episode_0019

In the morning, Arna was gone.

“Did it go out?”

I sat down on the bed and was dazed for a moment.

Not only Arna but also weapons are not in the room. I don’t think I went alone this early.

I keep thinking about what happened right before I fell asleep yesterday.

Was Arna crying? They put me to sleep with magic, so I couldn’t resist and I fell asleep. What happened yesterday felt like a dream and I can’t really feel it.

I woke up slowly.

Then I went to my room, took my clothes and weapons, and came out.

Arna was in the yard.

She was kneeling on one knee and praying toward the forest.

“Sister.”

“Uh, are you awake? Let’s leave after breakfast.”

Arna stood up and looked back at me with a bright expression.

“Sister, I… Yesterday.”

“You had a hard time yesterday. I really think we can do it well.”

Okay, let’s not talk about unnecessary things.

“Okay, let’s try hard.”

We brought fresh fruits and vegetables from the forest and had breakfast together.

I left home after eating breakfast with a solemn thought that it could be my last meal.

“Whoa, I’m nervous.”

Arna held my hand tightly and walked through the forest.

The southernmost border point of the forest that takes about half a day to reach.

Perhaps because Arna lived far away from ordinary elves, she was able to get to the place where the guardian appeared sooner than expected.

“Jihu, the attack will start from the moment you cross here.”

It is said to be a test, but in reality it is a ghost that indiscriminately attacks those who try to go out. The attack will begin without warning.

Arna said while holding my arm tightly.

“Never overdo it. Because my sister will win no matter what happens. got it? Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

I let out a small breath and pulled out my sword.

“I’ll go first.”

I crossed the line and started running, and Arna started moving at that speed.

It seemed like something was going to happen right away, but nothing happened for a while.

Is something wrong?

As if waiting for me to think that way, the moment I let my guard down for a moment, countless arrows flew towards me.

“Gasp.”

But it’s slower than expected.

As I ran without hesitation, the arrows landed in the spot I passed by.

As soon as he did that, he quickly located the guardian.

Something was passing quickly between the trees.

Although it was not clearly visible, it was visible that an attack was coming from there.

“Jihoo! Be careful ahead!”

With Arna’s voice, I jumped when I saw the trap that appeared in front of me.

Light emanating from the floor.

It seems to be the trap that exploded and pushed Arna into the sky.

I threw the sheath of the sword on my waist and set off the trap, causing an explosion and a strong shock to my body.

“Kaaak!”

As expected, it rose quite high.

Where is the Guardian?

As I climbed up into the sky, I felt a loud magical energy coming from all around the forest and closed my eyes tightly.

There is clearly a magical power hidden in between them, similar to the trap from before.

In the middle of the tree.

A distance from which you can shoot me.

The moment I opened my eyes, an arrow was flying towards me, and the arrow flying towards me was hit by another arrow and flew away.

As I began to fall again, I shouted to Arna.

“Sister! You know where it is, right?”

“I think I know!”

As I floated into the sky and became the bait, Arna used magic to lift the ground under the tree where the guardian was hiding, causing the tree to fall down.

The large tree fell, the surrounding birds flew into the sky, and the guardian’s figure was revealed through the dust.

By then I had landed on the floor and ran straight towards it.

“Wha!”

When I swung the sword, a strong shock came back.

– Boom!

My arms feel numb. It’s a similar force to when I clashed swords with Isella yesterday.

Soon the dust cleared and the figure of an elf holding a small sword the size of his forearm was revealed.

Although he was short, the intense power I felt from his eyes made my body strong.

“Qu.”

The guardian pushed away my sword and then struck down Arna’s arrow.

We need to create an opportunity for Arna to attack.

I attacked, putting as much pressure on the guardian as possible to avoid being pushed back.

Thinking that it would be okay to get cut a few times anyway, I continued to attack harshly, with no choice but to focus on myself, even though I was vulnerable to counterattacks.

However, the guardian continues to clash his swords with me and remains aware of the direction from which the arrow came.

I attacked by swinging my sword several times, but Arna didn’t attack at all, wondering what she was doing.

When Arna did not appear for a while, the guardian was no longer conscious of Arna and changed his stance from just defending to instantly parrying my sword.

“Gasp!”

For a moment, my balance was lost, and I swung the sword out with the intention of swinging it somehow.

However, the weak attack had no way of reaching the guardian, who grabbed the sword with his hand and broke it.

“What the fuck!”

The guardian plunged his fist into my abdomen, where the weapon disappeared, and I fell to the ground, clutching my stomach.

Arna! What are you doing other than fighting!

“Hmm… .”

Still, there is no way Arna would have abandoned me and run away. Because I have that much faith.

So you’re looking for an opportunity to attack, right?

good. So let’s do what we can now.

“Hwaaa!”

I, who was on my knees, shouted to give some kind of signal and jumped forward with momentum.

Although it was only a broken sword, the guardian seemed slightly taken aback by my attack, which was filled with all my fighting spirit.

I recklessly lunged at the guardian, and the guardian’s sword pierced my running torso.

“Ugh… .”

It fucking hurts.

But I bit my lip and held on.

Then, I grabbed the guardian’s sword that had penetrated my body and recklessly let the magic flow through it.

As I, a human, felt a considerable amount of magical energy, the guardian also looked slightly embarrassed and surprised.

As a result, the guardian was unable to do anything for a while.

Still, I don’t think I can last like this for long.

At that moment, I felt an unfamiliar and strong force that made my body flinch.

This, this. Are there any other guardians?

The moment I was worried, Arna suddenly appeared from behind the guardian.

Arna quietly appeared behind the guardian, stabbed the guardian’s neck with a small dagger in an instant, and disappeared again.

