Ch.153Tale of the Past: Serena Elizabeth – 4

“To be able to… die?”

The boy nodded. I couldn’t understand what he meant by asking for help to die. My blue eyes trembled.

“What do you mean?”

So I asked.

Serena had an extreme anxiety about death. It was largely because she had watched her father and mother up close.

Her mother’s condition had worsened after family relations had been driven to catastrophe by Laila, and she was walking a precarious tightrope, not knowing when she might die.

She had thought she could meet her father again someday, but she had realized the truth that he had already died several years ago, and what she saw now was merely a corpse.

Her mother could die at any moment, and her father was already dead, so it was natural for Serena to cling to life to avoid experiencing that kind of loss again.

Moreover, the boy was someone who had appeared like a comet and solved all the problems Serena was facing.

It was only after the boy arrived that her mother’s condition improved enough that they could worry about a more distant future rather than just tomorrow.

It was also after the boy’s arrival that she no longer went to sleep trembling with fear, worrying that her mother’s body might be cold and lifeless when she woke up in the morning.

Not only did she receive all kinds of magical tools, but Serena herself had become strong enough not to bat an eye at most violence.

This boy was the one who had brought light back to Serena, who had been living day by day without being able to die, so she couldn’t even begin to imagine how to repay the debt she owed.

It was only natural that she would react emotionally when this benefactor suddenly asked her to kill him.

“Why, why are you saying such things?”

Her voice trembled.

Serena thought she was treating the boy normally within the bounds of common sense, but in reality, she was showing quite strong signs of dependency.

It was understandable.

After her parents’ relationship fell apart, Serena hadn’t felt proper love except for embracing her mother in a worn-out bed after finishing a hard day’s work.

Her father had shut himself in his room and never showed his face, Laila would never treat Serena kindly, all the old servants had been driven out, and the new servants were in league with Laila.

The only time Serena could relax was when she was in her mother’s arms, but even during those times, she had to worry constantly about whether her mother might die.

In such a situation, it was only natural that she would become attached to another warm sanctuary. Because her mother and the boy were all that existed in Serena’s world.

Tears welled up in her blue eyes. Her tongue stiffened as she tried to hold back her tears.

“D-don’t say such things. Okay? Don’t talk about dying. I’ll do better. If there’s anything you don’t like, I’ll fix it. So, so…”

Looking at Serena, who seemed about to burst into tears, the boy gave a bitter smile and reached out his finger to wipe away the liquid pooling in her eyes.

Serena grabbed that hand tightly.

“Serena.”

“Oppa, oppa. Hic…”

Serena pulled his hand and buried herself in the boy’s chest, rubbing her face against it. It was something she would never have done normally, citing embarrassment as a reason.

It was because the shock she had experienced over the past few hours was too great.

After facing her father for the first time in years, she had not only been subjected to all kinds of verbal abuse but also discovered the shocking truth that her father was actually a corpse.

Her mother had been dragged from her bed and nearly subjected to terrible acts, and even Serena herself had almost been the target of the same terrible acts.

In such a situation, when the boy she followed like an older brother asked her to kill him, she became completely psychologically withdrawn.

The boy patted Serena’s back. Serena curled up small like a newborn animal and burrowed deeper into the embrace that provided solid and warm comfort.

“Why would I ask you to kill me? There’s a good reason for it.”

“I don’t know. I don’t want to know about that…”

“Serena. Look up.”

At the boy’s gentle request, Serena looked up with teary, cloudy eyes. In those blue eyes, she saw the image of the boy unhesitatingly cutting his own throat with a dagger.

The dagger dug into the left carotid artery, tore through it, and emerged through the right carotid artery. Blood spurted like a fountain from the severed blood vessels, staining the lawn red.

His head lolled backward. The red muscles and flesh inside were exposed.

“…Huh?”

Just as Serena froze, unable even to scream after witnessing such a shocking sight right before her eyes, the boy’s body twitched and something strange happened.

The blood splattered around began to return to his body.

The red-stained lawn turned green, and the blood scattered in all directions gathered back into the carotid arteries. Finally, the severed skin and neck muscles reattached to each other, restoring their original shape.

The boy, who had perfectly restored his neck, shrugged his shoulders.

“See?”

