episode_0081

In a reality that felt unreal, as if I was trapped in a nightmare, I stared blankly at the empty medicine bottle on the table.

It was the medicine bottle that contained the hangover remedy the Hero had given me…

Even after drinking all the liquid in the bottle, the dizzying sensation and the uncomfortable feeling of something rising in my chest did not subside.

“Have you been waiting long?”

Hearing the Hero’s friendly voice, I slowly lifted my gaze from the medicine bottle.

Opposite me, the Hero and Ariel, who had changed into their everyday clothes, sat side by side.

I stared blankly at Ariel, who sat naturally beside the Hero, silently demanding an explanation for the current situation with my eyes alone.

But Ariel, too, just looked at me, a faint, trembling smile on her awkwardly pulled-up lips, saying nothing.

*Snap!*

The Hero snapped his fingers, redirecting my attention from staring blankly at Ariel back to himself.

“Alright… Last night. Ariel and I had a lot of conversations. They were solid discussions for the future of our party.”

“That’s right. They were discussions for the future of the Hero’s party, which must subjugate the Demon King.”

As the Hero spoke, Ariel also took a small deep breath and, as if steeling herself, opened her mouth in a calm tone.

I just rolled my eyes blankly, alternating my gaze between the Hero and Ariel as they spoke.

“To subjugate the Demon King, we have to go deep into the Demon territory. That’s extremely dangerous, isn’t it?”

The Hero softly furrowed his brow, as if worried about me, and looked at me with an expression of pity.

But his subtly trembling lips instantly revealed that his pity and worry were nothing but brazen pretense.

“So dangerous that a small mistake or carelessness could lead to the failure of the Demon King subjugation, or even death…”

“So, what are you trying to say?”

Unable to tolerate his brazen pretense any longer, I suppressed my churning stomach and painfully uttered words, cutting off his fake speech.

Did he think his pretense had been exposed?

The Hero closed his mouth, which had stopped speaking, and hid his subtly trembling lips by smacking them a few times.

“Jazel… I think it would be good for Jazel to find another path, one of your own.”

Ariel, who had been looking at the Hero, seemed to gather great courage and presented me with a decision that they had made alone, without my will or opinion.

“A path of my own…?”

My head creaked as I shifted my gaze from the Hero, who was silently smacking his lips, to Ariel, sitting beside him.

The passionate and brave Ariel…

Swallowing dryly, she met my gaze, as if she wouldn’t avoid my eyes in this moment.

“Yes. A path of your own, Jazel. That is… the path of a great merchant with Level 3 talent, spreading your fame across the entire continent! Isn’t that amazing?”

“……”

Ariel, forcing herself to be upbeat, even raised her voice and cheered me on vigorously.

Despite her encouragement, my heart felt like a cold, hardened stone, slowly rolling around inside my chest.

“Then… Ariel?”

I swallowed, as if taking a dry gulp of non-existent saliva in my parched mouth, and asked about her plans.

Ariel couldn’t answer my question easily and just bit her lower lip.

She glanced at the Hero out of the corner of her eye, as if seeking help, but…

The Hero lightly nodded his chin, as if Ariel had to finish this, compelling her to answer my question directly.

“I… I have to leave with the Hero.”

“……”

It was the answer I had already expected.

It was the answer I had been certain of from the moment I sat down here and they sat side by side in front of me.

“That is my destiny… You know. If the Demon King isn’t subjugated as soon as possible, humans will suffer… If I don’t leave with the Hero, he’ll have to wander endlessly searching for another mage. During that time, countless people will die. So this is unavoidable…”

When I stared blankly at her, like someone possessed, devoid of all emotion, Ariel seemed unable to bear my gaze and urgently poured out excuses.

Unlike Ariel, who had always confidently faced any challenge head-on, tears began to well up in my already hollow eyes at the excuses pouring from her mouth.

Ariel, who had been ceaselessly spewing excuses, finally noticed the tears gathering in my eyes and, realizing that excuses alone would solve nothing, clamped her mouth shut.

