Ch.43Chapter 43. Please Forget Me.

Yes, it was hot.

A heat that could melt even the chill left by the Spirit King’s contractor.

She was beginning to feel something developing between herself and him.

“Falling in love? Me?”

Love.

An emotion stronger and more passionate than any desire, but one that forces devotion as its premise.

“Don’t say such foolish things. Who would…”

Something that could never arise in demons who live consumed by selfishness.

If such a thing existed at all, it would be merely lust mistaken for love.

“Who do you think would be enchanted by someone who showed up with such a ruined body? I’m a Demon Tribe member. Just look at all the corpses lying around here—I’m even more damaged than you…”

Demons are a race that uses even reproduction as a means to fulfill their own desires, or as a projection to accomplish what they couldn’t achieve themselves.

How could she claim to have desire toward another when she had kept even that outside her interest, deeming it unhelpful to her goals?

“After committing such acts without feeling much of anything, how could I possibly feel something like that now…”

Yet why couldn’t she dismiss the words left by the one who had departed as a silly joke?

Why couldn’t she put on her usual artificial smile as she looked down at this wounded man?

“…But why?”

-Drip, drop.

As the droplets flowing down washed away the blood on his face.

Without even realizing it, she felt her reason being buried by her emotions, and finally, placing her hand on his cheek, she whispered her innermost thoughts.

“Could it be that I’m thinking I’d like something like that to happen, even if it’s just a remote possibility?”

In the sandy beach of her heart, filled with weathered memories.

In that empty and barren world, the single shining pebble she had discovered felt blindingly bright to her in this moment.

The desire to grasp it in her hand and hold it close to her heart surely originated from an emotion that could be called desire…

“…Hyoseong.”

Love.

An emotion stronger and more passionate than any desire, but one that forces devotion as its premise.

“What feelings drove you to rush to me?”

Yes.

The demon was in love.

“Are you feeling the same thing I am?”

Driven by loyalty that would receive no reward, she had stepped to the threshold of death,

And now felt a passion so intense that she wouldn’t hesitate even to sacrifice herself.

***

“…Cough.”

My body reflexively sat up amid the heat enveloping my entire body.

Along with it, I felt my heavy, sunken consciousness awakening, but even such struggling couldn’t lead to getting up due to something restraining my body.

My body, with muscles and joints constricted by something hard, could only squirm.

Feeling uncomfortable, I turned my head to the side and noticed a man moving around the tent, tending to someone lying on the adjacent bed.

Someone being cared for with their entire body wrapped in bandages…

Probably another patient who looked just as battered as I did.

“Ah, are you conscious now?”

The man, presumably a healer, soon made eye contact with me and began directing his attention toward me.

“…Where am I?”

“Eh, you’re in the medical tent in the garrison area. Don’t worry. We used hemostatic agents and performed emergency surgery. You lost a lot of blood—it could have been really serious.”

The medical tent in the garrison area…

It seemed that while I was unconscious, people from the garrison area had taken me in and treated me.

The large number of patients must be due to the intensity of the Demon Lord’s invasion, but the lack of urgency suggested that the fierce battle had somehow ended.

The Demon Lord’s army had retreated, and we had survived.

Just as I was vaguely guessing this from my past experiences, I suddenly realized that I couldn’t properly feel strength in my lower body.

“…I can’t feel my lower half.”

“Uh… You unfortunately suffered a very serious injury to your lower body. It seems you were hit in a rather… unfortunate place…”

“What do you mean by ‘unfortunate place’? What are you saying?”

“Sigh, I was planning to tell you this after you’d fully recovered.”

The healer sighed deeply and made a bitter expression.

With an ominous feeling rising within me, he soon looked at me with a serious face and said:

“You should know this. Ah… sir, you will no longer be able to… have children. In other words, you won’t be able to have sexual relations.”

“W-what did you say?”

Unable to have sexual relations?

Is that what he meant by being hit in an unfortunate place?

Does that mean I’ve become sexually impotent?

“Impotent? No, what are you saying!! Me, impotent!!!”

“Argh, impotent!!! Me, me impotent!! Ahaaah…!”

Even that bastard Dukhun Oh has a girlfriend, but me, impotent!!!

This can’t be happening! Aaaah!!!

“Well, a cleric will be coming soon to heal you, so you’ll be completely cured anyway.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Oh, don’t you know? Using holy power, injuries can be healed without medicine or surgery, whether they’re fractures or internal injuries.”

Ah right. I’ve been rolling around so much that I forgot this is a fantasy world.

I guess if divine miracles can heal everything except baldness, they can probably heal sexual impotence too.

“You’re lucky. Those who participated in defending the garrison have insurance from the guild, so you can receive treatment for free without having to make donations to the church.”

“…Please don’t act so serious about something that can be healed.”

“Haha, I need to make a joke like this to see your reaction and confirm you’re alright.”

As my irritation subsided at the thought of developing a stress disorder that might reopen my wounds, the tension eased, and I began to remember something I had forgotten.

“…Merilyn.”

Yes, she wasn’t visible around me.

The moment I realized this, a sense of urgency began to overwhelm my heart.

“Where is Merilyn? The minstrel who was with me…”

“If you’re talking about the woman with short white hair and a memorable smile… she left after bringing you here.”

“…She left?”

“Yes, and before leaving, she asked me to give you this note.”

A single note was handed to me in response to my question.

I could vaguely see that the contents of the carefully sealed envelope were quite thick.

“Fortunately, the Demon Lord’s army has retreated and the travel restrictions have been lifted, but I tried to dissuade her because of potential dangers. Still, she said she had something to do and left immediately.”