“…”

This time, Serena was too surprised in a different way to answer. It was because she couldn’t grasp how he had recovered from such a fatal wound.

Did he use a healing scroll?

No. He had cut his throat with one hand and was patting her back with the other, so there was no opportunity to use a scroll.

Did he use healing magic?

No. There was no sign of mana flow changing to indicate the use of magic. Magic always involves the flow of mana.

As she began learning swordsmanship in earnest and awakening her talent, Serena had learned how to read the flow of mana. And very sensitively at that.

Since Serena was in the boy’s arms, she would have certainly noticed if the flow of mana had changed due to healing magic.

But the mana floating around the boy hadn’t changed at all. If it wasn’t healing magic or a healing scroll, what was the nature of the boy’s regenerative power?

Serena forgot about her sobbing and looked like a startled rabbit. She was much more surprised by the bizarre event that unfolded before her eyes than she had expected.

“You see, I’m not someone who dies easily. As you just saw, I recover from any injury. I think this is a kind of super-regeneration ability. It’s powerful enough to reverse aging and make me absolutely immortal.”

“T-then… isn’t that a good thing? Not dying is good, isn’t it?”

It was a natural question, having read fairy tales about monarchs who believed rumors and sent their knights on impossible missions in search of immortality.

Additionally, she had been worrying about her mother possibly dying, so it made even more sense. Isn’t it better to never die?

With super-regeneration abilities that prevent death, one could become infinitely stronger. Serena convinced herself inwardly. So that’s why this oppa knows so much.

“Generally, yes. But in my case, it’s a bit different.”

Different? Serena wiped her tears with the back of her hand and met the boy’s eyes.

“I can’t use mana.”

“What?”

When such unexpected words came out, Serena blinked.

“I can’t use mana. My super-regeneration ability defines the process of drawing mana from the mana circuit as damage and repairs it. And I can’t build muscle either. That’s also because of the super-regeneration ability. My regenerative ability restores physical damage to its original state, and the range of that damage is very comprehensive. I can’t use mana, I can’t build muscle—what can I do? I can only memorize swordsmanship with my body and magic with my head. Even that has its limits. Since I can’t use mana, even though I know it intellectually, my body can’t keep up. It’s ironic that I have a body that will never age or die, but because of that, I can never become stronger beyond a certain level. Serena, have you ever seen me envelop my body with mana? Use physical enhancement? Or use magic without a scroll?”

Serena thought for a moment, then shook her head. Come to think of it, that was true. The boy had never once enveloped his body with mana or used physical enhancement.

Even when teaching her mana-based defense and physical enhancement, he didn’t demonstrate it himself but tried to help Serena understand on her own.

Of course, since Serena had such a genius talent in that area and the boy’s explanations were extremely detailed and eloquent, there was no problem even without demonstrations.

She had thought he simply didn’t feel the need to use mana, but in fact, he couldn’t use it at all. Serena felt as if her head had been struck with a hammer.

“…Still, there’s no need to die.”

But the shock hadn’t completely subsided, so she didn’t hide her pouty expression. Seeing Serena like this, the boy scratched his cheek awkwardly.

“Well, um, how should I put this. I didn’t want to die from the beginning either. Even if I can’t use mana and can’t build strength, I can still accumulate knowledge in my head, right? Especially when it comes to studying, it’s actually much better. No matter how difficult or numerous the problems, if you have infinite time, you’ll eventually find the answer. With that mindset, I’ve crammed a lot of knowledge into my head. Probably enough to fill an entire library? Even among the swordsmanship you’ve learned so far, there are quite a few that have been lost because there’s no one left to teach them. No one knows them except me. The same goes for ancient magic. All that exists now is what’s in my head.”

“Then there’s even less reason to die. Why are you saying you want to die? Even if you can’t use mana, if you use your knowledge—”

“It’s meaningless.”

That voice was so empty that Serena closed her mouth.

“I tried very hard at first. Right after gaining this ability, I didn’t know the extent of the super-regeneration’s range, and I just thought that training would make me stronger. I gave up quickly because I couldn’t use mana. You know how important physical enhancement is in combat, right?”

She nodded. In fact, the reason Serena hadn’t collapsed despite taking on all sorts of chores at the mere age of 8 was because of the mana she unconsciously drew upon.