“Can’t… can’t you just stay by my side…?”

Knowing it wouldn’t happen, but putting all my last desperate hope into it…

I pleaded with her, hoping my earnest words, like a miracle from a novel or myth, would awaken her spirit.

*Pfft!!*

But what responded to my plea was the Hero’s scoff.

“Sorry, sorry. Go on.”

The Hero, who had let out a small laugh, waved his hand as if apologizing, then tilted his body slightly to the side as if to say, “don’t mind me.”

“Jazel.”

Perhaps it was thanks to the Hero’s sudden scoff.

The taut string of tension temporarily loosened, and Ariel, as if recovering her composure, murmured my name and took a deep breath.

“At one point, I truly liked you. I loved you… I thought I wouldn’t regret entrusting my entire life to you.”

The words ‘like’ and ‘love’ felt like sharp daggers piercing my chest, carving out my flesh as if trying to rip out my heart.

“But… the Hero was my destiny. It was like an unstoppable, great natural order. It felt like… I had lived for this very moment.”

Ariel’s eyes, as she looked at me, were full of guilt and apology directed at me.

If she had simply said she used me, it wouldn’t have been this painful.

“I know it’s incredibly terrible to be betrayed by someone you love… by the person you trusted most…”

Perhaps thinking that mere words of comfort wouldn’t help, Ariel bravely took my trembling hand in hers.

“In return, the Hero and I will do our best to help you. Money, connections. We’ll support you with anything we can…”

Ariel’s hand, clasping mine, was no longer warm.

It felt scorching, like a burning sun trying to incinerate my hand.

To escape the heat that felt like it was burning my hand, I hastily pulled my hand out of Ariel’s grasp.

“Where… where did it go wrong…?”

Perhaps it was due to the stinging pain in my hand from her heat.

The tears that had gathered heavily in my eyes now streamed weakly down my cheeks.

At the same time, the decisions I had made… the regrets of the past began to pour from my mouth.

“I shouldn’t have said I’d join the Hero’s party… No. I should have just looked for a house for the two of us and gone back, instead of going to the square… I should have just… just gone swimming yesterday, or picked herbs… If only… If only I had!!!”

Ariel clamped her mouth shut at my childish whining, my nose running as I regretted a past that could no longer be undone.

“I’m truly sorry, Jazel.”

Ariel bowed her head so low it almost touched the table, apologizing to me with sincere regret.

“It might be presumptuous of me to say this, but…”

After taking a deep breath.

“Jazel, you’ll definitely find someone better than me, someone who isn’t so irresponsible.”

She offered encouragement that had no basis or responsibility.

“Because Jazel is definitely a special being.”

A final remark she added.

At that one phrase, happy and joyful memories spent with Ariel floated through my mind.

Ariel had always encouraged and praised me as a special being.

But for those words to be her final goodbye…

*Ughh…!!*

That single phrase deeply carved into the flesh of my chest, ultimately ripping my cold, lifeless heart out through my mouth.

“Ah, damn it!!”

“Crazy! Do you know who has to clean this up?!”

As I spewed out the ugly, tangled, and cold emotions from my mouth, the Hero, who was beside me, and Ermel, who had been unnoticeable, suddenly appeared in front of me.

“Get out of… this house, right now!!!”

Perhaps disgusted by the vomit I had spewed, Ermel forcefully pushed me toward the exit with her power.

Even as I was helplessly pushed out by her power, my eyes remained fixed on Ariel, who stood silently with her head bowed.

But until the moment I was chased out of the room…

Ariel did not lift her head to look at me.

As if hoping this terrible farewell would pass quickly, she just kept her head bowed towards the table, staring blankly at the empty medicine bottle left on the table, just as I had done.

————————–

Forcibly expelled from the Hero’s house by Ermel’s power, I was thrown onto the ground like trash.

“Seriously… you’re a pathetic wretch, even to the very end.”

Ermel looked down at me, sprawling on the ground with no strength to resist, and summed up my appearance with a cruel remark, as if disgusted.

