Rumi’s identity

Rumi’s identity

[If you still want to leave after hearing this, don’t just go out the door. Jump out the window and just kill yourself. That would be more helpful to Deren anyway.]

Rumi, mulling over the words she had just heard from Delia, retreated to a corner.

Whether it was because of the mix of resentment, anger, and sadness, or because Delia’s words had pierced her heart.

One thing was certain: her mind was so complicated that it was difficult to organize her thoughts, and all she wanted to do was hide in a corner.

‘I really don’t know… I don’t know anything.’

From the time she was adopted by her foster parents until now.

The only way for her powerless self to protect those dear to her was to pretend not to know or to leave.

Even if she was now told that it was okay to rely on others, it was difficult to follow that advice immediately.

The sense of defeat and despair she had learned since childhood.

Just as these feelings were overwhelming her entire mind.

Her eyes fell on the stuffed toy Deren had given her in the past.

“……”

Considering Deren’s usually cold, haughty, and seemingly uncaring demeanor.

It was a cute and fluffy puppy doll, so unbelievable that he would give such a gift.

As the gift was so inconsistent with his image, a strange thought crossed her mind even in her sadness, making the corners of her mouth turn up slightly.

‘Did Deren… perhaps try his best to make sure I wouldn’t leave?’

A brief but intense question.

As she pondered this question, she began to understand one by one the actions Deren had shown her all this time.

Starting from deliberately bringing her into his home.

Protecting her from the Heaven God Cult, even though he knew there was nothing to gain from it.

And giving gifts like dolls or catching her several times…

Until now, she had been unaware of it.

As she recalled each instance, she could realize that all these actions were ‘done to keep her close’.

“……”

As this thought crossed her mind, her head became increasingly complicated.

Based on what she had felt and done so far, leaving would be the right choice.

But both Delia and Deren were directly telling her not to leave.

‘What should I do…? What should… I do?’

The more she thinks about it, the more she feels like she’s sinking into a deep swamp.

If making the wrong choice would only harm herself, she would have chosen without much worry.

But knowing that it would also affect Deren makes her worry even more.

So, while she was deeply contemplating,

Her eyes fell on the letter she had received earlier from the black cat.

A letter containing the message that everything would be resolved if she returned to the Heaven God Cult.

The moment she saw that letter, her previous thoughts began to become clearer.

‘Even if I go to the Heaven God Cult, will they really let Deren go?’

She could only blink at such a question.

Come to think of it, the Heaven God Cult had never properly left alone anything she had shown interest in.

‘… But now they say they’ll let him go?’

The part she hadn’t been able to think about properly until now because of being so overwhelmed, finally became clear in her mind.

She could realize that what the Heaven God Cult proposed was ‘all lies’.

The moment I realized that fact, a bitter laugh escaped and tears poured out.

Because I realized that I was truly an idiot just as Delia said.

‘… Fool. Stupid.’

If I had gone to the Celestial Order without listening to Dern and Delia, everything would have probably fallen beyond worst into the abyss itself.

It’s incredibly stupid that I tried to repeat the same thing after all I had been through.

I curled up while needlessly giving my head a hard smack.

‘… Ouch.’

Perhaps because I hit too hard, it feels like a small bump has formed on my head.

Wrapping my palm around my head that felt slightly swollen, I took a deep breath and thought.

‘From now on… I won’t make foolish choices anymore.’

I stood up looking in the mirror while promising myself that I wouldn’t make any more choices that could harm Dern.

My appearance that had become much neater while living with Dern.

Though I hadn’t become as elegant as the Student Council President Sien, I rubbed my tear-filled eyes while looking at my ordinary appearance that seemed at least maintained.

Then, biting my lips firmly, I looked at my swollen face and made a decision.

To stop trying to run away, and continue staying by Dern’s side.

‘And, and since I can’t help being a burden to Dern.’

I strengthened my resolve to repay Dern using other methods instead.

The only problem was that there weren’t really any ways to repay him…

Since Dern seemed so perfect to me, there wasn’t really anything I could do for him.

‘What should I do…?’

Just as I was wondering if there might be something good.

Suddenly, a good idea crossed my mind.