An ordinary 8-year-old without mana would never have endured.

“Still, I tried to become stronger without giving up. Since I wouldn’t die no matter what attack I received, I stood at the front and took all the attacks instead. It hurt like hell. Now I hardly feel pain because I’ve done so many things trying to die, but it wasn’t like that back then. I would scream when stabbed, writhe on the ground clutching my severed arm. Looking back, it was stupid. I should have just collected antiques from the start. What a waste of time.”

“A waste of time?”

“Once monsters reach a certain level, I become useless. Think about it. From mid-level monsters, there are plenty that can send an ordinary human flying dozens of meters with a single swing of their arm. What good is my body’s infinite recovery if I’m knocked far away from the formation? While I’m returning, the monster would be happily devouring the adventurers in the rear. It’s much better to stand firmly on two legs and withstand attacks from the beginning.”

Serena recalled the day she first met the boy. She had trembled and unconsciously swung her sword to cut a wolf into pieces, but what if she hadn’t had mana? If she couldn’t use physical enhancement?

She would have been devoured by that monster in an instant. The boy’s words made some sense.

“So, well, when the level of the kids I was traveling with reached a certain point, I would quietly withdraw and find other adventurers, and when they grew to a certain extent, I would leave again and look for others. I kept repeating that. I couldn’t let those adventurers die because of me, right?”

“That’s… true…”

“But after repeating this for several decades, I started to feel a sense of futility. Why am I doing this? I was quite famous in the area. Having super-regeneration that prevents death no matter what, but unable to use magic. Not particularly strong either. After spending decades repeating the same pattern of traveling with beginners and acting as a meat shield at the front, I couldn’t help but become famous. The problem was that I was truly just a meat shield. No matter how much experience I accumulated, I couldn’t overcome the fundamental power gap. When people disrespected me, there was nothing I could do about it. At first, it was just one or two nasty individuals, but as time went on, adventurers began to take disrespecting me for granted. Having lived for decades without aging or dying, they probably thought of me as a monster rather than a human.”

The boy’s eyes grew distant. Serena couldn’t say anything.

“Since I didn’t need to properly take care of food, clothing, or shelter, my share of the rewards gradually decreased, and sometimes I didn’t get any share at all. Sometimes I was beaten for no reason other than someone saying they were stressed. I regenerate no matter how much I’m beaten, right? And since I can’t use mana, I can’t fight back, so I was the perfect punching bag for stress relief.”

The smile on his lips gradually turned bitter.

“If I had been treated that way from the beginning, I might have accepted my fate. But that wasn’t the case, and that was the problem. Humans feel a greater sense of loss when something disappears after having it, rather than never having it at all. All I could do was be a meat shield, but I couldn’t even do that properly once a certain level was reached, and the treatment got worse by the day. Do you think I would have considered this super-regeneration ability a blessing, or a curse?”

Serena couldn’t answer. The answer to whether the boy considered his super-regeneration ability a blessing or a curse was obvious.

“Well, that’s the fundamental reason why I want to die. Later, I tried to get a job as a scribe somewhere, leveraging my infinite lifespan, but my name was so well-known that they wouldn’t let me do anything but what I had been doing. Looking back now, I think the Adventurers’ Guild tacitly allowed me to be treated so badly. After all, the survival rate of low-level adventurers who traveled with me was much higher than average.”

“T-then!”

As the boy’s words seemed to be coming to an end, Serena unconsciously interrupted.

Listening to the boy’s sad eyes and his voice calmly recounting what had happened to him in the past made a corner of her heart continue to tingle.

“I’ll protect you, oppa!”

Only after saying those words did she realize her mistake. She had spoken without any particular thought, just following her tongue. Protect him? The boy?

Why, when he can’t die anyway?

But it was already spilled water. Serena had spoken, and the boy had heard it.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but I—”

“That’s not what I mean!”

Serena shouted.

“You said you were always attacked in front of people. You said you only protected people. Then, you can stand behind me now. Leave the front to me, and just trust me from behind.”

She wasn’t sure what she was saying herself. She simply wanted to resolve the tingling in the corner of her heart. And she was certain this was the way to do it.