Then the guardian’s hand holding my sword relaxed.

You just said that was Arna? You didn’t see it wrong, right?

“Jihoo! Quickly!”

I was dazed for a moment, and at the sound of Arna’s voice, I swung my broken sword and cut the guardian’s body.

My sword, filled with miscellaneous magical powers, cut the body in a large trajectory.

A slash that I learned from Arna and trained all day long.

And just as Isella had told me, when the opportunity arose, it attacked the guardian without hesitation and defeated it.

Because it was not a living thing but an elf spirit, it did not bleed, but the cuts and stabs on its body disappeared and it staggered back.

I swallowed my saliva when I saw Arna who immediately appeared in front of me again.

“Noona, you do the finishing touches.”

“I understand.”

This test is for Arna.

Of course, there was a reason why I couldn’t move.

I left the final blow to Arna, looked around for any unexpected situation, and then saw Arna running.

Arna, who clung to the guardian at incredible speed, defeated the guardian without a moment of hesitation.

After being stabbed in the neck once again, the guardian disappeared.

I feel like the exercises Isella helped me with helped me from start to finish.

“It wasn’t as difficult as I thought.”

And now I swallowed my saliva and nodded.

The fight just now was strange.

The moment Arna reappeared, I wondered if it was another guardian, or if Isella or Carmene had come to save me.

I knew Arna was strong, but it definitely wasn’t that strong.

I felt like there was no need for me to fight with him if he felt that strong in the first place. Did you awaken overnight?

“I’m glad that my aunt helped me well. Still, it would have been difficult if I had fought without knowing anything… Argh! Jihoo! What’s wrong with that hand? Oh, your body is bleeding too!”

Arna was startled and grabbed my dazed arm and shook it.

“Don’t shake it… it hurts… .”

“Ah, I understand. What should I do! Jihoo, ho, ho, aren’t you going to die?”

Arna quickly healed the area where my ribs were bleeding.

Tears fell on the hand that was using magic.

“Ugh, I’m sorry. I… I should have done it sooner. Hmm… After all, I shouldn’t have made Jihoo fight… .”

“Oh, no. It’s okay.”

Soon all the wounds on my torso were healed, and Arna then held my wounded hand. She sniffled and wiped away tears.

It looked really cool when it suddenly appeared and attacked the guardian, but its face quickly became a mess.

Now that the pain was slightly better, I thought it was cute and unconsciously stroked Arna’s head.

“It was cool. Sister.”

“… huh. Are you okay? Doesn’t it hurt anymore?”

“Ugh, it’s okay.”

“Ugh, what is this? Are you still sick? Hey, just take off your clothes. I think I need to look at it properly.”

“Oh, no. It’s really okay.”

I smiled sheepishly and calmed Arna down.

Arna was still looking at me with a worried face, and when I got up and held out my hand, she nodded and stood up holding my hand.

“Then let’s go out right away. I wonder what’s outside the forest.”

I was curious too.

Where is this place? Have you come to a different world, and if it is the same world, how far is it from where you originally came from?

I don’t know how long it will take to get to the village where other humans live after leaving the forest… .

“It might be a bit far. Are you just going to go?”

“Yes, he said it was okay. if… .”

“Oh, no. I’m just afraid I’ll be late. It’s not because it hurts.”

“Whatever, time doesn’t matter.”

yes. What do you think? If you are going with Arna. It will be okay no matter when or where.

So we headed out of the forest that the guardian had blocked.

It has already been more than three years since I came to this forest.

Maybe more time has passed than I know.

It was also my first time going out into the world.

Even before I came to this forest, I lived as a warrior with all my freedom controlled.

This is also the first time Arna has left the forest since she was born.

It’s my first time with both of them, but I have to take good care of them as I have lived my life as a human being.

“Jihoo, I’m really nervous.”

“It’s okay. I am there.”

“Oh, right… Jihoo must have lived among humans in the past. I’ll just trust Jihoo then.”

We held hands and took steps to fill the beginning.

–

“Thank goodness.”

Isella, who was watching the fight with the guardian, let out a small sigh.

I was planning to stop them if something dangerous happened, but still, the two fought well and won as I worked hard to help them.

“Still, you fight well just because you’re my sister’s daughter.”

Carmene is one of the strongest elves in the history of elves recorded over countless years.

The daughter, Arna, was still young, but she had the potential to do this.

“Are you the type that is strong in actual combat?”

Until yesterday, I had no idea that he would win so completely.

Isella shrugged and turned around.

When I turned around, Carmene was coming here.

“Are you done already?”

“Yes. Why did you come here?”

“Because. I came because I thought the person next to me was terrible. Because I can’t let Arna die.”

“I guess you remembered what I said back then.”

I thought it was totally delicious.

Isella chuckled.

“So, Arna went out of the forest?”

“Yes. I went. If this is enough, I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.”

“Being worry-free is just the beginning.”

Carmene smiled at Isela, who frowned.

“Arna will be in tremendous pain. When we are together with humans.”

It was obvious that the elves would suffer if they were with humans.

Human time is infinitely shorter compared to that of elves.

The elves’ time was so long that it was difficult to understand each other’s differences, and the human’s time was so short.

In particular, older elves knew the pain and fear of separation well because they had experienced it.

“Still, it won’t all be the same. Although Arna looks a lot like her sister. Because that kid is that kid.”

“Well, we’ll have to see how it goes. Tell them to come to me as soon as they get back. I don’t know if they will come together.”

“Tell me directly… .”

Isella sighed as she looked at Carmene, who had an expression similar to Arna’s that she didn’t want to talk.

“Okay, I understand.”