“… Cleaning?”

Thinking about it, while the room was one thing, the laboratory was quite dirty.

When the thought struck that it might have been left alone because it was difficult to entrust cleaning to employees due to the many valuable research materials inside.

What I needed to do became clear.

‘Yes…! I can clean for him.’

Though I keep failing at everything else.

I did get first place in the Academy entrance exam, and always achieved top grades.

Having some magical knowledge, I should be able to clean the laboratory full of magical research without damaging it.

As that thought crossed my mind, motivation welled up for the first time in a while.

Thinking that perhaps now I could truly be of help to Dern, tomorrow when Dern is there.

I nodded my head, deciding to get proper permission and clean.

– – –

I forcibly enlarged the opponent with magic expansion, then finely cut the monster’s body with magic cancellation and spatial compression.

Using Luna to place a curse on the finely crushed body.

After gathering it all back in one place with spatial compression magic.

‘Inside the mace with expansion magic.’

After putting the monster in, I finished it by activating sealing magic as well.

After finishing this work, while I was smiling satisfactorily at the mace that seemed to shine brighter than usual.

Luna stretches and tells me.

[Master, but didn’t you need to get information from that bishop? Why did you seal everything away?]

That question I answered briefly while tickling Luna’s chin.

“I left one fragment, so you can use it to ask.”

[Fragment?]

After pressing Luna’s head, who was yawning, back into my arms, I turned my gaze to look at the bishop’s fragment.

A black fragment that looked sticky like filth.

I decided to pick up such a fragment and extract the information the bishop had.

‘Since he’s a bishop-level figure, he must have information of a different quality than the riffraff.’

As I was thinking about how good the information might be.

I started to extract its information while manifesting magic.

The bishop’s image faintly appears and rises in a soul state.

Although he wasn’t actually dead, I couldn’t hide my smile at his appearance that looked as if he was dead.

Looking at him, I spoke briefly.

“Why is the Heaven God Cult targeting Rumi like that?”

It was a long-standing question I had while reading the novel and after being possessed here.

I wondered why they had been tormenting Rumi, who had no power, for such a long time.

With that question in mind, I asked, and the bishop’s form gave me a somewhat shocking answer.

[…Rumi is… the hero, the only being who can defeat the Demon God.]

“What?”

[Therefore, the Demon King… for the eternal resurrection of the Demon God… tries to resurrect the Demon God in the body of the hero, who is the Demon God’s antithesis…]

In the middle of continuing his words.

The bishop’s fragment exploded violently and disappeared without a trace.

It seems that he said something he shouldn’t have, causing whatever the Heaven God Cult had placed to explode.

I stared at the place where the fragment had been, then slowly closed my eyes and fell into thought.

‘So Rumi is the hero…’

Perhaps it was obvious.

Novels typically don’t feature ordinary people as protagonists, but rather those who play the most central role in the story.

‘I thought she might have some role, but…’

I never imagined she would have such a classic role as the hero.

‘I guess no one would see a hero in someone who gets beaten up everywhere and was even brainwashed while being raised by the Heaven God Cult.’

I chuckled, thinking about how the answer was right under my nose, and slowly opened my eyes.

‘Well, anyway, it seems the Heaven God Cult had already realized Rumi was the hero and tried to use this fact.’

If they used Rumi’s body to resurrect and summon the demon god, the target to kill the demon god would disappear entirely.

It seems they were trying to make Rumi’s body suitable for ‘the resurrection and summoning of the demon god’.

‘Is that why they were so meticulous in tormenting Rumi?’

I sighed, thinking I somewhat understood their method of operation.

‘How stupid.’

They should have at least protected the hero to some extent to allow for growth.

I laughed bitterly, thinking this was a stupid situation caused by the god who chose the hero literally abandoning them.

‘Well, anyway, the important thing is that Rumi is the hero.’

Realizing this fact, I lifted Luna from my chest and thought.

‘So that’s why Rumi was so cautious when she met Luna before.’

Luna is the seed of evil… in other words, an element to summon the demon god.

Nodding his head, he now understood why Rumi, the hero, was uncharacteristically wary.