did Keyal realize just how broken Eleina’s heart was.
Unlike the past, where a single touch could heal her mental state, this wilted being before him was feeling torment.
She had absorbed scars that couldn’t be fully erased.
Due to none other than Keyal Kralin, her master’s ignorance…
He timidly moved closer to Eleina.
“Umm? Master…?”
She froze, staring at him in a puzzled manner, drawing her hands close and drooping her head sadly.
With each moment, guilt washed over Keyal like a wave.
This was a reality that lacked the essence of dreams.
Through the broken image of a comrade with whom he had built bonds,
He envisioned her mint-green hair dulled and lifeless, contrasting starkly with the vibrant figure he once knew.
He expressed gratitude for Eleina, the Elf Queen’s tenacity and trust.
And he conveyed his embarrassment and regret.
Had he known she’d end up like this, he would have left at least a letter behind.
“…I’m sorry, Eleina. Because of my foolishness, you’ve had to suffer so much.”
*
The night turned dark.
In her nightwear, Eleina climbed onto his bed with her uniquely light Elf steps, gazing at his bare face.
His master, who had already fallen asleep,
With a face pale as if tormented by guilt,
He was murmuring Eleina’s name along with other round table heroes.
Shivering from cold and nightmares, Keyal’s body shook as he apologized to Eleina.
Holding onto his trembling hand, she could feel the warmth of someone desperately searching for her in dreams.
“Haah… Master… so warm… really warm…”
Once again, her lips curled into a crescent moon smile, reaching a peak of joy.
Feeling a sense of small happiness, Eleina, however, couldn’t grasp what her master was saying.
What could he possibly be apologizing for?
“It is we who have failed to meet your expectations…”
Eleina couldn’t understand.
She was just a tool serving him,
If she were to disturb her master’s mood, it was only natural to be discarded,
Though, of course, she didn’t want to be thrown away.
That was a given. Nothing on earth could survive without the sun’s care.
For her, her master was both the sun and the guiding light.
The loss of the sun at the moment it vanished had brought an unmentionable agony as she recalled the plummeting value of her existence.
They were sinners, wishing for more than her master could give while failing to serve him.
It was natural to lose the light of the sun as a price for their negligence aimed at extinguishing the flame.
Holding onto gratitude for their master’s generosity, forgiving their sins, she only shed tears of joy for being embraced in her sadness.
*
She stepped out of the inn, lacking in strength.
The now familiar medieval village unfolded before her eyes.
Eleina frowned at the sight of the impoverished village, as it must look ridiculous to her, once a hero of the Edric Guild.
Feeling bitterly unsettled about the situation, Keyal sighed.
He then began to deeply contemplate the current state.
Other heroes, like Eleina, might also be enduring the same pain.
He glared at the village, which had regressed to an abysmal level.
The thought that the heroes of the guild might be suffering endlessly in this situation made him feel an uncontrollable anger surge within.
“First, can we stop by the Adventurer Guild for a bit?”
Keyal tightly grasped Eleina’s hand.
He would never let go. He would not ignore or discard the fallen Elf again.
“Fufu, yes. Anywhere you want to go, Master.”