Ch.73Chapter 73. You Have Only Lin

“You’ve worked hard, Denarua.”

Enchantress Adora greeted the dual-wielder who was visibly exhausted.

Denarua looked at Adora with displeasure, but the enchantress only responded with a gentle smile.

“I could have killed him.”

“And you might have been injured as well. We need to conserve our strength as much as possible for the final confrontation.”

“Right after awakening is when they’re easiest to kill.”

“That doll is someone Lin chose as a party member. If you had killed him right in front of Lin, against his wishes, he might have come to hate you.”

“…I wouldn’t want that.”

Denarua sighed heavily and plopped down on the sofa.

With the soft comfort of the cushions and her extreme fatigue, she immediately closed her eyes.

“Congratulations~.”

But the tactless spear-wielder approached, dragging out the end of her words.

“For what?”

“You finally made the Second feel despair. Yaaawn~. She really was a shameless woman.”

“Hmph, she was destined to realize it herself eventually and end up in that state anyway.”

“Reeeeally?”

Of course, it had been quite satisfying to see the Second Magician’s expression gradually distort at Lin’s cold words.

Since becoming a demon, Denarua had never felt such great pleasure.

But that wasn’t the important part.

“I sensed my brother in Lin’s soul.”

“Your brother? Guerrero?”

“It’s very faint, but the resonance of my brother’s soul is unmistakable.”

Her senses, sharpened from her time in hell, had barely allowed her to detect it.

When Lin appeared, tearing through space, Denarua was surprised not only by his suddenly increased power but also because she discovered a golden light clinging to the edge of his crimson-glowing soul.

“Guerrero… Yes! I thought Lin seemed unusually kind. So he’s something like Guerrero’s reincarnation.”

“If it’s reincarnation, it’s reincarnation. What do you mean by ‘something like’?”

“But the soul isn’t actually Guerrero’s, right?”

Whenever they talked about Lin, Salamei’s eyes would light up, and she would eagerly engage in the conversation, breaking free from her usual laziness.

Denarua also felt less lonely when talking about Lin.

“Guerrero… There are certainly similarities.”

Adora joined the conversation.

She recalled the Second Hero who had saved her when she was constantly forced to lie before becoming a demon.

Even so, all he had done was tell her tormentors to stop, and the coercion continued the next day.

“Guerrero once told me to rest when I was working too hard.”

Salamei had been sold to a circus troupe and was forced to master elaborate spear techniques without even time to sleep, all while being beaten by the ringmaster. Guerrero was the one who had allowed her to rest for just one day.

“He was always kind and embraced everyone.”

Denarua also sank into memories of Guerrero.

“But the one I love is Lin, you know?”

Cowardly, Adora cut through their reminiscence after being the one who had initiated it.

Salamei hastily agreed with her.

“Yes, yes! Guerrero showed us a moment of kindness, but Lin is our savior! He rescued us from the cycle of endless suffering!”

“Hmph, he’s foolishly kind.”

“Whyyy~? Denarua, you fell for him then too, didn’t you?”

“T-that! He was being unfair. And we’re all fools for falling for someone who saves others!”

“That’s not quite right.”

Adora refuted Denarua’s excuse as her face turned red.

“By saving her, Lin saved us as well. The look in his eyes when he endured all that pain to rescue her—you all saw it too, didn’t you?”

That’s right.

The reason the demon heroes adored him despite having no prior connection with Lin.

It was because he had freed them from their endless shackles through tearful self-sacrifice and devotion.

That small desire that bloomed in that moment:

To be loved by him.

Perhaps he, unlike other humans who treated them like garbage, would give them a warm smile.

If they were in pain, he would hold them and ask if they were okay; if they were sad, he would wipe away their tears; if they were lonely, he would stay by their side.

Even Denarua, who had experienced brotherly affection, had never known love.

They wanted to possess him.

Just as he had done for them, the demon heroes wanted to rescue him from his suffering.

“Yes, you’re right… I like Lin too.”

“Hehe, you’re so dishonest.”

“Shut up!”

As she buried herself back in the bed, her large chest heaved.

Covering her burning face with both hands, Denarua muttered:

“But this… wouldn’t be incest, would it?”

—

The sun was slowly rising over the devastated town of Gilesman.

Lin was stretched out asleep in the middle of the campsite.

Tigria was also snoring lightly, using Lin’s stomach as a pillow.

The two, who had completely passed out from exhaustion, felt the ground trembling.

“What is it…?”

“Mmm… I want to sleep a little more…”

Lin raised his head with difficulty, while Tigria squirmed on his stomach.

The two jumped up at the sound that rang out with the intense vibration.

“Come on over! The golden carriage that has everything except what it doesn’t have! If you’ve got money, you can get food, daily necessities… Wait, what?”

The postal carrier, who had been reciting his sales pitch like a mantra with his eyes closed, slightly opened his eyelids to check his surroundings when there was no response, unlike before.

“Well damn, I brought everything except what’s not available, but all the customers seem to have died!”

“I’m right here.”

“Waaaaaah!”

The postal carrier screamed when Lin, who looked like a corpse, suddenly appeared.

“Stop screaming and give me four strips of bacon, four eggs, a pen, ink, and some paper, please.”

“…What on earth happened here?”

Though asking suspiciously, the postal carrier faithfully retrieved what Lin had requested from the golden carriage.

“Twelve silver coins.”

“That’s expensive, can you—no, never mind. Take the payment from what you’ll pay me for this.”

“This… isn’t this a cursed item? I sense something ominous.”

