Chapter 78

Chapter 78. The Old Woman in the Tower (3)

How much time had passed?

Pain became familiar to the body as time went on, but this sort of pain never became familiar at all.

It felt as though my chest and back were being pierced through.

At the same time, the white sheets were slowly turning red, and as I watched them, I gave a faint smile with trembling lips.

Kuhuhuhu. Because of the nature of the power I possessed, I could not faint even while feeling this tremendous pain.

It would have been somewhat better if I could have.

I turned my blurry gaze toward the window.

The blue sky came into view.

Ha, haha. An old memory suddenly came back to me.

It was something that happened about twenty years ago.

At the time, Rene and I were merely a mercenary and an employer. Our relationship was nothing more than that.

But because of a certain incident, we had begun to take a little interest in each other, and this happened immediately after that.

“Where are you going?”

When I raised my head and looked forward, an elf with her blond hair tied back was sitting on a rock with her sword drawn, looking at me.

When I lowered my gaze and silently looked at her stomach, which was wrapped tightly in bandages beneath her open shirt, the elf pulled her shirt slightly to the side and covered it.

I lifted my gaze again and silently looked at the elf’s face, then slowly raised my hand and waved it left and right.

-Move.

“Answer my question. I asked where you are going.”

I let out a small sigh as I looked at her, then turned and walked to the side.

At that moment, a long longsword flew in front of me, stabbed into the ground, and trembled there.

I looked down at it for a moment, then raised my head and glared at her.

She slowly rose from her seat and limped toward me.

I continued watching her with an indifferent gaze. She pulled the sword from the ground, leaned on it like a cane, and quietly looked at me.

Her gaze was not the gaze of someone who had been fighting with eyes wide open until just a moment ago. It was simply the gaze of an ordinary elf with peaceful eyes.

I silently looked at her face and eyes, then spun around in the opposite direction and began walking again.

But because of the sword thrust straight out in front of my chest, I could not take more than a few steps before I had to stop in place.

She spoke.

“Tell me. Where are you going?”

-Are you saying you are going to fight again in that condition?

I said that while looking down indifferently at the sword, which would shatter if I merely pressed it firmly with one finger.

Then she opened her mouth with an expressionless face, still holding the sword against my chest.

“That is not it. I am only curious.”

I raised my head and looked at the face of the elf who had just said those words.

When I looked at her, she quickly turned her head aside and avoided my gaze.

Feeling something strange at her reaction, I slowly opened my mouth.

-I am leaving, as promised. We can no longer return there. We will run away. After looking around at the world that has changed over the past hundred and thirty years, we will settle down somewhere suitable and live quietly.

So you do not need to worry about me. And I thank you. Thank you for choosing me from among so many warriors.

After saying that, I pushed aside the sword pressed against my chest and walked forward.

“Wait a moment.”

I stopped in place and looked back.

I could have simply left, but I could not ignore a woman’s voice calling from behind me and keep walking forward.

It had been the same roughly a hundred and thirty years ago.

Behind me, an elven woman stood leisurely with her sword planted on the ground, looking at me as the winter wind blowing across the battlefield scattered her golden hair.

“Take me with you.”

-What?

Rene took a step toward me as she said that.

Even now, I did not know. Why had she chosen me, a human, as her mate?

Was it because the feelings she had sensed from me were different?

I had done almost nothing for her.

Or was it because she remembered meeting me when she was young?

I could not firmly believe any of those answers, but the important thing was that now, she and I loved each other.

That alone, I could state plainly even if the world turned upside down.

“Krrrgh!”

I clutched my shoulder.

To endure the pain, I clenched my teeth and buried my face in the sheets.

Huff, huff! Damn it.

-Does it hurt?

A voice rang inside my head.

It was his voice.

I smiled with my trembling mouth and said,

“N-No. It does not hurt… It does not hurt.”

-How laughable. Do not lie. It is not too late, even now. It was not as much as I was promised, but I have watched your happiness, and I can be satisfied with that much.

I advise you to stop being Han Reed Kalmarion and return to being Kalmarion Han Reed. Return to the place where you belong. If the wall collapses, your body will burst and you will die.

Even though I was steeped in pain, I shook my head with a smile on my face at his words.

Even so, I could not do that. This was happiness I had barely managed to obtain.

“I, I refuse. I want to stay like this a little longer, just a little… Ugh?!”

-The wall built by that old hag’s pitiful skill has begun to crumble because of your useless meddling. Only its form remains now. Before long, you will undoubtedly face the time you have delayed. Of course, you will die before that.

“Even so, krrgh, haa, even so, that is fine. If I can keep holding her, if I can keep seeing her… her smile… Ugh.”

-Pitiful human. I still remember what you felt when you first saw that elf. Did it weigh on you that much, being unable to save your mother and hers? Is that why you are giving her daughter what her mother could not give her?

I shook my head. That was not it. It was not like that. I… I….

I tried to say something, but I could not because of the pain in my chest.

-I will say it once more. Return to your original name. And return to the place where you belong. It is still not too late. Our vacation has been enough.

At his words, I shook my head. Ha, haha.

“I refuse.”

At my words, he closed his mouth.

After that tedious time passed, while I was barely suppressing the pain, his dry voice rang out again.

-Rejoice. Your wife is coming. And know this. If the wall collapses completely and your power tries to come undone, I will cover you of my own will.

