Ch.151150. The Culprit (4)

# 150. The Culprit (4)

‘Ah… shit.’

It hurts, it hurts like hell.

I regret rushing in recklessly, and I’m in so much pain that I resent Luna for not being tense in this situation.

To make matters worse, the arrow had pierced right where my heart was located.

Thanks to [Desperate Survival], I didn’t die, but that effect actually made it hurt even more.

To the point where simply dying might have been better.

I collapsed on the spot with a thud.

“Seriously…”

I shouted at Luna, who was barely managing to stabilize her wavering pupils.

“Are you out of your mind!? Do you have a death wish or something…”

Of course, it wasn’t really something I should yell at Luna about.

After all, she probably had no idea someone like that was nearby.

Still, in this situation, I couldn’t help but shout.

“If you agreed to come here… you should have anticipated something like this..”

“I’m… I’m sorry.”

Luna apologized sincerely, bowing her head.

Ignoring her, I spoke to Amelia and Ariya who were rushing urgently toward us.

“Hero, please chase after the person who shot that arrow, and Saint, could you please…”

“I know..”

With those words, Amelia swiftly went after the culprit.

And Ariya immediately came to me and began healing my wound.

“If the princess sees this wound, she won’t be happy, you know?”

“Can’t be helped…”

“By the way, how did you know this would happen?”

I answered her question while exhaling a rough breath.

“I just had a feeling..”

“You sometimes have surprisingly good intuition, you know that?”

“It’s just a coincidence.”

If I had known earlier, I would have been here sooner, but this situation wasn’t all bad either.

Regardless of how things unfolded, at least the objective was achieved.

“Do you also know who shot that arrow?”

“What am I, some kind of prophet?”

“Just asking. Anyway, it’s done, but how are you feeling?”

The Saint Ariya’s holy power was clearly on a different level compared to ordinary priests, with healing capabilities that were dimensions apart.

The wound had already completely healed in such a short time.

“I’m feeling better now.”

“Really? That’s good, but don’t overdo it. This is still a bad enough situation.”

“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Don’t go back today.”

“Okay..”

It felt like I was being nagged.

Still, I didn’t mind because it felt like Ariya was genuinely concerned about me.

Of course, the problem is that I hear such words too often.

“Let’s… go together…”

In the distance, she and Riel were running toward us while voicing complaints.

I spoke to them.

“You’re quite late, aren’t you?”

“What are you doing here? Don’t tell me it’s what I think it is?”

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but it’s probably similar.”

Hearing my words, she let out a deep sigh as if she had expected this, and I gave an awkward smile as I watched her.

“So what happened?”

“I was originally going to deflect it, you know?”

“Yes, and then?”

It felt like I was being interrogated, and like a guilty prisoner, I made excuses about what had happened.

“I was a bit late…”

“Late?”

“I had no choice but to take the hit.”

“By ‘take the hit,’ you mean that?”

The place she pointed to.

There lay the arrow that had just pierced my heart, and I nodded as I looked at it.

“I expected something like this might happen, but I didn’t think it would actually come true..”

“Haha… I’m sorry..”

“You don’t need to apologize. More importantly, are you really okay?”

I stood up abruptly and answered her question.

“Of course I’m fine.”

“Then that’s good.”

She seemed less worried since Ariya had already healed my wound.

That was fortunate.

If she had seen me in my previous state, she would have been even more concerned.

‘Still hurts a bit though..’

Even with Ariya’s holy power, it seemed impossible to completely eliminate the pain.

Ariya obviously knew this fact and was looking at me as if I were a strange person.

But even though she looked at me that way, she pretended not to notice.

Then she approached me and whispered in a small voice..

“Hang in there and see you next time. And take good care of that princess.”

After whispering that, she left for somewhere.

It looked like she was returning to the battlefield.

As she and I were blankly staring at Ariya’s back, a voice came from behind us.

A voice that sounded like it was about to cry; she must have been quite scared.

“I’m… I’m really sorry.”

An expression and tone completely opposite to Luna’s usual self.

