Ch.243Invitation (2)

# Cherry’s exhibition invitation proceeded unexpectedly easily. I thought she would hesitate several times due to her oppressive family environment, but she accepted readily as soon as I made the offer.

She accepted so easily that I was the one left feeling dazed. When I carefully asked if she was concerned about her family, her answer made my head spin.

‘Your invitation is far more important than my family, senior.’

As soon as I heard that, I hurriedly questioned her out of some inexplicable anxiety. What if she got caught?

Her subsequent response was truly something. Cherry blinked her characteristically hazy eyes slowly, tilted her head, and answered.

‘Is there anything scarier than being ignored by you, senior?’

…It was a statement that seemed off in many ways, but I’m satisfied just knowing she’ll come to the exhibition. It seems she’s also managed to work through some of her family trauma.

Besides that, I asked about the progress of her next volume. From what I heard, she may not pay much attention in class, but she writes diligently.

Cherry, like me, plans her storylines in advance before writing, so her work pace doesn’t slow down.

Apparently, now that a month has passed since the release of her first volume, she could release the second volume if she just finishes the final touches.

I was equally curious about her new release, so I jokingly urged her to hurry. But Cherry, unable to take jokes as jokes, made a solemn vow.

What kind of vow?

‘If I don’t keep my promise, I’ll cut my wrists.’

‘No, that’s really not necessary.’

‘No. It’s your instruction, senior. I must follow it unconditionally.’

‘…’

With a resolution to never joke with Cherry again, I returned to my dormitory. Classes are all finished, and since it’s exam period, I have plenty of free time.

Naturally, I’m pouring all my remaining time into writing. Starting from volume 17, but especially from volume 19, demons including the Seven Deadly Sins begin to emerge in earnest.

Satan has already died gloriously, so he obviously won’t appear, but the rest of the Seven Deadly Sins will make their appearances one after another.

However, Pride and Gluttony will appear a bit later as they’re scheduled to be dealt with by Xenon and Jin respectively. They’ll be the driving forces for these two characters’ growth, so I have to postpone them.

Anyway, humanity has established an allied force after tremendous effort and hardship, but the demons are extremely powerful. The most terrifying aspect of demons is their overwhelming numbers.

Even Alfheim couldn’t withstand those numbers; despite their resistance, they were eventually pushed back. Moreover, if not for the noble sacrifices of heroes, Diablos might have been resurrected.

Fortunately, demons don’t directly invade while waiting for Diablos’s resurrection, but that doesn’t mean they can be ignored.

Here, the elves who lost Alfheim are grinding their teeth in anger. After the demons’ surprise invasion, the elves of Alfheim hurriedly escaped to the region where dark elves reside.

However, the deep-rooted conflict between elves and dark elves has been difficult to narrow. They argue with each other, and there are particularly intense clashes between the older generation of elves and the younger generation of dark elves.

This phenomenon is very similar to reality. The older generation of dark elves perceives Alfheim as their spiritual homeland, while the younger generation does not.

Conversely, the younger generation of elves just heard about dark elves and let it slide, but the older generation of elves rejects them as heretics.

This is where the female protagonist and elf woman, Merry, steps in. Having traveled the world with Xenon for a long time, Merry has an open mindset.

Moreover, having witnessed Alfheim’s downfall due to the council’s blunders right before her eyes, she must be beyond furious at their conflicts.

Not to mention there are warriors who are frantically insisting on reclaiming Alfheim without properly assessing their forces.

The reason for this situation is none other than the absence of a “leader” among the elves. More precisely, there’s no suitable figure to unite them.

The dark elf elder is too frail and on his last legs, while the Elf Queen is still in a state of ruin.

It’s a total crisis, perfectly exemplifying the elves’ characteristic inability to unite during crucial times.

‘To overcome this…’

In times of chaos, a “hero” is always needed. A noble being like the elf heroes who sacrificed themselves to prevent Diablos’s resurrection.

If a hero doesn’t appear where one is needed, it leads directly to destruction. Merry will become such a heroic figure and will endure hardships no less challenging than Xenon’s.

Not only will she suffer mentally, but she’ll also lose one of her ears—a symbol of elves—in battle with Lust, Lilith.

‘Merry employs a rather bold fighting style for an elf, so…’

Merry’s personality is so gallant and straightforward that the word “heroine” suits her perfectly. She’s the first character to showcase the legendary Hectopascal Kick.

