episode_0114

Arjen looked at me with a blank expression for a while. Maybe my mind can’t keep up with the situation. Even thinking about it from my perspective, having met her after only a month, I couldn’t calm my pounding heart, so I wondered what it would be like for her to have waited for me for a whopping 360 years.

“Yoo… Yoo Ji-in…? Is it true…?”

Arjen, with large teardrops in his eyes, called my name in a hushed voice. I was worried that if I tried to check for myself, I would disappear like a mirage or a ghost, so I walked up to her, who didn’t dare to take a step.

“Then, it’s true. Do I have a fake too?”

“Yes… there were a lot, a lot…”

When Arjen agreed that it was so, I felt embarrassed. Apparently, there were some people who realized that my absence was the reason she went crazy.

In that case, he might have tried imitating me to calm Arjen down. Of course, even if you deceive the sky and the earth, you cannot deceive the dragon, so the result would have been obvious.

“I see. Then, shall we give it a hug to see if it’s real?”

I hugged Arjen’s shoulders tightly as he sat down. Arjen’s sweet body scent always tickled my nose. Arjen’s embrace, which I felt for the first time in a month, was very soft and warm.

Exciting! Exciting!

In addition, her pounding heartbeat was vividly conveyed. She is probably enjoying my smell, my arms, and the sound of my heart.

“…….”

Arjen just cried for a while without saying anything. I kept stroking her head and letting her cry until my heart was satisfied.

I knew better than anyone else how difficult it must have been during those long years, even if no one explained it to me.

“Dream… isn’t it…?”

“Then, of course not.”

“Why, why, why…! Why on earth…!”

Arjen suddenly started spouting resentment toward me. It was natural. Even though he had been away for 360 years, it was even more strange that the hatred towards him did not grow.

In response to Arjen’s repeated complaints about why I didn’t come back sooner, I responded with a kiss instead of words.

Then, my lips touched her eyelids and a cute sound came out. Of course, Arjen could no longer voice his resentment.

Since I had nothing to say, I couldn’t help but criticize them for trying to pass it off as an adaptation. Because no matter what answer I gave to Arjen’s question now, it was nothing but an excuse.

I didn’t leave because I wanted to leave, and as soon as we broke up, I struggled to see each other again. However, a series of words will not convince Arjen at all. It meant that 360 years was that long.

“Wow, big! Big! Hmm….”

It may have calmed down a little, but Arjen was still in tears and sniffling.

“Now… Wow! You can’t go anywhere…!”

“Yes. This will never happen again. Let’s be together forever and ever.”

I tried to kiss Arjen again. This time my mouth went to Arjen’s lips.

Anyway, like this, I was able to reunite with Arjen.

***

“…Anyway, why is the area around Rare like this?”

After sharing our stories with Arzen and all the other characters, we calmed down to some extent and began to recognize the surrounding situation. The cave where Argen’s lair was located was relatively well maintained, but the natural environment surrounding the lair was so devastated that it was difficult to even determine its original form even if you washed your eyes and searched for it.

“Well, about that…”

Anyway, Arjen’s words trail off as if he has nothing to say. Of course, I had no intention of blaming Arjen. I have no intention of living in this desolate land of death in the future, so I have to use whatever means I can to restore it to its original state, but the road ahead is daunting.

“Um… I wonder what happened…”

“That’s it. There’s no need to look at me like that. Actually, I know roughly what happened while I was away. Anyway, I’m really glad you’re safe, Arzen.”

Even now that I think about it, I felt fortunate. If she hadn’t defeated Akasha, they might never have met again like this.

“Yes! Hehe… I also have a question more than that… How has Eugene not changed at all even after 300 years?”

“The flow of time was different. From my perspective, it has only been a month since I returned to my original world.”

“Ha, a month?”

Well, it was normal to be surprised. Even so, the difference in time magnification of 1:4320 would be a number that would be difficult to easily accept, even for a dragon.

“I said I would come back as soon as possible… I didn’t know that so much time had passed. Sorry. You were very lonely, right?”

“Ugh, I’m much happier that Eugene is alive and not dead…? Actually, when over 100 years passed, I thought I would never see Eugene again.”

I could clearly feel how much pain she had suffered through each and every word of Arjen’s words. It’s all because of fucking Akasha. It’s to the point where I have to kill it at some point to be relieved.

“Still, I heard a rumor that Wayne is alive. What happened to that?”

“Ah, that… Actually, I didn’t know because it was my first time making an oath, but the person who made the oath seemed to be with me whether I live or die.”

“Huh? Isn’t that dangerous!?”

This means that Wayne’s lifespan has greatly increased because Arjen is alive, but in other words, if Wayne dies, Arjen will also die. Since the oath was so dangerous, there was a reason why Rose was so angry at Arjen.

“That’s not true. The dragon side can cancel the oath when the opponent dies.”

“Oh really? Well then, I’m glad… No, so where is Wayne now?”

“I’m managing rares… I haven’t even been able to control the automaton.”

There was no way I would have time to clean the lair when everyone around me was destroying it. So, contrary to the concerns of the human side, does this mean that the fallen hero was not scheming something with the light dragon, but was simply organizing Arjen’s rares?

As she said, the inside of the rare looked largely unchanged from the time I was there, unlike the outside, which had been devastated. Considering that the most recent experience I had in Rare was the invasion of Akasha, it was safe to say that it was in a cleaner state than that.

“……Huh?”

“Wayne…? Phew!”

As I was looking around the inside of the lair with Arjen, Wayne appeared from the other side wearing a very standard maid outfit. The sight of an outstanding warrior who possessed the power of immortality until a month ago, wearing a maid uniform instead of armor and holding a broom instead of a holy sword, was a laugh in itself.

“How did this happen…?”

Whether I laughed at him or not, Wayne widened his eyes and made a dumbfounded expression as if he couldn’t believe that I had reappeared after 360 years.

“Hi, Wayne. long time no see. You and I both have strong ropes, right?”

I actually only aged a month, but from Wayne’s point of view, it was natural for two people to be so surprised when they met again after more than a hundred years.

“I was surprised… Actually, I’m only saying this now, but I felt really bad for Arjen. Having to keep waiting for someone you will never meet again…”

“Hey! Why do you say that!”

Arjen, who was next to me with his arms crossed, heard Wayne’s words and jumped up and shot her. Wayne let her reaction pass with an embarrassed laugh.

“Haha, you said you were saying it now. In the end, I’m glad we met again.”

Wayne is right. I’m glad we met again like this, but if anything had gone wrong, I would have never met Arjen.

And the day will come when Akasha, the culprit for all of this, will be held accountable. So that I can fully pay for my month and Arjen’s 360 years.

“…Anyway, that’s it, this is the biggest problem right now.”

“Huh? What?”

At Wayne’s question, I looked at Arjen. Arjen, who had roughly figured out what was going to be said, was busy laughing awkwardly.

“Hehe…….”

“Terrorizing Akasha is harming her, and first of all, we have to somehow resolve the area around Lair that was harassed by Arzen.”

Even if it was impossible to completely restore it to how it used to be, it had to be restored to some extent. That is also the reason why Prinia helped me come back to this world, and because it is included in the category of ‘resolving the land of death’ promised to the Pope.

Of course, even if it was a dragon, it would be difficult to return this devastated land to a lush green land. Isn’t it much easier to break something than to build it? Fortunately, though, I had something specialized for this kind of thing.

“Let’s get some help with this.”

What I took out was the bow of the World Tree.