“I’ll stand in front of you. I’ll stand in front and protect you. You said I have talent, right? You said I could easily reach A-rank in a few years, right? A-rank is enough, isn’t it? No, if that’s not enough, I’ll even become S-rank. I’m confident. I just need you and mother by my side. I’ll make sure you never experience such things again. I can do it well.”

Finally, she drove home the point.

“I’ll be your knight. Even if the whole world turns against you and points fingers at you, I can stand by your side. So, so…”

Serena conveyed her small wish that she had always wanted to express.

She had shared many stories with the boy during the more than a year they had spent together. Among them were many stories about knights in fairy tales, which were almost Serena’s romantic ideal.

And Serena had cherished the wish that if she achieved her dream, she would like to become this boy’s knight. There was no particular reason.

Just as the knights in fairy tales received immeasurable grace from their lords, Serena had received immeasurable grace from the boy.

She simply wanted to repay that grace throughout her life.

“…Please don’t talk about dying.”

Only after uttering those words did the mysterious tingling in the corner of her heart completely disappear. As if he hadn’t expected Serena to say such things, the boy had a blank expression.

No, not only was the tingling resolved, but an indescribable satisfaction and pride welled up. Serena’s expression turned triumphant.

The boy seemed to be lost in thought as he looked at Serena. Seeing this, anxiety suddenly raised its head. Had she spoken too boldly?

No matter how talented she was, she was just an 11-year-old child. It wouldn’t be unreasonable for him to find it absurd that such a young child suddenly declared she would be his knight for life.

Suddenly, the words she had just uttered came to mind, and her head grew hot. She bowed her head deeply.

“Serena.”

“…Yes?”

The boy called Serena’s name shortly after she had bowed her head. She reflexively raised her head. Their eyes met.

The boy’s expression reflected in her eyes was so serious that Serena unconsciously tensed up. Her heart was beating wildly. She had never seen the boy with such a serious expression.

What on earth was he going to say with such an expression?

“Do you trust me?”

Fortunately, the question the boy asked was one that Serena could answer very easily.

“What are you doing, you bastards! Aren’t you moving quickly? How much time has passed, and you still can’t break that mere defensive magic!”

“It won’t break! No matter how much we hit it, it remains intact without a single scratch!”

“You idiots! Who knows what they’re doing inside while we’re wasting time out here? And you call yourselves A-rank adventurers! After all I’ve given you, you should at least earn your keep! You morons!”

Under Laila’s fierce criticism, the adventurers frantically pounded on the blue wall with all the techniques they had. But the wall showed not even a scratch, let alone breaking.

It was only natural. The defensive magic surrounding the boy and Serena was a top-tier defensive spell drawn on a scroll that Charlotte herself had created and handed over.

It was something ordinary adventurers might see once in their lifetime, if at all, and even the mages of the Magic Tower would find it impossible to replicate without considerable preparation.

There was no way mere A-rank adventurers could break such a magic circle.

Of course, Laila had failed too. Despite using all her mana to the point of exhaustion, the defensive wall remained unbroken.

As a result, her necromancy was cut off, and the noble man she was controlling returned to being a cold corpse.

‘Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it! It was perfect! The plan was almost complete! Then this bastard appears out of nowhere and ruins everything!’

She couldn’t hide her impatience and bit her nails. It was understandable, as she was just one step away from completing her plan when this unprecedented situation occurred.

Laila was one of the mages who had one foot in the shadows and one in the light. She had originally been at the Magic Tower but had secretly run away, saying she wanted to live as she pleased, tired of the rigid organizational structure.

At first, she had spent sleepless nights trembling, fearing that Charlotte might come after her, but now, 20 years after escaping from the Magic Tower, she had nothing to fear.

Initially, she had worked in the shadows, providing magic to criminal organizations.

She earned enough money due to her considerable talent in magic, but because Laila herself had an extremely extravagant personality, money was always scarce.

She was doing all this because of that wasteful habit.

At first, she had only cast light brainwashing spells that could be easily undone, in case Charlotte discovered her. After all, there was always the possibility of being summoned to the royal palace.

Well, it was quite unexpected that even under such a weak spell, he had gone to his wife and daughter, shed tears, and apologized. Laila was quite surprised to see that.

And after being certain there would be no repercussions, she killed him and pretended to be the nobleman’s wife, seizing real power. It was a move that exploited the fact that Charlotte didn’t care whether a nobleman died of illness or not.