But strangely, she’s neither ignorant nor reckless. Rather, she maintains composure during battle and is sharp-minded enough to turn the tide with appropriate magic.

Weapons? Merry doesn’t need such things. She just pummels her opponents with her fists.

While Xenon’s characteristic is precision through swordsmanship learned from his master, Kayre, Merry primarily uses martial arts she’s acquired over decades of traveling the world.

Looking at Merry’s battles so far, one can roughly understand her style. She might even shatter the stereotypes of a magician.

Of course, Merry’s fighting style is only possible because she’s an elf; humans couldn’t even attempt it. Humans have to recite incantations even for simple magic.

In fact, Merry’s fighting style is closer to that of a demon race than an elf. She throws fiery punches like in a certain pirate manga.

‘On the other hand, Cecil… no, Lilith is…’

I’ve mentioned before that the Seven Deadly Sin that Merry faces is Lust, Lilith.

And Lilith creates a rivalry with the female protagonist Merry, showing contrasting aspects in various ways.

First, they’re of different races. Although Lilith has become a demon, she was originally of the demon race, while Merry is, as everyone knows, an elf.

Moreover, Lilith has experienced losing a loved one right before her eyes in the past, while Merry, though awkwardly, has connected with Xenon.

It’s a bonus that Merry provokes Lilith with this fact. This leads to an enraged Lilith showing a weakness, resulting in a fatal wound.

‘Still, she cuts off one ear.’

The battle between Merry and Lilith continues for more than three days and nights. My father told me that battles between strong individuals aren’t about who’s stronger, but about endurance and improvisation.

Assuming they have equal skills, the “worst” case will inevitably come. Therefore, one should always prepare for the worst, not the best, especially in life-or-death battles.

In this aspect, Merry had an advantage over Lilith, leading to her victory. An injury where an ear—a symbol and identity for elves—is cut off?

For Merry, ears aren’t important; the future and the continuation of the world are more important. After all, she needs to save the world to marry Xenon and have children.

This mindset becomes one of the decisive factors for Merry to lead the elf alliance later and establishes the identity of elves as “us” rather than “you and me.”

It seems somewhat like elf-style communism, but let’s move on. It’s probably just my imagination that Arwen comes to mind.

‘And Lilith…’

Lilith’s end is… regrettable in many ways. While Xenon rushes to support Merry upon hearing the news, Lilith is betrayed by her own comrade.

The Seven Deadly Sin who betrays her is Pride, Lucifer, who is known as a traitor among elves. Lucifer coldly looks down at the dying Lilith and kills her without a moment’s hesitation.

Killing a comrade is already outrageous, but the absurd statement Lucifer makes after killing Lilith is even more so. Something about how she should have become nourishment for Diablos long ago.

What’s even more tragic is that Lilith calls out her ex-lover’s name until her dying breath. She’ll be imprinted in people’s minds as a character symbolizing the tragedy of the demon race in many ways.

The same goes for Lucifer, who symbolizes the arrogance of elves. He even leaves without acknowledging Xenon and Merry, unaware that his choice threatens himself.

‘This will generate a lot of anti-fans.’

The cliché of villains killing their subordinates or comrades is countless. But despite being a cliché, it delivers a significant shock to viewers.

If it was like this in my previous life’s media, how much more so here? He might be treated as worse than a bastard.

‘It’s fortunate that people don’t pay attention to names.’

If people also considered names as a kind of prophecy… I don’t even want to imagine. The name Lucifer isn’t common, but that’s why it might be suspicious.

Perhaps even if I deny it, they might witch-hunt me for insulting the Biography of Xenon. This is also why I canceled the illustrations.

As I continued writing diligently, my hand started to ache, so I put down my magic pen. Everything is good except the absence of a typewriter in this world.

Since typewriters were invented at least after the Industrial Revolution, it’ll be a long time before they appear. Even though there are printing houses, I haven’t heard any news about typewriters.

‘If possible, I’d like to publish before the exhibition.’

There are about 20 days left until the vacation, and exactly one month until the exhibition. At my current pace, it’s certainly possible, but if I continue like this, my hands won’t hold up.

I’ve been writing intensively to survive, and I also have to balance my studies, so the hardship is considerable.

There are certainly writing machines or magic for copying, but they’re closer to “copying.” What I need isn’t a printing press but a typewriter.

That would make my work speed much faster, which is very regrettable. No lie, I’m confident I could release one volume every two weeks.

