Ch.61How to Cross the Desert (8)

The Loner.

The girl always thought she belonged in that category.

Never receiving any love in life, wandering a lonely journey, destined to drift without a home.

Perhaps she was a vessel meant to contain sorrow.

“Don’t call me mother.”

“It gives me the creeps.”

“My life was ruined because of you…!”

“Get lost! Stop getting in my way!!”

Her mother abused the girl while crying every time.

When she was kicked while cornered in a tight space, Lezia began to slowly understand her world.

From the beginning, she never had a home to stay in.

“I-I’m sorry… Mom.”

“It’s my fault. Please, please don’t cry…”

Was it because of her pure nature from birth?

The girl couldn’t hate others.

Even watching her mother shed tears, she could only repeat apologies as if she were the criminal.

The protagonist of this world grew up embracing such an unfortunate environment.

As time passed, Lezia became smaller.

She lost her originally innocent self and turned into a mute who struggled with even basic communication.

She was the product created by ugly adults.

“Why, really.”

When she was somewhat older, the girl’s mother died in an accident.

She was hit by a carriage while walking down the street in a drunken state.

It was a meaningless end.

Since a father never existed to begin with, the girl instantly became an orphan.

Lezia had to leave the slums to survive.

“W-where should I go…?”

She walked aimlessly.

Perhaps due to childhood trauma.

The girl became afraid of people.

Thanks to this, even while traveling across the continent, she lived as a wanderer in places with minimal human presence.

She ran and ran from the fear of breaking her shell.

For the girl, loneliness was like an absolute proposition that would never break.

Tears would flow when walking under the cold night sky.

It felt like living as an eternal outsider.

Whenever that happened, she thought to herself.

Perhaps what her mother had told her was right.

“A useless girl like you… should never have been born in the first place.”

It was still a suffocating statement.

After all, her very existence had been denied by the person who created her.

The protagonist’s depression deepens.

Repeated sadness, doubt, loneliness.

Just as she tried to close her heart to the world, an umbrella someone had placed over her caught her sleeve.

It was a gentle voice.

“So here you are, Miss Lezia.”

Narrow eyes with deep golden hair.

For the first time, someone stepped into her lonely world.

From then on, the snake steadfastly remained by the girl’s side.

When she was sad, he patted her back; when she was happy, he clapped along; when she was tired, he stroked her head.

It was an infinitely warm comfort.

“We’re friends, after all.”

The boy asked for nothing from Lezia.

He simply helped her time and again.

It was truly blind devotion.

Gradually, the girl’s winter began to thaw.

“I’m sure you can do it well.”

“Because if it’s Miss Lezia, you’ll become a star that shines brighter than anyone.”

What could be the reason?

Why would someone as amazing as you cherish someone as unremarkable as herself?

Why do you always smile with such loving eyes?

“It’s a secret.”

Questions were only met with mischievous smiles.

While such responses made her heart feel tight, she couldn’t help but think that was just like you.

‘…I want to be helpful too.’

She wanted to protect you.

She felt the desire to repay that unconditional devotion, trust, and expectation.

She didn’t want to lose the light she had found for the first time.

Thump-thump-thump-thump-.

Her heart beats rapidly.

The innocent pulsing gently colors the girl.

She opens her closed eyes.

“……”

A quiet dawn.

Before her eyes, tens of thousands of scorpions bare their teeth.

A horrific scene.

Keeeeek-!

Kyarluk!

Kuaaaak!!

The monsters seem close enough to reach out and touch.

While the usual Lezia would have burst into tears at such a sight, this time she was calmly shining her eyes.

A star twinkles beyond her transparent pupils.

‘I feel strange.’

The world flows slowly.

As if time itself is stopping.

Simultaneously, a tingling sensation is felt.

Light softly circling at her fingertips.

A hot heat rises from her chest.

What melts her inner self, frozen with fear, was none other than the emotion called ‘courage.’

For the first time, her body didn’t tremble.

“When you’re afraid, hold my hand.”

“No matter what happens, I will never let go of Miss Lezia.”

A voice whispers in her ear.

Looking down, she truly sees the boy’s hand wrapping around her own.

An intense feeling of fulfillment rushes in.

‘I think I can do it.’

The girl concentrates her consciousness.

