episode_0266

“Profit..annoying!”

Ariel slammed her foot down on the magic circle she had lovingly created.

Her lab.

Around there, papers with magic circles drawn on them were scattered all over, and vials of potions with a strong fragrance were boiling.

“I have to finish it somehow..”

Ariel muttered, biting her finger once.

A study that started with only Hera in mind.

However, this research, which was expected to proceed easily, ended up hitting an unexpected wall.

‘If you don’t care about your body, you can make it right now!’

In fact, the research itself has been completed.

But if we use this as it is now, it will probably cause great strain on Hera’s body.

Then it becomes meaningless.

If the work I worked so hard to create were to harm Hera’s body, it would be worse than not having it at all.

The goal of this study is to change the fundamental properties of the body.

It was an impossibly difficult task to make it so that it did not put a strain on the user’s body.

“Should I change the method a little bit?”

At that moment, Ariel was once again engrossed in countless possibilities and was pondering them.

Kukuku–

The area around the lab began to shake violently.

“What..what is it? Earthquake?”

The lab begins to shake violently.

But Ariel soon realized that this was no earthquake.

Things beyond Ariel’s understanding began to happen right before her eyes.

A crack appeared in the air, as if the earth was splitting apart.

A crack in the space opened up with a creaking sound.

What is visible through the gap in space are countless stars and infinite darkness.

Ariel’s eyes became bloodshot as she entered a transcendent realm she could not accept.

The space visible through the ‘gap’ rippled heterogeneously, and a being surrounded by splendid colors floated and approached Ariel.

“You…I…what are you?”

– …..

Existence in question, wrapped in beautiful five colors.

It didn’t give Ariel any answer, but instead extended what looked like a hand toward Ariel’s research materials.

Then, the papers floating into the sky began to fly noisily, and soon merged into one paper and fell in front of Ariel.

A large magic circle appears before your eyes.

Ariel quickly scanned the magic circle and couldn’t help but feel astonished.

The end of the research you were working towards.

The perfect result was contained in this paper.

‘If this is it… it’s possible!’

Ariel hugged the paper carefully.

The being that looked at that sight turned its body and moved its body towards the gap again.

“Wait..! Tell me your name!”

The existence of a realm that is utterly incomprehensible.

As Ariel shouted at it, the being surrounded by five-colored aura looked at Ariel.

– Are

It leaves behind only one word.

It just disappeared as if nothing had happened.

The lab became quiet again.

“….Where are you?”

Ariel just muttered the being’s name absentmindedly.

*

The rattling carriage woke me up from my dozing off leaning against the luggage.

“Eh..”

As I wiped the drool from the corner of my mouth and looked around, my eyes met with an old man who was smiling at me.

“Hehehe.. You look very tired.”

“I’m sorry.”

My face burned with embarrassment at having shown such an embarrassing appearance.

“I’m sorry. Thanks to you, I was able to watch you sleeping to my heart’s content.”

“…Huh?”

When I asked the old man why his voice was sticky, I felt something strange, and he shook his head a few times as if it was nothing.

“No, I didn’t mean it. I just said it without meaning to, haha.”

“….yes.”

Leaving behind the suspicious feeling, I carefully opened the carriage’s tent, revealing a wide meadow covered in a thick night sky.

“But… Where are you going?”

“….”

The old man didn’t answer for a moment, then gave me the answer with a kind smile.

“I’m going to a city in the west. That’s where my house is.”

“Um…west..”

West or East. In fact, anywhere was fine as long as it was outside the empire.

Wherever you go, there is bound to be a port.

All I have to do is take a regular ship from the port and set foot on the continent the ship is headed to.

Originally, it would have been right to go to the Eastern Continent and see the Master, but…

The Eastern Continent is a hidden place that even those who have been there once have a hard time finding again.

I don’t think I can find such a place.

And anyway, the teacher will be safe.

Before I lost my memories, I didn’t know Athena, so I was worried about my master’s safety. But knowing Athena’s personality, I would never imagine that she would harm my master.

The only person who is in danger right now is probably yourself.

I left a letter and took out some insurance, but… for some reason, I couldn’t shake the feeling of anxiety that was rising on one side.