“Something to do… what was it?”

“She said you’d find out by reading that note. Well, as an outsider, I didn’t open the note, so I’ll take my leave now. I have many people to treat before the clerics arrive.”

With that, the healer checked my condition, handed me just the note, and left his position.

Turning my gaze away from where he had departed, I ignored the stinging sensation in my lower body and examined the letter in my hand.

After all, looking at the note from her who had left my side was more important than wounds that would be healed once the clerics arrived.

I felt relieved that she had left me a letter, which meant she was safe.

To Hyoseong.

But that sense of relief.

I felt it fading as soon as I began reading the letter she had left for me.

By the time you read this letter, I will have already left the area.

To a distant land I call home, not the Empire where you will soon return…

Home, not the Empire?

In this world where everywhere outside the Empire is a danger zone, how can I not be worried?

You don’t need to think it strange.

Every journey must end, and it’s natural that my final destination is my homeland.

Of course, as she said in our first meeting, travel is something familiar to her.

Nevertheless, as I read the letter now, I couldn’t feel reassured by her words.

Because as the letter continued, I could feel the words becoming distorted.

But just today, as I write this letter, returning home feels different.

Just as you treated me specially by trying to save me.

I too feel drawn to you.

As if to confirm that the warmth I felt when I last embraced her wasn’t an illusion.

Through the increasingly intense handwriting, traces of something wet began to appear one by one.

Yes, I’m certain of it.

Although our meeting was brief, lasting only a day, I’m confident that I will remember you even when I should forget after a short time.

I am certain that meeting someone as special as you has been the greatest blessing during my long journey.

And that is precisely why I must leave your side.

No matter how intense the brief time we spent together was, I cannot undo the time I’ve spent until now.

“……”

I am a jester.

A humble person who has devoted a lifetime of loyalty to my lord.

But such an insignificant mission was my foundation, my direction, and my everything.

Because that was the path I’ve walked, no matter how meaningful our day together was, I couldn’t prioritize it.

Even if I felt my loyalty to my lord cooling in our meeting, if I didn’t end our relationship, my foundation would interfere with the days I dream of spending with you.

So I leave your side, keeping the comfort I gained from you in a corner of my heart, to complete my unfinished mission.

To tell my lord that I, having discovered your light, can no longer pledge pure loyalty.

-Rustle.

You can probably guess what treatment awaits a vassal who has betrayed their loyalty.

But please forgive me.

No matter how strongly I feel your heart and wish to connect with it even in this moment.

Given the time I’ve already spent, what I must prioritize is not a future with you, but my past where you did not exist…

-Crinkle. Crack.

The letter crumpled in my clenched fist.

Even that followed the previously formed cracks, and the barely unfolded words began to distort again.

So I have one request for you after reading this letter.

Her feelings, which she believed I had felt before her, just like her own…

Were clearly transmitted through my hands at this moment.

Please forget about me.

Whatever you felt for me, let it pass like a midsummer night’s dream.

Burn this letter along with this indefinite promise and forget it, and live as if you had never met me.

If by some chance we meet again, may that reunion begin not with joy but with a simple greeting…

Considering such modest pleasantries as the extent of what we’re allowed to expect.

“……”

Silently.

After following the contents of the letter with my eyes several times and ruminating on its contents for dozens of minutes.

In the still bustling medical tent, having organized my thoughts, I put down the letter in my hand and burst into laughter.

Well, there’s nothing complicated about the content.

Choosing work over people and relationships becoming strained is something commonly found in society.

“…Rejected again.”

But how could I blame her?

The time she and I spent together was just a day or two, and for that brief time, she is going to express her intentions to the one she has loyally served her entire life.

For someone like me.

It would be excessive greed to blame her for putting her head on the chopping block because meeting me was so precious to her.

“I’ve been properly rejected, really.”

What about Mithril ego weapons and obsession?

In the end, I’m just a Foreign Laborer who wasn’t born with the power of a hero.

No matter how hard someone like me tries, all I can grasp in this cruel world is my own life.

All I can do, lacking the courage to search for her across this treacherous world, is to expect an indefinite meeting as written in the letter.

“…Damn it.”

As I suppressed such self-deprecation with a bitter smile, soon a trivial lamentation began to flow from my mouth.

“Even that bastard Dukhun Oh has a girlfriend, when will I ever get one?”

It was the same lamentation as usual.

Thinking that if such things continue to repeat in the future, I might have to get used to this as well…

***

Several days later.

-Kyaaaooooo!!

The cry of a flying monster echoed under the reddened sky.

The monster, uttering ugly cries from its multiple mouths, carefully let down the person it had been carrying on its back as it landed on the ground.

“Thanks for bringing me this far.”

-Phew!

With a whistle from her mouth, the monster soared into the sky.

After this, once it left her sphere of influence, it would return to the wild and faithfully fulfill its role as a predator as it had done before.

Whether it would grow beyond a monster into a beast, or be eaten by a predator before that, was of no concern.

“Who are you?”

“Why is a human here..?”

Encountering two demons at the entrance of the abandoned castle she had reached after passing through the ruined city, she soon deactivated the magical power covering her body and revealed her appearance that they would find familiar.

Disguise is fundamental for a jester.

Changing her appearance in an instant was a very easy task for her…

“Please tell the Demon Lord.”

Having returned to her appearance as a jester.

She soon spoke in a low voice to the gatekeepers.

“That your jester has returned.”

The Four Heavenly Kings – Mephisto Rage.

The Demon Lord’s oldest follower had finally come to end that connection.