The massive wall in her mind.

That obstacle which had brought her disappointment time and again—now, she felt she could overcome it.

Lezia squeezed the hand she was holding.

‘I’m not scared.’

She murmurs as if casting a spell on herself.

The warm temperature felt on the back of her hand.

The girl quietly savored it.

If she could safely make it through this pitch-black dawn, she wanted to have her head stroked by this hand once more.

With such a frivolous wish behind her, she moves her lips.

“Lend me your strength.”

She issues the call.

To the summon that had always been waiting for the protagonist’s awakening, eager to appear.

Lezia calmly recites the name.

“Ephri.”

Immediately after.

A pure white flash envelops the area.

Fireworks illuminating the pitch-black night sky.

The silhouette brilliantly lighting the surroundings was none other than magnificently flapping wings.

A mighty roar echoes.

Kuooooo-!!

Ephri gallantly crosses the sky.

Only after seeing that scene could Lezia finally burst into tears she had been holding back.

It was a flood of crying.

“Miss Lezia.”

Someone catches her collapsing body.

As she blinks her eyes with difficulty, sure enough, the golden-haired boy appears in her vision.

Relief washes over her.

The girl murmurs while catching her breath.

“I-I… did it.”

She had finally overcome the wall.

***

The protagonist’s awakening that no one had expected.

After the wyvern’s appearance, the tide of battle was instantly reversed.

Kwaaaaa-!!

With a single breath, the area is annihilated.

The scorpions that had covered the golden desert in black are helplessly swept away by the rushing flames.

It was truly an overwhelming sight.

The dawn covered in pitch darkness.

The white flash completely removes the darkness that had covered the world.

As if determined not to leave even a trace of despair, flames pour out from the massive jaws again and again.

The wave of demonic beasts shatters into mere ashes.

Even amid all this, not a single spark flew toward our side.

This demonstrated not only overwhelming attack power capable of covering the earth, but also the ability for precise control.

Indeed, it deserved to be considered the strongest summon without dispute.

“Amazing.”

A softly escaping exclamation.

I was blankly staring at the brilliantly colored light.

So a summon can be this powerful.

I had vaguely guessed it, but seeing it directly with my own eyes was truly admirable.

It must have been only about 10 minutes.

While we were catching our breath, it was massacring all the scorpions crawling in the desert.

Like an excavator digging up an anthill.

Well.

Every creature has its own “class” of existence.

Among them, Lezia’s summon, [Ephri], was one that far transcended the ordinary level.

Even Judas in the original work described those flames as dangerous.

‘Of course, he made it disappear with just a flick of his finger.’

I shake off the random thoughts that come to mind.

While maintaining silence, Lezia, who was nestled in my arms, begins to stir.

“Y-young master… what’s happening?”

“It’s almost over.”

Green eyes with unfocused pupils.

She was barely conscious.

The girl was embracing me, leaning her head against my chest, as if entrusting her body to me.

Her once rough breathing now seemed stable.

“I… I succeeded… I was scared, but I overcame it.”

“You really did well, Miss Lezia.”

“I wanted to be helpful to you, young master, even just once.”

“Thanks to you, we’re all alive.”

“He-hehe… please stroke my head a little more.”

Pat, pat.

Lezia melts under the gentle touch.

As if this moment was truly happy, pure smiles were dropping from the corners of her mouth.

It seemed she had loosened up due to her hazy consciousness.

“Hehe.”

While enjoying the protagonist’s unusual state, someone approaches with tired steps.

It was an old man holding a broken crossbow.

“Young ones.”

“Elder.”

“Tsk tsk… I didn’t expect to see your faces alive like this again.”

“It’s truly a miraculous thing.”

“I really thought this was the end.”

The old man smiles gently.

His aged eyes remain silent for a moment, then soon gaze toward the horizon where dawn is breaking.

Morning was arriving in the desert.

“I thought I wouldn’t see today’s sun… life is truly unpredictable.”

The desert gradually brightening.

The intense final assault seemed to be coming to an end.

Ephri was approaching us, trampling the last remaining scorpions.

It seemed to be coming to check on its master’s condition.

Just as everything seemed to be wrapping up.

“Cough, cough…!”

Suddenly, the old man standing beside us coughs.