‘Just greed, I guess.’

Anyway, let me write. My goal is to complete volume 19 before the exhibition.

Knock knock knock-

Just as the tip of my pen touched the manuscript paper, I heard someone knocking. I looked up towards the door.

There’s no one who would visit at this hour. Thinking it might be an academy official, I got up.

“Yes, I’m coming.”

Click-

After carefully opening the door a moment later, who could it be?

It was Gartz Balack, Cecilly’s knight guard, standing right in front of the door, not an academy official or Adelia.

A demon race with curved horns like bull horns, unlike Cecilly. Due to Mora’s tantrums, I’ve been in frequent contact with Gartz as visits to Helium have increased.

However, I usually call for him first; this is the first time Gartz has come to me. And so politely, even knocking.

“Mr. Gartz?”

As I tilted my head wondering why he would visit, Gartz opened his mouth with his characteristically cold voice.

“Have you been well?”

Though his voice is cold, his polite manner of speaking to me is impressive. He may seem chilly on the outside, but he has a strangely warm sensibility.

As I received his polite bow, I suddenly noticed he was holding something in his hands.

It was all black but rectangular, with a longer width than height. Just by looking at it, it resembled a keyboard from my previous life.

What could it be? I’m even more curious because it’s none other than Gartz who’s holding it.

“What is that?”

“Ah, this. It’s something Helium directly manufactured, thinking it might help our benefactor.”

“For me?”

I tilted my head again at the mention that it was made by Helium, not just by Gartz personally. It seems he’s delivering it on behalf of Cecilly, who’s busy preparing for exams.

Meanwhile, Gartz entered the dormitory with a brief “excuse me.” Normally, outsiders are prohibited, but it’s only nominally prohibited and meaningless at this point.

Following that, he noticed the manuscript on the desk and flinched, then started to look at me cautiously. As soon as I confirmed this, I immediately put the manuscript in the desk drawer.

After I put the manuscript away, Gartz bowed apologetically.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were busy…”

“No, no. It’s fine. By the way, what is that object used for?”

I’m curious about the identity of the object. In response to my question, Gartz sighed deeply as if nervous, then placed it on the desk.

Placed on the desk, it really looks like a keyboard. It has the characters used in this world arranged on it, as well as special characters…

‘…Huh?’

Wait. This is actually a keyboard. What on earth have these people made?

As I stared at the keyboard-like object with a puzzled expression, Gartz cleared his throat and provided an explanation.

His voice trembled slightly, as if he was nervous, which was a point of interest given his usually cold tone.

“As I mentioned earlier, it’s an invention from Helium to help our benefactor in any way possible. The finest craftsmen of Helium put their heart and soul into it.”

“…”

“First, this button is for power, which literally allows you to turn the device on or off. And if you turn it on…”

Flash!

As soon as he pressed a familiar button, the keyboard(?) emitted a blue light. Honestly, anyone would recognize this as a keyboard.

Regardless, Gartz continued his explanation with a proud voice.

“It lights up like this. If you press these characters, a message will be displayed in mid-air. For example, if I type my name…”

Tap- Tap- Tap-

Our knight guard Gartz, typing his name carefully with the famous eagle typing method. It’s hard to believe this person is a reaper who treats human lives as trivial.

But Gartz was always serious. He nodded once after seeing his name displayed in mid-air.

“Do you have any spare paper?”

“…Here.”

I took out a sheet of paper from the drawer and handed it to him. Gartz then inserted the paper into a tiny gap beneath the keyboard.

He then pressed another specific button, and with a whirring sound, the paper was drawn into the keyboard. Just like a common “copier” from my previous life.

And then…

Whirr-

The paper emerged from a gap at the top of the keyboard. At the top of the paper, Gartz’s name, which he had just typed, was clearly imprinted.

I couldn’t help but look dumbfounded at this. I thought it was just a simple keyboard, but it’s at the level of combining a keyboard and a printer.

A true product of science and magic, combining a keyboard and a printer. Is this really possible?

“…Mr. Gartz.”

“Yes, please speak.”

“How did you make this?”

At that question, Gartz smiled proudly and answered with a confident voice.

“Magic. After you began dating the princess, the king devised this to help you.”

“…”

“If it ever breaks down, please let me know anytime. I’ll come right away.”

As soon as I heard that, I immediately said to Gartz:

“Do you need more autographs?”

Long live magic.