“By the way, where are you going?”

I raised my head and looked at the old man who called me.

“Oh, I’m going towards the port.”

At my words, the old man raised one eyebrow and looked at me with eyes that were more calm than before for some reason.

“…Are you planning to leave the continent?”

“Yes. I have personal reasons..”

As I spoke, scratching my cheek in an awkward manner for some reason, the old man stroked his beard once and asked me with serious eyes.

“There’s no place better to live than the Empire..Can I ask why you want to leave?”

“Uh..uhm..”

“An old man who doesn’t have much time left to live anyway. Tell me a story about his boring life.”

An old man who speaks with quite heavy words, despite his smiling face.

I hesitated for a moment at the serious look in his eyes, then let out a short sigh and looked at him.

“Actually, it seems closer to running away..”

“Huh?”

I opened my lips at the sight of the puzzled old man.

‘We’re going to see each other today anyway, so what?’

“..Actually, I’m a very bad person. That’s why I’m trying to run away.”

The old man stroked his beard a few times, thought about it, and then asked me a question.

“Did you commit a major crime?”

“Ah..no, that’s not it..it’s just..um..”

I struggled to open my heart, fiddling with my fingers a few times.

“I’ve just been lying to the people I love for a very long time.. and I’ve lied to them in a very big way.”

“….Can I ask you something?”

“Even if I tell you, you won’t accept it. If that were the case, you would have already told your loved one.”

When I spoke with an awkward smile, for some reason the old man just looked at me with more sunken eyes than before.

“Don’t you think about telling your loved ones? If you truly love them, I think you should start by talking to them first.”

“…”

His words hit the nail on the head, and for a moment I felt like a dumb chick.

Between lovers.

Yeah. Maybe if they truly love each other like he said, they’ll be able to overcome it somehow and move on.

But at least I couldn’t do that.

‘..We’re not really in love’

My relationship with them was a lie from the start.

I may not be smart, but

I don’t think I’m that clueless.

At least I could now realize how their gaze was directed at me.

..Of course, I realized that much later.

They loved Hera’s face and body.

I am just the one who took Hera’s soul.

They indulged in Hera’s body through me.

I used them to bring peace to the world.

A love that blossomed from a false relationship.

How can this be called true love?

So, I’m leaving.

I can’t stand the fact that I’m a sinner who took the body of a young woman and yet I feel happy in this fake relationship.

“…I don’t truly love you.”

I muttered to the old man with a sad heart.

“…..”

But there was no answer from the old man.

And that was for a very long time.

“….?”

There was a long, silent pause, and finally, feeling puzzled, I raised my head and looked at the old man.

The old man was looking at me.

His eyes were shaking as if there was an earthquake, and his breathing was very ragged.

The veins around his eyes and forehead were bulging, and he was clenching his fists so hard that they bled.

“Um…Are you okay?”

When I called out in surprise at his unusual condition, the old man let out a trembling breath and forcefully swept his face with both hands.

“..I’m sorry. As I get older, I sometimes experience these symptoms.”

Then the old man looked at me again with sunken eyes.

For some reason, it felt like the light had disappeared from his eyes.

“Are you okay now?”

“Oh yeah. You’re calmer than ever.”

Only then did I feel at ease when I saw the old man smiling as if to reassure me.

“I see. I listened to your story carefully.”

The old man stroked his beard with his slightly bloody palm.

Just as I was about to tell him that there was blood on his hands.

The old man looked down at me first and took the conversation away.

“I see. You didn’t love them.”

“Huh?”

“Well, then it wouldn’t be strange for you to leave. That’s right.”

The old man, who had been muttering to himself, soon nodded his head with calm eyes and looked at me.

His appearance made my body tremble.

‘…what?’

Anxiety that comes from an unknown source.

Feeling an inexplicable sense of fear, I thought back on what he had said.

What I said. What he just said.

Let’s take a closer look at them.

I was able to find the source of this anxiety.

“….Huh?”

I said I was leaving the people I loved.

He said he left because he told a big lie.

however.

But I..

Have I ever said that the people I love are… ‘them’?