There had been instances where the queen had responded by cutting off the head of a child who had gone to the palace in tears, begging for a cure for their parent’s incurable disease.

It was certain that she wouldn’t care if a mere nobleman fell ill and died.

She drove out all the original servants, ambushed and killed them on the streets, and brought in her own people as servants.

She had considered killing his daughter and wife outright, but being quite sadistic, Laila deliberately kept them alive to enjoy watching them suffer.

If they couldn’t endure being treated worse than servants and committed suicide, that would be the end of it. If they stubbornly endured, she would let her underlings have their way with them once and then kill them.

She had bribed the Adventurers’ Guild and recruited A-rank adventurers who could become her strength if necessary.

After that, all she had to do was squander the wealth extravagantly. She just needed to preserve the nobleman’s corpse somewhere and announce that he had died due to a worsening illness at an appropriate time.

She had been thinking of announcing his death soon and completely taking over the position of the head of the family, but everything went awry as Serena grew rapidly.

If left alone, she would soon become a significant threat to Laila. She had to kill her here by any means necessary.

‘Judging by how Serena trusts and follows him, that boy must have done something.’

Laila was convinced that the boy was the mastermind behind Serena’s growth. Otherwise, Serena, who had grown up under all sorts of abuse, wouldn’t trust and rely on him to such an extent.

“We need to kill them now to avoid trouble later! Use your fancy techniques or whatever, just break it quickly—”

Laila froze mid-sentence. The same happened to the other adventurers. Everyone around was staring blankly at the defensive wall that was being dispelled.

Serena revealed herself through the blue protective barrier.

She had a completely different aura from the Serena who had been brought here earlier, bound with ropes and restraints, poisoned, and gasping for breath as if she might die at any moment.

And behind her stood the boy who had broken through the defensive magic surrounding the mansion and found his way here, with an expression that seemed to say, ‘This actually works?’

Laila quickly came to her senses. And she screamed in rage.

“You fools! That barrier was the only thing protecting your lives, and you remove it with your own hands? Have you given up? Or did the defensive magic’s duration simply end?”

Ignoring Laila’s words completely, Serena drew a longsword from somewhere. Immediately, Laila felt her legs stiffen.

‘What’s going on? The atmosphere is too different!’

Before being enveloped by the defensive magic, Serena had seemed to have skills far inferior to an A-rank adventurer. In fact, she had been easily subdued by the adventurers.

But now, it seemed like the A-rank adventurers were far inferior to Serena. How could she become so strong in such a short time? It was unbelievable.

The adventurers and servants surrounding Serena also seemed to notice this power gap, as they couldn’t bring themselves to attack despite their clear numerical advantage.

“Ah, before we start, let me say one thing.”

It was the boy who had been taking care of Serena’s mother behind her who broke the standoff that had continued for several minutes. Dozens of pairs of eyes focused on him.

“None of you will leave here alive. Serena will make sure of that.”

A chilling silence once again enveloped the surroundings. The adventurers were now glaring at the boy instead of Serena, and the armed servants were doing the same.

Since Serena’s aura was too intimidating to look at, they had shifted their focus to the boy, who seemed somewhat less threatening.

Of course, this made Serena’s eyes even more ferocious.

“Hmm, it seems no one believes me?”

The boy made a disgruntled expression.

It was hard to believe, and they couldn’t believe it. Accepting those words would mean they would all have to die here, and who in their right mind would agree to that?

“Such bluffing won’t work! With our numbers, how could you two possibly win—”

One adventurer shouted confidently, but he couldn’t finish what he was about to say. It was because Serena had swung her sword and cut off his neck.

The cleanly severed head rolled on the ground, and the headless body flailed its arms a few times before falling face down. Red blood gushed from the cut surface, soaking the lawn.

Laila’s mouth fell open. She couldn’t even see how Serena had moved. It was an astonishing speed. The others seemed to be in the same situation, showing panic and confusion.

Chaos spread among the adventurers and servants. In the midst of the confusion and fear that spread as rapidly as a plague, only Serena and the boy remained calm.

The boy spoke calmly.

“I told you it was true.”

Taking that as a signal, Serena’s sword began to flash again.