Ch.54Chapter 54. Selective Apology

I thought it was right to apologize.

Setting aside whether I liked it or not, I deeply regretted my carelessness that allowed the porter to be corrupted by the Demon King’s magic.

Yet despite that, I had attacked the porter in the Zramun Archipelago, accusing him of being a demon without knowing the truth.

I had almost killed an innocent party member.

The porter who was already suffering so much.

Guilt burned through Arsil like an uncontrollable fire.

So to apologize, she immediately went to find the room where the porter and Lucy were staying.

“Hey, um… I thought I should apologize to the porter….”

After waiting for quite some time, the door finally opened.

But Lucy closed it again as soon as she saw Arsil.

“Hey! Open up!”

She knocked reflexively but quickly realized she wasn’t in a position to demand anything, so Arsil waited quietly.

She couldn’t hear what was being discussed inside, but the door remained closed for a long time.

Someone coming to apologize couldn’t be pushy.

Instead, Arsil decided to use the waiting time to choose her words of apology.

‘I’m truly sorry. This happened because of my shortcomings.’

‘If it’s okay, would you like to hit me until your anger subsides?’

‘Or should I heal you until my holy power is completely drained?’

Despite her guilt, no matter how she arranged the words, they didn’t feel sincere.

She wanted to apologize properly, but what should she say…

SLAM!

“Ah!”

The door opened again.

Arsil reflexively turned her head and saw the masked porter.

“Whoa! Don’t open it so suddenly!”

“Ravin?”

Hearing the familiar voice, Arsil tried to look inside the room but was blocked by Lin.

Arsil was surprised to notice how tall Lin actually was.

She’d always appeared shorter because she was usually hunched over from carrying the baggage.

Or more likely, Arsil simply hadn’t paid enough attention.

“Is Ravin in there?”

“Do you have business with Lady Ravin? If necessary, I could arrange a meeting?”

“Yes! Ah, no… that’s not it. I came here for you.”

Lin tilted her head instead of answering.

Say it, Arsil.

Hurry.

But something heavy settled in her chest, and the words wouldn’t come out.

What’s wrong with you? Apologize quickly!

“Well, if you have nothing to say, I’ll call Lady Ravin for you.”

“No! It’s just…”

She felt nervous.

It wasn’t like with Lina, where her pride had held her back.

Arsil realized that what was stopping her was embarrassment.

And that made her angry.

Disappointed and angry at herself for hesitating, Arsil suddenly bowed and blurted out:

“I’m sorry! I was stupid for not healing you right away, and also…!”

But she was standing too close.

When she suddenly bent forward, she nearly headbutted Lin who was right in front of her.

Lin pulled back in surprise, moving sideways, but Arsil’s forehead still grazed the mask.

“Lin!”

The mask tilted sideways, revealing Lin’s face.

Fortunately, before Arsil could look up, Lucy slipped between them.

She repositioned the mask so quickly that the guards and servants waiting outside didn’t notice.

“What are you doing! You almost hurt her!”

“I’m really sorry! I didn’t mean to…”

“Get out of here. You’re just causing trouble.”

“Hey! I came to apologize!”

Arsil shouted back at Lucy who was coldly pushing her away.

“Want to try me? Come on. I’ll split you in half along with the palace.”

“Lucy! I didn’t come here to fight!”

“Both of you, please calm down. Raising your voices will only cause rumors throughout the empire.”

Only after Lin intervened did the situation calm down.

Strangely, when he stepped in, Lucy backed off without a word.

“Um… Lin? That’s your name, right? I heard from the mage that your name is Lin. Haha… I just learned that. That your name is Lin.”

As Arsil awkwardly tried to start a conversation again, Ravin appeared, pulling the door open with cross-shaped veins bulging at her temples.

“Ravin!”

“Bring Lucy inside.”

Arsil brightened at seeing Ravin, but Ravin gave a cold command.

Grab!

Lucy seized Arsil by the collar and pulled her inside.

She practically threw her, but Arsil quickly recovered her balance.

The door closed behind them.

“What are you doing!”

“Hello, Arsil.”

“Why are you here?”

“Never mind that. I’ll just say one thing.”

Ravin grabbed her hair tie to fix her disheveled ponytail.

“Is this how someone who came to apologize behaves? Yelling and shouting. Not even paying attention and trying to headbutt the porter.”

“I’m sorry about that…”

“And why are you calling the porter by name? Are you close?”

“…Sorry.”

“Sorry, sorry! Enough already! The word ‘sorry’ isn’t cheap, but you don’t sound sorry at all!”

Finally, Arsil bit her lip and lowered her head.

“What do you want me to do? I’m only good for fighting.”

That lack of confidence—

Lucy found it incredibly irritating.