I tested you for a moment in accordance with the mission given to me, but you are not the only one who does not want to return. I want to remain in this world a little longer. Know that.

I know. That was why I ran away.

“Ugh!”

I clenched my teeth, raised my upper body, and sat up on the bed. Then I clutched my chest with both hands, lowered my head, and endured.

Until she came.

And some time later, hurried footsteps sounded, and the door to my room was flung open.

At the sound of the door breaking, I slowly turned my head toward it and gave a bright smile.

The one entering the room was undoubtedly Rene.

With a panicked face. After all, I did not often hear her voice sound like that.

“Han?”

“W-Welcome back, dear.”

My vision was dim, so I could not see things clearly, but I could see Rene’s face as she slowly approached me.

She walked slowly at first, then gradually quickened her steps and soon reached me.

I looked up at her, and Rene was looking down at me while trembling.

Then she opened her mouth first.

“Are you all right?”

“No.”

The moment she heard that, Rene’s hands moved quickly. She grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled it apart to both sides, tearing it open.

RIIIP—

She threw aside the shirt she had practically ripped off, then grabbed my shoulders and pulled me against her chest.

I ended up in Rene’s embrace while clutching my chest.

In that position, Rene felt over my bleeding back with both hands.

Her palms moved here and there, but because of the terrible pain, I could not really feel anything else.

After searching for a long while, Rene took her hands away from my back, placed her bloodstained hands on my shoulders, and pushed me backward.

At that, I collapsed weakly onto the bed.

Rene hurriedly turned around, roughly pulled open the storage cabinet beside the bed, searched through it, and took out a small box.

Holding it, she climbed onto the bed and sat beside me, then opened the lid of the wooden box and took out something like a piece of paper from inside before attaching it to my chest.

Then, when she muttered something incomprehensible for a moment in a slightly trembling voice, the slip of paper gave off a faint blue light.

After watching it, Rene let out a small sigh and turned her gaze to me.

“You will be all right in a little while. It hurts a lot, does it not?”

I lay on the bed, looked at Rene’s face, and smiled softly.

At the sight of me like that, Rene looked as though she might burst into tears.

I slowly raised my hand and gently stroked the area around her eyes.

“D-Do not cry….”

I did not know whether it was thanks to that paper or because I had seen Rene, but the pain in my back gradually began to subside, and the pain inside my chest also seemed to calm a little.

Rene was leaning over the bed, supporting her upper body with both arms, and she continued looking down at me.

With a smile on my face, I quietly looked up at her distorted expression.

“You are all right, are you not?”

“Ahh. S-Sorry. For worrying you.”

At my words, Rene gave me a tearful smile.

She raised her hand, lightly pinched my cheek, and said,

“Do you know how frightened I was?”

With my cheek being pulled by her, I gave her a silly grin, then closed my eyes.

It was because the long-lasting pain had disappeared, and an extreme exhaustion came rushing over me.

Not knowing that, Rene called my name loudly in a startled voice, and while feeling a little sorry toward her, I fell sound asleep just like that.

When I woke up, it was already late afternoon, with the setting sun coloring the sky.

When I turned my head, I saw Luna sitting in a chair with her arms crossed.

When she saw my face, she spoke leisurely.

“Sleep well?”

“Where is Rene?”

“Like a proper henpecked husband, you start looking for your wife the moment you wake up. Do not worry. She is in the kitchen right now, making food to feed you.”

I chuckled at her words and looked around for a moment.

Inside the spacious room, I saw furniture arranged just as Rene had described, and I was lying in the bed.

Beside it, Luna was sitting on a chair, looking at me.

Then I noticed the blanket and sheets neatly cleared away beside the door. Though they were large enough for two people to cover themselves with room to spare, more than half of them were stained with blood.

It was probably the blood I had shed.

I had lost quite a lot.

At that moment, Luna, who had been quietly watching my actions for a while, raised her voice a little and called Rene.

“Rene! Your husband is awake.”

They were elves, so they could talk even from far away.

I quietly smiled, feeling impressed by their sight and hearing.

Luna, who had been staring blankly at that sight, uncrossed her arms and opened her mouth in an exasperated tone.

“Hey, hey, do not smile like an idiot like that. Do you know how much of a fuss Rene made because you fainted?”

I chuckled and turned my head toward her, giving her a curious look.

Then Luna held up one finger and began describing pessimistically what Rene had done while I was unconscious.

“Well, when I entered the room, Rene was holding you and shaking you like mad. To me, you simply looked as if you had fainted, but your wife must have thought you were dead. If I had not stopped her from the side, she would have kept shaking you. Like an idiot.

And when she listened to me and heard your heart beating, you have no idea how unsightly it was when she hugged an unconscious man and started bawling. And then….”

As I listened to her words, I tried to imagine Rene’s face as she looked close to tears at my unconscious state, but I could not.

The very fact that Rene had shown such a side of herself was hard to believe.

It seemed she had certainly changed a little while living with me.

Until the moment she attached the paper to my chest, she had been the perfect image of an elf, but after I fainted, she changed completely?

Mm, for some reason, this gave me a sense of responsibility.

With a small smile, I looked up at the ceiling.

Luna, who had been continuing to criticize Rene’s actions, saw my behavior, shrugged, and brought up something else.

“So you do not want to hear gossip about your wife. Fine. Then let me ask you something.”

I shifted my eyes slightly to the side and looked at Luna. Luna sat on the chair with her legs crossed and asked me,

“What are you?”