“You’re not buying it?”

“Of course I am.”

What Lin handed over was the Night Count’s jewel that he had taken from the expedition leader.

He planned to sell it anyway, since keeping it would force him to transform into a vampire, and even storing it in his inventory felt unsettling because it was a cursed item.

The postal carrier, wearing specially treated gloves, turned it over and examined it before spreading all five fingers.

“Five thousand?! No, this contains the essence of a vampire, and you’re only offering five thousand?”

“No, five hundred.”

“That’s ridiculous! You highway robber!”

“My, what harsh language from a customer. Keep that up and I might actually become a highway robber.”

Lin decided to keep quiet.

If he continued, the price might drop even lower from five hundred.

“As you said, it’s a rare and valuable item, but how are you going to dispose of it once you leave? How will you explain its origin? In our world postal service, I just take it, put it on display, and people say ‘wow, something interesting came in’ and it sells right away.”

“If it sells right away, you should pay me more.”

“Ah, I’m feeling generous. I won’t charge you for these sundries then.”

“……”

If it had been Ravin, he would have cleaned out everything in the golden carriage while talking.

Unable to even curse, Lin had to swallow his frustration and accept the terms.

“Five hundred gold coins.”

“Haa, please send 100 of those coins to High Elf Naidrian as investor Lee, via express mail, like last time.”

“For someone with money, you should use better services.”

“…I’m going to write a letter, and I’ll use ultra-rapid delivery for that, so please wait.”

“Ohhh! Is this a time-delayed attack?!”

Shaking his head, Lin returned to Tigria and sat on a rock to prepare to write his letter.

“Lin, what are you doing?”

“And what are you doing?”

“Looking at Lin.”

Tigria was looking up at him with her arms resting on his knees.

He felt an unexpectedly heavy sensation on his thighs.

“I’m going to write a letter.”

“To whom?”

“To Lucy. I feel like she might be reaching her limit soon.”

“I see.”

“By the way, Tigria, your way of speaking has changed.”

The magician responded with a gentle smile.

Lin, unaccustomed to looking into people’s eyes, turned his gaze back to the letter paper.

“When starting a letter, it’s a conventional custom to write ‘To my beloved so-and-so.'”

“I-I see.”

This time, she rested her chin on his shoulder and looked at the letter paper together.

Her purple hair tickled his cheek.

“There’s a typo here.”

“Thanks.”

After completing the letter with Tigria’s help, Lin approached the world postal carrier again.

When he placed 15 gold coins in his hand for the ultra-rapid postal fee, the carrier’s attitude changed completely.

“So if I describe the recipient’s characteristics, you’ll deliver the letter accordingly?”

“Yes! Love, hatred, information—we deliver anywhere!”

“Then this is for Hero Lucy.”

“W-what?! The Hero? If I may ask, might your name be…?”

When the postal carrier reacted intensely, Lin hastily waved his hands while wearing his mask.

“Ah, I’m just a porter. This is a letter to let her know I’m doing well with my errands.”

“I see! With demons returning, I’ll deliver this quickly to the busy hero party!”

“I’m counting on you.”

As he watched the carrier’s back quickly disappear using space-compression magic, Porter Lin stretched leisurely.

Wow, that’s a top-tier ultimate skill, but an ordinary postal carrier uses it so casually.

“Even though we’ve been apart for quite some time, there’s been no news. I wonder if Lucy’s dependency has improved?”

Despite several days having passed, there had been no news from the island.

The previous Lucy would have likely made headlines for destroying either people or buildings, but so far there had been nothing.

“That’s good. She must be doing much better. It seems she’s ready to graduate from needing me.”

The time was when Lin and Tigria were in the midst of battle with Denarua.

Lucy’s entire body was drenched in sweat.

In the midst of endless nightmares and auditory hallucinations, Lucy was enduring by thinking only of Lin.

“I miss Lin…”

Endure it.

Think about how you’ll behave when he returns, and organize your thoughts again.

It was a difficult and painful process, but after forcibly recalling each detail and engraving it in her heart, her expression would change to one of determination.

Having survived another moment this way, Lucy was again assaulted by nightmares and hallucinations.

In this endless repetition, Lucy was fighting a fierce battle but barely maintaining her sanity.

[You’ve been holding up quite well?]

“Yes.”

[What’s changed?]

“I’m just trying to change for Lin’s sake, even if it seems presumptuous.”

[Don’t you want to see Lin?]

“I do.”

But Lucy didn’t fall for the Abyss’s temptation.

“But if I cause a disturbance, Lin will be disappointed when he returns.”

[Hmm….]

This girl is aiming for the position of legal wife?

The Abyss was extremely, very extremely displeased with Lucy maintaining her composure.

[It seems the time has come.]

“What?”

[You’re no fun right now.]

“If you’re trying to pull something, I’ll finish the duel we couldn’t complete on that island.”

[Pull something? Hahahahahahaha!]

The Abyss’s laughter shook her mind, but Lucy didn’t tell it to shut up because it helped her escape from the nightmares and hallucinations.

[I’m going to show you! How this world really works.]

Black energy flowed from the Abyss and enveloped Lucy.

[Your affection for Lin isn’t enough at this level.]

“You…!”

[See and feel it for yourself. That Lin is all you have. That you could come this far, that you could be brought here among infinite possibilities, was only possible because of Lin.]

The hero tried to grab the Abyss’s handle, but before she could, the black energy swallowed her.

[Behold what the goddess has done to oppose the demon god.]

With that, Lucy disappeared along with the black energy.