“I want to apologize properly. I mean it. But I’m too clumsy and impatient, so I mess it up. Ravin, you know how I’ve been like this since the Sewage Alley days.”

She probably thought she was being honest and straightforward, but it was just a crude self-justification.

If she was aware enough of her own personality to explain it like that, she should have been more careful.

‘Ah.’

Lucy realized.

Why she found Arsil so unbearable right now.

It was because they were alike.

A selfish fool who always had “sorry” on her lips but whose actions never matched her words.

She finally understood why Ravin always got angry when looking at Lucy.

Those are just empty words.

“You said you came to apologize, Your Holiness?”

Arsil nodded at Lin’s quiet question.

“To whom did you come to apologize?”

“Obviously to you, the porter…”

“You’re not apologizing to the Hero?”

Ravin, Lucy, and Arsil all found Lin unfamiliar.

If this sharp, cold voice had been directed at them, both Ravin and Lucy would have crumbled under the pressure.

The Holy Maiden likewise kept her mouth shut, intimidated by the mere porter’s presence.

Lucy smirked at the sight.

Arsil, if you knew who the porter really was, would you have been able to just keep quiet after hearing this voice?

A base sense of superiority helped restore Lucy’s pathetic self-esteem a little.

And she was moved that Lin was getting angry on her behalf.

She almost let her expression soften, but thanks to Ravin glaring at her, she managed to keep her composure.

“To Lucy?”

“Yes, to the Hero. Aren’t we all involved in this incident?”

“That’s… a complicated matter.”

Arsil’s excuse wasn’t entirely unreasonable.

With the final battle against the Demon King approaching, Lucy had been grinding her teeth at the nobles and royals who were comfortably staying in the rear.

She had made countless remarks that couldn’t be repeated, statements that even Arsil and Naidrian suspected might be more than simple complaints.

“Then please leave. If you won’t apologize to the Hero, I won’t accept your apology to me either.”

How arrogant for a mere porter, she thought.

Arsil genuinely believed that the porter’s corruption by demonic energy and her betrayal of Lucy were separate issues.

“You’ve changed.”

“What?”

“You used to say you always acted based on loyalty and trust, but now you’re calculating gains and losses.”

“What do you know…!”

“Alright! That’s enough!”

Ravin hurriedly clapped her hands when she saw that Lin didn’t back down even in the face of Arsil’s menacing expression.

“Ravin! I’m not finished yet!”

“Yes, you are. It’s all over. You’ll thank me later for cutting you off here.”

“Hey!”

At Ravin’s signal, Lucy tucked Lin under her arm.

Lin asked urgently:

“You’re not going to leap, are you?”

“No, I’m just going to run.”

“Ah, I see.”

That’s going to be incredibly shaky.

Haha, if it were a leap, he could have maintained his posture in mid-air without much movement.

He might throw up afterward.

“Wait, Ravin! I have something to give you, it’s for Lee…”

“La la la! I can’t hear you!”

Ravin deliberately cut off Arsil’s words, glancing nervously at Lin as she kept trying to dig her own grave.

“Let’s go, Lucy!”

“Got it!”

But there was one thing even the versatile Ravin hadn’t predicted:

CRASH!

“Huh…?”

Lucy’s overwhelming physical abilities.

She smashed through the door with her shoulder as she rushed out.

Watching their rapidly disappearing figures, Ravin quickly gathered her wits.

“I’m going too!”

“Ravin, please! Just give this to Lee. You’re free to move around, so you can do it, right? Please!”

What Arsil held out was a small sewing kit.

A small gift she had carefully chosen for Lee, who did a lot of chores including cooking.

Ravin stared at it for a moment, then gritted her teeth.

“Deliver it yourself.”

“But because of my position as the Holy Maiden…”

“Then I can’t either, as the ruler of Valtercrois. I’m just as busy as you.”

And the thief left with one final remark.

“Don’t look for reasons why you can’t, find reasons why you must, Arsil.”

That was her last act of friendship for an old comrade.

Meanwhile,

“Urgh… ugh!”

“Are you okay?”

“No… not at all…”

Ow, my head is spinning.

Lin opened his mouth and gulped in a lungful of air.

“Want me to pat your back?”

“That might actually be more dangerous.”

His spine might break.

After gasping for breath for a while, Lin opened his eyes when he heard someone repeatedly clearing their throat.

“Ahem, ahem.”

Originally, she was a scholar before being an archer.

A botanist, specifically.

Lee’s memories as a transmigrator informed him that she was always holed up in the imperial library, which was full of rare books.

“This is a place for reading and research, so could you please be quiet?”

Our shy, inconspicuous high elf archer.

Naidrian was narrowing her eyes with her index finger pressed against her lips.