*Ughh… Cough, cough…*

But even at her cruel words, without the luxury to retort, I writhed on the ground, clutching my stomach, and retched up an unknown, empty heaving from deep in my throat.

As if I was vomiting out all the emotions that had been shattered and collapsed because of Ariel…

I was merely forcing my already completely empty stomach to contract, dry heaving into the void.

“Even a pig at the slaughterhouse would be quieter than you.”

Only after clutching the grass and dry-heaving two or three times could I finally suppress my churning stomach.

In the anxiety that felt like I would vomit again if my breathing faltered even slightly, I looked back at Ermel, who stood beside me with her arms crossed.

The culprit behind all of this was none other than Ermel, the succubus.

“Why… why did you do this to me…?”

Ermel then tilted her head slightly, as if my question was strange, and replied.

“Why are *you* like this?”

In the quiet Lime Forest, where no living creature resided, Ermel’s perfectly calm voice pierced into my ears with cruel clarity.

“Did you truly think such an excellent mage like Ariel… was suited for you?”

Ermel tilted her head to the other side.

“Shouldn’t you be thanking the gods instead? You spent some good time, however brief, with a mage who will be recorded as a hero, didn’t you? This is something you can consider the pride of your entire life.”

Ermel thought for a moment, then clicked her tongue regretfully.

“Ah… from Ariel’s perspective, you’ll be a stain… The short period of wandering you spent with her will become a dark history she’ll want to forget.”

I couldn’t refute or feel anger at Ermel’s words, which made me feel endlessly miserable.

I just stood there, helpless and lifeless, letting tears fall in drops.

“Alright. Let’s end this cleanly.”

Ermel, looking down at me as if I was pathetic, abruptly handed me a piece of paper.

“It’s the Hero Party withdrawal form. You don’t have any lingering attachments or hope left, do you?”

“Withdraw… I’ll withdraw…”

The tears still flowing from my eyes showed no sign of stopping, and through my vision, blurred and shimmering with tears, I accepted the withdrawal form Ermel offered.

As if expecting it, I took the pre-prepared pen and, with trembling hands, began to sign the withdrawal form.

As my name was written, my hand, which had signed hundreds of times, reflexively tried to draw the fox ears after the name, but…

*Plop…*

In the spot where the fox ears should have been drawn, only my tears fell, smearing the ink.

“Ugh… messy.”

As my tears fell on the withdrawal form, Ermel frowned and snatched the form from my hand as if taking it away.

Ermel, after confirming that my signature was properly written despite being slightly smudged by tears, nodded in satisfaction and tucked the withdrawal form into her pocket.

“Good. With this, Jazel is out of the Hero Party. And…”

And though she had no further business, she looked at me silently for a moment, as if reluctant to leave just yet.

“You look like you’re about to hang yourself right away like this, so I’ll give you a small gift.”

Ermel’s emotionless lips, which had been looking at me as if with pity, subtly curved upward.

And then she slowly raised her right hand and poked my forehead with her index finger.

*Ugh!?*

At that moment, a sharp pain, as if piercing into my head, radiated from the spot where her index finger had poked.

Following that, a sticky, clinging magic began to slowly spread through my head from the spot where her index finger had poked.

“I marked you. You have good goods… so I’ll come to eat them sometimes.”

Ermel looked at my lower body and smacked her lips.

“I’ll let you eat any woman you desire in your dreams… so don’t foolishly take your own life and instead take good care of your lower body.”

She wasn’t pitying or comforting me.

She had merely registered me in her private notebook, visible only to her, like finding a favorite restaurant and marking it to visit often.

“Then, farewell.”

With those words, Ermel vanished without a trace, leaving only her faint scent, as if she had no further business with me.

Startled by her disappearance, I quickly turned around, but the magical door that had connected to the Hero’s villa had also vanished without a trace.

*Ughh…!!*

In the silent forest, where not even the sounds of birds or insects could be heard, I once again realized that I had lost everything, and could only clutch at the grass and force out empty gags, though nothing came up.