Clutching his chest as if in pain, dark red blood soon pours onto the ground.

Though I had witnessed this several times before.

This time, his condition looked particularly bad.

“Are you alright?”

“Huff, huff… don’t worry about me.”

The old man waves his hand dismissively.

He wipes the blood from his mouth and then smiles brightly as he speaks.

A voice without even a trace of trembling.

“Our destination is finally within reach.”

“……”

“Take a short rest, and once you’ve recovered somewhat, we’ll move right away.”

The old man looked calmer than ever before.

***

The battle that ended in the morning.

It was only after a full half day that we could continue our journey.

This was due to the final wave that had continued throughout the night.

We walked with the reddening sunset at our backs.

Crunch, crunch-.

Footprints left behind as we stepped on the sand.

The snake, the summoner, and the old man… the three people walked the final path toward their destination.

Even then, the coughing wouldn’t stop.

“Cough, cough…!”

“E-elder!”

The old man’s symptoms were getting worse.

He kept coughing up bright red blood.

But there was nothing we could do.

We could only support his staggering legs and keep moving forward.

Despite looking almost like a corpse, the old man was smiling from ear to ear.

He seemed to be waiting for the reunion that would soon follow.

“When I was young, Rosalyn and I used to play on the hills…”

The old man occasionally told us stories of the old days.

Most were about the girl.

Despite having lived for 65 years.

The only things he mentioned were the 15 years spent together in his hometown.

We quietly listened.

“When we cooked together, the kitchen would always end up a mess.”

Innocent stories.

Sometimes we read books with the two people in his memories, learned clumsy magic, and watched them playing in the forest.

Lying side by side on the highest hill in the village.

They would count the stars in the night sky one by one.

That was the entirety of the life the old man had loved.

“Whenever our parents saw us…”

Thanks to him, there was no time to be bored.

The desert gradually deepened.

As we got closer to our destination, the surrounding landscape was changing in a strange way.

It took us some time to notice it.

“What’s this…?”

“Hmm.”

At first, there were just strange fragments scattered on the ground.

As Lezia had mentioned before, remnants of buildings appeared to be buried among the sand.

But such scenery became increasingly obvious.

A church cross protruding from the ground.

Windmills standing half-destroyed.

Buildings positioned as if people had once lived there.

“……”

We were no longer in a desert.

We were simply walking through the middle of a devastated city.

As we crossed the ruins swallowed by sand, Lezia, who had been observing cautiously, suddenly asked a question.

“Y-young master… are we going the right way?”

“The elder knows the way.”

“This doesn’t look like an ordinary desert no matter how you look at it. It’s as if people once lived in this city.”

“It’s certainly strange. How did it end up in such a terrible state?”

“…I’m a little scared.”

Quietly exchanged conversation.

The old man hadn’t moved his mouth for quite some time.

He was just silently leading the way.

Occasionally he would scan the surroundings and flinch, but even that lasted only for a fleeting moment.

We followed him despite our doubts.

It was already nighttime.

The starlight flows toward dawn, sinking gradually.

As we rubbed our tired eyes and stepped through the dark streets one by one.

Only then did the old man stop.

“……”

We seemed to have arrived.

We were standing on a sand-covered hill somewhat distant from the village.

Lezia, who was beside me, asked.

“Elder?”

“……”

“Are you feeling unwell again? If so, I think it would be good to take a short rest.”

“……”

“E-elder…?”

No answer returned.

The girl raised a question mark.

After holding a meaningful silence for a moment, the old man’s lips finally parted.

“…We’ve arrived.”

“W-what?”

Lezia tilted her head at the unexpected statement.

However, despite such a reaction, the old man simply pointed to something standing in front of him with a calm gesture.

There was a single tombstone placed modestly.

An old tombstone with traces of time.

Part of it was covered with sand, but fortunately, there seemed to be no signs of damage.

We blankly read the words engraved on the stone.

And then.

[Rosalyn Meriar, Rests Here.]

We discovered the shocking sentence.

After being frozen in shock, we turned our gaze back to the old man.

“You all look surprised.”

The old man wore a bitter smile.

As if he had known from the beginning, he was simply slowly caressing the tombstone before him.

The aged voice spoke.

“I’ll explain what happened in this desert.”

His transparent pupils were shining quietly.