It was a bit pitiful, but it couldn’t be helped.

I turned my back on Luna, ignoring her apology.

Normally, I would have offered words of comfort or encouragement, but this wasn’t the time for that.

‘She might get upset otherwise..’

To avoid disturbing the mood of our rather picky girlfriend, I had no choice but to act this way.

After all, because of what happened last time, she mistakenly thinks Luna likes me.

‘Just my luck.’

It was then that I confirmed Bael’s appearance with my own eyes.

***

On the day they were about to return to their country and to Eden where the battle was still raging.

Luna called Albert aside for a moment.

For some reason, in an empty training ground.

Albert was pacing back and forth in that training ground, waiting for Luna who had called him.

‘What does she want to talk about… I’m already in such a hurry..’

Just as he was expressing his discontent in his mind, Luna opened the door and entered the training ground.

‘Huh? Why is she dressed like that?’

An outfit quite different from what he usually saw; Luna was wearing a flowing dress that looked like something she would wear.

Albert tensed slightly at Luna’s unusual attire, which seemed ominous.

Of course, Albert wasn’t the only one who was tense.

“Why did you call me?”

Albert’s somewhat stiff question.

Luna answered, unable to hide her nervous appearance.

“Well… you know, right?”

“Know what?”

“I really… want to see the outside world..”

Indeed, from the time she was born until now.

Luna had been confined here for the long, long period of about 100 years.

“And?”

“So… I was wondering… would you become my fiancé?”

***

Actually, up to that point, there was no problem.

I just flatly refused, saying it wasn’t possible.

But the problem lay elsewhere.

For some reason, she was at that place, and the fact that she heard our conversation was the issue.

‘Just my luck.’

Since I rejected the proposal on the spot, she didn’t get angry or upset.

But because of that incident, she thinks Luna likes me.

Even now, after arriving at the academy with Luna.

“I’m really just a means to an end..”

“Still.. how can someone propose to someone they have no feelings for? Could you do that, Albert?”

“Well.. no, I couldn’t.”

“That’s why you need to be careful.”

She’s been saying things like this from before, but now that Luna’s enrollment at the academy is a settled fact.

She seems to be saying such things even more.

‘It’s not like I’m going to fall for anyone else no matter what anyone says..’

She probably knows that fact.

Still, she keeps saying such things, perhaps out of some lingering concern.

“Your possessiveness is quite impressive, isn’t it?”

Riel’s teasing words.

She answered with an expression quite different from her usual self, rather calm.

“Of course, you’re mine.”

Hearing those words, my face suddenly flushed and my heart began to race.

And she looked at me with a pleased expression.

In that situation, I simply couldn’t meet her eyes.

Riel was observing us with a curious gaze.

“Wow… you two are really becoming alike. It’s like the opposite of before? This isn’t bad at all.”

“Stop with the unnecessary commentary..”

“Even that reaction is just like the princess!”

I was getting increasingly annoyed by Riel, who kept chattering beside us.

‘Is this how she felt?’

Thanks to this incident, I could understand a little bit of how she felt being constantly teased by that person.

Though the problem is that I never wanted to know in the first place.

-Ding!-

A notification sound at a truly random timing.

The source of that sound seemed to be the phone Riel was holding.

Riel fiddled with her phone and explained to us what the notification was about.

“Oh! They caught them!?”

“Caught what..”

“The culprit you mentioned.”

“What!? Really!?”

“That’s what it says.”

It was truly welcome news.

If they had escaped, that would have been a serious problem in its own way, but fortunately, Amelia had resolved it well.

“Here’s the photo.”

With those words, Riel handed me her phone.

‘Huh?’

A single photo filling the screen of that phone.

I examined the photo carefully.

An elf bound by magical threads, but with skin too dark to be just an ordinary elf.

“A dark elf..”

Moreover, this dark elf was someone I knew.

The person who had told me about Fenex’s past, that very person.

And seeing that person reminded me of the dark elf that Fenex had liked.

‘Could it be…?’